The News Review:
- Malcolm Turnbull: Hold the states to account for water
- Governments must take lead in providing safe drinking water, forum…
- Climate change to create African ‘water refugees’ – scientists
- Coventry | projo.com | The Providence Journal
- Water supplies come back on tap
- VIEWPOINT: Big no longer beautiful in global water policy
Malcolm Turnbull: Hold the states to account for water
The Australian – Mar 22, 2006
Not only is climate change reducing rainfall and run-off in many developing countries, modern pumps are providing only temporary relief from water scarcity as groundwater resources are being pumped dry. It is worth remembering today, World Water Day, that while our water challenges are profound, our greatest scarcity has not been water but good management of our water resources. It was the recognition that we had not managed our water resources well enough that prompted Prime Minister John Howard to take the lead in 2004 with the National Water Initiative, a co-operative agreement between the commonwealth, states and territories aimed at ensuring Australians enjoy a secure and sustainable water future. Most of the water debate in Australia deals with rural water and, in particular, the problems associated with irrigation. Seventy per cent of our water is consumed by agriculture (of course it must be remembered that much of that produce is consumed in turn in the cities), and there has been over-allocation of water from surface and groundwater. The NWI is largely focused on adjusting allocations to sustainable levels and restoring the ecological health of our rivers and wetlands. But our cities, too, face water challenges… But our cities, too, face water challenges. All of our mainland cities face a water deficit, a substantial gap between the demand for water and the sustainable yield available to meet it. By 2030, this gap (absent augmentation of supply) is estimated to be as high as 1200 gigalitres or roughly twice Sydney’s annual consumption. It is not just a matter of dams being low because of the drought. We know that climate change will reduce the stream flows into our catchments as a consequence of reduced rainfall and increased evaporation. For example, during the past eight years, the average annual stream flow into Perth’s water supply system was 64 per cent less than the average since 1974. This water shortage has been a direct consequence of poor planning.
Governments must take lead in providing safe drinking water, forum…
San Diego Union Tribune – Mar 22, 2006
The seven-day forum focused much of its attention on the developing world’s growing reliance on bottled water bought from private companies. Worldwide, the industry is now worth about $100 billion per year. Anti-corporate forces and other critics say governments should instead be improving tap water supplies. ”
The declaration also described dams and hydroelectric projects – opposed by environmentalists for decades – as important and innovative. “(We) acknowledge the implementation and importance in some regions of innovative practices such as.
Climate change to create African ‘water refugees’ – scientists
Reuters AlertNet – Mar 22, 2006
WATER REFUGEES AND WARS
Maarten de Wit, a University of Cape Town professor and co-author of the study, said: “For those who already walk to rivers to get water, the question will be: should I move to another village? This is going to cause mass migration – in some cases across national borders – and it is going to have huge political implications. ”
He added that the potential number of “water refugees” could not yet be estimated, but the problem would be serious enough to require a co-ordinated response by African governments. De Wit also warned that, with all major African rivers crossing international boundaries, there is a potential for conflicts over water resources to erupt into wars. To reduce that risk, the study recommends that African countries that share river basins must address the issue of future access to water. It also proposes that states should focus their responses on rural areas where the risk of water loss is high and more likely to create scarcity. “Politicians really need to focus on these issues now. If you put the numbers on the table, as we have done, then there will have to be some serious thinking about measures such as water basin management… This would have a knock-on effect in southwest Africa, because the river is one of the area’s key sources of water. Today this region is experiencing its biggest drought in over 100 years. According to de Wit, a reduction in water supplies in the Sahel area is likely to have a major impact on the rural population. “There are already women having to walk around 25km to fetch water – maybe they’ll have to walk 50-60km in 50 years’ time. Are they going to decide to move elsewhere instead?”
In East Africa, however, climate change models suggest rainfall could actually increase, and water supplies may improve. Somalia, for example, is expected to see a 20 percent rise in precipitation, boosting the water it receives from rivers by ten times. One negative impact of higher rainfall may be that it creates the conditions for mosquitoes to breed, exacerbating the incidence of malaria.
Coventry | projo.com | The Providence Journal
Providence Journal – Mar 22, 2006
ELSWORTHJournal Staff Writer
Where have all the songbirds gone?Older Rhode Islanders who say there seem to be fewer songbirds than they remember while growing up are right. Large numbers of such birds thrive in meadows, hedgerows and open grasslands, but with the decline in farmland and the increase in commercial and residential development, their habitat has been severely reduced in the last 30 years. A program spearheaded by the Rhode Island Water Resources Board, together with the state Department of Environmental Management and the U. Department of Agriculture, is hoping to bring them back by restoring a number of open spaces within the Big River Management Area in West Greenwich. All were once open fields that are reverting back to forest. The project, when completed no later than mid-April, will encompass about 140 acres of grasslands, of which 94 will have been mowed and cleared… It’s a critical need for wildlife,” Lipsky said. “THE PROGRAM is a good example of what we are doing with the land,” said Juan Mariscal, general manager of the state Water Resources Board. “We are stewards of this land, which is a water supply area, and creating wildlife habitats is part of the mosaic of uses to protect the water supply. The open land was not created only by colonial farmers, although evidence of their activity abounds in the management area, which is dotted with simple graveyards, old cellars and even the ruins of mill dams complete with sluice runs where water wheels once turned. Brian Tefft, principal wildlife biologist with the DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife, said fires, both natural and set by Native Americans, also periodically cleared the land. “But development has left few areas of grasslands,” he said. “There are dozens of songbirds whose populations are going down along with the steep decline in open lands,” said Lipsky.
Water supplies come back on tap
BBC News – Mar 22, 2006
About 5,000 properties were affected after two bursts on a “major” supply pipeline in the area. Some 2,000 homes in Darvel and Newmilns were still without water on Wednesday morning, but Scottish Water said most supplies were now back on tap. It said the few remaining homes should have their water restored early by Wednesday evening. Scottish Water said the marshy location of the bursts had made it “all the more difficult to fix quickly”. Peter Farrer, general manager for Scottish Water, apologised for the inconvenience and thanked customers for their “understanding and patience”.
VIEWPOINT: Big no longer beautiful in global water policy
Reuters AlertNet – Mar 22, 2006
The track record of this approach is modest. Modern irrigation systems help produce about one third of the world’s food supply. Yet most of the world’s poor are not integrated in modern water supply and irrigation systems, and lack the money to buy the food which these
systems produce. LARGE RESERVOIRS FAIL THE POOR
Ghana, Paraguay, Zambia and Zimbabwe are some of the countries which have built the world’s largest reservoirs. The reservoirs were supposed to allow these countries to make a great leap forward in poverty reduction. Yet the poor have hardly benefited from them. This is not surprising… Irrigating a hectare of land costs $3,800 through the Sardar Sarovar Project, and $120 through treadle pumps. Yet governments and financial institutions spend about $20 billion on large dams every year, and have so far mostly ignored the low-cost solutions. Decentralized, low-cost approaches to water supply are commercially and politically not very attractive. They offer few export contracts, political prestige and spoils for corruption. Yet they are an effective means for reducing poverty and can be implemented now. All that is currently
lacking for a change in global water policy is political will. This opinion piece is based on “Spreading the Water Wealth: Making Water
Infrastructure Work for the Poor”, a new report authored by Patrick
McCully and published by International Rivers Network: www.