Tag Archive for 'peakwater'

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Plan to tap groundwater for profit shows need for better state policy

Published on 04/13/2012 in groundwater, privatization, water rights and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: Bristol Valley, Cadiz valley, California groundwater policy, Mojave Desert, peakwater, Water, water privatization.

Retrieved from: Desert survivors

“Imagine a lake half as large as Lake Tahoe, containing 17 million to 34 million acre-feet of water. That is what lies under the Cadiz and Bristol valleys in the Eastern Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County. Cadiz Inc., a privately held company, owns 34,000 acres that overlie this vast groundwater basin. The company plans to extract 2.5 million acre-feet of the water, a public good, over the next 50 years and sell it back to the public at a profit.

“This project raises several concerns, some of which are directly related to the project while others point to the need for a public debate and discussion about California’s groundwater laws.

“Here are some facts about the project: Cadiz is proposing to extract on average 50,000 acre-feet of groundwater from the basin each year for 50 years. The intended rate of extraction of groundwater is significantly greater than the estimated natural recharge rate (the speed that groundwater is refilled naturally by rain and snow) of 5,000-32,000 acre-feet a year, which will lead to unsustainable mining of groundwater during the life of the project. The groundwater will go into a 43-mile-long pipeline to transport it to the Colorado River Aqueduct, where it will be distributed to several water utilities in Southern California.

“Cadiz claims that the project will facilitate the beneficial use of groundwater that would otherwise naturally drain toward Bristol and Cadiz dry lakes (ephemeral lakes) and be “lost” to evaporation at the lakes and to transpiration by plants in the adjoining valleys. But the project proponents’ characterization of the water lost to evaporation and transpiration as non-beneficial is inaccurate. Some of the water that flows to the dry lakes and evaporates from the basin supports survival of local desert ecosystems, which depend upon the ability of groundwater reaching the surface; therefore, removal of this water would adversely affect these ecosystems.

“The bottom line is that the project relies on unsustainable mining of groundwater, designed to extract groundwater at a rate exceeding natural recharge. In other words, it uses water in excess of the estimates of the water lost to evaporation, which is both a nonrenewable use of water and unsustainable in the long term.”

Water Risk Threatens Businesses, National Security

Published on 04/10/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, drought, floods and management. 0 Comments Tags: climate change, droughts, floods, National Resource Defense Council, peakwater, Water, water crisis.

Retrieved from: Forbes

“One of climate change’s biggest impacts is on water systems. Unreliable water can impact both corporate bottom lines and jeopardize natural security, as two recent reports point out.

“Climate change is changing precipitation patterns and intensity, increasing the incidence of droughts, floods, and erosion. These changes are making water supply and quality more difficult to obtain, affecting runoff and soil moisture, increasing water temperatures, decreasing snowpack and lake and river ice, threatening fish and aquatic species, and allowing saltwater intrusion and sea level rise. These changes are difficult to plan for, as past water patterns can no longer be used to predict the future. That uncertainty is problematic for businesses and can cause political strife, but some states and regions are taking proactive steps to avoid water trouble and will therefore be more reliable places to do business.

“A recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked U.S. states based on how their governments are planning and preparing for the water–related impacts of a changing climate, including whether they have strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to climate change and whether they have adaptation plans for projected climate-related impacts. The report includes an interactive online map highlighting the unique water vulnerabilities each state faces and what each is doing — or not doing — to prepare. Climate modeling was drawn in part from a 2009 report (PDF) from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, but the NRDC report also considered state’s policies. It said:

“Some states are leading the way in preparing for water-related impacts with integrated and comprehensive preparedness plans that address all relevant water sectors and state agencies. Unfortunately, other states are lagging when it comes to consideration of potential climate change impacts — or have yet to formally address climate change preparedness at all.”

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.”

Scarce water spreads disease on waterfowl refuge

Published on 04/07/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, management and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: Klamath River, Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, peakwater, Water, waterfowl.

Retrieved from: High on Adventures

Dave Mauser walked the edge of a mudflat, peering underneath the dried brown rushes where one coot after another had gone to hide and then die.

“Now the coots are getting the worst of it,” said Mauser, head biologist on the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, the nation’s first large marshland preserved for waterfowl habitat. “Prior to that it was the snow geese and the white-fronted geese.”

