THE AMERICAS

Guatemala: Tras Las Lluvias, Sas Secuelas

Last modified on 2010-09-08 15:57:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Los taludes verticales (lados de la carretera) eran muy altos”, dijo Rodas a BBC Mundo. ”Nosotros habíamos recomendado un análisis de los suelos en muchos de esos sectores donde ocurrieron tragedias; ahí se hubieran construido terrazas para distribuir la carga hídrica que puede desatar fuerzas internas poderosas”, agregó.

Rodas advirtió que la construcción de terrazas implica un costo adicional que depende del tipo de terreno. Sin embargo, subrayó que “es mucho menor que el costo de la pérdida de vidas humanas, y de los gastos de reconstrucción” que ahora enfrenta el gobierno.

El presidente del Colegio de Ingenieros asegura que la vialidad tiene una mala calidad debido a que serían construidas por empresas sin experiencia que habrían recibido el contrato por apoyar al partido de turno en una campaña electoral.

Rodas afirma que este fenómeno se repitió en los diferentes gobiernos que ha tenido el países en la historia reciente.

No obstante, el presidente de Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, refutó -en conferencia de prensa efectuada este martes- que las empresas que construyeron las carreteras más afectadas fuesen responsables de los ocurrido.

Según Colom los problemas de algunas carreteras reflejan la mala calidad de las obras de gobiernos anteriores.

En la última cumbre de cambio climático, en 2009, en Copenhague, Dinamarca, Guatemala fue incluida entre los países más expuestos al cambio climático (que conlleva desastres naturales). Aunque el gobierno reconoció que se trataba de un serio llamado de atención, el ambientalista Yuri Melini calificó el anuncio como una declaración política que no fue sustentada con acciones concretas.”

Leér más: BBC Mundo

Potomac River cleanest in decades, scientists say

Last modified on 2010-09-08 03:49:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Fossil Foolishness: Utah’s Pursuit Of Oil Shale And Tar Sands

Last modified on 2010-09-07 17:38:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“With some companies seeking to develop tar sands, and other companies researching the feasibility of commercially developing oil shale, Utah finds itself at a crossroads regarding use of its diminishing water supplies and its work to formulate a 10-year strategic energy plan. How water is distributed among competing uses – municipal development, energy production, recreation, and agriculture, to name a few – will be pivotal to the long-term economic and environmental health of the state.

The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has been working with private companies on developing oil shale technologies, has determined that oil shale and tar sands development would be water intensive. The BLM estimates that, each year, large scale development of oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming would require roughly 68% more water than the Denver metro area and its roughly 1.5 million people use annually. Tar sands’ water requirements would add to that sum.

The development of these fuels would come at great expense to Utah: from water supplies, which are already stressed, to water quality, which is vital for the economic and environmental health of the state; from farmers, whose water developers would seek to take, to the recreation economy, which relies on Utah’s rivers, lakes and streams.”

Read more: The Huffington Post

Temen Desplome De Muro Del Malecón En Minatitlán

Last modified on 2010-09-07 16:57:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Minatitlán, Veracruz.- En esta ciudad existe el temor de que el muro de contención del malecón no resista la presión de millones de metros cúbicos de agua que arrastra el río Coatzacoalcos.

El citado río llegó este día a los 2 metros con 70 centímetros arriba de su nivel normal y se espera que entre el sábado y el domingo llegue a los tres metros, lo que significaría que una gran parte de la ciudad sea cubierta por el agua.

Felipe Antonio Galán Martínez, director de Protección Civil de este municipio, informó que la mañana de este viernes, mañana lluviosa, el nivel del río amaneció en 2 metros con 60 centímetros y que a las 13 horas el nivel alcanzó los 2 metros con 70 centímetros y que se mantuvo así durante todo el día.

“El nivel del río está más alto que el nivel de la ciudad, pero las aguas han sido contenidas por los costales que se han colocado a lo largo de los arcos del muro de contención del malecón. Hemos advertido a la población que no debe confiarse, que se han hecho las acciones indicadas, pero que deben salir de sus casas ahora que pueden hacerlo. Tenemos el temor de que el muro no resista la presión del agua y el agua inunde la ciudad en cualquier momento, no queremos que eso nos tome desprevenidos”, dijo.

En esta ciudad, hay por lo menos 10 colonias inundadas y miles de damnificados. En la mayor parte de esas colonias, el nivel del agua alcanza el metro y metro y medio de altura. Una gran parte de la ciudad se advierte desolada. A pesar de que en todas las casas de las colonias inundadas hay gente, no se escuchan voces y en cambio hay un silencio total, como esperando lo peor, que según autoridades, está por llegar.”

Leér más: Diario Xalapa

Despite plentiful water, states draft river rules

Last modified on 2010-09-06 22:13:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water is plentiful in New England, but that’s not stopping several states from drafting regulations to ensure it’s available despite droughts, heat spells and development pressures.

“Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island rules will regulate so-called stream flows governing how water utilities and businesses can tap into waterways — while trying to allay environmentalists’ concerns over fish habitats and recreation. Maine has had regulations in force for three years.

“”Our state has enough water falling on it that, on paper, there should be enough water for all the users,” said Connecticut Rep. Mary Mushinsky, who backed legislation calling for regulations. “Our system should be sustainable but we’ve never resolved conflicts between users in such a way that it’s predictable or manageable.”

“A long-running problem was resolved just this summer, more than 20 years after Waterbury began diverting water from the Shepaug River for municipal use without releasing surplus water from its reservoir, as demanded by environmentalists.”

Read more: Boston Herald

Temen Más Muertes Por Las Lluvias En Guatemala

Last modified on 2010-09-06 16:29:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“El presidente de Guatemala, Álvaro Colom, dijo que se teme que el número de muertos aumente en su país.

Alejandro Maldonado, secretario de la Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (Conred), dijo que el 12% del territorio es susceptible a deslaves.

Mientras tanto, Colom informó que se reiteró el estado de calamidad a nivel nacional.

“No llovía tanto en el país desde 1949″, dijo Eddy Sánchez, encargado del Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (Insivumeh).

Las lluvias provocaron el desborde de ríos en el noreste y sudoeste, además de hundimientos y deslaves en las carreteras.

clicVea fotos de los efectos de las lluvias

Guatemala se encuentra en “estado de calamidad” desde que la tormenta Agatha, en combinación con la erupción del Volcán Pacaya (centro-occidente), afectó al país a fines de mayo pasado con daños a la infraestructura vial, incluyendo 13 puentes.

La tragedia climática se combina con la falta de recursos que enfrenta el gobierno, en parte por los vestigios de la crisis económica global y la caída de la recaudación tributaria, y en parte porque el Congreso no ha autorizado el uso de un préstamo para atender los efectos de los desastres naturales.”

Leér más: BBC Mundo

Unsolved Coal Ash Problem

Last modified on 2010-09-06 16:04:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Last Monday, the E.P.A. held the first in a series of regional hearings on two quite different proposals governing how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste.

One proposal, favored by public-interest groups and by agency scientists, would replace a patchwork of uneven — and in many cases weak — state regulations with new national standards. It would formally designate coal ash as a hazardous waste under federal law, require industry to phase out porous sludge ponds, replace them with sturdy, leak-proof facilities, and take other protective steps.

The competing proposal would establish federal guidelines for disposal but leave enforcement to the states. It would also preserve coal ash’s status as a nonhazardous substance. Though the proposal barely improves on the status quo, the Office of Management and Budget — after heavy lobbying by the coal industry — agreed to give it equal billing in the public hearings.

The tougher proposal is obviously better. Coal ash, the byproduct of coal combustion, is a huge problem. Its toxins — which can include arsenic, lead and other heavy metals — can poison local water supplies. America’s power plants produce 130 million tons of the stuff every year, enough to fill a train of boxcars stretching from the District of Columbia to Australia.”

Read more: New York Times

Feds Warn Residents Near Wyoming Gas Drilling Sites Not to Drink Their Water

Last modified on 2010-09-03 20:21:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The federal government is warning residents in a small Wyoming town with extensive natural gas development not to drink their water, and to use fans and ventilation when showering or washing clothes in order to avoid the risk of an explosion.

The announcement accompanied results from a second round of testing and analysis in the town of Pavillion by Superfund investigators for the Environmental Protection Agency. Researchers found benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater. They also confirmed the presence of other compounds that they had tentatively identified last summer and that may be linked to drilling activities.

“Last week it became clear to us that the information that we had gathered” “was going to potentially result in a hazard — result in a recommendation to some of you that you not continue to drink your water,” Martin Hestmark, deputy assistant regional administrator for ecosystems protection and remediation with the EPA in Denver, told a crowd of about 100 gathered at a community center in Pavillion Tuesday night. “We understand the gravity of that.”

Read more: Alternet

‘Fracking’ yields fuel, fear in Northeast

Last modified on 2010-09-02 19:45:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Bill Ely walked into his chicken coop with an empty five-gallon water jug.

“The jug, punched with several finger-sized holes near the top to keep it from overflowing, was capped with a white plastic pipe. Using a garden hose fed from his water well, he filled the jug.

“Leaning over the contraption, he flicked his yellow lighter above the pipe, and a blue flame appeared.

“”I knew it [the water] went bad because we could light it,” Ely said.

“Dimock residents are at the forefront of one of the biggest energy developments this century.

“Their township sits above the Marcellus Shale, one of the largest natural gas deposits in the nation found underneath parts of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio. The natural gas reserve is attracting a flurry of gas companies wanting to drill.

“Accessing the natural gas involves the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”"

Read more: CNN

Rodeados De Agua Y Viven Con Sed

Last modified on 2010-09-02 17:06:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Villahermosa, Tabasco.- Suman más de una semana sin agua potable los habitantes de la Colonia Gaviotas Norte, que han tenido que tomar el vital líquido de una cisterna, pues su planta potabilizadora se encuentra inundada debido a las filtraciones del Río Grijalva.

Tal y como se lo hicieron saber al gobernador del estado, Andrés Granier Melo, durante su visita a la localidad, los colonos han padecido la falta de agua potable, misma que les es suministrada por medio de pipas que no alcanzan para abastecerlos a todos.

El problema surgió cuando los motores de la planta Gaviotas II, se quemaron y por ende esta dejo de funcionar, y aunque una decena de personas trabaja, con ayuda de maquinaria, para resguardarla colocando costales a su alrededor y retirando parte del equipo inservible, la filtración continúa llegando, manteniéndola anegada y sin posibilidades de reparación.

Por ello, desde hace 5 días, el Sistema de Agua y Saneamiento mantiene vigilancia del lugar además de que ha otorgado pipas que llegan durante el día para abastecer de agua a los desesperados vecinos que tienen que llenar botes y hasta garrafones con tal de llevar la mayor cantidad a sus hogares, cargándolos ellos mismos o usando triciclos.

No obstante ese apoyo no ha sido suficiente, pues son muchos quienes necesitan del líquido para bañarse y sobre todo para beber, ante esa situación han tenido que tomar el agua de la cisterna de la planta, de dónde la obtienen sucia y con impurezas, pero ante la necesidad se ven obligados a usarla.”

Leer mas: El Sol De Tulancingo

Watsonville Misses State Deadline For Fluoride Answer But Committee Recommends Going Ahead With Contract To Pay For Fluoridation

Last modified on 2010-09-02 16:49:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The city is under pressure from the state to sign off on the contract, which will provide $1.6 million to build a fluoridation system.

Cities with populations of 10,000 or more are required to fluoridate if an outside entity is willing to pay. The California Dental Association Foundation offered the city money to construct the system and operate it for two years. In January, the City Council in a 4-3 vote rejected a contract that had been two years in the making and appointed the committee to negotiate with the foundation to resolve outstanding issues, such as liability protections.

As negotiations dragged on, state officials became impatient, and on Aug. 19 issued the city a citation and warned of $200 a day fines.

“They are very serious. They want us to move forward with fluoridation,” Palacios said.

Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Bilicich served on the ad hoc committee with Councilman Manuel Bersamin and Councilwoman Kimberly Petersen, and opposed the contract.

Bersamin and Petersen, who voted for the contract, could not be reached to comment.

Bilicich said she didn’t think the contract gave Watsonville enough protection against liability if any lawsuits were filed.

Though Bilicich said the committee was close to a final decision before the citation and wasn’t influenced by it, she said the city’s in a tough spot. The issue of whether to fluoridate has been contentious.

“If we agree with the contract, someone in the community is going to file a lawsuit,” Bilich said. “If we don’t agree, the state is going to fine us.”

Read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

En Víspera Del COP16, México Es Viable En Sustentabilidad: Sandra Herrera Flores

Last modified on 2010-08-31 18:18:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“En material de fortalecimiento al medio ambiente la subsecretaria Sandra Herrera Flores, afirmó que el presidente Felipe Calderón considera como insoslayable abatir el rezago en materia de residuos e impulso al reciclaje porque “el tema no se circunscribe al agotamiento de recursos naturales sino de los renovables como el agua”. En entrevista con Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), Sandra Herrera Flores, afirmó que “los mayores cuerpos de agua se ubican en el sur-sureste del país, aunque la actividad económica y de la población corren del centro hacia el norte”.

* Definición

¿Cuáles son las funciones de la subsecretaria de Fomento y Normatividad Ambiental de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat)?

-Somos responsables de las normas ambientales que rigen las actividades económicas, así como de aquellas publicadas para proteger especies en peligro de extinción y áreas vulnerables en materia de recursos naturales, sin olvidar la normatividad de las descargas de aguas residuales a los cuerpos de las aguas nacionales.

¿Qué ocurre con las aguas de drenaje municipal?

-Para que estos cuerpos puedan descargarse a los nacionales, deben cumplir con ciertas características para lo cual la administración del presidente Calderón trabaja arduamente en las plantas de tratamiento del vital líquido que observaban un rezago en el país.”

Leer mas: El Occidental

Klamath Basin’s water worries extend to wells

Last modified on 2010-08-30 02:29:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“During the last big drought crisis in the Klamath Basin, in 2001, Carleton Farms filed for bankruptcy. Nine summers later, amid drought crisis No. 2, heavy pumping of wells that Jim Carleton and his neighbors installed since 2001 is saving his bacon, or, more precisely, his alfalfa, potatoes, wheat, cattle and 12 employees who work his 2,000 acres.

“As a Merrill councilman who oversees public works, Carleton also experienced the downside of this year’s unprecedented well use. In June, after Merrill’s wells ran dry, the town trucked in water for days and spent upward of $25,000 lowering its wellhead.

“Since 2001, the government has paid some basin farmers to irrigate with well water when the weather turns dry. Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s drought declaration in May allowed 89 one-year emergency wells this summer on top of 177 permanent wells sunk on the Oregon side of the basin during the past nine years.

“But this year’s pumping, roughly double previous highs, shows the limits of that strategy for resolving Oregon’s most politically fraught water war.

“The extra draw has lowered well water levels 30 feet in spots. ”

Read more: Oregon Live

Nuclear Plant’s Use Of River Water Prompts $1.1 Billion Debate With State

Last modified on 2010-08-27 17:36:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“BUCHANAN, N.Y. — Just beneath the wind-stippled surface of the Hudson River here, huge pipes suck enough water into the Indian Point nuclear plant every second to fill three Olympic swimming pools. And each second they take in dozens of organisms — fish and crabs, but mostly larvae — that are at the center of a $1.1 billion debate: should the plant have to put in cooling towers that would vastly reduce the intake of water?

Yes, says New York State, which puts the annual death toll at nearly a billion organisms and is withholding a water permit that the plant would need to extend its initial 40-year operating license.

No, says Entergy, the plant owner, which argues that more fish could be saved by installing a different water-intake system. It warns that, if built, the cooling towers would pump tons of pollution into the air of New York’s northern suburbs — and that Westchester County already fails to meet national air quality standards for particulates.”

Read more: The New York Times

Study of coal ash sites finds extensive water contamination

Last modified on 2010-08-27 06:25:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A study released on Thursday finds that 39 sites in 21 states where coal-fired power plants dump their coal ash are contaminating water with toxic metals such as arsenic and other pollutants, and that the problem is more extensive than previously estimated.

“The analysis of state pollution data by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to impose federally enforceable regulations for the first time. An alternative option would leave regulation of coal ash disposal up to the states, as it is now.

“The EPA will hold the first of seven nationwide hearings about the proposed regulation Monday in Arlington, Va. A public comment period ends Nov. 19.

“The electric power industry is lobbying to keep regulation up to individual states. Environmental groups say the states have failed to protect the public and that the EPA should set a national standard and enforce it.”

Why Your Faucet May Have Dangerously High Levels of Lead

Last modified on 2010-08-26 21:35:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Hundreds of recent health studies prove exceedingly low levels of lead exposure are dangerous – even at levels that were previously believed “safe.”  Small amounts of lead leaching from our plumbing can cause kidney disease, hypertension, reduced brain function, hearing loss, nervous system disorders, bone marrow damage, and even death.  Lead in the bloodstream robs us of our future because it is even more toxic to children.  There is simply no reason that lead should still be allowed in our drinking water plumbing.

In response to the dangers of lead, our government has taken steps to reduce our exposure.  In the 1970s, the use of lead in paint and gasoline was phased out.  In 1986, a federal law was enacted to reduce lead in our drinking water plumbing.  However, faucets sold today can still contain up to a quarter pound of lead and still be labeled as “lead-free” under the 1986 federal law.  Here is how it works.

 This 1986 federal law, and a subsequent amendment in 1996, established requirements for “lead free” drinking water plumbing.  However, under the heading of “things aren’t always what they seem to be,” this federal law actually allows up to 4 percent lead content in faucets and up to 8 percent lead in drinking water pipes.  The typical household faucet weighs about six and a half pounds.  That means a typical household faucet can contain up to a quarter pound of lead and still be labeled “lead free” under the federal safe drinking water law. We’ve long known that lead contained in a faucet or other household plumbing will leach into the drinking water as that water passes through the plumbing.  So how safe can a faucet be that contains a quarter pound of lead? ”

Read more: Alternet

How much is left?

Last modified on 2010-08-26 04:55:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

A very interesting interactive video from Scientific American about the limitations of the resources that so many think unlimited.

In this video, Christophe Miller, the project chief of the Continental Water, Climate, and Earth-systems Dynamics project (US Geological Survey/NOAA), summarizes the impact of Global Warming on the water resources.

Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=interactive-how-much-is-left&sc=WR_20100824

No more dumping in California waters

Last modified on 2010-08-25 17:49:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today proposed the largest coastal “No Discharge Zone” in the United States, banning all sewage discharges from large cruise ships and most other large ocean-going vessels in California‘s coastal waters.

9 Surprising Diseases You Can Catch In The Nation’s Oceans

Last modified on 2010-08-22 02:36:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Ocean water contaminated with sewage, storm run-off and oil carries bacteria, parasites, and viruses, which can cause a variety of diseases. From Staph infections to earaches, hepatitis to skin rashes and respiratory issues, America’s waters are an environmental hot bed for infection. For the last five years, there have been 18,000 beach closings across the United States. 2009 brought 18,682 days of closures and notices as a result of water contamination and pollution at beaches throughout the United States.

As summer ends, we here at HuffPost Green decided to explore the range of possible illnesses that can be contracted at our nation’s beaches due to environmental contamination. While oiled beaches are making the most headlines this summer, there are numerous other contamination that can be found at the beach. Recreational water illnesses can be caught by swallowing contaminated water, inhaling infected mist, and swimming in polluted waters.”

Read more: Huffington Post

Habrá Operativo Para Detectar Robo De Agua Potable En El DF

Last modified on 2010-08-20 19:18:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“El director del Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de México, Ramón Aguirre, precisó que si los ingresos anuales son de 4 mil 600 millones de pesos por concepto de agua potable, las autoridades del Distrito Federal pierden cerca de 460 millones de pesos con las tomas clandestinas.

Por ello, dijo, en lo que resta de este año se invitará a los capitalinos a regularizar sus tomas de agua, pero ya en 2011, se hará de forma “coercitiva”, pues el objetivo es que todo mundo pague lo que consume.

En entrevista, el funcionario señaló que tendrá un costo elevado para los capitalinos a quienes se detecten tomas clandestinas de agua potable, ya que se hará un estimado y se les cobrará cinco años el agua que pudieron haber consumido.

Para echar a andar este operativo especial, dijo, el Gobierno del DF contratará empresas que se dedican a la detección de tomas clandestinas, las cuales se localizan en toda la Ciudad de México.

Sin embargo, acotó que las tomas clandestinas se concentran en las colonias populares y los lotes grandes, donde se amplían las viviendas y se construyen nuevas casas, las cuales hacen sus propias tomas de agua.

También se registran en las zonas industriales, ya que en ellas el costo de agua es mayor y con las tomas clandestinas se trata de evadir el cobro, así como en algunas zonas residenciales, donde no dan de alta las nuevas tomas.”

Leer mas: El Sol De Mexico

New Online Map Plots 140 Large Dams Planned for the Amazon

Last modified on 2010-08-20 19:39:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“An interactive online database and map launched today graphically illustrates the impacts from more than 140 large dams at various stages of planning in the Amazon Basin. This unique resource, available at www.dams-info.org, uses official sources of information to document the shocking number of dams planned in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and outlines the devastation these projects would bring to the river and its peoples.

“The Amazon plays a key role in regulating the world’s climate and is an area of extraordinary biodiversity. The largest and arguably the most important river basin in the world, the Amazon contains 60% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest. However, the more than 140 dam projects described in the database threaten irrevocable damage to the Amazon’s biological integrity and to local populations whose livelihoods depend upon healthy riverine ecosystems.

“Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, the “Dams in Amazonia” database presents technical and economic data about existing, planned and partly built dams. In the Brazilian Amazon alone, more than 60 dams are planned; neighboring countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Colombia also have plans for massive projects.

“It’s astounding to see the plans that governments and the dam industry have for the world’s most important river basin. If all these projects are built, it would be catastrophic for the Amazon ecosystem and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people and riverbank dwellers who depend on the river for survival,” said Brent Millikan, Amazon Program Director for International Rivers.”

read more: International Rivers

Conservation key in dealing with Delta water supply impact

Last modified on 2010-08-20 15:51:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Most of us don’t think about the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta very often. Even those of us who have visited the Delta for a fishing trip, a boating excursion or to see some of the historic Delta towns, often skip over headlines about the ecological struggles of the Delta and the impact on the state’s water supply.

“It’s time to start paying attention. The health of the Delta is already having a big impact on Santa Clara County’s water supply. Due to several years of drought and new regulatory restrictions to protect Delta fish, we’re receiving only a fraction of our imported water allocations. Because more than half of our water comes from Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds, delivered through and around the Delta, the Delta’s health is vital to our residents and local economy.

“Santa Clara Valley Water District is actively working with fisheries experts, environmental groups and other water agencies on the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan to meet the goals of restoring Delta ecosystem health and improving water supply reliability. Meanwhile, we are actively expanding recycled water, conservation and other local programs to reduce our dependence on water conveyed through the Delta and as part of our long-term strategy to meet future water supply needs.

“The Santa Clara Valley Water District’s board of directors has continued the call for mandatory conservation measures, partly in response to these Delta issues. We applaud the residents and businesses that have heeded the call. However, increased and continued conservation needs to become the new norm in Santa Clara County.”

read more: Mercury News

Something’s not right about this California water deal

Last modified on 2010-08-20 02:16:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Students of California’s history of gold and oil rushes know it’s filled with examples of profiteering, conspiracy, influence-peddling and other chicanery.

“So there’s no reason the story should be any different with that liquid gold of the 21st century, water.

“That’s the theme of a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago alleging there’s something smelly about how a group of private interests — notably a huge agribusiness owned by the wealthy Southern California couple Stewart and Lynda Resnick — got control of an underground water storage project the state had already spent $75 million to develop.

‘The lawsuit was filed by a group of water agencies and environmental groups contending that the transaction was essentially a gift of public property to private interests and therefore violates the state constitution.

“They’re asking a judge to reverse the deal. That way, they contend, the storage facility can be integrated into the state’s water management plan, so a precious and dwindling natural resource can serve everyone in the state, not just a few powerful farm companies and real estate developers.”

read more: LA Times

Great Reasons to Get Rid of Your Lawn

Last modified on 2010-08-20 02:01:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Unless you own a sheep, you’re actually doing harm to the environment every time you water and cut the green patches in the front and backyard.”

“In her recent piece in USA Today, Laura Vanderkam takes an environmental stand against the family yard:

“Mowing itself requires fuel, just like our cars, with a similar impact on the environment. And all these woes are before you even get to the issue of water. According to Kress, maintaining non-native plants requires 10,000 gallons of water per year per lawn, over and above rainwater. That water doesn’t just show up by itself; it requires energy to get to your hose. In California, for example, the energy required to treat and move water amounts to 19 percent of total electricity use in the state.”

“Vanderkam got me thinking. In her article, she states that maintaining a lawn is one of the most difficult – and therefore potentially environmentally unfriendly – activities one can associate with home ownership.”

read more: AlterNet

Groundwater is a private property right, Texans say

Last modified on 2010-08-18 00:06:28 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Texas landowner groups have joined forces in an effort to ensure that groundwater continues to be recognized as a vested, real private property right. The groups will host educational forums throughout the state to help the public understand current groundwater ownership issues.

“Groundwater is owned by private landowners,” said Dave Scott, TSCRA president and rancher. “The Texas Constitution and more than 100 years of case law support this. Unfortunately this property right is under attack. Landowners must defend their ownership of groundwater on the legal, regulatory and legislative fronts.”

