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More business, environment, regional and international news
Colorado's $3 billion water expansion builds worries for some
Nearly $3 billion of ambitious new water projects along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains are in various stages of launching - from completing a lengthy federal permitting process to actually breaking ground. The pending boom includes seven new or expanded reservoirs and at least one major pipeline. Barely recovered from the 2002 drought and with projected shortages looming, the water districts and cities involved say it is imperative that the projects be built now. When completed, the combined projects will make for one of the largest water development eras in Colorado history. State water officials and analysts, however, worry that the fragmented nature of the plans constitutes a $3 billion free-for-all, and that the lack of a coherent regional or statewide plan will prove costly for both the consumer and the environment. Rocky Mountain News_ 7/18/08
A report released Sunday on the state of the nation's largest river system said the situation was critical in the Murray-Darling system, which provides water to Australia's "food bowl", a vast expanse of land almost twice as big as France that runs down the continent's east coast. Australia is in the grip of the worst drought in a century, which has stretched for more than seven years in some areas and has forced restrictions on water usage in the country''s major cities. The report said the Murray-Darling system, accounting for more than 40 percent of the gross value of Australia's agricultural production, should provide enough drinking water for 2008-09. But the report from senior federal and state government officials warned there could be problems supplying drinking water after that if rains did not come. The Murray-Darling Basin stretches from Queensland in the north, through New South Wales to Victoria in the south and South Australia. AFP_ 7/20/08
Around the U.S.
Canal plan may solve California water distribution issues
A public policy group suggested California should no longer rely on the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply water to most of the state, and should instead build a canal around the delta. A study by the Public Policy Institute of California recommends that cities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area stop drawing water from the delta, saying it's an increasingly unstable source. Instead, institute officials believe a canal that would draw fresh water from the Sacramento River would deliver better quality water to more than 25 million Californians and farmers in the Central Valley because it would bypass the salty mixture found in the delta. A canal also could help native fish that are now being killed when they are sucked into the delta's massive water pumps. AP_7/17/08
Fresno Irrigation District to stop water deliveries
The Fresno (Calif.) Irrigation District will cease water deliveries July 31 after a five-month season because of dry spring conditions. The district covers about 245,000 acres and operates about 800 miles of canals and pipelines. In a normal year, Fresno Irrigation District handles about 500,000 acre-feet of water and delivers most of it to agricultural users. By season's end, the district will have delivered about 432,000 acre-feet of water. Deliveries started March 1. Growers will need to rely upon groundwater for any late summer or fall irrigations. The district will offer hardship water deliveries to the east side of the district beginning Aug. 1 and continuing through September. In addition, reclaimed water will continue to be delivered on the Houghton and Dry Creek systems. Fresno Bee_7/17/08
Bottled Water
India's BPCL to enter bottled water market to boost profits
Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), the country's second largest oil marketing company, plans to diversify into bottled water and direct to home (DTH) services in an attempt to boost its profits. The company reported a 91 per cent decline in its fourth quarter net profit as it was forced to sell fuel below the prevailing market price. The company is seeking the approval of shareholders, through a postal ballot, for the new line of business. The result of the postal ballot would be known by August 22. The bottled industry is witnessing increased competition, with global cola giants, Pepsico and Coca-Cola Company slugging it out with local players including industralist Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher. The size of the bottled market in India has, however, not been estimated. Business Standard_ 7/19/08
Fiji Islands water bottlers may shut down after government delays lifting tax
The interim Cabinet decided to delay revisiting the bottled water tax in their meeting on Thursday. Bottled water spokesman Jaya Dayal said the decision by the interim Cabinet would leave them no choice but to shut down their operations completely. He said all bottled water companies spent dozens of hours last week providing information to FIRCA and the interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. “We believe the Government has sufficient information to determine that these onerous taxes, if left in place, will effectively shut down Fiji’s bottled water industry for good,” Dayal said. Fiji Daily Post_ 7/19/08
