Archive for the 'privatization' Category

L.A. Blasts California in Owens Lake Water War

Published on 02/20/2012 in greenwashing, lakes, management, policy, privatization and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.courthousenews.com

“Los Angeles’ water wars continue, with the city suing the state in Superior Court, claiming that the state’s demand for dust abatement at Owens Lake could cost taxpayers $1.5 billion.
The City of Los Angeles challenges the validity of Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District’s dust pollution control program, under a section of the Health and Safety Code.
Los Angeles claims the program could cost $1.5 billion – “the most expensive dust control program in the entire nation, and likely the world.”
Los Angeles began draining Owens Lake, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas, in 1913, sending its water into the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Many people know of the tremendous power struggle over the water through the Jack Nicholson movie, “Chinatown.” Residents of Inyo County claimed, reasonably, that Los Angeles was stealing its water for the insatiable needs of the city. Owens Lake once covered 108 square miles and was up to 50 feet deep. Today much of the old lake bed is a mud and salt flat, whose alkaline dust is stuffed up by dust storms that carry away as much as 4 million tons of dust and dirt from the lakebed each year. The lake itself, much shallower than it was, covers no more than 27 square miles today.
Los Angeles sued the State Air Resources Board, the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, and the state itself, through the California Lands Commission.
The city asks the Superior Court to order the State Air Resources Board to conduct an independent hearing to review Great Basin’s 2011 Supplemental Control Requirements Decision.”

Read more: Courthouse News Service

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Ethiopia’s tribes cry for help

Published on 02/18/2012 in agriculture, dams, displacement of people, lakes, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.aljazeera.com

“Violent clashes between the Ethiopian army and tribes from the region are on the rise. A local human rights worker told me of their fears of an escalation in the crisis to civil war. “Many tribes are saying they will fight back rather than be moved off their traditional lands to make way for these plantations. They are living in fear but feel they have nothing to lose by fighting back.”

Roadblocks are now in place in many parts of the Lower Omo Valley, limiting accessibility and ensuring the relocations remain out of the spotlight. Tribal rights NGO Survival International is leading calls for a freeze on plantation building and for a halt to the evictions. They have been campaigning to draw more attention to the deteriorating situation in the region since the Ethiopian government announced plans for the Gib III Dam [PDF] – Africa’s tallest, and one that is scheduled for completion later this year.

When completed, it threatens to destroy a fragile environment and the livelihoods of the tribes, which are closely linked to the river and its annual flood. Up to 500,000 people – including tribes in neighbouring Kenya – rely on the waters and adjacent lands of the Omo River and Lake Turkana, most of which lies in Kenya. The Karo people, now estimated to number just 1,500 along the eastern banks of the Omo River, face extinction. Already suffering from dwindling fish stocks as a result of the dam, the reduced river levels have also harmed their crop yields.”

Read more: Aljazeera

 

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Tibetan Village Stops Mining Project Near the Nu River

Published on 02/17/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, mining, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“A Nu Challenge Looms for Ethnic Groups

After the villagers of Abin successfully canceled the mining project near the Nu River in January, they claimed the mountain itself had played a role. In these remote regions of western China, where many non-Han ethnicities reside, traditional views and nature worship can still be found. But while Abin was successful, development projects continue to be a looming threat to the traditional livelihoods of thousands of ethnic villagers living along the Nu River valley.

In particular, the 13-dam cascade first proposed in 2004 has returned to haunt the landscape, as seen through the roadwork, tunnels, and make-shift workers huts and equipment springing up along the Nu River. The watershed is home to thirteen different ethnic groups, most of whom are subsistence farmers. As many as 50,000 largely Lisu, Tibetan and Nu villagers would lose their farmland and be forced to move to prefabricated houses in new towns and look for work. Moreover, China has been reluctant to accord its ethnic minority nationalities “indigenous” status under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which recognizes the rights of indigenous people to prior consultation and consent. The dams would even wipe out portions of the pilgrimage route around Mount Kawagebo – a serious blow to the Tibetans both in and outside the area. As one ethnic Tibetan told the New York Times in 2007:”

“If people are forced to move because of the project, they are going to lose the way of life that makes them special. It’s inevitable that people will lose their traditions if they move away.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

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Is Nevada Coal Plant an Example of Environmental Injustice?