“There’s no doubt that secure, protectable property rights best assure conservation and stewardship of all resources, including groundwater,” said Texas Wildlife Association President Tina Y. Buford. “The way private landowners, acting as land stewards, manage their property directly influences quantity and quality of groundwater available to all Texans.”

“According to estimates by the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), by 2060 Texas’ population will more than double, increasing its water demand by 27 percent. Because groundwater from Texas aquifers supply more than half the water for the state, it is critical that groundwater resources be managed to provide for current and future use.”

read more: Drovers

Rogue River jumps the gun on dam; Relentless river overwhelms sand spit and flows freely past Gold Ray Dam for first time in 106 years

Last modified on 2010-08-15 18:01:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Rogue River on Wednesday unexpectedly flowed freely past Gold Ray Dam for the first time in 106 years when a sand spit collapsed during demolition efforts there, draining the upstream impoundment.

“Construction crews early Wednesday built a temporary dam to a sand spit that isolated Tolo Slough from the rest of the upstream backwaters and drained the slough as part of a project to remove Gold Ray Dam.

“As the slough drained, the spit’s soft sand gave way around 11:15 a.m., sending the entire river through the dam’s freshly cut-out southern end in a torrent of turbid water — almost two weeks earlier than planned.

“And just like that, the Rogue flowed freely through 157 miles of river stretch for the first time since the Ray brothers tamed the Rogue for power generation near Gold Hill in 1904.

“”It’s the way we planned it, but just not this soon,” said Scott Wright, whose River Design Group spearheaded the demolition plans for the $5.6 million project.

“This is what would have gone down in a week and a half,” Wright said. “Mother Nature has its own schedule.”

“As water chugged downstream, it exposed the banks of the main impoundment and the adjacent Kelly Slough for the first time in more than a century, revealing long-lost artifacts resting in the smelly organic ooze of the slough bottom.”

Read more: Mail Tribune

Bottling Our Cities’ Tap Water: Share of Bottled Water from Municipal Supplies Up 50 Percent

Last modified on 2010-08-15 04:38:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Over the past decade, an increasing share of the bottled water sold in the United States is coming from municipal water supplies. Categorized as “purified” by the bottled water industry, bottling companies purchase municipal tap water, put it through a filtration process, bottle it and then sell it back to consumers for hundreds to thousands of times the cost. Between 2000 and 2009, the share of water bottled with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sold in retail stores sourced by tap water supplies increased by almost 50 percent. During that time, tap water went from making up a third of retail PET bottled water sold in retail stores (32.7 percent) to making up almost half (47.8 percent) of it.

“The trend of water bottlers increasingly turning to tap water sources for bottling threatens our public water resources and is a bad deal for consumers who pay hundreds to thousands of times more for a product they can get from the tap. Furthermore, water bottlers are increasingly using aging water treatment systems that are funded by taxpayer dollars — another raw deal for citizens.”

Read more: Food and Water Watch

Lake Mead’s Water Level Plunges as 11-Year Drought Lingers

Last modified on 2010-08-14 02:04:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir of Colorado River water that hydrates Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, is receding to a level not seen since it was first being filled in the 1930s, stoking existential fears about water supply in the parched Southwest.

“Heightening those concerns are recent signs that the region’s record-breaking, 11-year drought could wear on for another year or longer. July not only saw the lake drop to 1956 levels but also brought cooling temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that signaled a developing La Niña system, historically a harbinger of more hot and dry weather.

“The La Niña “appears to be strong, and it might even last two years,” said Brad Udall, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Western Water Assessment program at the University of Colorado.”

Read more: The New York Times

Voters approve Pajaro Valley water pumping fee: New rates go into effect Oct. 1

Last modified on 2010-08-13 02:40:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“WATSONVILLE – The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency’s two-year struggle for financial solvency came to an end Tuesday with a successful passage of a new fee on groundwater pumping.

“Fewer than 50 percent of the mail-in ballots sent to Pajaro Valley well owners were cast, but 72 percent of the votes went in favor of the fee that will enable the agency to operate water projects, pay its debts and turn its attention to finding solutions to groundwater overdraft.

“The new rates – $156 to $195 an acre foot of groundwater, along with a separate charge of $306 per acre foot of delivered irrigation water – will raise $10 million annually, and will go into effect Oct. 1.

“This vote shows that the water users themselves see the need for concerted action to reduce the overdraft, find new supplemental water supplies, and increase conservation,” said Rosemarie Imazio, board chair. “This positive outcome is the result of a tremendous commitment of time and energy by the agency board, staff and the public, which recognizes the need for strong and effective local control and management of this critical resource.”

read more: San Jose Mercury News

California Puts Off Huge Water-Upgrade Effort

Last modified on 2010-08-11 03:36:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“California lawmakers have voted to delay putting an $11.1 billion water bond to voters, extending a battle to rework the biggest effort in decades to upgrade the state’s water system.

“The legislators also agreed to lengthen the terms of California’s nine water commissioners appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a change that some critics of the governor say could give him influence over the direction of the state’s water projects after leaving office in January. The commissioners’ terms would have ended at a various times over the next few years; they will now all hold their positions until May 2014.

“The postponement—approved by narrow majorities in both statehouse chambers late Monday—is part of a broader struggle to improve California’s ailing water system. The Golden State’s frequent droughts and growing population place special demands on an aging water system, which itself causes major environmental damage.

“Water is a perennial hot-button issue in the state, where urban areas, powerful agricultural interests and the politicians that support them battle for control of the resource.

“The bond, part of a set of water-related bills approved by the legislature last year, is a test case for how well California can balance environmental concerns with water demand from farmers, consumers and businesses. The bills called for projects including ecosystem restoration, water conservation, groundwater monitoring and construction of water storage, such as dams and reservoirs.

“Some of those projects are moving forward, but the bond requires the approval of California’s voters. On Monday night, lawmakers agreed to move that vote from Election Day in November to 2012, due to fears that voters would reject the measure.”

Read more: The Wall Street Journal

Sea Level Rise Threatens Drinking Water of 15 Million Americans

Last modified on 2010-08-09 23:10:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Fresh water that now is flowing to the sea in the Delaware estuary is threatened by future sea-level rise resulting from rising temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds. As sea levels rise, salt water will move inland up the estuary. Drinking water for over 15 million people will be endangered.

“The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary studied impacts on drinking water, tidal wetlands and shellfish like the local oysters and freshwater mussels in “Climate Change and the Delaware Estuary.” and how people can adapt to help protect the threatened resources.

“The study warned that drinking water infrastructure like treatment plants could be damaged or inundated by flooding, sea-level rise and storm surge, because they are placed close to water resources, right in the path of flooding and storm surge.

“Currently a narrow fringe of freshwater wetlands protects the freshwater, but the wetland marsh plants are very susceptible to rising salinity.”

read more: Blue Living Ideas

Drop by drop, residents save tons of water

Last modified on 2010-08-08 22:34:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Gary and Linda Rogers are turning blue into green.

“The Cooper City couple saved $117 by reducing their water usage by 27,000 gallons in just three months.

“They weren’t the only ones.

“When the city’s utilities department issued a three-month water conservation challenge, 12 teams of Cooper City homeowners signed on. The competition pitted two local homeowners’ associations — the Homes at Forest Lake and Reflections at Rock Creek — to see who could save the most water.

“”Water conservation is not a new concept. We just wanted to make it more visible and try to engage folks a little more,” said Mike Bailey, director of utilities.

“Although prizes were given — the Reflections homeowners came home with irrigation systems — the real winner was Cooper City.

“Together, the 12 teams saved 176,000 gallons of the city’s water. That’s enough to fill more than one million water bottles.”

Read more: Miami Herald

Despite dam-building, enviros pump money into governor’s water bond

Last modified on 2010-08-08 21:24:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan for a $11.4 billion state water bond – conceived last summer in the third year of a crippling drought – is on the bubble, as the San Diego Union Tribune’s copy desk has punned.

“The ballot measure was intended to restore the collapsing ecosystem of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, promote water conservation and, not incidentally, build a giant dam on the San Joaquin upstream of the mammoth Friant Dam in Fresno County.

“Analysts concerned with California’s fiscal health wondered whether a state already staggering under the burden of a multibillion-dollar deficit should saddle itself with billions in new debt.

“Meanwhile, the dam proposal roused the ire of the Sierra Club and a long list of other green groups. They noted that most western states are demolishing dams out of environmental concerns, not putting up new ones.

“The consumer group Food & Water Watch, which opposes Prop. 18, contends that some green organizations lining up behind the water bond could benefit from its passage.”

read more: California Watch

Shocking Negligence: Gas Companies Drilling in Pennsylvania Have Committed Nearly 1,500 Environmental Violations in Just Two Years

Last modified on 2010-08-07 22:33:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Since 2008, Pennsylvanians whose property sits atop the gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation have suffered through enough environmental problems to clutter an encyclopedia: A is for arsenic, found in soil at concentrations of 2,600 times what’s recommended. M is for methane — enough to blow up a concrete well. X is for the toxin xylene. Et cetera. Sometimes troubles like these occur naturally. But recently, they have become the M.O. of an increasingly reckless natural gas industry — one that’s been exempt from nearly a dozen important environmental laws since 2005.

“A report published Monday by Pennsylvania Land Trust vividly illustrates the breadth of the gas industry’s complicity in drilling accidents across the state. According to the findings, 43 gas companies operating in Pennsylvania were responsible for nearly 1,500 environmental violations between Jan. 1, 2008 and July 25, 2010. A few of these companies had more violations than actual wells drilled.”

read more: AlterNet

Stalling on the water bond is good for private interests, bad for average Californians

Last modified on 2010-08-07 03:11:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Legislation to delay the $11 billion water bond is expected to be taken up in the State Legislature on Monday. Sadly, this stalling tactic is an attempt to pull a fast one on voters.

“Supporters of the water bond, which would cost California taxpayers $22 billion over 30 years, hope that in two years voters will forget how bad it is. That will also give bond supporters time to gather the millions of dollars needed to push their message out statewide. We shouldn’t be fooled: a vote to postpone this bad bill is a vote to keep it on life support.

“While pulling the plug on the water bond now and starting anew is the best thing for California, the second best option is to let Prop 18 go to the ballot in November. If our Bay Area legislators want to do right by the public, they will vote against A.B. 1265, the bill to postpone the water bond to 2012.

“The battle over the bond has been framed in many circles as a battle between farmers and fishermen, or between Northern and Southern California. But a report released by Food & Water Watch yesterday suggests that the real battle is between private and public interests, with private interests across the state set to gain measurably if the bond is passed. Peter Gleick’s post on Tuesday highlighted what Proposition 18 actually says and does. Now with this report, we know who stands to benefit most from the bloated bond and it’s not the general water-drinking public. That will continue to be the case two years from now.

“We find that bond beneficiaries would include the Obayashi Corporation, a large Japanese contractor working on the San Vicente Dam in San Diego; Warren Buffet, whose Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Pacificorp would have costs associated with the removal of its dams on the Klamath River offset by bond funds; and Cadiz, Inc., which could access bond money for a groundwater bank in the Mojave Desert where it would store Colorado River water and resell it at a profit to Southern California communities.”

read more: SF Chronicle

Pacific Institute Analyzes the 2010 California Water Bond

Last modified on 2010-08-05 20:47:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

It is a critical time in California water policy.
At the end of 2009, a series of water-related bills was passed by the California Legislature, with the intent of moving the state out of decades of gridlock over water resource management. Simultaneously, the Legislature approved an $11.14 billion bond called the “Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010” to fund water system upgrades. This is the largest water bond in 50 years, yet the costs and benefits of the bond have not been fully assessed by an independent organization. The Governor recently proposed postponing the bond, but the Legislature has not yet taken the action required to have it pulled off of the November ballot.

The Pacific Institute’s Water Program and Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice Program have collaborated on an independent analysis of the bond and released the report: The California 2010 Water Bond: What Does It Say and Do? The questions addressed by our analysis include:

• What does the bond language actually cover and say?
• How does the bond compare to past water bonds in size, definitions, and scope?
• How will the bond be allocated among different funding priorities?
• What are the governance implications of the bond?
• What options are available for funding water system improvements?
• What effect would the bond have on other critical public services and projects funded by the state?
• How are the water needs of disadvantaged communities addressed by the bond?

The full report of our independent analysis of the 2010 Water Bond is available, as well as three NEED TO KNOW Information Sheets.

Water Scarcity Facing 1/3 of US Counties

Last modified on 2010-08-03 16:23:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“One out of three U.S. counties is facing a greater risk of water shortages by mid-century due to global warming, finds a new report by Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“For 412 of these counties the risk of water shortages will be “extremely high,” according to the report, a 14-fold increase from previous estimates.

“In the Great Plains and Southwest United States, water sustainability is at extreme risk finds the report, which is based on publicly available water use data from across the United States.

“This analysis shows climate change will take a serious toll on water supplies throughout the country in the coming decades, with over one out of three U.S. counties facing greater risks of water shortages,” said Dan Lashof, director of the Climate Center at NRDC. “Water shortages can strangle economic development and agricultural production and affected communities.”

“As a result,” he said, “cities and states will bear real and significant costs if Congress fails to take the steps necessary to slow down and reverse the warming trend.”

“The report, issued Tuesday, finds that 14 states face an extreme or high risk to water sustainability, or are likely to see limitations on water availability as demand exceeds supply by 2050. ”

read more: AlterNet

Enbridge Inc. Continues Cleanup of Kalamazoo River

Last modified on 2010-07-31 00:18:54 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Since the 6B pipeline on the Lakehead System burst on July 26, Enbridge Inc.shut down the pipeline and closed the isolation valves, stopping the source of the oil but estimates some 19,500 barrels of crude may have been released from the site, which is near the company’s Marshall, Mich., pump station, to Talmadge Creek.

“Talmadge Creek feeds into the Kalamazoo River.

“Line 6B is a 30-inch, 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) line transporting light synthetics, heavy and medium crude oil from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario. It is part of the Partnership’s Lakehead System. According to Enbridge, the 1,900-mile system is the U.S. portion of the world’s longest petroleum pipeline and has operated for more than 60 years. It transports crude oil from Western Canada to the United States, spanning from the international border near Neche, N.D., to the international border near Marysville, Mich., with an extension across the Niagara River into the Buffalo, N.Y., area.

“The Calhoun County Public Health Department issued a water advisory for residents with private wells living within 200 feet from the edge of the river bank between Talmadge Creek (site of oil spill) west along the Kalamazoo River to the Kalamazoo County line.

“Clearly identified Calhoun County Health Department and Michigan Department of Community Health officials and volunteers will personally visit affected homes to deliver water advisory notices.

“Residents are advised to discontinue use of their residential water well for drinking and cooking. All other household uses are acceptable at this time.”

Read more: Environmental Protection

Rick Longinotti: City should wait on UCSC water decision

Last modified on 2010-07-29 23:07:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 2006, city voters passed Measure J with an 80 percent majority. Under Measure J any new water service for UC Santa Cruz expansion would have to be approved by voters. UCSC immediately filed a lawsuit to overturn Measure J, and UCSC lawyers were successful on a technicality: the notice of the City Council hearing putting Measure J on the ballot wasn’t printed in the paper on time.

“The recently released Environmental Impact Report for the UCSC water service extension confirms what city voters had expressed: Our water supplies are already stretched. The EIR states, “There are inadequate water supplies to serve the project under existing and future multiple dry year drought conditions.” The EIR considers this water inadequacy in dry years a “Significant Unavoidable Impact.” Under state law a project with such impacts cannot be approved unless the approving agency in this case the City Council makes a statement of “overriding consideration.” That’s a claim that the project’s benefits outweigh the significant impact it will cause. The following may help readers decide if that is the case.

“Water for UCSC expansion would come from the city’s water savings account, Loch Lomond. According to a Water Department 2004 report, “It is important to note that, even in normal water conditions, three of the four major sources are presently being utilized at maximum capacity for a significant portion of the year… What this means operationally is that any future increase in seasonal or annual demand for water will be felt through greater and greater withdrawals from Loch Lomond reservoir.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Special Report: Delaware Drinking Water at Risk

Last modified on 2010-07-29 17:07:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Tainted groundwater is spreading across thousands of acres in northern Delaware and has reached the Potomac Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to people across much of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.

“In some areas of the upper Potomac near Delaware City and New Castle, concentrations of benzene, vinyl chloride and chlorinated benzenes are so high that exposure poses an immediate health threat. Elevated levels of these industrial byproducts significantly increase the risks of cancer. Sustained exposure could kill.

“Northern Delaware is home to some of the worst chemical dumping grounds in America, a legacy of broken promises and corporate misdeeds. Regulators working for Delaware and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have long claimed that the deep clay layers above the aquifer protected it from the foul waters discharged by chemical and petroleum manufacturers.

“Those assurances have proved false.

“The protective layer over the aquifer, scientists now say, is full of holes.

“To prevent a public health disaster, the state has banned public use of groundwater under or near the Delaware City petrochemical complex.

“Toxic pollutants, though, are now moving near the edge of that containment zone, outside the properties of Metachem, Occidental Chemical, Formosa Plastics and the Delaware City Refinery, and toward schools and houses.”

read more: Delaware Online

US Senate bill to force fracking fluid disclosure

Last modified on 2010-07-29 16:15:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate energy bill is supposed to promote vehicles fueled by natural gas, but industry is crying foul over provisions they say undercut a drilling technique essential to boosting domestic gas output.

“The bill proposed by Senate Democrats would force companies using the hydraulic fracturing technique to tap shale gas to disclose by 2012 the chemicals used when drilling each well.

“Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into rock formations at high pressure to force out oil and natural gas.

“Environmentalists assail drillers for keeping secret the chemicals they use in fracking, saying the mixture is toxic and may be poisoning groundwater in the drilling process.

“They argue the practice should not be exempt from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.”

read more: Reuters

U.S. faces climate-driven water shortages

Last modified on 2010-07-28 14:20:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“As global warming accelerates, the world will become not only hotter, flatter, and more crowded but also thirsty, according to a new study that finds 70 percent of counties in the United States may face climate change-related risks to their water supplies by 2050.

“One-third of U.S. counties may find themselves at “high or extreme risk,” according to the report prepared for the Natural Resources Defense Council by Tetra Tech, a California environmental consulting firm.

“It appears highly likely that climate change could have major impacts on the available precipitation and the sustainability of water withdrawals in future years under the business-as-usual scenario,” the study’s authors conclude. “This calculation indicates the increase in risk that affected counties face that water demand will outstrip supplies, if no other remedial actions are taken. To be clear, it is not intended as a prediction that water shortages will occur, but rather where they are more likely to occur.”

read more: Grist

Running dry on the Colorado

Last modified on 2010-07-27 20:24:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Climate models for the second half of this century show that up to 70 percent of the snowpack, which supplies the river 90 percent of its water, will disappear. Despite a whopping snowfall and long winter in the Upper Basin, the two biggest reservoirs created by Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams, “Lakes” Mead and Powell, are presently at half of their collective 50-maf capacities and are unlikely to recharge from the winter’s big snowfall after meeting their downstream orders to create electricity and fill irrigation ditches.

“If this nine-year drought continues on beyond a decade, as predicted, life throughout the river basin will be irrevocably changed. First, the sprawling economy created by recreational river and reservoir use throughout the river basin will go bust — crippling scores of towns and small cities along the river. Swimming pools will be drained and lawns browned in Salt Lake City, Utah; Cheyenne, Wyo.; and Albuquerque, N.M. Without Hoover Dam generating relatively clean and rapidly created hydroelectric power, Los Angeles will have blackouts. Without Glen Canyon Dam powering air conditioners, people will abandon sweltering Phoenix, necessitating the construction of more noxious, water consumptive coal plants on the far reaches of the energy grid. Several million acres of farms in the Southwest — including Imperial Valley, the fifth richest agricultural region in the country — will go fallow. Without radical change, citizens in Denver, Colo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; and San Diego, Calif., will have trouble flushing their toilets. Thirty million people will begin losing their drinking water. Finally, thanks to the antiquated Colorado River Compact, lawsuits will lock up what little water remains in what is already known as the most diverted river in the world.

“Like other states in the river basin, Colorado developed around the ability to manipulate water. Financiers knew that “water runs uphill to money,” and so does this ditch, pumped at a one percent grade over the Continental Divide.

“As evidence of this water-as-gold maxim, in Colorado, we cannot legally catch rain in our gutters to water our gardens, because Brad and I live under the doctrine of prior appropriation — or first in time, first in right — meaning that someone below us already owns the water. These rights can be bought and sold separately from whatever rights we’d like to think we own on our roofs, high above and far away from any farmer. In times of drought, the owner of the oldest water right, regardless of distance from the river or its headwaters, reserves the right to use the water. This explains why ranchers and farmers 80 miles to the west in Grand Junction, Colo., or 80 miles to the east in Fort Morgan, Colo., own the water that falls on our Carbondale or Boulder roofs.”

read more: Grist

Brazil tribes allow workers to leave hydro plant

Last modified on 2010-07-27 18:21:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Indigenous people protesting against the construction of a hydro-electric plant in the Brazilian Amazon have allowed most workers to leave the site, the Brazilian authorities say.

“A spokesman for the National Indian Foundation said only five employees remained there.

“Nearly 300 protesters occupied the site in Mato Grosso state on Sunday, confining about 100 workers to their barracks.

“They say the plant is being built on an ancient burial ground.

“Some of those occupying the plant were armed with bows and arrows, but there were no reports of any violence or injuries.

“The plant is being built on the Aripuana river, some 400km (250 miles) north of the Mato Grosso state capital, Cuiaba. It is the first phase of a hydro-electric project there and is expected to start operations by January 2011.”

read more: BBC News

Experts worry about increase in deficient U.S. dams

Last modified on 2010-07-27 16:41:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The failure of the 88-year-old dam at northeast Iowa’s Lake Delhi comes when experts have been warning of potentially catastrophic consequences involving thousands of aging U.S. dams.

“The American Society of Civil Engineers, in a report on infrastructure last year, gave a “D” to the nation’s system of 85,000 dams. The average dam is 51 years old, and more than 4,000 are deemed deficient, including some 1,800 that could potentially cause a loss of life if they failed.

“I think we have found over the last five years that the number of dams that states have identified as being deficient or unsafe is growing at a rapid rate, and that rate is much faster than we are able to do repairs,” said Brad Iarossi, a society spokesman and former head of Maryland’s state dam safety program.

“One of the worries is that new development is occurring below many dams, dramatically increasing the consequences of failure, the group said.”

read more: Des Moines Register

Amazon Tribesman Seize Hydroelectric Plant, Workers In Protest

Last modified on 2010-07-26 16:08:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Mato Grosso, Brazil (AHN) – Amazonian tribesmen protesting the construction of a hydroelectric plant have seized the facility. Some 300 members of at least six different Amazon tribes armed with bows and arrows took over the Dardanelos power plant in Mato Grosso state Sunday, preventing 100 workers from leaving.

“The protestors, described as being in full war paint, are demanding officials of the Aguas da Pedra power company compensate them and is asking for talks with company executives and government officials. They are seeking $6.3 million in compensation for cultural and social losses.”

read more: All Headline News

Dam fails in eastern Iowa, causing massive flooding

Last modified on 2010-07-24 21:32:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A dam on an eastern Iowa lake suffered a “catastrophic” failure Saturday, sending a massive amount of water into nearby communities and forcing residents to flee, officials said.

The Lake Delhi dam, about 45 miles north of Cedar Rapids, failed as a result of “massive rain — a very unusually high amount this season,” according to Jim Flansburg, communications director for Gov. Chet Culver.

Culver told CNN that nearly 10 inches of rain had recently fallen in a 12-hour period in the area and was “too much water for the dam to hold.”

The roads on either side of the dam — which were part of the dam’s containment measures — apparently gave out as a result of the rainfall, Flansburg told CNN.

The National Weather Service reported a 30-foot-wide gap in the berm alongside the dam.

Video showed massive amounts of water violently gushing from the pool behind the dam into the river below. Nearby homes and buildings were under water up to their eaves.”

Read More: CNN

U.C. Berkeley losing its water resources library

Last modified on 2010-07-23 17:07:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“U.C. Berkeley’s water library is following a path taken by much of the state’s water — to Southern California.

“The University of California is moving its library of documents on water resources off the Berkeley campus and splitting the collection between two other schools.

“The Water Resources Center Archive was started in 1958 with help from Professor Morrough O’Brien, and it’s long had a home on the fourth floor of O’Brien Hall, an engineering building named for him.

“WRCA’s collection — 200,000 technical reports, 45,000 coastal aerial photographs, its manuscripts, maps and videos plus 25,000 black-and-white photos showing the way water resources were developed and allocated (and fought over) in California and the western United States — will be moved to U.C. Riverside and to California State University San Bernardino.”

read more: SF Business Times

Ask The U.S. Ambassador to Support the Human Right to Water

Last modified on 2010-07-22 17:26:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“For the first time since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted 60 years ago, the UN General Assembly is finally poised to recognize the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Billions of people are suffering because the world is not focused on providing water and sanitation for all. A strong UN General Assembly resolution will signal that water and sanitation is a key priority for the international community.”

Take action by signing the UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation at: Food and Water Watch

Global warming raises water shortage risks in one-third of U.S. counties

Last modified on 2010-07-20 21:31:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“More than 1,100 counties — one-third of those in the continental United States — will face higher risks of water shortages by midcentury as the result of global warming and more than 400 of these counties will face extremely high risks, reports a study today.

