NEWS

June 2009

Ski Hi Daily News - New law legalizes rain catchment - Andy Miller of Fraser, Grand Huts project manager, said he was pleased CO Gov. Bill Ritter passed the legislation on April 22 — legislation that will allow the collection of rainwater for household purposes, fire protection, watering of livestock and irrigation of gardens and lawns. Previous Colorado water law made it illegal to capture rooftop precipitation. Those who plan to collect roof rainwater are expected to apply to the state. For applicants who already have a well, the “form will require minimal processing,” according to the SB 80 fiscal notes. For those who do not have a well, the state conducts a full evaluation of the applicant’s property. The Department of Natural Resources expects to process 100 rooftop precipitation collection permits annually at $28 each. >> more

Sustainable Industries - E=H2O - Everyone learns in elementary school that energy and water are essential to sustaining and fueling life. In today’s fossil fuel-dependent economy, what’s becoming more apparent is how, when it comes to industrialized systems, water is an essential component to our energy system—you can’t have one without the other. Electricity is second only to agriculture as the country’s biggest guzzler of water, with power production sucking up almost 40 percent of U.S. freshwater withdrawals. Meanwhile, moving, cleaning and storing water burns of a surprising amount of power: In California, almost 20 percent of the state’s electricity is used to heat, deliver and treat water, according to the California Energy Commission. >> more

Stormwater - Keeping the LID on Runoff - Nature has its ways of dealing with stormwater. Once humans have altered a site, however, all bets are off, especially since most of our construction materials are nonporous. Therefore, a variety of manufactured products and earth-altering tactics are used to compensate for our changing nature’s status quo. “Low-impact development [LID] is an approach to stormwater management and site design that uses natural hydrologic processes to preserve or recreate that hydrology at the site level, or to meet goals,” explains Neil Weinstein, executive director of Beltsville, MD’s Low Impact Development Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of LID technology. >> more

May 2009

New York Times - Water Needs Electricity Needs Water - Each day, the nation’s thermoelectric power plants (90 percent of all power plants in the United States), draw 136 billion gallons of water from lakes, rivers and oceans to cool the steam used to drive turbines, according to the Department of Energy. In recent years, the energy department says, plans for new power plants had to be scrapped because water-use permits could not be obtained. >> more

Down To Earth - Rain Shocked - Rising trend of short but intense spells of rainfall is making usable water scarce in India. If you decide to ignore the news above as freak incidents you make a mistake. They are the order now. They are happening repeatedly all over the country. Farmers do not know why. Nor do they know how to tide over the crop-destroying downpours. Scientists and meteorologists have an answer to the first question. The root cause is global warming, they argue. >> more

TNLA Green - Rainwater Harvesting Taking Texas by Storm - One of the fastest growing water conservations techniques in the country, especially Texas is the age-old practice of rainwater harvesting. Rainwater, not tap water is best for plants, due to it's neutral pH, and lack of salts and other chemicals. >> more

Shelco Filters - White Paper - A Layman’s Guide to Inorganic and Organic Contaminant - To best make filtration decisions, it is helpful to review information and updated insight on basic filtration technologies, along with their advantages and disadvantages. >> more

Water Efficiency - Facing Long-Term Drought - Communities like Raleigh, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and Denver are all getting into the water conservation game. Approaches vary dramatically as do results. In Las Vegas, penalties for noncompliance are added to water bills, which must be paid for service to continue. Enforcement is swift and efficient—every inspection that results in a negative outcome results in a follow-up. First time offenses are $40, and then double for each reoccurring violation. “You have to enforce any ordinance you pass,” Bennett says; “your credibility is at stake.” >> more

May 18, 2009

Bord na Móna Environmental Products U.S. Inc. - Multinational company goes for rainwater in big way -Bord na Móna group, an international company involved in water treatment and other markets, says it is introducing a full line of residential and commercial rainwater harvesting products through its United States subsidiary, based in Greensboro, NC.>>more

King5 News - Major project under way beneath new Gates Foundation -The Gates Foundation dominates the blocks east of Seattle Center. But what you may never see is the monstrous structure being constructed under it. Workers are building a concrete basin for an underground reservoir capable of holding a million gallons of rainwater. >> more

May 8, 2009

Santa Fe New Mexican - New store will 'harvest water' -Two giant metal tanks have been installed at the not-yet-open Sunflower Farmers Market off Zafarano Road to capture rain runoff from the roof. The water will be used to irrigate the low water-use landscaping and trees around the 26,000-square-foot store, according to Greg Gonzales, construction manager for Branch Development. "With the large volume of water that can be collected, we figured it was a good way to water outdoor landscaping," Gonzales said. Gonzales said the city reduces the required amount of open space for a development if a water-harvesting system is included. >> more

May 7, 2009

King5 News - Major project under way beneath new Gates Foundation -The Gates Foundation dominates the blocks east of Seattle Center. But what you may never see is the monstrous structure being constructed under it. Workers are building a concrete basin for an underground reservoir capable of holding a million gallons of rainwater. >> more

May 1, 2009

Water Efficiency - 20,000 Gallon Rain Harvesting System Installed By Homeowner To Offset Drought -The California drought may appear to have softened because of the last batch of rains, but Monte Sereno resident Jerry Block isn’t having second thoughts at all about having one of the largest rain collection systems in the Santa Clara Valley recently installed in his back yard. “What if there is an earthquake and what if the drought continues?” says Jerry, “At least I will have water for my family and neighbors. Rainwater can also be used for fire suppression, irrigation, washing your car and even for keeping your swimming pool filled." Collecting this much rainwater significantly reduces stormwater runoff and erosion problems. That’s 20,000 gallons less rainwater that could get contaminated by the time it gets to a stream or an underground aquifer. With the craze of the Victory Gardens, as popularized by Michelle Obama, rainwater catchment helps assure that water will be available for growing home gardens during hot summer months." >>more

April 2009

Poisoned Waters - In Poisoned Waters, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem. "The '70s were a lot about, 'We're the good guys; we're the environmentalists; we're going to go after the polluters,' and it's not really about that anymore," Jay Manning, director of ecology for Washington state, tells FRONTLINE. "It's about the way we all live. And unfortunately, we are all polluters. I am; you are; all of us are." >>more

Canyon Courier - Change in law will allow rainwater collection - Sen. Chris Romer and Rep. Marsha Looper were prompted to change the 120-year-old law by a study which found that 97 percent of rainfall evaporated before it reached streams and rivers. The bill awaits the signature of Gov. Bill Ritter. It would take effect July 1, and anyone who qualifies to be able to collect water will need to apply for a permit with the Colorado Division of Water Resource’s state engineer’s office.>>more

Las Vegas Sun - A murky plan for graywater - A bill that would have allowed the recycling of residential graywater — the waste water from sinks, tubs and washing machines — died in the Legislature last week. The proposal in the Legislature ran into stiff opposition from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. >>more

Water World - $260M in economic recovery investments to help California address water supply, drought - Today, at a press conference with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California congressional leaders, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the Department of the Interior will invest $1 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) in America's water infrastructure to create jobs and get the economy moving again.>>more

BuildingGreen - Graywater Collection and Use - Graywater is wastewater that has been used in clothes washers, showers, bathtubs, and lavatory sinks. In some parts of the country graywater may be collected using separate drainage pipes, then filtered and temporarily stored (without treatment) before being distributed in subsurface outdoor irrigation. There are also systems that direct lavatory washwater to an adjacent toilet tank to be used (after limited treatment with disinfectant) for toilet flushing. >> more

Water Efficiency Magazine - Urgent Scenarios for Region's Water Outlook - As South Florida experiences its third driest season on record dating back to 1932, a new, independent study funded by a grant from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties lays out four water scenarios for the area's future - all of them urgent. "Dry Wells" rank as number one among the four alarming scenarios that depict "very different futures for water resources in Palm Beach and Martin counties. >> more

Environmetal Expert - Clay helps clean up pharmaceutical pollution - A new study explains how modified clay could be used to clean up pharmaceutical pollution in water supplies. It may present a viable, low cost option for treatment of wastewater in constructed wetlands in particular. The study focuses on some frequently detected pharmaceuticals, including ibuprofen. The effects of a multitude of drugs and other chemicals in water supplies are not yet well understood and require further investigation. >> more

April 25, 2009

The Sacramento Bee - Editorial: Water conservation bills worth backing - California is now in the third year of a drought, and the governor declared a statewide water emergency in February. It's time, once again, to push for improvements in conservation in new housing developments. Two bills are working their way through the Legislature – one sponsored by the California Building Industry Association (Assembly Bill 300 by Assemblywoman Anna Caballero) and another sponsored by the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the California Planning & Conservation League (AB 1408 by Assemblyman Paul Krekorian). Both have elements that would encourage innovative approaches to reduce water consumption in new housing developments. They call for builders to use voluntary water-saving measures (irrigation control, efficient appliances, leak detection kits, automated metering, rainwater harvesting, water recycling) or pay into a conservation fund. >> more

CA Statues and Regulations

April 20, 2009

The New York Times - De-Watering Wyoming - To the list of truly terrible ideas, we would like to add the one that is stirring up residents of southwestern Wyoming. A developer named Aaron Million has proposed to build a private, 560-mile-long, 10-foot-high pipeline from Wyoming’s Green River Basin, along Interstate 80, and then south along Colorado’s Front Range to Denver and Colorado Springs. The pipeline is meant to carry water — more than 80 billion gallons a year. >> more

April 16, 2009

Michigan Live - Lawton water rates could go up 75 percent - Water charges in the village of Lawton could increase as much as 75 percent to help pay for the proposed $4.1 million water project that includes mains, a well and a new water tower. >> more

April 15, 2009

BBSRC- Changing climate will lead to devastating loss of phosphorus from soil - Crop growth, drinking water and recreational water sports could all be adversely affected if predicted changes in rainfall patterns over the coming years prove true, according to research published this month in Biology and Fertility of Soils. Scientists from Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-funded North Wyke Research have found for the first time that the rate at which a dried soil is rewetted impacts on the amount of phosphorus lost from the soil into surface water and subsequently into the surrounding environment. >> more

Patterson Irrigator - Plan for nonpotable water system advances -City officials believe drinking water is too precious to be pouring over Patterson’s plants, and last week they continued the process of creating a nonpotable water system. The nonpotable system would allow water that doesn’t meet state standards for drinking to be used for landscaping. The system has the potential to save more than 25 percent of the city’s drinking water during peak demands, according to the city’s water consultant, Cort Abney. >> more

April 2, 2009

LA Times - Graywater study results can't be processed fast enough - "It seems we needed to do this study three years ago," said Sybil Sharvelle, principal investigator on a graywater study that's been in the works since 2006 and won't be completed until mid-2011. "There's a huge rush right now for information, and we're just not at the point yet where we're ready to provide results." Graywater is the wastewater generated from laundry machines, showers, baths and sinks (excluding kitchen sinks). About 50% of the wastewater generated inside an average American household is graywater, which makes it an attractive option for water agencies that are looking to not only reduce consumer demand for potable water, especially in areas that are prone to drought, but the amount of wastewater those consumers are sending to the sewers for treatment.>> more

April 1, 2009

Water Online - What's In Your Water?: Disinfectants Create Toxic By-Products - Although perhaps the greatest public health achievement of the 20th century was the disinfection of water, a recent study now shows that the chemicals used to purify the water we drink and use in swimming pools react with organic material in the water yielding toxic consequences. But the process of disinfecting water with chlorine and chloramines and other types of disinfectants generates a class of compounds in the water that are called disinfection by-products. The disinfectant reacts with the organic material in the water and generates hundreds of different compounds. Some of these are toxic, some can cause birth defects, some are genotoxic, which damage DNA, and some we know are also carcinogenic . >> more

Wall Street Journal - Water Worries Shape Local Energy Decisions - Last month, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a utility that provides power to mostly rural areas, agreed to conduct a major study to see if it might meet growing energy needs through energy efficiency and not a big, new coal-fired power plant, as it had proposed for southeast Colorado. One reason for the move was a challenge by Environment Colorado, an advocacy organization, about the amount of water a new plant would require. The study concluded that a megawatt hour of electricity produced by a wind turbine can save 200 to 600 gallons of water compared with the amount required by a modern gas-fired power plant to make that same amount. >> more

