001 - Ellen’s Water News

August 28, 2008

001 - Ellen's Water News

China:

THOUSANDS of Chinese farmers face ruin because their water has been

cut off to guarantee supplies to the Olympics in Beijing, and

officials are now trying to cover up a grotesque scandal of blunders,

lies and repression. In the capital, foreign dignitaries have admired

millions of flowers in bloom and lush, well-watered greens around its

famous sights. But just 90 minutes south by train, peasants are

hacking at the dry earth as their crops wilt, their money runs out and

the work of generations gives way to despair, debt and, in a few

cases, suicide. In between these two Chinas stands a cordon of

roadblocks and hundreds of security agents deployed to make sure that

the one never sees the other. The water scandal is a parable of what

can happen when a demanding global event is awarded to a poor

agricultural nation run by a dictatorship; and the irony is that none

of it has turned out to be necessary.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4597006.ece

New York:

NEW YORK STATE — Saying the state is facing a looming water

infrastructure crisis, Gov. David Paterson has formed a task force,

called the New Clean Water Collaborative, to press the federal

government for funding to make needed repairs and upgrades. The state

has no shortage of water for drinking, recreation and other uses, but

that water is in danger of being contaminated because of declining

wastewater infrastructure, according to the state Department of

Environmental Conservation. According to the state, New York

communities will have to spend more than $50 billion over the next 20

years to make needed repairs and upgrades, the result of a steep

decline in federal aid. The DEC estimates that repairs for municipal

wastewater treatment systems will cost $36.2 billion, while repairs

for drinking water infrastructure could exceed $20 billion.

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/aug/24/0824_watercrisis/

California:

Even in the world of big-ticket water projects, where delays, cost

overruns and controversy are frequent, the inelegantly named Inland

Feeder Project was in a class of its own. In its two decades, the

project has faced fire, flood, regulatory disputes, difficult geology,

grouting problems, earthquake considerations, a switch of contractors

and more. At one point it was $100 million over budget. The boss at

the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California jokes that the

project suffered everything but a plague of locusts. Still, the agency

insisted it needed a higher-capacity system to bring water from

Northern California to its massive reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake,

outside Hemet. When the Inland Feeder is done, it will triple the

existing system's capability to move water to Diamond Valley. At its

maximum, the new pipe could move enough water to fill an Olympic-sized

swimming pool in less than 30 seconds. A new project manager was

brought in three years ago with a simple command: Failure is not an

option. And today, several years behind the original schedule, the

$1.2-billion project will complete its last bit of tunneling: a

four-mile stretch known as the Arrowhead West Tunnel in the San

Bernardino Mountains. Officials will cheer as an 820-ton, 450-foot

tunnel boring machine punches through at Devil Canyon, near Cal State

San Bernardino, where the California Aqueduct will eventually connect.

Then it's all downhill, literally. Set for completion in 2010, the

44-mile route includes 16 miles of tunneling in three sections and 28

miles of underground piping that will empty into an already built

canal. From there, it will travel 10 miles to Diamond Valley. The idea

is this: In the future, water will arrive from the California Aqueduct

in fast bursts due to climate change and shifting snow patterns. The

smooth, faucet-like flow will become more like blasts from a fire

hose. The current plumbing of the water district system is considered

inadequate to capture the volume in such flows for storage. Enter the

Inland Feeder, whose engineering is widely admired.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tunnel20-2008aug20,0,194234.story?page=2

Canada:

It was a weekend of concerns over unnecessary death and pain, but also

of hope, praise and planning. And when the doors closed on the Keepers

of the River: Water is Boss conference, First Nations communities

united in an unprecedented move, preparing for a David and Goliath

fight in protecting their culture and traditional way of life. The

leaders of the more than 12 aboriginal communities represented

unanimously approved a resolution " to take all steps in our power to

protect our lands, sustain our communities and assert our rights. " The

resolution, to be passed on to government, outlined the leaders'

belief the pace of development in their territories is unsustainable

and " are deeply concerned that governments are permitting development

to proceed without our consent. " The leaders resolved to initiate

legal action to assert their rights, build unity in the communities,

and work in solidarity with organizations that support their goals.

When the resolution was read out, it was greeted with a standing

ovation from a diverse audience that included leaders, elders and

others from across Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and the N.W.T. —

further signalling the scope of unity. " There is going to be unified

resistance to industry and government about the way they proceed with

development throughout the whole region, " said Athabasca Chipewyan

First Nation Chief Allan Adam. " The First Nations have unified under

one common goal: to work hand in hand with the NGOs (non-government

organizations) and the general public to move forward on the basis

that water is the key element resources that sustains all life and we

have no other choice but to protect the water issue and further

destruction of the land that provides our well-being. "

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1163611

Georgia:

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide this fall whether to take

a petition filed by Georgia, which could validate an agreement with

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assuring this region's access to

water for 20 years. In a separate case, U.S. District Court Judge Paul

A. Magnuson in Florida wants by early next year to hear arguments over

whether metro Atlanta has the right to use Lake Lanier, which sits on

the Chattahoochee River, as its primary water supply. The right has

been assumed over the years: More than 3 million people get their

drinking water from the federal reservoir or the Chattahoochee just

below it. But its legal basis is contested by Alabama and Florida.

Attorneys for all three states say they can't predict the outcome, nor

can they say exactly what defeat could mean to this region. Certainly,

additional reservoirs are already coming. Aggressive water

conservation may also be required, even after the current drought

ends. Alabama, for one, is taking a hold-no-prisoners stance. " At

bottom, federal law governs the operation at Lake Lanier, and as much

as the Atlanta area views it as its private drinking water reservoir,

that is not what federal law says it was built to do, " said Matt

Lembke, a Birmingham attorney for the state of Alabama. " If Georgia

had spent the money to build the reservoir it would belong to Georgia,

but it was the federal taxpayers who built that reservoir. " He says

metro Atlanta would still be able to draw water from the lake and the

river below it when there's enough, but drinking water would no longer

dictate lake operations. That could make a drought like the one

Atlanta's experiencing a disaster.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/08/17/water_georgia.html?cxn\

tlid=homepage_tab_newstab

West-US:

Three pesticides commonly used on farms and orchards throughout the

West are jeopardizing the survival of Pacific salmon, the federal

agency in charge of saving the fish from extinction has found. Under

the settlement of a lawsuit brought by anti-pesticide groups and

salmon fishermen, NOAA Fisheries has issued a draft biological opinion

that found the way chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion are being used

now, they are get into salmon streams at levels high enough to kill

salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act. The chemicals

interfere with salmon's sense of smell, making it harder for them to

avoid predators, find food, and even find their native spawning

streams. Banned from many household uses, tens of millions of pounds

of the chemicals are still used throughout the range of Pacific salmon

on a wide range of fruits, vegetables, forage crops, cotton, fence

posts and livestock to control mosquitoes, flies, termites, boll

weevils and other pests, according to NOAA Fisheries. Jim Lecky, head

of the office of protected resources for NOAA Fisheries Service, said

from Silver Spring, Md., that they have until the court-imposed

deadline of Oct. 31 to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency to find new ways to safely use the chemicals. Lecky would not

speculate whether the pesticides might ultimately be banned, but

acknowledged that scientists have found that even with careful use

under current guidelines, the chemicals are finding their way into

streams at levels harmful to salmon. The chemicals are the first of 37

that NOAA Fisheries and EPA must evaluate by 2012 under terms of a

settlement reached last week in a lawsuit brought by Northwest

Coalition Against Pesticides and the Pacific Coast Federation of

Fishermen's Associations, which represents California commercial

salmon fishermen.

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/08/13/breaking_news/doc48a379be6f4a0825718102.t\

xt

France:

PARIS - The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services

will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of

ending privatisation of such services. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe

announced June 2 that the municipal administration would regain

control of all water services for the city, ending a private monopoly

that has lasted more than 100 years. The contracts with the world's

two biggest water service companies, Suez and Veolia, will not be

extended after Dec. 31, 2009. " We want to offer a better service, at a

better price, " Delanoe said. " We also promise that prices would be

stable. " Delanoe said his administration will encourage other

municipalities in the Ile de France region around Paris to end

privatisation of water services. " That France, once known as the

heartland of water privatisation, is embracing a return to public

management of water services, is a strong signal in this new

pattern, " . . . Is the Water Privatization Trend Ending? By Julio

Godoy, IPS News, posted on AlterNet June 30, 2008

World-wide:

" WATER is the oil of the 21st century, " declares Andrew Liveris, the

chief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Like oil, water is a

critical lubricant of the global economy. And as with oil, supplies of

water—at least, the clean, easily accessible sort—are coming under

enormous strain because of the growing global population and an

emerging middle-class in Asia that hankers for the water-intensive

life enjoyed by people in the West. Oil prices have fallen from their

recent peaks, but concerns about the availability of freshwater show

no sign of abating. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, estimates that

global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, which it calls an

" unsustainable " rate of growth. Water, unlike oil, has no substitute.

Climate change is altering the patterns of freshwater availability in

complex ways that can lead to more frequent and severe droughts.

Untrammelled industrialisation, particularly in poor countries, is

contaminating rivers and aquifers. America's generous subsidies for

biofuel have increased the harvest of water-intensive crops that are

now used for energy as well as food. And heavy subsidies for water in

most parts of the world mean it is often grossly underpriced—and hence

squandered.http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11966993

A recently released United Nations report reflects the severity of the

situation. The report predicted that around seven billion people in 60

countries could face water scarcity by the middle of this century and

in just 20 years, the average supply of water per person will drop by

one-third, affecting almost every nation and especially those already

on the economic edge. Nearly three out of ten people are experiencing

the real hardship of water scarcity. The experts pointed out that

parts of Middle East and north Africa are already classified as water

scarce regions and by 2025, large parts of India and China would join

this group. A large volume of fresh water has vanished from the

earth's surface due to mismanagement. In addition to the wastage of

water, humans are now vigorously engaged in using polluted water for

agricultural activities. It is found that China and Ghana mostly use

water mixed with human waste for irrigation, which leads to diseases

like diarrhoea. Now look at the tally: Diarrhoeal diseases kill more

than 1.4 million children a year or 5000 a day! In a country like

India, which in due time will beat China in terms of population, the

condition would be more severe.

http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?title=The%20war%20for%20water & articleID=1397\

37

August 30, 2008

Excellent, thank you very much!