“Fourteen states face an extreme risk to water sustainability or will likely see limitations on water availability as demand exceeds supply by 2050, according to an analysis by consulting firm Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental group.

“High-risk areas include parts of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.”

Read more: USA Today

Amazon Mega-Dam Deemed Unfeasible in Risk Scenario Analysis

Last modified on 2010-07-20 15:34:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Questions over the inefficiency of Belo Monte, which will produce an average of only 39 percent of its 11,233 megawatt installed capacity due to seasonal fluctuations in the river’s flow, indicate that the project’s heavy financial risks could only be solved by building additional reservoirs upstream.  The risk scenario report concludes that “construction of Belo Monte now will lead to an entirely foreseeable – some would say planned – crisis, which will exert enormous pressure for the construction of new dams upstream of Belo Monte to store water and enable the dams’ capacity to be fully used.”  Critics have long maintained that Belo Monte is only the first of a series of planned dams on the Xingu.

“Given uncertainties over the project’s economic viability, the Brazilian government has announced a series of generous perks to lure investors, including subsidized loans, tax breaks and public-guaranteed insurance.  The National Development Bank, BNDES, has committed to finance up to 80 percent of Belo Monte’s US$17 billion price tag, with interest rates of a mere 4 percent, a generous grace period and 30 years for repayment in what will be the largest loan in the bank’s history.  The bank has already issued subsidized credit totaling  US$8 billion (R$14 billion) and 50 percent tax breaks over 10 years to increase the private sector’s involvement in Belo Monte’s auction on April 20th and to entice European turbine suppliers Alstom, Andritz, and Voith-Siemens in signing with the consortium.  BNDES has repeatedly been charged with having weak social and environmental safeguards, a lack of transparency in lending decisions, and deficient public oversight mechanisms.

“Belo Monte and other mega-dams in the Amazon are not necessary.  Studies have shown that by investing in energy efficiency and alternative sources of energy, Brazil could avoid the need for huge dams in the Amazon and save billions in the process,” said Brent Millikan, Amazon Program Director at International Rivers. “This project is a government handout to large construction and energy companies, several of which are major funders of political campaigns, at the expense of the Brazilian taxpayer, indigenous people, riverbank dwellers, small farmers and the Xingu River’s incredible biodiversity.”
read more: International Rivers

Mustangs Fenced Out Of Water

Last modified on 2010-07-18 00:32:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: amnh.org

“Independent Investigation requested to uncover cause of wild horse deaths and inability to access water

“Mustangs in the Tuscarora/Owyhee Complex of Elko County, Nevada are now the focus of a BLM “emergency” because the agency claims the horses don’t have enough water. The real issue is the BLM has been preventing the wild horses’ access to water. These treasured Tuscarora mustangs are forced to navigate a maze of livestock fences and closed gates in order to find water. Miles of fencing prevent their free-roaming rights and ability to access water sites they’ve used for decades—if not centuries.

“Already 12 Tuscarora wild horses have died after BLM contractors used a helicopter, in the desert heat, to roundup 228 horses in less than 150 minutes on July 10. Prior to the roundup, members of the public, mustang advocates and experts filed thousands of public comments against the Elko roundup often citing concerns involving summer heat and stress to the young especially. BLM informed advocates that they were confident this was a reasonable time to remove horses and maintain heir good condition despite the presence of very young foals and the heat. After the first day proved to be fatal and the roundup was placed on hold, BLM spin began to refer to the horses’ situation on the range as an “emergency”. BLM’s new position states that “an escalating drought” necessitates an emergency “gather.” Obviously during the hottest month of the year, rain doesn’t fall in the desert. The Cloud Foundation is alarmed to learn water sources have been fenced off from the horses and points to this as the real cause of their so called “emergency.”’

Read more: Horse Yard

Spring Chinook Salmon ‘Rescued’ from Butte Creek

Last modified on 2010-07-18 00:25:31 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The “rescue” of stranded spring chinook salmon on Butte Creek occurs as populations of Central Valley steelhead, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Delta smelt, longfin smelt and striped bass continue to collapse. Although water pollution, invasive species, toxic chemicals and other factors play a role in the collapse, the most significant factor in the decline of these species is massive exports of water from the California Delta to corporate agribusiness and southern California.

“State and federal fisheries staff arrived at Butte Creek on Thursday, July 15, expecting to capture and transport 75-80 spring run Chinook salmon stranded in the tributary of the Sacramento River, but they actually captured and relocated 123 of these majestic native fish.

“This “rescue” has become an annual ritual that takes place when these salmon are threatened by rising water temperatures during their annual migration. Over the past decade, two major fish kills took place on the creek, due to mismanagement by the state and federal governments and PG&E.

“Fishermen and environmentalists pointed out that the warm water temperatures that every summer plague the creek are spurred by upstream diversions – and that the agency staff had waited too long to “rescue” the fish for their efforts to be successful.”

Read more: IndyBay

Water conservation must be the new norm

Last modified on 2010-07-16 03:59:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water. It sustains life, nourishes, cleanses and refreshes. It’s pure, simple and essential.

“Yet this finite resource is also wasted — used as if there could be no end in sight. But there is.

“And the ongoing near water crisis should not only remind us of this existential fact, it must serve as the wake-up call that we clearly need.

“In case you missed it, history was made last Tuesday when the Aquarion Water Co. pumped 140 million gallons of water to its customers. That number, the largest amount delivered in the company’s 153-year history, represents an increase of approximately 60 million gallons above normal daily consumption.”

Read More: Westport News

Environmental groups map course to settle state’s water wars

Last modified on 2010-07-15 23:01:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A consortium of Georgia environmental groups announced Thursday a strategy they say will help the next governor settle a 20-year battle with Florida and Alabama over the state’s water resources.

“Members of the Upper Chattahoochee, Flint and Coosa Riverkeeper organizations called on the state’s gubernatorial candidates to change course and get the issue resolved before metro Atlanta loses its primary source of water. Georgia is under a court mandate to either reach an agreement over downstream flows with its two neighbors or lose access to Lake Lanier as major water source.

“At a news conference in Atlanta Thursday, Sally Bethea, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper executive director, said all seven Georgia Riverkeeper organizations have joined to endorse the new plan. It calls for more openness in negotiations, aggressive conservation measures and respect for all downstream communities.

“The Georgia Riverkeepers are composed of more than 1,000 people interested in protecting the integrity of the state’s streams, Bethea said.”

Read More: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

[[2043 ]]

Hanford nuclear waste mess worse than you thought

Last modified on 2010-07-15 15:43:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The amount of plutonium at the Hanford nuclear waste site near Richland, Wash., is almost twice what was last reported and could seep into the Columbia River within the next 1,000 years, according to a reportreleased earlier this week.

“Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. and a former Department of Energy employee, determined that 4 metric tons of plutonium was discarded at Hanford between 1944 and 2009, nearly two times the amount last reported by the DOE in 1996.

“Of the 4 metric tons, Alvarez is most concerned about plutonium waste buried in the ground before 1973, before the Atomic Energy Commission required the waste be encased inside an underground repository. The cancer-causing material is migrating at a faster-than-anticipated rate toward the site’s subterranean groundwater, Alvarez said.

“The Department of Energy has been finding plutonium contamination at depths of 120 to 130 feet,” Alvarez said. “The groundwater starts at 200 feet. This dumped plutonium is likely to reach the shore of the Columbia River in less than 1,000 years at concentrations 238 times the federal limit for drinking water. It could render the near shore of the Columbia uninhabitable.”

“CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Co., the contractor in charge of cleanup at the site, is working with subcontractor Skanska USA to build a multimillion-dollar groundwater treatment facility to treat water at a 5-square mile contaminated area  known as the Central Plateau, where a waste reprocessing facility once operated. The plan is to draw groundwater from 30 wells drilled at the site in 2009 and send the water to the groundwater treatment facility to be cleansed. Once the water is clean, it will be pumped back into the ground.”

read more: Daily Journal of Commerce

Project’s Fate May Predict the Future of Mining

Last modified on 2010-07-15 15:22:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“BLAIR, W.Va. — Federal officials are considering whether to veto mountaintop mining above a little Appalachian valley called Pigeonroost Hollow, a step that could be a turning point for one of the country’s most contentious environmental disputes.

“The Army Corps of Engineersapproved a permit in 2007 to blast 400 feet off the hilltops here to expose the rich coal seams, disposing of the debris in the upper reaches of six valleys, including Pigeonroost Hollow.

“But the Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration, in a break with President George W. Bush’s more coal-friendly approach, has threatened to halt or sharply scale back the project known as Spruce 1. The agency asserts that the project would irrevocably damage streams and wildlife and violate the Clean Water Act.

“Because it is one of the largest mountaintop mining projects ever and because it has been hotly disputed for a dozen years, Spruce 1 is seen as a bellwether by conservation groups and the coal industry.

“Maria Gunnoe, an organizer for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and a director ofSouthWings, which organizes flights to document environmental damages, said that if Spruce 1 went forward, “it’s going to mean the permanent erasure of part of our land and our legacy.”

“We can’t keep blowing up mountains to keep the lights on,” said Ms. Gunnoe, a resident of nearby Boone County who has received death threats and travels with a 9 millimeter pistol.”

read more: NY Times

NYC to Track Real Time Water Use With Wireless Meters

Last modified on 2010-07-14 20:12:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“California is leading the way with wireless water meters, but other locations aren’t far behind. The latest to join in modernizing water metering is New York City. Starting this week, residents of the Bronx are going to see every detail of their water consumption habits in real time, thanks to a new $252 million city-wide upgrade of water meters and a new water use and bill tracking system. While it sounds like a lot for installation, smart metering for water use can save a whole lot more over time in both money and the precious resource.

“The New York Times reports that 834,000 customers have a wireless meter already installed and will be able to start using the system immediately. Meters are still being installed, and the effort should be completed by 2012. By consumers having the ability to see how much they’re spending on water and where they’re using it, they can make immediate changes to their behavior and hopefully conserve more water. Not only that, but the wireless meters also make it easier for the city to collect water bills.”

read more: TreeHugger

Gulf Oil Spill gushes forth into fresh water aquifers while hope emerges from the Tampa Bay area

Last modified on 2010-07-14 17:16:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Day 85 and counting since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill let loose on the Gulf of Mexico. BP is now attempting to squelch the flow of crude oil into the Gulf with a new tighter fitting cap. Their intention is to slowly shut off the valves of the new 75-ton device while monitoring gauges to determine whether the cap is holding or leaks are emerging from the pressure of the continued flow.

“The hope from BP is that the tie off cap will stop the oil from spilling into the sea much like a stopper or if the pressure becomes too much and the cap springs a leak, the overflowing oil will be directed into pipes and caught by collection ships.

“While the efforts are sound and it’s good that different methods are being tried the fact remains that the cleanup efforts of what’s already been lost from the geyser are disheartening. Reviewing the basic facts provided thus far:

“BP estimates that 4,455,000 total barrels of oil have been lost to date. Of that 771,100 barrels have been recovered via the Containment Cap. The amount of barrels of oily water that have been collected is 694,286 which equates to a recovery of 69,429 barrels of actual oil from the oily water. The amount of oil they estimate has been consumed by controlled burns is 237,857 barrels. After all those efforts are said and done this still leaves 3,376,614 barrels of oil unrecovered in the Gulf of Mexico. In case you’re wondering there are 42 gallons in a barrel so this means there is currently 141,817,788 gallons of oil unaccounted for in the Gulf.

“Settling into aquifers, sea floors, washing up on shore, and mutating sea life as the University of South Florida research teams have found birth defects and mutations in the most recent spawn of fish and crabs in the areas hit by the spill. This past week the oil was found to have now contaminated Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans thereby affecting the fresh water aquifer of some of the smaller communities which rely on the bayou.”

Read more: The Examiner

“And during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years.”

Last modified on 2010-07-14 16:01:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 1952 John Steinbeck wrote East of Eden, a monumental book about the lives of a community, families, and individuals living in the Salinas Valley of California between the late 1800s through the Great War. The scope of the book is vast, taking on the themes of love and hate, good and evil, the sweep of human emotions, frailties, and strengths, all in the context of a California that no longer exists. And while the book isn’t about water, themes of water flow through it as a metaphor for the cycles of life, drought and flood, and in images of California alternatively parched and quenched. I’ve just had the enormous pleasure of reading it [thank you, Daniel, for the recommendation], and near the very beginning, amidst the grand truths woven through the book is the following prose, as true today as a century ago:

“And it never failed that during the dry years the people forgot about the rich years, and during the wet years they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”

“It was always that way” about water, and it still is. And if we are to have any hope of changing this cycle of crisis and forgetfulness, we have to start thinking differently.

“California has just suffered through three years of drought. Certainly not the first such drought and certainly not the last. And during the drought, we had the opportunity to think differently, to do things differently. But we failed to do so.

“Indeed, during the recent drought, California water policy moved badly backward, in large part because of the influential actions of a small set of powerful but narrowly self-interested parties. These groups acted to protect and even expand their own uses of water at the expense of all other uses, human and environmental. This is, indeed, how it has always been in California, so perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise. But our society is so interconnected now, our populations so large and interwined, and our water resources so constrained, that such narrow self-interests can no longer be tolerated. They don’t just result in the unfair enrichment of a few; they result in the impoverishment of everyone else. In particular, during the recent dry years, four serious missteps were taken or proposed:”

Read more: SF Chronicle

Alaska Company Plans to Ship Small Town’s Extra Water to India

Last modified on 2010-07-14 03:37:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

EPA seeks comment in Denver on fracking study

Last modified on 2010-07-14 03:27:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Natural gas industry groups on Tuesday urged the Environmental Protection Agency to limit the scope of an upcoming study on the effects of a natural gas extraction process known as fracking.

“Some environmental groups want the federal agency to also examine eventual effects on air quality. The EPA held the second of four public meetings to gather comments about its upcoming study on how drinking water might be affected by a method of extracting natural gas.

“The process — called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — pumps water and chemicals underground at high pressure to help extract trapped oil and natural gas. The fluids help open fractures in shale formations, allowing natural gas to flow from the breaks into a well.

Everything You Need to Know About Groundwater

Last modified on 2010-07-13 15:22:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Groundwater is fresh water located underground in porous soil or fractures in rock formations. Collections of groundwater are called aquifers, and we draw from aquifers for drinking water and water for use in everything form irrigation to agriculture to manufacturing.

“Groundwater pumping is when we pull water from the aquifer for our own use. When we pull more water than is naturally replenished, this is called groundwater mining because we have to drill deeper and deeper into the earth to get at the remaining water.

“Groundwater is a very important source of water for civilizations worldwide, making up about 20% of the world’s fresh water supply. Many cities have gotten used to mining groundwater to sustain its residents. However, as we overuse the resource, pull water faster than aquifers can naturally refill, and continue to pollute groundwater supplies, we’re beginning to face a whole new set of serious problems with this vital resource.

“The more we pump from aquifers, the farther the available water is from the surface of the earth. That means more energy has to go in to mining the water, and the costs begin to outweigh benefits, and our capabilities. When aquifers are mismanaged and too much water is extracted, it can mean the aquifer is no longer a viable source of water and a new source needs to be found. Depending on the available options, it can mean anything from a city moving to energy intensive and environmentally problematic solutions, such as desalination plants, to the community being unable to survive.”

read more: AlterNet

How a Tiny Town Sent an International Water Giant Packing

Last modified on 2010-07-13 00:22:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 2008, weeks after communities all over the United States celebrated the Fourth of July, the tiny town of Felton, Calif., marked its own holiday: Water Independence Day. With barbecue, music, and dancing, residents marked the end of Felton’s six-year battle to gain control of its water system. The fight, like the festivities, was a grassroots effort. For when a large, private corporation bought Felton’s water utility and immediately raised rates, residents organized, leading what was ultimately a successful campaign for public ownership and inspiring other communities nationwide.

“Like many other communities with a privately controlled water system, Felton quickly experienced some of the drawbacks: skyrocketing rates, and little public recourse. But officials of some cash-strapped towns seek privatization because they believe a corporation will help lift their burden. Across the country, public water systems require massive repairs to deteriorating infrastructure, at an estimated annual cost of about $17 billion over the next 20 years. Our aging water mains result in some 240,000 breaks a year, and more than a trillion gallons of wastewater spill into our waterways annually. Federal funds typically help communities pay the repair bills, but escalating costs have prompted many cities to look for alternatives.

“Providing clean, accessible, affordable water is not only the most basic of all government services, but throughout history, control of water has defined the power structure of societies,” Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman, filmmakers who documented the effort of Stockton, Calif., to fight privatization, wrote in the book Water Consciousness. “If we lose control of our water, what do we as citizens really control through our votes, and what does democracy mean?”

“Food & Water Watch has studied the effects of water-system privatization and has helped Felton and other communities turn—or return—to public control. In a 2009 report that examined nearly 5,000 water utilities and 1,900 sewer utilities, the organization found that the private entities—which have a fiduciary obligation to shareholders—charge up to 80 percent more for water and 100 percent more for sewer services. Privately owned utilities cost more to operate, too: They typically have to pay income and property taxes, while public utilities are exempt. In all, according to Food & Water Watch, operation and maintenance costs of privatized water systems can spike 20 to 30 percent, when dividends, taxes, and profits are factored in. It follows that corporations make more money if more water is used; conservation and repairs, then, can fall off the priority list. When Stockton, Calif., privatized its wastewater system, higher-than-promised rate hikes, poor maintenance, and sewage overflows followed. When 8 million gallons discharged into the San Joaquin River, the spill went unnoticed for 10 hours and unreported to the public for three days.”

read more: AlterNet

Dash for Gas Raises Environmental Worries

Last modified on 2010-07-12 15:56:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Part of the problem, according to environmentalists, is that gas companies do not disclose at the wellheads what chemicals they are using. They also argue that regulations, which in the United States are mostly the responsibility of state governments rather than the national government, tend to be weak — especially in drilling-friendly places like Texas.

“On the national level, the industry obtained an explicit exemption for hydraulic fracturing from a key provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as part of 2005 energy legislation.

“Hydraulic fracturing requires an immense amount of water, another concern in water-constrained regions.

“The experience of the United States may foreshadow that of other parts of the world. Europe, for example, would love to reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia, and discussions about exploring for shale-gas reserves are taking place in Germany, Hungary and Romania, as well as Poland.

“The Environmental Protection Agency, at the request of Congress, is about to start studying the effects of fracking on groundwater; initial findings should be ready by late 2012.”

read more: New York Times

Working to bring ‘Hippos,’ and water, to Haiti

Last modified on 2010-07-12 15:28:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Like so many people, Grant Gibbs watched the news unfolding in Haiti and thought to himself that he wanted to help the people of the earthquake-ravaged nation.

“Unlike many, Gibbs is in a unique position to aid the Haitians in a big way.

“Gibbs, a South African, is the man behind the Hippo Water Roller, a 90-liter plastic barrel with a sturdy handle that can be rolled on its side from a river or lake back to a home desperately in need of water.

“Gibbs’ Hippo Water Roller Project has been selling the innovative devices in southern Africa for nearly 20 years.

“Getting Hippo Rollers into Haiti would buy government a lot more time in terms of rebuilding proper infrastructure,” Gibbs said by mobile phone from South Africa on Monday. “But paying shipping costs from South Africa would be prohibitive.”

“For that reason, Haiti may be a good place to try out Gibbs’ new invention, a mobile Hippo Roller production plant set inside a used shipping container. The mobile plant costs $150,000 — mostly for the tool that makes the plastic molds — and can make 650 rollers a month, he said.”

read more: CNN

The River Wild

Last modified on 2010-07-12 02:36:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“According to a national inventory maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, there are about 79,000 dams in the United States. But that number is a gross underrepresentation, since the Corps counts only dams that are at least 25 feet high, hold more than 50 acre-feet of water – enough to flood 50 acres with a foot of water – or are considered a significant hazard if they fail. In fact, says Tom Ardito, president of the nonprofit Center for Ecosystem Restoration in Saunderstown, Rhode Island, “virtually every river and tributary in the country is dammed.”

“In Massachusetts, the Corps counts 1,602 dams, more than twice as many as in any other New England state. But the Commonwealth’s Office of Dam Safety logs nearly 3,000, and American Rivers, a national nonprofit dedicated to protection and restoration, believes even that number to be at least 25 percent too low. The vast majority of these dams were erected prior to 1910 and used to power businesses that no longer exist.

“Whatever the exact number, it’s likely to shrink by at least two this year. In Andover, feasibility and design studies are underway for taking down two of the three dams on Rauseo’s list, the Balmoral and the Marland. The removal project has been designated a priority project by the state’s Division of Ecological Restoration. (A third dam in town, the Ballardvale, has been looked at for eventual removal, too.) “The dams don’t serve a purpose anymore,” says Rauseo. “They’re just relics.”

read more: The Boston Globe

California 2025: Planning for a Better Future

Last modified on 2010-07-09 13:45:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“California’s current economic and fiscal realities make nonpartisan, objective information on the state’s future challenges all the more critical. Understandably, the search is on for immediate solutions to the unprecedented crises we face today. But if the present crises make policymakers shelve long-term planning, the result may be an even more uncertain future for our state.

This briefing kit highlights California’s most pressing long-term policy challenges in eight key areas:

• budget
• climate change
• economy
• education
• population
• transportation
• water
• workforce

 

We gratefully acknowledge the support of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of the California 2025 project on the state’s future challenges and opportunities.”

Read more at: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=895

Do Nitrates From Well Water Cause Cancer?

Last modified on 2010-07-08 23:23:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A new study is the first to link nitrates in water with cancer. This is incredibly bad news for Americans who get their water from wells — about 60 percent of us.

“The nitrogen in chemical fertilizer does two things incredibly well. It supercharges crop growth, and it produces nitrates, chemicals that are ultra-soluble in water and easily pass through soil to accumulate in groundwater. Once there, nitrates can persist for decades and increase in concentration as more fertilizer is added.

“Ingestion of nitrates by infants has been shown to lower levels of oxygen in the blood, leading to the potentially fatal blue-baby syndrome. And several studies have shown that consumption of nitrate-contaminated water can cause cancers in animals. But a recent report by a team led by Mary H. Ward of the National Cancer Institute for the first time links nitrates directly to thyroid cancer in humans.”

Read more: AlterNet

Weighing Safety Of Weed Killer In Drinking Water, EPA Relies Heavily On Industry-Backed Studies

Last modified on 2010-07-08 16:11:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Companies with a financial interest in a weed-killer sometimes found in drinking water paid for thousands of studies federal regulators are using to assess the herbicide’s health risks, records of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show. Many of these industry-funded studies, which largely support atrazine’s safety, have never been published or subjected to an independent scientific peer review.

“Meanwhile, some independent studies documenting potentially harmful effects on animals and humans are not included in the body of research the EPA deems relevant to its safety review, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found. These studies include many that have been published in respected scientific journals.

“Even so, the EPA says that it would be “very difficult for someone to put a thumb on the scale” to slant the outcome.

“EPA records obtained by The Huffington Post Investigative Fund show that at least half of the 6,611 studies the agency is reviewing to help make its decision were conducted by scientists and organizations with a financial stake in atrazine, including Syngenta or its affiliated companies and research contractors.”

read more: Huffington Post

EPA declares L.A. River navigable waters

Last modified on 2010-07-08 15:58:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday declared the entire concrete-lined Los Angeles River channel “traditional navigable waters,” a designation crucial to applying Clean Water Act protections throughout its 834-square-mile urban watershed.

“We’re moving away from the concrete,” Jackson told more than 200 residents and government officials on the banks of one of the river’s heavily polluted tributaries, Compton Creek.

“This is a watershed as important as any other,” she said. “So we are going to build a federal partnership to empower communities like yours .… We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs.”

“The decision may seem odd to people who know the L.A. River as a flood-control channel of treated water a few inches deep flowing between massive, graffiti-marred concrete banks strewn with rotting garbage and broken glass, and occasionally polluted with chemicals illegally dumped in storm drains and gutters that empty into it.

“Jackson said the EPA considered factors beyond whether the river’s flow and depth can support navigation from its origins at the confluence of the Arroyo Calabasas and Bell Creek in the San Fernando Valley all the way to San Pedro Bay, a distance of about 51 miles.”

read more: LA Times

Mercury found in fish from S.F. water supply

Last modified on 2010-07-07 18:02:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“When researchers wanted to test largemouth bass at Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir for mercury levels, the reservoir’s managers in San Francisco figured the scientists were simply looking for a clean sample to compare with toxic results at other spots.

“Instead, the study showed that the fish in the San Mateo County lake – which collects rainwater as well as water piped in from Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy reservoir – had some of the highest mercury levels in the state.

“Now, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which oversees Crystal Springs and the rest of the sprawling network that supplies drinking water to 2.5 million people in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties, is trying to find the source of the heavy metal, a neurotoxin that can cause developmental damage in children and brain, lung and kidney problems in adults.”

Read more: SF Chronicle

Roos-Collins withdraws from delta panel

Last modified on 2010-07-07 16:04:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A Berkeley environmental lawyer has yanked his name from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s list of appointees to the newly created Delta Stewardship Council after environmental groups raised questions about Richard Roos-Collins’ ability to remain impartial on a plan to restore the deteriorating Sacramento San Joaquin Delta.