Reuters - Key facts about water in the U.S. West - The West has been one of the United States' fastest-growing regions, with its warm, dry climate a major draw. But much of its landscape is desert or semi-arid and many of its cities are facing a long-term water supply crisis. Some of the facts: The six-county area of Southern California, including Los Angeles and San Diego, is home to nearly 22 million people, yet 60% of its water is imported; Outdoor water use, such as lawn irrigation, accounts for 40 percent of average household consumption in the city of Los Angeles. >> more

March 2009

eco-structure - Rainwater System Wins Award - Grove Farm Co. Inc., Lihue, HI which enhances its land and water resources for the 40,000 acres it owns, won a Fairfield, CT-based GE ecomagination Leadership Award for its solution that provides a sustainable water resource for as many as 15,000 residents and visitors on the Hawaiian island of Kauai'i. >> more (page 20)

Harvard Business Publishing - Growing Business Risks from Global Water Scarcity - "Water Shortage Threatens China." "California Faces Water Rationing." "Drought in Australia Food Bowl Continues." With global temperatures increasing, scientists have told us to expect water scarcity problems like those California and China are now experiencing to increase and become even more severe. The consequences for an already reeling global economy will be profound. Numerous industry sectors should expect decreased water allotments, shifts towards full-cost water pricing and ever-more stringent water quality regulations. >> more

March 31, 2009

The Altoona Mirror - Nitrate levels high in drinking water due to lack of rain - Officials urge residents not to give infants 6 months and younger drinking water until nitrate levels decrease again. High nitrate levels can come from natural, industrial or agricultural sources, including septic systems and runoff, and vary throughout the year. Drought-like conditions also aggravate the water. >> more

March 27, 2009

USGS - Water Quality of Potential Concern in US Private Wells - More than 20 percent of private domestic wells sampled nationwide contain at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).USGS scientists sampled about 2,100 private wells in 48 states and found that the contaminants most frequently measured at concentrations of potential health concern were inorganic contaminants, including radon and arsenic. These contaminants are mostly derived from the natural geologic materials that make up the aquifers from which well water is drawn. >> more Complete findings are available online.

March 26, 2009

The Wall Street Journal - Catching Raindrops Can Make You an Outlaw -With drought widespread across the West, many cities outside Colorado are encouraging rain harvesting through tax credits, rain-barrel subsidies, even building codes that require rain-catching cisterns in new developments. The membership of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association -- a trade group that represents any company or individual interested in the practice -- has jumped from less than 100 to nearly 600 in just two years. But in Colorado and Utah, the only other state with a blanket ban on rain harvest, powerful forces are determined to continue limiting access to precipitation. >> more

March 23, 2009

The Washington Post - As climate changes, is water the new oil? - If water is now the kind of precious commodity that oil became in the 20th century, can delivery of clean water to those who need it be the same sort of powerful force as the environmental movement in an age of climate change? What was clear at this year's World Water Forum in Turkey was the notion that clean, fresh water supplies are waning due to a warming world. >> more

Union-Tribune - New watering source is surfacing - 'Gray' users go with flow from bathtubs, washers -Across the county, people are taking shorter showers, fixing leaky faucets and planting drought-tolerant vegetation. Faced with having lawns wither and shrubs shrivel, more people are tapping their washing machines, bathtubs and other sources of “gray water” to irrigate landscaping. “Pretty soon, it will be the exception not to do this,” said Ponizil, a contractor and building consultant. “We can't keep using water once and dumping it.” >> more

March 19, 2009

Environmental News Service - Forum Moves Water Higher Up Global Priority List -Participants from 192 countries are in Istanbul for the world's largest water event, the World Water Forum, which drew three princes, three presidents, five prime ministers, over 90 ministers, 63 mayors and more than 23,000 attendees. Conflict over scarce shared water resources is increasingly likely as the planet's population grows and freshwater resources shrink, the International Union for Conservation of Nature told Forum delegates today. >> more

LA Times - L.A. water rates revised to penalize heavy users - Warning that the city faces a water shortage this summer, Los Angeles officials approved new water rates Tuesday that will penalize residents if they don't cut their water use by 15%. Many low-income water users should not see a rise in rates, while some homeowners with large lots who don't conserve can expect a jump of $11 a month, according to the Department of Water and Power, which unanimously adopted the pricing structure. The rates would go into effect June 1 unless the City Council blocks the move. >> more LA water rate info >> more

March 13, 2009

Library of Congress - Energy and Water Integration Act of 2009 -The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences under which the Academy shall conduct an in-depth analysis of the impact of energy development and production on the water resources of the United States. >> more

Pacific Institute - Integrating Water and Energy Policy -Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, Calif., testified today before a packed hearing of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in support of a new bill that aims to integrate the relationship between water and energy use into national policy decisions. >> more

UN - UN warns of global water crisis -With demand for water never having been as great as it was today, and energy consumption expected to jump some 60 per cent in the next few years, the extent to which current crises linked to last year’s oil, food and commodity price spikes were linked to water. The production of biofuels had also increased sharply in recent years, with significant impact on water demand. The report noted that, despite their potential to help reduce dependence on fossil energy, and given the technology currently available, biofuels were likely to place a disproportionate amount of pressure on biodiversity and the environment. >> more

Santa Fe - New 8.2% Water Rate Increase -The City of Santa City Council has adopted a new ordinance that will increase water rates by 8.2 percent each year for 5 years. Under this ordinance, the average monthly residential water bill will increase from $31.51 this year to $34.10 in 2009, $36.90 in 2010, $39.90 in 2011, etc. Commercial users with an average monthly water bill of $1,030 would see an increase to $1,114 in 2009, $1,205 in 2010, $1,304 in 2011 and so on. >> more

Colorado State University - Graywater as a Potential Water Conservation Tool - Graywater - nonpotable water from showers, handwash sinks and laundry - is used for residential landscape irrigation in a number of states in the Southwest; however, little is known about long-term effects of this practice, according to Colorado State University civil engineers. >> more

Superintendent - Rainwater Irrigation - With water at a premium for golf courses in areas that are facing severe droughts, superintendents and course management are looking for ways to conserve. One option is to collect and store rainwater. The concept can benefit superintendents and golf courses across the United States, especially those that rely on municipal water when the demand for H2O exceeds the supply. >> more

February, 2009

The Wall Street Journal - Yet Another 'Footprint' to Worry About: Water - It takes roughly 20 gallons of water to make a pint of beer, as much as 132 gallons of water to make a 2-liter bottle of soda, and about 500 gallons, including water used to grow, dye and process the cotton, to make a pair of Levi's stonewashed jeans. Water footprinting has gained currency among corporations seeking to protect their agricultural supply chains and factory operations from future water scarcity. Next week, representatives from about 100 companies, including Nike Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Levi Strauss & Co. and Starbucks Corp., will gather in Miami for a summit on calculating and shrinking corporate water footprints. >> more

February 20, 2009

H.R. 631 Water Use Efficiency and Conservation Research Act - Requires the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Research and Development to establish a research and development program to promote water use efficiency and conservation, including: (1) technologies and processes that enable the collection, storage, treatment, and reuse of rainwater, stormwater, and greywater; (2) water storage and distribution systems; and (3) behavioral, social, and economic barriers to achieving greater water use efficiency.>> more

North County Times - Mobile-home park cuts annual water use by 1M-plus gallons - Residents of La Moree Estates mobile-home park are reaping the financial benefits of a year-long water conservation effort that trimmed the park's annual water use by more than 1 million gallons. The 1.4 million-gallon difference translates to a financial savings of $1,000 to $1,200 a month, he said. >> more

Aiken Standard - Water rates may go up by 700 percent - The water increase would set the base fee at $8 plus $4.50 per 1,000 gallons used, and number of water customers have said the system is ailing and hike is far too high. The rate has been the same since 1980 when the Public Service Commission of South Carolina first approved the rate. >> more

AWWA -Stimulus legislation small step forward in addressing water needs - President Barack Obama today signed into law an economic stimulus bill that provides $2 billion for drinking water projects and $4 billion for wastewater projects. >> more

February 12, 2009

Denver Post - Water bills back saving on rainy days - In Colorado's regimented water-law system, just about all the H2O is owned by a rights holder under a doctrine of "prior appropriation." Even raindrops falling on roofs belong to someone else. Preventing that water from reaching a river — and thus, its rights holder — is akin to stealing >> more

Eye Witness News - Dire Predictions Made on Las Vegas Water Supply - Nevada lawmakers heard grim news Wednesday from the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The water authority says financial problems will make it tough to pay for a third so-called straw to draw drinking water from Lake Mead. Without that straw, Las Vegas could be cut off from its water supply within a few years. If the drought continues another two years, we lose our second intake. At this point, Southern Nevada loses 90-percent of its water supply. >> more

ClimateChangeCorp - "Water footprint" enters corporate vocabulary - “Carbon footprint” is now a term used by consumers and business managers alike, although five years ago nobody talked about it much. Likewise, the term "water footprint" is now gaining broad acceptance. Indirect use which is about 23 times higher than direct use, of which about 31% is embedded in industrial goods and 65% embedded in food, with the other 4% relating to drinking water and water used for domestic purposes. The sum of the direct use and the indirect use of water is the water footprint. >> more

February 9, 2009

The Journal - Water -Harpers Ferry water bill passes 1st hurdle -The Harpers Ferry Town Council unanimously passed the first reading of resolution calling for a 30 percent increase in water rates at its monthly meeting Monday night". Over the next 10 years, we'll probably have to replace every pipe in town," Water Commission Chairman and Town Councilman Bob Johnson said. "We need some place to find the money." >> more

February 9, 2009

BBC News - Water - Another global 'crisis'? - The availability of water is a concern for some countries, but the scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability. Statistics on water consumption appear to back the UN's case. Japan and Cambodia experience about the same average rainfall - about 160cm per year. But whereas the average Japanese person can use nearly 400 litres per day, the average Cambodian must make do with about one-tenth of that. >> more

Sonoma County Water Agency - Reservoir Will Run Dry Given Current Water Use, Dry Weather - Today the agency released water storage projections that indicate both Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino will reach unprecedented low storage levels if rationing is not ordered and no significant amount of rain falls over the coming months. >> more

Stormwater - Stormwater Management in Arid and Drought-Prone Regions - Arid and drought-like conditions affecting different regions across the US are forcing many cities and municipalities to change the way they deal with stormwater management and water reuse. As water scarcity becomes serious, more and more water professionals are recognizing the value of rainwater and stormwater and are beginning to adopt and implement progressive strategies for catchment and retention. Tucson, AZ, in the arid Southwest, an eight-year drought has significantly drained Colorado River reservointly, manufacturers need a guideline on the use of wastewater, and a standard hasn't been established for the industry yet, Judd noted. In neighboring New Mexico, similar water-harvesting initiatives are being considered, planned, and implemented on various levels. >> more

January 29, 2009

Columbia Basin Ground Water Management Area - Aquifer in Decline - “It’s mostly old, ancient water, that isn’t being re-charged,” explained Paul Stoker, Executive Director of the four-County GWMA. “And with up to 1.0 million acre feet being withdrawn from the aquifers each year, it will continue to decline. If you live here, you need to understand how this impacts you, and the future of our communities.” >> more

US Water News - Green trend behind many products at builders' show - At this year's International Builders' Show, a record 363 vendors were featuring green products, more than double the number last year, said Calli Barker Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Home Builders. One example is teh Cimarron toilet that features a plastic stopper that limits the water per flush to about 1.3 gallons - far less than standard 3.5 gallon toilets.ater needs. The next generation of water-efficient toilets are likely to incorporate the use of wastewater, suggested Shane Judd, Kohler's senior product manager. Channeling wastewater into toilets also means creating more integrated plumbing connections between bathroom fixtures. But most importantly, manufacturers need a guideline on the use of wastewater, and a standard hasn't been established for the industry yet, Judd noted. >> more

Orange County Register - Buena Park water rates will go up 20% next month - City Council voted to approve raising water rates by 20 percent next month. Several council members said they reluctantly supported the raises, and did so only because of the rising cost to import water, and to shore up the city's water system. The first 10 percent increase would make the 35.50 base rate 39.05, and the capital fund 10 percent would bring the average household bill to $42.96. >> more

January 21, 2009

The Boerne Star - Rainwater could save BISD big bucks - So far as Jeff Haberstroh knows, Champion High School's rainwater collection system is one-of-a-kind. In fact, the new school's water management engineering is too progressive for current legislation. According to law, the high school as a public building cannot use its harvested rainwater anywhere inside the buildings - for flushing its hundreds of urinals and toilets, or even to circulate within its sealed cooling system. Instead, the facility may use collected water only for irrigation, a restriction that takes advantage of only about half of what's collected within the current system. In other words, except for storage capacity and legislative restriction, the mere half-inch of rain that fell about three weeks ago could have supplied more than half of the school's annual water needs. >> more

