The News Review:

- Water rationing looms large over Bangalore
- Jal Parshad water unsafe for drinking
- Rudd aid for water tanks
- New Mexico explores filtering brackish groundwater
- Statewide water plan raises hopes, concerns

Water rationing looms large over Bangalore
Hindu – Jun 26, 2007
For example, if a customer is allocated 1,000 kilo litres of water a month and consumes it earlier, then we want to be able to cut water supply. ” Electronic water meters with the ability to regulate consumption will be installed.

Jal Parshad water unsafe for drinking
Times of India – Jun 26, 2007
Patna Jal Parshad(water board), the agency responsible for water supply, however, appears to beindifferent to this, doing things the other wayround. Sample these facts : I. Residents of Ashok Nagar at Kankerbagh locality had to go without water supplyfor more than 10 days in the month of June, which is considered to be one of thehottest months in this part of the country. Incidentally, it took a roadblockade and other desperate steps by the residents to draw the attention of JalParshad for undertaking the repairing work. However, when repairing was finallydone on Saturday, the residents were supplied with dirtywater…
These two facts are justthe tip of an iceberg as residents of many other localities have been facingproblems due to “faulty” functioning of the JalParshad. “First, the Parshadsat idle for more than 10 days and when it finally woke up to our repeatedrequests, it cut the pipe line in the name of locating the fault and repaired itby using old tyres and tubes. This led to supply of dirty water,” said BrajeshMishra, a resident of Ashok Nagar, onMonday. Yet another resident ofthe same colony, K P Singh claimed that a large number of residents were optingfor deep boring water after having undergone the ordeal in the lastfortnight. Sharing his woes, KN Prasad of Pirmuhani, an orthopaedic surgeon, said that the failure of JalParshad might lead to outbreak of epidemic. “Get the water quality tested by anylaboratory and the fact would come to the fore,” hesaid. Incidentally, Jal Parshadchief engineer R K Mahto said, “While the piple line of Ashok Nagar has beenrepaired, we are in the process ofidentifying fault in the pipe line of Pirmuhani to undertake the repairingwork.

Rudd aid for water tanks
NEWS.com.au – Jun 26, 2007
"We want every Australian home and its roof to be a personal water catchment area, maximising re-use and collection of rainwater," he said. Labor’s research suggests the plan, when fully implemented, would save the equivalent of 25,000 Olympic-size swimming pools each year in recovered grey water alone. Labor believes the initiative has the potential to dramatically reduce the call on the nation’s drinkable water supplies, a substantial proportion of which goes into watering gardens. The plan comes as both sides of politics jockey for the ascendancy in the race for the growing green vote. In April, he announced a future Labor government would provide "zero interest" loans of up to $10,000 to help households convert to solar energy and put in energy saving measures including insulation. Competition for the green vote has intensified during the year.

New Mexico explores filtering brackish groundwater
Albuquerque Tribune – Jun 26, 2007
The week of June 18, Sandoval County and developer Recorp Partners of Scottsdale, Ariz. , drilled the first of what could be three test wells in the Rio Puerco basin. The hope is to find a new water supply for Rio West, Recorp’s 11,000-acre planned community northwest of Quail Ranch, which someday could be home to 60,000 people. Farther south, the latest budget from the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority includes $100,000 for studying brackish water supplies in the area. The stakes are huge. About 70 percent of the state’s groundwater is salty, and the technology to treat it for drinking is getting cheaper. “We know there’s brackish water supplies surrounding us,” said John Stomp, who manages water supplies for the authority…
About 70 percent of the state’s groundwater is salty, and the technology to treat it for drinking is getting cheaper. “We know there’s brackish water supplies surrounding us,” said John Stomp, who manages water supplies for the authority. “I think it’s the next biggest key to water resources management. Taking the salt out of water is easier said than done. To pull it off, water must be forced through a filter at pressures of 1,000 pounds per square inch, about 20 times the pressure that comes out of the tap. The process takes more energy than conventional treatment, and also leaves behind a concentrated salty brine that can hurt the environment unless disposed of correctly. “The biggest issue is going to be the environmental impacts,” Stomp said.

Statewide water plan raises hopes, concerns
Online Athens – Online Athens (subscription) – Jun 26, 2007
Those transfers are allowed between regions of the state outside of Atlanta and within the metro Atlanta area, but state law forbids exchanges between the metro area and the rest of the state. “I think you’ll see something in the plan that pushes away from interbasin transfers,” said state Sen. Ross Tolleson, R-Perry, who chairs the Senate Natural Resources and Environment Committee and has seat on the water council. Some also would like the state to adopt policies discouraging local governments from building reservoirs. Environmental groups in particular say reservoirs keep water away from areas downstream and can alter the ecological balance in an area. Restrictions on interbasin transfers and reservoirs, Ingle said, would help the state to stop focusing on simply trying to get water to wherever the population is growing – largely metro Atlanta. “Instead, where there’s water, that’s where the growth should go to,” she said…
He missed a town hall session on the water plan in Statesboro. He hopes the plan takes a wide view. “We need to do what we can to preserve an abundant, clean water supply,” Rawlins said. He worries that the droughts he’s seen lately are different from the ones he used to experience. “They do seem to be getting worse and more frequent. And he hopes the debate in Atlanta doesn’t interfere with the efforts to map out the future of Georgia’s water. “I think if we can all work together we can manage it,” he said.