Archive for the 'privatization' Category

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Opposition to Santa Cruz desalination plant lobbies for signatures

Published on 04/08/2012 in desalination, privatization and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: ballot intiative, desal alternatives, peakwater, santa cruz desalination plant, SCWD2. soquel creek water department, Water.

“Opponents of the $115 million desalination plant proposed in Santa Cruz gathered on West Cliff Drive on Saturday to gather signatures to place a measure on the ballot that would change the city’s charter to require a future vote on the plant.

“The group needs to collect the signatures of 5,000 people registered to vote in Santa Cruz to get on the November ballot. Organizers say they’re about halfway there. The City Council passed an ordinance requiring such a vote in March.

“Four council seats are up in November,” said Rick Longinotti. “We want to make sure the right to vote can’t be revoked with future city councils.”

“City officials have been planning to team with the Soquel Creek Water District to build a desalination plant in Santa Cruz since 2004.

“They’ve since spent several million dollars on studies, designs and the running of a pilot plant.

“Water Department officials say the permanent plant would be used to supplement the water supply during drought years. In nondrought years, Soquel Creek would have access to the desalinated water as an alternative to its underground aquifer supply.

“Saturday’s gathering included five former mayors and former county Supervisor Gary Patton.

“The anti-desalination group of more than 50 folks took a walk through the Westside streets where the proposed desalination pipelines would run.

“Their rally took place on the bluff above Mitchell’s Cove. The spot was chosen because that’s where the brine-filled wastewater would be returned to the ocean.

“Former Mayor Tim Fitzmaurice, who was on the council when the idea was initiated in 2004, said protecting the environment from possible damage by the plant would be his foremost concern when deciding how to vote.”

Look How Unequally Water Is Divided In The Middle East

Published on 04/03/2012 in agriculture, policy, privatization, rivers, tap water, water rights, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: middle east's water supplies and water conflict.

Photo retrieved from: www.businessinsider.com

“THE southern provinces on Lebanon’s border with Israel fare worse than the rest of the country by most measures. Water is one thing in short supply. Swathes of fertile farming land sit idle. Officials say the lack of water is partly to blame for the region’s underdevelopment. While Lebanon as a whole has water in abundance, the south’s rivers are shared with Israel which gets the lion’s share. This is nothing new, but a new study has sketched out the extent of the imbalance for the first time.

Rivers that straddle borders have long caused tensionns in the Middle East. International law says that the useable water should be divided into “equitable and reasonable” portions according to such factors as population. But this directive is often overruled by bilateral agreements. These are lawful but often outdatedand the more powerful country usually gets the better deal.”

Great Lakes Water Levels Bring Conflict For Michigan Residents

Published on 03/31/2012 in climate change, hydrology, lakes, peak water, policy, privatization, tap water, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: great lakes water conflict.

Photo retrieved from: www.coastwatch.edu

“In a scenario that might baffle onlookers from arid regions, people around the Great Lakes – the world’s most abundant freshwater system – are fighting over water. Complaints that levels are too high or too low are longstanding, but the debate is growing louder as a warming climate raises the specter of more dramatic changes.

Now, U.S. and Canadian officials are considering an audacious and costly effort to control the freshwater seas’ ups and downs in a way they never have before. A panel of scientists and engineers will release Wednesday a five-year study of options ranging from minor tinkering to a massive, $8 billion engineering project that would invite comparisons to the Panama Canal or the Hoover Dam.

The latter alternative would involve using dams or other structures to regulate flows between all five Great Lakes. It’s a long shot with few supporters but by including it in their report, the experts acknowledge it could gain traction if future water fluctuations become extreme.”

Re-mapping the Amazon

Published on 03/29/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, hydropower, management, policy, privatization, rivers, species extinction and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: amazon river, belo monte dam, tapajos river.

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“Brazil’s River of the Dead is teeming with life, tropical birds, fish and turtles. The river is one of the hundreds of tributaries of the mighty Amazon.

But even this remote region is being developed. Not far from this part of Brazil construction has begun on the huge and hugely controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. When finished, it will generate a vast amount of electricity and flood a vast area of the rainforest. It’s just one of 60 dams planned in the Brazilian Amazon.

Balancing Brazil’s growing need for energy and protecting the rainforest was front and center back in January 2011, when Dilma Rousseff addressed Congress after being sworn as Brazil’s first female president.”

Somalia: Border Town in a Fix Over Water

Published on 03/27/2012 in groundwater, hydrology, privatization, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.cal.org

“Hargeisa — Water scarcity in Tog-Wajale, a town straddling the border between northwest Somalia’s self-declared republic of Somaliland and Ethiopia, is threatening the health and livelihoods of locals who cannot afford to buy it.

“One barrel of water [200 litres] was only 20 [Ethiopian] birr [US$1], but the price has now reached about 50 Ethiopian birr [$2.5],” said Ahmed Jama Weirah, a father of seven in Tog-Wajale. “We can’t provide for our families… because our earnings are not enough to provide food and water.”

The Somaliland side of Tog-Wajale has had no official water supply since 1995, following the closure of the town’s only well, which had fallen into disrepair. The town’s main water sources are a seasonal river that acts as the border between Somaliland and Ethiopia, and expensive pumped water from Ethiopia.

“Now the [river] water is over and we can’t afford to buy imported water,” said Weirah.

“While livestock have been moved further north where they can find water, townsfolk face water scarcity,” said Abdillahi Omar, a resident. “Some families use less than 20 litres per day to cook meals, and they don’t take a bath for several days.”

