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April 25, 2006
Acuamed of Spain looks to the sea for potable water
Acuamed, a state company set up by Spain's Socialist government, has to find an alternative to the previous conservative government's plan to divert water from the Ebro river to Spain's parched southeast and has been given a budget of $3.7 billion and four years to complete the project.
According to Adrian Baltanas, director general of Acuamed, half the water will come from desalination plants, and the rest from recycling waste water and from savings achieved by modernizing irrigation systems.
26 new desalination plants are scheduled with three already in service, and four presently under consruction.
Baltanas said, "In the coming decades the pressure on Spain's water resources should ease," as reported by Reuters.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 09:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 20, 2006
Melbourne cuts water use or will run dry
Melbourne, Australia is in jeopardy of running dry in the next 15 years if does not cut water use by a third.
Acting Premier John Thwaites said that if nothing was done by 2055, Melbourne would have a water shortfall of 178 million litres a year.
Melbourne households as well as the biggest industrial water users all have to slash consumption under a new State Government conservation plan just announced.
The aim of the new plan is to save 330 billion litres of water a year, as reported by the Herald Sun.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 17, 2006
Michigan Democrats move to block water exports
Michigan House Democrats Monday, sought to ammend the state constitution so as to prohibit the large-scale export of water in relatively small containers.
The proposal would go beyond the new laws signed by Governor Jennifer Granholm in February that also regulated the withdrawal of water from the state, but not by the size of the container. The proposed new regulations would prohibit out-of-state transport of water in containers of 5.7 gallons or less.
"We want to send a loud, clear message that our water is not for sale," said Rep. Pam Byrnes, D-Chelsea. "We must do everything to make sure our water isn’t privatized."
The Democratic proposal is supported by the Sierra Club, Clean Water Action and Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 14, 2006
Somalian deaths over drinking water
In Rabdore, Somalia, during what the villagers call the "War of the Well", two clans battling over the water hole, have killed over 250 men over the past two years. Now, armed warlords control the well, during the region's relentless three-year drought.
The drought has affected an estimated 11 million people across East Africa, with the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia having to mediated dozens of conflicts over water in their countries, even sending in police and the army to quell disputes around wells.
Zlatan Milisic, the World Food Program's country director for Somalia said, "The effects here are worse than anywhere else because there's no government, there's no stability. To me, this is the most unstable place in the world that is currently suffering a drought", as reported by the Washington Post.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 11, 2006
Domenici, Wilson of NM introduce water grant legislation
Legislation involving the expansion of a federal water assistance program that will affect their state has been introduced by U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM.
The legislation, authorizing the Water 2025 grant program, as a way to provide communities and water systems with a means to gain federal assistance "for projects related to water conservation, water use efficiency, water markets, enhanced water management, or actions to prevent water-related crises or conflicts in watersheds," according to a news release issued jointly by the legislators.
"This important legislation will help stretch the limited flows of the Rio Grande, and help prevent a water conflict along the Middle Rio Grande well into the future," Wilson says in the release, as reported by Albuquerque News - New Mexico Business Weekly.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 04:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 06, 2006
Palm Beach Water says water quality now better than bottled
The final phase of the $40 million improvement of the county water treatment plant west of Delray Beach, FL, which will consist of a new 5-million-gallon treated water storage tank, begins in the next few months.
"There is no better water quality in the world than what this plant produces," Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department director Bevin Beaudet said.
"When it came time to do a major expansion we had to make a decision as to whether or not we wanted to replace the old lime softening technology with membrane technology," Beaudet said. "We had a vision years ago to bring the highest quality of water to our customers and the old technology just wasn't doing that."
Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department spokesperson Brenda Duffey said, "People think bottled water is so good, but our water is of an even higher quality," as reported by the Palm Beach Post.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 05, 2006
Protesters in the UK have targeted golf courses to conserve water
A nameless group of militants have vandalized the Park Golf Club, near Bath, and threatened four others, in an attempt to get them to reduce water use by one quarter.
Officials at the clubs said they were doing their best to conserve water. Jim Galley, manager at Bath Golf Club, said: "We use very little water because when we use less water it encourages stronger grass, which is what we want."
The vandalism comes after seven water companies imposed hose and sprinkler bans for domestic users, as reported by the Telegraph.Co.UK
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 03, 2006
Predicted water crises looming for the Prairies of Alberta
A new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, released in Ottawa, has predicted an unprecedented water crisis for Canada's Prairies in the coming years due to declining river flows and growing water usage.
All the major Prairie rivers are fed by melting snow and ice in the Rockies, but the glaciers and snow pack have been receding due to climate warming.
"If the trends described above continue, the combination of climate warming, increases in human populations and industry, and historic drought is likely to bring an unprecedented water crisis in the Western Prairie Provinces," says the report.
According to researher David Schindler, "We really need comprehensive watershed planning but when I see how fast development and the loss of water flows are proceeding, I really wonder if we're going to get there on time," as reported by the Canadian Press, and published by globeandmail.com.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack