All Entries in the "Water" Category

Fresh water: Our ‘sea of diamonds’

Fresh water: Our ‘sea of diamonds’

This scarce resource — much of which resides in the Great Lakes — will be exploited if we lower our guard.

Minnesota has long been a national leader on conservation issues. One of the state’s most recent claims to environmental excellence is its role as the first of the eight Great Lakes states to ratify, in 2007, the Great Lakes Compact. Congress and former President George W. Bush signed off on the compact — sold to the public as the best hope of stopping water exports — last fall.

But the work of protecting the Great Lakes is just beginning. Efforts must continue on two fronts in order for Minnesota to remain a leader.

First, citizens and our congressional delegation must make a strong case for capturing a piece of the $475 million in Great Lakes restoration money proposed by President Obama in his 2010 budget. The money is the first significant federal investment proposed for the purpose of cleaning up toxic hot spots, restoring habitats and attacking invasive species. Although prior presidents and Congresses have been glib in calling the Great Lakes a national treasure, they haven’t been willing to defend them, even as the Florida Everglades and Chesapeake Bay benefited from substantial federal dollars.

via Fresh water: Our ‘sea of diamonds’.

Consumers Don’t Buy Water for Health Reasons

Consumers Don’t Buy Water for Health Reasons   | CommonDreams.org

NEW YORK – Many people seem to have a vague notion that bottled water is healthier than tap, but it is not a major reason that they buy it, a small study finds.

UK researchers found that among the 23 gym-goers they interviewed, many thought that bottled water was more “pure” and healthful than tap water. But they were hard-pressed to come up with any specific health benefits.

And when it came to their motivations for buying bottled water, health reasons were not at the top of the list. Instead, taste, convenience and cost were more important in study participants’ decisions to buy or not to buy, the researchers report in the online journal BMC Public Health.

Consumer demand for bottled water has been steadily rising over the past decade, and health concerns are often assumed to be a driving force, according to Lorna A. Ward and colleagues at the University of Birmingham.

However, their findings suggest that is not the case, the researchers say.

via Consumers Don’t Buy Water for Health Reasons | CommonDreams.org.

Thirst for Profit: Corporate Control of Water in Latin America

Thirst for Profit: Corporate Control of Water in Latin America   | CommonDreams.org

Water for Sale: What is called for is an international code for the public’s access to a guaranteed supply of water as a basic human right.

The Corporate Crusade to Commodify Water

Water has been characterized as the oil of the 21st century. Blue gold. It is essential to life, and yet humanity faces a growing water crisis as a result of severe mismanagement in water and sanitation, which will be exponentially exacerbated in the coming decades by population growth combined with declining resources. Latin America has the greatest income disparity in the world and the population’s access to water reflects this inequality. Over 130 million people living in the region do not have access to potable water in their homes, and sanitation is in even poorer condition, as it is estimated that only one in six persons has adequate sanitation services. According to the 2007 Annual Report from the nonprofit organization Water For People, “Every day, nearly 6,000 people who share our world die from water-related illnesses – more than 2 million each year – and the vast majority of these are children…There are more lives lost each year to water-related illnesses than to natural disasters and wars combined.” It is clear that lack of access to clean water is a serious issue, one that has only started to gain international attention from a variety of organizations in recent years.

via Thirst for Profit: Corporate Control of Water in Latin America | CommonDreams.org.

USA, Canada to Modernize Great Lakes Water Quality Pact

USA, Canada to Modernize Great Lakes Water Quality Pact  | CommonDreams.org

NIAGARA FALLS, New York, June 15, 2009 (ENS) – The United States and Canada have agreed to update the 37-year-old Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that commits both countries “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon met Saturday at the Rainbow Bridge that connects the two countries to announce their intention to modernize the agreement.

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement addresses threats to water quality in the Great Lakes and in the portion of the St. Lawrence River that straddles the Canada-U.S. border.

“We have to update it to reflect new knowledge, new technologies and, unfortunately, new threats,” Secretary Clinton said.

When the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was first signed in 1972, the major issue was phosphorus over-enrichment. The agreement was updated in 1978, when the major issue was ridding the Great Lakes of persistent toxic substances.

via USA, Canada to Modernize Great Lakes Water Quality Pact | CommonDreams.org.

Water Risks Ripple Through the Beverage Industry

Water Risks Ripple Through the Beverage Industry  | CommonDreams.org 

NEW YORK – At New York’s Del Posto, diners can share a $130 entree of wild branzino fish with roasted fennel and peperonata concentrato and a $3,600 bottle of Dom Perignon. They cannot share a bottle of Perrier or San Pellegrino water.

The Italian restaurant backed by celebrities Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich is one of several shunning bottled water, along with the city of San Francisco and New York state.

“The argument for local water is compelling and obvious,” said Bastianich, who is phasing out bottled water across his restaurant empire, which stretches to Los Angeles.

“It’s about transportation, packaging, the absurdity of moving water all over the world,” he said.

via Water Risks Ripple Through the Beverage Industry | CommonDreams.org.

California’s Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country’s Food Supply

California’s Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country’s Food Supply

Nearly a third of the country’s food supply comes from California, but drought there may be a catastrophe for farmers — and the rest of us.

What a difference an administration makes. Samuel Bodman, the previous secretary of energy under the Bush administration, spent his short term stumping for nuclear power plant construction, polluting the hell out of the Earth, profiting off global warming and trying to significantly downplay America’s singular role in greenhouse-gas emissions.

The new one? Well, he’s a doom prophet with a Ph.D.

“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California. I don’t actually see how they can keep their cities going,” Steven Chu told the Los Angeles Times in February, shortly after taking office in January. “I’m hoping that the American people will wake up,” he added, just in case there was any confusion about the gravity of the situation.

That kind of apocalyptic foresight has made Chu a breath of fresh, dystopian air. For eight nearly insufferable years, the American public has had no shortage of political tools telling it everything is going to be all right, that the United States is the greatest country in the world, that reports of our impending environmental devastation have been greatly exaggerated, and so on. By contrast, Steven Chu is a Cassandra on a mission from reality. But few, especially in the state he singled out, feel like buying what he is selling.

via California’s Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country’s Food Supply | Water | AlterNet.

Tap Water Worries Have You Buying Bottled? Safeway Loves You

Tap Water Worries Have You Buying Bottled? Safeway Loves You   | CommonDreams.org

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. – Wells are drying up across the county from an overtaxed and sinking water table.

Drought and climate change threaten the future of local water supplies.

And Merced has been selling its tap water since 2002 to a water bottling plant, which then sells that water at rates far above what it costs the plant to buy it from the city.

The Safeway Inc.’s water bottling plant in Merced — one of the top five commercial/industrial water users in the city, which bottles Safeway’s in-house purified and spring water brand Refreshe — uses roughly 50,000 gallons a day, five days a week, for its bottling operation.

The plant, which provides most Refreshe drinking and spring water to Safeway stores in the state, filters city water, puts it in bottles and sells it as purified water. The bottles note that the water was bottled in Merced, but not that it was pumped out of the ground by the city. (Refreshe spring water is shipped in from a spring and then bottled in Merced.)

via Tap Water Worries Have You Buying Bottled? Safeway Loves You | CommonDreams.org.

Toxic Hudson River Sediment Could Poison Texas Aquifer

Toxic Hudson River Sediment Could Poison Texas Aquifer

FORT EDWARD, New York, May 19, 2009 (ENS) – The long awaited dredging of the Upper Hudson River to remove sediment contaminated by PCBs from a General Electric factory began Friday near Roger’s Island in Fort Edward.

The six-year dredging project will be conducted by General Electric under the terms of a November 2006 consent decree. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will oversee all aspects of the work; dredging will continue through October 2009, weather permitting.

This first phase of the dredging project will be conducted 24 hours a day, six days a week and aims to remove 265,000 cubic yards of sediment and 20,300 kilograms of PCBs from a six-mile stretch of the river between Roger’s Island and Thompson Island.

via Toxic Hudson River Sediment Could Poison Texas Aquifer.