In a split decision, Maine's Supreme Court affirmed a County Superior Court's decision to uphold state land regulators' permitting of a permit to allow Poland Spring's parent company Nestle Waters North America Inc. to develop a pumping station on about 1,000 acres the company owns off Redington Road in Dallas Plantation. The permit allows Poland Spring to extract up to 184 million gallons of water annually from Rangeley Water District's aquifers and to use 100 tanker trucks a day in and out of the station. The facility went on-line more than a year ago. Two justices, Chief Justice Leigh Ingalls Saufley and Jon D. Levy, dissented. Saufley wrote that rezoning, with its inherent public airing and thorough review of the newly proposed uses, should be undertaken before Nestle is allowed to engage in the extraction and transportation of the Rangeley Lakes Region's valuable water resources. Cathryn Thorup, co-founder of the Rangeley coalition said, "The community of Rangeley is obviously deeply disappointed with the split decision. We are pleased that two justices, including the chief justice, came down on our side, but obviously we wish we could have prevailed. To anyone who asks in five or 10 years, 'How could you let this happen?' We can say we took this fight just as far as we could." SunJournal.com_7/18/08
Desalination
Everyone in Bahrain to have safe tap drinking water within a few months: Water Authority
Tap water received now by more than 80 per cent of Bahrain's population can be used for drinking. The entire country will be covered by potable water within a few months, said Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) production and transmission deputy chief executive Batool Abdul A'al. The EWA has abandoned the policy of blending ground water with the desalinated water and has started converting desalinated water into potable water. Gulf Daily News_ 7/19/08
Nine arrested in Australian desalination plant protest
Nine protesters were arrested in an angry confrontation with police near the site of Victoria's $3 billion desalination project yesterday. About 20 police officers confronted 50 locals with orders to remove their information caravan from an unsealed road 500m from the site near Wonthaggi. Local Liberal MP Ken Smith was among the protesters and slammed the Brumby Government for picking a fight with a community group. Your Water Your Say spokeswoman Andrea Bolch said protesters would do whatever they could to stop the desalination project. Environment Minister Gavin Jennings had been hoping to avoid a repeat of last week's protests when three people were arrested. Herald Sun_ 7/15/08
Environmental News
EPA sued over fertilizer runoff standards
Environmental groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hoping to force stricter regulation of water pollution in Florida and nationally. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Tallahassee claims the agency is violating the Clean Water Act by not setting standards for fertilizer runoff and other farm waste in Florida's waterways. Earthjustice attorney David Guest says he hopes a favorable ruling will force the EPA to set national standards. Guest is representing the plaintiffs. The groups say rain washes the runoff into rivers and lakes, contaminating waterways and nourishing algae blooms that poison the ecosystems. The EPA says it will review the lawsuit. Florida says the state is still studying ways to set such limits. AP_7/17/08
New water-saving technique gives oil and gas a greener look
Two companies working together announced they have perfected a method of turning wastewater from oil and gas wells into distilled water that can be used for agriculture, or to vastly reduce the environmental footprint the oil and gas industry has on the land. Across the western United States alone, more than five billion gallons per day of brackish wastewater, known as produced water, is brought to the surface during oil and gas production. This wastewater has historically been re-injected deep back into the ground where it came from, never to be used again, or it must be hauled away at great cost over long trucking distances. The new water-saving technique developed by Altela, Inc and Laramie Energy II, LLC purports to purify the brackish water on site. The companies claim turning this wastewater into usable water will benefit farmers, ranchers, and communities across the water-starved western United States and will help address the country's water and energy security. MarketWatch_7/17/08
White House rejects conclusion that global warming is a threat to public welfare
It launched a comment period that will delay action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least until the next president takes office. The Environmental Protection Agency published a 588-page examination of the issues surrounding greenhouse gases but refused to adopt its staff's finding that such gases could cause disastrous flooding and drought and affect food and water supplies. Environmentalists angrily denounced the White House for what they said was political interference with government experts' proposed rules. An EPA official who worked on the rejected reports said Friday's announcement was unprecedented because agency staffers did not have a chance to respond to other agencies' criticism. Los Angeles Times_ 7/12/08 (logon required)
download the report .pdf
Great Lakes
Scientists: $200 million loss from Great Lakes invasives; Close the St. Lawrence Seaway?