“For several years, Roos-Collins has been working on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a broad effort to rehabilitate the delta that most observers expect to include a large-scale conveyance system such as a peripheral canal that would funnel water around the delta.

“As a member of the council, Roos-Collins would be among those evaluating such a project and determining whether it is implemented.

“Delta farmers decry the canal as a Southern California water grab and some environmental groups, including as the Sierra Club, say canals and dams represent “19th century” solutions to the state’s water woes.”

Read more: SF Chronicle

L.A. residents can water lawns three days a week under plan backed by council [Updated]

Last modified on 2010-07-07 15:43:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday recommended a new water-conservation plan that would allow residents to water lawns and gardens three days a week, instead of the two days now permitted.

“The council rejected a scheme that would have continued the two-day-a-week limit as well as assigned specific watering days for residents of even-numbered and odd-numbered addresses.

“The recommendation comes after a panel of experts concluded that the two-day-a-week irrigation rules created dramatic fluctuations in water pressure, contributing to a series of pipe breaks that damaged homes and businesses. One break created a sinkhole that swallowed part of a firetruck.”

read more: LA Times

DEQ Report is Wake-Up Call that Healthy Forests are Necessary for Clean Drinking Water

Last modified on 2010-07-07 01:26:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“(Portland) - American Rivers highlighted a report released today by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Drinking Water Protection Program as proof that Coast Range communities need healthy forests if they want clean drinking water.

“The report entitled “Turbidity Analysis for Oregon Public Drinking Water Systems: Water Quality in Coast Range Drinking Water Source Areas” available at http://www.deq.state.or.us/wq/dwp/dwp.htm,

assessed trends in turbidity for eight communities: Arch Cape, Astoria, Carlton, Fall City, Forest Grove, Hillsboro-Cherry Grove, and Siletz.

“The report found increasing turbidity trends in five of the drinking water source areas, and suggests that these high turbidity levels may be the result of both landscape effects (such as storms and landslides) and land use activities such as logging and road building. The eight communities are all located in predominantly forested watersheds that have experienced several decades or more of logging, including clear-cuts. Some of the communities, such as Siletz, have been forced to develop new off-stream water storage systems at significant cost as a result of sediment clogging and damaging the water intake.

“Two of the communities featured in the report, Astoria and Forest Grove, own their own forested water supply areas and manage them sustainably. The report found that Forest Grove is experiencing decreasing trends in turbidity. The report concludes that “watershed protection and restoration activities can reduce unacceptable levels of sediment deposited into public water system sources and can reduced the cost of drinking water treatment”.

read more: American Rivers

Why We Need Federal Safeguards for Coal Ash

Last modified on 2010-07-06 14:24:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Coal-fired power plants produce approximately 131 million tons of waste per year, making coal combustion waste the second largest industrial waste stream in the U.S.Coal ash contains numerous hazardous chemicals, including arsenic, selenium, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, boron, thallium, and aluminum.

“When coal ash comes into contact with water, these hazardous materials leach out of the waste and contaminate groundwater and surface water. [2] These substances are poisonous and can cause cancer and damage the nervous system or other organs, especially in children. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified over 600 coal ash sites and documented at least 67 proven or potential cases of surface water or groundwater contamination from coal ash in at least 23 states.”

read more: TreeHugger

Monterey area looks to sea for drinking water

Last modified on 2010-07-05 23:52:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“By the end of 2014, most people on the Monterey Peninsula are likely to fill their glasses with water siphoned from the ocean and stripped of salt.

“If switching from a predominantly freshwater-fed system to a sea-fed system within four years seems aggressive – well, it is. But water utilities in the area don’t have much choice.

“In the wake of a November “cease and desist” order by state regulators requiring Monterey County’s main water purveyor to slash its diversions from the Carmel River 70 percent by 2016, an ambitious regional desalination project has emerged as the best – and arguably only – way to slake the thirst of about 100,000 customers on the peninsula.

“While other Northern California communities are just dipping their toes into the desalination pool, water utilities in Monterey could get the final go-ahead late this year on a project to desalt some 10 million gallons of brackish water each day from 200-foot deep wells on the beach near the town of Marina. In addition to providing most of the region’s drinking water supply, the project will help restore flows on the Carmel River – home to one of the southernmost runs of steelhead trout in the state and a long-running source of tension among water users, regulators and environmentalists.”

US state quarantine cattle over gas drilling fluid

Last modified on 2010-07-04 17:15:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Officials have quarantined 28 cows that may have drunk toxic waste water from natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, adding to concerns about health risks arising from exploiting the state’s vast shale deposits.

“The cows had access for at least three days to a pool that formed from a leaking waste water holding pond on a farm in Tioga County, north-central Pennsylvania, where East Resources Inc (EOG.N) is drilling into the Marcellus Shale formation.

“The state agriculture department said on Thursday that the toxic water may have contaminated the cows’ meat and that they were quarantined on May 1.

“Some of the state’s farmers have reported cases of sick animals and birth malformations that they blame on toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), which energy companies use to draw gas from deep deposits.

“Waste water from the gas drilling process contains chemicals injected into the ground to fracture the gas-bearing rock, as well as naturally occurring toxic substances that are disturbed deep underground during fracking and drilling.”

read more: Reuters

LA; Water pollution spreading in the Valley

Last modified on 2010-07-04 16:53:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A plume of toxic chemicals under the San Fernando Valley has expanded so much in recent years that city officials have had to close dozens of water wells and may have to stop drawing local water altogether unless a massive $850 million cleanup effort is undertaken.

“The plume of contaminated water has now grown to about 2 miles wide and 7-10 miles long, and the Department of Water and Power has been forced to close a growing number of wells, said Pankaj Parekh, the DWP’s director of water quality.

“In 2007, the DWP only had to shut down one well because of contamination of the city’s only local water supply. Today, 50 to 55 are shut down at any given time in the North Hollywood and Rinaldi-Toluca well fields.

“As a result of the closed wells, the annual amount of money DWP has had to spend to import water has increased from $7.3 million in 2007 to $174 million now.

“DWP gets 13 percent of its water from the aquifer, 37 percent from the California Aqueduct, 1 percent from recycled water and the agency buys 49 percent from the Metropolitan Water District.

“But the Colorado River, which supplies the MWD, and the Sacramento Delta, which feeds into the aqueduct, have been increasingly limited in recent years because of rising demand, drought and new environmental restrictions.

“We cannot be guaranteed of those supplies into the future,” Parekh said. “We no longer have the luxury to rely on purchasing water to make up for our own water loss.”

read more: LA Daily News

CDC must do more to respond to the D.C. lead cover-up

Last modified on 2010-07-04 02:29:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“First and foremost, as a result of lead-contaminated water, many D.C. children will never achieve their full potential. In 2009 we published a peer-reviewed scientific paper that showed that when water lead levels were elevated, several hundred and perhaps thousands of D.C. children were poisoned by lead because they drank contaminated tap water. Children exposed to even low levels of lead suffer permanent, irreversible harm. The neurological effects of lead poisoning can be partly abated by enriching the child’s environment, but the low-income neighborhoods in which water and blood lead levels were highest are the same ones with schools facing significant challenges.

“Second, what happened in the District was far more serious than this piece suggested. As soon as the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority started to note the elevated water lead levels, it began to hide problems and play down potential health effects. If it hadn’t been for the work of reporters from The Post, D.C. residents might never have learned the full extent of dangers from the water supply. Once the story broke, the messages delivered to D.C. residents contained misinformation and tended to play down the risks of elevated lead in the water supply. Dr. Frieden’s commentary continued in this vein by presenting a skewed version of events in which the CDC is portrayed as a victim of D.C.’s poor data collection rather than the author of an inaccurate and misleading report.

“Finally, Dr. Frieden’s commentary ignored the harm caused by the 2004 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That report stated “that although lead in tap water contributed to a small increase” in blood lead levels in the District, no children were identified with blood lead levels greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter, “even in homes with the highest water lead levels.” Even though two addenda of the report have been published, the original erroneous conclusions stand. Decisions have been and continue to be made based on the report’s conclusions.”

read more: Washington Post

Small town, big Clean Water Act problems

Last modified on 2010-07-03 20:35:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The stench and unbearable sight of the solid waste that occasionally flowed through Smuther’s Ravine on the Edwards Family Farm in the tiny Sierra foothill town of Colfax ruined the farm’s lettuce crop and very nearly financially ruined the city celebrating its centennial this year.

“The cash-strapped burg of 1,500 people averted the worst Thursday when a scheduled hearing before a federal judge sympathetic to the farmer’s plight was canceled. Instead, settlement talks restarted in court between Colfax and the farmers, Allen and Nancy Edwards.

“Attorneys said it will be weeks before an agreement is reached to settle claims the city violated the Clean Water Act numerous times by allowing untreated waste to leave its sewage plant upstream of the Edwards farm. Talks could still collapse.

“Colfax is only the latest polluter to run afoul of the historic Clean Water Act, which was passed in 1972 and empowered regular people like the Edwards to file “citizens lawsuits” when it appeared government regulators were ignoring problems.”

Read More: The Mercury News

Protecting Rivers and Rights: The World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action

Last modified on 2010-07-02 15:40:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in 2000.

“Ten years later, International Rivers is happy to announce a new briefing kit for activists and allies, “Protecting Rivers and Rights: The World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action,” as part of our WCD+10 activities to move the dams debate forward. The purpose of this publication is to provide activists with concrete examples of where and how the WCD principles have been (or in some cases, failed to be) applied.

• Download the briefing kit (ENG)
  

“The briefing kit explores six broad principles covered by the WCD, which encompass basic values of human rights and sustainable development that are essential to minimizing the negative impacts of large dams on people and the planet.”

read more: International Rivers

WSSC customers in Md. told to limit water use after failing main is discovered

Last modified on 2010-07-01 18:19:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Maryland residents who get their water from the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission are under restrictions to limit water use for at least the next four days, through the Fourth of July weekend.
This Story

“The WSSC is advising customers to stop all outside water use and to limit flushing toilets and use of washing machines and dishwashers.

“The agency issued the restrictions after an inspection found a failing 96-inch water main near the corner of Tuckerman Lane and Gainsborough Road in Potomac. Repairs are underway to ensure that fire departments in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties have adequate pressure to fight fires.”

Read More: The Washington Post

EPA Approves New York State’s List of Impaired Waters: Long Island’s South Shore Estuary and Lake Ontario New Entries on the List

Last modified on 2010-07-01 15:09:33 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The list specifically includes impaired waters for which the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL), a budget for water pollution, is necessary. TMDLs define the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards. They are developed by states and approved by EPA once the Agency determines that the TMDL will allow the water body to achieve water quality standards.

“New York’s 2010 list identifies 828 instances in which a pollutant is causing an impairment of a water body that keeps it from supporting its “designated use” for drinking water, swimming and recreation, fishing or other activities specified by the state. The most common pollutants causing impairment include pH (21% of impairments), PCBs (14%), dissolved oxygen (13%), phosphorus (13%) and pathogens (11.5%).

“The list also notes the most common sources of water pollutants, including urban/stormwater runoff (255 impairments), contaminated sediment (222), air pollution, including acid rain (183), municipal sources (100), and combined sewer overflows from systems that capture both domestic sewage and stormwater (75). A pollutant may come from more than one source.”

read more: EPA

Schwarzenegger urges postponing $11.1 billion water bond

Last modified on 2010-07-01 00:38:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“After an exhausting political fight to put an $11.1-billion plan for shoring up the state’s water supply before voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger now wants to yank the measure from the November ballot.

“The governor is working with legislative leaders to postpone the water bond proposal as its prospects appear increasingly dim. Polls suggest voters may not have the appetite for such borrowing at a time when the state budget is in continuing crisis.

“The measure would pay for infrastructure to provide more clean and reliable water for the state. It was passed by the Legislature in November 2009, after months of difficult wrangling among farmers, environmentalists, water agencies and lawmakers.

“Sen. Lois Wolk (D- Davis), who said she voted against placing the measure on the ballot because it is “full of pork,” said she will now vote against moving it to 2012.

“This is a recognition that this is fiscally irresponsible, and it will not get any better with age,” she said.

“Jim Metropulos, a lobbyist with Sierra Club California, called on lawmakers to abandon the package as written and start over.

“Even if it is delayed to a future ballot, it will continue to be a bad back-room deal, hatched in the dark of the night and loaded up with billions of dollars in pork projects to buy off votes,” he said.”

read more: LA times

Natural Gas Drilling: 80 Chemicals Possibly Contaminating Water Systems

Last modified on 2010-06-29 17:16:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“More than two years after the start of a natural gas drilling boom, Pennsylvania is making public a complete list of the chemicals used to extract the gas from deep underground amid rising public fears of potential water contamination and increased scrutiny of the fast-growing industry.

“Compounds associated with neurological problems, cancer and other serious health effects are among the chemicals being used to drill the wells, although state and industry officials say there is no evidence that the activity is polluting drinking water.

“The Associated Press obtained the list from the state Department of Environmental Protection, which assembled what is believed to be the first complete catalog of chemicals being used to drill in Pennsylvania’s gas-rich Marcellus Shale. The department hopes to post it online soon.

“It counts more than 80 chemicals being used by the industry in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” as it pursues the gas in the mile-deep shale.

“Many of the compounds are present in consumer products, such as salt, cosmetics, gasoline, pesticides, solvents, glues, paints and tobacco smoke.

“Environmental advocates worry the chemicals are poisoning underground drinking water sources. However, environmental officials say they know of no examples in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.”

Read More: The Huffington Post

Desalination Nation

Last modified on 2010-06-29 00:52:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“There’s no question that the idea of a drought-proof supply of drinking water is a tantalizing one, especially in water-challenged areas. But, as most of us learn pretty early in life, nothing comes for free.

“The process of converting salt water to drinking water is highly energy-intensive. In San Diego it takeseight times more electricity to produce about 325,000 gallons of water through desalination than it takes to pump the same amount of groundwater. Because desalinated water is so energy-dependent, water customers are vulnerable to rises in energy costs.

“This is where desalination stumbles its way into the “energy-water nexus.” In short, generating electricity requires a lot of water, while treating and moving water requires a lot of electricity. Desalination does not help to ease the burden of these interconnected demands, in fact it makes the situation worse.

“Consider the added demand from a new desalination plant on the electric grid – a grid fed by power plants that also require a tremendous amount of water for cooling. In other words, we’re creating drinking water for one water-starved location using massive amounts of electricity generated with massive amounts of water somewhere else. Such a scenario raises an obvious question – Does this make good sense?”

read more: Huffington Post

Special Report- All The Facts Behind The World’s Water Crisis

Last modified on 2010-06-28 19:16:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“1. By 2025, more than 2.8 billion people will live in 48 countries facing water stress or water scarcity, a recently revised United Nations medium population projected. Of these 48 countries, 40 are either in the Near East and North Africa or in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the next two decades population increase alone—not to mention growing demand per capita—is projected to push all of the Near East into water scarcity. By 2050 the number of countries facing water stress or scarcity will rise to 54, and their combined population to 4 billion people—40% of the projected global population of 9.4 billion

“2. The 20 countries of the Near East and North Africa face the worst prospects. The Near East is the most water-short region in the world. In fact, the entire Near East “ran out of water” in 1972, when the region’s total population was 122 million, according to Tony Allan, a University of London expert on water resources. Since then, the region has withdrawn more water from its rivers and aquifers every year than is being replenished. Currently, for example, Jordan and Yemen withdraw 30% more water from groundwater aquifers every year than is replenished. Also, Israel’s annual water use already exceeds its renewable supply by 15%.

“3. Saudi Arabia presents one of the worst cases of unsustainable water use in the world. This extremely arid country now must mine fossil groundwater for three-quarters of its water needs. Fossil groundwater depletion in Saudi Arabia has been averaging around 5.2 billion cubic meters a year

“4. Of 14 countries in the Near East, 11 are already facing water scarcity. In five of these countries the populations are projected to double within the next two decades. Water is one of the major political issues confronting the region’s leaders. Since virtually all rivers in the Near East are shared by several nations, current tensions over water rights could escalate into outright conflicts, driven by population growth and rising demand for an increasingly scarce resource.

“5. In many countries, the water problem is the primary reason people are unable to rise out of poverty. Women and children bear the burdens disproportionately, often spending six hours or more each day fetching water for their families and communities.

“6. 1.1 billion people in the world…

100…”

read more: BeforeItsNews.com

Records show county failed to clean up water at Pescadero farm

Last modified on 2010-06-26 18:30:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Nitrate problems could have been averted at Marchi’s Central Farm if the county had enforced its own rules on the treatment of drinking water, documents show.

“An in-depth investigation of drinking-water records from the San Mateo County Environmental Health Division shows that the water supply for the main labor camp in Pescadero operated by Marchi’s Central Farm bordered or exceeded the public health limit for nitrates at least five times between 1990 and 2010. County officials red-tagged two of Marchi’s three labor camps last month because of the nitrate-tainted drinking water.

“The nitrate limit is set at 45 milligrams per liter because of risks to infants contracting methemoglobinemia, a blood disorder that cuts off oxygen to the heart and other organs.

“Records show that the county knew the water supply had chronic nitrate problems even before 1987, when a well was drilled to replace a spring that had fed the drinking water supply for half a century.”

Read More: Mercury News

Restore the Clean Water Act

Last modified on 2010-06-26 16:09:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Clean Water Act was first implemented nearly 40 years ago. It is arguably one of the most successful environmental laws ever passed and a generation of Americans has enjoyed safer, fishable, and swimmable waters because of it. However, in the past decade, misguided court decisions and Bush Administration directives have broken the Clean Water Act, opening the door for corporate polluters to contaminate previously protected waters — putting the drinking supply of over 117 million Americans at risk.

“On April 21st, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), along with Reps. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and John Dingell (D-MI), introduced America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act (H.R. 5088), or ACCWA, to address the disrepair of the Clean Water Act and restore its original intent. ACCWA would reinstate protections to the estimated 59% of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands at risk. Last June, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved similar legislation, known as the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787).

“We applaud Chairman Oberstar, and leaders in the Senate, for their continued leadership as clean water is one of the most crucial public health, safety and environmental issues we face.”

read more: Huffington Post

The Hoover Dam;20th Century Infrastructure – 21st Century Challenges

Last modified on 2010-06-25 15:43:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The story of the Hoover Dam in the 21st century is more embattled than triumphant, largely due to a seven-year drought that has stressed the ability of the Bureau’s infrastructure to deliver the water promised in the Colorado River Compact. At the time of our visit, Lake Mead was at 45 percent of capacity, and with below normal runoff forecast again in 2010, the lake is projected to drop another 20 feet by the end of the summer. That would put it dangerously close to the 1075-foot elevation level at which water delivery cutbacks to the lower basin states would be triggered. These cutbacks would likely cause interstate and international tensions, as Arizona, California, Nevada, and Mexico posture in case of further shortages. The decrease in water level also reduces Hoover’s power generation, which would be cut more dramatically if the lake falls below the 1050-foot watermark.

“While Hoover Dam remains a critical linchpin in the Southwest’s water and power supply, it’s clear that grand 20th-century infrastructure alone will not be enough to solve the region’s water resource challenges in the 21st century, for a number of reasons.

“First of all, it’s highly likely that the water “annuity” being withdrawn from the Colorado River system is greater than the long-term average water restored to the system in the form or rainfall and snowmelt. Between the 15 million acre-feet of water allocated to the basin states, the 1.5 million acre-feet promised to Mexico, and the 2 million acre-feet of evaporation in the basin every year, the total water withdrawn from the Colorado every year is 18.5 million acre-feet. However, the latest models show that the long-term average runoff in the Colorado basin every year is likely closer to 14 or 15 million acre-feet. In other words, the hydrological account is being overdrawn every year, and, sooner or later, there may be no water left to take.”

read more: Stanford.edu

Wastewater upgrade filters gender-bending chemicals

Last modified on 2010-06-24 23:20:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Our bodies are being exposed every day to a variety of chemicals capable of altering our physiological development, including impacts on sensitive human fetuses.”

“Upgrades to a wastewater treatment plant in Colorado helped filter out gender-bending chemicals that were affecting fish, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

“They said male fish are now taking longer to be feminized by so-called hormone disrupters in one creek in Colorado after standard improvements to a wastewater treatment plant in Boulder in 2008.

“David Norris of the University of Colorado at Boulder had earlier found ethinylestradiol, a female hormone used in contraceptives, in Boulder Creek. His team also had measured bisphenol A and phthalates, which are both used in plastics and which can mimic the effects of hormones, as well as pesticides and antidepressants in the water.”

Chlorine’s importance in water treatment set to grow

Last modified on 2010-06-24 14:55:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“AS THE world becomes more populous, water is becoming more scarce. There is strong growth potential for all types of water treatment technologies, but some could do better as countries bid to quench their thirst in a cheap and environmentally friendly way.

“The UN’s estimates (see map below, which shows projected global water withdrawal as a percentage of total water available) are based on its medium-population projections made in 1998. According to these, more than 2.8bn people in 48 countries will face water stress, or scarce conditions, by 2025. Of these, 40 are in West Asia (also known as the Middle East), North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa.

“Over the next two decades, population increases and growing demands are projected to push all the West Asian countries into water scarcity conditions.

“By 2050, the number of countries facing water stress or scarcity could rise to 54, with a combined population of 4bn – about 40% of the projected global population of 9.4bn. It is striking to note that even some developed nations, such as the US and many European countries will see more serious water scarcity by 2025. This could be one reason that some are already calling water the “new oil.”

“In order to arrive at the different qualities of water required for its various applications, and for the world to meet its goals, it must be treated. There are several different ways to do this, which are either combined or taken in isolation, according to each instance. Essentially, the aim is to remove, or in some cases reduce, the contaminants present in the water to bring it to an acceptable level for its required end use.”

read more: icis.com

Sorry, Ritz-Carlton, Plant Based Bottles For Water Are Not Green

Last modified on 2010-06-24 14:13:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Most biodegradable cups are made from PLA (polylactic acid) plastic. PLA is a polymer made from high levels of polylactic acid molecules. For PLA to biodegrade, you must break up the polymer by adding water to it (a process known as hydrolyzing). Heat and moisture are required for hydrolyzing to occur. So if you throw that PLA cup or fork in the trash, where it will not be exposed to the heat and moisture required to trigger biodegradation, it will sit there for decades or centuries, much like an ordinary plastic cup or fork….If the composting infrastructure is not in place to recover the bio-material from that corn-based cup, it’s really no better than the ubiquitous red plastic keg cup.

Prima water is locally sourced in the U.S., from approved municipal water sources that are regulated under the guidelines of the FDA (which spring waters do not have to follow). Independent of the source, the water is carefully processed under the guidance of Primo Water Company.

“They actually have the nerve to say that filling a bottle with tap water isbetter than spring water because tap water is regulated. They really have no shame.”

read more: AlterNet

In Fracking Debate,’ Disclosure’ Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Last modified on 2010-06-23 14:36:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Fracturing — vital to extracting gas from shale formations — involves injecting tanker-loads of water and sand into a gas well to blow apart the rock and release the gas. A small fraction of that concoction is a mixture of chemicals as mundane as ice cream thickener and as toxic as benzene.

“Worried that those chemicals could contaminate groundwater, environmentalists, community groups and some Democratic lawmakers are demanding detailed, well-by-well information about the type of chemicals that drillers inject. And they want it put on the Internet for all to see.

“Disclosure would shine a light and encourage companies to use less toxic chemicals,” said Amy Mall, an analyst who works on fracturing issues for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It gives individuals the ability to know what’s being used.”

“Companies say they, too, are for full disclosure of the ingredients, but only to state regulators and medical personnel willing to sign confidentiality agreements. Making public detailed lists of chemical constituents, they say, gives away valuable trade secrets. And they see the drive for disclosure as a stalking horse for harsh new restrictions on drilling that would bog down gas production in the United States.”

read more: New York Times

Santa Cruz County proposes 20 percent cut in water use

Last modified on 2010-06-22 22:55:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau has proposed setting a goal of reducing water consumption in the Pajaro Valley by 20 percent.

“Such a reduction would go a long way toward solving a decades-old groundwater deficit but could involve sacrifices, such as fallowing land and crop conversions for agriculture and higher costs for urban consumers.

“It’s a goal that might be realistic over time,” said John E. Eiskamp, Farm Bureau president. “Obviously, it’s not going to happen overnight. But you have to have some kind of goal. You can’t just say conserve.”

“Preliminary figures on a new groundwater model being developed by the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency show a 14,000-acre-foot annual overdraft — the amount of water pumped but not replenished by annual rainfall. A 20 percent cut in water use would save about 11,000 acre-feet.”

read more: Monterey Herald

How to Read Your Water Quality Report

Last modified on 2010-06-21 15:21:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“From coast to coast, the news has been awash with reports of consumers kicking the bottled water habit and taking back the tap. People are catching on to the industry‚ marketing con job. They now know that bottled water is an overpriced rip-off that‚ no more pure or healthful than tap water. Furthermore, its production and transportation gobbles energy and spews pollution and climate-changing gases into our atmosphere.

“If youre among the growing mass of people making the move to tap water, perhaps you have questions about the quality of your city or town‚ water supply. Although most municipal water beats the stuff in the bottle, learning more about it makes sense.

“We all have the right to know what‚ in our drinking water. Congress codified this principle in 1996 with amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The changes greatly improve public access to information about drinking water quality.