Published on 02/15/2012 in contaminated water, greenwashing, groundwater, policy, privatization, riparian zone and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.thinkprogress.org

“For almost 50 years, the Moapa Piaute Band has been living near one of the dirtiest coal plants in the nation, getting exposed to dangerous levels of noxious gases, coal ash, and water pollution. However, they haven’t seen the economic benefits they were promised – or any of the electricity.

In the 60’s, when the project developer needed support from the local Piautes to build the Reid Gardner power plant, a contract was drafted promising to hire members of the tribe. But today, no Piautes are employed at the plant, even while asthma rates, thyroid problems and cancer rates increase, according to the tribe.

A local television station, KLAS recently investigated the dispute:

The agreement only obligates the company to “try” to find spots for Paiutes. Some have worked at the plant over the years, yet today, no one from the reservation is employed by NV Energy.”

Read more: Think Progress

 

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Can Coca-Cola Keep Growing?

Published on 02/09/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, bottled water, contaminated water, displacement of people, glaciers, greenwashing, groundwater, management, privatization and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Wikipedia

“Coca-Cola is a $156 billion nonalcoholic-beverage kingpin that sold more than $46 billion worth of drinks around the world in 2011. As if it needs underscoring, that’shuge. So when it comes to the future for Coca-Cola, is growth still possible?

“If you tuned into Coke’s fourth-quarter earnings release yesterday, you know that there was still growth to be had in the past year, at least. Comparable earnings per share — which adjusts the tally mainly for oddball adjustments from its bottler acquisition — increased 10% for the year to $3.84.

“There’s been no recession for Coke. In the chart below, you can see that earnings did dip in 2008, but when we consider the total earnings growth over the past five years, it’s clear that the Coca-Cola juggernaut is one that’s not easily knocked off course. 

anImageSource: S&P Capital IQ. 2010 earnings adjusted for gains from bottler acquisition. 

“If we break that total growth down to an average annual figure, we can say that Coke is still growing earnings at a clip of better than 11% per year. To deliver that kind of growth on a relatively consistent basis is no small matter no matter who you are, but it’s even more impressive when you’re a company the size of Coke.

“The company hasn’t been shy about deploying some of its ample cash flow to grow through acquisitions. Of note, in 2007 the company ponied up $4.2 billion to buy Vitaminwater maker Glaceau. More recently, the company took over the North American operations of bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises.”
Read more: Daily Finance
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Africa land grabs ‘could cause conflicts’

Published on 02/04/2012 in agriculture, policy, privatization, riparian zone, rivers, water diversions, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.guardian.co.uk

“ILC zeroed in on West Africa, where it said land acquisitions by foreign entities were causing major environmental and agricultural damage along the River Niger, at 2,265 miles the third longest river in Africa after the Nile and the Congo.

“The siphoning of water for huge areas of farmland will worsen the already low water levels of the Niger,” it said. The result was a “50 percent diminution of the delta flood plain’s land area.”

It concluded, “Given that social conflict over resources between farmers and pastoralists has always been a feature of the Niger Basin, the Coalition suggests that large-scale irrigation could heighten tension between local and downstream water users.”

On Jan. 20, two Liberian land campaigners wrote in The New York Times that the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, was likely” “sowing the seeds of future conflict by handing over huge tracts of land to foreign investors and dispossessing rural Liberians.”
Read more: UPI

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Villagers Protest Pension Cuts For Water Debts

Published on 02/02/2012 in management, policy, privatization, tap water and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.azatutyun.am.com

“Armenian Water and Sewerage, a company managing most of the country’s water supply and distribution networks, has been successfully filing civil lawsuits against customers in some rural areas, with courts ordering them to pay sizable amounts of money for water debts . Most villagers describe these decisions as groundless.