Foreign species that slipped into the Great Lakes in ballast tanks of oceangoing cargo ships cost the regional economy at least $200 million a year, according to a University of Notre Dame study released Wednesday, July 16. A separate report issued by the National Research Council rejects calls to stem the species invasion by closing the St. Lawrence Seaway or declaring it off-limits to oceangoing freighters. Instead, the U.S. and Canada should work together to make sure that saltwater ships exchange their ballast water _ or rinse their tanks if empty _ while still at sea, the council's report said. Both reports come as environmentalists are prodding the U.S. Senate to approve a bill ordering ships to install systems for killing invasive fish, mussels and other critters that can disrupt the Great Lakes' ecosystem. The measure has cleared the House but supporters say its prospects will be dim unless the Senate acts before its August recess. Sport fishing has taken the biggest hit: $123.5 million in 2006, the year on which the data are based, the report said. Participation is 11 to 35 percent lower on the lakes than it would have been if fish populations hadn't fallen because of the invasive species. Other damaged sectors of the economy include wildlife viewing ($47.6 million loss); raw water use by municipalities, power plants and industry ($27 million); and commercial fishing ($2.1 million). FoxNews_7/17/08
International News
2.5 billion live with poor sanitation facilities
More people using drinking water from safe sources:UN report
Every day, over 2.5 billion people suffer from a lack of access to improved sanitation and nearly 1.2 billion practise open defecation, the riskiest sanitary practice of all, according to a report issued today by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. The programme is the official UN mechanism tasked with monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Target 7c on drinking water supply and sanitation. The report titled "Progress on drinking water and sanitation - special focus on sanitation," comes halfway through the International Year of Sanitation. The report assesses -- for the first time -- global, regional and country progress using an innovative "ladder" concept. This shows sanitation practices in greater detail, enabling experts to highlight trends in using improved, shared and unimproved sanitation facilities and the trend in open defecation. "Improved sanitation” refers to any facility that hygienically separates human waste from the environment. Similarly, the 'drinking water ladder' shows the percentage of the world population that uses water piped into a dwelling, plot or yard, and other improved water sources such as hand pumps, and unimproved sources. Worldwide, the number of people who lack access to an improved drinking water source (protected from faecal and chemical contamination) has fallen below one billion for the first time since data were first compiled in 1990. At present 87% of the world population has access to improved drinking water sources, with current trends suggesting that more than 90% will do so by 2015. Click here to download the full report (note: large,16Mb PDF file) World Health Organization 7/17/08
Northern Cyprus to get water pipeline from Turkey
A 70-mile pipeline will carry drinking water from Turkey to northern Cyprus under a plan announced Saturday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. He said construction would begin in June 2009 and the project should be completed within three years. Cyprus is suffering one of its worst droughts in modern history. AFP_ 7/19/08
Greek tanker with much-needed drinking water for Cyprus discards it due to contamination
The ship pumped 40,000 cubic metres of water into the ground rather than a reservoir because delays had made the water unsuitable for consumption. After four years with no substantial winter rainfall, Cypriot water reserves are at their lowest since 1908. The tanker arrived at an offshore pumping station near the port of Limassol at the end of last month, but as it took two weeks to complete pipes to the reservoir, it was deemed unsafe for drinking. BBC News_ 7/16/08
Mars Water
Water 'widespread' on early Mars
Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.
Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes. They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet. Details appear in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience. BBC_7/17/08
Regional Water Issues
Las Vegas urges early hearing on importing more water from Utah-Nevada border area
The main water supplier for Las Vegas, already allowed to pump more than 19 billion gallons of water a year from rural Nevada, pressed Tuesday for a January hearing on its bid for another 16 billion gallons from a valley on the state's border with Utah.