Standing in line for scarce water behind both endangered fish and agriculture, Lower Klamath Lake has watched one marsh after another dry up in recent years. Now migratory geese, ducks and other waterfowl that come here by the millions following the Pacific Flyway are so closely packed together that an outbreak of avian cholera has killed more than 10,000 birds, mostly pintail ducks, Ross’ geese, snow geese and now coots.

First reported in the United States in the 1940s, the disease is not new to the refuge. Bald eagles that congregate here in winter depend on the deadly bacteria to provide them easy food. But what is different about this year is that only half the refuge’s 31,000 acres of marsh are flooded, creating perfect conditions for a broader kill off.

Lying on the east side of the Cascade Range along the Oregon-California border, the shallow lakes and marshes of the Upper Klamath Basin were once known as the Everglades of the West, providing a place to rest and eat for untold millions of birds on the Pacific Flyway.

Record rains in March allowed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to start delivering all the water the refuge could take through the Ady Canal, but that will only be enough to flood 4,000 acres more before it runs out, said Cole. Prospects for this summer are not looking good.

Meanwhile, a deal that raises the refuge’s water priority on a par with farms, while laying out how water is divided in drought years, has been stymied in Congress.

Drought risks killing off British wildlife

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: drought, forest fires, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, wildlife.

Wildlife ranging from dragonflies to water voles will be severely hit if the drought gripping parts of England continues, the Environment Agency has warned

Retrieved from: The Telegraph

“Following the driest 18 months on record for some parts of the country, streams and rivers are drying up leaving insects, fish, mammals and amphibians fighting for survival.

Newly hatched tadpoles of frogs, toads and newts are under threat while wading birds such as snipe, curlew and lapwings will suffer from a lack of moist soils in which to find food such as worms for themselves and their young.

In drought-affected areas, some streams, ponds and shallow lakes are likely to dry up before aquatic insects such as dragonflies have taken wing, which will cause them to perish, experts claim.

“The Environment Agency warned that many species have declined in much of England in recent years and the drought could sound the death knell in some smaller breeding sites.

Forest fires will be of increasing concern in the English countryside, the agency said, while some trees including beech and birch could die off in the face of the drought.”

Olympics kept from going brown by watering cans and recycled sewage water

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought, graywater, peak water, wastewater and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: gray water, London, Olympics, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, water shortage, wildlife.

Retrieved from: The Telegraph

“Gardeners are also preparing to use “grey water” – domestic waste water – to help irrigate the million square meters of meadows, wetland and woods at the East London site.

The emergency measures are being drawn up ahead of Thames Water’s hosepipe ban, which comes into force on April 5 as the worst drought in 30 years spreads across England.

“But the gardens around the main events, which are meant to provide an attractive backdrop for athletes and spectators, may be badly affected by the drought.

Soil moisture levels in areas of the South East of England are now lower than the spring before 1976 when most gardens and parks went brown.

“The Olympic “ecological park” is supposed to bring back wildlife to the area. But the Environment Agency has warned that birds, frogs and dragonflies will struggle to survive this summer without enough water.”

Water firms banning hosepipes lose 300m gallons a day in leaks

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought, management, peak water, policy and water conservation. 0 Comments Tags: drought, Olympics, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, Water, water management, water policy.

Photo retrieved from: Daily Mail online

“The seven water firms due to impose hosepipe bans are losing almost 300million gallons a day through leaks.

The huge volume disappearing down the drain would be enough to supply the daily needs of 11million people.

Two of the biggest companies involved, Anglian and Southern, are introducing rationing despite the fact they have missed official leak reduction targets.

Consumers will be angry that companies are imposing restrictions backed by a £1,000 fine before they meet their own obligations to save water.

Between them, the seven companies are wasting 286million gallons or 1,299.2million litres of treated water every day, the equivalent to 520 Olympic-size swimming pools.”

Time to tackle water crisis, global forum told

Published on 03/15/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, greenwashing, management, peak water, privatization, solutions and outreach, water rights, water shortage, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: Alternative Water Forum, France, global water crisis, peakwater, privatization, Water, water for profit, water in development, World Water Forum.