January 13, 2009

EPA - Municipal Handbook Rainwater Harvesting Policies - This is a guide for governmental water officials that are looking to determine how to create rainwater harvesting policies. It outlines the reasons rainwater can be a solution to the water problems facing the country and highlights some of the cities and counties that have programs in place already. >> more

Stormwater Magazine - Stormwater Management in Arid and Drought Prone Regions Arid and drought-like conditions affecting different regions across the US are forcing many cities and municipalities to change the way they deal with stormwater management and water reuse. As water scarcity becomes serious, more and more water professionals are recognizing the value of rainwater and stormwater and are beginning to adopt and implement progressive strategies for catchment and retention. The article highlights actions in Tucson, AZ, Santa Fe City and County, NM and Atlanta, GA. >> more

Tampa Tribune - Officials worry about drinking water supplies - Three years of drought coupled with problems at the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir has officials worried. Rainfall totals over the past three years are 28 inches below normal for the region, Felix said. That equals about half of a year’s rain.This is a guide for governmental water officials that are looking to determine how to create rainwater harvesting policies. >> more

NewScientist - Top 11 compounds in US drinking water - A comprehensive survey of the drinking water for more than 28 million Americans has detected the widespread but low-level presence of pharmaceuticals and hormonally active chemicals. Little was known about people's exposure to such compounds from drinking water, so Shane Snyder and colleagues at the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas screened tap water from 19 US water utilities for 51 different compounds. >> more

InsideCostaRica - 40,000 Still Without Running Water - Thursday's earthquake ahs left many communities without water and electricity and the risk of an epidemic. Areas like Los Cartagos, Varablanca, Fraijanes, Colonia Toro, Cinchona, as well as many other around the Poás have yet to receive potable water. Authorities say that the areas may continue without running water for the next three weeks due to the fact that many sources of water have collapsed completely from the force of the quake. >> more

January 7, 2009

The News Tribune - Tacomans will pay higher water bills - Water rates will go up sooner rather than later for Tacoma Water customers. The Tacoma City Council moved forward Tuesday with an overall 5.4 percent increase, despite a last-minute plea for relief from Metro Parks Tacoma officials. Residential customers will see a 2.3 percent hike this year, followed by a 1.7 percent rise in 2010. The parks/irrigation class, which covers the majority of Metro Parks’ water, will go up 10.7 percent this year and 8 percent in 2010. >> more

AWE Signs Historic Memorandum of Understanding Forming a Water Efficiency Research Coalition - The Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by all parties creates a coalition, lead by the Alliance for Water Efficiency, wishing to work on specific plumbing research initiatives. Sample projects that might be undertaken include drainline carry research for high efficiency toilets, non-water-using urinals, sizing of water efficient plumbing systems, and safe applications for re-use of water. >> more

December 31, 2008

Business Wire - Significant Purity Differences among Leading Brands of Bottled Water - A leading innovator in the development and commercialization of sensing systems for the detection of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive materials, today announced the results of an independent study into the different purity levels of the leading brands of bottled water based on the Company’s unique pathogen detection technology. The findings were surprising as they revealed that many of the higher priced brands contained heavier concentrations of bio-particle contamination than less expensive brands. >> more

December 26, 2008

Environmental News Service - Bush Administration Covered Up 500+ Blocked Water Pollution Cases The results of a Congressional investigation released today detail the collapse of the Clean Water Act enforcement program in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that clouded the question of whether rivers, streams and wetlands remain protected from pollution and development. The report reveals more than 500 clean water enforcement cases that have been dropped or stalled in the wake of the 2006 decision in Rapanos v. United States. >> more

San Antonio Express News - San Antonio now in worst drought category All but the southern tip of Bexar County deteriorated to the worst category in the U.S. Drought Monitor report issued Thursday as the terribly dry conditions continue to expand across the area. Bexar and all or most of nine other counties in Texas were placed in the “exceptional” drought category, meaning residents can expect such things as widespread crop and pasture losses and shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells, creating water emergencies. >> more

December 15, 2008

Alliance for Water Efficiency Advises Obama's Transition Team on Investment in Water Efficiency The Alliance for Water Efficiency advised President-Elect Barack Obama’s transition team about the employment potential and economic benefits of broad investments in water efficiency. AWE has prepared a position paper titled, “Transforming Water: Water Efficiency as Stimulus and Long-Term Investment ”. The intent of the paper is to show that water efficiency programs yield jobs, water savings and other economic benefits and will be a cost-effective investment to consider for the stimulus package. It has been reported that this document is already being used to help inform future national policy.

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December 15, 2008

Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel - FDA maintains bisphenol A is safe The Food and Drug Administration is sticking with its ruling that bisphenol A is safe, outraging lawmakers and health advocates who say the chemical is toxic and should be banned. Several hundred studies have been published in the past few years on BPA's effects. While studies paid for by chemical makers minimize concern for the chemical, most independent studies have found harm. >>more

December 8, 2008

Austin Water Wise Newsletter - The High Cost of High Pressure A landscape irrigation system can be very beneficial if it is operated efficiently. One problem is that an inefficient with high pressure is that it can waste as 40% of water meant for the landscape. An irrigation system operating under high pressure looks like mist or fog. If you can see water drifting into the air while the system is running, then water is being wasted. The tiny water droplets end up evaporating rather than falling on the landscape. Install a Pressure Regulating Valve (PRV) on the irrigation main line. This is the best way to repair a system that has high pressure on every station. >> more

November 25, 2008

Water Efficiency - Raincatcher's Delight -Seaholm tanks were sized so that minimal water was spilled, and the amount of rainwater to be collected, plus the amount to be used were noted for each month of the year. Austin has adopted strict criteria for stormwater control, requiring the first flush of approximately 0.8 inches of runoff to be detained and filtered before being released. Seaholm’s irrigation system will have underground pressure-drip lines that will discharge into the landscape root zone even during wet periods. This design is to provide ample reserve storage capacity to receive stormwater runoff from subsequent rain events. Butler’s research seminar—studied the feasibility of installing a rainwater harvesting system at Seaholm, and then evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of various systems (their report is available online: Seaholm Raincatchment System Evaluation). >> more

November 12, 2008

PR Newswire - Pennsylvania American Water Urges Western and North Central PA Customers to Use Water Wisely - Pennsylvania American Water today requested that customers voluntarily reduce water consumption by 5 percent in support of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) drought watch for 29 counties in western and north central
Pennsylvania. The drought watch is a result of the below normal rainfall
condition, which has occurred during the past few months and has resulted
in low stream-flow levels. >> more

November 9, 2008

San Diego Union-Tribune - CALIFORNIA'S WATER: A VANISHING RESOURCE Mandatory water-saving measures for all San Diego businesses and residents will start to take shape Monday. The biggest potential change for customers is a property-by-property water “budget” that would impose dramatically higher rates for those who go over their allotted limit. San Diego also is preparing to stop issuing water permits for most new development projects unless builders can offset their water demand through conservation or other measures. That provision would start only if the drought becomes more severe, but it already has sparked concerns about the lack of details. >> more

November 3, 2008

Calgary Herald - High water fees set to rise Calgary's water rates in 2007 were fourth highest of 23 Canadian cities polled, behind only Burnaby, Ont., St. John's and Winnipeg. The increases on the table for the next three years would see the average metered household pay around $200 more a year for water and wastewater in 2011 than they do now. While 1,000 litres of tap water would cost around $1.18 next year, a 510 mL bottle of Dasani priced at $1.79, is equivalent to paying $3,500 for the same amount of water. Even a four-litre jug of distilled water at $2.29 works out to cost nearly 500 times tap water. >> more

November 2008

Water Technology - Treatment for rainwater catchment there’s one POU/POE market segment that looks like an adolescent starting a growth spurt. It’s treatment of harvested rainwater. “It’s just sort of exploded in the last year or two,” says Dennis J. Lye, Ph.D., outgoing vice president of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA), based in Austin, TX, a trade group for system installers, manufacturers, consultants and individuals working in the field. >> more

The Observer - Drought Land will be Abandoned Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said water shortages caused by over-use of rivers and aquifers were already leading to serious problems, even in rich nations. With climate change expected to reduce rainfall in some places and cause droughts in others, some regions could become 'economic deserts', unviable for people or agriculture, he said. Experts at the International Water Association congress in September called for investment in water infrastructure to at least double from the current level of $80bn (£49bn) a year to avoid widespread flooding, drought and disease. Unep has calculated that enough rain falls on Africa to theoretically supply the needs of 13 billion people, and has called for a continent-wide rainwater harvesting programme. >> more

Running Dry in the American Southwest A documentary directed, written, and produced by Jim Thebaut, president of The Chronicles Group, a Los Angeles based non-profit public information/education film production company. Featuring narration from Emmy® Award-winning actress Jane Seymour, “The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?” is a definitive look at how the water crisis affects the American Southwest states and its escalating economic toll. As in the rest of the world, significant water problems exist in the Southwestern states because of severe drought, urban development, agricultural uses and population growth. The overwhelming need to solve these issues in the United States and the world is crucial through education and planning. The severity of the American water crisis cannot be underestimated. >> more >> View Trailer

FLOW: For the Love of Water Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. nterviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?" Beyond identifying the problem, FLOW also gives viewers a look at the people and institutions providing practical solutions to the water crisis and those developing new technologies, which are fast becoming blueprints for a successful global and economic turnaround. >> more >> View Trailer

Ethical Corporation - Water resources: Efficiency and conservation – Swimming in dwindling waters Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth largest inland sea, this massive expanse of water has shrunk to a tenth of its original size due to a huge irrigation project introduced in the 1960s. The fishing industry is now floundering, the flora and fauna perishing and the summers becoming hotter and hotter. Simple population growth is not the whole answer, however. Rapid rates of industrialisation, urbanisation and wealth accumulation mean that people are now using on average six times more water than they were a century ago. >> more

The National Academies Press - Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water Water use efficiency through technology and conservation, increasing supply through importation and desalination, and reuse of treated wastewater will occur due to increasing demand for fresh water. With or without these strategies, however, there is often a need for temporary detention and storage of water during times of abundance for release during times of need. Because of the shortcomings often associated with storage in aboveground reservoirs–including evaporative losses, land consumption, and ecological impacts–there is increased interest in storing recoverable water underground as part of an overall water management plan. This new 349-page $48 book, covers why it will be become necessary to store water underground as a means for augmenting current water supplies. >> more

October 2008

Environmental Working Group - Bottled water contains disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue, and pain medications The bottled water industry promotes an image of purity, but comprehensive testing by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reveals a surprising array of chemical contaminants in every bottled water brand analyzed, including toxic byproducts of chlorination in Walmart’s Sam’s Choice and Giant Supermarket's Acadia brands, at levels no different than routinely found in tap water. >> more

University of Texas, Austin - Green Roofs Differ in Building Cooling, Water Handling Capabilities Interest in vegetated roofs has increased as water and energy conservation becomes more important to property owners. Yet the study of six different manufacturers' products found the green roofs varied greatly in capabilities such as how much they cooled down a building's interior and how much rainwater they captured during downpours. >> more

October 30, 2008

Rocky Mountain News - Warming to cut Colorado water supply Though it's not clear how much less water the state's streams will generate, state officials say water utilities must craft drought plans to cope with water supplies that will be less predictable and, often, less abundant. The report was compiled by the University of Colorado Western Water Assessment, a partnership between the university, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the CU Cooperative Institute for Research into Environmental Sciences and the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University. >> more

October 24 , 2008

Homer News (Alaska) Turn off that tap - In the city's fiscal year 2009 preliminary budget, a residential water user who uses 2,000 gallons in a month, for instance, will experience a rate increase of 3.33 percent for water and 3.13 percent for sewer. A residential customer who uses 5,000 gallons would see a 9.52 percent increase for water and a 7.55 percent increase for sewer. A commercial water user who uses 5,000 gallons in a month would see a 12.9 percent increase for water and 14.46 percent for sewer, for example, and one who uses 100,000 gallons would pay 19.31 percent more for water and 35.37 percent more for sewer. >> more