Dramatic increases in water bills expected globally, including South Florida

OPS:   How about eliminating #3 entirely by replacing engineered grasses with plants native to your area. Lush green lawns are an unnecessary expense in time and pollution as well as a waste of water. If you’re going to water something, make it something you can eat.

Dramatic increases in water bills expected globally, including South Florida

Inflation, drought, new taxes, and expensive water projects are among the drivers of higher water bills expected around the world, despite the squeeze already on consumers as a result of the recession. Locally, customers could be facing water bill increases of up to 40% in the following South Florida cities: Plantation, Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Weston, and parts of Davie. Other local cities that could face higher water bills include Boynton Beach, Cooper City, Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Lake Worth, Miramar, and parts of Pembroke Pines.

Other areas of the United States are also preparing for high increases. The City of Camarillo in South California is facing a staggering increase of 70% in their water bill by 2011. In West Virginia, the City of Fairmont requested a 49% increase. Furthermore, landlords around the country are being strained by rental contracts that include water in the monthly rental fees while water prices continue to climb.

Overseas, consumers in Victoria, Australia, are preparing for their water bills to jump as much as 60% over the next three years. And in the UK, churches and community groups are bracing for a whopping 4000% increase in their water bills as a result of a new tax.

If you’re not already conserving water for ecological, scientific, or spiritual reasons, then you might consider saving water now for financial reasons! Here are five cheap, easy things you can do to make a huge difference:

via Miami Interfaith Spirituality Examiner: Dramatic increases in water bills expected globally, including South Florida.

Water Infrastructure Financing Act Benefits Corporations 
at the Expense of Taxpayers


Water Infrastructure Financing Act Benefits Corporations 
at the Expense of Taxpayers
 | CommonDreams.org

Statement of Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter

WASHINGTON – May 14 – “Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved S.1005, the Water Infrastructure Financing Act. The bill contains language that would, for the first time, allow private wastewater utilities access to funding from the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF). This proposed change to the law would essentially allow private wastewater utilities to benefit from public funding. The burden of this modification, however, would ultimately fall on consumers, because private wastewater utilities charge customers as much as 80% more than do their public counterparts. Under this bill, consumers would be left to subsidize these utilities through both taxes and higher user rates.

“Privatization is not an efficient means of rejuvenating ailing wastewater systems. From high costs and inefficiency to unaccountable and irresponsible operators, a deluge of problems has swamped communities that have turned their wastewater systems over to the private sector. This is because corporations prioritize earnings over quality and stockholders over consumers. They seek returns by cutting corners and hiking rates, and further pad investor pockets by downsizing workforces and stripping away worker benefits. Inflated prices, higher household bills and lost jobs are the last thing families need in these challenging economic times.

“Congress should reject language in the Water Infrastructure Financing Act that subsidizes and incentivizes such corporate abuse. If taxpayers front the money for these programs, they should be the primary beneficiaries.”

via Water Infrastructure Financing Act Benefits Corporations 
at the Expense of Taxpayers
 | CommonDreams.org.

Coal ash is damaging water, health in 34 states, groups say

Coal ash is damaging water, health in 34 states, groups say

WASHINGTON — People in 34 states who live near 210 coal ash lagoons or landfills with inadequate lining have a higher risk of cancer and other diseases from contaminants in their drinking water, two environmental groups reported on Thursday.

Twenty-one states have five or more of the high-risk disposal sites near coal-fired power plants. The groups — the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice — said that a 2002 Environmental Protection Agency document that the agency didn’t release until March of this year adds information about toxic releases from these facilities to nearby water systems and data on how some contaminants accumulate in fish and deer and can harm the health of people who hunt and fish.

The report said that people who live near the most problematic disposal sites have as much as a 1-in-50 chance of getting cancer from drinking water contaminated by arsenic. The highest risk is for people who live near ash ponds with no liners and who get their water from wells.

The report said the ash ponds also produced an increased risk of damage to the liver and other organs from exposure to such metals as cadmium, cobalt and lead, and other pollutants.

Although the health information mainly came from an EPA study released in August 2007, the information was largely neglected and was too technical for most people to understand, the groups said. The report and a chart of the sites “takes the numbers and fleshes them out so the most dangerous units are identified,” said Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice.

via Coal ash is damaging water, health in 34 states, groups say | McClatchy.

Are Policy Makers Exacerbating Drought Scares? That’s What It Looks Like in California

Are Policy Makers Exacerbating Drought Scares? That’s What It Looks Like in California

Like much of the West, the state has serious water issues, but Mother Nature is only partly to blame.

Take shorter showers, wash only full loads of laundry, sweep instead of hose your driveway.

These are the messages that Californians are getting as part of the state’s new “Save Our Water” campaign. Just weeks ago, 19 million Southern Californians were told they would be seeing mandatory restrictions, and at the same time, thousands of farmworkers marched to protest water cuts in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley in the central part of the state.

All this seems to fit with a February proclamation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that California is facing a drought emergency that director of the Department of Water Resources Lester Snow compared at one point this winter to the worst drought in modern history of the state.

But not everyone is convinced about how dire the situation is and why. In a controversial story in the Stockton Record, columnist Michael Fitzgerald wrote, “California’s ‘drought’ is overblown. The alarmists calling it a historic disaster are trying to pull a fast one.”

via Are Policy Makers Exacerbating Drought Scares? That’s What It Looks Like in California | Water | AlterNet.

Mass. awards $986 million for clean water projects

Mass. awards $986 million for clean water projects

BOSTON (Map, News) – Massachusetts is awarding more than $986 million in loans for improvements to drinking water and waste water projects.

Gov. Deval Patrick announced Friday that 127 infrastructure projects throughout the state will receive the funding.

New projects include $64 million for a wastewater treatment plant upgrade in Westborough and more than $55 million for collection system and other improvements in Chatham.

The money comes from the state revolving fund program and stimulus money. Massachusetts is receiving $133 million for clean water projects and $52 million available for drinking water projects.

via Mass. awards $986 million for clean water projects – Examiner.com.

Corporate Think Tank Dives into Water Policy

Corporate Think Tank Dives into Water Policy

In May 2008, the major law firm Hunton & Williams launched the Water Policy Institute (WPI), a think tank-esque, industry-supported consortium formed “to address water supply, quality and use issues,” according to its website.

After the initial flurry of press releases, WPI appeared to languish. Then, ten months after its formation, WPI issued its first white paper. “Water Wars: Conflicts Over Shared Waters” (pdf) focuses on two river basins in the Southeastern United States. The paper urges the states involved — Georgia, Florida and Alabama — to put aside litigation and work with federal mediators to reach an agreement on water allocation. It also supports further study of seasonal water use, ecological issues and efficiency measures.

The white paper’s conclusions seem reasonable, even obvious. So much so that it’s unclear why Hunton & Williams felt the need to recruit major public relations and corporate powerhouses when forming WPI — and what they, and the law firm, get out of the effort.

What is clear is that WPI, Hunton & Williams and their corporate allies have a long history of siding with (or being) polluters and attempting to undermine water quality safeguards. It seems reasonable, therefore, to worry that whatever WPI is up to, it’s likely to do more harm than good.

via Corporate Think Tank Dives into Water Policy | CommonDreams.org.

Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water?

Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water?

Tap water wins again and again and again and again.

We all know that bottled water has a larger carbon footprint than tap water. Those bottled water people have to harvest water, construct a plastic bottle for it, ship it the water to the bottles or the bottles to the water. Then they have to transfer the products to stores, refrigerate a percentage of the bottles and then consumers have to drive to store and get the bottled water. It’s a mess, a mess I tell you.

Is Bottled Water Less Polluted?

No.

According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, bottled water is just as polluted as a tap water. In fact, twenty percent of bottled water has more chlorine than California’s state regulations will allow in tap water.

We should stop polluting our water. That’s what we should really learn from this.

Is Bottled Water Subjected to Higher Health Standards than Bottled Water?

