The News Review:
- Two hot topics: Fire and water
- Colorado farmers near breaking point after state shuts down wells
- Tough curbs on water use as drought hits Britain
- Move to improve storage capacity of Peppara dam
- HARIPUR: Khanpur Dam supply to last 30 days
Two hot topics: Fire and water
USA Today – May 16, 2006
The answer: Not really. Any product labeled “spring water” must come from a spring, and those labeled “artesian well water” must be just that (water from a well that taps a pressurized underground water supply) under Food and Drug Administration rules. They get the same safety testing as other bottled waters, but they have no greater guarantee of safety. And no bottled water, whatever its source, has any special, proven health benefit. Tap water is almost always just as good — and cheaper.
Colorado farmers near breaking point after state shuts down wells
San Diego Union Tribune – May 16, 2006
Under Colorado law, farmers get an annual allocation water from streams and wells. They can use more if they can replace it through water purchased from elsewhere. Without a backup plan, however, farmers who use surplus water can have their supply shut down by the state. Chad Schafer, who farms 450 acres his grandfather bought in the 1940s, said farmers lost a battle and may have lost the war when the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the state engineer no longer had the authority to approve substitute water supply plans when their allocation ran out. A water court must now approve the plans – a process that can take months, leaving farmers with dead crops long before the case is settled. About the same time, the state got hit by a crippling drought that stretched resources to the limit, making it almost impossible for farmers to find other water. Schafer said farmers feel cheated by the state, which gave them permission to drill the water wells in the first place.
Tough curbs on water use as drought hits Britain
Times Online – May 16, 2006
Used on article pages to rotate the images of a story. Southern Water and Mid Kent Water, which between them serve 1. 24 million customers, have already applied for drought orders and are ex- pected to get them within a fortnight. Anyone flouting drought orders can face a fine of up to £5,000 in magistrates’ courts or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. Seven water companies, all in the South East where shortages are most acute, already have hosepipe bans.
Move to improve storage capacity of Peppara dam
Hindu – May 16, 2006
The Peppara dam has enough water for 100 days. The Collector said arrangements had been made to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the pumps. The meeting decided to keep the water supply situation in the city under constant observation. Meanwhile, a proposal drawn up the KWA in 2003 to enhance the storage of the downstream Aruvikkara reservoir by desilting its reservoir remains stillborn owing to the lack of funds. A study carried out by KWA engineers had revealed about three lakh cubic metre of excess sand in the 25-acre Aruvikkara reservoir. The three-metre-deep silt deposit was found to have halved the reservoir’s storage capacity. At present, Aruvikkara has a capacity to store only enough water to serve the city for six days.
HARIPUR: Khanpur Dam supply to last 30 days
Pakistan Dawn – May 16, 2006
com ———- –>HARIPUR: Khanpur Dam supply to last 30 daysBy Our CorrespondentHARIPUR, May 15: Water in the Khanpur Dam has dropped to 1,919 feet, only nine feet short of dead-level with only 30 days of water remaining in the reservoir, officials say. They told this correspondent on Monday that they would have to suspend supply of water from the dam if dry weather persisted for another 30 days, adding that they might have to suspend water supply even to the CDA. The dam is one of Wapdas irrigation and municipal water supply project, which has been supplying water to Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), Fecto cement factory, Project Management Operation (PMO) and irrigates a vast area of Punjab and the NWFP. The reservoir is fully dependent on rain and natural springs in the upper Hazara and the Northern Areas. On Monday, the water inflow had decreased to 11. 5 cusecs against a total outflow of 87 cusecs. Officials said that the net outflow, which included 46 cusecs for the CDA and the RCB, Heavy Industries Taxila, Fecto Cement and Project Management Operation 3.