October 21 , 2008

Rocky Mountain News - Future oil, water needs might not mix In 40 years, will Colorado have a greater need for oil or for water? The state may not be able to have both, a draft of a new study suggests. According to the assessment, as much as 410,000 acre-feet of water would be required to produce 1.5 million barrels of oil from shale annually by 2050. That's enough H20 for about 820,000 households. >> more >>Download Study

Thirsty world: Desperate quest for water (Excerpt from "What Matters," the latest book by "Day in the Life" series creator David Elliot Cohen) Water is the key to life. It is fundamental to all human activities. Water grows the food we eat, generates the energy that supports our modern economies and maintains the ecological services on which we all depend. Yet billions of people worldwide still lack access to the most basic human right: safe, clean, adequate water. This failure to meet the basic human need for water has direct, tangible and unacceptable consequences: drink dirty water and you get sick. Witness the father caring for his son afflicted by a guinea worm parasite. See the girl wasting away from cholera. Look at the consequences of arsenic poisoning on Bangladeshi villagers. And know that all of these diseases are completely preventable. >> more >>Download Water Chapter

October 17 , 2008

The Discovery Channel - Cactus Goo Makes Water Safe The slimy ooze inside prickly pear cactuses that helps the plants store water in the desert can also be used for scouring arsenic, bacteria and cloudiness out of rural drinking water, according to research at the University of South Florida in Tampa. >> more

October 13 , 2008

High Country News - Rainwater harvesting saves water, breaks the law Conservation advocates, including many utilities, have embraced the idea of using water collected from roofs, and stored in cisterns or rain barrels, to reduce reliance on dwindling surface water or groundwater supplies. Yet in Utah, Colorado and Washington, it's illegal to do so unless you go through the difficult -- and often impossible -- process of gaining a state water right.>> more

October 9 , 2008

The Sydney Morning Herald - Water to burn at fussy Starbucks WHILE years of drought mean many Australians wouldn't consider leaving the tap running while they brush their teeth, the coffee shop chain Starbucks leaves a tap running all day in each of its 23 Australian stores. But the practice, followed in all 10,000 Starbucks stores worldwide, has been slammed by environmental groups as unnecessary and irresponsible. Reports overseas say about 23.4 million litres of water - enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool every 83 minutes - is wasted in stores each day around the world. >> more

October 5 , 2008

Environmnental Protection Agency - NATIONAL WATER PROGRAM STRATEGY: Response to Climate Change The 119 page report includes an overview of the likely effects of climate change on water resources and the Nation’s clean water and safe drinking water programs. It also describes specific actions the National Water Program intends to take to adapt program implementation in light of climate change. Over the coming years, we in the United States can expect:

• shorelines to move as a result of sea level rise;
• changes in ocean chemistry to alter aquatic habitat and fisheries; warming water temperatures to change contaminant concentrations in water and alter aquatic system uses;
• new patterns of rainfall and snowfall to alter water supply for drinking and other uses and lead to changes in pollution levels in aquatic systems;
• more intense storms to threaten water infrastructure and increase polluted storm water runoff.

Climate change will have numerous and diverse impacts, including impacts on human health, natural systems, and the built environment. Many of the consequences of climate change relate to water resources. >> more

September 30 , 2008

OnTap Magazine - Rainwater Harvesting Moderate Investment Can Yield Big Results >> more

eco-structure Magazine - Rainwater Harvesting and Condensation >> more

Environmental Building News - Water Policies: Encouraging Conservation - Cambria is unique in drought stricten California. Even with strict water conservation there is simply not enough water. In 2001, Cambria issued a building moraturium on water permits, stopping almost all construction. New developments had to offset water use by as much as ten-to-one in some cases to get approval. Drastic measures are occurring across the West, where the population is growing. Cities and states are getting aggressive and creative in trying to conserve. Las Vegas with it's award winning we will pay you to rip out your grass program; California with it's flush-volume limit of 1.28 gallons for toilets, below the federal standard of 1.6 gallons; and Austin, TX with it's tiered rate structure that has a eightfold difference between the lowest and highest water rates. >> more

September 29 , 2008

WaterTech -Bostonians pay the most for their tap water - Bostonians paid more than other Americans for their publicly supplied drinking water in 2008 at $5.76 per thousand gallons, according to an annual survey conducted by the NUS Consulting Group. Some of the more notable increases included: New Orleans at 51.9 percent; St. Louis at 32.4 percent; Fort Smith, AR, at 29.6 percent; Sioux Falls, SD, at 18.2 percent; and Los Angeles at 17.9 percent. >> more

NUS Consulting Group’s 2007-2008 International Water Report and Cost Survey - Germany claims top honors as the most expensive surveyed country in terms of water with the United States being the least expensive. Australia experienced the largest year-on year increase in pricing at 18.5 percent. Over the past two years, average water rates in Australia have grown by more than 35 percent. In North America, Canada for the fourth year in a row experienced water price increases well beyond the country’s annual inflation rate. Further increases are expected as the nation invests more towards volume based pricing and promoting conservation efforts. The United States reported an average water pricing increase of 7.2 percent over the past year. Given these developments around the world, medium to large business consumers of water can no longer rely on cheap and abundant supplies. With fleeting opportunities for savings and the reality of ever higher prices, consumers must take an active role when it comes to their water purchases. >> more

Fresno Bee - Fresno residents could face changes in how they use water - Unlike most California cities, Fresno does not charge homeowners for the volume of water they use; an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, however, requires the city to begin charging a metered rate by 2010. Conservation will be a major part of Fresno's water future. Fresno residents use an average of just over 300 gallons of water every day, compared to about 240 in Clovis, which requires residents to pay a metered rate. Fresno's peak water usage during the winter, when most residential sprinkler systems are shut off, is 75 million gallons a day. In the summer, it's more than 250 million gallons. >>more

September 23 , 2008

Arizona Daily Star - Tucson council approves graywater regulations All new homes built in Tucson after mid-2010 will need to include plumbing for a graywater system, the City Council voted unanimously. The regulations affect only new construction, not existing houses, unless the homeowner builds an addition with a new bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. A newly constructed guesthouse on an existing property would need the graywater plumbing. Dozens of environmentalists came out to cheer the new rules, which were proposed by Councilman Rodney Glassman. >> more

American Stateman - Rainwater helps woman shrink water bill to about $15 a month - While Central Texas struggles through a drought, Jody Grenga is drinking the water she collected from her roof during two brief storms this summer. Grenga and her mother drink the rainwater after purifying it, and Grenga gives it to her seven cats, makes ice cubes out of it, cooks with it and rinses vegetables with it. Of people who live in their Sunset Valley homes year-round, Grenga has been the lowest water user in the past year, said Katy Phillips, the city's director of public works. Grenga said that her goal this month is to use less than 800 gallons of Sunset Valley water; the lowest amount of city water she used this summer is 1,020 gallons, in June. For basic needs, a person usually uses 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per month, Phillips said. >> more

Post Bulletin - Program touts the use of rain barrels - Next spring, hundreds of Rochester households could have similar rain barrels through a new program involving Rochester Public Utilities, the Olmsted Soil and Water Conservation District and other entities. People often associate rain barrels and rain gardens together so we're trying to co-develop these programs so people understand the connection with how they can do things differently in their yard to control stormwater and improve water quality," said Barb Huberty, environmental and regulatory affairs coordinator for Rochester Public Works. >> more

September 18 , 2008CNN - Planet is running out of clean water, new film warns - Water-related problems aren't restricted to the developing world. A harmful pesticide, banned by many European countries, remains widely used in the United States, where it runs into rivers and streams. And one expert estimates California's water supply will run out in 20 years. These sobering statistics come from "FLOW," a new documentary film about the world's dwindling water supply. The filmmakers and their sources argue a combination of factors, including drought and skyrocketing demand, have created a looming global crisis that threatens the long-term survival of the human race.>> more

September 10 , 2008

EPA Encourages Water Conservation - Water is a precious resource that is taken for granted until its availability becomes limited, and the growing demand for water and increasing population can create water shortages. Across the country a typical family of four spends about $850 on water and sewer costs per year, so reducing water use can also save money. A typical family of four can save $210 per year by changing over to water-efficient appliances and fixtures, and by adopting other water saving practices. "The average American uses a whopping 100 gallons of water per day, so making these few day-to-day sacrifices should not be a problem," said Donald S. Welsh, EPA regional administrator. >> more

August 30 , 2008

Associated Press - Rainwater collectors work to ease shortages - Scientists warn that climate change will result in more severe droughts and erratic storms worldwide, and this spring was the driest in California's 114 years of record-keeping. Extreme drought and abnormally dry conditions persist across large swaths of the country, with states in the West and Southeast hardest hit. Roofs are being used to collect rain from Austin to Seattle. Santa Monica's new library sits atop a 200,000-gallon rainwater cistern, and in August the city launched a rainwater rebate program for homeowners. In Marin County, a recent seminar on rainwater harvesting attracted a standing-room-only crowd of several hundred. >> more

August 25 , 2008

The Age - Desal and water tank wars - DESALINATION and other big-ticket solutions to Melbourne's water woes threaten to sideline alternatives, as a proposal to drop rainwater tanks is the subject of a row at the highest levels of State Government. In a separate public study on a proposed estate, Armstrong Creek in Geelong, Professor Coombes found that use of tanks and local recycling of waste water could cut demand for mains water by 75% and waste water by 63%. Such a strategy, he found, could defer the need for the Government's proposed $142 million pipeline to Geelong within 20 years.>> more

Rainwater Harvesting in the UK – Current Practice and Future Trends Rainwater harvesting (RWH), where runoff from roofs and impervious areas is
collected and utilised, is receiving renewed attention as an alternative water
source. RWH requires less treatment than greywater recycling, if being used for non-potable demand such as toilet flushing. However, there are challenges to overcome in the promotion and implementation of RWH in the UK; it is a
relatively unproven technology and there are still many concerns to be assuaged. Nevertheless, the situation is beginning to change with welcome moves coming from the Government, the UKRHA and housing developers themselves, in response to an increasingly challenging water resources situation. This paper provides a brief introduction to RWH, along with an overview of the current and future prospects of the technology within the UK. >> more

August 22 , 2008

Guardian News and Media - Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption - The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world, the environment group WWF will tell a meeting of international experts in Stockholm, with every consumer indirectly responsible for the use of thousands of litres a day. Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages. The study makes the first attempt to measure the UK's total "water footprint" and highlights the extent to which our imports come from countries which are running out of fresh water.>> more

Liquid Assets - Penn State Public Broadcasting Documentary on Nation’s Deteriorating Water Infrastructure - It is out of sight and out of mind, but America’s aging water system is in dire need of an overhaul. Penn State Public Broadcasting (WPSU-TV) is set to premiere a public television event on the looming crisis underneath our feet and how communities are trying to meet this challenge. "Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure," tells of America’s distressed essential infrastructure systems: drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. These complex and aging systems—some in the ground for more than 150 years—are critical components for basic sanitation, health, public safety, economic development, and a host of other necessities of life. A four-minute trailer is available for viewing now at liquidassets.psu.eduThe documentary explores major water, sewage, and stormwater infrastructure issues facing communities across the country, including: Atlanta, Boston, Herminie, Pennsylvania, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. >> more

August 22 , 2008

The New Mexican - Water-rate hike called 'regressive' - The city is proposing a 6.99 percent increase per year for both the monthly service charge and water-usage fee. The increase would occur each of the next seven years if the City Council approves the plan. It includes a 3 percent inflation rate per year. With the rate hike, an average monthly residential bill of $31.51 would increase to $33.71 in 2009, $38.59 in 2011 and $50.57 per month by 2015 >> more

Austin American Statesman - LCRA raises water, wastewater rates - The Lower Colorado River Authority on Wednesday approved rate increases for wholesale water and wastewater that will affect residential and retail customers in Williamson, Travis and Hays counties.

