Tag Archive for 'Water'

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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.”

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.

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.”

Cotter rerouting tainted creek near leaking uranium mine

Published on 03/06/2012 in contaminated water, management, mining and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: Colorado, Cotter, peakwater, Ralston Creek, uranium mining, Water.

Retrieved from: Reuters

“The owners of a leaking uranium mine west of Denver have begun a bold project to reduce contamination of a creek that flows into a metro drinking-water reservoir: physically rerouting the creek so that it no longer flows over toxic waste.

“Nobody wants Cotter Corp.’s re-routing of Ralston Creek to be permanent.

“Federal biologists say the pine-studded creek corridor through a picturesque canyon is habitat for the endangered Preble’s Jumping Mouse.

“But government permits were issued because the latest data show uranium levels between 40 and 50 parts per billion — above the 30 ppb limit — in water destined for 1.3 million metro residents.

“Cotter work crews on Monday were completing a 21-foot-deep concrete-and-steel structure designed to channel all surface and shallow groundwater through an 18-inch-diameter black plastic pipeline running 4,000 feet around the Schwartzwalder Mine, once the nation’s largest underground uranium mine. As a condition of its 10-year federal permit, Cotter must irrigate the creek corridor to ensure that trees and wildlife survive.

“This is a temporary bypass that will allow us to do the permanent fix,” Cotter vice president John Hamrick said. “We really are trying to do the right thing here.”

“This is happening amid a continuing and costly legal standoff between Cotter, a Denver-based subsidiary of defense contractor General Atomics, and state regulators charged with protecting Colorado’s environment”

U.N. says 2 billion more get safe water to drink

Published on 03/06/2012 in management, peak water, water rights and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: Millennium Development Goals, peakwater, safe drinking water, UNICEF, United Nations, Water, WHO, world health organization.

Retrieved from: World resources forum

“More than 2 billion people have gained access to better drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells, between 1990 and 2010, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

“The figure means the world has met the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve the proportion of people with no safe drinking water well ahead of a 2015 deadline, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

“United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this was “a great achievement for the people of the world” and noted it was one of the first MDGs to be met.

“The Millennium Development Goals are a group of targets set by the international community in 2000 to seek to improve health and reduce poverty among the world’s poorest people by 2015.

“Better water, sanitation and hygiene are key to improving human health and development,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. “Today, even with this exciting new progress, almost 10 percent of all diseases are still linked to poor water, sanitation and hygiene.”

“The report said there were still huge challenges in certain parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where only 61 percent of people have access to improved water supplies compared with 90 percent or more in Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern Africa and large parts of Asia.

“It also said some 1.1 billion people still defecate in the open because they have no toilets, and the vast majority of them live in rural areas.”

Calif. water bill flows to uncertain future in Senate

Published on 03/05/2012 in agriculture, management and policy. 0 Comments Tags: california water, Dianne Feinstein, peakwater, Water, water bill.

Retrieved from: Right wing granny

“A big California water bill passed by the House this week might be brilliant political hardball that puts Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the spot.

“Or, maybe it’s a blown opportunity that’s poisoned the well. Perhaps, it’s a little bit of both. Like it or not, the state’s water future could be hanging in this uncertain balance.

“The question is, has the bill created so much distrust and chaos that the process of solving the problem has been set back?” said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove.

“A former top Interior Department official, Garamendi contends the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act approved by the House on Wednesday “creates a huge disruption” that will complicate the search for long-term California solutions.

“The water bill’s authors, having secured House passage by a largely party line 246-175 margin, now insist they are on a roll.

“We’re going to figure out what our options are, how to bring the bill up on the Senate floor,” said the bill’s chief author, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia.

“The bill would would lengthen 25-year water contracts to 40 years, preempt strict state environmental laws and steer more water to farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Carefully negotiated language is designed to reassure Sacramento Valley farmers they won’t lose supplies as a result.”

USDA Unveils New Conservation Program

Published on 03/02/2012 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, peak water and riparian zone. 0 Comments Tags: CRP, peakwater, USDA, Water, wetlands.

Retrieved from: businesspundit.com

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a program Friday that will offer financial incentives for farmers to enroll up to 1 million new acres of grasslands and wetlands into the conservation reserve program.

“The government pays farmers to idle about 30 million acres of erodible land. However, contracts on about 6.5 million acres expire Sept. 30. With high corn and soybean prices, there is concern that farmers might put more of the land into production to increase profitability.

“The new program focuses on encouraging land to be set aside for wetlands restoration, increasing enrolled land by 200,000 acres. Grasslands enrollment increases by 700,000 acres, including land for duck nesting and upland bird habitat. The program also establishes 100,000 new acres to be set aside for pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

“Setting aside land in CRP is one way to reduce erosion, which can cause farmland runoff and send chemicals into lakes and streams. The USDA estimates CRP keeps more than 600 million pounds of nitrogen and more than 100 million pounds of phosphorous from flowing into waterways.”