The News Review:

- Hubli-Dharwad Corporation decides to reduce water tariff
- Alternatives to building Kinta Dam
- Hefty snowpack may ease worry over water levels, delay fire season
- Water plan to go to referendum

Hubli-Dharwad Corporation decides to reduce water tariff
Hindu – Mar 24, 2006
Similarly the new tariff for water supply connections to non-domestic and commercial establishments will be Rs. Earlier, the rates were Rs… The meeting also resolved to supply water to government schools free and give a subsidy of Rs. 15 to families below the poverty line. With the Thursday’s resolution, the corporation has slashed the water tariff, which it had increased ten months ago. It may be recalled that based on a proposal submitted by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB), the corporation resolved to increase the minimum water tariff from Rs.

Alternatives to building Kinta Dam
Malaysia Kini – Mar 24, 2006
About 40 years ago, I acted as a consultant adviser to the contractor in the construction of the water treatment plant in Johor for the Singapore Public Utilities Board and later as the contractor in building the Upper Pierce Reservoir which can be seen when you play golf at the Singapore Island Golf Club. About 25 years ago, our company also constructed the intake and the whole treatment system at Sungai Parit. Shortly after that, I took part in tendering for the water treatment works using water from the Sungai Perak at Bota. I think I know the water supply problem in Singapore and Ipoh well enough to make some suggestions. 1) In the last four decades, Malaysia did not allow Singapore to expand their water supply system in Johor and also did allow them to construct additional pipes across the causeway. Singapore do not have any new water source like Sungai Kinta and they solve their problem by deepening and enlarging all their lakes and ponds to increase storage capacity to cope with their increased demand and also maintain supply during dry spells. The same two pipes across the causeway continue to carry water to fill up all the Singaporean reservoirs which have excess capacity to overcome a dry spell.

Hefty snowpack may ease worry over water levels, delay fire season
Seattle Times – Mar 24, 2006
Snowpack averages are well above normal in Washington, Oregon and Idaho this year, according to measurements from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). By contrast, Idaho was the leader a year ago with an average snowpack at 55 percent of normal, said Jon Lea, a NRCS snow supervisor in Portland. “There’s no one that’s blowing the whistle or complaining that they’re going to have a bad year by any means,” said Scott Pattee, a NRCS water-supply specialist in Mount Vernon. In all three states, federal officials say 2006 is one of the best snow years since 1999, when the Mount Baker ski area in the North Cascades set a single-season record with 1,140 inches of snowfall. If not for several rounds of rain in December and January, the ski area might have kept on pace for another snowfall record, Mount Baker spokeswoman Gwyn Howat said Thursday. “There’s just a lot of snow up there in the mountains right now, which I’m sure the farmers are happy to hear — the farmers and the salmon,” Howat said.

Water plan to go to referendum
NEWS.com.au – Mar 24, 2006
The remaining money for the $68 million plan will come from Toowoomba City Council and the project’s proponents. Toowoomba, a city of more than 100,000, sits on top of the Great Dividing Range west of Brisbane and has been on water restrictions for the past decade. The recycling project would see treated sewage augment potable water supplies in a nearby dam. The Toowoomba project is not unique, with recycled effluent already part of the potable mix in several towns, but the project is the biggest of its kind in Australia. The New South Wales inland city of Goulburn, which has suffered years of drought and has almost run out of water, has applied for federal funding for a similar project. “This is a trend that we are likely to see more of in my view,” Mr Turnbull said. “Inland cities have particular challenges because they don’t have access to (the) desalination option that cities on the coast do.