The News Review:

- Too much lye in city water treatment sends residents to hospitals…
- Too many ‘straws’ in the wells could drain Jeffco water…
- CENTRAL ASIA: Regional water management lacks cohesion
- Drinking water supply to be maintained in Dindigul

Too much lye in city water treatment sends residents to hospitals…
International Herald Tribune – Apr 25, 2007
Residents started complaining of skin irritation and moderate burns after showering early Wednesday, police Sgt. Officials determined that a malfunction at the town's water treatment plant had released too much sodium hydroxide into the water supply. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is routinely put into water to reduce acidity and limit pipe corrosion, said Ed Coletta, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection. People who displayed rashes or burns were taken to hospitals, Spencer firefighter Ryan Flannery said. Most calls came from downtown Spencer, a city of 12,000 about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Boston. Fifty-six people were seen at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, and all but one person with an unrelated health condition were expected to be sent home Wednesday night, said hospital spokeswoman Alison Duffy.

Too many ‘straws’ in the wells could drain Jeffco water…
Rocky Mountain News – Apr 25, 2007
inline –>Some mountain homeowners along the Front Range could be left high anddry if counties don’t protect existing wells from rapid growth, expertssay. “It comes down to how many straws you have in the ground,” saidReagan Waskom, director of the Colorado Water Resources ResearchInstitute at Colorado State University. “The smaller the lot size, the more the concern,” he said. “It isn’ta good way to grow. In most Colorado communities, residents get their water fromreservoirs through miles of pipelines. But most mountain residents along the Front Range’s western edgedepend on water from wells…
But most mountain residents along the Front Range’s western edgedepend on water from wells. Those household wells tap into unpredictable pockets of watertrapped in random rock fractures at depths of 30 to 1,200 feet. So, drilling a well doesn’t guarantee finding enough water to supplya household. Drought, the lot’s size, the proximity of other wells, runoff andother factors determine whether the water drawn from the well isreplaced by snow and rain. Since 2003, Jefferson County has considered rules to protectresidents’ wells from new development. In many public meetings on possible rules, developers and buildersopposed some proposals as too costly for results that have noguarantees. At the same meetings, homeowners railed about failing wells.

CENTRAL ASIA: Regional water management lacks cohesion
Reuters AlertNet – Apr 25, 2007
” Water management during Soviet times was highly centralised, with Moscow instructing the upstream republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to accumulate water in their reservoirs in winter and to release it downstream at the beginning of the cotton-farming season to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In return, the three former Soviet republics provided their upstream neighbours with the fuel and natural gas needed for energy during winter. There was a “seasonal exchange of water resources and other resources”, Masaid Khamidov, Tajik minister of land reclamation and water resources, said. However, when they all became independent in 1991, their interests started to clash. Rising nationalism "Rising nationalism and competition among the five Central Asia states has meant they have failed to come up with a viable regional approach to replace the Soviet system of management," said a recent report by the International Crisis Group, an international think tank. The downstream countries require more water for their growing agricultural sectors and rising populations, while the upstream countries are trying to gain more control over their resources and want to use more water for electricity generation and farming, the report said. Tensions focus on the region’s two main rivers, which flow into the Aral Sea…
Kyrgyzstan’s Syr Darya river winds through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan’s Amu Darya river through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The disputes between the countries often result in a lack of irrigation water for villagers. Uzbekistan needs uninterrupted water supplies during its vegetation season for its plantations of cotton, a thirsty crop. The country is the world’s second largest cotton exporter and fourth largest cotton producer. Inefficient forecasting and the poor exchange of information also hamper cooperation, Turkmen deputy water industry minister Begench Mommadov said. There is also friction over reservoir levels. If water from overflowing reservoirs upstream is released in winter, it can flood downstream countries, which in summer suffer water shortages, leading to low crop yields.

Drinking water supply to be maintained in Dindigul
Hindu – Apr 25, 2007
88 crore, benefits 2. 85 lakh people in 816 urban habitations in Dindigul municipality, Thadikombu, Vadamadurai, Agaram, Eriodu and Ayyalur town panchayats. The Collector, who inspected the drinking water supply schemes executed by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board at Vedasandur on Tuesday, said that the Vedasandur Cauvery compound drinking water scheme and other rural water supply schemes taken up in Reddiarchatram and Oddanchatram panchayat union would be completed soon. The Vedasandur scheme, which envisages supply of drinking water for the residents of Vedasandur, Palayam, Oddanchatram, Sriramapuram and Kannivadi town panchayats, will be executed at a cost of Rs 70. It will provide 70 litres of water per day per person in town panchayat areas and 40 litres per person in rural areas. On the whole, it will benefit four lakh people, according to an official press release…
85 lakh people in 816 urban habitations in Dindigul municipality, Thadikombu, Vadamadurai, Agaram, Eriodu and Ayyalur town panchayats. The Collector, who inspected the drinking water supply schemes executed by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board at Vedasandur on Tuesday, said that the Vedasandur Cauvery compound drinking water scheme and other rural water supply schemes taken up in Reddiarchatram and Oddanchatram panchayat union would be completed soon. The Vedasandur scheme, which envisages supply of drinking water for the residents of Vedasandur, Palayam, Oddanchatram, Sriramapuram and Kannivadi town panchayats, will be executed at a cost of Rs 70. It will provide 70 litres of water per day per person in town panchayat areas and 40 litres per person in rural areas. On the whole, it will benefit four lakh people, according to an official press release. The drinking water supply schemes in Vedasandur, Gujiliyamparai and Oddanchatram panchayat unions will be completed before March 2008.