The News Review:

- FEATURE-Tankers may ship water to parched cities of future
- Tamil Nadu fails to provide water quota
- Steps to ensure quality of water
- California’s changing climate: Less water, more conflict.

FEATURE-Tankers may ship water to parched cities of future
Reuters AlertNet – Feb 2, 2007
"You can ship any liquid commodity if the money’s right," said Bill Box, spokesman for Intertanko, the world’s largest association of tanker owners. Tankers would need to be specially coated for the water trade or built as a dedicated fleet. In 1996, the World Bank’s then water resources manager, John Hayward, said: "One way or another, water will be moved around the world as is oil now. " WATER SHUTTLE Daniel Zimmer, executive director of the World Water Council in Marseille, said there was a real prospect that fleets of dedicated tankers could shuttle fresh water between countries. But he saw it only being feasible for essential supplies of fresh drinking water and not for low grade agricultural water where the cost of freight would outweigh the benefits. "We definitely see it increasing. We expect in the future and even in the short-term, before 2050, more frequent heatwaves and dry periods which could make shipping water economically justifiable," he told Reuters…
We expect in the future and even in the short-term, before 2050, more frequent heatwaves and dry periods which could make shipping water economically justifiable," he told Reuters. He said exporting water by sea was already happening between France and Algeria and Turkey and Israel. He said countries with abundant water supplies like Norway, Russia and New Zealand could also begin to ship water more regularly. "You could imagine countries north of the Mediterranean sea shipping fresh water to the south, the dry areas," Zimmer said. Some water firms are already taking the prospect of shipping water seriously — last May, London’s Thames Water investigated bringing water supplies by tanker from Scotland and Norway to solve emergency shortages due to drought. Thames Water’s Richard Aylard told the Times newspaper that alternatives had included towing icebergs from the Arctic and seeding rain clouds. At the end of last year New Zealand firm Adsteam Agency proposed taking water by tanker to Australia when that country was suffering its worst recorded drought, shipping experts say.

Tamil Nadu fails to provide water quota
Hindu – Feb 2, 2007
below the stipulated FRL of 2,663 ft. This is not because of shortage of water, but due to stoppage of release of water to the Kerala Sholayar reservoir. Tamil Nadu stopped water supply to Kerala Sholayar on December 22 without any reason and resumed it only on January 10. A gap of 20 days resulted in a sudden fall in water level in the reservoir, from 2,658. on December 22 to 2,650…
No board meeting The Joint Water Regulation Board (JWRB) has not been convened for a year now. The last meeting was held in Coimbatore on February 3, 2006. Department sources say that the delay is due to an internal dispute between the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the Kerala Water Resources Department over the guaging process of the PAP system. The gauging responsibility is vested with the Water Resources Department, but the KSEB alleges that the process is bogus. But department officials point out that a full-fledged exclusive division for guaging has been formed by the State Government and it is not fair on the part of the KSEB to raise allegations without any proof. And the State Government has not effectively intervened to settle the dispute.

Steps to ensure quality of water
Hindu – Feb 2, 2007
A Cabinet sub-committee which met in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday suggested release of water from Edamalayar to check the increasing levels of turbidity (the condition that makes water cloudy) in the river. Water Resources Minister N. Premachandran said the committee had also recommended release of water from the Cheruthoni dam to clear the turbidity. “We have also asked the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to provide drinking water to people living in panchayats where water supply got affected following the heavy discharge of turbidity,” he said. The Minister said that necessary safety measures would be taken before releasing water from Cheruthoni…
The turbidity level was only 1 ntu before the problem began,” said Jolly Mathew, Executive Engineer, Quality Control Wing of Kerala Water Authority (KWA) at Aluva. She said continuous monitoring of water levels was on at various plants to check the water quality. The authorities have started dumping tonnes of water treatment chemicals into the supply system for improving the water quality. Unnikrishnan, Executive Engineer of Head Works Section, KWA, Aluva, said the quality of water had not been affected despite the increasing turbidity levels in the river. “We are continuously monitoring the quality levels,” he said.

California’s changing climate: Less water, more conflict.
Free with registration – Contra Costa Times – AccessMyLibrary.com – Feb 2, 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.