But opponents of the Southern Nevada Water Authority pumping plan for Snake Valley said they need more time to prepare, and asked state Engineer Tracy Taylor for a hearing delay until late 2009. SNWA's application for the Snake Valley water is a key element in its efforts to start delivering rural groundwater through a 200-mile-long pipeline network to Las Vegas by 2015. AP/Salt Lake Tribune_ 7/15/08
Technology
Swiss research group Eawag tackles arsenic in drinking water
The contamination of groundwater with arsenic poses a risk to the health of millions of people, especially in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. To date, no method has been available for identifying high-risk areas without conducting costly sampling campaigns. In an article published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Eawag researchers have now described a method that allows high-risk areas to be identified relatively easily, without the need for expensive and time-consuming groundwater analysis. For this purpose, the team, led by geologist Lenny Winkel and environmental chemist Michael Berg, compiled existing geological data from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sumatra (Indonesia) to produce a uniformly classified map. Science Daily_ 7/12/08
In a study published today in Nature, researchers led by Brown University geologist Alberto Saal found evidence of water molecules in pebbles retrieved by NASA's Apollo missions. The findings point to the existence of water deep beneath the moon's surface, transforming scientific understanding of our nearest neighbor's formation and, perhaps, our own. There may also be a more immediately practical application. "Is there water there? That's important for lunar missions. People could get the water. They could use the hydrogen for energy," said Saal. A high-powered imaging technique known as secondary ion mass spectrometry revealed a wealth of so-called volatile compounds, among them fluorine, chlorine, sulfur, carbon dioxide -- and water. If that water in fact came from the Earth, then planetary geologists can be certain that our planet contained water 4.5 billion years ago. That would change the dynamics of models of Earth's formations. ABC News_ 7/10/08
Wastewater
European Investment Bank lends 200 million euros to finance water and wastewater projects in Rome
The European Investment Bank is lending EUR 200 million to ACEA to finance water and wastewater investments in the Province of Rome. ACEA is one of the largest Italian water sector operators, with a population served in excess of 8 million. finchannel.com_ 7/19/08
Two steps completed in repair of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, waste treatment plant; one more step to go
Cedar Rapids' wastewater treatment plant won't be back to pre-flood operation until the end of September, but officials at the plant announced Friday that major progress has been made. Of the three steps in treatment, 100 percent of the city's wastewater is going through the first two steps as of Friday, Environmental Manager Steve Hershner said. The plant, which is along the Cedar River on Bertram Road southeast of Cedar Rapids, was severely damaged in the flood. Bids will be received Thursday on restoring the third step of the process, and whichever contractor is chosen will be expected to have the job done by Sept. 30. Cedar Rapids Gazette_ 7/18/08
And Finally
Continental Airlines to cut the amount of drinking water on board
Continental Airlines is reducing the amount of drinkable water and magazines on its flights. And planes are switching to a lighter, more durable life vest. The Houston-based carrier on Thursday reported those and other cost-saving measures aimed at the soaring cost of fuel. Continental said a combination of record high fuel prices, weakening economic conditions and a weak dollar resulted in the worst financial statement for the airline since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Cleveland Plain Dealer_ 7/17/08
2008 Hurricanes
Bertha becomes history's longest tropical storm--for July
WaterWebster.org staff report
July 15, 2008
Bertha's 12.5 days as a tropical storm overturns the record 12.25 days set in July, 1916 by "storm #2," according to the National Hurricane Center. On Tuesday Bertha was 315 miles north-northeast of Bermuda and moving at nine miles an hour to the north-northeast. The storm's sustained winds were about 70 miles an hour. Bertha became the season's first hurricane July 7 when winds hit 74 miles an hour and briefly strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, before slowly dropping back Sunday to a tropical storm. Forecasters said Bertha still could regain hurricane strength in the next few days but ultimately will run into weather conditions that will cut its power.
Around the U.S.
Canal plan may solve California water distribution issues
A public policy group suggested California should no longer rely on the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply water to most of the state, and should instead build a canal around the delta. A study by the Public Policy Institute of California recommends that cities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area stop drawing water from the delta, saying it's an increasingly unstable source. Instead, institute officials believe a canal that would draw fresh water from the Sacramento River would deliver better quality water to more than 25 million Californians and farmers in the Central Valley because it would bypass the salty mixture found in the delta. A canal also could help native fish that are now being killed when they are sucked into the delta's massive water pumps. AP_7/17/08
Fresno Irrigation District to stop water deliveries
The Fresno (Calif.) Irrigation District will cease water deliveries July 31 after a five-month season because of dry spring conditions. The district covers about 245,000 acres and operates about 800 miles of canals and pipelines. In a normal year, Fresno Irrigation District handles about 500,000 acre-feet of water and delivers most of it to agricultural users. By season's end, the district will have delivered about 432,000 acre-feet of water. Deliveries started March 1. Growers will need to rely upon groundwater for any late summer or fall irrigations. The district will offer hardship water deliveries to the east side of the district beginning Aug. 1 and continuing through September. In addition, reclaimed water will continue to be delivered on the Houghton and Dry Creek systems. Fresno Bee_7/17/08
Grosse Ile, Michigan to join two others in a study of dropping Detroit water
The Grosse Ile Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday night to chip in for a water-feasibility study with two other Downriver communities, all of which are considering dropping the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. The township, Trenton and Riverview are paying about $69,000 to determine whether it makes fiscal and logistical sense to break from the region's water system. Community officials say they are concerned about Detroit's increasing water rates and its aging infrastructure. Grosse Ile owns its own wastewater plant, which is run by the firm hired to conduct the feasibility study. Detroit Free Press_ 7/15/08
After a seven-week trial in U.S. District Court in Columbus, jurors found today that 68 residents of Muskingum County were denied public water service because of the color of their skin. The racial-discrimination damages awarded to current and former residents of the Coal Run area outside Zanesville were hefty: $10.9 million. The city of Zanesville, Muskingum County and the Eastern Muskingum Water Authority, which now is operated by the county, are jointly liable for the payout. Attorney fees that might be awarded later would add to the penalty. The jury found that city and county officials violated federal and state fair-housing and civil-rights laws by not extending waterlines to Coal Run until 2004. Surrounding white residents had public water, but not Coal Run residents. Attorneys for Zanesville and Muskingum County said the case would be appealed. Columbus Dispatch_ 7/10/08
Alabama, Florida, Georgia water sharing
Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle hosts radio discussion of Georgia, Alabama, Florida water issues
Cagle Friday looked back on the 20-plus years of the tri-state water wars and declared that its time for them to end... and everyone involved needs to understand the needs of all three states. "No one's willing to step up and really take the bull by the horns and do what's necessary and agree upon those minimum level of flows that Alabama needs along with Florida." Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson was among leaders from around Georgia and the Lake Lanier area appeared with Cagle during the nearly four-hour broadcast. Richardson said he is not optimistic that Georgia, Florida and Alabama will be able to settle their water wars among themselves. Richardson said, however, the conservation steps Georgia is taking could have a positive impact with the courts. AccessNorthGeorgia_ 7/11/08
Corps of Engineers officials take three-day river trip to see Florida-Georgia border area
Corps Gen. Joseph Schroedel and Col. Byron Jorns were taken all over the lower Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system basin by several Jackson County, Florida residents. They started with a boat ride Monday in the Apalachicola River and Bay, and the event culminated in a discussion session Wednesday near the Flint River in Bainbridge, Ga. The trip was co-sponsored by the Apalachicola Riverkeeper and Tri-Rivers Waterway Development Association. They are two key stakeholders in the ACF river system, which courses through Florida, Alabama and Georgia.Greenwood resident Chad Taylor said one of the most vital issues is water allocation practices on the Apalachicola River and how the Corp manages Lake Seminole and the other four reservoirs on the Chattahoochee River. Red Orbit_ 7/10/08
Southeast U.S. still faces drought despite spring rain
Despite some significant spring rain events, the Southeast is still experiencing what some have called the worst drought on record and it is expected to continue through the summer. The National Drought Mitigation Center has classified sizeable areas of Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas as being in an extreme drought and long-term rainfall deficits remain, ranging from 5-15 inches over the past six months to 12-20 inches over the past 12 months. Montgomery Advertiser_ 7/10/08
Bottled Water
In a split decision, Maine's Supreme Court affirmed a County Superior Court's decision to uphold state land regulators' permitting of a permit to allow Poland Spring's parent company Nestle Waters North America Inc. to develop a pumping station on about 1,000 acres the company owns off Redington Road in Dallas Plantation. The permit allows Poland Spring to extract up to 184 million gallons of water annually from Rangeley Water District's aquifers and to use 100 tanker trucks a day in and out of the station. The facility went on-line more than a year ago. Two justices, Chief Justice Leigh Ingalls Saufley and Jon D. Levy, dissented. Saufley wrote that rezoning, with its inherent public airing and thorough review of the newly proposed uses, should be undertaken before Nestle is allowed to engage in the extraction and transportation of the Rangeley Lakes Region's valuable water resources. Cathryn Thorup, co-founder of the Rangeley coalition said, "The community of Rangeley is obviously deeply disappointed with the split decision. We are pleased that two justices, including the chief justice, came down on our side, but obviously we wish we could have prevailed. To anyone who asks in five or 10 years, 'How could you let this happen?' We can say we took this fight just as far as we could." SunJournal.com_7/18/08
Maine water district and Poland Spring water deal may be dead
Public input cited
