Inter-state water transactions

This story, illustrates some of the challenges facing the US. In the article, the only demand that gets recognized is the use of water to supply a growing population. In the same manner that the Colorado river is completely consumed, where does the natural environment fit into their management scheme? Would decisions about water management be made differently if there wasn’t a state boundary there? With regard to managing water, political boundaries are completely arbitrary and yet, they set the agenda in the US as it is the only legal platform from which to begin a discussion about water “rights”.

When project accounting goes bad

This project, “$27M down the drain with Manotick pipeline plan” seems odd.
$27 million for 376 homes?
A real estate guy on my hockey team recently said upon hearing that I was a water engineer, “That’s smart business. We always say, ‘follow the sewers’ cause they lead to the money.”
In this case, it seems like the City is trying real hard to ensure the developers / “Minto-owned lands” will be the ones making the money. Course the City is a Janus beast and is opposing the development at the same time by going to the OMB which is easily explained by understanding that action is originating in a different department. Not like two departments would ever consider coordinating their actions.

February Tab sweep: Water

Some collected tabs pertaining to water this week.

Adapting Water Use to a Fast Changing World

We are on the verge of a water crisis. As world economy and population continue to grow, we are becoming a much thirstier world. It is important to realize just how much water we need to make every aspect of our economy work. Every liter of petrol requires up to 2.5 liters of water to produce it. On average, crops grown for their bioenergy need at least 1,000 liters of water to make one liter of biofuel. It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton T-shirt, up to 4,000 liters of water to produce a kilo of wheat and up to 16,000 liters to produce a kilo of beef. The statistics are equally surprising for hundreds of other consumer products that we all take for granted like milk, juice, coffee, fruit, pizza, detergents, carpets, paint, electrical appliances, cosmetics and so on. On average wealthier people “consume” upward of 3,000 liters of water every day.

Water restrictions bite for 70000 as drought worsens

QUEENSTOWN and Whittlesea are in the grip of a drought that has forced the Lukhanji Municipality to institute stringent water restrictions on about 70000 residents. The restrictions came into effect on Friday and will remain in place until further notice. Municipal spokesperson Mkhululi Titi said the Bonkolo Dam, which supplies water to the two areas, is about 67% full, but has only one month’s supply left at the current rate of water usage.

“The ideal level would be above 85%. We haven’t had good rains in a while,” said Titi, adding that the municipality last introduced restrictions in 2003.

Water next big battleground

DISPUTES about the nation’s dwindling water supplies loom as the next great legal battleground, according to the country’s most senior judge, Murray Gleeson. … Justice Gleeson said courts would have an increasing role in settling environmental issues, especially as businesses and governments dealt with concerns about climate change.

Drought-stricken Georgia eyes Tennessee’s border — and river water

Others have threatened to fire rifles from Lookout Mountain.

“If they really do try to pull this off, we will do whatever we have to do to defend ourselves,” said Howell Moss, the mayor of Tennessee’s Marion County, noting that the disputed milewide strip of land has been an accepted part of his state for nearly 200 years.

There is a theme running through more and more water stories. That theme is echoed from the very early environmental movement spawned from the “limits to growth” book. These stories are linked by:

High demand -> Shortfalls in supply -> Conflict -> ________

The last word in that chain is not yet written. In many cases, it will be pursued through courts where there are courts with jurisdiction to resolve water problems. In other places, like intra-nation conflict, it could get very ugly. Let us configure a United Nations body with the express purpose of finding non-violent resolutions to these conflicts. A US style water rights based on property ownership is unlikely to be a workable solution.

Brisbane residents best water savers in world: Newman

From ABC News, “Councillor Newman says the Queensland Water Commission data, showing residents are using an average of 123 litres a day, means Brisbane has overtaken cities in Germany as the best water savers in the developed world.”

What does 123 litres of water a day look like compared to Canada?

I’m familiar with a typical value of 340 as the average daily water consumption per person but I have seen info suggesting that we are getting down to below 300 for some communities that have implemented water conservation measures.

Other info, here , here, here and here.

So if a community has implemented water conservation, what does it take to get down to the EU typical rate of 140 litres per capita? What does a solution look like that cuts a typical Canadian water consumption figure in half? To even consider this, we have to go and look at the CBC article and a breakdown of water use, Toilet flushing = 30%, and water used per task.

Just for completeness, I checked and our household’s consumption based on the last bill was 138 litres/person.

