Archive for the 'water diversions' Category

Chile denies deal to export fresh water to Qatar

Published on 05/13/2013 in management, water diversions and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

“Chile denied on Monday that it will export fresh drinking water to Qatar after a recent report about shipments to the oil-rich but water-poor Persian Gulf country caused a public backlash.

The Gulf Times newspaper of Qatar cited Chilean Ambassador Jean Paul Tarud over the weekend as saying that ‘‘Chile has some of the largest fresh water export capabilities in the world.’’

The report caused a public outcry in Chilean social media after Tarud reportedly confirmed that a trial project to export fresh drinking water to Qatar had started.

But Chile’s foreign ministry ruled out any such project, saying media reports had confused the intention of a private company in Qatar with a plan by Chile’s government.

‘‘There’s no initiative from the government or our embassy’’ in the United Arab Emirates, the ministry said in a statement Monday. ‘‘Ambassador Tarud denies making the claims attributed to him on the subject and even more so, making any offerings involving the Chilean government.’’

The world’s driest desert is located in Chile’s north and the country has been suffering from drought in several regions. Environmental groups have staged protests in recent months arguing that Chile’s water scarcity is caused by government policies that exploit natural resources.”

Read more: Boston globe

sammykayed

Northern Cyprus Sees Hope in Water Pipeline

Published on 04/03/2013 in water diversions and water grabs. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Sea Engineering

“Even as the Cypriot government struggles to ward off financial disaster, the authorities in the northern part of the divided island are quietly pushing ahead with a project to link their territory, physically and economically, more closely with Turkey, their powerful neighbor and protector.

“Under the ambitious project, expected to cost at least 1 billion Turkish lire, or $550 million, Turkey would sell water to the northern sector, which it calls the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, using an experimental technology: a pipeline in the Mediterranean Sea.

“The pipeline is under construction, scheduled to start delivering Anamur River water from Turkey’s southern province of Mersin next March. But environmental experts question the sustainability of transferring water out of its natural basin, and outside engineers are watching to see how the government project works out in practice.”

Read more: NY times

sammykayed

China’s Massive Water Diversion

Published on 03/30/2013 in water diversions, water grabs and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: NY Times

“This month, a hundred years after the completion of the Panama Canal, China is expected to finish the first phase of its gigantic South-North Water Transfer Project, known in Chinese as Nanshui beidiao gongcheng — literally, “to divert southern water north.” The phrase evokes the suggestion, attributed to Mao, that “since the south has a great deal of water, and the north very little, we should borrow some of it.”

“In realizing Mao’s dream of moving huge quantities of water from areas of plenty to those of want, Beijing is building a modern marvel, this century’s equivalent of the Panama Canal. But whereas the canal inaugurated a century of faith in the ability of human ingenuity to reshape the natural world, the South-North Water Transfer Project is a testament to the limits of engineering solutions to problems of basic environmental scarcity.

“China is one of the most water-rich countries in the world. But as Mao observed, its water resources are unevenly distributed and overwhelmingly concentrated in the south and far west. Water scarcity has always been a problem for northern China, but shortages have reached crisis levels as a result of rapid economic development.”

Read more: NY Times

sammykayed

Will Plans for Massive Tunnels to Pipe Northern California Water South Mean a Boon for Fracking?

Published on 03/02/2013 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, fracking, oil, policy, rivers and water diversions. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The oil industry, represented by Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and former Chair of the Marine Life Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Task Force for the South Coast, is pushing for increased “fracking” in California.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the controversial, environmentally destructive process of injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals underground at high pressure in order to release and extract oil or gas, according to Food and Water Watch.

The question is: Where will the industry get the water for fracking on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and coastal areas, including Monterey County where large Monterey Shale deposits are located?

Burt Wilson, Editor and Publisher of Public Water News Service, believes he has the answer. He contends that the “hidden agenda” of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build twin tunnels is to provide water for the environmentally destructive process of fracking in California.

Wilson definitely knows what he is talking about. He was was on the media staff of the “No on 9″ campaign against the peripheral canal in 1982. They won by a 2/3 vote statewide and stopped the canal.

Unfortunately, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the urging of corporate agribusiness interests, began his campaign build the peripheral canal in 2007. Brown has continued and fast-tracked the Republican governor’s plan, opting to go for twin tunnels under the Delta than a single peripheral canal.

“As the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) nears completion, some unusual elements of the project have been revealed piecemeal and when they are all put together the total effect is that there is a hidden agenda going on that is far from what has been revealed on the surface,” said Wilson.”

Read more: AlterNet

 

lily victoria

Construction of Disputed Turkish Dam Continues

Published on 03/02/2013 in dams, hydropower, policy, rivers and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“About 1,450 workers are laboring around the clock to complete the Ilisu Dam, one of the most controversial public works projects in recent history, by the middle of next year. That would be exactly five years after European lenders pulled out of the €1.1 billion, or $1.5 billion, project in July 2009, citing concerns about environmental impact, resettlement policies and the destruction of cultural treasures. Undeterred, Ankara quickly raised domestic financing and resumed work in 2010.

“We have now completed 53 percent of the project, and we will complete the rest on time,” said Mr. Dundar, who is also regional director of the state hydraulic works. “We have no funding problems whatsoever, we work day and night, and all relevant agencies are in constant coordination.”

