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More business, environment, regional and international news
Water sector corruption threatens lives, environment
Corruption has made the cost of water more expensive in some developing countries than in cities like New York, London or Rome, threatening billions of lives, watchdog Transparency International said on Wednesday. The Berlin-based non-governmental organization found in its latest global corruption report that bribes, graft and other forms of wrongdoing are the main reasons for a "global water crisis" that is speeding the pace of environmental degradation. The report, released in Berlin and New York on Wednesday, said water sector corruption ranges from petty bribery in water delivery to the looting of irrigation and hydropower funding. Such corruption -- seen in rich countries as well as poor -- threatens to exacerbate a global food shortage. Reuters_6/25/08
Florida drinking water supplies to benefit from $1.75 billion Everglades deal
U.S. Sugar Corp.'s saie of thousands of acres of wetlands will reconnect scattered parts of the Everglades to capture new water supplies for a thirsty state. In one of the largest environmental land deals in U.S. history, Florida will get the ``missing link'' between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, Governor Charlie Crist said yesterday. The state will regain control of water reserves that are being channeled to the sea to allow for real estate and industrial development. The conservation effort will help replenish groundwater needed for drinking supplies and buffer the area against hurricanes. It also will cut the flow of agricultural chemicals entering the region known for its alligators and crocodiles. Since the 1600s, more than half of the original wetlands in the lower 48 United States have been destroyed, with recent losses concentrated in the southeast around Florida, according to the Common Sense Environmental Fund, a Washington-based nonprofit conservation group. The Everglades have shrunk to 50 percent of their size during the last century by dredging to prevent flooding and accommodate construction. Bloomberg_ 6/25/08
Around the U.S.
Michigan legislative agreement would limit amount of water withdrawn from state
Michigan lawmakers announced an agreement Monday to regulate new, large-scale withdrawals of water from the state -- a deal expected to clear the way for Gov. Jennifer Granholm to sign an eight-state compact to prevent diversion of water outside the Great Lakes basin. The agreement, reached after two years of negotiations among legislators and business and environmental leaders, limits withdrawals of more than 1 million gallons a day, by manufacturers, bottlers, farmers or others. The deal was announced by state Sen. Patty Birkholz, R-Saugatuck, and Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, along with the business and environmental groups involved. With that logjam apparently cleared, Granholm is also expected to soon receive legislation authorizing Michigan's participation in the regional compact on Great Lakes water. The compact has been approved by five states, and Ohio's governor has indicated he will sign a bill from his legislature agreeing to join. That would leave only Michigan and Pennsylvania to sign. Detroit Free Press_ 6/24/08
Illinois and Iowa say drinking water treatment plants OK after floods
Drinking water treatment plants are back to normal after flooding rivers and streams this month knocked out several in Illinois and Iowa, officials said. "Water at this point is not an issue," said Tom Green, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Bret Voorhees, of Iowa Emergency Management, said access to clean water in the state has not been much of an issue so far. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as local and state governments, have stockpiled bottled water for those displaced by the floods. Reuters_ 6/21/08
Alabama, Florida, Georgia Water Sharing
Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle says possible water sharing law suit by Florida "unconscionable"
Officials in Florida said Friday they intend to sue the Army Corps of Engineers over its decision on how water from Georgia is shared with Florida and Alabama and said the Corps' action threatens endangered species. Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle called the possible suit "extraordinarily disappointing" and said "I find it unconscionable that the state of Florida would choose to elevate the water needs of the bankclimber and fat threeridge mussel over the needs of millions of human beings in Georgia." A spokesman for Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said his state also is concerned that the Corps' plan favors Georgia. AP/Access North Georgia_ 6/22/08
Florida threatens to sue Corps of Engineers over water sharing with Georgia
At issue are claims the corps is violating the federal Endangered Species Act with drought plans to continue limiting downstream flows of water from reservoirs in northern Georgia into the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin. Under the plan, the state claims the Apalachicola River levels will reach unprecedented lows. That will expose various populations of threatened and endangered mussels and preclude their chance from ever recovering, the state says. Media General News Service_ 6/20/08
Bottled Water
U.S. Conference of Mayors votes to ban bottled water
WaterWebster.org staff report
6/23/08
(Editors: To learn how you can republish this story at no cost, click here.)
