The week that was, 11/8-14/2009

Posted on | November 15, 2009 | No Comments

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A line of scrapers works the ground. No water has been secured for the south metro reservoir, and Western Slope interests are balking at proposals to pump water over the mountains. (John Prieto, The Denver Post)

An armada of giant yellow earthmovers on the prairie south of Denver is racing to dig one of Colorado’s biggest water-supply reservoirs in decades — a hole 180 feet deep across 1,400 acres — designed to wean suburbs off waning aquifers. But the water to fill this reservoir? Not yet secured. — “Reservoir under construction south of Denver but there’s no water to hold,” Denver Post, November 10, 2009

pqdwebTaps are going dry in homes, but illicit hooch dens, operating in the Aarey Colony premises, are stealing water by punching holes in the main pipeline that supplies water to residential areas extending from Bandra to Andheri. — Sandeep Ashar, “No water for you as some steal it to make hooch,” DNA India, November 10, 2009

“It’s going to call for more exports. It’s going to call for more for the environment. Where is that water going to come from?” — East Bay Municipal Utility District general manager Dennis Diemer, “Winners and losers in water deal,” Oakland Tribune, November 8, 2009

“People might have some concerns about recycled water but I can tell you it tastes great and is cleaner than water from any other source.” — Ipswich City Council water chair Victor Attwood, “What a waste!” The Queensland Times, November 14, 2009

“If the QSA were to be ruled invalid, California’s water crisis would be exponentially more severe.” — Imperial Irrigation District spokesman Kevin Kelley, “California water-transfer deal faces court blockade,” USA Today, November 9, 2009

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You can’t blame them for building an 18-hole golf course in the middle of Isan – the country’s poorest region that was once labelled infertile land. — “Clearly a stroke of genius,” Bangkok Post, November 8, 2009

“It’s mad science,” said Mike Plater, who received an extraction fee bill of $1.5 million last year, even though he hadn’t irrigated his 50-acre avocado orchard near Moorpark since it was destroyed by the 2006 Shekell Fire. —Groundwater agency bills are ridiculous, farmers say,” Ventura County Star, November 14, 2009

“Indeed yes, we found water.” — NASA investigator Anthony Colaprete, “Satellite found water on moon, researchers say,” New York Times, November 14, 2009

“People will overreact to this news and say, ‘Let’s have a water rush to the moon.’ It doesn’t justify that.” — Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, “Splash! NASA’s moon crash struck lots of water,” AP / Chicago Tribune, November 14, 2009

In the hottest zones, radioactivity in the water reaches millions of picocuries per liter. The federal standard for drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter. — “Nuclear scars: Tainted water runs beneath Nevada desert,” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 2009

“Between the bishop of the poor and the poor themselves, I choose the latter.” — Bishop Dom Luiz Flávio Cappio, “Diverted river divides Brazilians,” The Guardian Weekly, November 13, 2009

“Some people urinate two ounces and use 20 litres of water to flush the toilet.” — plumber Marcel Fortin, “A water-filled flush isn’t even an option,” Toronto Star, November 13, 2009

$16.4 million was directed to departments through false claims that the funds were going to water pollution prevention. An additional $118 million in funding earmarked for projects addressing water pollution was never used. About $219.5 million in sewage and pollution discharge fees collected from businesses was stolen by officials and departments overseeing the collection. Businesses, meanwhile, failed to pay $307.3 million in sewage and pollution discharge fees that they owed. — Report finds dirty money, water in China,” The Washington Times, November 12, 2009

“This proposal is a sham until you deal with enforcement.” — Albert Appleton, former head of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection at a state senate hearing on the safety of “hydrofracking,” “Ex-environmental protection chief says staff inadequate to regulate gas drilling,” Albany Times Union, November 11, 2009

… will corporate executives who are by instinct averse to regulation try to downplay mandated conservation as part of the solution? Will bankers and developers naturally favor the construction of major reservoirs that would also produce thousands of lakeside lots to be sold? Will water-dependent businesses try to push the burden of conservation onto homeowners? Will real estate people oppose the idea of requiring low-flow toilets before a house can be sold? — “Perdue’s water task force closed to public,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, November 13, 2009

“This historic accomplishment would not have been possible without the support of a myriad of individuals and organizations that tirelessly fought to ensure that sound science and the public interest prevailed.” — Poseidon Resources’ Senior Vice President Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon press release via Aquafornia

Earlier this week, one of the subsidies demanded by Poseidon was granted. The Metropolitan Water Board approved a subsidy of up to $250 per acre foot per year for 25 years, which will make MWD customers pay more for water than they would otherwise have paid, with the profits going to a private company. Up to $350 million over 25 years. — Giving desalination another black eye,” Peter Gleick, “City Brights” column, San Francisco Chronicle, November 11, 2009

Even with the expected increase in pay-go funding, debt levels, currently above average at $3,285 per customer, are expected to increase to approximately $6,000 by fiscal 2014. —Fitch Rates Los Angeles Department of Water & Power,” Business Wire, November 10, 2009



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