In addition, Liberty Hill wastewater customers who purchase services directly from the LCRA will pay about 15 percent more each month. Wholesale wastewater customers in western Williamson County will also see higher costs.>> more

August 19 , 2008The Salt Lake Tribune - Thirsty lawns add to Utah water woes - 1 million Utahns have about 11 years until H2O judgment day. At current watering rates and with projected population growth, that's when Salt Lake County's biggest water district either must enforce water rationing or spend $1 billion on new supplies, including a pipeline from the sensitive Bear River, northern Utah's migratory-bird oasis. >> more

August 13 , 2008

The New Mexican - Watching the Water - Scientists predict that climate change will mean more rainfall and less snow in Yosemite in the next 50 years. If that happens, they say, one of the nation's premier outdoor destinations could experience problems — including severe floods in winter and spring, plus dry wells in the summer. With global warming, "the magnitude and frequency of floodings may increase because springtime flooding is usually caused by rain on snow," Fengjing Liu, a research scientist at UC Merced, said in an e-mail. Flooding could be of the magnitude of the crippling January 1997 deluge, which caused more than $178 million of damage in Yosemite, Roche said. Slowly-melting snow offers another environmental advantage, Roche said. It's able to infiltrate the soil and build up groundwater supplies that feed wells in the mountains year-round as well as creeks, streams and rivers in the late summer and fall. >> more

August 12 , 2008

Austin Water Wise Newsletter - Connection Between Water and Power - A recent article here highlighted the connection between Austin Water’s energy use and the city’s Climate Protection Plan, noting that AWU is responsible for about half of the City of Austin electric use. That’s about 200,000,000 kWh per year; an average of 550,000 kWh per day.One coal car carries about 100 tons of coal, which can produce over 300,000 kWh. So AWU uses the equivalent of almost two coal cars’ worth of energy each day. >> more

August 10 , 2008

Wise County Messenger Online - District will consider temporary fees for water wells - Fees could soon be applied to some water wells in the county capable of pumping large amounts of water. Revenue from the fees will pay for the district's routine business. Residents of Wise and the other three counties voted to create the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District last year. The district's purpose is to protect the quality of local water and make sure residents maintain control over the groundwater fairly. >> more

August 7 , 2008

Voice of San Diego - Report: Water the 'Challenge of the Century' - San Diego's water supply once looked more reliable than it does today. But a prolonged drought on the Colorado River and legal restrictions on exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have forced the region's water wholesalers to tap storage reserves to meet demand. Unless the state experiences an unusually wet winter, water restrictions are possible next year. The widespread call for voluntary conservation has been ineffective. Those efforts alone are often not successful unless accompanied by tangible steps. >> more

August 2 , 2008

US Water News - Israel Not Alone in Water Troubles - Israel's water problems may look grave, with the Kinneret dropping to new lows and the price of water set to rise, but other countries - such as Australia and Jordan — are facing similar, if not worse, crises due to the scarcity of this resource. Australia's northeast tip, is now experiencing its worst drought in 100 years, with five consecutive low-rainfall years and water shortage, with supplies at just 38 percent of capacity. >> more

Environmental Network News - Spain's drought a glimpse of our future? - Barcelona, Spain is a dry city. It is dry in a way that two days of showers can do nothing to alleviate. The Catalan capital's weather can change from one day to the next, but its climate, like that of the whole Mediterranean region, is inexorably warming up and drying out. Its fountains and beach showers are dry, its ornamental lakes and private swimming pools drained and hosepipes banned. Children are now being taught how to save water as part of their school day. Spain needs to capture more rainwater, says Stephanie Blencker of the Stockholm International Water Institute, as climate change will produce alternating extremes of drought and heavy rain. "Rain is the biggest resource we have, and we can make it available all year round if we have sensible storage opportunities," she said.>> more

July 2008

U.S. Water News - San Antonio Water System announces 2008 WaterSaver Award winners - As San Antonio braces for another hot and dry summer, the city's water purveyor continues to work hard to promote water conservation in the city. San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has chosen 15 individuals and organizations in the city to receive 2008 Watersaver Awards for joining in the effort. Some of the winners include:

• Bexar County 4-H helped retrofit 364 toilets to conserve about 4.3 million gallons per year.The Valencia Homeowners Association helped retrofit 319 toilets for a savings of 3.8 million gallons per year.
• The 2008 WaterSaver Pioneer Award went to SeaWorld San Antonio. The 250-acre marine park has invested in numerous water-saving measures, including an extensive water-recovery system for all marine pools, ice-plant water reclamation for cooling, operating decorative fountains and watering hanging plants with captured air-conditioning condensate, planting and maintaining drought-tolerant landscaping, and retrofitting high-flow toilets at the park. Through these measures, SeaWorld saves more than 25 million gallons of water per year.

>> more

July 27, 2008

The Sun - City enacts strong water restrictions - Chino Hills has enacted the strongest water-conservation measures in its history. Pat Hagler, director of Chino Hills public facilities and operations, who is in charge of the city water agency, states the new ordinance to help encourage better water conservation does not have a time frame, . "I think it has to become a way of life for us, just like our gasoline," Hagler said. "We'll never go below $4 and we're probably never going to get more water. She added, "We're a very privileged society in America. In other parts of the world, water conservation is a way of life. We have to get in that same frame of mind." >> more

July 26, 2008

Tri-State Online - CAP officials look for future water solutions - The combined population of three of Arizona's most populous counties could double in 40 years and that has water experts dreaming up plans for the future. One scenario could have three desalination plants on line by 2048 to increase the supply of Central Arizona Project water flowing to Phoenix and Tucson. The prospect of desalination has in recent years gained more currency among water leaders in Arizona and the West as they try to deal with the twin pressures of population growth and drought that have kept flows in the river below normal for seven of the past 10 years.>> more

July 24, 2008

New York Times - Raindrops Keep Falling in My Tank - Mr. Librizzi, of New York, installed his tank on the northwest corner of his house, about 50 feet from the little 10-by-20-foot kitchen garden. The 32-inch-diameter tank holds 165 gallons, and he estimates that it collects about one quarter of the rain that pours off his 1,000-square-foot roof. It sits on a wooden platform, about 15 inches off the ground, to increase the water flow to the garden. To keep the tank stable in a storm, Mr. Librizzi wound metal strapping around it and the downspout; to soften its industrial look on the side facing the street, he erected a trellis for a native honeysuckle or autumn clematis. The construction is simple: rainwater flows down a spout from the roof until it reaches a T, where a filter catches leaves and particulate matter; water is then directed into the tank through a pipe set at a slightly downward angle. When the tank is full, the overflow runs through the other pipe in the T and into the ground. There is enough pressure to send water through 150 feet of soaker hose, which he has snaked through his modest vegetable and herb garden. “But it’s nowhere near the pressure you get from city water,” he said.>> more

July 23, 2008

Scientific American - Top 10 Water Wasters: From Washing Dishes to Watering the Desert - The many ways we squander water, from unintentional leaks to outright negligence. Many of us use water thoughtlessly; it seems as abundant as the air we breathe and a free swig is available almost anywhere. But fresh, potable water is already a precious commodity in many drier parts of the world, and as it grows rarer—and thus, dearer—in developed countries, the true value of H2O is beginning to seep in. Here's a list of some of the more egregious ways in which we squander it; some are easily avoidable, whereas others will require big changes in agricultural and industrial practices. >> more

Kitchen and Residential Design Blog - Raindrops keep falling on my head - (A fun article from someone just wondering if Rainwater Harvesting could actually help.) Tampa, Florida gets an average of 46 inches of rain a year. Nearly all of that rainwater floods the streets and washes garbage and silt into the Bay. I have been wondering if there can be some good use for those 46 inches.>> more

July 22, 2008

Kitchen and Residential Design Blog - Raindrops keep falling on my head - (A fun article from someone just wondering if Rainwater Harvesting could actually help.) Tampa, Florida gets an average of 46 inches of rain a year. Nearly all of that rainwater floods the streets and washes garbage and silt into the Bay. I have been wondering if there can be some good use for those 46 inches >> more

July 19, 2008

U.S. Water News Online - On the heels of a very wet 2007, about 95 percent of Texas is now in some stage of drought, with a sliver of two northwestern Panhandle counties garnering the worst status - exceptional - on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. The hot, dry conditions have diminished flows in many of Texas major rivers and are beginning to have a significant impact on the Hill Country and South Texas, according to a release from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “Conditions are such that the water tables are dropping,” commission spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said. All temporary-use water rights to state surface water in the Hill Country have been suspended until further notice.>> more

The Durango Herald - Collecting public rainwater is tricky Legislature considers ways to make it legal. Homeowners who capture rain from the roof to water plants or a garden are breaking Colorado state law. No kidding. The right to use water in Colorado - unlike Eastern states - is based on what is called the prior appropriation doctrine. A water right depends on when a user's claim is legally recognized. First come, first served. But judging from conversation Tuesday evening when about 30 La Plata County residents gathered at the Eco Home Center in Durango to hear a New Mexico rainwater harvest expert, the law may be observed more in the breach than the observance.>> more

Denver Post - Can you own the rain? Kris Holstrom lives with her husband and two children in a solar-powered home in rural San Miguel County. Committed to promoting sustainability, she grows organic produce year-round, most of which is sold to local restaurants and farmers markets. Kris did what thousands of farmers before her have done: She applied for a water right. Except instead of seeking to divert water from a stream, she sought to collect rain that fell upon the roof of her house and greenhouse. To her surprise, the state engineer opposed her application, arguing that other water users already had locked up the right to use the rain. The Colorado Water Court agreed, and Kris was denied the right to store a few barrels of rainwater. If she persisted with rain harvesting, she would be subject to fines of up to $500 per day. >> more

July 18, 2008

BBC News - Rain Friendly Building An innovative new building has been constructed in Leamington Spain which has been developed to cope with rainwater more efficiently.>> Watch video

July 14, 2008

New Hampshire Public Radio - Towns Brace for 311% Rate Increase Homeowners are dreading the onset of winter and unprecedented heating bills. But residents of four communities in New Hampshire may face another economic blow. The price they pay for water may rise dramatically. In some cases, they may see their water bills increase several times over.>> more

New way of managing water needed A new report, “The Next Market Crunch: Water,” takes on climate change and the impact to water supplies, with special consideration of how water managers are to adjust to changes in modeling current and future supplies. Surface water, groundwater and technologies to deliver potable water, such as reverse osmosis desalination, are discussed.>> more

July 10, 2008

State of California - Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Feinstein Propose Compromise Plan to Provide California Safe, Reliable and Clean Water "The goal of this plan is to break the long-standing stalemate over water," Senator Feinstein said. "California is facing an unprecedented water crisis. The combination of drought, court ordered water restrictions, global warming, and an increasing population has placed a major strain on the existing infrastructure. We need to prepare now for the future. The $9.3 billion bond proposal that the Governor and Senator Feinstein have proposed includes the following elements from all stakeholders and is a compromise approach that will move California toward a reliable water future:

• Increased water storage to ensure our water supply is more reliable year-to-year and we're able to capture excess water in wet years to use in dry years Improved water conveyance to reduce water shortagesRestored Delta ecosystem to allow California to take control of its own water systems
• Increased conservation and tools to use water more efficiently

>> more

July 4, 2008

Dallas/Fort Worth Channel 8 - Rainwater recycling plan costs in Richardson, TX Catching rainwater and using it to irrigate the lawn has become a bigger deal than a Richardson man ever expected. Bill Burke thinks a rainwater harvester can save 8,000 gallons of city water. But the City of Richardson is not making it easy to implement. The city admits this is a good idea but Burke can not install it without first applying for a special permit, paying $1,500 in fees, and having two public hearings.>> more

June 2008

New IMAX movie Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s obsession with rivers has its headwaters in the mid-1960s, when he and his famous dad paddled along the towering walls of the Grand Canyon. Now 54 and chief prosecuting attorney for the Riverkeeper environmental alliance, he goes after river polluters nationwide with a vengeance.>> more

June 19, 2008

Businessweek - There will be Water If water is the new oil, T. Boone Pickens is a modern-day John D. Rockefeller. Pickens owns more water than any other individual in the U.S. and is looking to control even more. He hopes to sell the water he already has, some 65 billion gallons a year, to Dallas, transporting it over 250 miles, 11 counties, and about 650 tracts of private property. The electricity generated by an enormous wind farm he is setting up in the Panhandle would also flow along that corridor. >> more

June 17, 2008

AllAfrica.com -Rwanda: Water Harvesting - Solution to Drought Harvesting water precisely means capturing rain where it falls or collecting the run off in one's village or town as a means of water storage to ensure constant supply in times of water scarcity. the Rwanda Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) started water harvesting in the southern and eastern provinces in 2007. "As we harvest water, we target areas that are susceptible to drought. So far we have dug ponds or check dams in these areas from which we irrigate agricultural land. Some are located in south Bugesera, Ruhango and Nyanza. More are yet to be built in Rwamagana, Gisagara and Kirehe," said Patrice Hacyizimana, the Director of RADA.>> more

