The News Review:

- ZIMBABWE: Greater centralisation threatens city’s water supplies
- Veolia wins 1.6 bln eur water network contract in Lanzhou, China
- Winter storm closes roads
- California’s changing climate: Less water, more conflict.

ZIMBABWE: Greater centralisation threatens city’s water supplies
Reuters AlertNet – Jan 22, 2007
0: inline article box end –>. Bulawayo, in the drought-prone southwestern region of Zimbabwe, receives bulk water supplies from the national authority, but the city authority is responsible for distribution to the city’s residents. ZINWA’s track record of water distribution in the capital, Harare, and other regions has been chaotic, but last week the Cabinet granted it the right to assume control of the Bulawayo’s water supply network. The local council said this would reduce the city’s revenue base by nearly half. Winos Dube, chair of the Bulawayo Residents Association (BURA), told IRIN the government had erred in handing control of water distribution to the national water authority when the city was facing serious water shortages after two of its five supply dams had been decommissioned because of drought. “We are against the idea of a ZINWA takeover in the light of its record of erratic service delivery to its bulk water customers across the country.

Veolia wins 1.6 bln eur water network contract in Lanzhou, China
Forbes – Jan 22, 2007
The contract will see Veolia acquire a 45 pct stake in the Lanzhou Water Supply Company, managing four water treatment plants and a 640 km distribution network. ‘This represents our 21st contract in China, and we are pleased to reinforce or position as leader in the region,’ said Antoine Frerot, chief executive of Veolia Water. All rights reserved.

Winter storm closes roads
Aspen Times – Jan 22, 2007
Kuhn said recent findings by nationally recognized climatologist Robert Balling suggest annual runoff from spring snowmelt in the Colorado River basin could decrease 35 percent by 2050. The size of Colorados snowpack and when it melts are vital because the snow provides most of the states water as well as water for other Western states. The issue of future climate change on water resources is just now beginning to get attention within the water community, Kuhn said last week at a meeting of the districts board of directors. Most scientists worldwide agree the global temperature is rising and blame increasing levels of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, released by the burning of fossil fuels. The Statewide Water Supply Initiative, commissioned by the Legislature in 2003, sized up water supplies and projeted demands. It found the state will need more than 600,000 acre-feet of new water supplies by 2030. An acre-foot, enough water to cover an acre a foot deep, is enough water for a family of four for a year…
The issue of future climate change on water resources is just now beginning to get attention within the water community, Kuhn said last week at a meeting of the districts board of directors. Most scientists worldwide agree the global temperature is rising and blame increasing levels of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, released by the burning of fossil fuels. The Statewide Water Supply Initiative, commissioned by the Legislature in 2003, sized up water supplies and projeted demands. It found the state will need more than 600,000 acre-feet of new water supplies by 2030. An acre-foot, enough water to cover an acre a foot deep, is enough water for a family of four for a year. Several projects are being studied to bridge the gap between existing supplies and future needs. The $4 billion Yampa Diversion Project by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District would pull about 300,000 acre feet a year out of the Yampa River at Maybell and ship it through about 200 miles of pipelines and tunnels under the mountains to the plains, where it would serve Front Range cities.

California’s changing climate: Less water, more conflict.
Free with registration – Contra Costa Times – AccessMyLibrary.com – Jan 22, 2007
These developments, attributable to a warming climate, threaten one of California’s most indispensable resources: water. Without water and the ability to move it efficiently over hundreds of miles — to cities, suburbs, farms and factories — California would be unrecognizable from the highly developed, fertile and industrial powerhouse it is today. The threats to California’s water supply, in many ways the state’s lifeblood, are not mere possibilities. “What we’re beginning to see clearly in California — and these are not projections — is we’ve clearly seen sea-level rise of about a half a foot at the Golden Gate. That’s real data,” said John Andrew, chief of special planning for the state Department of Water Resources…
“What we’re beginning to see clearly in California — and these are not projections — is we’ve clearly seen sea-level rise of about a half a foot at the Golden Gate. That’s real data,” said John Andrew, chief of special planning for the state Department of Water Resources. “The snow coming down from the Sierra — earlier snowmelt — that’s real data. ” Many scientists say those trends will hasten in the coming decades and reach troublesome levels as the climate continues to absorb increased greenhouse gases from motor vehicles, power plants and other sources. Water, already the subject of perpetual and fierce battles among farmers, urban water agencies and environmentalists, will become even more scarce. The effects of a warming climate are already being measured all over the world, from the Arctic to Antarctica.