Jill

- Deane Rimerman

redcloud

Thursday, August 28, 2008 8:21 PM

001 - Ellen’s Water News

001 - Ellen's Water NewsChina:THOUSANDS of Chinese farmers face ruin because their water has beencut off to guarantee supplies to the Olympics in Beijing, andofficials are now trying to cover up a grotesque scandal of blunders,lies and repression. In the capital, foreign dignitaries have admiredmillions of flowers in bloom and lush, well-watered greens around itsfamous sights. But just 90 minutes south by train, peasants arehacking at the dry earth as their crops wilt, their money runs out andthe work of generations gives way to despair, debt and, in a fewcases, suicide. In between these two Chinas stands a cordon ofroadblocks and hundreds of security agents deployed to make sure thatthe one never sees the other. The water scandal is a parable of whatcan happen when a demanding global event is awarded to a pooragricultural nation run by a dictatorship; and the irony is that noneof it has turned out to be necessary.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4597006.eceNew York:NEW YORK STATE — Saying the state is facing a looming waterinfrastructure crisis, Gov. David Paterson has formed a task force,called the New Clean Water Collaborative, to press the federalgovernment for funding to make needed repairs and upgrades. The statehas no shortage of water for drinking, recreation and other uses, butthat water is in danger of being contaminated because of decliningwastewater infrastructure, according to the state Department ofEnvironmental Conservation. According to the state, New Yorkcommunities will have to spend more than $50 billion over the next 20years to make needed repairs and upgrades, the result of a steepdecline in federal aid. The DEC estimates that repairs for municipalwastewater treatment systems will cost $36.2 billion, while repairsfor drinking water infrastructure could exceed $20 billion.http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/aug/24/0824_watercrisis/California:Even in the world of big-ticket water projects, where delays, costoverruns and controversy are frequent, the inelegantly named InlandFeeder Project was in a class of its own. In its two decades, theproject has faced fire, flood, regulatory disputes, difficult geology,grouting problems, earthquake considerations, a switch of contractorsand more. At one point it was $100 million over budget. The boss atthe Metropolitan Water District of Southern California jokes that theproject suffered everything but a plague of locusts. Still, the agencyinsisted it needed a higher-capacity system to bring water fromNorthern California to its massive reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake,outside Hemet. When the Inland Feeder is done, it will triple theexisting system's capability to move water to Diamond Valley. At itsmaximum, the new pipe could move enough water to fill an Olympic-sizedswimming pool in less than 30 seconds. A new project manager wasbrought in three years ago with a simple command: Failure is not anoption. And today, several years behind the original schedule, the$1.2-billion project will complete its last bit of tunneling: afour-mile stretch known as the Arrowhead West Tunnel in the SanBernardino Mountains. Officials will cheer as an 820-ton, 450-foottunnel boring machine punches through at Devil Canyon, near Cal StateSan Bernardino, where the California Aqueduct will eventually connect.Then it's all downhill, literally. Set for completion in 2010, the44-mile route includes 16 miles of tunneling in three sections and 28miles of underground piping that will empty into an already builtcanal. From there, it will travel 10 miles to Diamond Valley. The ideais this: In the future, water will arrive from the California Aqueductin fast bursts due to climate change and shifting snow patterns. Thesmooth, faucet-like flow will become more like blasts from a firehose. The current plumbing of the water district system is consideredinadequate to capture the volume in such flows for storage. Enter theInland Feeder, whose engineering is widely admired.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tunnel20-2008aug20,0,194234.story?page=2Canada:It was a weekend of concerns over unnecessary death and pain, but alsoof hope, praise and planning. And when the doors closed on the Keepersof the River: Water is Boss conference, First Nations communitiesunited in an unprecedented move, preparing for a David and Goliathfight in protecting their culture and traditional way of life. Theleaders of the more than 12 aboriginal communities representedunanimously approved a resolution "to take all steps in our power toprotect our lands, sustain our communities and assert our rights." Theresolution, to be passed on to government, outlined the leaders'belief the pace of development in their territories is unsustainableand "are deeply concerned that governments are permitting developmentto proceed without our consent." The leaders resolved to initiatelegal action to assert their rights, build unity in the communities,and work in solidarity with organizations that support their goals.When the resolution was read out, it was greeted with a standingovation from a diverse audience that included leaders, elders andothers from across Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and the N.W.T. —further signalling the scope of unity. "There is going to be unifiedresistance to industry and government about the way they proceed withdevelopment throughout the whole region," said Athabasca ChipewyanFirst Nation Chief Allan Adam. "The First Nations have unified underone common goal: to work hand in hand with the NGOs (non-governmentorganizations) and the general public to move forward on the basisthat water is the key element resources that sustains all life and wehave no other choice but to protect the water issue and furtherdestruction of the land that provides our well-being."http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1163611Georgia:The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide this fall whether to takea petition filed by Georgia, which could validate an agreement withthe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assuring this region's access towater for 20 years. In a separate case, U.S. District Court Judge PaulA. Magnuson in Florida wants by early next year to hear arguments overwhether metro Atlanta has the right to use Lake Lanier, which sits onthe Chattahoochee River, as its primary water supply. The right hasbeen assumed over the years: More than 3 million people get theirdrinking water from the federal reservoir or the Chattahoochee justbelow it. But its legal basis is contested by Alabama