U.S. Water News Online - Southern water providers raise rates despite conservation Atlanta's utility, struggling to pay for a $4 billion update of its sewer and water infrastructure, heard from angry homeowners this week protesting a plan to raise customer rates by 27.5 percent this year and about 12.5 percent each of the next three years. Charlotte-Mecklenburg utilities boosted rates by about 15 percent this month — about $6 for an average customer. Suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County warns it could raise rates if revenue — down 3 percent — keeps dropping. >> more

June 12, 2008

India Together - This bank deposits rain and draws water Cement cover, comes in the way of natural recharging of ground water. There is no exposed soil so that the runoff water can percolate into the sub-soil. In order to get rid of this ‘unwanted water’, a plan was devised. The cellar was made to slope down to an underground tank having an approximate capacity of 10,000 litres. As and when the tank would get filled, a sensor-operated motor would pump the water out and let it go to the gutters. The arrangement, a literal ‘dialysis’, was smoothly operating smoothly till B M Ramesh thought something more could be done. Ramesh’s second experiment of ‘cement breaking’ at his bank also proved beneficial. The borewell water has now turned sweeter and tastier. Earlier, all the steel vessels used for cooking developed thick, whitish scales inside. Cleaners had to scrape these scales three to four times in a year. Now the scaling has come down considerably. >> more

June 11, 2008

Daily Journal of Commerce - New rules will allow gray water in Oregon State building codes regulators will consider passing new rules to ensure Oregon homeowners don’t have to flush their drinking water down the toilet. Oregon building codes currently allow homeowners to collect and reuse rainwater for inside uses such as flushing toilets. But codes are murky when it comes to recycling gray water – water used in sinks, showers or clothes washers – for those same indoor uses. On June 20, however, the state Building Codes Division will take a proposal to the Oregon State Plumbing Board for new rules that would allow homeowners to install systems that reuse gray water in the same manner as rainwater for indoor use. The new rules would help ease concerns that have risen among conservationists and policy makers when it comes to using treated drinking water to flush toilets. >> more

June 10, 2008

Burlington Free Press - Vermont's Governor Douglas signs groundwater protection bill The legislation declares Vermont's groundwater a public trust and sets up a permitting process for those who want to make large water withdrawals. It is meant to protect Vermont from water-shortage problems other states are seeing, but also to prevent problems Vermont has seen with wells going dry, streams losing flow and neighbors having little control over projects that might affect them, said Jon Groveman of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, which supported the legislation. Advertisement "In the future, it's only going to become more of a problem," Groveman said.The law will require commercial enterprises that withdraw 20,0000 gallons a day or more to file a report with the state starting Sept. 1, 2009, and to obtain a permit for withdrawal of more than 57,000 gallons effective July 2010. Most farming operations will be exempt. That means the state should be able to better monitor how much water is being withdrawn and make sure it has no adverse impact on surrounding water supplies, Coleman said. >> more

June 7, 2008

New Age - Against the flow CANADIAN conservationist, activist and author Maude Barlow is to H2O what Al Gore is to CO2. It was the inclusion of water on the list of tradeable goods being negotiated between Canada and America in the late 1980s that put it on Barlow's radar. She began to read about the issues of water trade, water ownership, water rights, water security "I just became obsessed". The amount of water being shipped out [exported as crops] to make profit for a handful of corporations and agribusiness is not sustainable! >> more

New York Times - Water-Starved California Slows Development As California faces one of its worst droughts in two decades, building projects are being curtailed for the first time under state law by the inability of developers to find long-term water supplies. Water authorities and other government agencies scattered throughout the state, including here in sprawling Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, have begun denying, delaying or challenging authorization for dozens of housing tracts and other developments under a state law that requires a 20-year water supply as a condition for building. California officials suggested that the actions were only the beginning, and they worry about the impact on a state that has grown into an economic powerhouse over the last several decades. >> more

A Water Budgets, Not Rationing The 2007-2008 Grand Jury agrees that water budgeting is the solution for Orange County water woes. The Grand Jury calls on the water agencies to motivate consumers to conserve and to educate. > more

June 5, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle - Governor declares drought, orders water sent to worst areas Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a statewide drought and ordered the state Department of Water Resources to quickly transfer water to areas with the most severe water shortages. "There is no more time to waste because nothing is more vital to protect our economy, our environment and our quality-of-life," Schwarzenegger said. But Schwarzenegger argued that California desperately needs to build more water storage and improve water delivery systems to allow the state to better manage its water resources during dry years. >> more

June 4, 2008

Water Industry Leaders Launch Water Policy Institute to Address Current Challenges - A consortium of water leaders today announced the formation of The Water Policy Institute. Chaired by former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, the Institute will address water-related issues and provide information to the public through its website. Kathy Robb, a partner in the Resources, Regulatory and Environmental Law practice at the law firm Hunton & Williams LLP, is the founder of the Institute and will serve as its director. >> more

May 31, 2008

The Modesto Bee - Back to the future: Rainwater harvesting With California on the edge of drought and water restrictions already beginning in some areas, the state might soon be looking toward an ancient practice that is attracting renewed interest around the world: rainwater harvesting. In Australia, rainwater harvesting has been widespread for years, and in parts of the country it is the only source of fresh water. The government of Texas is an aggressive proponent of the idea. And in Washington's San Juan Islands, residents have overwhelmed a state agency that grants permits for the installation of harvesting systems. >> more

May 28, 2008

Deseret News - Eradicating contaminant may spur 25% rate hike Alta, Utah customers will have to pay 25 percent more for water if a proposal to increase water rates goes through. The extra $19,000 generated by the increase will be added to a grant of $450,000 from the state to pay for engineering studies focused on reducing antimony levels. The study to find the least expensive way to rid water of antimony will be complete in about a month, town officials said. Alta will then have to fund the solution, regardless of its cost. That figure could reach into the millions, said town clerk Kate Black. >> more

May 21, 2008

The Sacramento Bee - Home system collects rainwater for use in drier times The Sierra snowpack is below average. State officials said April and May were the driest spring on record. And Roseville has issued a drought alert – the first since 1994. People were already thinking water, so Robert Lenney tried to make them consider rainwater. "Several counties are in a water crisis, and several water agencies have ordered water conservation. It's very important," he said. Perusing Lenney's rain harvesting system, Scott Davis of West Sacramento said it makes sense, given the cost of water and conservation efforts. >> more

Orlando Sentinel - Orange County leaders adopted tougher conservation rules A key component requires businesses and residents in unincorporated Orange to honor state rules that bar irrigating lawns more than twice a week. Even-number addresses and lots, and common residential areas, can water Thursdays and Sundays. Odd-numbered addresses are allowed to irrigate Wednesdays and Saturdays. Violators could face a $100 to $250 code-enforcement fine, officials said. >> more

Wired Science - In America's Southwest, More People Plus Less Water Equals Trouble Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada - are smack in the middle of the desert. While there's plenty of land to build houses on out there, the same cannot be said of another commodity : water. With hundreds of thousands of new residents moving to those areas every year, scientists are warning that they may soon hit "peak water" - the point where there just isn't enough of the wet stuff to go around. To keep its taps flowing, Phoenix has come up with a 50-year water management plan. One part of the strategy is conservation. By enforcing strict plumbing codes and restrictions on watering large turf facilities, in addition to providing low-flow toilets to low income households, the city has cut the amount of water each resident uses daily from 267 gallons in the 1980s to 198 gallons today. But Phoenix isn't just cutting the amount of water it uses; they're also storing gigantic quantities of the stuff in an underground waterbank. Water from the Colorado Riveris pumped through canals and delivery channels into an interconnected set of aquifers lined with sand and gravel, creating a vast subterranean lake. Engineers control the flow in and out of this complex with a system of computer-controlled gates. >> more

Denver Post - New housing developments could collect own water the Senate backed a bill that would let up to 10 new developments apply for permission to install cisterns to collect rainwater that drains off rooftops. The water would have to be used on lawns and gardens or to fight potential wildfires. Democratic Sen. Chris Romer's proposal would let the developments try out the idea over the next three years. The aim is to measure whether the cisterns prevent a lot of water from flowing into rivers and streams or whether most of it would have been soaked up by the ground anyway. Rural residents who aren't connected to a water supply would also be able to collect rainwater but they would be allowed to do it permanently. >> more

May 15, 2008

Water Environment Research Foundation - Homes sought for graywater study research team is looking for homeowner-volunteers who would like to be part of a study looking at the impact of household “graywater,” as used in landscape irrigation, on plants, soils and human health. Volunteers are those with existing graywater systems that have been in place for at least five years, especially if they’re located in Florida, Arizona or New Mexico. The research team of professors Larry Roesner and Sybil Sharvelle also would consider participants from other states and those who would volunteer to install new graywater irrigation systems in the next year, particularly in Arizona, New Mexico and California. >> more

May 13, 2008

Fox News - Barcelona, Spain, starts to import water on ship The ships, scheduled to continue to arrive with water for at least the next three months, will provide the 5.5 million people of greater Barcelona with 6 percent of their usual monthly water consumption. The ship that arrived May 13 carried 5 million gallons of water. >> more

May 11, 2008

Virginia Water Resources Research Center - The intertwined tale of energy and water The conventional production of energy and power requires a huge amount of water. Without water, our energy and power generation systems will come to an abrupt stop. In the United States, for example, thermoelectric power plants consume 136 billion gallons/day of fresh water, a number that translates to an average of 25 gallons of water to produce one kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity. For example, A 60-Watt incandescent bulb can consume up to 6,000 gallons of water a year. >> more

CNN News - Is it time to talk about 'peak water'? Water is the new oil--a resource where demand continues to rise but supply is limited. Availability of fresh water has long been a concern for countries that are water stressed. But water is a tangible concern to more parties. A nuclear power plant in Tennessee was derated last year because of a drought in the region. In another case, a huge brewery was shut down because of a lack of available water. It takes 3,700 liters of water to make one liter of ethanol and 900 liters of water to make one liter of biodiesel. "If water had a price that was even a fraction (of its cost), those things wouldn't be done. They're done because oil has a price and water does not. >> more

April 30, 2008

The Christian Science Monitor - Hopes that the wells won't run dry in Vermont Vermonters so worried about unregulated water withdrawals that on Friday the state legislature passed a bill that establishes a water-permit requirement. Declaring groundwater to be a public trust, the bill aims to prevent corporations from taking more than their fair share. Enterprises withdrawing more than 57,600 gallons of water a day must now obtain a permit. (Most farms are exempt.) Gov. Jim Douglas (R) is expected to sign the measure. >> more

April 28, 2008

Wired - Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry - That the news is familiar makes it no less alarming: 1.1 billion people, about one-sixth of the world's population, lack access to safe drinking water. Aquifers under Beijing, Delhi, Bangkok, and dozens of other rapidly growing urban areas are drying up. The rivers Ganges, Jordan, Nile, and Yangtze — all dwindle to a trickle for much of the year. In the former Soviet Union, the Aral Sea has shrunk to a quarter of its former size, leaving behind a salt-crusted waste. >> more

April 25, 2008

USA Today - Water Rates Rise - Atlanta, GA and Charlotte, GA are seeing a 15% increase, and Palm Beach County, FL adds a $3.50 surcharge due to drought. “Nobody in the Southeast has been paying the true costs of water,” says Robin Craig, a law professor and water expert at Florida State University. >> more

Las Vegas Valley Water District rate increase- In Las Vegas the rise will increase bills by about 23 percent with a greater percentage increase for larger water users, and a smaller percentage increase for those customers who typically use less water. The rate increase will help promote water conservation and will help the Water District recover more closely the costs to deliver water. >>more

U.S. Water News Online - Vermont lawmakers told of coming water crises - “It's going to surpass energy as a national security issue for the United States,” said Maude Barlow, an Ottawa-based environmentalist and author of the books “Blue Gold” and “Blue Covenant.” “There are alternative forms of energy, but we haven't yet found an alternative to water,” Barlow told a joint hearing of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee and the House Committee on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources. The Senate has passed, and the House panel soon is to take up, legislation that would declare the groundwater under Vermont a “public trust.” That's a legal doctrine that the legislation's backers say could provide protections for the state's aquifers essentially by restricting individual users from sucking them dry. >>more

April 10, 2008

IPCC - Climate change and It's Impact on Water - IPCC used a conference in Budapest to launch a paper detailing the effects of climate change on the earth's water supply. Enough observations, made over decades, from which can be seen that the whole cycle of water is changing as result of climate change. The paper warned that there is an increased risk of extreme weather events, flooding and drought in many areas across the globe in the future. Changes to the earth's water supply could have serious consequences for the availability of food in the future. >>Executive Summary or >>IPCC website for full report