Mayors representing about 250 U.S. cities voted Monday to ban bottled water from city meetings and offices, except in cases of emergency. On a voice vote, members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors supported a resolution proposed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that urges all mayors to phase out, “where feasible,” bottled water and support municipal water, said conference spokesperson Elena Temple. Newsom earlier estimated San Francisco saved $1 million by using tap water instead of bottled. Co-sponsors of the resolution represented cities large and small, from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chicago’s Richard Daley, to Mayors Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville, Ma., and Dan Coody of Fayetteville, Ar. Both Somerville and Fayetteville have populations under 80,00. (full story)
The recall is for the one-gallon Nestlé Pure Life Purified Drinking Water sold ONLY in Shop-Rite stores in the five Northeast states of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. This affects ONLY the one-gallon size. Fewer than 150 one-gallon bottles of Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water are implicated, produced in a short timeframe on May 5, 2008 between 8:00 AM and 9:00 AM. The product date code is printed on the shoulder of one-gallon bottles. The code is: First line..........050508126WF024 Second line.........Starts with the numbers "08" For example: 0801BB05/2010 The product in question may contain a diluted form of a common food grade cleaning compound that results in a bitter or sour taste. This could pose a potential health concern if ingested in large quantities over an extended period of time and should not be consumed or used in preparing infant formulas or other foods or beverages. No illnesses have been reported. To further assure consumers, Shop-Rite, as of Monday, June 23rd, has removed any remaining affected product from their stores and warehouses. Consumers who possess this product or have questions should contact the company at a toll free number 866-599-8980 available 24 hours a day. This same toll-free number is also printed on the front of all product labels for the one-gallon size. News Release/Business Wire_ 6/24/08
In Maine, residents around Kennebunk raise concerns about selling water to Poland Springs
More than 100 people from Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells urged water district Superintent Norm Labbe to reject a contract with Nestle-owned Poland Springs bottled water because the 30-year deal doesn't offer the district enough money and it's not known what water supplies will be like in coming years. The district is scheduled to vote Wednesday. Labbe said the plan could add jobs and that Poland Springs would pay about six-tenth of a cent more per gallon for the water than other commercial customers are charged. A company spokesman later told the Portland Press Herald that fee is in line with what it pays elsewhere but residents argued it wasn't high enoigh. Portland Press Herald_ 6/23/08
Michigan lawmakers to consider 10-cent deposit on bottled water to encourage recycling
Michigan's 10-cent deposit on pop cans and beer bottles works so well that its creators want to add water and juice containers to the recycling program passed by voters in 1976. But the newly revived effort faces potentially insurmountable odds in the Legislature, especially in the face of intense lobbying from grocers. Because it took a ballot initiative to enact the bottle law, the measure can only be amended if three-fourths of lawmakers agree. People return 97 percent of the 5.5 billion cans and bottles for which they pay a deposit. They recycle only 20 percent of increasingly popular plastic water bottles, which didn't even exist 32 years ago. Nearly 1 billion non-carbonated drink containers are thrown away each year in Michigan. WoodTV8_ 6/22/08
Business
Keeping water pure is suddenly in demand
Water has always been an issue in California. But drought conditions, not to mention worries about continued supplies of clean water, are turning water into a growth industry in California and elsewhere. Big companies like General Electric, Siemens and Veolia Environnement of France have ambitious plans to bring water to developing countries and clean water everywhere. But many small companies are finding niches and doing well these days, too. Puretec Industrial Water, of Oxnard, Calif., for example, “grew 34 percent last year,” said Jim Harris, the owner and president. The company, with 90 employees, leaped to $18 million in revenue from $13.5 million in 2006. New York Times_ 6/19/08 (logon required)
U.S. communities selling their water utilities to raise money
In March Providence, R.I., hinted it may sell off its network of water reservoirs and treatment plants to a private company. City councilors said at the time they hoped to raise between $400 million to $600 million, which could be used to pay down the city's large pension debt. American Water Works Co., which recently went public, is in the midst of a $100 million negotiation to buy the suburban network of Trenton, N.J.'s water system. Other deals are in the works. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that $277 billion will be needed over the next two decades to repair and improve drinking water systems. Some engineers put the figure much higher. AP_ 6/16/08