Nope.

via Which is Healthier: Tap Water or Bottled Water? : Planet Green.

West Is Told to Expect Water Shortfalls

West Is Told to Expect Water Shortfalls

The Colorado River is a critical source of water for seven Western states, each of which gets an annual allotment according to a system that has sparked conflict and controversy for decades. But in an era of climate change, even greater difficulties loom.

The scope of those potential problems is detailed in a study being published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Tim P. Barnett and David W. Pierce of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography report that under various forecasts of the effects of warming temperatures on runoff into the Colorado, scheduled future water deliveries to the seven states are not sustainable.

The work builds on an earlier study by the researchers that looked at whether Lake Mead, the huge reservoir behind Hoover Dam, would eventually go dry. For the current study, they tweaked their model of river inflows and outflows and looked at the delivery shortfalls that would be needed to keep Lake Mead at the lowest functioning level. The modifications in the model “didn’t really change any of our answers,” Dr. Barnett said. “It just made the study a lot stronger.”

via Observatory – West Is Told to Expect Water Shortfalls – NYTimes.com.

Poison in the well

Poison in the well

Crestwood officials cut corners and supplied residents with tainted water for 2 decades

Like every town across the nation, south suburban Crestwood tucks a notice into utility bills each summer reassuring residents their drinking water is safe. Village leaders also trumpet the claim in their monthly newsletter, while boasting they offer the cheapest water rates in Cook County.

But those pronouncements hide a troubling reality: For more than two decades, the 11,000 or so residents in this working-class community unknowingly drank tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, a Tribune investigation found.

As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was “Good to taste but not to waste!,” state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money.

Officials kept using the well even though state environmental officials told them at least 22 years ago that dangerous chemicals related to a dry-cleaning solvent had oozed into the water, records show.

via Poison in the well — chicagotribune.com.

US Water Contaminated By Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals, Consumers

US Water Contaminated By Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals,

Consumers

U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water _ contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.

Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.

Federal and industry officials say they don’t know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them _ as drugs. But a close analysis of 20 years of federal records found that, in fact, the government unintentionally keeps data on a few, allowing a glimpse of the pharmaceuticals coming from factories.

via US Water Contaminated By Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals, Consumers.

Cap-and-Trade for Water: A Bad Idea for People and the Planet

Cap-and-Trade for Water: A Bad Idea for People and the Planet

Statement from Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch Executive Director, and Maude Barlow, Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the UN General Assembly

WASHINGTON – April 16 – “Yesterday, the CEO of Climate Exchange PLC trotted out the incredibly bad idea to, essentially, apply the flawed model of carbon cap-and-trade markets to water. The head of the UK-based company that made millions of dollars last year from its business facilitating carbon trading wants to take this scheme that has failed to reduce emissions of climate changing carbon gas and apply it to water extraction rights from the Great Lakes, according to an interview titled, ‘Water cap and trade,’ posted yesterday on Global Dashboard: Notes from the Future.

“Trading the right to emit carbon in one location so that emissions will be reduced in another location has been tried in Europe and failed. Governments and industries there have found ways around the system in order to hand out emissions permits, according to the April 13, 2009 edition of U.S. News and World Report. It’s left consumers paying more for energy – 25 percent more for electricity in Germany – while carbon emissions have increased. In short, it’s meant money for the energy corporations and carbon traders, but nothing more than a lump of coal for consumers and the environment.

“Despite that, the head of Climate Exchange PLC supports the possibility of capping rights to extract water from the Great Lakes and then selling those rights to the highest bidder, be they in Asia, the Middle East or elsewhere in the United States.

“This amounts to taking water, which belongs to everyone and to no one, and trading it away. In short, it commodifies water.

“This notion of a sort of cap-and-trade system for water rights to decrease water use is even more far-fetched than buying and selling carbon emission permits to reduce pollution and slow down climate change. It’s a form of bluewashing that industry has cooked up to look like environmental stewards. Nationally and internationally, all the businesses that use water, particularly giant food and beverage corporations, can never be water neutral because they can’t use zero water. In other words, their voluminous water extraction in one place can’t be offset somewhere else because other companies are using water in those other places.

“Research shows that withdrawing too much water from a single watershed can have myriad effects. According to a recent report by the U.S.-based Groundwater Protection Council, withdrawing too much ground water can dry up wells, springs and wetlands, and reduce stream flows and lake levels.

“Water is a human right, not a corporate commodity. The idea that it can or should be bought, sold or traded away to the highest bidder must be stopped.”

via Cap-and-Trade for Water: A Bad Idea for People and the Planet | CommonDreams.org.

Across the United States, Waters in Crisis

Across the United States, Waters in Crisis

WASHINGTON – Over the last years, up to 60 percent of lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources across the United States have lost crucial environmental protections at the hands of polluters, developers, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Without immediate action in Congress, a generation of progress in cleaning up our nation’s waters may be lost,” says a new report by seven U.S.-based environmental advocacy groups.

“When Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, our [U.S.] waters were in dire shape,” states the report, “Courting Disaster: How the Supreme Court Has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix It” [pdf]. “The Cuyahoga River had caught fire several times, Lake Erie was all but devoid of life, oil spills commonly occurred on our coasts, and industrial polluters treated rivers and lakes as open sewers.” For almost 30 years, however, broad application of the Clean Water Act led to a significant clean up of U.S. waters and a notable slowing of wetland loss. But beginning in 2001, a series of Supreme Court and government agency rulings derided critical regulations, inciting environmental groups to now demand immediate action from lawmakers.

via Across the United States, Waters in Crisis | CommonDreams.org.

The Consequences of ‘Drill, Baby Drill’: More Than 90 Oil Spills a Day in the U.S.

The Consequences of ‘Drill, Baby Drill’: More Than 90 Oil Spills a Day in the U.S.

And that’s just the fraction of reported spills. While big tanker disasters make the headlines, the daily toll of the oil industry is huge.

The 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska on March 24 got much attention, including reports that significant oil still pollutes the area and many fish and animal species and the Alaska Native economies that relied on them have still not recovered.

Meanwhile, the captain of the Cosco Busan oil tanker which slammed into San Francisco’s Bay Bridge and caused a major spill in November 2007 is currently on trial.

Such dramatic tanker accidents are what normally come to mind when people think of oil spills. But oil spills and ongoing leaks from pipelines, platforms, storage tanks and other infrastructure are actually a daily occurrence in Alaska, the Gulf Coast, California and other parts of the U.S.

Companies are rarely punished for such occurrences, yet these sources of contamination create serious and ongoing public health and environmental problems that communities are often left to deal with on their own. These spills happen from rigs, pipelines and infrastructure both on land and offshore, with the most serious health and environmental consequences coming when oil and related contaminants pollute waterways or seep into groundwater.

via The Consequences of ‘Drill, Baby Drill’: More Than 90 Oil Spills a Day in the U.S. | Water | AlterNet.

The Latest Absurdity in the Fight to Conserve Water: Making Rainwater Harvesting Illegal

The Latest Absurdity in the Fight to Conserve Water: Making Rainwater Harvesting Illegal

Absurd laws are challenging the collection in some states, while others are embracing the practice.

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described the latest absurdity in the never-ending search to quench the thirst for water: ownership of rainwater and, more precisely, the illegality of rainwater harvesting.  Residents and communities in parts of Colorado are turning to this ancient practice of collecting and storing rain to fulfill their domestic water needs, including flushing toilets and watering lawns.  Using this “grey” water, as it is called, relieves pressure on water resources and can be extremely efficient.

Many long-time water users, however, object to the practice.

These so-called water buffaloes argue that people who collect rainwater are taking away from their water by collecting the water before it has a chance to flow into a river from which they obtain water.  Effectively, they argue, the rainwater belongs to them – they own the rain that falls from the sky as part of their water allocation, even though 97 percent of the rainfall that falls on soil does not reach a river.   The bad news?  The law in Colorado stands behind those water buffaloes.

via The Latest Absurdity in the Fight to Conserve Water: Making Rainwater Harvesting Illegal | Water | AlterNet.