April 5, 2008

The Daily Sentinetl - Colorado Lawmaker wonders: Who’ll catch the rain? A Denver lawmaker wants to allow new housing developments in the state to get water the old-fashioned way — with cisterns. Under existing law, all rainwater is supposed to be allowed to flow into streams to be used by water-rights holders. Romer’s plan aims to measure whether there is a noticeable difference in runoff returning to streams if all of the homes in a particular development are gathering some of that water in cisterns. >>more

March 30, 2008

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) - Hotter and Drier: The West's Changed Climate In a report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), drawn from 50 scientific studies, 125 other government and scientific sources, and our own new analyses, documents that the West is being affected more by a changed climate than any other part of the United States outside of Alaska. >>more

March 26, 2008

The Denver Post - 136 years later, mine law may get update Mineral prices are soaring, which is helping push up the number of claims, the groups said. The measure hasn't been overhauled since President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law in 1872. >>more

The Daily Sentinel - Conservation district: There's less water than feds think for oil shale The federal government has projected that full production could reach 2 million barrels per day, which would require a lot of water. Estimates are that each barrel of oil would take one to three barrels of water to produce. >>more

Earth Policy Institute - BOTTLED WATER: Pouring Resources Down the Drain Global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004, up 57 percent from the 98 billion liters consumed five years earlier. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing. Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year. >>more

March 20, 2008

Ground Water Report to the Nation: A Call to Action Water demand, quality and quantity are matters of national urgency. If we don't act now, we rish degrading and jeopardizing the future health and well being of the country, our economy, and our ecological systems. >>more

March 10, 2008

AP - Pharmaceuticals Found in Drinking Water At least one pharmaceutical was detected in test of finished drinking water supplies fror 24 metropolitan areas according to a limited test of 62 major water providers. The long-term health effects of these contaminants is unknown. The EPA has no standards for these substances. >>more For more on what the EPA does require, read the article on - How safe is your water? The EPA regulates tap water, but how well do they do their job? >> more

February 13, 2008

Scripps News - Lake Mead Could Be Dry by 2021 There is a 50 percent chance Lake Mead, a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States, will be dry by 2021. Research concluded that human demand, natural forces like evaporation, and human-induced climate change are creating a net deficit of nearly 1 million acre-feet of water per year. Today, we are at or beyond the sustainable limit of the Colorado system. The alternative to reasoned solutions to this coming water crisis is a major societal and economic disruption in the desert southwest; something that will affect each of us living in the region" the report concluded. >>more

Washington Post - Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming - Water Supplies In West Affected The persistent and dramatic decline in the snowpack of many mountains in the West is caused primarily by human-induced global warming and is not the result of natural variability in weather patterns, researchers reported yesterday. The study, published in the journal Science online, is part of what has become a drumbeat of dire assessments based on reports of quickening climate change caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide from vehicles, power plants, industry and deforestation. Last week, the American Geophysical Union, a leading scientific group in the field, issued a warning that "Earth's climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming." May require registration to access full article. Friday, February 1, 2008; Page A1. >>more

February 8, 2008

News 14 Carolina - Raleigh tightens taps even further. City of Raleigh will move to Stage 2 water restrictions on Feb. 15. The stricter measures are meant to save more water. Stage 2 restrictions effect car washes, bans pressure washing and handheld irrigation. >>more

February 3, 2008

Water Shortage Highlighted at Davos 2008. Several panels sessions dedicated water, but not covered in the press. Time Is Running Out for Water, a panel including Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman and CEO, Nestlé, E. Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company, Fred Krupp, Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and CEO, Dow Chemical, and moderated by Ralph R. Peterson Death, Disease and Dirty Water a panel session including: Luke Alphey, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Oxitec, Michel Kazatchkine, Michel Kazatchkine Executive Director, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Pardis Sabeti, Jasmine M. Whitbread, Chief Executive, International Save the Children Alliance, United Kingdom , and moderated by David E. Bloom Securing a Watertight Future a panel including: Jean-Paul Bouttes, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Steve Dobbs, Daniel C. Esty, Walter Fust, Fred Krupp, Simon Maxwell, Ralph R. Peterson, Mary Robinson, Jean-Pierre Rosso. Orville H. Schell, Peter Schwartz, Björn Stigson and facilitated by Margaret Catley-Carlson. Highlights from this session:

• Global artificial irrigation uses 70% of the world’s water, ten times as much as all private households combinedIrrigated cropland continues to triple in size and demand for waterTen times more water goes into growing meat rather than vegetablesAgricultural land conversion rises by 20% just to meet hunger-reduction goals by 2015
• One-third of existing irrigated lands succumb to ruin due to soil salinity

Who Is Managing Your Supply of Water? - A panel composed of Huguette Labelle, Jim Leape, Director-General, WWF International, Moon Kook-Hyun, N. K. Singh, Achim Steiner and moderated by Margaret Catley-CarlsonhwartzThe True Value of Water - A session moderated by Daniel C. Esty, Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, on a panel composed of Vilasrao Deshmukh, Orville H. Schell, John J. Wilkinson, and Fernando Zobel de Ayala

January 30, 2008

EPA, National and Environmental Groups Launch "Green Infrastructure". New comprehensive plan to reduce runoff and increase environmental and economic benefits for communities. >> more

January 27, 2008

Polymers are Forever - Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance. Great article in a recent edition of Orion magazine on the alarming increase of plastics everywhere. >> more Most of our plastic grocery bags have a life span of 450 years.

Get Wise on your Watershed - Good overview primer in a recent edition of Backhome magazine on watershed and why protecting local water sheds is critical in maintaining clean water. In the Jan/Feb edition, not available online, but at bookstores and local libraries. >> more

January 13, 2008

Nature Geoscience - Antarctica shrinking faster than previously forecasted - Western Antarctica ice sheets are more vulnerable to global warming than previously thought, according to scientist Eric Rignot, lead author of a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience. >> more

December 13, 2007

South Florida Water Management District - South Florida Adopts One-Day-a-Week Watering - For the first time in the agency's history, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) today declared an extreme District-wide water shortage, directly affecting more than five million South Florida residents and thousands of farms and businesses. >> more

November 30, 2007

Engineering News- German scientists develop water-recycling system - Device collects rainwater instead of channeling it away unused through the sewers. he resultant germ-free water meets German drinking-water standards. >> more

October 27, 2007

Associated Press - Spawl, rising temperatures expected to cause shortages in 36 states within 5 years - The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess. "The need to reduce water waste and inefficiency is greater now than ever before," said Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency. "Water efficiency is the wave of the future.">> more

Mother Earth News - Wise Watering - Compared to your area’s native plants, most food-garden plants are amateurs at adapting to your local rainfall patterns, so they need help. Delivering water wisely means minimizing wasted water and wasted time. In more practical terms, it means anticipating your garden’s needs and setting priorities, having a conservation-based watering system in place, preserving water through mulching and finding innovative ways to work out the kinks in your garden’s water supply.>> more

October 21, 2007

New York Times - The Future is Drying Up - The steady decrease in mountain snowpack — the loss of the deep accumulation of high-altitude winter snow that melts each spring to provide the American West with most of its water — seems to be a more modest worry. But not all researchers agree with this ranking of dangers. Last May, for instance, Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, one of the United States government’s pre-eminent research facilities, remarked that diminished supplies of fresh water might prove a far more serious problem than slowly rising seas. >> more

October 15, 2007

Brisbane Times - Australian Govt to close water carter loophole for rich - A loophole allowing wealthy householders to buy drinking water for use on their lawns and gardens will be closed by the NSW government. New water estrictions would not apply to supplies from water carters of recycled water, or water from sources outside of Sydney Water's area of operations. >> more

October 12, 2007

Environment Texas Research and Policy Center - Analysis of 2005 Clean Water Act Compliance - More than 57 percent of major facilities nationwide, or 3,600, exceeded their Clean Water Act limits at least once during calendar 2005. The report noted that waterways contaminated from major facilities often flow into drinking water sources. >> more

October 10, 2007

San Gabriel Tribune - Companies Asked to Conserve - Large customers including Miller, Azusa Pacific University and Northrop Grumman Corp., city officials and representatives from Azusa Light and Water stressed the importance of tightening the spigots. Weather experts said this so-called "wet" season has been the driest in recorded history, with the Los Angeles area receiving less than half its average rainfall. >> more

October 3, 2007

Santa Fe Reporter - Hosed - Wasting water in Santa Fe is never in season. A listing and article of the top 10 priviate and public water users in Santa Fe. >> more

September 27, 2007

New York Times Asia Edition - Beneath Booming Cities, China’s Future Is Drying Up- Hundreds of feet below ground, the primary water source for this provincial capital of more than two million people is steadily running dry. The underground water table is sinking about four feet a year. Municipal wells have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater. >> more

September 18, 2007

Herald Tribune - Barrels conserve water and money - Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties are all encouraging the use of 55-gallon barrels to capture rainfall from gutters to be used for lawn and garden irrigation. Using rain barrels reduces storm-water runoff that can carry pollutants, pesticides and fertilizers into rivers, lakes, ground water and eventually drinking water supplies. >> more

September 3, 2007

BBC News - Humans "Affect Global Rainfall" - Human-induced climate change has affected global rainfall patterns over the 20th Century, a recent study suggests. The findings will be published in the scientific journal Nature. >> more

The Star - Going green in Guelph subdivision - A "green" house that has caught the attention of environmentalists, especially water conservation experts. The 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom house looks much like its neighbours in the subdivision except for the 38,000-litre cistern buried in the backyard that pumps rainwater into the house's toilets, dishwasher and washing machine. >> more

September 2, 2007

Hawaii Tribune Herald - 'An evening of rainwater catchment' a hit in Keaau" - The recent rainwater conference held in Hawaii focused on the benefits of rainwater catchment systems as integrated solutions to community problems, including stormwater run-off, sanitation and green waste, landscape/community design, as well as water quality issues.>> read more

September 1, 2007

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle - City saving 1 million gallons daily - Recycled water maintains more than 230 acres of city parks, cemeteries and athletic fields. The water recycling program saves an average of one million gallons of water each day. In a year, the water savings could fill Granite Reservoir. >> more

August 9, 2007

The Tampa Tribune - Tampa Water Rates To Double - City Council today voted 6-0 to double residents' water bills by 2012. Mayor Pam Iorio pushed the measure, her second water rate increase since taking office in 2003. The council also voted 6-0 to lower reclaimed water rates in an attempt to encourage more people to sign up. >> more

August 6, 2007

News.com.au - Rainwater to fill public pool - Rainwater will be harvested from rooftops to fill an Olympic-sized public pool in Victoria in a groundbreaking project designed to save water. Water saving will be achieved by collecting rainwater from the roof of the centre and the roofs of a nearby basketball stadium and library. The water will then be diverted to a tank and used to top up pools, clean pool filters, flush toilets and for showers and landscape watering. >> more

August 3, 2007

American Water Works Association - Bill proposes National Infrastructure Bank - Cosponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2007 (S 1926) establishes a new method that the federal government can use to finance infrastructure projects. In that summary, Dodd and Hagel quoted the USEPA estimating that repairs to obsolete drinking water and wastewater systems need as much as $151 billion and $390 billion respectively every year over the next 20 years. >> more

August 2, 2007

EPA - EPA to test thousands of environmental chemicals - EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology released a list of 340 chemicals that will be evaluated under Phase I of the ToxCastTM research program. This three-phased program sets priorities for toxicity testing of environmental chemicals in order to more efficiently obtain critical information necessary to protect people and the environment. >> more

July 30, 2007

ABC News - A Megadrought Could Cause Social Conflicts Over Water, Energy, Immigration - A recent heatwave in the Southwest is a reminder that global warning is well underway. Scientists at Columbia and Princeton universities have used computer models to predict a permanent drought that will persist for up to 90 years in one of the fastest growing regions in the country. >> more

July 20, 2007

San Francisco Sentinel - Know a Water Hero - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom today joined leaders from Bay Area water agencies to unveil an unprecedented regional public education campaign aimed at reminding residents and businesses to curb water use this summer and fall. >> more

