The News Review:

- Yucaipa plans its water future | Inland News | PE.com | Southern…
- Lessons from the past
- In the heat of the moment
- A clean, wet future
- NWC has stymied investment growth in Manchester, says Porteous

Yucaipa plans its water future | Inland News | PE.com | Southern…
Press-Enterprise – Press-Enterprise (subscription) – Nov 17, 2007
But since the 1940s, when it was primarily used for agriculture, the area's groundwater basins have been depleting faster than they can be recharged, Zoba said. The reservoir expansion, which would involve cutting through a nearby ridge and building a dam, would increase its capacity from 85 acre-feet to 225 acre-feet. An acre-foot is equal to about 325,850 gallons, enough to supply a family of four for two years. The state Department of Water Resources will begin an environmental study for the project in December, said Tom Barnes, a consultant with Environmental Sciences Association, a Los Angeles firm that will be conducting the study. The hike, one of six organized in the fall and spring by the conservancy, attracted both experienced hikers and those wishing to learn more about the community. Steve Frenken, a landscape architect who moved to Yucaipa a year and a half ago, said he's concerned about water conservation. “It's neat to get out and see some new trails and meet with some new community members,” Frenken said.

Lessons from the past
Hindu – Nov 17, 2007
Yet here the well in Isawal, dug over 100 years ago, provides water for more than 6000 sheep, camels and goats daily. The institution Sambhaav helped the community access materials to restore and repair the ‘Kua’ and it continues to yield sweet water. In Abdasa Taluk of Bhuj, piped water supply through deep borewells simply failed to function beyond a few years; but the traditional shallow well, when adequately silted and recharged, provides lifeline water to the community. What is it that keeps these systems performing over the ages? It surely must be an understanding that people and society developed through a continuous process of trial and error which eventually saw the survival of the fittest technology in a way. Tough job Chattar Singh from Ramgarh speaks of the lives lost in the digging of a well in the sand dunes of the Thar. When such was the price paid for a structure, society took good care of it. There was no other choice…
As these cities urbanised, the role of the tanks as irrigation water providers disappeared. The “achkut” or irrigated area was converted to urban use. Once piped water supply came in, cities saw no use for these tanks but as recipient of waste water and solid waste. The revival and preservation of the tanks and lakes has been an old war cry of the ecologist and the bird watcher in the name of the ecological and livelihood services they render. However we have not yet found a paradigm and a meaning to the tanks’ economic and financial sustainability and therefore have no answer to their disappearance. Unless at a point of time the true value of water and the true price of water is recognised and paid for by society the role of the tanks and lakes will remain unsupported and they will always be under threat. As a neighbour to the tank if it represents my only source of drinking water I will have more of a stake in preserving it, than if it represents only a water body enhancing the micro-climate.

In the heat of the moment
Stuff.co.nz – Nov 17, 2007
Perched high on the roof is a series of fiberglass tanks, our water supply, and these tanks are filled from a stream of older Mercedes Benz tanker trucks that deliver desalinated water on a regular basis. Only a small part of the city has reticulated water and sewage, our seaside suburb doesn’t, and the roads and alleys are characterised by white tanker trucks delivering water, and their green cousins, carting away the sewage. The point is though that the general water supply for the apartment block is sitting in a fibreglass tank on top of the building – in 40degC-plus of heat. Consequently when we have a shower in the morning; we turn on only the cold tap but actually we have a shower at a very comfortable New Zealand temperature. Doing the dishes and having a shave requires perhaps a dash of water from the kettle to be added to the water from the cold tap and there is certainly no problem with hot water. We congratulate ourselves on at least a single benefit of the heat. Before coming to Kuwait we ate well in New Zealand, we were not obese, but we were both a bit bigger than we might have liked and one of the great benefits of Kuwait and the heat, is the weight loss.

A clean, wet future
tcpalm.com – Nov 17, 2007
“With nanofiltration, we can provide our customers with even better water quality. “One of the things that this new plant will address is the formation of disinfection by-products. Most fresh water supplies in South Florida are high in organics, which causes utilities to use a combination of chlorine and ammonia, known as chloramines, to disinfect and safeguard their distribution systems. Chloramines are not as strong as chlorine itself — that may have been a factor in the water situation in West Palm Beach,” Brown said. “Now that we will have this nanofiltration system, we eliminate organics from the water. This likely will allow us to disinfect with a lower concentration of chlorine only, a more appealing and reliable alternative. Brown said that when the nanofiltration plant is up and running, his department will be able to provide what he says is the best water treatment available to its 81,000 customers within Jupiter, Juno Beach, and unincorporated Palm Beach and Martin Counties…
“Now that we will have this nanofiltration system, we eliminate organics from the water. This likely will allow us to disinfect with a lower concentration of chlorine only, a more appealing and reliable alternative. Brown said that when the nanofiltration plant is up and running, his department will be able to provide what he says is the best water treatment available to its 81,000 customers within Jupiter, Juno Beach, and unincorporated Palm Beach and Martin Counties. “I’m elated that we can accomplish so much while being technologically and financially well-positioned for the future,” Brown said.

NWC has stymied investment growth in Manchester, says Porteous
Jamaica Observer – Nov 17, 2007
However, Porteous told the meeting that the extra water from Pepper will still not be enough. “Currently Mandeville needs six million gallons of water a day to serve the people and we are only receiving two, so the additional two million gallons that is supposed to come from Pepper will still leave us two million (gallons of water) short,” Porteous said. Meanwhile, Councillor Brenda Ramsay (PNP – Bellefield Division), told the meeting that infrastructure for water supply was already in place at Bottom Coffee Grove near Bellefield, but no water was being supplied to that area. James, however, told the meeting that water is trucked to that area twice weekly and could not predict when that area would receive piped water. In other matters discussed at the meeting, Councillor Edward Smile (JLP – Knockpatrick Division) said that many persons in Mandeville were not aware of a new parking permit system set to begin on November 26 despite the issuance of flyers and advertisements. “I have spoken to many persons and taxi drivers around Mandeville and they told me that they don’t know about the permit parking system, so I am asking the council that for at least the first week after it begins, some discretion be shown to motorists,” Smile said. Talk Back No comments have been posted.