Bioethanol’s Impact On Water Supply Three Times Higher Than Once Thought

Bioethanol’s Impact On Water Supply Three Times Higher Than Once Thought

ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2009) — At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol — often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future — may consume up to three times more water than previously thought.

Sangwon Suh and colleagues point out in the new study that annual bioethanol production in the U.S. is currently about 9 billion gallons and note that experts expect it to increase in the near future. The growing demand for bioethanol, particularly corn-based ethanol, has sparked significant concerns among researchers about its impact on water availability. Previous studies estimated that a gallon of corn-based bioethanol requires the use of 263 to 784 gallons of water from the farm to the fuel pump. But these estimates failed to account for widely varied regional irrigation practices, the scientists say.

The scientists made a new estimate of bioethanol’s impact on the water supply using detailed irrigation data from 41 states. They found that bioethanol’s water requirements can be as high as 861 billion gallons of water from the corn field to the fuel pump in 2007. And a gallon of ethanol may require up to over 2,100 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump, depending on the regional irrigation practice in growing corn.

via Bioethanol’s Impact On Water Supply Three Times Higher Than Once Thought.

Cuyahoga River Fire Galvanized Clean Water and the Environment as a Public Issue

Cuyahoga River Fire Galvanized Clean Water and the Environment as a Public Issue  – by Michael Scott

Environmentalists observing 2009 as “The Year of the River” are celebrating the remarkable return to health of the Cuyahoga River over the last four decades.

But before there was a Cuyahoga comeback, the Cuyahoga was a catalyst.

When the oily, murky and sluggish waterway caught fire in June 1969, it not only caught the attention of a previously indifferent industrial nation — it also ignited an already smoldering ecological movement.

That movement toward environmental responsibility included the first Earth Day and passage of the federal Clean Water Act of 1972, still the most influential water improvement measure on the books.

“The fire did contribute a huge amount to the new environmental movement and it put the issue in front of everyone else, too,” said Jonathan Adler, environmental historian and law professor at Case Western Reserve University. “Water pollution became a tangible, vivid thing — like it had never been on a national level.

“There was a sense of crisis at that point. It was: Oh, my God — rivers are catching on fire.’ ”

via Cuyahoga River Fire Galvanized Clean Water and the Environment as a Public Issue | CommonDreams.org.

CDC covered up high lead levels in D.C.

CDC covered up high lead levels in D.C.

Eight years ago, engineers and officials in Washington, D.C. decided to give the go-ahead for a program that would eliminate the “potentially carcinogenic by-products” of chlorine in tap water. The program replaced chlorination with chloramination, and it worked. However, in the next three years, hundreds of families with homes fitted with lead pipes in the District of Columbia were exposed to dangerously high lead levels. Unknown to scientists at the time, the chlorine in tap water served as a ‘binder’ for the lead pipes, keeping a certain amount of lead from dissolving in the water. In 2004, the chlorination method was restored. Still, in the first half of that year, 74 out of 108 household taps sampled had lead concentrations above the “EPA action level,” some astronomically so.

Numerous studies confirm that very low levels of lead in blood are linked to short attention spans and reading problems in children. In adults, low levels are linked to high blood pressure and an increased risk of death from heart disease and stroke. If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from brain and nervous system damage, stunted growth, and hearing problems.

via The Raw Story | CDC covered up high lead levels in D.C..

Nestle Asked to Stop Fooling With Community Water Supplies

Nestle Asked to Stop Fooling With Community Water Supplies

Continued Disputes Foreshadow Shareholder Season

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2009

Contacts:

• * Sara Joseph, 617-447-2527
• * Arlene Kanno, 608-253-7266
• * Terry Swier, 231-972-8856
• * Debra Anderson, 530-964-2488
• * Anne Wentworth, 207-793-2633

BOSTON – In the lead-up to Nestlé’s annual shareholders’ meeting this April 23rd, a storm is gathering around the business practices of the world’s largest water bottler. Communities across the country have long been engaged in struggles with the bottling giant over control of local water resources. Now many of these struggles are coming to a head and a national campaign called Think Outside the Bottle is using April Fools Day to call on the corporation to, “stop fooling with community water supplies.”

“For years Nestlé employed a range of tactics to wrest water rights from rural communities and downstream users, keeping its abuses out of sight and out of mind to the public,” said Deborah Lapidus, campaigns director for Corporate Accountability International. “Well, affected communities have now made it clear there is a pattern that needs to stop.”

To begin bottling in communities, Nestlé has been engaged in everything from costly public relations campaigns and legal challenges to backroom deals for water rights. For example:

Public relations to pump. This year, several Maine communities passed ordinances to protect community water rights. Their victory was significant, given that just a few years earlier, Nestlé pumped more than $200,000 to front groups that successfully attacked and defeated similar, statewide measures in the media.

Draining community resources in more ways than one. When communities in Michigan challenged Nestlé’s right to drain hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every day, the corporation waged a drawn out court battle to maintain its access to water. The protracted legal struggle has burdened community members with costly legal fees , exhausting the community’s resources to challenge water withdrawals.

via Nestle Asked to Stop Fooling With Community Water Supplies | Corporate Accountability International.

Don’t Flush an Energy Opportunity

Water and Energy: How Congress Can Solve Two Problems at Once

Don’t Flush an Energy Opportunity

Congress now has several opportunities to further our understanding of the nexus between water and energy use and to promote water conservation efforts that can also achieve significant energy savings. A recently introduced energy and water bill combined with financial incentives in the omnibus energy bill due later this year could help the entire country enjoy the savings some states are already seeing from reductions in water use–with a potential for job creation through water-efficient home retrofits.

In California, Santa Clara County’s experience underscores this important but often overlooked link. Beginning in the early 1990s, the Santa Clara Valley Water District got serious about water conservation. The district, which serves some 1.8 million residents and includes Silicon Valley and the city of San Jose, developed programs that encouraged residents, businesses, industries, and agricultural producers to use water more efficiently.

The results have been impressive: a savings of 370,000 acre-feet of water in 13 years. (A typical household uses one acre-foot of water per year).

But perhaps even more significant have been the energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions: 1.42 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and 335 million kg of carbon dioxide, which is equal to taking 72,000 cars off the road for a year.

via Climate Progress » Blog Archive » Don’t Flush an Energy Opportunity.

Retreat of Andean Glaciers Foretells Global Water Woes by Carolyn Kormann: Yale Environment 360

Retreat of Andean Glaciers Foretells Global Water Woes

Bolivia accounts for a tiny fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions. But it will soon be paying a disproportionately high price for a major consequence of global warming: the rapid loss of glaciers and a subsequent decline in vital water supplies.

by carolyn kormann

Earlier this year, the World Bank released yet another in a seemingly endless stream of reports by global institutions and universities chronicling the melting of the world’s cryosphere, or ice zone. This latest report concerned the glaciers in the Andes and revealed the following: Bolivia’s famed Chacaltaya glacier has lost 80 percent of its surface area since 1982, and Peruvian glaciers have lost more than one-fifth of their mass in the past 35 years, reducing by 12 percent the water flow to the country’s coastal region, home to 60 percent of Peru’s population.

And if warming trends continue, the study concluded, many of the Andes’ tropical glaciers will disappear within 20 years, not only threatening the water supplies of 77 million people in the region, but also reducing hydropower production, which accounts for roughly half of the electricity generated in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.

via Retreat of Andean Glaciers Foretells Global Water Woes by Carolyn Kormann: Yale Environment 360.

Water cut off in Mexican capital

OPS:  Who’s next? LA?  Las Vegas?  Phoenix? Tucson? Albuquerque?

Water cut off in Mexican capital

Some of the city’s residents depend on weekly water rations

Mexico City officials have shut down a main pipeline providing fresh water to millions of residents because reserves have fallen to record low levels.

The closure, due to last 36 hours, will affect five million people, or a quarter of the city’s population.

Unusually low rainfall last year and major leakage are blamed for leaving reservoirs less than half full.

Hundreds of water trucks have been deployed in the areas worst affected by the cuts.

The local government says it will carry out emergency repairs to the water supply network.

More than 50% of the water carried by the pipeline leaks out before it reaches its destination.

This is the third time the capital has faced such a drastic form of water rationing this year, the BBC’s Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City reports.

via BBC NEWS | Americas | Country profiles | Water cut off in Mexican capital.

Mercury mystery in state waters

Mercury mystery in state waters

Fish species aren’t equally affected by the heavy metal. And some lakes feel it more.

On an early spring morning, Robert Gong cast his line into Carter Lake even though he knew of the toxic danger beneath the surface.

The idyllic scene — calm, slate-blue waters fringed by evergreens and snow — belied the problem: a build-up of dangerous mercury in the reservoir’s walleye.

The problem isn’t limited to the Larimer County reservoir. About 20 percent of the Colorado lakes and reservoirs that have been tested by the state contain mercury-tainted fish.

“It seems it’s everywhere,” said Gong, a Loveland resident. “It scares some people, and some say they eat the fish anyway. Me, I catch and release. I’m not eating those fish.”

The heavy metal, however, isn’t found in fish in all lakes or all species in tainted lakes — a phenomenon in Colorado and in other parts of the country.

So scientists are now trying to unravel the mystery of why it pops up in Carter Lake walleye, but not those in Chatfield Reservoir.

“We’ve got some very hot fish in some, but not in all our reservoirs,” said Nicole Vieira, a state Division of Wildlife aquatic toxicologist.

via Mercury mystery in state waters – The Denver Post.

Impending water shortages spell unforeseen financial losses

OPS:  Another good reason to move to Industrial Hemp

Impending water shortages spell unforeseen financial losses

Dwindling water sources in a warming climate may leave businesses dry.

Example: Cotton clothes will be harder to make as water resources shrink with climate change.

As the climate continues to change, water shortages will hit all industries hard, warns a new report from the nonprofit water research group Pacific Institute. Commissioned by Ceres, an investor network group, and published at the end of February, the report also tells businesses—and their customers and investors—what to measure to prepare for the inevitable droughts, shortages, and polluted water resources.

Although many of these impacts have been forecast in the past decade, Pacific Institute reports that most businesses are not thinking about looming water problems. Using information from 120 companies in eight industrial sectors covering food, clothing, pharmaceuticals, mining, energy, and more, the authors used a risk framework to calculate the industries’ “water footprints”.

via Impending water shortages spell unforeseen financial losses – Environmental Science & Technology (ACS Publications).

10-Year Study Uncovers Toxic Aspects of Water Purification

10-Year Study Uncovers Toxic Aspects of DBPs

via Global Pollution and Prevention News: ENN — Know Your Environment.

Fixing Our Water Crisis Can’t Be Done by the Corporations that Are Exacerbating It

Fixing Our Water Crisis Can’t Be Done by the Corporations that Are Exacerbating It

If we learned anything from the World Water Forum it should be that the privatization model has failed and a grassroots movement is needed.

In fact, none of these is the main story, because the World Water Forum itself is no longer the main story. The World Bank has spent 200 million dollars over fifteen years on privatization policies — the same policies promoted by the World Water Council — and by their own admission, these policies have failed.

Two of the world’s largest private water operators, Suez and Veolia, the major shareholders of the World Water Council, have received the lion’s share of World Bank investments in water and sanitation, and, in their pursuit of full cost recovery around the world, have raised water tariffs and delivered poor service from Atlanta to Argentina.

During the same years that these companies aggressively promoted private sector investment, public financing for water hit an all-time low, leaving millions high and dry. The development model that promotes infinite growth on a finite resource base, that has constructed large dams on 60 percent of the world’s rivers and displaced upwards of 40 million people, that has shifted massive amounts of natural resources from the “developing countries” to the “developed countries,” is, of necessity, coming to a crashing end. As Oscar Olivera, trade unionist and spokesman for the Bolivian Coordinadora del Agua y La Vida said, “What we are talking about today is a challenge to a whole concept of development, and to the imposition of structures that deny our rights and control our access to basic resources.”

via Fixing Our Water Crisis Can’t Be Done by the Corporations that Are Exacerbating It | Water | AlterNet.

Tennessee’s Dirty Data

Tennessee’s Dirty Data  – By Kelly Hearn

The Tennessee Valley Authority manipulated science methods to downplay water contamination caused by a massive coal ash disaster, according to independent technical experts and critics of the federally funded electrical company.

The TVA is the largest public provider of electricity in the nation, providing power to 670,000 homes and burning through some 14,000 tons of coal per day. On December 22 the authority made headlines when one of its retention ponds collapsed, letting loose an avalanche of coal ash–the toxic residue left over when coal is burned. More than 5 million cubic yards of ashy mud pushed its way through a neighborhood and into Tennessee’s Emory River, knocked houses off foundations and blanketed river water with plumes of gray scum that flowed downstream.

New evidence indicates that in the wake of the disaster, the TVA may have intentionally collected water samples from clean spots in the Emory River, a major supplier of drinking water for nearby cities and a popular site for recreational activities such as swimming and fishing. Third-party tests have found high levels of toxins in the river water and in private wells, while the TVA has assured residents that tap water, well water and river water are safe.

Contrary Data

In the days after the spill, the TVA assured the public that the coal ash was “inert material.” But soon questions emerged about the chemistry of the ash, particularly the presence of toxic elements like selenium and arsenic. Scientists said the toxins were dissolving unseen into the Emory, which feeds into two other rivers–the Tennessee and the Clinch–and supplies municipal water treatment plants.

via Tennessee’s Dirty Data.

Catching rain water is against the law

Catching rain water is against the law – By John Hollenhorst

Who owns the rain? Not you, it turns out. You’re actually breaking the law if you capture the rain falling on your roof and pour it on your flower bed! A prominent Utah car dealer found that out when he tried to do something good for the environment.

Rebecca Nelson captures rainwater in a barrel, and she pours it on her plants. “We can fill up a barrel in one rainstorm. And so it seems a waste to just let it fall into the gravel,” she said.

Car dealer Mark Miller wanted to do pretty much the same thing on a bigger scale. He collects rainwater on the roof of his new building, stores it in a cistern and hopes to clean cars with it in a new, water-efficient car wash. But without a valid water right, state officials say he can’t legally divert rainwater. “I was surprised. We thought it was our water,” Miller said.

State officials say it’s an old legal concept to protect people who do have water rights. Boyd Clayton, the deputy state engineer, said, “Obviously if you use the water upstream, it won’t be there for the person to use it downstream.”

“Utah’s the second driest state in the nation. Our water laws ought to catch up with that,” Miller says.

So what about the little guy, watering with rainwater at home? Will anybody do anything about that violation of the law? Clayton said, “If she really does that, then she ought to have a water right to do it.” He added that they would not likely make an issue out of it, though, because they have “bigger fish to fry.”

via ksl.com – Catching rain water is against the law.

Who owns Colorado’s rainwater?

Who owns Colorado’s rainwater?  -  By Nicholas Riccardi

Environmentalists and others like to gather it in containers for use in drier times. But state law says it belongs to those who bought the rights to waterways.

Reporting from Denver — Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.

Holstrom’s violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.

But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom’s property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.

What Holstrom does is called rainwater harvesting. It’s a practice that dates back to the dawn of civilization, and is increasingly in vogue among environmentalists and others who pursue sustainable lifestyles. They collect varying amounts of water, depending on the rainfall and the vessels they collect it in. The only risk involved is losing it to evaporation. Or running afoul of Western states’ water laws.

Those laws, some of them more than a century old, have governed the development of the region since pioneer days.

via Who owns Colorado’s rainwater? – Los Angeles Times.