Retrieved from: Spx daily

“A global meeting on water opened in France on Monday with demands to provide billions of poor people with clean water and decent sanitation and address the spiralling demands of the future.

“The challenges are huge and the problems are deep-rooted,” French Prime Minister François Fillon said as he opened the sixth World Water Forum in the southern city of Marseille.

“The number of human beings who have no access to clean water is in the billions. Each year, we mourn millions of dead from the health risks that this causes. This situation is not acceptable — the world community must rise and tackle it.”

“As many as 20,000 participants from 140 countries are expected for the six-day event, including scores of ministers for the environment and water and a scattering of heads of state from francophone west Africa.

“Separately, a massive UN report, issued only once every three years, said water problems in many parts of the world were chronic.

“Without a crackdown on waste will worsen as demand for food rises and climate change intensifies, it said. “Pressures on freshwater are rising, from the expanding needs of agriculture, food production and energy consumption to pollution and the weaknesses of water management,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in the report.

“Climate change is a real and growing threat. Without good planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk of hunger, disease, energy shortages and poverty.”

“Demand for food will increase by some 70% by 2050, which will lead to a nearly 20% increase in global agricultural water consumption, the UN’s Fourth World Water Development Report said.

“Abstraction of aquifers has at least tripled in the past 50 years and now supplies almost half of all drinking water today. “In some hotspots, the availability of non-renewable groundwater resources has reached critical limits,” the report said.

“The report demanded an overhaul in the use of water, especially by curbing waste. Smarter irrigation, less thirsty crops and the use of “grey,” or used water, to flush toilets are among the options.”

Israel says it backs Gaza Strip desalination plant

Published on 03/13/2012 in contaminated water, desalination and management. 0 Comments Tags: Gaza Desalination, israel, Palestinian Authority, peakwater, Water, World Water Forum.

Retrieved from: btselem

“Israel said Tuesday it backed Palestinian plans to build a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip and was willing if requested to provide its skills for the project.

“Asked by AFP on the sidelines of the World Water Forum if Israel supported the scheme, Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau said, “By all means.”

“We have been waiting for such projects for many, many years. It is high time, almost 20 years after (the) Oslo (Accords on Palestinian autonomy), that they will start working and take responsibility for handling their own things,” he said.

“I would like to see more such projects under way.”

“On Monday, the Palestinian Authority lobbied at the Water Forum for a desalination facility, costing more than 350 million euros ($450 million), to provide 1.6 million Gazans with fresh water by 2020.

“According to a 2009 World Bank report, between 90 and 95 percent of the water available in Gaza is not fit for human consumption.

“Surging population growth and overpumping of ground water has caused the aquifer to drop alarmingly, causing a rise in salinity from the sea.”

World Water Forum Attendance Reportedly Down as Activists Ramp Up Preparations for Alternative Forum

Published on 03/08/2012 in management, solutions and outreach and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: Alternative Water Forum, France, peakwater, Water, water privitization, World Water Forum.

Retrieved from: Canadians

“Critics of the triennial World Water Forum are encouraged by the failure on the part of forum organizers to attract large numbers to this year’s event taking place March 12-17 in Marseille.

“Forum organizers announced at a press conference last week that only 2,000 people had fully registered, while another 2,000 were yet to be confirmed. This falls dismally short of the 20,000 participants that had been anticipated.

“The small number of registrations also comes despite the fact that various national, regional and municipal authorities have poured millions of euros of public funds into sponsorship of the event.

“It isn’t just the World Water Forum that is failing,” says Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the 63rd President of the UN General Assembly. “Water privatization has failed communities around the world and a growing number are now reclaiming control of their water. In this context, it is no surprise that this illegitimate Forum is no longer able to attract attention.”

“Notably, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already stated that it will not be attending this year.

“At the 2009 World Water Forum in Istanbul, 24 governments signed a counter-declaration recognizing water as a human right in opposition to the forum’s official ministerial declaration. And in a scathing criticism of the World Water Forum, then-president of the United Nations General Assembly Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann called for the UN to hold its own event to address the global water crisis.

“Groups from around the world—who view the forum as a corporate trade show disguised as a multi-stakeholder conference—are organizing the Alternative World Water Forum (in French, Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau, or FAME). They have invited governments to a consultation with civil society outside the forum on the implementation of the human right to water.”