July 20, 2007

US Environmental Protection Agency - Know A Water Efficiency Leader? - EPA is accepting nominations for the 2007 Water Efficiency Leader (WEL) Awards to recognize organizations and individuals that demonstrate leadership and innovation in water efficient- products and practices. Winners will be chosen by a panel of national water experts and based on three criteria: leadership, innovation, and water saved. >> more

July 11, 2007

North County Times - Rebate for Turf - Board members of the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District voted Tuesday to immediately offer homeowners a "modest" rebate to install synthetic turf, a conservation measure that could dramatically cut outdoor water use, which makes up 50 percent to 70 percent of residential water use. >> more

Frost & Sullivan Report - U.S. Water Recycling and Reuse Systems Markets Growing - Water recycling and reuse is gaining popularity in the United States due to the growing demand for water in industries and municipal applications like agricultural irrigation, lawn watering, and other non-potable applications. Increase in population and the growing economy are further putting enormous strain on the existing freshwater resources. >> more

July 2, 2007

TheStar.com - L.A.'s record-setting drought - History will show that from July 1 of 2006 to June 30 of this year, only 81 millimetres (3.21 inches) of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles – the lowest precipitation level since records started being kept in the 1880s. Other cities around the region also set all-time records. >> more

June 29, 2007

The Tampa Tribune - Cuts in Reclaimed Water Rates To Promote Use Proposed - The city wants to lower reclaimed water rates in an attempt to persuade people to hook up to the system. Propose rates would be $1.20 per 748 gallons of reclaimed water. The existing price is $1.34. New water rates would range would be $1.18 to $1.38 per 748 gallons. Those who use more water pay more. >> more

June 27, 2007

KIPLINGER FORECASTS - Water Scarcity Will Change How We Live and Work - Get used to living with less water -- at home and at work. And it's not just about being better stewards of the environment. It has more to do with limited supply. Learning to save water for a nonrainy day will be crucial; to help smooth out dips in supply. >> more

U.S. News & World Report - Why You Should Worry About Water - Cover story on the current state of water in the US with side stories on how to easily conserve; the state of water around the globe; how disease has been transported by water in the past; Las Vegas, Nevada's grab for more water; waters power to work and create energy and several others. Very informative. >> more

June 25, 2007

WaterSaver Technologies LLC Introduces AQUS™ Water Saving Device - The AQUS™, enables you to save water by capturing graywater that would normally go down the drain. Captured water is cleaned, disinfected, and distributed into toilet bowls…users experience water savings each time they flush a toilet! Possible water savings of up to 5,000 gallons a year in an average household are possible with this new device. >> more

June 23, 2007

Mainichi Daily News - Water Shortages Feared Across Japan - The level of water in the Sameura Dam in Kochi Prefecture had declined to 31.6 percent of its capacity by midnight on Wednesday, as compared with the normal level of 86.5 percent for this season. The water shortage is attributed to little rain in winter and spring. In particular, areas along the Sea of Japan coast had the least rain and snow since observations started in the 1961-62 winter. >> more

June 20, 2007

The Birmingham News - Jail Time Possible for Watering - Under the restrictions approved unanimously by the council, most outdoor water use - including washing cars by hand and using sprinklers - is prohibited. Fines of as much as $500 and jail sentences as long as six months for those who violate the city's water ban. >> more

June 9, 2007

Las Vegas Review Journal - Lake Mead Could Go Dry in 10 Years - Bradley Udall, director of an environmental research institute connected to the University of Colorado, said Lake Mead's 14 million acre-feet of water, or about 4.5 trillion gallons, isn't being replaced as fast as it is being used. "At the current rate of use, Lake Mead has 10 years of water left in it," he said. >> more

May 24, 2007

News12 Augusta, GA - Georgia Working on Water Conservation Plan - With each day passing and no rainfall in sight, drought conditions continue to worsen across Georgia. All but six counties in the state are now in an extreme or severe drought. The proposal is still in its early stages, but it's a long-term plan that Georgia's state environmental planners say will help conserve and manage the state's water supply during drought conditions. >> more

May 23, 2007

USA Today - Investors Profit in Search for Clean H2o - Three funds in search of profits from lack of clean water: The PowerShares Water Resources, Claymore Fund, and First Trust ISE Water Index Fund. The oldest of the funds has gained 28% since December 2005.

USGS - Pharmaceuticals Found in Soil - Many areas of the Nation are faced with water shortages due to significant demand for water. As a result, supplies are being augmented with treated wastewater. In a recent study it was found that pharmaceuticals in wastewater used for irrigation persist in soil for several months after the irrigation stopped. >> more

May 15, 2007

11 EyeWitness News - Mandatory Water Restrictions Go into Effect - Dry conditions have forced Chatham County, North Carolina officials to implement mandatory water restrictions. >> more

May 11, 2007

Palm Beach Post - Watering Down to One Day a Week - The strictest water limits in South Florida's history will take effect Wednesday, allowing just one day a week for sprinkler use in Palm Beach and Broward counties. The A drought could extend to the summer of 2008. >> more

May 8, 2007

Check out EPA's WaterSense program and World Water Center added to the Resource section. >> more

May 5, 2007

The News Tribune - Milton, WA May Adopt Year Round Restrictions - The city, which straddles Pierce and King counties, is the only water system in Washington to enact restrictions so far this year, a state water specialist said. >> more

May 1, 2007

Reuters - CA water officials urge conservation - Water in the state's snowpack is at its lowest level in almost 20 years and officials called for conservation and more water storage "As we experience climate change and the resulting lower annual snow packs, it is critical that we increase the amount of runoff captured by building additional water storage facilities," Gov. Schwarzenegger said in a statement. >> more

CBS4Denver -7 States Submit Colorado River Water Sharing Plan - Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico Utah and Wyoming filed a plan with the Interior Department on Monday aimed at divvying up scarce water resources during drought. Officials said the long-debated pact would protect 30 million people who depend on the river for drinking water. >> more

April 22, 2007

Consumer Reports - WATER FILTERS Simple, effective options - A review of various water filters options. Included in the review are carafe, counter-top, and undersink models that could be used in conjunction with a rainwater harvesting system. The article lists typical minerals and chemicals that each system removes. >> more

April 19, 2007

Macon.com - Entire state of Georgia faces tighter water restrictions Georgia "has been in a persistent and progressive drought condition since last June," said Carol Couch, director of the state Environmental Protection Division in a news release. The conservation restrictions focus on residential watering because as much as 60 percent of summer household water use is outside, according to the EPD. >> more

April 13, 2007

Miami Herald - Water Restrictions may go year round State emergency managers, monitoring a potentially catastophic drought, are moving to extend water restrictions year-round, but warn that it may not be enough to avert disaster. ''It's a bit of uncharted territory we're in,'' said Fugate, whose agency directs recovery efforts after natural catastrophes. ``You're going to start crossing a line. The decision, quite honestly, isn't going to be to reduce a little bit. It's going to be who is not going to get any water.'' >> more

April 11, 2007

insideBayArea.com - Conserve water now, or else More than 2 million Bay Area residents today will be told to cut their water use 10 percent by June or face the kind of mandatory water restrictions that the area hasn't seen in 15 years. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is 46 percent of normal — the lowest this time of year since 1990. Meanwhile, rainfall totals around the Bay Area are barely half of normal for this time of the year, and the rainy season is nearly over. >> more

April 8, 2007

SearNet - Southern and Eastern Africa Rainwater Network (SearNet) is a regional body set up to promote rainwater harvesting especially in eastern and southern Africa. Its mission is to network among its member associations within the region for the promotion of rainwater harvesting and utilization. New resource link

April 4, 2007

Miami Herald - Tighten the tap: Record cutbacks comingIn the coming days, canals and ponds in western suburbs will drop fast and shallow ones may dry up. In weeks, municipal wells near the coast -- particularly in Broward County -- could pump water too salty to drink. In months, wetlands may wither and Lake Okeechobee could recede to the lowest point since the dike was built around it more than 70 years ago"This is one of the worst droughts we have ever seen," water district Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle was quoted as saying. >> more

April 2, 2007

Dallas, TX - The recent flooding rains have had little effect on water levels in North Texas, and consequently, water restrictions went into effect in Dallas.According to the city, lawn watering is not allowed between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. or when there has been any form of precipitation. The city also asks that that residents keep their sprinkler systems from running into driveways, sidewalks or streets.The restrictions began April 1 and will remain in effect through the end of October. Violators could face a fine up to $2,000. >> See Dallas Water Conservation to learn more

Water Efficiency - Stormwater Harvesting A Project Survey Harvesting stormwater runoff is becoming an option in dry climates. The impetus for these harvesting projects varies, from developing alternative sources of water and safeguarding existing supplies to intercepting pollutants before they reach critical receiving waters. The aim is to mimic natural cycles that have been short-circuited by development, particularly the hardscaping of naturally permeable surfaces. The Commonwealth Urban Stormwater Initiative and Clean Seas Program, developed a stormwater harvesting facility next door at the Parafield general aviation airport. A 28-acre, 4,000-acre catchment site drains almost 4,000 acres and is designed to capture one year’s worth of stormwater—800,000 gallons—from an average rainfall of 19 inches a year. The stormwater is diverted via a weir in the main airport drain, and then to a 50-megaliter-capacity, in-stream capture basin. From there the water is pumped to a similar-capacity holding basin from which it gravity-flows to a 2-hectare constructed wetlands. Over the course of seven to 10 days, the wetlands reduce nutrient and pollutant loads by up to 90%. The resulting water meets Australian drinking-water standards and has less than 220 milligrams per liter salinity. The final product is either supplied directly to end users or injected directly into an underground aquifer for storage. The project is expected to eventually harvest 2.43 acre-feet per year. Cost to customers will be half that of potable water. >> more

World Water Day, March 22nd, 2007 - The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The Water for Life Decade 2005-2015 will give a high profile to implementing water-related programmes and the participation of women. The UN hopes that the Decade will boost the chances of achieving international water-related goals and the United Nations Millennium Declaration.Get educated, get involved >> more

March 06, 2007

CanWest News Service VICTORIA — B.C. residents should pay more for keeping their drinking water clean and safe, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall said today.Drinking water rates should reflect the true, long-term costs of water treatment, distribution and water system monitoring, Kendall said at a press conference to release his report Progress on the Action Plan for Safe Drinking Water in B.C.>> more

February 21, 2007

Climate Assessment for the Southwest Wednesday, the Climate Assessment for the Southwest predicted that the West will have a warmer than average spring and summer.As the climate continues to change, New Mexico could see more droughts - and more heavy rainfall and flash floods, says Charlie Liles, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. "Most of the models suggest the extremes in weather will increase," Liles continues, and "the droughts will probably be more intense, but I don't know that we can say they'll be more frequent. Of course, those same models indicate extremes in wet weather may increase as well. But as the climate continues to change, the state could see more droughts - and more heavy rainfall and flash floods. Liles says, "People, will just have to adapt as the changes come". >> more

February 18, 2007

San Francisco Chronicle The real cost of bottled water More than 1 billion plastic water bottles end up in the California's trash each year, taking up valuable landfill space, leaking toxic additives, such as phthalates, into the groundwater and taking 1,000 years to biodegrade. That means bottled water may be harming our future water supply.Americans bottle water addiction consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil, enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. >> more

February 14, 2007

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)Two billion people will be without water ROME, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- In less than 20 years, close to two billion people will be without water and two thirds of the world will not have enough water, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned here on Wednesday. One way to deal with water scarcity is through farming-related techniques that harvest more rainfall, reduce waste in irrigation and increase productivity, and in changes in crop and dietary choices, Steduto added.“Water has a major impact on the capacity of people everywhere to improve their lives,” says Pasquale Steduto, Chief of FAO’s Water, Development and Management Unit. “In many regions, farmers trying to produce enough food and income face the added challenges of repeated droughts and competition for water.” >> more

February 9, 2007

The Albuquerque Tribune Albuquerque saves 100 billion gallons of water
The city has conserved 100 billion gallons of water since 1994 through water conservation efforts. The amount saved for the city was estimated to be about three years worth of water for all customers served by the authority.The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority offered rebates to customers who installed water-efficient toilets and to those who landscaped with native plants that required little water. The authority also enforced fines for customers who were caught watering sidewalks, forced all new construction projects to install low-flow fixtures, and made large water users develop conservation plans.New conservation measures are in the works including more rebates, a law requiring any home up for sale to have low-flow fixtures, and a program that will target water leaks. The amount saved for the city was estimated to be about three years worth of water for all customers served by the authority>> more

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