Archive for the 'privatization' Category

Zimbabwe: Making a Business Out of Water Rationing

Published on 06/10/2013 in groundwater, management, privatization and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Sphotos

“For 61-year-old Sarah Chikwanha from water-starved Chitungwiza, a town about 25 kilometres outside Harare, Zimbabwe, there is no choice. She must buy her water from illegal water traders, whose businesses have sprung up across the country.

“We only have water once weekly in Chitungwiza, and so I have no choice but to buy from dealers at 95 dollars for a 2,500-litre tank,” Chikwanha told IPS.

These new, illegal businesses are the result of the dire need for water, as rationing in towns and cities continues because of shortages of water treatment chemicals in this southern African nation.

Harare’s mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda, has gone on record saying that the council needs three million dollars a month for water treatment chemicals, a challenge compounded by the city’s obligation to supply water to neighbouring towns like Chitungwiza, Norton, and Ruwa.

Statistics from the Harare Residents Trust (HRT), an advocacy group, indicate that only 192,000 households in Harare are connected to the water system, while the rest depend on boreholes or rainwater.

Harare needs 1,300 megalitres of water daily, but the current supply ranges from 600 to 700 megalitres.

Councillors from Chitungwiza, where Chikwanha lives, told IPS that the council there failed to pay for water supplied by Harare’s Lake Chivero, thus intensifying water rationing in a town of nearly two million people. People have now turned to wells, streams and inadequate boreholes, as well as illegal traders, for their water.

Panganayi Charumbira, a councillor from Harare’s Budiriro low-income suburb, told IPS that both Zimbabwe’s urban and rural areas were affected. “The water crisis is getting worse in towns, but it’s even worse in the countryside,” Charumbira said.”

Read more: All Africa

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Private suppliers cashing in on acute water shortage in Kodaikanal

Published on 05/26/2013 in privatization and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: First post

“The hill station might have attracted a record number of visitors this year. But the summer is harsher this time in the town as an acute drinking water problem has left the residents in many areas at the mercy of private water suppliers and a few streams in low-lying areas, which too have only a poor flow.

Cashing in on the situation, private water suppliers sell a tanker load of water — 3,000 to 4,000 litres — at Rs.1,500 to Rs.2,000.

Three months back, the cost of one tanker load was Rs.900, said a member of the Hotel Owners’ Association. The sharp rise in the number of tourists arriving here had worsened the situation, he added.

All private suppliers have been drawing water from a borewell close to a private resort near Kodaikanal lake. The sale of packaged water too has increased manifold, and empty water bottles account for 85 per cent of the one-tonne plastic waste collected daily at Bryant Park.”

Ream more: The hindu

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Nigeria: UN Unveils Platform for Global Water Management

Published on 02/14/2013 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, displacement of people, drought, groundwater, hydrology, management, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers, tap water, water conservation, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.asme.org

“Each year brings new pressures on water. One-third of the world’s people already live in countries with moderate to high water stress. Competition is growing between farmers and herders; industry and agriculture; town and country. Upstream and downstream, and across borders, we need to cooperate for the benefit of all – now and in the future,” “he added.

The General Assembly proclaimed 2013 International Year for Water Cooperation in 2010, following a proposal from Tajikistan. The Year will serve to raise awareness and prompt action on the multiple dimensions of water cooperation, such as sustainable and economic development, climate change and food security.

“Over-exploitation, management, financing of water resources, all of these aspects are incredibly important and cooperation at different levels is therefore critical,” UNESCO Science Specialist Ms. Ana Persic, said during a media briefing to mark the start of the Year at UN Headquarters in New York, USA.

Persic added that the benefits of intensifying cooperation include poverty reduction, equity, economic growth, and the protection of the environment.” “We know water is critical for human life, but it is also critical for life on Earth if we want to protect and sustainably manage the planet we have.”