A political rarity; Greg Sorbara compliments Finance Minister Flaherty

I saw this on TV last night and was pleased to actually see and hear one politician recognizing an opposing party’s political work.

“Ontario welcomes the proposed federal Working Income Tax Benefit, which will support people with low incomes. And we are pleased to see Ottawa’s proposal on the Capital Cost Allowance as a way of helping hard-hit manufacturers.” link to source.

All too often the only sound bite that is captured and/or presented is a critical comment that suggests that the budget presented is all crap. This is what the federal Liberals and NDP presented. I think that the federal conservatives have done a couple of good things with this budget including:

• rebates on fuel efficient vehicles *and* penalties on gas guzzling vehicles.
• tax incentives for big pharma to donate medicines to developing countries,
• the working income tax benefit, and
• A National Trust to protect land, buildings and national treasures.

The other item mentioned by Sorbara in the budget is the CCA for the manufacturing to have a two year window to write off new equipment along with the ACCA or accelerated Capital Cost Allowance to move from oil sands to green technology. Unfortunately, neither of these is a benefit to municipal utitilties that are starting to track their investments in capital but do not receive a tax benefit for doing so.

What municipalities need is an capital incentive program that replaces inefficient systems with green technologies for moving and treating water and wastewater.

Big water companies quit poor countries

Political and consumer pressure forces rethink – Full story by John Vidal in The Guardian, March 22, 2006
Okay so the gist of the story is that privatization hasn’t been the solution to a third world water problem that people thought it would be. I really don’t like that categorization of third world vs. first world.
The problem seems to be that poor people in poor countries have trouble paying for clean and safe water where that clean and safe water was produced using first world style treatment and distribution technologies.

Clean Water Act Brouhaha

Lot’s to link to on this one but I thought Judith Lewis had the best blurb that I’ve read, so far.

IRAQ: Severe water shortage hits Baghdad suburbs

There were a couple of juicy quotes.
“Water wastage in the capital, along with bad infrastructure, has increased,” said Saleh Ra’ad, a senior official at the Ministry of Water Resources.
and
Water shortages have traditionally occurred in Baghdad during the summer months, due to the intensive use of air conditioning, public swimming pools and increased washing activity. This year, however, marks the first time shortages have been recorded in the winter months.”It’s the first time we don’t have water during winter,” said Jawad Hakeem, resident of a Baghdad suburb. “They say it’s a problem with the pipes, but I believe that careless maintenance and corruption are the main factors behind the shortage.”
[emphasis is mine]
The full story is here from Reuters Feb 06, 2006

Chloramine changes prompt warning for taste and odour.

From Miami Herald, “Miami-Dade residents might notice slight change in chlorinated water; officials say it’s normal”. Full Story here, Miami Herald Feb 06, 2006

This is a best practice by water utilities. Providing customers with advance notice of a pending process change. What they don’t provide but is easily available on the Internet is notice of what the changes mean. The Internet makes searching very easy and here is what the wikipedia has to say about Chloramine.
“Chloramine use by water purification plants is increasing. Chlorine (sometimes referred to as Free Chlorine) is being phased out in favor of chloramine because chloramine is much more stable and doesn’t dissipate from the water before it reaches consumers. There is also less tendency to form halomethanes such as chloroform in the presence of organic materials. Halomethanes have been recognized as a health hazard.”

How about the EPA Region 9 page?

Is the information provided in the Newspaper enough to counter the potential misinformation contained in the Wikipedia article? The wikipedia article combined with the Herald article suggest that Miami-Dade residents are at risk from Halomethanes. However, Halomethanes will form only under certain conditions, which includes higher than normal concentrations of free chlorine.

“The temporary change will likely bring a “chlorine smell and/or taste to water, according to a county statement. But the water is safe for drinking, bathing and cooking, (but not according to the county statement?)

This really could have been worded better to provide water consumers with a higher degree of confidence in their potable water supply. Something like …

Water staff will monitor the free chlorine used to ensure that levels remaining in the water system provide protection to water consumers and are within required guidelines.

The change includes a reference to monitoring of the change for a negative impact and meeting water quality regulations, guidelines or laws, (which vary from state to state and province to province).

So who fell down on this one? The newspaper for poor writing or the utility for a softly worded press release?

Martin announces $1-billion water cleanup

A Liberal government would invest $1 billion over 10 years to clean up major waterways in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, Paul Martin announced on Saturday.

Full Story here.