“The Safe Drinking Water Act, passed in 1976, authorized EPA to set drinking water standards for all public water systems. Water utilities monitor and treat drinking water to abide by these federal standards. The 1996 amendments added a requirement for utilities to notify the public about any detected regulated contaminant and any water quality violation.

“The centerpiece of these right-to-know provisions is the annual water quality report. Although these reports are intended to help consumers make informed choices about their drinking water, they can be confusing and full of jargon. This guide is intended to help you understand what your water quality report is and how to interpret what it tells you.”

read more: Food and Water Watch

Impact of natural gas drilling environmental woes could linger

Last modified on 2010-06-21 14:44:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Much of the attention about the environmental risks of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale has focused on the potential for hydraulic fracturing to contaminate drinking water aquifers.

“According to the industry and both state and federal regulators, there has never been a confirmed case of contamination being caused by the fracturing – a process of injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and chemical additives underground at high pressure to break apart the rock.

“The industry takes a narrow view of what such contamination would mean, limiting it to what they say would be an impossible instance of the toxic mixture migrating through the new cracks caused by the fracturing operation, up a mile of rock, and into a drinking water aquifer.

“But legislators and federal regulators are increasingly looking at hydraulic fracturing as more than the isolated act of breaking apart the gas-bearing rock; they see it as part of an interconnected series of often hazardous steps, from trucking and storing toxic chemicals on a well site to disposing of the fluid laced with salt, metals and radiation that comes back out of the wells.”

read more: TheTimes-Tribune

Baltimore County wants a say in water issues, Council would establish a water management authority

Last modified on 2010-06-21 05:26:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: sierraclub.typepad.com

“The Baltimore County Council is calling for the creation of a regional water authority to oversee management of the city-owned system and to address critical and costly infrastructure needs.

“The authority would represent the city and the surrounding counties that rely on municipal resources for the drinking water the city supplies daily to nearly 2 million customers. The County Council unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution earlier this month that asks the state and other jurisdictions to “investigate the feasibility of creating an independent water and sewer management authority to handle the region’s needs.”

“The staggering cost of maintaining, rehabilitating and replacing the system is better served by regional management, not one solely operated by the city,” said Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, who sponsored the resolution.”

Read More: Baltimore Sun

Crackdown on Copper in California to Save Marine Life

Last modified on 2010-06-21 01:16:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“When we think of copper and water, we usually think of long-lasting pipes. However, copper and water have a more intertwined relationship than that. Each time drivers hit their breaks, or boaters put a new coat of paint on their vessel’s hull, they’re contributing to the level of copper found in the waterways, which becomes toxic to fish. From losing their ability to navigate to spawning grounds to losing their sense of smell, important fish species are affected by even the smallest amounts of copper in the water. That’s why California is starting a crack down on copper pollution, including new laws and clean-up orders.

“According to Sign On San Diego, Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) is helping to lead the charge with Senate Bill 346, which would require replacing most of the copper in car break pads. The copper helps the breaks keep from overheating. But this bill comes much to the chagrin of automakers and brake manufacturers, who say cost-effective alternatives aren’t available. Yet, Washington state has already enacted similar legislation, with similar bills up for consideration in Rhode Island and New York, showing manufacturers that they’d better get to work coming up with those cost-effective alternatives they’re looking for.”

read more: TreeHugger.com

Gary Patton: City needs to follow the law on UCSC water issue

Last modified on 2010-06-20 22:56:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“You can’t have new growth without adequate water supplies. At least you can’t if you care about current water customers and the natural environment. Incidentally, 40 percent of the Santa Cruz Water Department’s current water customers live in Live Oak, Pasatiempo and in parts of the city of Capitola. They have no direct control over City Council decisions affecting their access to water. It’s not “meddling” for the Board of Supervisors to be concerned on their behalf.

“Listen to what the Santa Cruz city manager said on May 17: “We have 60 years of rainfall data, which are meaningless. It is silly to think that the most challenging drought of the last 60 years is a real worst-case scenario. … In a modest drought, such as 1976″”77, we are in trouble. In a severe drought, we are in deep trouble. It is not a stretch to imagine banning all outdoor water use and closing hotels and restaurants and other businesses in time of severe drought. … We have an old water system. We have inadequate supply.” City reports validate the city manager’s statement.

“Despite the city’s water crisis, UC Santa Cruz wants the city to provide the university with an additional 152 million gallons of water per year to allow UCSC to construct over 3 million square feet of new buildings in an area that is currently identified in the city and county General Plans as an inappropriate location for new development. This “North Campus” area is outside the city’s current water service area, and the university has no legal right to city water for development in this area unless the Local Agency Formation Commission LAFCO approves.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Study Says Arsenic Poisons Millions in Bangladesh—But They’re Not the Only Ones

Last modified on 2010-06-20 19:48:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The study team, led by Dr. Habibul Ahsan of the University of Chicago, found that as many as 77 million people—half the population of crowded Bangladesh—may have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic. Ashan and his colleagues followed nearly 12,000 Bangladeshis over the court of 10 years and found that more than 20% of deaths were caused by arsenic:

“They found that in the top 25 percent of people with the highest arsenic exposure, the risk of dying during the six years increased by nearly 70 percent compared with people with low arsenic levels.

“People who drank moderate levels of arsenic were more likely to die from chronic disease than those who took in an amount within World Health Organization recommendations of 10 micrograms per liter.”

Read More: Time

Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems

Last modified on 2010-06-19 15:14:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

read more: USGS

New Water Reporting Requirements Have California Farmers On Edge

Last modified on 2010-06-19 14:52:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Robert Ferguson, a farmer growing asparagus in the San Juaquin Delta, stated, “I am up to my elbows here, trying to fill out water diversion reports. It is important to be filling these reports out and do your due diligence. This is something that you’re going to have to pay attention to,” but added that he received no notice.

“Still, the measures are important. Jim Kassel, assistant deputy director to the State Water Resources Control Board, stated, “We have no record of who is taking the water by these claims or rights, so we have no way of knowing who they are.”

“The idea that the state doesn’t know who is taking water from the rivers and watersheds for their crops should be jaw-dropping in a state with such a significant drought issue.

“While users of riparian water sources have been legally required to report use for years, there was no enforcement. Now, here comes the enforcement. But Kassel doesn’t think it’s in order to preserve the health of the watersheds, but rather figure out how much is there and being used so that it can be distributed elsewhere.

“They … want to take water from this area and take it on south, so they’re going to squeeze every landowner in the entire Delta and see if they have a right to divert… We’ll have better data to determine whether there is water available in a watershed to provide new water rights.”

read more: TreeHugger

Marin Voice: The right to vote on desalination

Last modified on 2010-07-27 16:20:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“THE PEOPLE have spoken, and they want a say in whether to build a $400 million desalination plant in Marin.

“The Coalition for the Public’s Right to Vote on Desalination has collected over 17,000 signatures in support of their initiative, which would require that the Marin Municipal Water District get a public vote before expending funds on a costly and questionable desalination plant.

“The county Registrar of Voters is currently certifying the signatures, and if there are enough valid signatures, the measure will be on the November ballot.

“Environmental and fiscal groups are united in support of this effort. The initiative was supported by the Marin Republicans and the Marin Democrats, as well as by the Surfrider Foundation and the Marin United Taxpayers Association.

“Although the MMWD board members have voted unanimously to support the desal plant, they now have a chance to change course. They can issue a resolution stating that, before they start the building process and incur any further debt towards a desalination plant, they will put it to a public vote.”

read more: Marin Independent Journal

Six dams will displace indigenous communities and threaten Amazon ecosystems

Last modified on 2010-06-18 15:20:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Asserting its role as a regional superpower, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed an energy agreement with Peruvian President Alan Garcia yesterday, which includes building around six hydroelectric power plants in the Peruvian Amazon to supply more than 6000 MW of power to Brazil.

“The projects were designed by the Brazilian electric utility Eletrobrás in conjunction with Brazilian multinational construction giants Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez , all of which would be directly involved in dam construction with funding from the Brazilian national development bank, BNDES. Expected to cost more than US$15 billion, the planned dams were designed to produce energy mainly for power to Brazil.

“One of the first projects to be built under the accord would be the Paquitzapango Dam on the Ene River, which would impact close to 17,000 Ashaninka indigenous people and threaten the Ashaninka Communal Reserve, as well as the Otishi National Park, both of which are legally,protected areas.

“The Inambari Dam on the Madre de Dios River is also likely to constructed under the bilateral accord signed yesterday by Silva and Garcia. Inambari would flood more than 46,000 hectares of land, which would leave more than 15,000 people without agricultural lands. The project would also flood portions of the Inter-Oceanic highway, for which Peruvians already paid a massive price.

“Peru does not need these dams, we have close to 50,000 MW of renewable energy potential, such as wind, solar and geothermal, that does not include large dams. This deal will only benefit Brazil, and we are not going to let this happen,” said Engineer Alfredo Novoa Pena, the founder of Peruvian environmental organization Pro-Naturaleza.”

read more: International Rivers

How Drug Manufacturing Facilities Are Threatening Our Drinking Water

Last modified on 2010-06-18 03:49:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A five-year study conducted by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers has found that pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities are a “significant source” of pharmaceuticals that enter the local environment.

“From 2004 to 2009, USGS researchers tested outflow samples from two wastewater treatment plants in New York State where more than 20 percent of the water received by the plants is from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. The researchers found thepharmaceuticalconcentrations in the treated water that ends up in your faucet were 10 to 1,000 times higher than the outflows from 24 water treatment facilities around the U.S. (including one in New York State) that do not receive water from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.”

read more: AlterNet

Panhandling for Water

Last modified on 2010-06-17 23:35:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“On the high plains of the Texas Panhandle, farmers owe their livelihoods to a marvel of geology: the cool, gravely waters of the country’s largest aquifer, the Ogallala. Stretching across eight states, the amount of water is so vast that, according to one writer, it could fill Lake Erie nine times over. Within Texas, the Ogallala accounts for about 40 percent of all water use.

“But the aquifer’s levels are declining sharply here. In a dry growing season last year, the High Plains Water District, which includes all or part of 15 Panhandle counties, recorded an average drop of 1.5 feet, the most since 1997. The rains have returned, but the 2007 state water plan projects that the Ogallala’s volume will fall a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060, as corn and cotton growers continue to draw from its depths. The consequences for farmers could be severe: The use of big pivot irrigation — the lifeblood of the Panhandle — could be cut back severely in 10 to 20 years if current usage patterns continue, researchers at Texas Tech University estimate.

“The aquifer is reaching a point where it is not going to produce the water that some farmers are going to want to see produced,” said Robert Mace, the deputy executive administrator of the Texas Water Development Board, the state’s water development planning group. Like other experts, he notes that the aquifer’s thickness varies tremendously from place to place — and in a few spots, like parts of Dawson County, the levels are actually increasing. In general, he says, Texans are probably pumping the Ogallala at about six times the rate of recharge.”

read more: Texas Tribune

EPA concerned about Monsanto pollution control dam

Last modified on 2010-06-17 23:03:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“BOISE, Idaho — Federal regulators are concerned that a dam built by Monsanto Co. earlier this year to trap phosphate mine runoff may be stopping more than just pollution.

“They say the dam has also halted millions of gallons of water in Sheep Creek that would otherwise help fill the Blackfoot River.

“The Environmental Protection Agency now wants the maker of Roundup herbicide to begin a costly treatment to remove selenium and heavy metals, then discharge clean water downstream, instead of capturing it in a 50-million-gallon lake behind the dam and using it for dust control on its mining roads.

“The situation shows the predicament that companies like St. Louis-based Monsanto and the government face in Idaho’s rich-but-polluted phosphate mining country not far from Yellowtone National Park: They must work to contain naturally occurring poisons unearthed during a century of digging, while protecting water supplies in an agricultural state hit hard by drought over the last decade.

“The aim is to avoid killing streams just to save them.”

read more: Associated Press

U.S. water system needs better enforcement, smart investment to ensure quality

Last modified on 2010-06-17 22:39:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 1908, Jersey City, N.J., became the first city in the United States to chlorinate its municipal tap water. Other municipalities rapidly followed suit with water filtration and purification systems, and the United States witnessed what were arguably the most dramatic and rapid improvements in public health ever achieved. Over the next couple of decades, cholera and dysentery effectively disappeared. Health experts estimate that half of the entire decline in urban death rates and three-quarters of the drop in infant mortality from 1900 to 1940 resulted from the improvement in water quality.

“The dramatic drop in illness contributed to the increase in labor productivity, industrial output and school attendance that occurred at the beginning of the 20th century and helped the United States become the dominant industrial power of the time. The country’s remarkable drinking water system sets it apart from the rest of the world. Even today, there are relatively few countries where inexpensive, high-quality, safe drinking water is widely available from the faucet 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and where the population trusts it enough to drink it.

“That trust is slowly being eroded by the failure to adequately maintain and upgrade our drinking water systems, and by efforts on the part of some in the private sector to disparage tap water in order to encourage consumers to spend money on filters, home water purification systems, bottled water or other commercial products. The infrastructure that delivers water to our homes also contributes to problems that further erode our trust, notably in older cities such as Washington, where levels of lead and chlorine spikes threaten some neighborhoods or where breaks in water mains temporarily cut off supplies. A recent water-main failure in Boston cut off water for 2 million people for several days.

“In the past 25 years, American consumption of tap water has dropped by more than 35 gallons per person per year, replaced largely by bottled water and carbonated soft drinks. We now drink more bottled water than milk or juice — nearly 9 billion gallons last year, at a high cost to consumers and the environment.”

read more: Washington Post

The Business of Bottled Water: An “Obsession” with a Price

Last modified on 2010-06-16 13:49:25 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Everyone needs water, and in much of the developed world, they get it—virtually for free. Yet companies have made a big business out of selling water products to people with ready access to safe, clean tap water.

“The effects of the bottled-water movement have been devastating, not just on wallets but also on the environment, says Peter Gleick, one of the world’s foremost experts on sustainable water use and winner of a 2003 MacArthur “genius” grant. In his first book for the general public, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, Gleick explores the skillful marketing that made bottled water such a success, the myth of “clean” bottled water, and the surprising toll it has taken on our environment.

(Read more about the book on the NewsWatch Blog.)

“National Geographic News writer Eliza Barclay recently spoke with Gleick, who is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California.”

read more: National Geographic

Mobile Lab with Bio-Chip Tests Water Quality

Last modified on 2010-06-15 14:51:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The demonstration unit the size of a laptop identifies up to 25 substances and their concentrations within 30 minutes. The mobile laboratory could testwater quality during humanitarian missions, for example, or monitor hospital wastewater. Water treatment plants monitor the pollutant content in drinking water by regularly subjecting samples to high-precision tests in the laboratory. There are smaller devices for these tests, but they frequently work with optical methods. The portable system from Siemens uses electrochemical reactions to make a rapid assessment on site. This offers the advantage that the systems can be built to be small, robust, and cost-effective.

“The demonstration unit can currently detect the pesticide atrazine, for example, in concentrations of just a few millionths of a gram per liter, which is already very close to the statutory threshold. The system is still not sensitive enough to monitor drinking water for bacteria, for which the standards are even more strict. One hundred milliliters of water may not contain even a single coliform bacteria. In the future, filtration technologies will extract the germs from the sample in order to concentrate them in smaller volumes of water and then detect them.”

read more: Physorg

Water Pressure

Last modified on 2010-06-14 01:57:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Among the environmental specters confronting humanity in the 21st century—global warming, the destruction of rain forests, overfishing of the oceans—a shortage of fresh water is at the top of the list, particularly in the developing world. Hardly a month passes without a new study making another alarming prediction, further deepening concern over what a World Bank expert calls the “grim arithmetic of water.” Recently the United Nations said that 2.7 billion people would face severe water shortages by 2025 if consumption continues at current rates. Fears about a parched future arise from a projected growth of world population from more than six billion today to an estimated nine billion in 2050. Yet the amount of fresh water on Earth is not increasing. Nearly 97 percent of the planet’s water is salt water in seas and oceans. Close to 2 percent of Earth’s water is frozen in polar ice sheets and glaciers, and a fraction of one percent is available for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use.”

“Gloomy water news, however, is not just a thing of the future: Today an estimated 1.2 billion people drink unclean water, and about 2.5 billion lack proper toilets or sewerage systems. More than five million people die each year from water-related diseases such as cholera and dysentery. All over the globe farmers and municipalities are pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be replenished.”

“Still, as I discovered on a two-month trip to Africa, India, and Spain, a host of individuals, organizations, and businesses are working to solve water’s dismal arithmetic. Some are reviving ancient techniques such as rainwater harvesting, and others are using 21st-century technology. But all have two things in common: a desire to obtain maximum efficiency from every drop of water and a belief in using local solutions and free market incentives in their conservation campaigns.”

Read More: National Geographic

Dams monitored after 3 fail

Last modified on 2010-06-14 01:16:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Those rains washed out three significant rural highways: U.S. Highway 183 north of Taylor; Nebraska Highway 96 on the northwest side of the Calamus Reservoir; and Nebraska Highway 11 near North Loup.

“Beland said a dam on a creek near North Loup broke about 3 p.m. Saturday.

“By about 5 p.m., Beland said, water had filled basements in the town of 340 people and was getting into the lower floors of some homes. Firefighters were going door-to-door to help anyone needing assistance getting out.

“We’re not sure how much water is coming in there,” she said. “We just want to get people out safely.”

“No injuries were reported. A shelter was set up at Scotia for residents of North Loup.

“The two other dams that broke were just upstream of the Calamus Reservoir. One of those, the Gracie Creek dam, served as the impoundment for a popular trout pond.”

read more: Omaha.com

Radioactive Surprise: Desert Oasis Water Traced Back to Nuclear Test Site

Last modified on 2010-06-12 19:45:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In the middle of the dessert near Death Valley, Nevada is a water source that bubbles up 100,000 gallons of water per minute. The oasis is home to 24 species that are found no where else on earth, including an incredibly endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish that numbers only around 120. Until now, the source of that water has been a mystery. But geologists from Brigham Young University have succeeded in tracing the path of the water in Ash Meadows, showing that it travels along a fault line that connects the source to…gulp…a nuclear test site

“According to LiveScience, the new research shows that Gravity Fault, the fault line acting as a conduit for the water, links the Ash Meadow oasis to its source at the Nevada Test Site – a location where the US government testing nuclear bombs for four decades, including below-ground nuclear tests that contaminated the water.

“By comparing the chemical composition of 246 possible groundwater sources, Stephen Nelson, a geologist at Brigham Young University in Utah, and his team found that only the Nevada Test Site’s water had a similar profile, showing it is the source for the Ash Springs oasis.”

read more: AlterNet

EPA: Pesticide Endosulfan Too Poisonous to Use

Last modified on 2010-06-12 19:21:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 2008, the NRDC petitioned EPA and filed a lawsuit seeking a ban on this pesticide. These efforts supported a coalition of scientists, Arctic tribal governments, Arctic indigenous peoples, and worker protection groups who wrote letters to the EPA calling for endosulfan to be banned in the United States.

“Endosulfan is already banned in over 60 countries including the European Union. A global ban on the use and manufacture of endosulfan is being considered under the Stockholm Convention.

“The ATSDR explains that endosulfan enters the air, water, and soil during its manufacture and use. When sprayed onto crops, the spray may travel long distances before it lands on crops, soil, or water.

“Endosulfan on crops usually breaks down in a few weeks, but endosulfan sticks to soil particles and may take years to completely break down, according to the ATSDR.

“Endosulfan does not dissolve easily in water. Endosulfan in surface water is attached to soil particles floating in water or attached to soil at the bottom.

“Endosulfan can build up in the bodies of animals that live in endosulfan-contaminated water.”

read more: Environment News

Last modified on GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Q & A Water Ways

Last modified on 2010-06-10 16:32:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

” The desalination plant may be one of the biggest controversies in the county’s history. It will remove 5 million gallons of seawater each day from the Monterey Bay to produce 2.5 million gallons of drinkable water. The remaining brine will be trucked to a water plant, mixed with treated wastewater, and put back into the Bay.

“Desalination is one of the most energy-intensive methods of producing water. And as the city of Santa Cruz has implemented successful water-saving strategies during past droughts, environmental leaders say water needs could be met by maintaining restrictions during non-drought years.  “If we use less during the years before a drought, we will enter the dry spell with more water in Loch Lomond,” says David Stearns, a community activist who organized two seminar forums on the issue last winter.

“Santa Cruz city leaders say that water conservation alone won’t solve the problem. “We need to conserve water as much as we can, but we will still need to increase supply,” says Toby Goddard, water conservation manager for the Santa Cruz City Water District.

“The water district’s energy report has yet to be published. Originally slated for release this summer, the report totals the plant’s energy demand under different design and use scenarios.

“Also delayed are two environmental reports, one outlining options for brine discharge, and another indicating the impacts of ocean water intake on sea life. Both reports were originally slated for release this spring, but remain incomplete.

“Despite these unknowns, officials are moving full speed ahead. On March 23, the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously endorsed the desalination plant, giving the green light for design and planning. In April the results of a 14-month pilot desalination plant were released. Competing proposals for the plant’s design were received on May 27. Built at the Long Marine Lab, the pilot plant made 72,000 gallons of water a day using four different methods of desalination. Two achieved desirable water quality products, but consumed 9.7 and 10.5 kilowatt hours per 1,000 gallons—a little less than the final plant’s energy demand, which will be higher as large-scale operations are less efficient. In contrast, it takes three kilowatt hours to remove and treat river water from the San Lorenzo.”

read more: Good Times

Court sides with paper mill in Fox River cleanup

Last modified on 2010-06-09 15:36:54 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The project involves dredging the PCB-contaminated sediment on the bottom of the river, shipping it to a processing facility for treatment and then to a landfill. Water is cleaned and returned to the river. In other areas, sediment will be capped and covered on the bottom of the river to hold PCBs in place.

The goal is to lower the level of the pollutants, protecting boaters and others exposed to the water, humans who eat fish, and fishing-eating birds and mammals from health risks.

For years, Appleton has clashed with its insurers over whether their policies required them to cover the costs of the cleanup in what became one of the largest, most complex civil cases in Brown County history.

After a five-week trial in 2008, a jury ruled that nine insurance companies were responsible. The insurers filed an appeal, arguing they were not liable because Appleton had assumed responsibility for the costs under a 1998 settlement with its predecessor. They claimed the company did not provide them with timely notice of the claim.

read more: AP

Outrage as PG&E Plans to Spray Clouds With Toxic Chemical to Increase Rainfall

Last modified on 2010-06-09 02:19:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The practice known as ‘cloud seeding’ has been done in California for decades. But the environmental costs are high and the regulations for corporations nonexistent.

“After a successful six-year campaign to prevent Nestle Waters from building a bottling plant in nearby McCloud, the town of Mt. Shasta, a mountain hamlet of fewer than 3000 residents in California’s far-northern Siskiyou County, is taking up a new struggle: to prevent PG&E from seeding the region’s clouds. The practice of ‘cloud seeding’ is a kind of weather modification in which silver iodide, a Class-C toxin, is disbursed aerially or from ground-based towers in an effort to induce rain.

“On May 24, the Mt. Shasta City Council voted to put the Mt. Shasta Community Water Rights and Self-Government Ordinance on the November ballot. The objective of the ordinance, which was brought to the City Council by an ad-hoc group called the Mt. Shasta Community Rights Project, is to prohibit chemical cloud seeding and corporate water extraction in the city. If adopted, the law will protect the right to “sustainably access, use, consume, and preserve water drawn from natural water cycles;” more broadly, it will defend “the rights of citizens to self-government and the rights of natural communities and ecosystems to exist, flourish, and evolve.”

Read More: AlterNet

Water source discovered near Death Valley

Last modified on 2010-06-08 02:15:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Thousands of gallons gush from desert floor, but journey takes 15,000 years.

“About 10,000 gallons of water per minute gush up from the desert floor at an oasis near Death Valley, Nevada, but only after the water completes a slow 15,000-year underground journey, a new study suggests.

“Until now, scientists were puzzled over the source of water for the oasis called Ash Meadows in Nevada. The new research suggests the water flows from the north to the south through an underground crack in the Earth’s crust known as the Gravity Fault, which acts as a guide for the water. That conduit connects the Nevada Test Site with Ash Meadows, which is located about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.”

Read More: MSNBC

Bill would brake on bay’s copper pollution

Last modified on 2010-06-07 00:28:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Every time Bay Area drivers tap their car brakes, they pollute San Francisco Bay and harm one of Northern California’s most threatened fish – salmon.

“Brake pads, which can contain up to 15 percent copper, slowly break down each time they’re used, releasing tiny amounts of the metal into the environment. Millions of cars add up to a lot of copper.

“Studies have shown that about 190,000 pounds of brake-pad copper end up in the bay every year, or 36 percent of the total copper pollution. That makes the pads the bay’s second-largest source of the metal, which can disrupt a salmon’s natural ability to sniff out and avoid predators. Pesticides are the top source.

“As the Assembly prepares to vote on the bill, many counties and cities have been told by state water regulators that they must reduce the amount of copper in storm water. Local governments face $10,000-a-day fines for failing to comply.

“Unless we address the source, there is no way to meet requirements,” said Justin Malan, CEO of Ecoconsult, an environmental consulting group. “Copper is very difficult to remove and treat out of the water.”