Read more: All Africa

 

lily victoria

PAYA: The Untold Story of the LA-Owens Valley Water War

Published on 02/06/2013 in hydrology, land grabs, management, policy, privatization, rivers, tap water, water diversions, water grabs, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.aqueductfutures.wordpress.com

“Jenna Cavelle, an adventurer, blogger and journalist, photographer, and now conservation and resource studies researcher at Berkeley, is making a film about the Paiute’s use of water in Owens Valley.  From her bio at Peakwater.org (which she co-founded):

Jenna works with members of the Paiute Indian community of California on a project that combines education, outreach, and technology to restore cultural memory associated with their ancient irrigation systems. These waterworks are currently in danger of being lost in the Owens Valley landscape through weathering and neglect. In addition, knowledge of the waterworks is also fading from American memory through the loss of culturally transmitted traditional knowledge. Through community engagement, she works with tribal members to document Paiute irrigation networks and their role in shaping Paiute culture. While her project has real bearing on tribal customs and interests, it also informs larger local and regional communities through education and museum exhibits.

For a full description of the film/project, check out her Kickstart.com page: PAYA: The Untold Story of the LA-Owens Valley Water War.”

Read more: Aqueduct Futures

lily victoria

Cry me a river, build me an aqueduct, and…

Published on 02/04/2013 in groundwater, lakes, management, policy, privatization, rivers, tap water, water diversions, water grabs, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.aqueductfeatures.com

“Hydro-librium signifies the balance of water, an ironic caption depicting the not so equated water dispute between the Owens Valley and city of Los Angeles. As Los Angeles began to flourish as a result of purchasing water rights from the Owens Valley, the playa began to pay the price for the success of this new-found metropolis: Los Angeles.

Water is a natural resource that serves a significant purpose in balancing our ecosystem. The narrative of the Owens Valley and Los Angeles water dispute, showcases a variety of disturbances within the ecology of the landscape as a result of imbalanced water use. Project one attempts to map out the impacts and benefits resulting from the construction of the LA aqueduct. The mapping (above) displays an effort to engage a temporal look at the effects of groundwater pumping in the Owens playa and compare it to observed changes in the climate of the Owens Valley basin. The research however, was not plausible enough to conclude that the results of groundwater have created adverse effects on temperature change within the basin.”

Read more: Aqueduct Futures

 

lily victoria

A Raging River

Published on 01/27/2013 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.amazonwatch.org

“As the Brazil government pursues its reckless plans to build mega-dams on major Amazonian rivers like the Xingu and Madeira, we can expect to see their catastrophic social and environmental consequences continue to befall local communities. This article highlights how the construction of the Santo Antônio dam of Brazil’s Madeira River Complex in the Amazonian state of Rondônia has unleashed the river’s destructive powers, swallowing a riverside community in the city of Porto Velho. It also shows how these dams decimate the abundant fish species that are so crucial to local food security and livelihoods while uprooting thousands of people from their homes.

Two days before the start of tests on the first turbine of the Santo Antônio hydroelectric dam [on the Madeira River] in Rondônia, the phone rang in the home of fisherwoman Maria Iêsa Reis Lima. “It’s going to start”, warned a friend who worked on the dam’s construction. Iêsa sat on the porch, poised to observe the waters, awaiting what she knew would be an irreversible change. “The Madeira River is dangerous, it demands respect. The engineers say that they have all the technology, but nothing controls the reaction of this river.”

This is sadly just one of the stories emerging from dam-ravaged communities in the Amazon, one we will see repeated many times over if Brazil continues to pursue its disastrous plans for the region’s rivers.”

Read more: Amazon Watch


 

lily victoria

First Global Assessment of Land and Water ‘Grabbing’

Published on 01/22/2013 in displacement of people, management, privatization and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Pinterest

“As world food and energy demands grow, nations and some corporations increasingly are looking to acquire quality agricultural land for food production. Some nations are gaining land by buying up property — and accompanying water resources — in other, generally less wealthy countries.

“Sometimes called “land grabbing,” this practice can put strains on land and water resources in impoverished countries where the land, and needed water, has been “grabbed” for commercial-scale agriculture.

“A new study by the University of Virginia and the Polytechnic University of Milan, and currently published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides the first global quantitative assessment of the water-grabbing phenomenon, which has intensified in the last four years largely in response to a 2007-08 increase in world food prices.