and Florida.Attorneys for all three states say they can't predict the outcome, norcan they say exactly what defeat could mean to this region. Certainly,additional reservoirs are already coming. Aggressive waterconservation may also be required, even after the current droughtends. Alabama, for one, is taking a hold-no-prisoners stance. "Atbottom, federal law governs the operation at Lake Lanier, and as muchas the Atlanta area views it as its private drinking water reservoir,that is not what federal law says it was built to do," said MattLembke, a Birmingham attorney for the state of Alabama. "If Georgiahad spent the money to build the reservoir it would belong to Georgia,but it was the federal taxpayers who built that reservoir." He saysmetro Atlanta would still be able to draw water from the lake and theriver below it when there's enough, but drinking water would no longerdictate lake operations. That could make a drought like the oneAtlanta's experiencing a disaster.http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/08/17/water_georgia.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstabWest-US:Three pesticides commonly used on farms and orchards throughout theWest are jeopardizing the survival of Pacific salmon, the federalagency in charge of saving the fish from extinction has found. Underthe settlement of a lawsuit brought by anti-pesticide groups andsalmon fishermen, NOAA Fisheries has issued a draft biological opinionthat found the way chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion are being usednow, they are get into salmon streams at levels high enough to killsalmon protected by the Endangered Species Act. The chemicalsinterfere with salmon's sense of smell, making it harder for them toavoid predators, find food, and even find their native spawningstreams. Banned from many household uses, tens of millions of poundsof the chemicals are still used throughout the range of Pacific salmonon a wide range of fruits, vegetables, forage crops, cotton, fenceposts and livestock to control mosquitoes, flies, termites, bollweevils and other pests, according to NOAA Fisheries. Jim Lecky, headof the office of protected resources for NOAA Fisheries Service, saidfrom Silver Spring, Md., that they have until the court-imposeddeadline of Oct. 31 to work with the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency to find new ways to safely use the chemicals. Lecky would notspeculate whether the pesticides might ultimately be banned, butacknowledged that scientists have found that even with careful useunder current guidelines, the chemicals are finding their way intostreams at levels harmful to salmon. The chemicals are the first of 37that NOAA Fisheries and EPA must evaluate by 2012 under terms of asettlement reached last week in a lawsuit brought by NorthwestCoalition Against Pesticides and the Pacific Coast Federation ofFishermen's Associations, which represents California commercialsalmon fishermen.http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/08/13/breaking_news/doc48a379be6f4a0825718102.txtFrance:PARIS - The announcement by the Paris municipality that water serviceswill return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend ofending privatisation of such services. Mayor Bertrand Delanoeannounced June 2 that the municipal administration would regaincontrol of all water services for the city, ending a private monopolythat has lasted more than 100 years. The contracts with the world'stwo biggest water service companies, Suez and Veolia, will not beextended after Dec. 31, 2009. "We want to offer a better service, at abetter price," Delanoe said. "We also promise that prices would bestable." Delanoe said his administration will encourage othermunicipalities in the Ile de France region around Paris to endprivatisation of water services. "That France, once known as theheartland of water privatisation, is embracing a return to publicmanagement of water services, is a strong signal in this newpattern,". . . Is the Water Privatization Trend Ending? By JulioGodoy, IPS News, posted on AlterNet June 30, 2008World-wide:"WATER is the oil of the 21st century," declares Andrew Liveris, thechief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Like oil, water is acritical lubricant of the global economy. And as with oil, supplies ofwater—at least, the clean, easily accessible sort—are coming underenormous strain because of the growing global population and anemerging middle-class in Asia that hankers for the water-intensivelife enjoyed by people in the West. Oil prices have fallen from theirrecent peaks, but concerns about the availability of freshwater showno sign of abating. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, estimates thatglobal water consumption is doubling every 20 years, which it calls an"unsustainable" rate of growth. Water, unlike oil, has no substitute.Climate change is altering the patterns of freshwater availability incomplex ways that can lead to more frequent and severe droughts.Untrammelled industrialisation, particularly in poor countries, iscontaminating rivers and aquifers. America's generous subsidies forbiofuel have increased the harvest of water-intensive crops that arenow used for energy as well as food. And heavy subsidies for water inmost parts of the world mean it is often grossly underpriced—and hencesquandered.http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11966993A recently released United Nations report reflects the severity of thesituation. The report predicted that around seven billion people in 60countries could face water scarcity by the middle of this century andin just 20 years, the average supply of water per person will drop byone-third, affecting almost every nation and especially those alreadyon the economic edge. Nearly three out of ten people are experiencingthe real hardship of water scarcity. The experts pointed out thatparts of Middle East and north Africa are already classified as waterscarce regions and by 2025, large parts of India and China would jointhis group. A large volume of fresh water has vanished from theearth's surface due to mismanagement. In addition to the wastage ofwater, humans are now vigorously engaged in using polluted water foragricultural activities. It is found that China and Ghana mostly usewater mixed with human waste for irrigation, which leads to diseaseslike diarrhoea. Now look at the tally: Diarrhoeal diseases kill morethan 1.4 million children a year or 5000 a day! In a country likeIndia, which in due time will beat China in terms of population, thecondition would be more severe.http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?title=The%20war%20for%20water & articleID=139737---