The Board of Trustees of the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District will hold a special meeting at 3 p.m. today, July 17, to consider indefinitely tabling a proposed agreement between the district and Poland Spring. Water District Superintendent Norm Labbe announced his recommendation to table the agreement in a news release July 9 — about five weeks after the Water District and Poland Spring said they "reached an agreement on terms" stipulated in a contract that would allow the Nestlé-owned company to extract water from the Branch Brook Aquifer in Wells. Labbe said the recommendation is his response to customer concerns that have been raised in the past few weeks and he feels "the board will receive (the) recommendation favorably." "We are done with this proposal until further notice," Labbe said Friday. "We want to do what is best for our customers and if we ever address this issue again it will be done with public input, up front, and without prior action by the district." Seacoastonline.com_7/17/08
Fiji Water: Bottled water and tap not in competition
Thomas Mooney, senior vice president for sustainable growth at Fiji Green, in an interview with U.S. News & World Report, said "People think that tap water and bottled water are the competitive set. That is not, in fact, how it plays out." He pointed out that bottled water is healthier than soft drinks. "What is so frustrating about this debate is when you look at it through that lens, bottled water represents the healthiest choice, and by far the lowest environmental impact.... We have precious few healthy eating habits in this country, and this is one of them. We spent a generation telling people to drink less soda, and they listened. When I see my sons drinking bottled water, I remember drinking Coke at their age. U.S. News & World Report_ 7/15/08
Business News
Suez and Gaz de France form giant global energy firm
Shareholders in publicly-held GDF and the private Suez group Wednesday approved a merger, despite opposition from the EU and groups in France. The French government has said it hopes the new corporation will become a national energy giant. Suez has major water and waste treatment operations in addition to its energy arm. The deal amounts to the privatisation of GDF and it triggered strong objections from the French left and consternation on the part of unions. It also means that the state enters Suez as the biggest shareholder. AFP_ 7/16/08
Construction
But they immediately ran into stiff resistance over proposed dams and the cost to a cash-starved state. The Republican governor and Democratic senator nevertheless believe that fears over prolonged drought and environmental collapse in the important Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta will convince lawmakers and voters that the bond measure offers California the best way out of a growing water crisis that threatens the economy and environment. They say there is no time to waste. Scattered rationing is punishing cities and farms, the salmon fishery has collapsed, global warming threatens to reduce vital snowpacks even more, the Sacramento delta is on the brink of collapse, and an earthquake could cut off water deliveries to Silicon Valley and Southern California. But opponents view dams as costly projects that do more harm than good to the environment and state budget and say the plan appears to encourage auctioning the right to build reservoirs, raising questions over whether only the richest water districts could afford to pay half of the cost of a dam, which can run more than $5 billion. The Schwarzenegger-Feinstein proposal is the latest in a series of water bond measures that have circulated in Sacramento during the past 18 months, including a handful sponsored by either business groups or environmentalists. All have been derailed. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 7/11/08
Environmental News
EPA sued over fertilizer runoff standards
Environmental groups have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hoping to force stricter regulation of water pollution in Florida and nationally. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday in Tallahassee claims the agency is violating the Clean Water Act by not setting standards for fertilizer runoff and other farm waste in Florida's waterways. Earthjustice attorney David Guest says he hopes a favorable ruling will force the EPA to set national standards. Guest is representing the plaintiffs. The groups say rain washes the runoff into rivers and lakes, contaminating waterways and nourishing algae blooms that poison the ecosystems. The EPA says it will review the lawsuit. Florida says the state is still studying ways to set such limits. AP_7/17/08
New water-saving technique gives oil and gas a greener look
Two companies working together announced they have perfected a method of turning wastewater from oil and gas wells into distilled water that can be used for agriculture, or to vastly reduce the environmental footprint the oil and gas industry has on the land. Across the western United States alone, more than five billion gallons per day of brackish wastewater, known as produced water, is brought to the surface during oil and gas production. This wastewater has historically been re-injected deep back into the ground where it came from, never to be used again, or it must be hauled away at great cost over long trucking distances. The new water-saving technique developed by Altela, Inc and Laramie Energy II, LLC purports to purify the brackish water on site. The companies claim turning this wastewater into usable water will benefit farmers, ranchers, and communities across the water-starved western United States and will help address the country's water and energy security. MarketWatch_7/17/08
White House rejects conclusion that global warming is a threat to public welfare
It launched a comment period that will delay action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least until the next president takes office. The Environmental Protection Agency published a 588-page examination of the issues surrounding greenhouse gases but refused to adopt its staff's finding that such gases could cause disastrous flooding and drought and affect food and water supplies. Environmentalists angrily denounced the White House for what they said was political interference with government experts' proposed rules. An EPA official who worked on the rejected reports said Friday's announcement was unprecedented because agency staffers did not have a chance to respond to other agencies' criticism. Los Angeles Times_ 7/12/08 (logon required)
