Monthly Archive for August, 2011

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Two Oklahoma Indian Tribes Contest State for Water Rights

Published on 08/25/2011 in drought, lakes, policy, privatization, riparian zone, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: Chickasaw, Choctaw, Sardis Lake.

Photo retrieved from: www.encyclopediaofalabama.org

“The Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes in Oklahoma have filed a federal lawsuit to protect water rights they say derived from long-ago treaties and to prevent exports of water from their traditional homelands without their permission.

The dispute had been simmering for more than a year, since the export of water from Sardis Lake in southeastern Oklahoma to Oklahoma City was proposed in June 2010.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday in United States District Court in Oklahoma City, accuses the State of Oklahoma of one-sided action to deprive the tribes of water rights they have held since the 1830s. It names the governor, the state water agency, Oklahoma City and that city’s water utility as defendants.

In an Aug. 18 letter to Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, the leaders of the two tribes said they were forced to act by both the drought, which has resulted in cutbacks in water use even in normally water-rich areas, and by Oklahoma City’s declared intention to pursue the export of water from Sardis, which is nearly 180 miles away.”

Rainwater Storage At Homes To Go Binding

Published on 08/24/2011 in groundwater, hydrology, peak water, policy, rainwater harvesting, tap water, water conservation and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: Bangladesh water supply.

Photo retrieved from: www.google.com

“The government is going to amend the country’s ‘building code’ to make harvesting of rain water mandatory for all the buildings as the level of ground water is falling fast because of excessive use.

Sheikh Abdul Mannan, a member of Rajuk (planning), has said that the government wanted to encourage the builders so that they keep provisions for rooftop harvesting of rain waters. The developers can also preserve rain water in any ground facilities if roofs are not an option for them.

But it is going to be binding for them one way or the other.

He said a new provision titled, ‘Rain Water Harvesting and Ground Water Recharging’ will be punched in the ‘Dhaka Mahanagar Building (Construction, Development, Protection and Removal) Rule’ enacted in 2008.

“The provision must be included in all building plans from 2012 if the code is amended by the end of this year,” he said.

Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam on Tuesday told parliament that the government was working on ensuring collection of 70 percent water demanded in the capital city of Dhaka from rainwater and water holes in the next 10 years.

Engineer Mannan said 87 percent of water requirements in the city came from underground source, 13 percent from the Buriganga and the Shitalkkhya rivers.

“The water of these rivers has become unfit for use even after refining,” he said.

“Dependence on ground water is increasing to meet the demand. As a result, the level of ground water is decreasing two-three metres (eight-10 feet) every year, which raises fears of landslide. In this situation, use of surface water is being emphasised,” he added.”

S. Calif. Water Agencies Sue Over Sucker Fish Plan

Published on 08/24/2011 in policy, rivers, species extinction, tap water and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: fish and wildlife, santa ana river.

Photo retrieved from: www.article.wn.com

“A dozen Southern California water agencies filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to use the best scientific data when it expanded Santa Ana sucker fish critical habitat earlier this year.

The U.S. District Court lawsuit claims the Fish and Wildlife Service action will have a “devastating impact” on the plaintiffs’ effort to meet local water supply needs.

The fish lives in the Santa Ana River, which runs through San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties and is a water source for 3 million people.

“The expanded critical habitat area for the sucker is unnecessary and will assuredly lead to increased water costs for our customers,” said Patrick Milligan, president of San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, one of the agencies in the suit.

“The decision was based on sloppy science and a flagrant disregard for the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and other federal laws,” Milligan said in a statement.

The conflict over wildlife protection and demands for water is a constant theme in California. Other major water-delivery systems provide thirsty southern counties with flows from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River. Threatened fish like the delta smelt have cut San Joaquin Delta shipments.

In January, wildlife officials added 1,026 acres to the Santa Ana sucker fish’s habitat, bringing the total protected area to more than 9,300 acres.”

Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables and Toxins Driving People from Homes

Published on 08/24/2011 in aquatic ecosystems, climate change, desertification, drought, groundwater, hydrology, peak water, tap water, water shortage, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.commondreams.org

“People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.

Advancing deserts are now on the move almost everywhere. The Sahara desert, for example, is expanding in every direction. As it advances northward, it is squeezing the populations of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria against the Mediterranean coast.

The Sahelian region of Africa – the vast swath of savannah that separates the southern Sahara desert from the tropical rainforests of central Africa – is shrinking as the desert moves southward. As the desert invades Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, from the north, farmers and herders are forced southward, squeezed into a shrinking area of productive land.”

Vietnam’s Rice Bowl Threatened By Rising Seas

Published on 08/23/2011 in agriculture, climate change, hydrology, oceans, peak water and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: Mekong river, sea level rise.

Photo retrieved from: www.guardian.co.uk

“Sitting amid buckets of rice in the market, Nguyen Thi Lim Lien issues a warning she desperately hopes the world will hear: climate change is turning the rivers of the Mekong Delta salty.

“The government tells us that there are three grams of salt per litre of fresh water in the rivers now,” she says. “Gradually more and more people are affected. Those nearest the sea are the most affected now, but soon the whole province will be hit.”

The vast, humid expanse of the delta is home to more than 17 million people, who have relied for generations on its thousands of river arteries. But rising sea water caused by global warming is now increasing the salt content of the river water and threatening the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers and fishermen.

Vietnam is listed by the World Bank among the countries most threatened by rising waters brought about by higher global temperatures, with only the Bahamas more vulnerable to a one-metre rise in sea levels. Such a rise could leave a third of the Mekong Delta underwater and lead to mass internal migration and devastation in a region that produces nearly half of Vietnam’s rice.”

