The News Review:

- Water compensation bill passes committee
- TAIWAN – SHINMEN RESERVIOR EMERGENT WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
- Residents demand supply of drinking water
- Pipe dreams – Mango Valley, St. Mary … in desperate need of water
- Rs. 50-crore proposal submitted to strengthen Tungabhadra canals
- Dipping into Water Stocks
- Water firms seek new curbs on use

Water compensation bill passes committee
Taipei Times – Mar 21, 2006
“People have to spend extra money to buy water and people running food businesses have to stop operating for days at a time during suspensions,” Chu said. Should the resolution pass the full legislature, its application will be backdated to cover two incidents of service suspension earlier this month and late last month, which affected more than 250,000 households in northern Taiwan. The resolution would require the Taiwan Water Supply Corp (TWSC) and the Water Resources Agency to provide compensation for consumers’ losses. TWSC general manager Huang Ching-ssu (¶. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus said yesterday that Water Resources Agency is also comfortable with the proposal. This story has been viewed 1622 times.

TAIWAN – SHINMEN RESERVIOR EMERGENT WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
Free with registration – AsiaPulse News – AccessMyLibrary.com – Mar 21, 2006
*** ASIA PULSE TENDER *** TAIWAN – SHINMEN RESERVIOR EMERGENT WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM TIRef. No: 828196 (Request Future Updates) Bidding Type: International Competitive Bidding Financier: Self Country: Taiwan Description Document One Invites tenders for Procurement Of Services For Shinmen Reservior Emergent Water Supply System Closing date: 7 April 2006, upto.

Residents demand supply of drinking water
Hindu – Mar 21, 2006
Goutham

SALEM:

Irked over the inordinate delay in the construction of an overhead water tank (OHT) and acute drinking water shortage in the area, residents of the Thanthai Periyar Nagar in Chinnakollapatti staged a demonstration in front of the Salem Corporation here on Monday. The civic administration and the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board had planned to construct an OHT on the Aiyankarattu Pathi Malai to supply adequate drinking water to the area. Nine months had passed since the plan was designed. But no steps were taken to construct the OHT so far, residents claimed. Hundreds of families living in the Thanthai Periyar Nagar were facing drinking water problems for the past 35 years. The area was not given adequate water supply… But no steps were taken to construct the OHT so far, residents claimed. Hundreds of families living in the Thanthai Periyar Nagar were facing drinking water problems for the past 35 years. The area was not given adequate water supply. As a result, residents were forced to walk a long distance. No response

Repeated representations seeking the construction of the OHT failed to evoke any response from the Corporation, residents said. To attract the attention of the higher officials, residents along with the members of the Ward 6 branch of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) resorted to stage a demonstration. Women carrying plastic pots shouted slogans seeking adequate drinking water supply to their area.

Pipe dreams – Mango Valley, St. Mary … in desperate need of water
Jamaica Gleaner – Mar 21, 2006
The company said that all components of the project, which commenced in 2003, are to be completed between March 2006 and June 2006. The CECL also revealed that the project had been delayed due to a dearth in funding and damage resulting from hurricanes ‘Ivan’ and ‘Emily’. The National Water Commission (NWC) said that they would be responsible for the community’s water supply only after the project is completed. Charles Buchanan, corporate public relations manager at the NWC, confirmed that work started a few years ago and that it had been derailed by several factors, including lack of funding. He also confirmed that the project is nearing completion. CONCLUSION

The work being done in the Mango Valley area to regularise the water supply system needs to be expedited. Jamaicans should not be forced to bathe in the open because they cannot get water in their homes.

Rs. 50-crore proposal submitted to strengthen Tungabhadra canals
Hindu – Mar 21, 2006
Preventing wastage

The proposed improvements to the canal systems will help prevent water from going waste and meet the requirement of water supply for irrigation in these districts. The Tungabhadra Left Bank Canal irrigates about six lakh acres in Koppal and Raichur, the Tungabhadra Right Bank high-level and the right bank low-level canals irrigate about three lakh acres in Bellary district and parts of Koppal district. Urgent repairs needed

These canals need to be strengthened to ensure normal water supply to tail-end regions. Although these canals have been strengthened for several times in the past five decades, several stretches have become vulnerable. There is a need to strengthen embankments in some stretches, and some distributaries have to be remodelled. All these works need an approval and budgetary provision. The proposal said water supply in the right bank high-level canal was suspended in January and it will be stopped by April first week and May last week in the Tungabhadra left bank canal and the right bank low-level canal respectively… According to official sources, the Rs. 50-crore proposal has been prepared and submitted to the Government. This was done at the directions of Water Resources Minister K.

Dipping into Water Stocks
BusinessWeek – Mar 21, 2006
“So far, all three companies have been taking advantage of a growing market. ” And with growing concerns on the safety and adequacy of the world’s water supply, investors may do well to take a careful look.

Water firms seek new curbs on use
The Independent – Independent – Mar 21, 2006
The watering of public gardens, parks, cricket pitches, bowling greens, allotments and other open spaces could be outlawed this summer if the Government grants the drought orders, sought by the companies because of what is now the driest spell in the region for more than 70 years. Southern Water, Sutton and East Surrey, and Mid-Kent water firms asked permission yesterday from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to introduce the potentially wide-ranging restrictions, which could also affect car washing and the filling of privately owned swimming pools. The firms are increasingly anxious to conserve water resources as the South-east is suffering the driest 15-month period since at least 1933. Many aquifers [water tables] are severely depleted. Individual water companies have the power to impose hosepipe bans, but a drought order requires permission from the Environment Secretary under the Water Resources Act 1991. Paul Kent, the regulatory manager forSouthern Water, said: “We are not entering into this lightly. We need to conserve the water so that it is sufficient for basic hygiene throughout the rest of the year.