download the report .pdf
EPA proposes first-ever rule to capture carbon and keep drinking water safe
Federal environmental officials have proposed a new rule to help curb greenhouse gas emissions and safeguard underground drinking water resources. The federal rule, if adopted, would establish the first national guidelines for safely storing carbon dioxide in underground injection wells. Injection wells are used to place fluids, like wastewater, into porous rock formations, such as limestone or sandstone, deep beneath the earth’s surface. They are located both onshore and offshore across the country, according to the EPA, and include depleted oil and gas fields and unmineable coal seams. Geologic sequestration, or the long-term underground storage of carbon dioxide captured from air polluters, such as coal-burning power plants, is part of a process known as “carbon capture and storage.” Typically, carbon dioxide emissions, produced by combustion of fossil fuels at industrial facilities, are captured as a gas and converted to a “supercritical” fluid. It is then moved by pipeline to an injection well, where it is stored. The EPA rulemaking would fall under the jurisdiction of the Underground Injection Control Program, part of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The law’s purpose is to protect underground drinking water aquifers from potential carbon dioxide leakage and contamination. Carbon dioxide is not toxic or radioactive, said Ben Grumbles, EPA assistant administrator, but large quantities of injected carbon stored in wells under high pressure could cause the gas to migrate into underground water sources, possibly contaminating them with harmful pollutants, such as aresenic and lead. The proposed rule would protect underground sources of drinking water by creating a sixth type of injection well, specifically for carbon storage. The new category would require the construction of wells, according to Enesta Jones, EPA spokeswoman, but it would be possible to convert some pre-existing wells for carbon storage purposes. In addition, the EPA would require evaluation, monitoring and testing of injection well sites and ground water. Medill Reports_7/16/08
Mosquitos are fussy about their water
One thing that makes Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that spreads the dengue fever virus, such a huge problem for human health is its egg-laying habits. Now, scientists from North Carolina State University and Tulane University have identified some of the chemical cues in the water that determine where a mosquito will choose to lay its eggs. Loganathan Ponnusamy, Ning Xu, Coby Schal, Charles S. Apperson and other researchers reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they infused water with white oak and bamboo leaves and found that mosquitoes preferred these infusions over plain water. Then they filtered all the bacteria out of the infusions and found that the filtered water attracted far fewer eggs, indicating that the cues that stimulate egg-laying are linked to the microbes. The researchers say the findings could help public health officials devise more effective ways to attract and eradicate or otherwise control A. aegypti, and thus help stop the spread of dengue fever and other diseases. New York Times_ 7/15/08 (logon required)
Great Lakes Water Issues
With the stroke of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's pen Wednesday at a Saugatuck beach, Michigan, which calls itself the Great Lakes State, became the last of eight states to formally approve a compact to protect the Great Lakes from having their water diverted to other regions. The measure now goes to Congress, possibly by the end of the month. Advocates are hoping it could be ratified by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush yet this year, said David Naftzger, executive director of the Council of Great Lakes Governors. It is expected to go to the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, and a transportation committee whose chairman is Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota. Oberstar is a key supporter of the compact. In the Senate, Naftzger said it's not clear where the measure would end up. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed it June 27, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed the measure July 4. The eight regional governors negotiated the compact in December 2005. Detroit Free Press_ 7/10/08
Great Lakes states are right to protect water from dry regions: McCain
Republican presidential candidate John McCain says Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states are right to protect their water from dry regions such as his home state of Arizona. McCain told The Associated Press in an interview after a Michigan campaign stop in suburban Detroit today that he supports the Great Lakes compact. McCain says he can’t envision a scenario in which Great Lakes water would be shipped elsewhere. McCain is among more than 20 members of Congress who have endorsed the compact, as has Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Sen. Barack Obama. The Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have adopted a nearly identical document. They could not join the compact because U.S. states cannot make treaties with foreign governments. AP/Green Bay Press-Gazette_ 7/10/08
International News
Greek tanker with much-needed drinking water for Cyprus discards it due to contamination
The ship pumped 40,000 cubic metres of water into the ground rather than a reservoir because delays had made the water unsuitable for consumption. After four years with no substantial winter rainfall, Cypriot water reserves are at their lowest since 1908. The tanker arrived at an offshore pumping station near the port of Limassol at the end of last month, but as it took two weeks to complete pipes to the reservoir, it was deemed unsafe for drinking. BBC News_ 7/16/08
Mars Water
Update:
Water 'widespread' on early Mars
Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.
Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes. They also discovered that wet conditions probably persisted for a long time on the Red Planet. Details appear in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience. BBC_7/17/08
Mars once held seas that may have been suitable for life
"There was apparently pervasive water present during the first 600 to 700 million years," said Brown University geologist John Mustard, co-author of a paper scheduled to be published today in Nature. Mustard's team studied data returned by the Compact Reconnaisance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, an instrument designed to find traces of minerals that interact with water. Ancient Martian oceans may have been salty, but at least they weren't boiling. And perhaps, said Mustard, they weren't dead. Wired_ 7/16/08
Regional Water Issues
Las Vegas urges early hearing on importing more water from Utah-Nevada border area
The main water supplier for Las Vegas, already allowed to pump more than 19 billion gallons of water a year from rural Nevada, pressed Tuesday for a January hearing on its bid for another 16 billion gallons from a valley on the state's border with Utah.
But opponents of the Southern Nevada Water Authority pumping plan for Snake Valley said they need more time to prepare, and asked state Engineer Tracy Taylor for a hearing delay until late 2009. SNWA's application for the Snake Valley water is a key element in its efforts to start delivering rural groundwater through a 200-mile-long pipeline network to Las Vegas by 2015. AP/Salt Lake Tribune_ 7/15/08
Technology
Swiss research group Eawag tackles arsenic in drinking water
The contamination of groundwater with arsenic poses a risk to the health of millions of people, especially in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. To date, no method has been available for identifying high-risk areas without conducting costly sampling campaigns. In an article published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Eawag researchers have now described a method that allows high-risk areas to be identified relatively easily, without the need for expensive and time-consuming groundwater analysis. For this purpose, the team, led by geologist Lenny Winkel and environmental chemist Michael Berg, compiled existing geological data from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sumatra (Indonesia) to produce a uniformly classified map. Science Daily_ 7/12/08
In a study published today in Nature, researchers led by Brown University geologist Alberto Saal found evidence of water molecules in pebbles retrieved by NASA's Apollo missions. The findings point to the existence of water deep beneath the moon's surface, transforming scientific understanding of our nearest neighbor's formation and, perhaps, our own. There may also be a more immediately practical application. "Is there water there? That's important for lunar missions. People could get the water. They could use the hydrogen for energy," said Saal. A high-powered imaging technique known as secondary ion mass spectrometry revealed a wealth of so-called volatile compounds, among them fluorine, chlorine, sulfur, carbon dioxide -- and water. If that water in fact came from the Earth, then planetary geologists can be certain that our planet contained water 4.5 billion years ago. That would change the dynamics of models of Earth's formations. ABC News_ 7/10/08
Wastewater
High chloride levels found in two Columbia, Missouri city drinking water wells
According to documents supplied to the Missourian by the city Department of Water and Light, high chloride levels in samples taken throughout the city’s well field indicate that effluent being used to flood Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area may be seeping into the well field, according to a 2002 study by Brenda Smith of the U. S. Geological Survey in Columbia. The sewage is treated at Columbia’s wastewater plant and piped to the Missouri River bottoms near McBaine for additional treatment in municipal wetland cells.
Related Articles. Barry Kirchhoff, superintendent of the city water treatment plant, said he’s aware of the Geological Survey findings and the possibility that treated effluent used to flood the state-owned conservation wetlands is affecting groundwater in the Missouri River bottoms that the city relies on for drinking water. Chloride is a major component of salt. Wastewater is high in chloride because urine, which is salty, breaks down and leaves chloride behind. Chloride is not known to be harmful to people, but its presence in the wells is an indicator of change in the water in the alluvial plane that the city’s 15 wells tap into. Columbia Missourian_ 7/15/08
And Finally
Seattle's automated toilets go way of the box and chain
After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits. In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them. The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York, Los Angeles and Boston, among other cities, to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for expansion this fall in their installation of automated toilets — stand-alone structures with metal doors that open at the press of a button and stay closed for up to 20 minutes. The units clean themselves after each use, disinfecting the seats and power-washing the floors. Seattle officials say the project here failed because the toilets, which are to close on Aug. 1, were placed in neighborhoods that already had many drug users and transients. New York Times_ 7/17/08 (logon required)