Construction
United Water is expected this summer to ask the Board of Public Utilities for a rate increase to support the massive, $110 million water plant. The request comes on the heels of a 16 percent water bill increase approved last year — the utility’s first rate hike in a decade. That’s the price for water that will meet future federal water standards for 750,000 people in 60 Bergen and Hudson County towns, executives said. The new system will be the first large-scale plant to use ozone to disinfect the water and air to remove particles. The Record_ 6/22/08
Despite damages to a key part of it incurred by the devastating May 12 8.0-magnitude earthquake, Dujiangyan, the 2,200-year-old water conservancy project near Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, is still functioning well to protect millions of quake survivors from the threat of summer flooding. The the project has a "fish mouth" that divides the broad Minjiang River into Neijiang (Inner Course) and Waijiang (Outer Course). Only water that flows into the Inner Course could reach Chengdu and its surrounding plains, while excess flood water will be diverted into the Outer Course and denied access to the affluent and densely-populated plain area. The simple yet effective design earned Li Bing, the local governor of Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), the fame of "ancient water conservancy genius", and earned the project a place on the United Nations world cultural heritage list. Xinhua_ 6/22/08
Desalination News
Water Corporation's Desalination ads misleading
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found that the Water Corporation misled the public in its desalination advertising campaigns and online publishing. The Corporation published claims that its Perth Desalination Plant was carbon neutral, and its total energy requirements were sourced from the Emu Downs Wind Farm near Cervantes, north of Perth. The ACCC says the statements were misleading and has told the Water Corporation not to make similar claims in the future. ABC News_6/26/08
Environment
Higher than safe arsenic levels in Mount Rushmore water prompts new well
Even though it is still considered safe to consume, the drinking water at Mount Rushmore National Memorial violates a federal standard that was changed in 2006. The water has tested for a slightly higher arsenic content than permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency, which considerably lowered the allowable level for the element. Plans to drill another well at the mountain are currently under way, according to Duane Bubac, chief of cultural resources and facilities. Drilling could start as soon as this month, Bubac said. Rapid City Journal_ 6/22/08
International News
Highly polluted water contaminates the water supply in sections of two states in India
Two days after highly polluted water flowed in Punjab canals, the drinking water supply in five districts of Rajasthan and Muktsar was hit on Saturday. As the water supply and sanitation board (WSSB) stopped taking the water supply from the canals, fearing outbreak of water-borne diseases, it started rationing drinking water to residents. Fearing the worse, the Rajasthan public health department has also started rationing water, providing drinking water to residents on alternate days. In Gidderbaha, Malout and Muktsar, the home district of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, drinking water is being provided once a day against twice a day earlier. But the water crisis is more severe in Rajasthan, where the state public health department has not taken water supply from the Indira Gandhi Canal for the past two days. The water flowing in the canals was even worse than sewage. It was emitting foul smell and dead and rotten fish could be seen floating on the surface, said Dinesh Nagori, executive engineer, public health department in Sriganganagar. Times of India_ 6/22/08
Drought could cause power blackouts in Iran
Iranians must cut their electricity consumption by 10 percent or face daily power cuts because of a severe drought and low production at hydroelectric power plants, officials warned Saturday. News reports inside Iran said in Tehran, the capital, that could mean up to four hours of blackouts each day. Energy Minister Parviz Fattah warned in May that Iran will face severe electricity shortages and power cuts this summer due to "the drought and the lack of water" in dams. AFP_ 6/21/08
Mars Water
Proof! Water ice found on Mars
Scientists said today they have "found proof" of water ice on Mars away from the polar ice caps, a discovery made by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The finding is a crucial first step toward learning whether the ground on Mars is hospitable, because all life as we know it requires water. Now scientists can get on with the business of studying the chemistry of Mars dirt in more detail. Space.com_ 6/20/08
Myanmar Cyclone
Myanmar cyclone victims endure in spite of junta, aid workers say
