The News Review:

- Drinking water systems much improved, but still challenging
- Managing multiple sources
- Old foes come to accord on Delta.
- State plans for safe drinking water in rural areas

Drinking water systems much improved, but still challenging
San Francisco Chronicle – Aug 19, 2007
Morris cites the 1993 outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee as an example of our vulnerability to waterborne pathogens, and warns that terrorists could easily poison American water supplies, as one Moroccan group tried to do in Rome in 2002. He also notes that our primary disinfectant, chlorine, may be linked to higher incidences of cancer – a finding he came across in 1991, and was roundly abused for by some defensive officials at the Environmental Protection Agency. But Morris’ most disturbing revelation is the antiquated state of our water supply systems – systems that will apparently cost $100 billion just to maintain over the next 20 years. “After that,” he continues, “it gets expensive. Our drinking water lives out of sight – below ground, in far-off reservoirs, in sewage treatment plants that are all but quarantined from public view – and so unless our public water supplies are causing undeniable harm, it seems that the easiest policy is to ignore potential problems. As Morris aptly puts it, “Rusting cast iron pipes beneath our streets have all the allure of a fungal infection. Replacing them disrupts traffic and costs money.

Managing multiple sources
Hindu – Aug 19, 2007
Let us look into the art of managing water that comes to us from different sources. In the good old days before the advent of piped water supply, a single source provided water to the household and this was the open well. Sometimes it was located in the house itself and sometimes it was a community well. Then came the era of piped water supply and again the source was single: open the tap and you had water. Perennial sometimes, occasional most other times and a sump and an overhead tank solved that irregularity issue. Things got complicated along the way as urbanisation hit us and cities expanded.

Old foes come to accord on Delta.
Free with registration – Contra Costa Times – AccessMyLibrary.com – Aug 19, 2007
19–Rising from the wreckage of California’s water policy is an emerging consensus that calls on water officials to immediately try a novel way of moving water through the Delta while embarking on a new round of studies to evaluate the possibility of building a controversial aqueduct. For years, many of the 43 members of an obscure water panel, the Delta Vision Stakeholder Coordination Group, have been bitter adversaries in the state’s water wars. But prodded by a series of troubling developments, including a dramatic decline in fish populations and recent water supply disruptions, they have come to a remarkable degree of agreement. The recommendations, contained in a draft report obtained by the Times, are scheduled to be presented later this month to a blue ribbon task force appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The group will suggest an experiment in which temporary rock dams would separate water supplies from more environmentally sensitive channels, thereby protecting some fish habitat. It also will propose moving forward with studies to determine the feasibility of building an aqueduct around the Delta.

State plans for safe drinking water in rural areas
Hindu – Aug 19, 2007
State Rural Development Minister Biswa Bhushan Harichandan here on Saturday said of 9,200, as many as 2,964 spot sources had been completed by the end of July. This was part of State government’s integrated approach to attain the goal of Total Sanitation Campaign programme. “Replacement of spot sources by well designed Piped Water Supply (PWS) schemes with due attention to source sustainability and quality could reduce the incidence or frequency of slippage and provide improved services to rural people,” Mr. Pointing out that proposals on setting up PWS schemes were coming thick and fast, the Minister said 1,797 PWS schemes were proposed in the current year budget for implementation. Out of which 1153 sources had been completed successfully and 28 PWS were commissioned, he said. “There is also a provision of coverage of 6,381 habitations out of which 2,413 habitations have been covered by end of July 2007.