The Bailiff’s Office says at present there are court rulings and enforcement orders on as many as 285 indebted customers allegedly owing a total of 96 million drams (nearly $250,000) to the company. However, the data appears to be in conflict with figures suggested by some involved in the dispute.

Dashtavan, a village in Armenia’s southern Ararat province, claims to have at least 570 households that have found themselves in dire straits after running into debts and losing controversial litigations. The community’s total debt is estimated at 39 million drams (more than $100,000). The local governor’s advisor says there are people in the same situation in at least two dozen other villages. A majority of the population in Saralanj, a village in the central province of Kotayk, are also at the receiving end of the controversial legal matter.”

Read more: azatutyun

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The Real Cost Of Brazil’s Dam

Published on 02/02/2012 in dams, deforestation, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, riparian zone, rivers, species extinction and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.survivalinternational.org

“Until a few months ago, the future of the Belo Monte dam seemed in doubt. The project faced a wave of legal battles and opposition from indigenous groups and environmental organisations around the world.

About 400 square kilometres of the Amazon forest will be flooded to make way for the reservoirs.

The dam is being built in Brazil’s northern Para state, home to large parts of the Amazon Rainforest.

Some 25,000 indigenous people live along the banks of the Xingu River.

One indigenous group – the Paquicamba – live downstream from the main dam. If the dam is built, the normal flow of the river would shrink significantly. The Paquicamba say their fish stocks would be severely depleted.”

Read more: Aljazeera

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Iraq Water Crisis Could Stir Ethnic Clash

Published on 01/28/2012 in agriculture, management, peak water, policy, privatization, tap water, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

“International aid organizations have been reporting an increase in violent incidents concerning water supply.

This is happening against a worrying backdrop of mounting sectarian violence between Iraq’s majority Shiites, who dominate the government and the security forces, and the minority Sunnis who lost power when Saddam Hussein‘s dictatorship was toppled after the U.S.-invasion of March 2003.

With U.S. forces withdrawn from Iraq, government forces under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki haven’t been able to contain a wave of bombings and assassinations by Sunni groups, including al-Qaida.

Shiite vengeance on a significant scale may not be long in coming and with it the risk of a sectarian civil war.

Iraq’s water comes primarily from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Both rise in Turkey, which has constructed a chain of dams over the last decade, with more to come. This has drastically reduced the flow of water into Iraq.

Syria, which has also suffered because of the Turkish dams, and Iran have been building dams too, further cutting the river flows from the north and the east into a country that until the late 1950s was a breadbasket for the Arab world.

Iraqi farmers recently blocked border crossings from Iran east of Baghdad to protest Tehran’s diversion of the al-Wind River that irrigates one of Iraq’s largest agricultural areas.”

Read more: UPI

 

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No More Catfish in the Madeira?

Published on 01/27/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, greenwashing, hydropower, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers, species extinction and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“When the environmental license for the Santo Antônio Dam was approved against the findings of fish experts, Lula controversially claimed that the dams would not be stopped because of “some catfish.” Now, the catfish are disappearing.

The news is especially troubling only a few years after 11 tons of fish were destroyed during construction of a coffer dam. Meanwhile, construction of the Jirau Dam continues farther upstream; and if the government’s plans move forward to build a third dam on the Madeira River – the Ribeirão Dam – fish species may disappear from this majestic river at an even greater rate.

Earlier this year, Congress unilaterally proclaimed the Ribeirão Dam a “national priority,” despite the dam not appearing on any government plan. It is not mentioned in the Program to Accelerate Growth, nor in the Ten-Year Energy Plans for 2020, nor in the National Energy Plan for 2030. The project has not passed through the Ministry of Planning. And no economic feasibility study, no environmental impact assessment, and no indigenous action plan have ever been sent to IBAMA, and no prior consultations have ever been held. Every indication points to this third dam being a nice serving of pork barrel spending for theRaupp political family in Rondônia.

Will the catfish disappear entirely from the Madeira River? As long as Dilma’s authoritarian dam-building in the Amazon continues, chances are only getting worse.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

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