The News Review:

- Delta water supply slashed: Environmentalists still hoped for more as…
- Calif. Water Limits Imposed to Save Fish
- Safe Water: Simpler Method For Analyzing Radium In Water Samples Cuts…
- Pickens seeks Kaufman’s help to harness Panhandle’s water,…
- SINGAPORE: WATER EXPERTS DRAFT SANITATION ADVICE FOR ASIA.

Delta water supply slashed: Environmentalists still hoped for more as…
Free with registration – Contra Costa Times – AccessMyLibrary.com – Sep 1, 2007
| Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) (September, 2007). 1–FRESNO — California’s water supply suffered a historic blow Friday when a federal judge ordered a series of cutbacks and other measures meant to protect a tiny Delta f.

Calif. Water Limits Imposed to Save Fish
FOX News – Aug 31, 2007
Some districts have already ordered conservation measures and tapped into their water reserves, he said. “A sober assessment of this says it’s a very large deal,” Quinn said. “We are not only losing supply here; you are greatly compromising the tools we have developed to deal with water shortages. The Natural Resources Defense Council and four other environmental groups had asked Wanger to demand the state Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation to immediately change the pumping rate to reduce harm to the smelt until a new set of pumping guidelines is expected next year. Both sides agree the smelt population has declined precipitously. The fish are protected under the California Endangered Species Act, and their well-being is considered a measure of the environmental health of the fragile delta ecosystem. The decision was complex, and both sides said they needed time to fully understand its impacts.

Safe Water: Simpler Method For Analyzing Radium In Water Samples Cuts…
Science Daily – Science Daily (press release) – Aug 31, 2007
Since radium is chemically similar to calcium, it has the potential to cause harm by replacing calcium in bones. As a result, drinking water systems are now required to sample and report on the amounts of two isotopes, radium-226 and radium-228, that are sometimes found in drinking water supplies. "The Georgia Department of Natural Resources recognized the applicability and benefits of our method because of the new rules and proposed it to the EPA in 2002," said Kahn. The new method developed at GTRI requires only two steps. First, hydrochloric acid and barium chloride are added to a sample of water and heated to boiling. Then concentrated sulfuric acid is added and the radium precipitate is collected, dried and weighed. The samples are then counted with a gamma-ray spectrometry system to determine the content of radium-226 and radium-228…
They all ended with a complicated final preparation step before measurement with an alpha scintillation detection system. The scintillation detector detects and counts the flashes of light that are produced when a radioactive substance interacts with a special coating on the inside of the detection container. The EPA’s December 2007 deadline requiring every water supply be tested for radium-228 and gross alpha radioactivity greatly increased the number of radium-228 measurements required, as well as the likelihood both radium-226 and radium-228 must be measured in the same sample, also increasing the number of measurements required. If the total radium concentration measured is above five picocuries per liter, then the water supply is out of compliance and radium-226 and radium-228 must be measured quarterly. This may require the water source to be replaced or treated to reduce the radium concentration. If the amount of radioactivity measured is less than five picocuries per liter, samples may be collected at three-, six- or nine-year intervals. Since the EPA approved this new testing procedure in July 2006, GTRI’s ERC has been able to use the testing method they developed to analyze water samples from Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources.

Pickens seeks Kaufman’s help to harness Panhandle’s water,…
Dallas Morning News – Dallas Morning News (subscription) – Aug 31, 2007
Rosser, however, said Mesa Water has agreed that through 2048, it won’t take the aquifer more than 50 percent below its 1998 volume. Company officials have said they can do that and still supply water for a century at a rate of 150,000 to 200,000 acre-feet a year. That amount is roughly half to two-thirds as much water as North Texas Municipal supplied to 1. 6 million residents last year. Another obstacle could be opposition from counties through which the project might pass. Collin County Judge Keith Self, for example, wrote this week to Mr…
Collin County Judge Keith Self, for example, wrote this week to Mr. Clark, the Kaufman County commissioner: "I have no issue with an entrepreneur using innovative ways to supply water to North Texas. I have a huge issue with developing a FWSD [fresh water supply district] that will have legal authority to condemn land over a 320-mile stretch of Texas land, the vast majority of which is not in Kaufman County. This is abuse of legal authority and must be an unintended consequence of an old law, a law that was never intended to give such broad authority to a local FWSD. " If a district is created in Roberts County, Mr. Cook said, it will consist of 8 acres deeded to five of Mr. Pickens’ employees or supporters.

SINGAPORE: WATER EXPERTS DRAFT SANITATION ADVICE FOR ASIA.
Free with registration – Interpress Service – AccessMyLibrary.com – Aug 31, 2007
Time is of the essence,” said K. Seetharam, a water and urban development specialist at the Asian Development Bank. A team of water experts is working around the clock to prepare a forward-looking document called the Asian Water and Development Outlook. The experts, whose work is being paid for by the Asian Development Bank, met in Singapore for three days of consultations last week. The water outlook document is expected to be released just prior to the first Asia-Pacific Water Summit, which is scheduled.