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
“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.
“”This is one more public step in the process of telling cruise lines and the shipping industry that they cannot use California‘s coastal and bay waters as their toilet,” said Marcie Keever, Oceans and Vessels Campaign director at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth.
“Under the Clean Water Act, states may request EPA to establish vessel sewage no-discharge zones if necessary to protect and restore water quality. California made such a request in 2006. The rule that EPA proposes today will take effect following a 60-day public comment period.
“The rule will prohibit both treated and untreated sewage discharges in state marine waters from all cruise ships larger than 300 tons, and from large ocean-going ships larger than 300 tons with adequate sewage holding capacity, which is defined in the rule as two days storage capacity.”
Read more: International Business Times
Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com
“In the Middle East and North Africa, the quest to turn thousands of miles of desert into arable land has taken a backseat to containing an impending water shortage. While many countries in the region bicker over water rights, Libya has taken it upon itself to change its topography – turning sand into soil.
The Great Man-Made River, which is leader Muammar Qaddafi‘s ambitious answer to the country’s water problems, irrigates Libya’s large desert farms. The 2,333-mile network of pipes ferry water from four major underground aquifers in southern Libya to the northern population centers. Wells punctuate the water’s path, allowing farmers to utilize the water network in their fields.
The Libyan government says the 26-year project has cost $19.58 billion. Nearing completion, the Great Man-Made River is the largest irrigation project in the world and the government says it intends to use it to develop 160,000 hectares (395,000 acres) of farmland. It is also the cheapest available option to irrigate fields in the water-scarce country, which has an average annual rainfall of about one inch.”
Read more: The Christian Science Monitor
Flood victims wait for food and water at a makeshift camp in Sukkur on August 23, 2010 Photo retrieved from: www.cnn.com
“You can see 8,000 to 10,000 people in Sukkur in the road, sleeping in the mud,” said Kapadia, a resident of Karachi.
“All the people are sitting on the side of road, defecating there, drinking water there, living there.”
Roughly 4 million people are homeless from mammoth flooding that covered much of Pakistan for three weeks. Hundreds of health facilities are damaged or destroyed. Millions are at risk for deadly waterborne diseases from the filthy flood waters.
Officials estimate the death toll between 1,500 and 1,600, but Kapadia says he thinks the numbers could skyrocket as water recedes and more bodies and animals surface.
“Everywhere we go we see eight to 10 feet of water,” said Kapadia, who traveled through inundated villages between Shikarpur and Sukkur. “All we see are the tops of houses.”
Read more: CNN
Photo retrieved from: National Geographic
“The major river engineering is basically a Faustian bargain,” says Daanish Mustafa of King’s College London, recalling the fable in which a man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a life of luxury. Mustafa is a geographer who has studied the history of Pakistan’s river management.
“Until a few decades ago, there were typically mild floods each summer–the time when the monsoon rainfall hits, and the melt from the snowpack in the Himalaya and Karakoram Mountains is at its peak.
“But now, because humans have sculpted the river and the surrounding natural floodplain and wetlands for farming and other needs, there are fewer floods, but when they hit, they are far worse, said Mustafa.
“There’s not very much space [in the river channel] to absorb all the rainfall,” says Asad Sarwar Qureshi, a water resources expert at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) branch in Lahore, Pakistan. “We need to get it back into shape, so that it can carry its original capacity.”
“Wetlands along the river’s course used to take up some floodwaters, and the government also used to divert excess water into “no man’s land” during the monsoon season, he says. But those areas have been converted to farmland, he says . . .
“Allowing the river to flood more regularly, and naturally, could help temper the floods and make them more tolerable, say Mustafa and other experts . . .
“Managing Pakistan’s floods is a delicate balance between giving the river more room, and building barriers to protect people and their land.”
read more: National Geographic
Photo retrieved from: www.huffingtonpost.com
“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
Photo retrieved from: www.treehugger.com
“According to Arad, the drone is completely GPS self-guided, and captures consumption data and information on theft, tampering, leaks and stuck meters from the company’s patented water-meter system. The drone is battery-powered and constructed of lightweight carbon fiber.
You can launch it with by hand and it returns via parachute. Arad calls it “powerful weaponry for water preservation.”
“Arad’s system is built around what looks like a standard meter. The difference is on the inside, where you’ll find 3G wireless technology, a microcontroller, and 20-year batteries.
Every 11 to 30 seconds, the system transmits data, which can be picked up by a drone (best for quickly covering big distances in remote areas) or by a drive-by or fixed-base reader. The data are then analyzed by computer to gauge how much water has been consumed, how much was lost, and even where tampering may have taken place. As a result, companies can save both water and man hours.”
Read more: Treehugger
Photo retrieved from: dams-info.org
“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
Foto encontrado en: www.oem.com.mx
“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
Más de diez años de sequía ha secado gran parte de la cuenca inferior de los ríos Murray y Darling. Foto encontrado en: www.informador.com.
“Australia gastará un total de tres mil 100 millones de dólares australianos (unos dos mil 800 millones de dólares o dos mil100 millones de euros) en la compra de agua a los agricultores para recuperar el caudal de los ríos afectados por la sequía en el suroeste del país.
Así lo anunció hoy la primera ministra laborista, Julia Gillard, quien ha incluido una larga lista de medidas medioambientales en su programa electoral ante los comicios parlamentarios del próximo 21 de agosto.
“Compraremos el agua necesaria a los agricultores que estén dispuestos a venderla para recuperar la salud de los ríos”, indicó Gillard a la cadena de radio ABC.