Water wars leave Colo. farmers dry

Water wars leave northern Colo. farmers dry

Crops die, equipment is auctioned over rules dating back to 19th century

WIGGINS, Colo. – Many farmers in this northern Colorado plains region are struggling to keep their crops irrigated and stay afloat as they find themselves on the wrong side of state water rules dating back to the 19th century.

The farmers around Wiggins, population 830, recently lost a lengthy war over access to the nearby South Platte River.

To make ends meet, several of them banded together for a recent auction to raise money: combines, tractors, vintage trucks and piles of rusted scrap metal, all arranged in rows, waited to be gobbled up by buyers amid a cloud of dust hanging over the auction site.

via Water wars leave Colo. farmers dry – Life- msnbc.com.

Out West, a new kind of water war

Out West, a new kind of water war

Reporting from Denver — In rural Chaffee County, Colo., one of the world’s largest beverage companies has discovered water it deems fit for a bottle: clean and crisp, with the mountain spring flavor people are willing to pay for.

Nestle Waters North America wants to tap an aquifer feeding a pair of springs near Salida, southwest of Colorado Springs, and draw 65 million gallons of water per year to bottle and sell under its Arrowhead brand.

But many mountain residents say Nestle should go bottle someone else’s water.

“I’m afraid they will pump and pump until they suck it dry,” said Michele Riggio, a Salida physical therapist who has led the opposition.

The conflict is the latest skirmish in an ongoing battle against the bottled water industry, which has enjoyed strong growth over the last decade thanks to the beverage’s popularity among consumers who eschew tap water and soft drinks.

via Out West, a new kind of water war – Los Angeles Times.

Competition for water intensifying

Competition for water intensifying

With yesterday’s celebration of the World Water Day, water use is once again in the spotlight. So also the correlation between energy- and water demand. Population growth and mobility, rising living standards, changes in food consumption, and production of biofuels are increasingly intensifying the competition for water, making it as political as is already the fight for the world’s remaining oil- and gas reserves.
A UN report released at the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey last week, for example, finds that the southern and northern tiers of Africa, much of the Middle East, a broad band in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, southern and eastern Australia, as well as northern Mexico and the southwestern United States will be affected by persistent drought and water scarcity in the coming years.

via Dallas Environmental Policy Examiner: Competition for water intensifying.

As climate changes, is water the new oil?

As climate changes, is water the new oil?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If water is the new oil, is blue the new green?

Translation: if water is now the kind of precious commodity that oil became in the 20th century, can delivery of clean water to those who need it be the same sort of powerful force as the environmental movement in an age of climate change?

And, in another sense of green, is there money to be made in a time of water scarcity?

The answer to both questions, according to environmental activists watching a global forum on water, is yes.

The week-long meeting in Istanbul ends Sunday, which is International World Water Day, an annual United Nations event that began in 1993 to focus attention on sustainable management of fresh water resources.

The yearly observance recognizes water as an absolute human need: people can live as much as 30 days without food but only seven without water. How long can a person live without oil?

via As climate changes, is water the new oil? | Reuters.

Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It

Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It

By Robert Glennon,

Our water crisis should occasion grave concern but not panic. We have solutions available; now we need a national commitment to pursue them.

The following is an excerpt from “Unquenchable: American’s Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It” by Robert Glennon. Copyright 2009 Robert Glennon. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington DC.

Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from the introduction of Glennon’s new book and follows a narrative about the water profligacy of Las Vegas. The timing of this excerpt is perfect for World Water Day, but the timing of the book in terms of the water issues facing American and the rest of the world is also incredibly important.

“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water,” observed Benjamin Franklin in 1774. But he was wrong. In the United States, we utterly fail to appreciate the value of water, even as we are running out. We Americans are spoiled. When we turn on the tap, out comes a limitless quantity of high-quality water for less money than we pay for our cell phone service or cable television. But as we’ll see, what is happening in Vegas is not staying in Vegas. It’s becoming a national epidemic.

via Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What We Can Do About It | Water | AlterNet.

Oil, Water Are Volatile Mix in West

Oil, Water Are Volatile Mix in West

Energy Firms Buying River Rights Add to Competition for Scarce Resource

DENVER — Oil companies have gained control over billions of gallons of water from Western rivers in preparation for future efforts to extract oil from shale deposits under the Rocky Mountains, according to a new report by an environmental group that opposes such projects.

The group, Western Resource Advocates, used public records to conclude that energy companies are collectively entitled to divert more than 6.5 billion gallons of water a day during peak river flows. The companies also hold rights to store, in dozens of reservoirs, 1.7 million acre feet of water, enough to supply metro Denver for six years.

via Oil, Water Are Volatile Mix in West – WSJ.com.

Drought in America: Yes It’s That Bad

Drought in America: Yes It’s That Bad

If like me you have a yard, and if like mine it crunches underfoot, then this site can help you decide whether it’s your imagination or you really should be sniffing the wind for wildfires.

Drought.gov offers a fascinating array of maps that tell you more than you want to know about the status and outlook for your area, at least more than you want to know if your area is like mine. And judging by most of the maps, it is.

For example, there’s a “Seasonal Drought Outlook” map that shows drought conditions forecast to persist or intensify in most of Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah, and California between now and June. There are a handful of areas that will improve, including Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, which only demonstrates that the word, “improve” is relative. That area that has been so dry for so long the people wouldn’t remember what to do if lawn watering and burn bans were lifted.

via Pensito Review » Drought in America: Yes It’s That Bad.

Coping in a World of ‘Peak Water’

OPS:  “Peak Water”  What a concept.

Coping in a World of ‘Peak Water’  by Nastassja Hoffet

UNITED NATIONS – As more than 20,000 people meet in Istanbul for a major week-long conference on future management of the world’s water supplies, women’s groups are working to ensure that policy decisions about this critical natural resource take their concerns into account.

[Women carry buckets of water in Bissau March 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Luc Gnago/GUINEA-BISSAU)]Women carry buckets of water in Bissau March 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Luc Gnago/GUINEA-BISSAU)

About a billion people currently lack safe drinking water, and another two and a half billion have no access to sanitation.

Experts note that women and girls carry the burden of the water crisis since they bear more household responsibilities, such as hygiene, cooking, gathering water, and taking care of children and the sick.

Those tasks expose them to many risks, like contamination by water-related diseases and violence in conflict zones, and often prevent them from going to school or having a job.

According to the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, in developing countries women and girls walk an average of six kilometres a day carrying 20 litres of water.

via Coping in a World of ‘Peak Water’ | CommonDreams.org.

Gazans Struggle for Clean Drinking Water

Gazans Struggle for Clean Drinking Water – by Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH – As environmental experts, NGOs and government officials gather in Istanbul this week to attend the Fifth World Water Forum, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has drawn attention to the critical water situation in Gaza.

“ICRC teams are repairing water and sewage systems in Gaza that were badly damaged during the three-week Israeli military operation in January,” the ICRC says in a media release.

“According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, one-fifth of the population had no direct access to drinking water, and relied on water purchased from private suppliers. Today, thousands of people still have no access to running water.”

Much of Gaza’s infrastructure was destroyed during Israel’s military assault on the coastal territory during Operation Cast Lead, which created a critical humanitarian situation on the ground.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 150,000 Gazans still remain affected by inadequate and unsafe water supply. Of these, about 50,000 remain without any water while the remainder receive water only every five to six days.

The OCHA adds that approximately 28,000 children in the Gaza Strip have no access to piped water. An additional 56,000 children have access to water only every week or so.

via Gazans Struggle for Clean Drinking Water | CommonDreams.org.

Integrated Solutions Needed for Water, Climate and Food Crises, New Report Finds

Integrated Solutions Needed for Water, Climate and Food Crises, New Report Finds

World Water Forum Should Promote More Sustainable Practices

WASHINGTON – March 16 – The dramatic convergence of multiple crises–climate, food and water–requires a global shift from the dominant industrial model of agriculture toward more sustainable practices, concludes a new paper published by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Heinrich Boll Foundation. The paper was released on the first day of the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Integrated Solutions to the Water, Agriculture and Climate Crises,” by IATP’s Shiney Varghese (available at www.iatp.org), traces the role of industrial agriculture in contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, water use and degradation and global hunger. The paper outlines the effects industrial agriculture has had in driving irrigated agriculture, massive water infrastructure projects and water withdrawals.