On the construction site, about 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, from the Syrian border and 70 kilometers from Iraq, the roar of machinery drowned out the rushing waters of the Tigris, which has been diverted from its natural bed to flow through three diversion tunnels and emerge roiling and foaming into a new concrete basin.

The surrounding mountain ridges bristled with military sentry posts and surveillance equipment guarding the construction site against the Kurdish rebels roaming the area.”

Read more: The New York Times

 

lily victoria

Paiute Indians Help Map the History of the L.A. Aqueduct

Published on 02/16/2013 in aquatic ecosystems, displacement of people, hydrology, land grabs, management, policy, rivers, tap water, water diversions, water grabs and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.thecaliforniareport.org

“Working on a documentary project in the Owens Valley on land owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) can be a little dicey. A truck zooms by as UC Berkeley scholar Jenna Cavelle and Paiute elder Harry Williams begin one of their mapping expeditions.

“Is this DWP land?” Cavelle asks Williams. “’Cause they’re right there, looking at us.”

DWP is aware of the project, but the two haven’t asked permission to make trips onto department property. Still, Cavelle feels generally secure when she’s with Williams because of a sanctuary agreement between DWP and the natives that allows them to come onto the land.

“This is our homeland. Kick me off, you’re gonna have to drag me,” Williams remarks.

The water wars that drained the Owens Valley 100 years ago to feed the Los Angeles aqueduct are today the stuff of literary and cinematic legend. But the Paiute story has been left out of the tellings. Before the arrival of white settlers, this tribe had a sophisticated water system of their own. This year marks the centennial anniversary of the aqueduct’s construction, and Cavelle and Williams are working to uncover this lost part of California’s water history.”

Read more: The California Report

 

lily victoria

In California, Reading the Snow to Tell the Future for the Water Supply

Published on 02/14/2013 in agriculture, climate change, lakes, rivers, tap water, water diversions and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“In California’s water system, one of the world’s most sophisticated and complex, the snowpack plays a leading role by supplying water to more than 25 million people and almost one million acres of farmland. Snow that accumulates on the Sierra Nevada’s 400-mile range starts to melt in the spring, draining into rivers that feed reservoirs below.

As Mr. Gehrke and his team gauge the depth and water content of the snowpack, other department officials begin forecasting how much water the snowpack will be able to deliver this year.

Those who depend on the snowpack for water adjust their plans accordingly. Water districts may start looking for water elsewhere or carry out conservation measures. Farmers consider the forecasts in deciding what crops to plant or whether to take bank loans to buy more seed and equipment for the year.

Ryan Jacobsen, who is executive director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau and also sits on the board of the Fresno Irrigation District, said that the snow surveys are the” “bible for what decisions irrigation districts are going to make for the rest of the year.”

“Fresno County is the No. 1 agricultural county in the nation, but we also happen to be situated climatically in the middle of a desert,” he said. “It really is the Sierra Nevada snowpack that makes this desert bloom.”

Read more: The New York Times

lily victoria

Power-Hungry Brazil Builds Dams, and More Dams, Across the Amazon

Published on 02/11/2013 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, energy, hydrology, hydropower, policy, rivers and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“When it is completed in 2015, the Jirau hydroelectric dam will span five miles across the Madeira River, feature more giant turbines than any other dam in the world and hold as much concrete as 47 towers the size of the Empire State Building.

And then there are the power lines, draped along 1,400 miles of forests and fields to carry electricity from here in the center of South America to Brazil’s urban nerve center, Sao Paulo.

Still, it won’t be enough.

The dam and the Santo Antonio complex that is being built a few miles downstream will provide just 5 percent of what government energy planners say the country will need in the next 10 years. So Brazil is building more dams, many more, courting controversy by locating the vast majority of them in the world’s largest and most biodiverse forest.”

“The investment to build these plants is very high, and they are to be put in a region which is an icon for environmental preservation, the Amazon,” said Paulo Domingues, energy planning director for the Ministry of Mines and Energy. “So that has worldwide repercussions.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

lily victoria

DWP seeks truce in water wars as L.A. Aqueduct nears 100

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

Photo retrieved from: www.latimes.com

“The region’s economy and wildlife have struggled in a stunning landscape of snowcapped peaks, cascading streams and sage plains dotted with alfalfa fields and cattle ranches, and flanked by lava flows and dormant volcanoes. At dry Owens Lake, the focus of an agonizingly complex and expensive effort to control dust storms, dust pollution frequently exceeds federal health standards. Some locals have expressed their feelings toward the DWP by urinating in the aqueduct while reciting, “L.A. needs the water.”

These days, many Owens Valley residents are happy about the DWP’s newly conciliatory attitude, even if they wonder why it is coming now instead of much earlier. “The obvious question to ask is, ‘Why couldn’t it have been resolved years ago?’ ” said Geoff Pope, chairman of the board of the 40 Acres Homeowners Water Assn.

The DWP insists publicly that the three settlements have nothing to do with the anniversary festivities. “It’s serendipity,” DWP General Manager Ron Nichols said. “The important thing is to show that the DWP will work with reasonable people to find solutions that work for both sides.”

The standoff at 40 Acres, where the DWP and residents own property and water rights, began in 2001, when the utility constructed the diversion gate controlled with a wheel the size of a dinner plate.

The structure gave DWP control of the water, replacing a wooden diversion gate that locals had installed at a fork in the creek in the mid-1970s. It diverted water into a latticework of ditches, which disperses it through their little patch of cottonwoods, modest homes and pastures.”

Read more: Los Angeles Times

 

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