Local officials told IRIN they hoped the rains would start soon, but were focusing on long-term solutions.

The dysfunctional well used to supply less than 2,000 litres of water a day, so repairing it would not provide sufficient water for the town’s estimated 40,000 people (up from 10,000 in 1995), said Hashi Mohamed Abdi, the mayor of Tog-Wajale.”

5 Deadly Threats to Our Precious Drinking Water Supply

Published on 03/22/2012 in contaminated water, peak water, policy, privatization, tap water, water shortage and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: drinking water supplies.

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“Here in the US, clean, affordable, safe drinking water faces five threats:

1. Racial and Economic Inequalities

While an international law recognizes the human right to water, unfortunately there is no binding enforcement and in the US there are no laws guaranteeing that you’ll have clean water or that you’ll be protected from water shut-offs if you can’t afford it. One of the areas that has been hardest hit is Detroit, a city that is majority African American. The unemployment rate is 1 in 6 and in some neighborhoods as high as 50 percent. As a result, water use went down too — Detroit’s water utility supplied 20 percent less water in 2009 than it did in 2003.

Usually we think using less water is a good thing, but the city’s water utility saw the loss of water use as a loss of revenue, so they hiked rates. A community already hit hard struggled even more to keep up. In 2006, the number of people who had their water shut off reached 45,000. Unpaid water bills were added to property taxes, meaning that people who couldn’t pay risked losing not just access to clean water and sanitation, but their homes as well.”

Israelis and Palestinians in West Bank water wars

Published on 03/21/2012 in agriculture, groundwater, policy, privatization, tap water and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: israeli/palestinian water wars.

Photo retrieved from: www.thenational.ae

“Settlers have taken over 30 springs and are trying to take control of another 26 – most of which are located on land privately owned by Palestinians, the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

The takeover appears to reflect Israel’s efforts to exert more control over the West Bank, territory that the Palestinians want for their future state, the document said.

“Similarly to other Palestinian resources and properties seized by Israeli settlers, the water springs are being exploited to further the economic and political interests of settlers,” said the report, based on surveys taken last year.

Israel has faced escalating international condemnation for its approach to the allocation of water in the West Bank, with the French parliament’s foreign affairs committee in January accusing Israel of implementing “apartheid policies” on the issue.

Ghassan Khatib, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said the report was further evidence of increasing claims by Palestinian farmers and civilians about their obstacles in accessing water.”

Children of the Salween River

Published on 03/20/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: Salween River.

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“At least 20 dams have been proposed for the mainstream Salween River, which flows from the Tibetan Plateau in China, through Burma and Thailand to its delta in the Andaman Sea. 13 are located in China, with two sites already undergoing preparatory work (Songta and Maji); none have been approved. Another seven are in Burma; two have been suspended but two more, the megadams Tasang and Hatgyi, are under active consideration. China and Thailand plan to invest in both.

The likely impacts of these dam cascades range from destroying fisheries and high biodiversity zones to flooding fertile land, from displacing over a hundred thousand largely indigenous peoples to triggering earthquakes and risking dam failure in this seismically unstable region. Of gravest concern for Burmese communities along the Salween, however, is the violence that has erupted around the Tasang and Hatgyi dams between the Burmese military and indigenous groups like the Karen and Shan. Tens of thousands have already been forced to leave their homes to escape the violence and occupation of their homes by the Burmese army.”

What Threatens Peace in India’s Northeast?

Published on 03/19/2012 in dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: indian/chinese conflict over dams.

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“Roads through Manipur are frequently blockaded for months over the issue. Elections for the Manipur state assembly provided a break in the usual routine of ethnic animosities, but those could erupt again at any time.

In addition, the larger region could find itself in turmoil over environmental issues sparked by an attempt to build 168 big dams here. Popular protest movements have already gathered steam over these dams, which many people fear will lead to loss of their land and livelihoods. There are also fears of earthquakes leading to dam ruptures in this region.

Answering local residents’ concerns about the dams is essential to lasting peace, said Sanjib Baruah, a professor of political studies at Bard College in New York and author of “India Against Itself,’’ a book about conflict in the region.”

INDIAN WATER RIGHTS: PROMOTING THE NEGOTIATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF WATER SETTLEMENTS IN INDIAN COUNTRY

Published on 03/16/2012 in contaminated water, policy, privatization, riparian zone, rivers, tap water, water rights and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: indian water rights.

Photo retrieved from: www.bia.gov

“The Obama Administration recognizes that water is a sacred and valuable resource for Indian people and therefore has re-energized the Federal Government’s commitment to addressing the water needs of Native American communities through Indian water rights settlements. Water settlements not only secure tribal water rights but also help fulfill the United States’ promise to tribes that Indian reservations would provide their people with permanent homelands. Indian water settlements help achieve that goal, while at the same time ending decades of controversy and contention among tribes and neighboring communities over water. Indian water settlements provide certainty, which fosters cooperation in the management of water resources.

In the last Congress, this Administration supported four Indian water rights settlements for seven tribes at a total Federal cost of more than $1 billion. All told, these settlements resolved well over a century of litigation and bitter disputes. These settlements were enacted into law in the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-291 (Dec. 9, 2010). Support for four Indian water rights settlements that were ultimately enacted during one Congress is an unprecedented achievement. This Administration’s active involvement in the negotiations of these settlements led to both significant improvements in the terms of the settlements and reduction in their Federal costs, which ultimately led to our support for them.”