The News Review:

- Consumer body criticises Government Order on water connections
- Siruvani Dam remains cut off from city
- Polly Osborne Smith – longtime Bay Area water activist
- Water project vital to community

Consumer body criticises Government Order on water connections
Hindu – Aug 11, 2007
In a letter to the department, the consumer body’s secretary, K. Kathirmathiyon, has pointed out that this would lead to chaos in the local bodies as they did not have enough water to release connections across the counter. The Government had announced in the order issued last month that all the applicants who wanted water connections should be provided with these within seven days from the date of receipt of applications and that there shall be no restriction on the number of connections. If connections could not be provided within this period in a particular area due to technical feasibility, these should be given in a month.

Siruvani Dam remains cut off from city
Hindu – Aug 11, 2007
Venkatachalam said on Thursday that councillors were upset at not being able to go to the dam for the annual exercise of seeing water overflow from it. The Mayor blamed the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board for the delay in restoring the road link. Venkatachalam said he had also made a representation to the Secretary of Municipal Administration and Water Supply. Officials in the water board reacted saying that the Corporation need not make an issue of this as the roadwork would be completed in a couple of days. Trees uprooted during heavy rain and by gusty winds had been removed…
“Our officials had to take a circuitous route through Kerala to reach the dam after the first overflow was reported,” he said. Repairs Despite the water board knowing of the problem, and the Corporation also raising this with it often, nothing had been done yet on the ground to carry out repairs to the damaged portions. “The road to the dam and the water supply system are under the control of the water board. So, it is their responsibility to restore the road,” the Mayor contended. “Whenever our officials contacted those of the water board, the latter had replied that tenders had been invited,” the Mayor said. The message given through this was that the process would take time. Fund shortage “We are also given to understand that the some officials in the water board are citing funds shortage for the work not being carried out.

Polly Osborne Smith – longtime Bay Area water activist
San Francisco Chronicle – Aug 11, 2007
Smith was at the forefront of the water conservation movement that arose out of the devastating 1976-77 drought in Marin County. Facing major water supply problems, she pushed for a moratorium on water hookups in Marin. She also championed water reclamation projects and the expansion of Marin’s reservoirs, including the construction of Soulajule Dam, which was completed in 1979. She continued to rail against wastefulness when she was appointed to the Regional Water Quality Control Board in 1979. “She was a conservationist who believed the notion that we can do better with what we have,” said her eldest daughter, Perrin Smith. She was highly critical of the plan by Sonoma County to build Warm Springs Dam on the Russian River…
She was highly critical of the plan by Sonoma County to build Warm Springs Dam on the Russian River. The dam was completed in 1983, creating Lake Sonoma and blocking miles of fish spawning grounds. For over 30 years, she was the leading water expert for the California League of Women Voters. She was intimately involved in efforts to reform the Central Valley Water Project, the extensive array of pipes and pumps built in 1935 that supply water to much of the state’s cities and farmlands. She worked tirelessly trying to solve drainage problems and clean up agricultural pollution in the Central Valley. She served on the board of Save the Bay and represented the Bay Institute on the California Urban Water Conservation Committee. She was also on the advisory committee for the California Department of Water Resources Water Plan Update.

Water project vital to community
Clovis News Journal – Aug 11, 2007
All communities within Curry and Roosevelt counties rely solely on water reserves located in the Ogallala Aquifer. Every study available clearly demonstrates that this aquifer is being depleted. Ultimately, as our water resources decline, our water delivery costs increase, water quality declines, and our community outlook becomes grim. The facts supporting the assessment of our declining water supply must not be ignored. We can no longer wait for this problem to fix itself. Actions we take today will ensure a future for our children and future generations. Conservation is an essential part of the overall plan for managing our water resources…
Every study available clearly demonstrates that this aquifer is being depleted. Ultimately, as our water resources decline, our water delivery costs increase, water quality declines, and our community outlook becomes grim. The facts supporting the assessment of our declining water supply must not be ignored. We can no longer wait for this problem to fix itself. Actions we take today will ensure a future for our children and future generations. Conservation is an essential part of the overall plan for managing our water resources. However, municipal conservation is not adequate considering the amount of water being used for agricultural irrigation.