Small-scale producers are most affected by these three crises, with women and children disproportionately bearing the burden.

“We can no longer afford to tackle these crises separately,” said Varghese. “We must take a comprehensive approach that supports sustainable practices in agriculture that are good for the people and the planet, protect our water resources and provide enough food for everyone.”

via Integrated Solutions Needed for Water, Climate and Food Crises, New Report Finds | CommonDreams.org.

Preparing for Water Quarrels, if Not Wars

Preparing for Water Quarrels, if Not Wars

ISTANBUL – The Fifth World Water Forum begins in Istanbul Mar. 16 in the face of some stark facts: of the world’s water, 97.5 percent is the sea, and of the remaining, 70 percent is frozen in polar icecaps. That leaves precious little for 6.76 billion people around the world, expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050.

The statistics get scarier. United Nations agencies estimate that 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water. About 70 percent of water is used for irrigation – and most of that is lost before it reaches the plant. In 2017 close to 70 percent of the global population will have problems accessing freshwater. In 2025, approximately 40 percent of the population will be living in water-scarce regions.

via Preparing for Water Quarrels, if Not Wars | CommonDreams.org.

World Water Forum tackles freshwater crisis

World Water Forum tackles freshwater crisis

ISTANBUL (AFP) – The World Water Forum, a seven-day arena aimed at addressing the planet’s deepening crisis of freshwater, was launched here Monday, drawing record-breaking participation by politicians, specialists, corporate executives and activists.

The forum, held only every three years, will address problems of water scarcity, the risk of conflict as countries squabble over rivers, lakes and aquifers, and how to provide clean water and sanitation to billions.

The world’s population, currently more than 6.5 billion, is expected to rise to nine billion by mid-century, placing further massive demands on water supplies that are already under strain.

via The Raw Story | World Water Forum tackles freshwater crisis.

Do drugstore watertesting kits work?

Do drugstore watertesting kits work?

YES. But you should know a few things before you purchase one.

Test your water for free. If you’re on a municipal system and you notice any difference in color, odor, or taste—from a change in chlorine levels or recent repairs— call the city’s water safety inspector for a free test.

via Do drugstore watertesting kits work? – Expert Advice | Health Wellness – Natural Health.

UN Warns of Widespread Water Shortages

UN Warns of Widespread Water Shortages

Constantly rising demand for a finite resource raises risk of political upheaval and economic stagnation over next 20 years, report says

by Martin Mittelstaedt

The world faces a bleak future over its dwindling water supplies, with pollution, climate change and rapidly growing populations raising the possibility of widespread shortages, a new report compiled by 24 agencies of the United Nations says.

[Afghan children are seen collecting water from a hand pump near Shuhada lake in Kabul. Surging population growth, climate change, reckless irrigation and chronic waste are placing the world's water supplies at threat, according to a landmark UN report. (AFP/Shah Marai)]Afghan children are seen collecting water from a hand pump near Shuhada lake in Kabul. Surging population growth, climate change, reckless irrigation and chronic waste are placing the world’s water supplies at threat, according to a landmark UN report. (AFP/Shah Marai)

The warning from the UN is based on one of the most comprehensive assessments the global body has undertaken on the state of the world’s fresh water and was commissioned for use at a major international water conference being held next week in Istanbul.

“Today, water management crises are developing in most of the world,” the report says, citing a single week in November of 2006 when there were local news reports of shortages in 14 countries, including parts of Canada, the United States and Australia.

via UN Warns of Widespread Water Shortages | CommonDreams.org.

Climate Change Accelerates Water Hunt in US West

Climate Change Accelerates Water Hunt in US West

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s hard to visualize a water crisis while driving the lush boulevards of Los Angeles, golfing Arizona’s green fairways or watching dancing Las Vegas fountains leap more than 20 stories high.

So look Down Under. A decade into its worst drought in a hundred years Australia is a lesson of what the American West could become.

Bush fires are killing people and obliterating towns. Rice exports collapsed last year and the wheat crop was halved two years running. Water rationing is part of daily life.

“Think of that as California’s future,” said Heather Cooley of California water think tank the Pacific Institute.

Water raised leafy green Los Angeles from the desert and filled arid valleys with the nation’s largest fruit and vegetable crop. Each time more water was needed, another megaproject was built, from dams of the major rivers to a canal stretching much of the length of the state.

But those methods are near their end. There is very little water left untapped and global warming, the gradual increase of temperature as carbon dioxide and other gases retain more of the sun’s heat, has created new uncertainties.

Global warming pushes extremes. It prolongs drought while sometimes bringing deluges the parched earth cannot absorb. California Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow says two things keep him up at night: drought and flood.

“It isn’t that drought is the new norm,” said Snow. “Climate change is bringing us higher highs and lower lows in terms of water supplies.”

via Climate Change Accelerates Water Hunt in US West | CommonDreams.org.

World Bank Urged to Promote Public Control of Water Resources

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 10, 2009

1:02 PM

CONTACT: Food & Water Watch

Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch (202) 683-2500

World Bank Urged to Promote Public Control of Water Resources

New report shows why private water hurts people in developing nations

WASHINGTON – March 10 – The World Bank’s encouragement of private investment in water services harms the people living in developing nations, according to a new report released today by the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch. Dried Up, Sold Out: How the World Bank’s Push for Private Water Harms the Poor documents the many downsides of private sector control of world water infrastructure systems. Water privatization has failed to effectively deliver reliable water services to billions of people across the globe, and the social consequences of this failure include 5 million people dying every year from preventable water-related diseases.

“As a leader in the international development community, the World Bank must help developing countries create strong public utilities that provide adequate drinking water and sanitation systems,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “It can do this, not by encouraging the spread of water privatization in those parts of the world, but instead by promoting a regulatory environment that prevents the pollution of waterways and encourages good resource management.”

Key Findings of the report include:

* Numerous international goals for getting water to poor countries have gone unmet.

* Because of dangerous water quality and lack of sanitation, gastrointestinal diseases are the leading cause of illness and death throughout the developing world.

* Corporate pressure has caused international institutions and national governments to decrease public investments in water provisions, causing a simultaneous increase in private-sector profits.

* Rather than guaranteeing access to clean and affordable water, the World Bank has promoted measures that will cost consumers more money for water.

* Although the messages are mixed, evidence suggests that some in the World Bank are gradually seeing the problems associated with the private control of water.

* Case studies in Africa, Indonesia and Latin America that illustrate the flawed logic of water privatization and the case for publically owned and controlled water.

Dried Up, Sold Out: How the World Bank’s Push for Private Water Harms the Poor is available online at http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/dried-up-sold-out.

via World Bank Urged to Promote Public Control of Water Resources | CommonDreams.org.

Public spigot stays open for water bottlers

Public spigot stays open for water bottlers

By CARL HIAASEN

You probably thought there was a serious water shortage in Florida.

It’s why we’re spending billions to repair and repurify the Everglades, right? It’s why we’re not supposed to run our lawn sprinklers more than once or twice a week.

But hold on. It turns out there’s a boundless, virtually free supply of Florida water — though not for residents. The public spigot remains open day and night for Nestle, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and 19 other corporations that bottle our water and sell it for a huge per-unit profit.

The stuff is no safer or tastier than most municipal tap water, but lots of us buy it, anyway. You know all the brands: Deer Park, Dasani, Zephyrhills, Aquafina, even Publix.

Common sense would suggest that a company with a balance sheet like Coca-Cola’s or Pepsi’s ought to pay for the water they take, the same as homeowners and small businesses do.

Nope. Every year, state water managers allow large bottling firms to siphon nearly two billion gallons from fresh springs and aquifers. The fees are laughably puny.

via Public spigot stays open for water bottlers – Carl Hiaasen – MiamiHerald.com.