More than six weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar, leaving a trail of flattened villages and broken lives and arousing international sympathy that turned to anguish as the military government obstructed foreign aid. While it is estimated that the cyclone may have killed 130,000 people, the number of lives lost specifically because of the junta’s slow response to the disaster appears to have been smaller than expected. Those who survived were not likely to be injured in the aftermath by falling rocks or collapsing buildings, as often happens during natural disasters, like the earthquake in China. That appears to be the primary reason villagers were able to stay alive for weeks without aid. As they waited, the survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish. Relief workers say the debate over access for foreigners and the refusal of the government to allow in military helicopters and ships from the United States, France and Britain overshadowed a substantial relief operation carried out mainly by Burmese citizens and monks. They organized convoys of trucks filled with drinking water, clothing, food and construction materials that poured into the delta. New York Times_ 6/18/08 (logon required)
People in the News
Veolia Water picks Takuichi Murach to head Japanese subsidiary
France's VEOLIA WATER plans to name Takuichi Murachi, a former TOYO Engineering Corp. director, the new president of its Japanese subsidiary. By having a local executive lead its Japanese arm for the first time ever, one of the world's top water service providers aims to better reach out to future customers in Japan's public and private sectors.Trading Markets.com_6/26/08
Philip E. LaMoreaux, Tuscaloosa, Alabama geologist who found water in Egyptian desert, dead at 88
It's not easy to find water in an Egyptian desert. But Philip E. LaMoreaux did, just one of his many notable achievements in a career as a scientist and businessman that spanned more than four decades. LaMoreaux, a former geologist for the state of Alabama and founder of Tuscaloosa-based P.E. LaMoreaux & Associates, died at his home Monday after a long battle with heart complications. He was 88. Specializing in hydrogeology, LaMoreaux built his company into an international environmental and engineering consulting firm. LaMoreaux's career led him to regional and national stints with the U.S. Geological Survey and, eventually, the appointment as state geologist for Alabama and director of the Alabama Geological Survey and the Oil and Gas Board. During his 40-plus-year career, he also published countless articles and books. Tuscaloosa News_ 6/25/08
Regional Water Issues
Moving water rights around in the west, a tradition that may be more profitable than growing crops
Washington regulators approved Ray Colbert's plan to sell 80-acres of apple orchards--and the water rights--so he could retire. Colbert lives in northern Washington and the buyer in southern Washington and the water rights just moved down the Okanogan River. If deals like Colbert's become a trend, local officials are concerned area farms will be nothing but dry land. Local officials are concerned about the implication for area farms. On a bigger scale, such trade-offs have been going on for decades, and underlie some of the west's biggest water fights. Northern California water is shipped to southern California for agriculture and drinking water; the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana is negotiating to sell its Missouri River water rights and Las Vegas is battling to import rural water so it can keep growing. AP_ 6/21/08
Wastewater
Cocaine, meth, heroin: City sewers reveal a community's illegal drug choice
Environmental scientists are beginning to use an unsavory new tool -- raw sewage -- to paint an accurate portrait of drug abuse in communities. Like one big, citywide urinalysis, tests at municipal sewage plants in many areas of the United States and Europe, have detected illicit drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. Law enforcement officials have long sought a way to come up with reliable and verifiable calculations of narcotics use, to identify new trends and formulate policies. Surveys, the backbone of drug-use estimates, are only as reliable as the people who answer them. But sewage does not lie. Since people excrete chemicals in urine and flush it down toilets, measuring raw sewage for street drugs can provide quick, fairly precise snapshots of drug use in communities, even on a particular day. Los Angeles Times_ 6/24/08 (logon required)
Water Rates
California town hikes water rates to encourage conservation
The cost of turning on the water tap is going up in Watsonville. And people who use more than the average household will find their water will get even more expensive as part of a three-tier rate structure designed to encourage conservation. "Unfortunately money does make a difference, and if we have an incentive to reduce our water use, we really need to consider that," said Mayor Kimberly Petersen in support of adding a third tier to the city's rate structure. The rate changes will take place in two phases. Rates will increase 2.9 percent July 1, from an average of $19.63 to $20.15 per month to keep pace with rising operating costs, officials said. A third tier to the city's current two-tier system will go into effect in April 2009 to allow time to educate residents on water conservation. San Jose Mercury News_ 6/25/08
And Finally
"Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water"
Poet John Keats penned his own tombstone inscription at age 25 when he was dying of consumption. An essay on Keats and poets. Washington Post_ 6/21/08