Louisiana Paper Mill Spill Causes Massive Fish Kill

Published on 08/23/2011 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water, rivers, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 1 Comment Tags: pearl river.

Photo retrieved from: www.bayoubuzz.com

“A rotten stench hung over a 60-mile stretch of Louisiana’s Pearl River as boats trawled through thick layers of hundreds of thousands of dead fish, and sweating workers bent to scoop the carcasses from the water.

The fish, including federally protected Gulf sturgeon as well as catfish and flounder, died after a paper mill in Bogalusa, Louisiana, released a high concentration of waste material into the river on August 9.

“This is really sickening,” said St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis, unable to hide his disgust at the view from Crawford Landing, 40 miles northeast of New Orleans.

The liquid material, which mill owner Temple-Inland Inc. refers to as “black liquor,” effectively sucked the oxygen from a large section of the river, killing every breathing organism within its reach, including the fish. Davis put the number of fish killed at hundreds of thousands.

More than 400 people worked from boats and the river banks over the weekend to clean up the river in 90-degree heat. By Monday, the water was nearly clear of carcasses, but a ban on fishing and swimming remained in place pending water testing.”

Drought brings ‘toilet to tap’ to fore

Published on 08/23/2011 in drought, solutions and outreach, tap water, wastewater and water conservation. 1 Comment Tags: texas' water supply.

Photo retrieved from: www.cfact.org

“Drought in the U.S. West is leading many cities to join a growing trend of using recycled sewage water for drinking water — a practice dubbed “toilet to tap.”

Big Spring, Texas, is building a $13 million wastewater-to-drinking water treatment plant that, beginning next year, will produce 2 million gallons a day of drinking water from wastewater produced by area residents.

Such plants are not new, experts say.

“It’s really a natural and cost-effective [solution] when you don’t have another resource available,” David Sedlak, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Christian Science Monitor.

“We have to recognize that as the population of the country continues to move out into the West and as climate change continually reduces the water supply, these issues are going to become more and more important.”

The Texas plant will provide drinking water to Big Spring and three nearby communities, Stanton, Midland and Odessa.”

U.S. Faces A Big Dam Problem In Pakistan

Published on 08/22/2011 in dams, greenwashing, hydropower, peak water, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: diamer-bhasha dam, pakistan's water supply.

Photo retrieved from: www.stltoday.com

“The United States would provide about $200 million to get the ball rolling. The Pakistani government hopes that would attract private investors and help from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Money isn’t the only problem facing the Diamer-Bhasha Dam. Its location is in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region, adjacent to the Jammu-Kashmir state that India administers and claims as its territory. The entire border area, including Gilgit-Baltistan, has been in dispute since the India-Pakistan partition of in 1947. In any discussion of where a nuclear war might start, Kashmir is always a contender.

And then there is China, India’s not-so-friendly neighbor to the north. China is investing heavily in Pakistan. For India, the only thing worse than having the United States and the World Bank helping to build a dam in Pakistan would be for the Chinese to build it.

There’s little doubt that had the Diamer-Bhasha Dam been in place over the last two years, it would have mitigated flooding that killed an estimated 2,000 Pakistanis. Nor is there any doubt that energy-starved Pakistanis could use the 4,500 megawatts of power that the 890-foot-tall dam would generate.

Ninety percent of the $20.7 billion that the United States has sent to Pakistan to buy its cooperation in the War on Terror has gone to the Pakistani military, though military aid lately has been suspended.

Meanwhile, the Chinese buy friends in Pakistan by building nuclear power plants. The Saudis build mosques and sell them cheap oil. The United States sends them F-16s and bombs them from drone aircraft. We could use some good PR in the civilian population.”
Read more: stltoday.com

lily victoria

Pollution In Ganga Claims More Lives Than Bomb Blasts

Published on 08/21/2011 in contaminated water, hydropower, rivers, tap water, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: ganges river.

Photo retrieved from: www.newsreporter.com

“Today most people do not realize that nearly a million people living along the banks of the Ganga die each year due to illnesses caused by its polluted water…,”

“A few dozen people dying in bomb blasts in India becomes big news worldwide, and rightly so. But the tragic deaths of many people, who are dependent on the Ganga, goes unnoticed even in India. We must change this,” he said, quoting Swami Chidanand.

“Ganga is languishing in such polluted state that people hesitate to bathe in her waters even in Kashi. This is caused by reckless and ill-planned industrialization and urbanization, made worse by lack of elementary civic facilities in towns and villages along it,” Advani observed.

“In the upper reaches of the river, hydro-electric projects have caused considerable damage to the Ganga and its natural ecology, leading to drying up of long stretches of the river-bed and depriving the nearby villagers of their main source of water, he said.

Suggesting measures to clean the river, the BJP leader quoted Swami Chidanand, “We must launch a mission, which I call the 3-T Mission — toilet in every home, tap in every home bringing clean water, and tree-plantation on a massive scale in every village and town.”

“Millions of Indians abroad would be inspired if India takes up this comprehensive Ganga Mission. They would even be willing to make generous contribution to this project,” Advani said on his blog, quoting Swami Chidanand.”

What Italy’s Defeat of Water Privatization Means for the Rest of the World

Published on 08/21/2011 in peak water, policy, privatization and water wars. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“In Italy last month, an overwhelming number of people (96 percent of the 57 percent of the population that voted) cast their ballots for a peaceful future based on shared ownership of water.

The referendum overturned a law passed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, which would have encouraged private companies to buy up public water utilities and guaranteed them a profit on their investment, opening the door to rate hikes.

The referendum also stripped Berlusconi government ministers of special court privileges and reaffirmed public opposition to nuclear power.

With the referendum victory behind them, organizers have now fixed their sights on passing a general water law to guide public management of the common good.”