“The study shows that foreign land acquisition is a global phenomenon, involving 62 grabbed countries and 41 grabbers and affecting every continent except Antarctica. Africa and Asia account for 47 percent and 33 percent of the global grabbed area, respectively, and about 90 percent of the grabbed area is in 24 countries.

“Countries most affected by the highest rates of water grabbing are Indonesia, the Philippines and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The highest rates of irrigated water grabbing occur in Tanzania and Sudan.”

Read more: Science daily

sammykayed

Jenna Cavelle wants to correct ‘Chinatown’

Published on 01/21/2013 in displacement of people, hydrology, management, policy, privatization, riparian zone, rivers, water diversions, water rights, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.tuvaijumemory.org

“If you’ve heard any history of the California desert at all, you’ve likely heard of the Owens Valley Water War.

Here’s the canonical version of that War: The Owens Valley is watered by runoff from the immense snowfall from the Sierra Nevada to its west, much of which runs into the Owens River when it melts. The Owens Valley is an endorrheic basin: it has no outflow. The Owens River never reaches the ocean. Instead, it flows into Owens Lake, in the valley’s lowest point at its south end.

Late in the 19th Century a thriving network of agricultural communities was developing due to the river’s water, growing a vibrant local economy along with their crops. Enter the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, led by engineer William Mulholland. DWP quietly bought up water rights throughout the Owens Valley in a series of deceptive land deals, then built a 223-mile aqueduct to bring Owens River water to Los Angeles. The aqueduct was finished in 1913 — 100 years ago this November — and farms started going out of business in the decade after. Owens Valley farmers dynamited parts of the aqueduct in 1924, but the rebellion was short-lived. Owens Lake, which had been a rich habitat for waterfowl, dried up and is now the single largest point source of particulate matter pollution in the U.S.

As canonical histories go, it’s pretty accurate. Or at least more accurate than the version a lot of people have in their heads due to the film Chinatown, which was based on the Owens Valley story. But it’s a woefully incomplete history nonetheless. The history of the Owens Valley didn’t start in the late 19th Century. Before the first European settlers arrived there were people living in the Owens Valley for thousands of years. The Owens Valley Paiute took advantage of the relatively well-watered landscape by gathering seeds, hunting the Valley’s abundant game, and — though this hardly ever gets mentioned in any of the formal histories — diverting the water of the Owens River and its tributaries to irrigate their crops.”

Read more: Pharyngula

 

lily victoria

Shale Gas Industry Targets College Campuses, K-12 Schools

Published on 10/24/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, greenwashing, groundwater, policy, privatization and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“On Sept. 27, the PA House of Representatives – in a 136-62 vote -  passed a bill that allows hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” to take place on the campuses of public universities. Its Senate copycat version passed in June in a 46-3 vote and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett  signed it into law as Act 147 on Oct. 8 .

The bill is colloquially referred to as the  Indigenous Mineral Resources Development Act . It was  sponsored by Republican Sen. Don White , one of the state’s top recipients of oil and gas industry funding between 2000-April 2012, pulling in $94,150 during that time frame, according to a  recent report published by  Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania . Corbett has  taken over $1.8 million from the oil and gas industry since his time serving as the state’s Attorney General in 2004.”

Read more: Alternet

 

lily victoria

Manila Water Acquires Suez’s 51% Stake in PAM Lyonnaise

Published on 10/18/2012 in management and privatization. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Philippine chronicle

“Manila Water Co. (MWC) agreed to acquireSuez Environnement Co. (SEV)’s 51 percent stake in PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya, which holds the concession contract for western Jakarta.

“No terms were given by the utility, which supplies water to half of the Philippine capital. Closing of the deal is subject to certain government and regulatory approvals in Indonesia and other conditions, Manila Water said today in a filing with the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“PAM Lyonnaise has been serving western Jakarta since 1997 under a 25-year agreement with PAM Jaya, a government entity owned by the province of Jakarta. The company has a total water supply of more than 700 million liters (185 million gallons) a day and 5,300 kilometers (3,300 miles) of pipe network, according to Manila Water’s filing.”

Read more: Bloomberg

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