The California Water Wars: Not a Conflict Between Fish and People

The California Water Wars: Not a Conflict Between Fish and People

The battle to save the California Delta is a conflict between sustainable fishing, farming and recreation and corporate agribusiness. (Photo: Dan Bacher)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Department of Water Resources and corporate agribusiness have continually tried to frame the battle over restoring the California Delta and Central Valley rivers as one of “fish versus people.”

This false dichotomy was exemplified by an article published in the Sacramento Bee, “Delta Cutbacks Put Valley Farm Town on Edge,” by Susan Ferris on Monday, March 2.

via t r u t h o u t | The California Water Wars: Not a Conflict Between Fish and People.

Let’s all get wet / It’s pouring rain and water’s gushing everywhere. You call this a drought?

Let’s all get wet

It’s pouring rain and water’s gushing everywhere. You call this a drought?

Mark Morford

As I write these words, rain is hammering my apartment building and rivers of fresh water — hundreds or perhaps thousands of gallons per minute — are gushing down the streets and the sidewalks, filling rain gutters, overwhelming the storm drains and rinsing the City relatively clean, and you think, ahh yes, rain, bring it on, so healthy, so good, so desperately needed.

via Let’s all get wet / It’s pouring rain and water’s gushing everywhere. You call this a drought?.

How We Can Avoid a World Without Water

Peter Gleick: How We Can Avoid a World Without Water

By Tara Lohan, The Nation

If you’ve read anything about the global water crisis, you’ve likely read a quote from Dr. Peter Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute, and one of the world’s leading water experts. His name has become as ubiquitous as drought itself, which is suddenly making major headlines. A report from the World Economic Forum warned that in only twenty years our civilization may be facing “water bankruptcy” — shortfalls of fresh water so large and pervasive that global food production could crater, meaning that we’d lose the equivalent of the entire grain production of the US and India combined.

But we don’t have to wait twenty years to see what this would look like. Australia, reeling from twelve years of drought in the Murray-Darling River Basin, has seen agriculture grind to a halt, with tens of billions of dollars in losses. The region has been rendered a tinderbox, with the deadliest fires in the country’s history claiming over 160 lives so far. And all this may begin to hit closer to home soon. California’s water manager said that the state is bracing for its worst drought in modern history. Stephen Chu, the new US secretary of energy, warns that the effects of climate change on California’s water supplies could put an end to agriculture in the state by 2100 and imperil major cities.

via AlterNet: Peter Gleick: How We Can Avoid a World Without Water.

Shapleigh Closes Tap for Water Companies

OPS:  Good on the folks of Shapleigh!  It CAN be done.

Shapleigh Closes Tap for Water Companies

Residents ignore the Board of Selectmen’s position and vote to stop Poland Spring – and others – from harvesting their water.

by Edward D. Murphy

Shapleigh residents have banned companies from drawing or selling its water.

During a special town meeting Saturday morning, residents voted 114 to 66 to adopt the ban drafted by Protecting Our Water and Wildlife Resources, which had opposed Poland Spring’s efforts to test, draw, bottle and market the town’s water.

The ban had been opposed by the town’s Board of Selectmen, which had favored instead a set of regulations on drawing water in the town that will be on the warrant for the regular town meeting on March 14.

“The problem in Shapleigh is that all three selectpeople want Nestle (Poland Spring’s parent company) in here,” said Shelly Gobeille, one of the leaders of POWWR. “This vote says they can’t come in.”

In September, residents adopted a six-month moratorium on water testing, which was seen as a precursor to Poland Spring’s plans to set up a pumping operation. The town’s planning board used the time to work on rules and regulations for drawing the town’s water, but POWWR wanted to ban all major water extraction operations.

via Shapleigh Closes Tap for Water Companies | CommonDreams.org.

Drought ‘Oddities’ —

Drought ‘Oddities

-By Lori Price

Suddenly, almost inexplicably and overnight – there’s a newly discovered big water shortage in the US!

Keep your eyes on the GOP prize. Under cover of the Bush Depression and (global warming-induced) drought, corpora-terrorist trolls may present a ‘solution:’ Privatize part of the US water supply.

First, the inevitable state of emergency is declared:

via Citizens for Legitimate Government.

California Declares Drought Emergency

California Declares Drought Emergency

by Peter Henderson

SAN FRANCISCO – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.

[Shasta Lake appears to be running near empty earlier this month, and the low water line was clear evidence of the drought. (Frederic Larson / The Chronicle)]Shasta Lake appears to be running near empty earlier this month, and the low water line was clear evidence of the drought. (Frederic Larson / The Chronicle)

As many as 95,000 agricultural jobs will be lost, communities will be devastated and some growers in the most economically productive farm state simply are not able to plant, state officials said, calling the current drought the most expensive ever.

Schwarzenegger, eager to build controversial dams as well as more widely backed water recycling programs, called on cities to cut back water use or face the first ever mandatory state restrictions as soon as the end of the month.

“California faces its third consecutive year of drought and we must prepare for the worst — a fourth, fifth or even sixth year of drought,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement, adding that recent storms were not enough to save the state.

via California Declares Drought Emergency | CommonDreams.org.

Schwarzenegger declares California drought emergency

Schwarzenegger declares California drought emergency

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency and warned of possible mandatory water rationing as the state struggled through its third consecutive year of drought.

Although the level of precipitation is 75 percent of the normal level this year, key state reserves are below 35 percent capacity, which has generated nearly three billion dollars in losses this year.

“Even with the recent rainfall, California faces it third consecutive year of drought and we must prepare for the worst: a fourth, fifth or even sixth year of drought,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement Friday.

“This is a crisis, just as severe as an earthquake or raging wildfire, and we must treat it with the same urgency by upgrading California’s water infrastructure to ensure a clean and reliable water supply for our growing state.”

via The Raw Story | Schwarzenegger declares California drought emergency.

Adapting to Water Woes | CommonDreams.org

Adapting to Water Woes

The southwestern United States is moving headlong toward an environmental catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions.

[The dry, cracked Lake Mead lake-bed near Las Vegas is shown in this 2005 file photo. The severe drought since 2000 has seen the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs, which hold water for human needs downstream, shrink to 50% or less of normal. (Aaron Mayes, Las Vegas Sun/AP)]The dry, cracked Lake Mead lake-bed near Las Vegas is shown in this 2005 file photo. The severe drought since 2000 has seen the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs, which hold water for human needs downstream, shrink to 50% or less of normal. (Aaron Mayes, Las Vegas Sun/AP)

The already drought-prone region is almost entirely dependent on a shrinking snowpack and sparse rain in the Colorado River Basin. As the planet’s climate changes, an already overtaxed and volatile water supply is expected to get even more unstable.

“A lot of people say that in global warming there will be winners and losers. In the Southwest, we’ll be in the losers’ category,” University of Arizona climatologist Jonathan Overpeck said at a symposium on global warming’s effect on the Southwest.

Overpeck discussed the latest scientific consensus on climate change at the Feb. 19 symposium, hosted by the Urban Land Institute at the Palms.

via Adapting to Water Woes | CommonDreams.org.

Op-Ed Contributor – Yellow Is the New Green – NYTimes.com

Yellow Is the New Green

“In the industrialized world, most of us (except those who have septic tanks) rely on wastewater-treatment plants to remove our excrement from the drinking-water supply, in great volumes. (Toilets can use up to 30 percent of a household’s water supply.) This paradigm is rarely questioned, and I understand why: flush toilets, sewers and wastewater-treatment plants do a fine job of separating us from our potentially toxic waste, and eliminating cholera and other waterborne diseases. Without them, cities wouldn’t work. But the paradigm is flawed. For a start, cleaning sewage guzzles energy. Sewage treatment in Britain uses a quarter of the energy generated by the country’s largest coal-fired power station.”

via Op-Ed Contributor – Yellow Is the New Green – NYTimes.com.