Read more: SF Gate

Meet America’s Most Endangered River, Thanks to the Natural Gas Drilling Industry

Last modified on 2010-06-06 02:46:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Off-shore oil drilling is not the only risky business in the industry. Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is raising alarm.

“Massive natural gas drilling under way in Pennsylvania and imminent in New York makes the Upper Delaware the most endangered river in America, according to American Rivers, a major environmental organization, whose yearly report, America’s 10 Most Endangered Rivers, focuses national attention on rivers that need immediate safeguarding for “the benefit of people, wildlife and nature.”

“On June 2nd, in a commemorative ceremony in Narrowsburg, NY, overlooking the majestic river, local citizens and leaders from government and advocacy groups gathered to hear the announcement, vowing to take action to protect the pristine river which provides drinking water for some 17 million people in New York and Pennsylvania.”

Read More: AlterNet

Dams Cutting Off 400 Million People From Food and Income

Last modified on 2010-06-05 22:50:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

 

“The world’s dams have allowed cities to sprout in dry lands—but at a steep cost to hundreds of millions of already impoverished people, according to a new report.”

‘Lead author Brian Richter, co-director of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Freshwater Program, knew from previous estimates that 40 to 80 million people have been directly displaced over the past decade by dam and reservoir construction.”

“But he wanted to know how many people living farther downstream had been harmed.”

“Richter and his coauthors used published studies, population estimates and geographic information system (GIS) data to take a look.”

““Our conservative estimate of 472 million suggests that the number of people . . . exceeds by six to twelve times the number directly displaced by these structures,” the authors write.”

“Those affected include downstream fishermen and farmers who have had their lives and livelihoods altered or even destroyed by dams, many of them poor people who may find it hard to adapt. For example, when the Maga Dam and a water diversion scheme went in on Cameroon’s Logone River in 1979, combined hits to floodplain agriculture, fisheries, and other downstream attributes reduced the regional economy by $2.4 million per year, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)”

This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more, visit National Geographic’s Freshwater website

Pharmaceutical Waste Seeping into Environment

Last modified on 2010-06-05 20:31:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Muscle relaxants, opioids, and other pharmaceuticals are leaking into the environment at two wastewater plants in New York, a new study has revealed.

“Water entering the streams from two wastewater treatment plants that are supposed to break down pharmaceutical manufacturing waste had concentrations of pharmaceuticals between 10 to 1,000 times higher than water released into the environment from 24 other plants across the nation that do not receive pharmaceutical waste, according to the study, which is detailed in the June 4 edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

“I don’t think anyone ever thought we’d see these concentrations in streams,” said study author Patrick Phillips of the U.S. Geological Survey.

“The study is the first in the United States to assess the environmental impact of wastewater treatment plants that process waste from drug manufacturing facilities. Pharmaceuticals were found at drinking water reservoirs as far as 20 miles (30 kilometers) downstream of one of the treatment plants that receives at least 20 percent of its waste from pharmaceutical manufacturers.”

read more: LiveScience

Brazilian Water Protection a $100 Million Market?

Last modified on 2010-06-05 05:47:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more visit National Geographic

Californians willing to save water, poll finds

Last modified on 2010-06-04 22:56:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The incessant rain all winter and spring did not convince California residents that there will be enough water to go around in the future, according to a statewide poll released Wednesday.

“Most Californians are, in fact, willing to alter their daily habits and drastically cut consumption in an effort to ward off what they expect to be severe, long-term water shortages.

“The findings were part of an effort by the state and a group of water agencies to gauge the public’s attitudes on conservation as California moves to slice urban water use one-fifth by 2020.”

‘Go swim in the Potomac,’ Daley tells feds Mayor responds to Obama administration call to clean up Chicago River

Last modified on 2010-06-04 22:55:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Mayor Richard Daley was primed and ready to tee off Wednesday when asked about the Obama administration’s suggestion that the notoriously murky Chicago River be made safe enough for swimming.

“Go swim in the Potomac,” Daley said at a City Hall news conference about police issues. “We’re trying to make this river every day cleanable, more cleanable.”

“Daley recited a rogue’s gallery of rivers that he said also deserve federal scrutiny while responding to a letter the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed with the state Pollution Control Board saying the Chicago River should be clean enough for “recreation in and on the water.” The Tribune first reported the letter Wednesday.”

Read More: Chicago Tribune

Lawsuit challenges California water bank deal

Last modified on 2010-06-04 23:00:47 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water agencies and others filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing California officials of backing a deal that allows private companies to control and profit from a massive reservoir built with public funds to store water for use during dry spells.

‘The complaint filed in Sacramento Superior Court alleges the state Department of Water Resources illegally transferred the 32-square-mile Kern Water Bank to a joint-powers authority controlled by agricultural giant Paramount Farming Co. LLC and other private entities.

“The deal, known as the Monterey Plus Amendments, “amounts to an unlawful and unconstitutional gift of a critical state asset, ceding effective control of the country’s largest groundwater storage facility to private interests,” the lawsuit said.”

Read More: San Jose Mercury News

UC seeks to halt water lawsuit over campus expansion

Last modified on 2010-06-03 02:16:40 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The fight over expanding water and sewer services at UC Santa Cruz to accommodate more students and staff is heating up in the courts.

“The University of California has asked the court to toss out a lawsuit from Community Water Coalition – a group of local residents opposed to university expansion – that questions the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission’s legal jurisdiction. LAFCO is weighing an application that seeks to add water and sewer services to the north end of campus, where UCSC hopes to build new housing to help support 20,000 students by 2020.

“The lawsuit from Community Water Coalition, filed in May, argues that the city of Santa Cruz must be the one seeking expanded services from LAFCO, not the University of California, because the city owns the water system.”

Read More: Santa Cruz Sentinel

American Rivers announces America’s Most Endangered Rivers™ of 2010

Last modified on 2010-06-02 20:35:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“American Rivers today released its most anticipated report of the year,America’s Most Endangered Rivers™ of 2010. The 25th anniversary edition of the report spotlights ten rivers facing the most urgent threats, and also features key endangered river success stories from the past two decades.

“The number one river on the list is the Upper Delaware, where gas drilling threatens the drinking water for 17 million people across New York and Pennsylvania.

“The threats facing this year’s rivers are more pressing than ever, from gas drilling that could pollute the drinking water of millions of people, to the construction of costly and unnecessary new dams, to outdated flood management that threatens public safety,” said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers.

“But the report isn’t all bad news. Thanks to the publicity America’s Most Endangered Rivers™ generates, we have enjoyed tremendous victories over the past 25 years, from the Penobscot in Maine to the Big Sunflower in Mississippi to the Klamath in California.”

“The report proves that when citizens take action, we can achieve great victories for our rivers and clean water,” said Wodder.”

read more: American Rivers

Passing the Point of “Peak Water” Means Paying More for H2O

Last modified on 2010-06-02 00:17:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“We have passed the point of “peak water”–or the end of cheap, easy-to-access water–in several places around the globe, experts say.

“Those places include the Great Plains in the southern and central U.S., California’s Central Valley, northern China, the Nile River Basin in northern Africa, the Jordan River Basin in the Middle East, India, and more.

“The term “peak water” has been sprinkled throughout recent media accounts of droughts and groundwater depletion, but a May 20 article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finally provides a clear definition.

“It means that every new sources we tap is going to be farther afield, harder to access, and more expensive. We are at the end of the era of cheap, easy-to-access water,” said study co-author Meena Palaniappan, director of the International Water and Communities Initiative at the Pacific Institute.”

read more: National Geographic

The Largest Source of Wastewater Mercury Pollution: Dentists

Last modified on 2010-06-01 04:07:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“We all know coal-fired power plants are to blame for a lot of the mercury swimming through our waters. But they’re not the worst, according to the Mercury Policy Project. Do you know what is? The dental industry.

“Yep, those silver amalgam fillings are actually composed primarily of mercury, not silver, and the shavings from new fillings and the removal of old fillings—whether when the filling breaks or when teeth are removed whole—help to make America’s dentists, collectively, the single largest source of mercury pollution to wastewater.

“While the EPA has recognized some public concerns over mercury from dental amalgam, regulation up until now has rested largely on voluntary pollution reduction measures, which the Mercury Policy Project says have barely any effect due to low compliance. The group, which testified before Congress last week on this issue, also charges that the American Dental Association has misled the EPA and the public, saying both that dentists have been voluntarily controlling their mercury pollution and that the metal doesn’t end up in the fish that people eat.

read more: Treehugger

Last modified on GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Last modified on 2010-05-31 04:36:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Bottled Water Pits Nestlé vs. Greens

Last modified on 2010-05-31 04:49:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“CASCADE LOCKS, Oregon—In this idyllic town on the north slope of Mount Hood, an autopsy on three dead rainbow trout may play a role in Nestlé SA’s efforts to reverse a deep slide in its bottled-water business.

“Bottled water, which for years delivered double-digit growth for Nestlé, is under fire from environmentalists. They decry the energy used to transport it and the use of billions of plastic bottles, and oppose efforts to use new springs, citing concerns about water scarcity.

“In Cascade Locks, Nestlé is trying to tap 100 million gallons of water annually for its Arrowhead water brand from a new spring—and keep the environmentalists happy, too. A key is proving that water drawn from the spring—which supplies a hatchery that raises Idaho Sockeye, an endangered species—can be replaced with municipal well water, with no harm to the fish.

“We are accused of mining water, which would suggest we are depleting a resource,” says Kim Jeffrey, chief executive of Nestlé’s North American water business. “But instead, we take water in a sustainable way. The notion that we just take what we want is simply not factual.”

“Nestlé would pipe water from the spring to a proposed new $50 million bottling plant that would employ 53 workers. In turn, it would pump Cascade Locks’ municipal well water to the hatchery to replace all the water taken from the spring—buying 300 gallons a minute from the town for the switch, or about a sixth the total municipal capacity.

“The Cascade Locks efforts are part of a push by the company to cast its water in a friendlier light. Nestlé is launching a lighter bottle with nine grams of plastic, a quarter of that found in some sports-drinks packaging.

“Environmentalists say it is impossible for a company that churns out 20 billion plastic bottles a year to become environmentally friendly and dismiss the efforts as “bluewashing.”

“In Cascade Locks, some resent seeing a rare business opportunity possibly lost. “This is becoming the Battle of the Middle Gorge,” says Mayor Brad Lorang. “Stopping Nestlé won’t save the planet, but getting Nestlé to come here could save the town.”

read more: Wall Street Journal

Tap water kills dozens of fish in Duncanville creek

Last modified on 2010-05-31 04:14:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“City workers spent hours Friday afternoon trying to clean up a massive fish kill on Ten Mile Creek in Duncanville.

“Crews with the cities of Duncanville and Cedar Hill walked along the shore picking up dozens of dead fish.

“Neighbors noticed the creek’s water changing color earlier in the week, but started smelling the problem Friday morning.

“When I came out this morning, I smelled something really strong,” said D.J. McCasland, who has lived on the creek for 15 years. “I walked down here, looked over to the creek, and there were hundreds of fish piled up on the ledge — dead!”

“Although homes in Duncanville noticed the problem, city leaders blame a water main break upstream in neighboring Cedar Hill. On Thursday morning, crews discovered a 16-inch water main break.

“Officials fixed the leak within hours, but they aren’t sure how long the main was spewing chlorinated tap water into the creek.

“Tap water is extremely toxic to fish.”

read more: WFAA

Open Forum: Why is UC abandoning its water library?

Last modified on 2010-05-31 03:42:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“What happens when a one-of-its-kind library at the University of California is no longer wanted by its hosting unit? While the strategic priorities of a unit may change, reducing the library’s relevance to its host — but what about its relevance to the broader university community and the public? Is that relevance to be ignored and the library summarily disbanded? It looks like that is what is happening at Berkeley.

“The Water Resources Center Archives, the premier water collection in the United States, is on the UC chopping block awaiting the axe — not because it is no longer relevant (close to 500,000 unique online users use it annually) — but because the Office of the President’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources no longer finds it to be a priority. Ironically, the very people who no longer want it have been placed in charge of determining the fate of the archives.”

In Mexico, fear of tap water fuels bottled-water boom

Last modified on 2010-05-31 03:02:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“It’s a simple warning – don’t drink the tap water – and Mexicans take it to heart as much as any foreign tourist does.

“Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That’s far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.

“A rising mistrust of tap water is behind the thirst for bottled water. Other factors are also at play, however, including clever advertising campaigns by multinational corporations and the failure of the Mexican government to provide timely data on water safety.

“The boom in bottled water has an underside, too. Empty plastic water bottles litter landfills and roadsides at a rate that alarms consumer and environmental groups. Recycling experts say that only about one-eighth of the 21.3 million plastic water and soft drink bottles that are emptied each day in Mexico get recycled.”

In Mexico, fear of tap water fuels bottled-water boom

Last modified on 2010-05-31 03:02:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“It’s a simple warning – don’t drink the tap water – and Mexicans take it to heart as much as any foreign tourist does.

“Mexicans drink more bottled water than the citizens of any other country do, an average of 61.8 gallons per person each year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp., a consultancy. That’s far higher than Italy, and more than twice as much as in the United States.

“A rising mistrust of tap water is behind the thirst for bottled water. Other factors are also at play, however, including clever advertising campaigns by multinational corporations and the failure of the Mexican government to provide timely data on water safety.

“The boom in bottled water has an underside, too. Empty plastic water bottles litter landfills and roadsides at a rate that alarms consumer and environmental groups. Recycling experts say that only about one-eighth of the 21.3 million plastic water and soft drink bottles that are emptied each day in Mexico get recycled.”

Split Enviro Groups Ready to Rumble Over $11B Water-Bond Referendum in California

Last modified on 2010-05-30 06:58:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“California environmental groups are split over whether to support an $11 billion water bond on the November ballot, setting up a family feud between activists who usually stand shoulder-to-shoulder against corporate interests.

“The bond is backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), the California Farm Bureau, construction companies and dozens of irrigation districts, to name its most prominent advocates. But also working for the initiative are the Nature Conservancy, Audubon California and the National Heritage Institute.

‘That deep-pocketed coalition will be opposed by Sierra Club California, the Planning and Conservation League, Friends of the River and Clean Water Action, among others. Also set to oppose the bond are a number of Democratic and Republican state legislators, mostly from the Bay area and the Sacramento region.”

Read More: NY Times

How California’s Oil and Water Policies Are Bankrupting Higher Education

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:44:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“California oil and water policies reap windfall profits for banking institutions, land developers and agribusiness, but are undermining the state’s higher education plan.

“Oil and water don’t usually mix — except in California politics. Over the last couple of decades, interests representing offshore oil extraction and inland water infrastructure have teamed up, using their muscle to de-fund a once-famous system of public higher education.

“On the gubernatorial watches of governors Edmund “Pat” Brown, Sr., a Democrat (1959-1967), and Ronald W. Reagan, a Republican (1967-1975), a bipartisan siphoning of tax dollars earmarked initially for higher education began to flow to the State Water Project (SWP), one of the largest water and power systems in the world. It conveys an average annual 2.4 million acre-feet of water in California through its 17 pumping plants, eight hydroelectric power plants, three pumping-generating plants, 29 dams and reservoirs, and about 675 miles of aqueducts and pipelines.”

Read More: AlterNet

Quality of Water from Public-Supply Wells in the United States

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:46:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“About 105 million people—more than one-third of the Nation’s population—receive their drinking water from one of the 140,000 public water systems across the United States that use groundwater as their source.

“Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed water-quality conditions in source (untreated) groundwater from 932 public wells, and in source and finished (treated) water from a subset of 94 wells. A greater number of chemical contaminants (as many as 337), both naturally occurring and man-made, were assessed in this study than in any previous national study of public wells.

“The objectives of this study were to evaluate (1) the occurrence of contaminants in source water from public wells and their potential significance to human health, (2) whether contaminants that occur in source water also occur in finished water after treatment, and (3) the occurrence and characteristics of contaminant mixtures.”

Read More: USGS

Water officials address conservation concerns in public panel

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:46:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“City, county and Soquel Creek water district officials addressed growing concerns Thursday that conservation alone won’t be enough to prepare for a major drought.

“This is a supply problem not a demand problem,” said Toby Goddard, Santa Cruz water conservation manager.

“In a packed room of more than 50 people at the Simpkins Swim Center Thursday night, Goddard reviewed tables and charts of average water use for the city over the past 20 years.

“In that time span he said, “our annual water consumption went from about 4 billion gallons to 3.5 billion.”

“With the demand remaining at a relatively steady amount, the primary problem is that there is a lack of adequate water supply during a drought, he said.

“The city, which serves 95,000 to 100,000 customers, receives nearly 90 percent of its water supply from surface water, Goddard said. To address the challenge of balancing supplies for all of the customers, Goddard said two things need to happen: Demand needs to be reduced through conservation and supply needs to be increased.”

Read More: Santa Cruz Sentinel

No Asian carp found in latest fish kill

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:47:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Six days. One hundred thousand pounds of dead fish. No Asian carp.

“Now what?

“Biologists wrapped up another exhaustive search for Asian carp in Chicago’s waterways Tuesday, an orchestrated massive fish kill designed to test the validity of DNA results that had indicated the presence of the fish in the Calumet-Sag Channel.

“Failing to find even a single Asian carp was good news for those who feared the aggressive invasive species was within striking distance of Lake Michigan. But the results further complicate an already divisive political issue and raise new questions about what may have triggered positive DNA samples in the first place.”

Read More: Chicago Tribune

Lompico water district could merge with SLV water

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:47:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The leaders of Lompico’s beleaguered water district have asked San Lorenzo Valley Water District to look into taking over the small agency’s operations permanently.

“We were approached by the board of directors of Lompico County Water District to examine possible alternatives for Lompico County Water District,” said Jim Mueller, director of San Lorenzo Valley Water District. “We’re in the process of looking at those alternatives right now.”

“Mueller said he does not know when his water district might begin working with Lompico, saying that decision is up to the smaller agency’s board of directors. Instead, he said, he was asked to explore either contracting operations of the Lompico district or assuming it as part of the greater valley district, in which case the Lompico agency would dissolve.”

Read More: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Discovery May Lead to Safer Drinking Water, Cheaper Medicine

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:48:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A discovery that may pave the way to helping reduce health hazards such as E. coli in water could also make chemicals and drugs such as insulin cheaper to produce and their production more environmentally friendly.

“By creating a three-dimensional model, Queen’s University biochemistry professor Zongchao Jia and post-doctoral student Jimin Zheng discovered exactly how the AceK protein acts as a switch in some bacteria to bypass the energy-producing cycle that allows bacteria like E. coli and salmonella to go into a survival mode and adapt to low-nutrient environments, such as water.

“The unique feature of this discovery is that the switching on and off take place in the same location of the protein. Normally these two opposing activities would happen in two different ‘active sites’.”

Read More: Science Daily

Household Detergents, Shampoos May Form Harmful Substance in Wastewater

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:51:09 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Scientists are reporting evidence that certain ingredients in shampoo, detergents and other household cleaning agents may be a source of precursor materials for formation of a suspected cancer-causing contaminant in water supplies that receive water from sewage treatment plants. The study sheds new light on possible environmental sources of this poorly understood water contaminant, called NDMA, which is of ongoing concern to health officials.

“Their study is in the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

“William Mitch and colleagues note that scientists have known that NDMA and other nitrosamines can form in small amounts during the disinfection of wastewater and water with chloramine. Although nitrosamines are found in a wide variety of sources — including processed meats and tobacco smoke — scientists know little about their precursors in water. Past studies with cosmetics have found that substances called quaternary amines, which are also ingredients in household cleaning agents, may play a role in the formation of nitrosamines.”

Read More: Science Daily

Water officials tout desalination plant proposal at Chamber of Commerce gathering

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:56:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The heads of the Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek water districts reinforced with business leaders Wednesday the importance of pursuing a desalination plant, saying conservation won’t be enough to boost supplies during drought years.

“This is the kind of project that is going to take a lot of advocacy,” Laura Brown, general manager of the Soquel Creek Water District, told members of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce. She said supporters “should stand up and be counted,” but added, that “if the community has changed its mind, tell us now.”

“Brown will moderate a panel from 6:30-8:30 p.m. tonight about whether conservation efforts are sufficient to prepare for a major drought. The panel at Simpkins Swim Center, 979 17th Ave., will be the first of four community meetings the two agencies will host to explore key concerns raised by critics about the desalination project, including motivation, cost, energy use and impacts on marine life. Three of the dates have not been set.”

Read More: Santa Cruz Sentinel

High Level of Bacteria Found in Bottled Water in Canada

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:48:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A Montreal study finds heterotrophic bacteria counts, in more than 70 percent of bottled water samples, exceed the recommended limits specified by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). Researchers from Ccrest laboratories report their results May 25 at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.

“Despite having the cleanest tap water a large number of urban Canadians are switching over to bottled water for their daily hydration requirements. Unsurprisingly, the consumer assumes that since bottled water carries a price tag, it is purer and safer than most tap water,” says Sonish Azam, a researcher on the study.

‘Regulatory bodies such as Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Health Canada have not set a limit for the heterotrophic bacteria counts in bottled drinking water. However, according to the USP not more than 500 colony forming units (cfu) per milliliter should be present in drinking water.”

Read More: Science Daily

Water and misleading advertising and marketing: Where are the FDA and FTC?

Last modified on 2010-05-27 01:16:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“It should be hard to sell private water. After all, most of the people reading this blog have access, a few feet away, to unlimited, remarkably cheap, high-quality tap water from systems owned by the public. So in order to sell water and water-related products, advertisers and marketers have to pull out all the tricks in the book. In particular, they can’t sell “water” — they have to sell youth, health, beauty, romance, status, image, and, of course, the old standbys, sex and fear.

“For bottled water, all of these tricks are being employed, despite federal laws that require manufacturers to use honest labels about contents and restrict advertisers from making unsubstantiated health or medical claims. As early as 1906, the United States passed the Pure Food and Drug Act that required that claims about products could not contain any “statement, design, or device” that was “false or misleading in any particular.”

“But bottled water companies today are advertising all sorts of bottled waters and water-treatment devices as miracle cures for all sorts of ills. Consumers can find water “ionizers,” vibrationally charged interactive water, energy enhanced water infused with luck or love, weight-loss waters, super-oxygenated water machines, magnetized water, rhythm-structured water, and on and on. Many of these are described in detail in my new book “Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water.” They are just some of the magical bottled waters and devices pushed on ignorant consumers or people with real health concerns who don’t know where else to turn for help. Pseudoscientific claims for bottled waters can be found in brochures, health stores, and magazines, and especially on the Internet. As use of the Internet has exploded, we are seeing a proliferation of websites that make explicit, unsubstantiated, outlandish, and often blatantly fraudulent claims about the health benefits of bottled waters. And we’re sucking it up by the gallon.”

Read more: sfgate

Aromas neighbors battling for ‘blue gold’

Last modified on 2010-05-25 04:12:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Suzie Petersen rinses her dishes in a tub of water she then uses for flushing the toilet. She recycles the water from brief showers, too. And, she says, she can wash her face in a mere cup of water.

“Since Petersen’s well ran dry five years ago and she had to start trucking in water at a cost of $225 every three or four weeks, the Via Del Sol Road resident has tapped every conservation tip in the book.

“But Petersen said it hasn’t been easy, and sometimes she feels like she’s been on an extended camping trip.

“Every time I turn on the faucet, I think about how many cups are coming out,” Petersen said. “Water is blue gold.”

“Many of her neighbors in an area known as Granite Ridge for the underlying rock are in the same boat. Too late, the residents of the Via Del Sol and Oak Ridge Drive neighborhoods on the high ground between Aromas and Prunedale discovered granite makes a poor reservoir. Those whose wells haven’t dried up are dealing with contamination from arsenic contained in the rock or nitrates from septic systems.

“After years of searching, the 60 families have found a solution. But first they have to persuade the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency to approve their plan to hook up to the Aromas Water District. The district is within the agency’s boundaries and needs its blessing for the deal.

“It’s turning out to be a hard sell to those in the community who don’t want to see diminishing Pajaro Valley groundwater supplies exported outside the agency’s boundaries.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Nature Conservancy faces potential backlash from ties with BP

Last modified on 2010-05-23 20:32:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The first thing I did was sell my shares in BP, not wanting anything to do with a company that is so careless,” wrote one. Another added: “I would like to force all the BP executives, the secretaries and the shareholders out to the shore to mop up oil and wash the birds.” Reagan De Leon of Hawaii called for a boycott of “everything BP has their hands in.”

“What De Leon didn’t know was that the Nature Conservancy lists BP as one of its business partners. The organization also has given BP a seat on its International Leadership Council and has accepted nearly $10 million in cash and land contributions from BP and affiliated corporations over the years.

“Oh, wow,” De Leon said when told of the depth of the relationship between the nonprofit she loves and the company she hates. “That’s kind of disturbing.”

“The Conservancy, already scrambling to shield oyster beds in the region from the spill, now faces a different problem: a potential backlash as its supporters learn that the giant oil company and the world’s largest environmental organization long ago forged a relationship that has lent BP an Earth-friendly image and helped the Conservancy pursue causes it holds dear.”

read more: Washington Post

Virginia Tech professor uncovered truth about lead in D.C. water

Last modified on 2010-05-23 04:59:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Sometimes Don Quixote beats the windmill.”

“It happened for Marc Edwards, a lean, intense Virginia Tech environmental engineering professor. Drawing on what he called his own “world-class stubbornness,” he mounted a six-year campaign that succeeded last week in forcing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to admit that it had misled the public about the risk of lead in the District’s drinking water.”