De la cifra total, el Gobierno federal ya ha gastado mil 400 millones de dólares australianos (mil 280 millones de dólares o 969 millones de euros) en comprar 900 mil millones de agua a los agricultores, quienes adquieren los derechos sobre el líquido ante las administraciones de los estados.
Algunos legisladores han pedido al Ejecutivo central que se haga cargo de la gestión del agua para mejorar la gestión de los recursos fluviales.
Más de diez años de sequía ha secado gran parte de la cuenca inferior de los ríos Murray y Darling, afectando al medio natural y las cosechas en el suroeste.
En 2008, el Gobierno comenzó el programa de compra de agua y, en 2014, espera que uno de cada siete litros de agua adquiridos por los agricultores para los sistemas de irrigación sea devuelto a los ríos.”
Leer mas: Informador
Photo retrieved from: www.healingdaily.com
“The citation sets an Aug. 29 deadline for the city to provide written assurance that it plans to comply with a 2003 state order to fluoridate and calls for submission of a schedule for implementation by Sept. 19.
City Attorney Al Smith said he would discuss the citation with the City Council in closed session Tuesday.
It’s unclear what, if any, penalties might be imposed if the city fails to comply with the latest order.
Fines of $200 to $1,000 a day are described in the citation for failure to comply, but a penalty was not levied with the citation.
The citation letter was penned by Jan Sweigert, district engineer at the Drinking Water Field Operations Branch of the state public health department in Monterey.
Sweigert declined to comment, referring questions to Sacramento headquarters. A spokesman there couldn’t immediately comment, and said Friday’s furlough of state employees would delay a response.
Local and state health advocates have been pushing fluoridation as a way to reduce tooth decay among Watsonville’s low-income population.
But foes question the safety and effectiveness of the practice.
Watsonville voters rejected fluoridation by a slim majority in 2002, and the city fought the state order in court for several years. Since 2006, it’s been negotiating with the California Dental Association Foundation over the grant contract.
Under state law, cities with a population of 10,000 or more are required to fluoridate if an outside entity is willing to cover the cost.”
Read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel
Photo retrieved from: greenzer.com
“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
The Kern Water Bank is shown 15 miles west of Bakersfield in this Jan. 6, 2009, photo. (AP Photo/Contra Costa Times, Karl Mondon) Photo retrieved from BakersfieldNow.com
“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
Photo retrieved from: AlterNet.org
“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
Photo retrieved from: www.crwr.utexas.edu
“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
Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org
“GWP worked with the government and local communities in Swaziland to rehabilitate an earth dam at KaLanga. Restoring the dam’s broken-down irrigation set-up, constructing sanitation facilities and drinking troughs for cattle, along with raising community awareness and training in water conservation and rainwater harvesting contributed to improving access to water for the more than 9,600 people in the area.
Burkina Faso, where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture for a living, has invested in the construction of more than 1,500 small dams since 1998. These reservoirs – built at relatively low-cost, often with local communities contributing labour to their construction – are a vital protection against drought.
Most African agriculture is rain-fed, says Grobicki. “As climate variability increases and temperatures rise, water security drops radically. Dams ensure water is available throughout the year.”
The scale and operation of water infrastructure needs to be carefully planned. “Using water from the river for irrigation might benefit a farming community, but it could have damaging effects downstream. That’s why it is important to have shared decision-making. In this process there will be trade-offs, but also shared benefits,” she says.
Other adaptation measures include shifting to more drought-resistant crops and the use of satellite imaging to reveal moisture content of soil and guide farmers’ irrigation efforts: pilot projects in several countries already send out such information via text messages to farmers’ phones.
Water-saving technologies can further maximise the benefits of these strategies. “Drip irrigation offers huge potential for saving water in rural areas, while remote sensing can be used to inform farmers about the moisture content of the soil so they know how much water they need to use to”
Read more: Alternet
Pakistani flood affected people look towards an army helicopter which was dropping relief supplies at the heavily flooded area of Rajanpur, in central Pakistan Sunday, August 15, 2010. AP. Photo retrieved from: Haaretz.com
“Pakistan authorities forecast on Monday a brief respite in rains that sparked the country’s
worst floods in decades, but aid agencies warned help was too slow to arrive for millions without clean water, food and homes.
“Water levels in the Indus River feeding Pakistan’s plains have fallen in Punjab, the country’s most populous and worst hit province, although flooding would stay high where
embankments were breached. In Sindh province, flooding could get worse.
“The speed with which the situation is deteriorating is frightening,” said Neva Khan, Oxfam’s country director in Pakistan.
“Communities desperately need clean water, latrines and hygiene supplies, but the resources currently available cover only a fraction of what is required.”
read more: Haaretz.com
“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
Photo Retrieved from: usatoday.com
“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
Retrieved from: www.huffingtonpost.com
“Water used for any purpose other than essential health and sanitation purposes is hampering our community-wide recovery and extending the amount of time until water is available for drinking,” Dunn said. “The use of water for nonessential purposes must stop.”
The city was forced to shut down its water system Wednesday after the broken water mains were discovered as a creek and river flooded large swaths of the city about 30 miles north of Des Moines.
By Thursday, residents were allowed to use small amounts of water for showering or flushing toilets, but a boil order remained in effect as officials warned the water may have been contaminated after water towers were drained and pressure dropped. Crews had repaired or isolated the broken water mains and began filling one of the water towers, but it was quickly depleted by usage.
Jean McBreen said she was using only bottled water at home and taking short showers.
“In fact we save water from the showers so if I need to wash some clothes I can do that,” said McBreen, who is also the general manager of the Gateway Hotel in Ames.
At the hotel, they took water from the swimming pool to guests’ rooms so they could flush toilets.”
Read more: Huffington Post
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