Expert explains a world suffering from water shortage

This is a very interesting video about the water situation in the World and in the US, with some useful recommendations at the end.

Minnesota Voters approve $5.5 billion for Land and Water Conservation

SAINT PAUL, Minn., Nov 05, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Yesterday Minnesota voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, the largest conservation ballot measure in history, according to The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization. At more than $5.5 billion dollars for land and water conservation, the winning measure nearly doubles the previous largest conservation ballot measure, New Jersey’s Constitutional Amendment in 1998, which dedicated $2.94 billion in sales tax to the Garden State Preservation Trust.

The historic success of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment will increase investment in clean water, natural areas, cultural legacy, and parks and trails by about $290 million a year for 25 years. An estimated $220 million a year will protect and restore natural areas, parks, and lands vital for water quality.

“Minnesota voters are willing to pay to protect our waters and natural lands for our children and grandchildren,” said Susan Schmidt, director of The Trust for Public Land’s Minnesota Office. “They know that these lakes and natural lands play an important role in preserving our quality of life. With our natural lands diminishing, we could not afford to wait to protect the water quality of our rivers, lakes, and streams, or to conserve natural areas, parks, and habitat for fish and wildlife.”

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Source MarketWatch

South’s Dry Spell Travels North

CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) — The drought that has plagued the Deep South for more than a year is creeping northward, and officials in multiple states are restricting outdoor burning in the face of water shortages and forest fire risks from falling leaves and tinder-dry conditions.

Extreme drought conditions, the second-worst possible, have now spread into Kentucky, and severe conditions have returned to West Virginia and southwest Virginia, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“The last three months have sucked every bit of moisture we’ve had,” said Ben Webster, a fire staff assistant for the West Virginia Division of Forestry.

In eastern Kentucky, retailers are sending bottled water to drought-stricken Magoffin County after its primary water source, the Licking River, fell to low levels and residents were told to conserve tap water.  The county’s school system is serving meals on disposable plates with plastic utensils. Lunch trays have been temporarily shelved to save on dishwashing.

Kentucky also suffered through a severe drought a year ago, but “this is probably the worst that I’ve had to deal with,” said Joe Hunley, Magoffin County’s schools superintendent.

Tens of thousands of gallons of bottled water have been distributed through a fire department and a water company alone.  “We’re bringing water in daily and distributing it to those people who are in need,” said county health director Berti Salyer. “Of course, that’s just about everyone in Magoffin County right now.”

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Source: CNN

Israel Could Bring Solutions to L.A. Water Shortage

By Lilly Fowler

There was a time when the actions to solve Los Angeles’ water problems read like a dystrophic political novel.

At the beginning of the last century, L.A. Mayor Frederick Eaton and William Mulholland, superintendent of the city’s newly created Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), plotted to gain control of water sources in Owens Valley, which left Owens Lake dry and area farmers with little recourse.

The result was the completion of the first Los Angeles Aqueduct, which supplied the city with much of its water from 1913 until a second aqueduct was completed in 1970. (Los Angeles also draws water from Northern California via the California Aqueduct and competes with other Western states for water from the Colorado River.)

The city of Los Angeles recently began atoning for its sins by returning some of the water to the Owens region, which has forced L.A.’s 3.8 million residents to do more with less. With the city’s population expected to reach 4.2 million to 4.9 million by 2020, according to the Southern California Association of Governments, solutions are needed to address the area’s growing water needs.

A recent conference at UCLA’s School of Law, “Transboundary Environmental Management in the Arava and Beyond,” proposed that Los Angeles might gain some ground regarding its often-contentious water policies if the city turned to Israel’s example.

The Sept. 9 forum, sponsored by the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a leading teaching and research program in the Middle East, suggested that both Israel and Los Angeles have made many of the same mistakes when trying to develop water in arid, dry lands and could learn a great deal from each other when dealing with issues of water scarcity.

“There are very strong parallels between what’s going on in the Western United States and what’s going on in the Middle East,” said Peter Gleick, the keynote speaker at the conference.

Gleick, a MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental research organization, said both countries are struggling with the issue of how to best share their water supplies with neighbors. Although Israel, according to Gleick, faces the more complicated problem of sharing water from sources like the Sea of Galilee, natural underground aquifers and the Jordan River with its Jordanian and Palestinian neighbors, the dilemma in both countries is much the same.

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Source: The Jewish Journal

Pennsylvania Town Requests Voluntary Water Conservation

DUBOIS - Mayor John “Herm” Suplizio is asking City of DuBois residents to voluntarily conserve water, he announced at yesterday’s city council meeting. Mayor Suplizio called on residents to eliminate unnecessary water usage in order to maintain the city’s water supply. Water levels are currently down at the city’s reservoir.”We’re not at a mandatory level yet, but we’re not far away from it,” said Mr. Suplizio. “If people don’t have to wash their cars, it would be nice of them not to. Just little things … if you don’t have to hose down your garage, things like that.”

Source: The Progress

Water Usage Up and Reservoirs on Decline in Hawaii

WAILUKU - Periodic but isolated showers on windward and mauka areas of the islands had little effect on the watersheds, Maui County Water Director Jeff Eng reported Friday.

In his weekly water use report, Eng said water use was up by 620,000 gallons a day in the Central Maui and Upcountry systems, while the water sources for the Upcountry system have continued to falter. 