“The CDC, which is the nation’s principal public health agency, made the confession in a “Notice to Readers” published in an official weekly bulletin Friday. It came a day after a scathing House subcommittee report said the agency knowingly used flawed and incomplete data when it assured D.C. residents in 2004 that their health hadn’t been hurt by spikes in lead in the drinking water.”

Read more: Washington Post

What will California look like in year 2050?

Last modified on 2010-05-21 21:21:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Learning more about Update 2009

“Update 2009 uses three plausible yet very different future scenarios — Current Trends, Slow & Strategic Growth, and “Expansive Growth — to illustrate future uncertainties to which the water community will need to respond, including the potential effect of long-term climate change on future water demands. Each scenario has different assumptions for how population, development, irrigated farmland, environmental water, or background water conservation may change over time.”

Read more: California waterplan highlights

Too few people protest to derail Pajaro Valley water pumping fee

Last modified on 2010-05-22 02:34:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A protest vote against a new fee on pumping Pajaro Valley groundwater fell far short of what was needed to kill the charge Wednesday.

“That means the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency can try to win approval for a new groundwater pumping fee that if successful would secure the financing it needs to survive and pay its debts. Once that’s in place it can turn its attention to working on solutions to groundwater overdraft.

“The agency’s augmentation charge faces one more hurdle – a vote by well owners weighted by water use. A mail-in ballot will be sent to eligible voters this summer.

“The proposed fees – $156 to $195 an acre-foot of water, along with a separate charge of $306 per acre-foot of delivered irrigation water – would raise an estimated $10 million to secure the survival of the financially troubled agency.

“Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno said without the agency to manage the diminishing groundwater supplies, the courts could step in and decide how much water could be pumped.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

CDC misled District residents about lead levels in water, House probe finds

Last modified on 2010-05-20 15:48:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The nation’s premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District’s drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized more thorough internal research showing that the problem harmed children across the city and continues to endanger thousands of D.C. residents.

“A House investigative subcommittee concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made “scientifically indefensible” claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing noticeable harm to the health of city residents. As terrified District parents demanded explanations for the spike in lead in their water, the CDC hurriedly published its calming analysis, knowing that it relied on incomplete, misleading blood-test results that played down the potential health impact, the investigation found.

“In one part of the 2004 report, the CDC paper analyzed the blood of children and adults living with lead levels in their tap water 20 times the amount raising concern — and said not one was suffering from elevated lead. Brown and her co-authors knew, however, that most of those tested had been drinking bottled or filtered water before their blood was analyzed.

“A public health expert and co-author suggested to Brown in an e-mail that the report mention this factor because “this may help to explain why currently none of the persons have blood lead levels above the level of concern.” It was never mentioned.”

read more: Washington Post

Pescadero migrants drank well water with dangerously high levels of nitrates

Last modified on 2010-05-20 00:49:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Families living at two labor camps in rural Pescadero have been drinking unhealthy levels of nitrate-contaminated water for years, possibly even a decade, a San Mateo County Times investigation has found.

“About 50 people — 28 farmworkers and their families — were evicted from their barracks and trailers south of Pescadero on May 14 after county health officials discovered they were drinking and cooking with nitrate-tainted water more than six times the public health limit. Another camp with at least 25 residents was closed on May 18 for identical reasons.

“Kerry Lobel, executive director of Pescadero-based community nonprofit group Puente de la Costa Sur, says most families are still there because they have no place else to go.

“Residents have been told not to drink, bathe in, or cook with the nitrate-tainted water, which comes from the ground beneath the property. Some have been showering at the local high school, and drinking bottled water supplied by Marchi, according to Lobel.

“The county might never have discovered the problem if not for a tip they got around the time of their annual building inspection of Marchi’s camps on April 29. Nitrate levels in the tap water were found to be six times higher than the well water itself, although the well water was also heavily contaminated with nitrates.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Tapped Out: When Water Bills Force Forclosure

Last modified on 2010-05-18 16:38:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Last February, Vicki Valentine was evicted when she couldn’t pay $3,603.41 to rescue her Baltimore home. Valentine’s wasn’t a typical foreclosure — the mortgage was paid off. But when she failed to pay a $362.28 water bill, the city auctioned her debt off in a tax lien sale. An investor now owns her home.

“City records show that one in five of these liens on properties is for unpaid taxes or other municipal bills amounting to $1,000 or less. If Baltimore’s 2009 tax sale is any indication, hundreds will stem from delinquent water bills; there were 666 such liens last year.

“Although the brisk tax lien trade thrives beneath the radar, largely unnoticed, it has occasionally drawn scrutiny from law enforcement authorities.

“Some of Maryland’s most prominent tax sale investors have been swept up in a criminal investigation into bid rigging at the sales. Federal prosecutors allege that those investors agreed in advance which properties to bid at some auctions, improperly reducing the money earned by municipalities.”

read more: Huffington Post

Tainted Water: Nitrate Contamination Spreading in California Communities

Last modified on 2010-05-16 16:22:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The water supply of more than two million Californians has been exposed to harmful levels of nitrates over the past 15 years – a time marked by lax regulatory efforts to contain the colorless and odorless contaminant, a California Watch investigation has found.

“Nitrates are now the most common groundwater contaminant in California and across the country. A byproduct of nitrogen-based farm fertilizer, animal manure, wastewater treatment plants and leaky septic tanks, nitrates leach into the ground and can be expensive to extract.

“The problem affects both rural Californians and wealthier big-city water systems. State law requires public water systems to remove nitrates. Many rural communities, however, don’t have access to the type of treatment systems available in metropolitan areas.”

Read More: AlterNet

Chesapeake Bay Case Settled With Nation’s Largest Water Cleanup Plan

Last modified on 2010-05-14 01:09:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay entered a new phase today as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, its co-plaintiffs, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency settled their lawsuit with a binding agreement that will require pollution to be reduced across the nation’s largest estuary.

“The settlement requires EPA to take specific actions by dates certain to ensure that pollution to local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay is reduced enough to remove the bay from the federal “dirty waters” list, said Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William Baker.

“When we filed our notice of intent in October 2008, EPA had been missing in action for years. The Bush administration had 60 days to respond, but consistent with its previous eight years it did nothing,” said Baker.

“We filed suit on January 5, 2009, and began negotiations with the new administration. While it has taken longer than we would have liked, we are very pleased with the results and commend Lisa Jackson and her senior staff for their willingness to work through the bureaucracy to obtain this game-changing agreement,” he said.”

read more: AlterNet

Santa Cruz officials say water lawsuit could upend UCSC growth pact

Last modified on 2010-05-13 02:56:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Representatives for the city, UC Santa Cruz and the agency reviewing the university’s application for expanded water service will appear in court in coming weeks to respond to a lawsuit filed by a group opposed to UCSC expansion.

“Headed by former county supervisor Gary Patton, the Community Water Coalition filed suit last week asking the Superior Court to force the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission to dismiss UCSC’s application on the grounds that the university doesn’t own the water it wants.

“LAFCO can’t take action legally in the way we read the law,” said Patton, who is an attorney.

“Patton has been threatening for more than a year to seek relief from the court. No hearing date has been set.

“Patton said he believes it is the city’s responsibility to apply for an expansion of its water service to the north end of campus, where the university plans to build new housing to support its eventual growth from 16,000 to 20,000 students by 2020. Patton acknowledged the suit is designed to force the City Council to host a public debate about the water expansion.

“The council has been artfully staying out of the line of fire,” Patton said Tuesday, when he accompanied several UCSC students to the council meeting to speak against university expansion.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Communities Improving Public Safety through River Restoration

Last modified on 2010-05-09 21:53:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“American Rivers today released the new film, “Restoring America’s Rivers: Preparing for the Future,” which tells the inspiring story of how community leaders around the country are improving public safety and solving problems like flooding by restoring rivers and working with nature, not against it.

“The film examines four communities in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington where dams are being removed and levees set back in an effort to restore floodplains and give rivers room to spread out, while making communities safer and more resilient to weather extremes, and restoring vital habitat for fish and wildlife.

“These communities realized that the best, most cost-effective way to reduce flood damage and improve public safety was to remove outdated dams and restore the rivers,” said Serena McClain, associate director of river restoration for American Rivers. “Our goal is for every mayor in the country to see this film. We hope the stories will spur them to explore river restoration in their own communities.”

read more: American Rivers

Tainted nuke plant water reaches major NJ aquifer

Last modified on 2010-05-08 22:46:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said Friday.

“The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

“The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

“The radioactive water leaks were found just days after the plant got a new 20-year license in 2009 that environmentalists had bitterly fought for four years. Those problems followed corrosion that left the reactor’s crucial safety liner rusted and thinned.

“Julia LaMense of the Eastern Environmental Law Clinic hailed the state’s action and condemned the NRC “for letting it come to this.”

“It’s a sad day when the ‘wait and see’ approach taken in response to yet another ‘trust us’ from Exelon results in exactly what we feared — contamination of one of the most significant aquifers in the region,” she said.”

read more: Associated Press

EPA Water Pollution Controls in Nation’s Capital Are Off to a Good Start – Tell Them to Finish the Job

Last modified on 2010-05-06 19:05:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Two weeks ago, on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, EPA released a draft stormwater permit for Washington, DC that gives us hope about the future of the District’s waters. This region has some of the dirtiest urban rivers in the country, especially the Anacostia River, which is severely polluted by sediment, nutrients, pathogens, toxins, and trash. Every time it rains, water runs off of impervious surfaces in the District and dumps all of those pollutants into our waterways.

“That’s why it’s crucial for EPA to issue a strong permit that will control how much stormwater pollution runs into DC’s rivers and streams. When we first saw the permit draft, we were excited to see certain provisions in there, especially the requirements for “green infrastructure” or “low impact development” controls throughout the District. Not only does green infrastructure clean up our waters, but it also creates jobs and livable, walkable neighborhoods that are good for businesses and our health. That’s the kind of innovative, smart water practice that communities across the country need to be focused on.”

read more: NRDC

Low Oxygen Resources In Central New York’s Three Rivers System

Last modified on 2010-05-05 00:51:58 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A unique three-year longitudinal and vertical study of Central New York’s Three Rivers system-involving the Oswego, Oneida and Seneca rivers-has revealed that oxygen resources have become degraded by several stressors, including the impact of wastewater treatment plants, nonpoint runoff, an increase in invasive zebramussels and channelization of the flow.

“As oxygen is necessary to support life in aquatic ecosystems, its measurement is essential for gauging the overall state of water bodies; in one of the study’s surveys, more than one-third of the 90-kilometer length of the river system failed to meet the New York water quality standard.

“This research has shown the importance of utilizing innovative technology to manage and monitor complex aquatic ecosystems in urban settings.”

Mayor: Boston schools open despite huge main break

Last modified on 2010-05-03 01:16:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The head of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority also didn’t shy from stating the magnitude of the problem created when a 10-foot-wide steel pipe burst at a seam Saturday morning. Over the next eight hours, an estimated 65 million gallons spilled into the Charles River and forced officials to tap a reservoir filled with untreated water, potentially contaminating the supply to 750,000 households.

“For the people in the water industry, it is everyone’s worst nightmare: to lose your main transmission linecoming into a metropolitan area,” said MWRA Executive Director Frederick Laskey.”

read more: Associated Press

They’re Still Blowing Up Our Mountains and There Still Oughta Be a Law

Last modified on 2010-04-30 04:13:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A month ago, before the nation’s attention was drawn to the tragedies at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia and the oil rig off the Louisiana coast, the EPA issued a blockbuster announcement about a strict new guidance for the permitting of mountaintop removalmines in Appalachia. The announcement left many people — reporters, politicians and the general public alike — confused whether or not the EPA had just put an end to mountaintop removal. The announcement generated headlines ranging from a fairly modest “E.P.A. to Limit Water Pollution From Mining” in theNew York Times to “New regulations will put an end to mountaintop mining?” in the Guardian.

“Certainly at the press conference EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used some strong language: ”Coal communities should not have to sacrifice their environment or their health or their economic future to mountaintop mining. They deserve the full protection of our clean water laws.”

“Some insiders have also expressed concern that the EPA’s strict new guidance will take the wind out the sails of the campaign to pass a law, but from the perspective of Appalachian groups that have been working to ban mountaintop removal for decades, that concern is misplaced. The citizens of Appalachia have led this fight from the beginning, and have a much more vested interest in making these protections permanent than any group in Washington, D.C.

“There is a window of opportunity right now to pass a strong law that will rein in mountaintop removal permanently. Also, with coal demand down dramatically due to the recession, now is the time to begin replacing mountaintop removal coal with aggressive energy efficiency and renewable energy policies in states like North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia that are most dependent on this source of coal.”

read more: Huffington Post

Smart water meters, dumb meters, no meters

Last modified on 2010-04-29 01:04:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“How is it possible that a place like California, with such a long and painful history of water problems, remains so far behind the curve of smart water management? How is it really possible that things considered basic, fundamental, taken-for-granted in other places are still missing here? And are water managers and users so insular that they really think they’re doing a good job with water?

“That’s a rhetorical question: California is not ahead of the curve in anything “water.” It is dealing with 21st century water problems with 20th century (or is it 19th century) water policy and politics. Some remarkable, innovative efforts are underway, but they remain the exception, not the rule.

“Water Numbers: To date, Sacramento still has meters in only 25 percent of its houses and has no intention to meter everyone in a reasonable time period. And they’ve made ridiculous arguments that it would cost too much to put meters in. The Sacramento City Council has authorized a first phase to put in 1,735 meters for $20 million. Explain, then, how come the City of Ottawa will spend $25 million to install 190,000 smart meters? In the arid San Joaquin Valley, south of Sacramento, more than half of all residents are not metered. Fresno, the region’s largest city, charges single-family households a flat rate, regardless of how much water they use. And what do you know? Fresno’s water rates are among the lowest, and their water use among the highest, of anyone’s in California. Average Fresno residential use is 290 gallons per person per day. The state average is 135. For the same amount of water (22,440 gallons, more than enough for a family of four for a month) City of Fresno customers pay, on average, a monthly water rate of only $28.33, compared with San Francisco’s $89.57 and San Diego’s $95.48 (see the figure below). At least Fresno is beginning to slowly add meters.”

read more: SFgate

The Price of Water: A Comparison of Water Rates, Usage in 30 U.S. Cities

Last modified on 2010-04-27 02:50:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A first of its kind survey of residential water use and prices in 30 metropolitan regions in the United States has found that some cities in rain-scarce regions have the lowest residential water rates and the highest level of water use. A family of four using 100 gallons per person each day will pay on average $34.29 a month in Phoenix compared to $65.47 for the same amount in Boston.

“The survey, conducted by Circle of Blue over the last several months, also found that average daily residential water use ranged from a low of 41 gallons per person in Boston to a high of 211 gallons per person in Fresno, Calif.

“The Circle of Blue survey includes data on water rates and water usage from the 20 largest U.S. cities, according to the 2000 Census, and ten regionally representative cities to gain a broad view of urban water pricing. The survey comes as municipal water departments and their customers across the country contend with the ironic and unintended consequence of the economic recession and water conservation. In most major cities water use is declining while rates charged to residential customers are rising.”

read more: Circle of Blue

How We Can Stave Off the Triple Threat of Climate, Water and Food Crises

Last modified on 2010-04-24 01:51:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“There is growing recognition that water is the “key medium through which climate change impacts will be felt.” Climate impacts on water will directly affect agriculture. And, of course, agricultural practices can both impact and mitigate climate change. Yet, all three–climate, agriculture and water–are facing severe crises. It is the dramatic convergence of these crises that compel us to shift away from the dominant industrial agriculture model toward more sustainable and just alternatives.

“Ultimately, agriculture will play a critical role in addressing global challenges related to climate, water, social justice and food. These challenges cannot effectively be addressed in isolation. Instead, it is time to identify the interconnection between them and develop complementary policy options and action steps.”

read more: AlterNet

State Decision Blocks Drilling for Gas in Catskills

Last modified on 2010-04-24 01:44:31 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“New York State environmental officials announced on Friday that they would impose far stricter regulations on a controversial type of natural gas drilling in the upstate area that supplies New York City’s drinking water, making it highly unlikely that any drilling would be done there.

“Although they did not impose an outright ban on drilling, state officials said that any natural gas company would have to conduct a separate environmental impact review for each well it proposed to drill in the Catskills watershed, which supplies the city.”

read more: New York Times

Protecting Water on Earth Day… and Every Day

Last modified on 2010-04-23 01:04:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Earth Day, the day set aside globally to appreciate our planet and all the bounty and wonder it has to offer, provides an opportunity to consider what we as individuals, or as representatives of organizations, can contribute to the ecological health and vitality of the Blue Planet. While we have done much to protect our resources, events like Earth Day remind all of us of our constant responsibility to establish a new generation of sustainable living and business operations, with respect for the Earth and dedication to improve our environment as a year-round commitment. Today, people, organizations, and governments throughout the world pause to celebrate what has been done and identify what remains to be done to protect the water, air, and land that sustain us and our communities.”

read more: Huffington Post

EPA proposes rainwater-trapping rules for D.C.

Last modified on 2010-04-22 15:26:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans Wednesday to require “green roofs,” rain barrels and other measures that trap runoff at new and redeveloped buildings in the District, making the city a test case for an ambitious effort to stop pollution from flowing into rivers along with the rain.

“The EPA’s plan, contained in a proposed permit for the District’s storm-sewer system, would require developers to trap 90 percent of the water that falls on a plot during a storm.”

“In the EPA’s plan, “you’re using water on site as an asset, rather than a waste product,” said Jon Capacasa, director of the water protection division of the EPA’s mid-Atlantic regional office. He said the changes were part of a larger effort, begun with a presidential order last year, to improve the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. “The local water bodies need these levels of [storm water] control to be healthy,” he said.”

read more: Washington Post

U.S. Urban Residents Cut Water Usage; Utilities are Forced to Raise Prices

Last modified on 2010-04-21 13:10:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Rising conservation has contributed to revenue volatility,” said Rusty Cobern, budget and finance manager for the Austin Water Utility. “We would have expected a revenue windfall during the [recent] drought. Aggressive conservation pricing model can eliminate windfall opportunities.”

“Water agencies have a disincentive to conservation because if customers cut use, it cuts sales,” Cooley told Circle of Blue.

In essence, water utilities make money selling water. And since selling less water decreases revenue, utilities develop a perverse incentive that welcomes dry periods because people will use more water on their lawns and generate more income for the utility.”

read more: Circle of Blue

Lynn Henning wins environmental award for CAFO monitoring [dairy manure spill into Lake Hudson]

Last modified on 2010-04-21 03:21:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Lynn Henning of Clayton is among six environmental activists from around the world receiving prizes today from the Goldman Environmental Foundation at a ceremony in San Francisco.

“Henning has had a running confrontation with a number of large dairy, or CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation), operators since a dairy manure spill into Lake Hudson caught her attention in 2002.

“Her goal, she said, is seeing stricter regulations enacted for concentrated animal feeding operations. The CAFO operations that have developed in recent years are very different from family farms that government agencies have been used to dealing with, she said.”

read more: lenconnect

Dow LiveEarth Run For Water: Protesters Call Out Hypocrisy

Last modified on 2010-04-20 03:04:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“As Earth Day draws near, we’re seeing tons of companies try to get in the “green” bandwagon, with special products, giveaways and ad campaigns. For some companies like Dow Chemical with dubious environmental records, a little Earth Day sponsorship won’t slip by unnoticed. Dow sponsored the Dow LiveEarth Run for Water, a particularly ironic move considering they now own the company that is responsible for the Bhopal toxic gas leak that 25 years ago which still hasn’t been properly cleaned up, and continue to manufacture toxic chemicals.”

read more: Huffington Post

Bottled and Sold: What’s really in our bottled water

Last modified on 2010-04-18 17:03:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water Number: More than 100. After months of requests and two Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Food and Drug Administration (which regulates some bottled waters), I got a list of recalls of bottled waters in the U.S. Combined with other research, I ultimately compiled a list of more than 100 bottled water recalls, affecting millions of bottles of water.

“This list (which I will soon post online) includes a remarkable list of contaminants. In addition to the benzene found in Perrier, bottled water has been found to contain mold, sodium hydroxide, kerosene, styrene, algae, yeast, tetrahydrofuran, sand, fecal coliforms and other forms of bacteria, elevated chlorine, “filth,” glass particles, sanitizer, and in my very favorite example, crickets.”

Read more: SF Gate

Growing concern in the water: Alarmed by latest research, the Obama administration is conducting a broad review of toxic weed killer atrazine that could lead to tighter restrictions

Last modified on 2010-04-17 19:49:25 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Despite growing health concerns about atrazine, an agricultural weed killer sprayed on farm fields across the Midwest, most drinking water is tested for the chemical only four times a year — so rarely that worrisome spikes of the chemical often go undetected.

“Atrazine has been banned in Europe because it contaminates groundwater, but it remains widely used in the U.S., where the EPA endorsed its continued use as recently as 2003. Federal records show the review was heavily influenced by industry and relied on studies financed by Syngenta, a Swiss-based company that manufactures most of the atrazine sprayed in the U.S.”

read more: Chicago Tribune

Amazon Dam Project Pits Economic Benefit Against Protection of Indigenous Lands

Last modified on 2010-04-17 18:33:54 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“RIO DE JANEIRO — The indigenous leaders had a plan. They would unite for a last, desperate stand against the mammoth dam threatening their lands in the Amazon, vowing to give their lives, if necessary, to prevent it from being built.

“This will be our last cry for help,” said the chief of the Arara tribe, José Carlos Arara, after a meeting of leaders from 13 tribes last month. “We are not here to kill. We are here to defend our rights.”

“For indigenous groups, the drying out of the Xingu would change life as they know it. So at their meeting last month, leaders from 13 tribes made an unusual decision: They decided to create a new tribe of about 2,500, and then station it directly on the construction site, occupying it for years, if need be.”

read more: New York Times

A New Shade of Green

Last modified on 2010-04-17 01:54:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“We humans with our big cars and our big factories and our big cities were discharging terrible stuff into the air and water, and it had to be stopped or we would soon make our nest uninhabitable. The public was growing increasingly outraged. Every night on color television, we saw yellow sludge flowing into blue rivers; every day as we drove to work, we saw black smudges against the barely visible blue sky. We knew that our indiscriminate use of pesticides and toxic substances was threatening wildlife and public health.”

“But we didn’t do much about it. Until 1970, most regulation of industry was done by the states, which competed so strongly for plants and jobs that regulating companies to protect public health was beyond them.

“Environmentally, it was a race to the bottom.”

read more: Wall Street Journal

Harvesting Oregon’s bumper crop — rain

Last modified on 2010-04-16 03:26:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Why are we using chlorinated, treated water for watering our plants and yards and flushing our toilets, when we could get 70 percent of the water from rain captured from the roof?” wonders Klock, senior resource conservationist for the Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District.

“A typical 1,000-square-foot roof in the Portland area can capture 30,000 gallons of rainwater a year, he says.

“With more people moving into the Portland area, and agriculture a major industry in the Willamette Valley, the amount of available ground water is diminishing.”

read more: Estacada News

Water conservation program caused L.A.’s string of water main breaks, report finds

Last modified on 2010-04-14 02:44:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“At various locations in the L.A. Department of Water and Power distribution system, water pressure fell significantly on Mondays and Thursdays after the beginning of the water-rationing program on June 1, 2009, the report said.

“Those water pressure drops on these days were caused by an increased water flow during the watering of lawns,” the report said. “As a result, the cyclic levels of water pressure increased and accelerated the metal fatigue failures of aged and corroded cast-iron pipes.”

“A team of scientists charged with looking at the pipe breaks concluded that the city should rework its conservation plan, which limited the use of sprinklers to Mondays and Thursdays.

“One alternative would be to require homes with even-number addresses to conserve on even-numbered days and requiring homes with odd-numbered addresses to conserve on odd-numbered days, the team said.”

read more: Los Angeles Times

The Price for Building a Home in this Town: $300,000 Water Meter

Last modified on 2010-04-14 02:13:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“BOLINAS, Calif. — Marc Dwaileebe would like to build a house for his family on land he owns in this bucolic town just 20 miles north of San Francisco. But he cannot hook up to the water main that runs right past his property unless he has a water meter. And a water meter, in Bolinas, could cost more than $300,000.

“That is the minimum bid for a meter being auctioned off through Friday. The auction is the unlikely result of a water meter moratorium imposed by antidevelopment forces here in 1971.

“For most of the last 39 years, “the only way a water meter came free was when a house burnt down, or fell off a cliff,” said Barbara Rothwell, a longtime Bolinas resident.”

read more: New York Times

Addressing the Global Water Crisis Through Action In Unity For Change

Last modified on 2010-04-14 01:09:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“By 2050, the population of the planet is projected to be 8.5 billion people. According to the work of Jim Thebaut, we will not be able to sustain ourselves if steps aren’t taken to ensure that water resources are available to people. The San Joaquin Valleyin California grows 1/3 of the agricultural crops that feed Americans. But, droughts are spreading across the Southwest on top of the drought that California is already experiencing. There is an undeniable strain on the world’s resources. This strain will grip the world community tighter if steps aren’t taken to combat climate change, the water crisis, and overpopulation.”

read more: Conducive Chronicle

The Nation’s Big Water Repair Bill

Last modified on 2010-04-13 04:01:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“While the E.P.A. and state environmental agencies are failing to fully enforce our federal and state clean water laws, it’s also a funding problem. Since 1978, the U.S. share of water infrastructure spending has plunged from about 75 percent to less than 5 percent, leaving cash-strapped state and local governments to shoulder an expense most cannot afford.

