The News Review:

- Future of war will go with the flow
- Rural areas to benefit from shipment of water pipes from China
- Utility chairman says steps taken to assure water supply.

Future of war will go with the flow
San Francisco Chronicle – Jun 10, 2007
The aquifer or underground well system tapped into for crop irrigation runs dry every year. As a result, cash crops are dying. Global population, economic development, industrialization and migration trends are pushing water demand to such unsustainable levels that a 2003 Pentagon study on climate change predicts resource-rich nations will eventually build virtual fortresses around their countries to preserve water resources. Less fortunate nations — especially those with ancient enmities with neighbors — may instigate conflict over access to food, energy or clean water. A leaked global climate report compiled by the U. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change details predictions of rising global temperatures resulting in critical water shortages in China, Australia and parts of Europe and the United States by the end of the century…
” But it stalled, claims an Israeli government source, because “Palestinian leadership is purposely avoiding solutions to keep their own people in the mire. That way they gain global sympathy and support. ” Regardless, while internal factions war for power, water supplies dwindle. Pirate aquifer drilling contaminates freshwater and untreated sewage is at hazardous levels: in March five people died when a collapsed embankment flooded a Gaza village with raw waste. The pressing question: Is war on the horizon? And if so, are the implications — based on the Mideast model — global? Water researchers, policymakers, negotiators, scientists and environmentalists on both sides of water conflict tend to be in agreement: Tension over water runs high but war on a global front is highly unlikely. These water experts are unique in the tendency to sidestep conflict in favor of compromise. Of all the Palestinian-Israeli committees established under the umbrella of the 1995 Oslo II Interim Peace Agreement, only the Joint Water Committees continue to meet regularly and cooperate.

Rural areas to benefit from shipment of water pipes from China
Jamaica Observer – Jun 10, 2007
In his remarks, Pickersgill noted that the latest shipment will complement other previous shipments and will be used in a number of expansion and improvement projects, which the NWC will be undertaking. “What this will mean is that access to piped water supply for Jamaicans will continue to be significantly increased from its 74 per cent currently, signalling our efforts to achieve the objectives of the government of Jamaica by 2010 and the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals of Universal Access by 2015,” he noted. Pickersgill said he was pleased to receive the shipment of pipes “not only because it represents the fruition of a positive and growing relationship between the governments and peoples of Jamaica and China, but even moreso, because of the contribution that the continued improvement in domestic water supply will have on nation building. During a site inspection, Pickersgill told reporters that since the shipment arrived in November 2006, “much of the pipes are at work” while some are stored at the NWC Marescaux Road facility. He said that the final shipment, which contains a number of galvanised pipes, is at sea en route to Jamaica. Minister of Development Donald Buchanan, while noting that most urban centres are well served with good water supply, said that “unfortunately, for many rural communities, the situation is not as good”.

Utility chairman says steps taken to assure water supply.
Free with registration – Chattanooga Times/Free Press – AccessMyLibrary.com – Jun 10, 2007
10–Jerry Lee, the chairman of the Catoosa Utility District, asked more than 18,000 customers last week to stop any outside watering on a voluntary basis to allow the utility to fill its depleted water tanks. Lee, a barber by trade, was elected to the water board almost a decade ago. He recently sat down with the Chattanooga Times Free Press to talk about drought, where Catoosa’s utility gets its water and how growth in North Georgia is affecting the operation of his organization. Q: You’re a barber. How and why did you get involved in the Catoosa Utility District? A: I had a daughter-in-law that worked there and she had lost her job, and we thought she lost it without probable cause. I had a friend of mine discussing it one day, and he told me that I ought to run for the water board.