“I would like to remind our customers of our request for Upcountry customers to reduce water usage by 5 percent and our Central customers to reduce water usage by 10 percent,” he said.  “It’s been a dry week and the upcountry reservoirs have been steadily dropping, going from 100.6 million gallons on October 2 to 81.4 million gallons on October 10. That is less than half of the total storage capacity of 180 million gallons.”

The islands as a whole continue to dry out even with occasional trade-wind showers, with the Big Island suffering the worst of the abnormally dry conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor expanded the area of North Kohala under extreme drought, increasing the area rated extreme drought from 10 percent to 12.3 percent of the islands.

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Source: The Maui News

In California, Drought Prompts Closure of Boat Launch

HEMET – Private boat launches in the Inland Empire’s largest reservoir – Diamond Valley Lake – will be indefinitely suspended starting Tuesday because of low lake levels caused by drought, according to the Metropolitan Water District.

In the meantime, the MWD board of directors Tuesday will discuss options for lengthening the boat ramp so private boats can once again access the lake.

Since 2006, levels at the lake have receded 70 feet, according to Bob Muir, spokesman for the MWD, which runs the reservoir. Of that 70 feet, 24 feet of water has disappeared since January, Muir said.

The water level at the storage facility has dropped to the end of the boat ramp, making it dangerous for private boats to launch. Small fishing boats and rental pontoons can still be used, Muir said.

“This action speaks volumes about the seriousness of the water-supply situation Southern California faces next year, particularly should we not rise to meet the water-saving challenge that’s before us,” said Metropolitan General Manager Jeff Kightlinger.

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Source: The Union Tribune

Georgia Drought Continues Despite Hurricanes

The banks of Lake Lanier in Buford, Ga., look about the same as last year: Closed boat ramps, parched soil and lonely islands peeking above the surface that should be covered by a dozen feet of water.

Epic drought forced officials across the Southeast about a year ago to impose severe water restrictions and warn that Atlanta, ground zero for the dry conditions, could be just months from running short of water.

While the drought has eased, its tendrils still extend across the region. All it takes as reminder of the drought’s grip is a look at the level of the lake, Atlanta’s main water supply, which is more than 17 feet below normal.

“I’ll tell you, we’re paying attention,” said Billy Calhoun, a former fishing guide who works along the shores of Lanier. “We’re not forgetting about the drought.”

The drought spread across the region last year and forced state and local officials to order sweeping water restrictions to save dwindling resources. Landscaping companies went under and some towns worried about running dry.

The response from many corners of the region was swift.

Georgia banned virtually all outdoor watering throughout the northern part of the state. The legal battle over federal water rights among Georgia, Florida and Alabama intensified, and legislators in Tennessee and Georgia sparred over rights to the Tennessee River.

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Source: Lawn & Landscape

Many Changes Await in Colorado’s Future

By CHRIS WOODKA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

DENVER - Some January day in the future, you might be sitting in your living room, drinking coffee made from bottled water and looking across the sand dunes in the front yard.

You’ll glance at the headlines and notice that the Colorado economy is finally bouncing back from the triple whammy of a poor ski season last year, failed crops in most parts of the state and the loss from forest fires the previous summer.

Oh yeah, and the heat wave that started Christmas Day will be about to end as high temperatures return to the temperate 60s. Still no snow in the mountains, though.

Then, you’ll wonder, “How did this happen?”

A conference last week in Denver looked at ways to avoid that particular picture, or maybe just alert people that sooner or later they may be coping with such a scene. The painting of the future was not pleasant, as a report by the University of Colorado and the Colorado Water Conservation Board depicted it in a theme of gray to black tones. Less white snow, blue water and green trees than you’d like to see. Maybe more red ink for those who need to cope with the economic fallout.

“If you knew 10 years ago that the stock market was going to go into a bear cycle beginning in October 2007, how would you have prepared?” asked Bill DeOreo, an engineer. “You need to be looking at what’s the best way to integrate drought into a long-range water conservation plan.”

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Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

Water conservation starts with you

Del Mar City, CA-New clean water service fees enacted by the Del Mar City Council and approved by residents through a mail ballot, contain an interesting new charge. Besides a flat service charge, for the first time the city is adding a monthly charge based on volume of water usage. At their meeting last week, City Council members also began the process of updating city codes to allow for water rationing.

Welcome to the California drought.

Expect moves like Del Mar’s to become increasingly more common with harsher restrictions to follow in many areas.

Cities have begun considering a drought conservation program that instills levels of severity in regard to water usage. Level One would simply encourage voluntary conservation, Level Two would require a reduction in consumption by as much as 20 percent and Level Three would put a moratorium on new development by not allowing new water meters. Level Four? Start collecting your buckets.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has already declared a water shortage emergency in the city and has threatened mandatory conservation this winter if conditions worsen. In Northern California, the source of the majority of our water, things are getting increasingly more difficult with limits on water pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the creation of the state’s first water bank in 16 years. The bank would allow for more water to be piped to Southern California areas experiencing extreme water shortages - but at a price besides funds. Buyers would be required to drastically cut normal usage by their residents and businesses.

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Source: Del Mar Times

For more information about water conservation, visit Nuprana.com’s LEARN section

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