“As a result, our water delivery and sewage treatment systems are deteriorating, threatening public health and forcing many Americans to rely increasingly on expensive bottled water, which from an environmental and economic point of view is a disastrous trend.”

read more: New York Times

EPA study of the Portage River Basin indicates several major non-attainments

Last modified on 2010-04-11 02:03:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“According to the Clean Water Act, all rivers and streams should be suitable for recreation and/or aquatic life. It is the job of the EPA to evaluate whether they meet these standards. Between 2006 and 2008, the Ohio EPA tested 80 sites in the Portage River Basin, with nearly half failing to meet Clean Water Act standards. Overall, 27% were in partial attainment, and 19% were in non-attainment.

“Many of the issues of the assessment indicate sewage treatment failures. Water around Fosteria and Port Clinton had high ammonia levels, an indication of failures at their waste water treatment facility. Failing home sewage treatment systems and unsewered areas also contributed to nutrient and organic overload. ”

read more: Examiner

What’s the Single Biggest Misuse of Water in the US?

Last modified on 2010-04-10 01:30:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Go to your tap and turn it on. Most likely, the second you turn the faucet handle, water gushes out. That alone might make you think there’s not a water crisis happening right now in America. Or at least that if there is, it’s not that bad. But you’d be wrong. In fact, from our infrastructure that wastes water supplies and doesn’t allow rainwater to soak back into the ground table, to our lack of measurement and management of our water use, we’re on a fast track to having very little drinkable water in the very near future. Author Robert Glennon addresses this very issue in his new book Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It. We asked Glennon his thoughts on some of the most pertinent issues facing us right now, and he provided some insight into what has to change, and how we can do it, so that we can ensure supplies of water for everything from human consumption to agriculture to manufacturing in the decades to come.

“We Americans are spoiled. Turn on the tap and out comes as much water as we want, for less than we pay for cell phone service or cable television. We must change this situation.

“We must recognize a human right to water for life’s necessities. The richest country in the history of the world can surely make that commitment to its citizens. Honoring that right does not involve a large quantity of water–only about 1% of the water that is used each day in the United States. For the other 99%, we need to encourage conservation and stewardship by pricing it appropriately: in general, the more you use the more you pay. Under this system, Americans, whether homeowners, farmers or industry would vote with their pocketbooks as to how they use water.”

read more: AlterNet

Watering a Lawn Could Lead to Water Pollution, EPA

Last modified on 2010-04-10 01:13:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Without first traveling through a natural filtration system, like a wetland, or artificial filtration system, pollutants end up in waterways and damage ecosystems and water quality, according to the EPA. Cars, lawns, pets and other parts of everyday life lead to a major source of pollution for waterways, while impermeable surfaces like streets, buildings and sidewalks lead to increased runoff into storm sewers.”

read more: Circle of Blue

Monterey County approves desal plant; Peninsula water rates could double

Last modified on 2010-04-08 21:15:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“MCWRA board member Steve Collins said rates for a family of four on the Monterey Peninsula would double to about $80 monthly. “It’s significant,” he said, “but I’m paying that now in Salinas. A family of four in Alisal is already paying nearly $80.”

“California American Water must comply with a November order by the state Water Resources Control Board to reduce Carmel River pumping from about 11,000 acre feet per year to no more than 3,336 by 2016. It’s a drop of about 70 percent that the desalination project is meant to compensate for.”

read more: The Calif0rnian

2009 California Water Plan Published

Last modified on 2010-04-06 20:35:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“For the first time, the state water plan incorporated multiple growth scenarios to get a better understanding of the range of possible water needs. One scenario projected from current trends in population growth, land use changes and conservation targets while the other two used high-growth and low-growth models.

“All of the scenarios predict a decrease in agricultural use as farmland is developed by urban areas and on-farm water efficiency increases. The biggest variables, however, are climate change and unmet environmental requirements. Extreme shifts in precipitation patterns could reduce the overall water supply and require more water be left in rivers to support fish and aquatic life.”

read more: Circle of Blue

The River Dammed

Last modified on 2010-04-06 20:20:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“I have come to the Colorado River to paddle all 1,450 miles and learn about what’s at stake. Not only what’s already damaged, but also what we might lose in the future without proper solutions or conservation. Water, first of all. Then more cogently, the river itself, a living resource that includes wildlife and plant species, reservoirs, Native American culture, recreation, river-based economies, and the ever-shrinking wetlands of the delta. My family lives in Colorado and I want them to revel in the living resource of water—skiing the Rockies’ snow, paddling its melt waters, and watering our garden—as I have for the last 20 years. But a half a century from now, according to the forecasts of many climatologists, my sons are likely to see the ski resorts of Colorado go dry before their knees give out.”

read more: National Geographic

Poor Mexican villagers struggle to cope without water and power in wake of 7.2 earthquake

Last modified on 2010-04-06 14:52:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In a poor farming village about 20 miles south of Mexicali, the Baja government was setting up a relief center Monday to distribute blankets, food and water for those whose homes were damaged or flooded. Hundreds of people, mostly families, have begun lining up, some of them walking miles to get to the center.

“Scattered throughout Colonia de la Puerta, hundreds of ramshackle homes made of adobe or brick, with tin or tar-paper roofs, collapsed after Sunday’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake. Many people are sleeping outside or in tents.

“Maria del Carmen, 21, said she and her family arrived at the relief center after walking seven miles from their home. “We have nothing,” she said. “We have no water for our family. We need help.”

read more: Los Angeles Times

New York Denies Indian Point a Water Permit

Last modified on 2010-04-04 23:13:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In a major victory for environmental advocates, New York State has ruled that outmoded cooling technology at the Indian Point nuclear power plant kills so many Hudson River fish, and consumes and contaminates so much water, that it violates the federal Clean Water Act.

“The decision is a blow to the plant’s owner, the Entergy Corporation, which now faces the prospect of having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build stadium-size cooling towers, or risk that Indian Point’s two operating reactors — which supply 30 percent of the electricity used by New York City and Westchester County — could be forced to shut down.”

read more: New York Times

U.S. agrees to remove toxic ‘Ghost Fleet’ ships

Last modified on 2010-04-01 15:40:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The ships already have shed more than 20 tons of heavy metals into the bay, including lead, zinc, copper and cadmium, said Michael Wall, chief litigator for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. If they are not cleaned up, they could lose as much as 50 tons more.

“Many of these ships have been moored there since the Vietnam War with no maintenance,” said Wall, who estimates that the cleanup could cost more than $100 million. “The paint, loaded with heavy metals, has been flaking off and polluting the bay.”

“Congress issued three deadlines for the maritime agency to clean up the Ghost Fleet, Wall said, but the agency “violated all of them.”

read more: L.A. Times

EPA moves to veto massive mountaintop removal operation in West Virginia

Last modified on 2010-04-01 14:45:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has authorized the Mingo Coal Co. — a subsidiary of Arch Coal of St. Louis, the nation’s second-largest coal producer — to dump waste from the mining operation into Seng Camp Branch, Pigeonroost Branch, Oldhouse Branch and tributaries. As authorized, the project would directly impact more than 2,200 acres and seven miles of streams.

“While acknowledging the project has already undergone extensive regulatory review, EPA does not want it to move forward:

“EPA Region III is taking this action because it believes, despite all the regulatory processes intended to protect the environment, that construction of Spruce No. 1 Mine as authorized would destroy streams and habitat, cause significant degradation of on-site and downstream water quality, and could therefore result in unacceptable adverse impacts to wildlife and fishery resources.”

read more: Facing South

Interactive Map: California: Compliance With Water Quality Laws

Last modified on 2010-04-01 01:57:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“CCKA recognized World Water Day through the release of its new, statewide, online interactive map tracking industry’s compliance with water quality laws. This tool maps all dischargers throughout the state issued mandatory minimum penalties (MMPs) since 2000. The state levies MMPs for “serious” and “multiple chronic” water quality law violations.

“The map, sorted by Regional Water Board, allows users to click on specific facilities to learn more about their violation records. The map also highlights facilities that have not received MMPs in recent years. Violations related to sewage releases, industrial wastes, and contaminated groundwater most frequently caused the issuance of MMPs statewide.

“The MMP Map complements CCKA’s enforcement efforts to improve the level, prioritization, and transparency of California’s water law enforcement activities. Additional public enforcement reports are available on the State Water Board’s website.”

read more: resource shelf

As We See It: Save the salmon: Good news on fishing season, but battle over water diversion remains.

Last modified on 2010-04-01 02:05:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“There was a time when salmon was king.

“Now, finally, for the first time in three years, sport fishermen will again be able to fish for salmon in Monterey Bay.

“But the glory days of salmon fishing in local waters — really, most of the fishing industry — are decades past. The issue of who is to blame for the decline in chinook salmon, and its resulting effect on the fishing industry, is complicated.

“Overfishing and climate change have been blamed. But probably the main culprit is changes in the freshwaters flowing to the ocean. Salmon spawn in rivers and streams, before maturing in the ocean — and fishing advocates blame corporate farms in the San Joaquin Valley, which receive federally subsidized water diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, for ruining the salmon spawn.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz water chief defends plans for desal plant

Last modified on 2010-04-01 02:13:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The head of the Santa Cruz Water Department, Bill Kocher, staunchly defended plans to build a desalination plant, telling a crowd of nearly 200 residents Thursday that there is no other option for surviving a severe drought like the one Santa Cruz experienced in the mid-1970s.

“Cook, who served on the state Desalination Task Force, said general water use is too high and the focus should be on changing behaviors rather than “applying a technical fix.”

“Relying on desalination to augment water supplies, she said, is “energy down the drain.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

Argentines fight to save river

Last modified on 2010-03-29 14:57:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Riachuelo river, which originates in the Buenos Aires province in Argentina, is one of the most polluted rivers in the world, according to environmental activists.

“For decades, tons of industrial and household waste have been dumped into the river, which has become a lifeless sludge.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Welcome to Coming Together for Clean Water

Last modified on 2010-03-26 18:28:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Nearly 40 years ago, Congress passed a truly remarkable piece of legislation—the Clean Water Act. This document outlined sweeping commitments to restore and maintain the integrity of our nation’s waters, rid them of pollution, and make them safe for humans and wildlife alike.

“For even longer, the Environmental Protection Agency has worked to fulfill these ambitious and important goals. Our efforts have made our water resources cleaner and safer in many ways, but new challenges arise everyday.  This April, Administrator Lisa Jackson and I are inviting 100 leaders in water issues to help us sharpen our thinking during a one-day event, Coming Together for Clean Water, on how we can meet these challenges.

“Specifically, we’ll discuss what we can do about the most significant pollution problems facing our waters. These evolving issues pose complex challenges to restoring healthy watersheds and creating sustainable communities across the country.”

read more: EPA

Santa Cruz City Council supports next step in desal plant

Last modified on 2010-04-01 02:14:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In a nod to naysayers, Mayor Mike Rotkin sought to remind the public that removing salt from seawater for use in the city’s water system is designed to address rainwater shortages and saltwater intrusion, not support future growth at UC Santa Cruz or elsewhere. “It’s really about drought protection,” he said.

“Rotkin threatened to have arrested an unidentified man who repeatedly shouted at council members. The man told council members they should support solar desalination because of the electricity required to run the proposed plant.

“Opponents also argue greater conservation could better address water shortages and desalination could harm marine life. But supporters say conservation measures aren’t enough to backfill shortages in severe drought years.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION

World Water Day – The Big Picture

Last modified on 2010-03-23 22:02:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Today, March 22nd, is recognized by the United Nations Water Group as “World Water Day”, this year’s theme being “Clean Water for a Healthy World”. Although we live on a water-covered planet, only 1% of the world’s water is available for human use, the rest locked away in oceans, ice, and the atmosphere. The National Geographic Society feels so strongly about the issues around fresh water that they are distributing an interactive version of their April, 2010 magazine for download – free until April 2nd – and will be exhibiting images from the series at theAnnenberg Space for photography. National Geographic was also kind enough to share 15 of their images below, in a collection with other photos from news agencies and NASA – all of water, here at home – Earth. (43 photos total)”

read more: boston.com

Bluewashing: Why the Bottled Water Industry’s EcoFriendly Claims Don’t Hold Water

Last modified on 2010-03-23 00:01:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Corporations have a financial incentive to hide their environmental impacts from an American public that wants to buy environmentally friendly products. As consumers have been looking for ways to “go green,” corporations have been accused of “greenwashing” — selling products as environmentally responsible when they actually damage the environment. Today, with heightened media attention on the world water crisis, blue is the new green — and corporations appear to be using similar “bluewashing” tactics to obscure their effect on the world’s water.”

read more: food & water watch

Renewed Support for an Everglades Land Deal, but Cost Is Still in Question

Last modified on 2010-03-21 01:41:31 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The water district has a complicated mission. Formed in 1949, it represents the interests of 16 counties that support it with property taxes. In return, it accepts responsibility for “balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply.”

“Everglades restoration became an important component in 2000, when the district became the lead agency for the largest environmental restoration effort ever attempted. But with fickle weather and a complicated system of canals, pumps, lakes and artificial marshes, the district struggles with protecting its residents and nature.”

read more: New York Times

Not Just a Drop in the Bucket

Last modified on 2010-03-20 22:51:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A new report released last fall by consulting firm McKinsey & Company declares that by 2030, the world’s water demands will have increased by 40%. Add to that the fact of rising seas, droughts, and shrinking water sheds, and cities across the country are starting to respond with some particularly innovative solutions tailor-made to their varied water needs.”

read more: URBAN RE:VISION

Twisted Logic of Privatization: You People Saved Water Last Year — So Rates Are Going Up!

Last modified on 2010-03-18 23:45:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Several cash strapped US cities have sold off their municipal water systems or at least contracted operations to for-profit companies. (One of the truly odd things about the water market in America is that the biggest players in privatization are European corporations.) Recapping the perverse incentive: conserve water to be “green;” get charged more for what you still use to keep the overseas profit stream flowing.”

read more: AlterNet

Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly

Last modified on 2010-03-16 17:52:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country.

“State and federal studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly.

“In the last year, federal lawmakers have allocated more than $10 billion for water infrastructure programs, one of the largest such commitments in history. But Mr. Hawkins and others say that even those outlays are almost insignificant compared with the problems they are supposed to fix. An E.P.A. study last year estimated that $335 billion would be needed simply to maintain the nation’s tap water systems in coming decades.”

read more: NY Times

Deceptive arguments are being made in California’s water wars

Last modified on 2010-03-14 16:49:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The hearing’s subject was the economic crisis created by a multiyear drought in parts of California’s Central Valley. Hundreds of thousands of arable acres are being fallowed for lack of irrigation supplies, and the unemployment rate in communities such as Mendota has reached 40%.
“McClintock’s argument appears to be that the fault lies with the “environmental left” and its puppets in Washington, who place the fate of a silvery, 2-inch fish above the needs of human beings. McClintock is California’s preeminent member of the don’t-confuse-me-with-facts caucus. But his spiel is echoed across the political spectrum.
“All this makes the Central Valley the epicenter of fact-free policy-mongering on water.”

read more: LA Times

Peter Gleik: Water infrastructure, but for whose benefit?

Last modified on 2010-03-11 04:05:15 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“the debate comes down to the best way to spend our limited public money to improve our water system. And spending $3.3 billion to help a very small number of farmers use water they cannot afford is not the best way. It won’t solve agriculture’s more fundamental challenges. It won’t restore our Delta ecosystems. It won’t satisfy new urban demands. In the end, the massive new infrastructure proposed for public financing would be an expensive distraction from real solutions.”

Read more: sfgate

16 Cities Sue Manufacturer Of Atrazine Weed-Killer For Contaminating Drinking Water

Last modified on 2010-03-11 03:33:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois by 16 cities in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa.  The communities allege that Swiss corporation Syngenta AG and its Delaware counterpart Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. reaped billions of dollars from the sale of atrazine while local taxpayers were left with the financial burden of filtering the chemical from drinking water.”

read more: Huffington Post

RXDisposal Solutions, LLC of Springfield Township, reduces pill pollution

Last modified on 2010-03-10 00:51:40 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The company offers a disposal kit, soon to be released, which turns nearly all medications into an insoluble, bitter and gritty mass that remains solid so it can safely be transported to the landfill.

“No more flushing, no more lose pills in the trash and no more wastewater contamination.”

read more: Suburbanite

Exposed: Chevron’s Cover-up of Gross Environmental Abuses in Ecuador

Last modified on 2010-03-10 00:37:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In 1964, it started. That was the year they made the first well at Lago Agrio. But we didn’t know that petroleum was a contaminant. It was with the help of the Summer Institute of Linguistics [a missionary group] that we found out that it was a carcinogen and that it would cause different kinds of illnesses. Two of my children died from drinking contaminated water. Since then, we don’t drink any water from the Aguarico River, because it’s completely contaminated with oil, so we don’t even bathe in it. We have to look for a spring or catch rainwater. We’ve gotten exactly three things from the company: pollution, sickness and death; that’s it.”

read more: AlterNet

Unsafe Dams Threaten Communities Nationwide

Last modified on 2010-03-09 16:03:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Dams across the state are living on borrowed time, and many of our communities are at risk,” Brian Graber, Northeast regional director of river restoration for American Rivers, told the Boston Herald. “These dams were built decades to centuries ago and many of them, perhaps most, no longer serve the function that they were built to provide. Closing our eyes to the problem doesn’t make it disappear. The most cost-effective, permanent way for communities to solve the problems of unsafe dams is to remove them.”

read more: American Rivers

Water Wars: The ‘Endangered’ Western States

Last modified on 2010-03-09 05:20:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Endangered Species Act is corrupt and a tool used for collectivist control. You will recall that a whopping 48% of deliverable water is is used for “environmental” purposes by the federal government (most of it is runs off into the Pacific Ocean) and only 41% goes to agriculture. Despite 3 years of increased water restrictions, the Delta Smelt populations continue to fall: the federal Endangered Species Act “solutions” are not working. This “water shortage” game was played in the Klammath Basin, on the border of California and Oregon in 2001.”

read more: Prison Planet

Halalt blockade about well-water rights gains citizen support during rally

Last modified on 2010-03-07 01:25:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Citizens rallied support behind Halalt First Nation’s well-water blockade during Saturday’s protest.”

“This (blockade) is precedent-setting move to show government water is priceless.”

“We’re being over-developed and our water is being overused.”

read more:  bc local news

Atlanta case raises questions about water supply

Last modified on 2010-03-06 03:10:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Sixty years ago, the late Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield resisted helping to pay for Lake Lanier, a new federal reservoir being built north of town. Atlanta had plenty of water, he wrote Congress. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Those words came back to haunt Atlanta last year. A federal judge ruled that the city has been illegally tapping Lanier for years as its primary water source. Unless Congress reclassifies the lake as a water supply, the judge ruled, Atlanta will be cut off by 2012.”

read more: Associated Press

Lords of Water; Finding Our Way Out of the World’s Water Crisis

Last modified on 2010-03-05 18:33:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The WWC knows about big money: It is led by two of the world’s largest private water corporations, Suez Environnement and Veolia Water. Fauchon, president of the Council, is also the president of Groupe des Eaux de Marseille, a company owned jointly by Veolia and a subsidiary of Suez. Critics such as Maude Barlow, director of Canada’s Blue Planet Project and recent appointee as senior advisor on water to the U.N. General Assembly, contend that the Council’s links to private water operators and to AquaFed, the industry lobby group strategically headquartered across from the European Union Parliament in Brussels, compromise its legitimacy.“I call them the Lords of Water,” says Barlow.”

“The next World Water Forum is planned for South Africa in 2012, and it can be expected that that nation’s social movements led by the militant South African Anti-privatization Forum, will be ready for a fight.”

read more: emagazine

Groups Call on EPA, New York & New Jersey to Reduce Sewage Pollution and Clean Up Waterways for Recreation

Last modified on 2010-03-05 16:49:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Nearly every time it rains, New York City’s aging sewer system diverts raw, untreated sewage directly into local waters. This untreated wastewater and storm runoff contains dangerous bacteria, pathogens, heavy metals and toxic chemicals, making kayaking or swimming in city waters an unhealthy – and rather icky – activity.”

read more: NRDC

Desalination, With a Grain of Salt

Last modified on 2010-04-01 02:16:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The potential benefits of ocean desalination are great, but the economic, cultural, and environmental costs of wide commercialization remain high. In many parts of the world, alternatives can provide the same freshwater benefits of ocean desalination at far lower economic and environmental costs. These alternatives include treating low-quality local water sources, encouraging regional water transfers, improving conservation and efficiency, accelerating wastewater recycling and reuse, and implementing smart land-use planning.”

read more: Pacific Institute

California Farm Water Success Stories

Last modified on 2010-03-04 19:58:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Viable alternatives to traditional approaches can help California meet today’s water management challenges.”

read more: pacific institue

Malfunction dumps 2.5 million gallons of sewage into Taunton River

Last modified on 2010-03-04 06:29:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“According to Sullivan, a control system automatically turns the pumps on. When the malfunction occurred, the pumps failed to turn on and the sewage was released into Mount Hope Bay. ”
read more: The Herald News

Water crisis plagues Peru

Last modified on 2010-03-04 06:23:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

EPA Drastically Underestimates Coal Waste Pollution’s Threat to Human and Environmental Health

Last modified on 2010-03-04 02:48:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Earthjustice and EIP [Environmental Integrity Project] found that since the EPA’s coal waste list is missing 31 toxic areas, the agency is failing to allow the public to fully understand the gravity of the problem. The Obama administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reviewing a coal-ash contamination rule proposed by the EPA, but despite mounting pressure from environmental groups OMB has not yet allowed the EPA to monitor coal waste.”

read more: AlterNet

A World Without Water

Last modified on 2010-03-04 02:10:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Water Footprint Labels to Become as Important as Energy Star

Last modified on 2010-03-03 22:16:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A water footprint label is soon to be as prominent on product packaging as an Energy Star label, and with an equal amount of clout among consumers.”

“Because of the lack of accepted standards, we’re still a ways off from having a water footprint label on products; however we’re sure to see them in the near future because unlike electricity where we can figure out renewable resources to generate more, as Orr states, “We cant screw this up. There is no Plan B with water. Lets be clear about that.”

read more: AlterNet

EPA adds polluted NYC canal to Superfund list

Last modified on 2010-03-03 21:38:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The New York Times described the [Gowanus] canal in 1893 as a “disease-breeding and foul-smelling open sewer.” The stench was so bad it sometimes bothered residents a half-mile away.”

“After 150 years of abuse and neglect,” said the group’s chief investigator, Josh Verleun, “the Gowanus Canal will finally get the comprehensive cleanup that the residents of the area deserve.”

read more: Boston.com

Congress must protect Central Florida’s waters

Last modified on 2010-03-03 03:16:40 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Clean Water Act is the key piece of legislation designed to protect our waters. It was passed in 1972 when America’s rivers were so polluted that some, like Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, caught fire. We have come a long way in almost 40 years. Unfortunately, recent Supreme Court decisions have set us back, taking away Clean Water Act protections for thousands of streams and millions of acres of wetlands.

Now developers can pave over wetlands and pollute the streams that feed our waterways, and there is nothing the federal government can do about it.”

read more: Orlando Sentinel

L.A.’s New Scheme to Plunder Owens Valley Water, This Time with Solar Panels

Last modified on 2010-03-02 23:39:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In reality, the project would benefit L.A. more than anyone else. DWP does not plan on transmitting the electricity it produces to Los Angeles directly, nor does it plan to share some of it with Owens Valley. Instead, the agency plans to do something much more lucrative: sell the power on the open market to utility giants like Edison Co. and Pacific Gas & Electric and send a big chunk of the profits to Los Angeles.”

read more: AlterNet

Too Much Pavement, Too Little Oversight: Why Stormwater Is a Leading Water Pollution Problem

Last modified on 2010-03-02 23:34:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In a natural system, rainwater doesn’t travel very far. It soaks into the soil and is taken up by plants. The quick infiltration prevents the water from transporting contaminants and keeps waterways from eroding.

But the concrete and asphalt of the urban jungle is anything but natural. Instead of soaking into the ground, rain runs across impervious surfaces, picking up contaminants along the way. By the time it reaches a stream or lake, the runoff can be full of metals, oil, grease, bacteria and other contaminants.”

read more: AlterNet

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

Last modified on 2010-03-01 14:53:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”

read more: New York Times

The Price of Hydropower Pursuits in Patagonia

Last modified on 2010-03-01 00:37:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Basically what we’d be saying is, ‘Let’s dam all of Patagonia, so that we can have enough electricity to keep digging holes for mines and destroy the north.’ It is just destruction fostering more destruction.”

Read more: Patagonia

Another Massey coal slurry spill in Martin County

Last modified on 2010-03-01 01:15:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Between April 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, Massey violated its effluent limits at its various operations at least 971 times, and accrued 12,977 days of violation during that 12-month period. The U.S. government’s lawsuit against Massey, which resulted in the $20 million settlement, alleged more than 60,000 days of violations over a six-year period, or about 10,000 days of violations per year.

read more: kftc