The News Review:

- Two panchayats included in new water supply scheme
- Nigeria: FHA Connects Water to Gwarinpa Estate
- Note to teens: Shower briefly
- Colorado River deal a high water mark
- Officials discuss cleaning saltwater

Two panchayats included in new water supply scheme
Hindu – Dec 23, 2007
Iraiyamangalam and S. Iraiyamangalam panchayats in the new combined water supply scheme being prepared for the wayside habitations of Tiruchengode, Collector G. Sundaramurthi has said. Participating in a special mass contact programme organised at Pirithi panchayat in Tiruchengode block here recently, he said the water supply works carried out in Athipalayam village in Pirithi panchayat at a cost of Rs.

Nigeria: FHA Connects Water to Gwarinpa Estate
AllAfrica.com – Dec 23, 2007
Since residents began to move into the sprawling estate in 1999, they have relied on boreholes and wells as well as hawkers for their daily water supply. GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”); Residents in parts of the estate noticed public water supply in their homes early last week as a result of a joint effort by the Federal Housing Authority and the Federal Capital Territory Water Board to put an end to their agony. Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Halima Tayo Alao, had on her maiden visit to the estate decried the non-availability of water in Gwarinpa and directed the Acting Managing Director, Federal Housing Authority, Engr…
Since residents began to move into the sprawling estate in 1999, they have relied on boreholes and wells as well as hawkers for their daily water supply. GA_googleFillSlot(“AllAfrica_Story_Inset”); Residents in parts of the estate noticed public water supply in their homes early last week as a result of a joint effort by the Federal Housing Authority and the Federal Capital Territory Water Board to put an end to their agony. Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Halima Tayo Alao, had on her maiden visit to the estate decried the non-availability of water in Gwarinpa and directed the Acting Managing Director, Federal Housing Authority, Engr. Felix Koyenikan to put water supply to the estate on his priority list.

Note to teens: Shower briefly
News & Observer – Dec 23, 2007
“You don’t know where the time went. “Americans have grown unaccustomed to politicians asking for sacrifice. But with water supplies reaching dangerously low levels in many areas, leaders from the governor on down are urging, pleading and cajoling North Carolinians to cut water consumption. Water use dropped when the hot, dry summer turned to fall but has leveled off since then. Some say age may not be what separates those who get it from those who don’t. Alicia’s father, Steven DeMarte, 54, says the true test may be whether someone has had to change the way they think about water. “We’re a throwaway society,” said DeMarte, who spent years in California, where water is a precious commodity.

Colorado River deal a high water mark
Rocky Mountain News – Dec 23, 2007
That deal was also struck when the states were more sparsely populated. And it allows the states in the basin and Mexico to draw 17 million acre-feet of water from the river a year. (An acre-foot is about enough water to supply two households for a year. ) Runoff from rain and snowmelt have delivered only 14 million or 15 million acre-feet in recent years. The new agreement doesn’t overturn the Law of the River. Nor does it allow the free market to permit an unimpeded flow of drinking water throughout the West, as we would prefer; if it did, Phoenix and Las Vegas might permanently buy water rights from marginal farming operations. Though the deal may not go as far as we would like, it signals a dramatic and positive shift.

Officials discuss cleaning saltwater
Brazosport Facts – Brazosport Facts (subscription) – Dec 23, 2007
Though drinking water isnt in short supply yet, Matagorda County officials had a conference Thursday to look to the future by discussing the possibility of taking the salt out of brackish water to use for drinking and agricultural purposes. Brackish water is the result of saltwater and fresh water combining in the ground or on the waters surface, said Steve Young, engineering senior hydrogeologist for United Research Services. The salt can be removed through a process called desalination. A desalination plant could be a reality for the county if research proves the project would be worth the cost. Some grants are available through the Texas Water Development Board to build a plant, but the majority of the cost would rest on the counties served by it, said Jorge Arroyo, the Texas Water Development Boards director for Seawater and Brackish Water Desalination Initiatives…
We must enhance our conservation efforts and we must be innovative in increasing new ways to meet the ever increasing demand. Common issues with using brackish water include that its too costly, uses too much energy and is not needed, Arroyo said. He said the cost for conventional water supplies has increased and the cost for desalination has declined, so the two are meeting in the middle. The cost to construct a desalination plant is from $2 million to $26 million, depending on the capacity of the plant, and water would cost about $1. 30 per 1,000 gallons, he said, which is about the same cost as fresh water. This is an established technology, Arroyo said. In the coastal area, We have brackish groundwater availability, and we have access to, for practical purposes, a limitless supply of ocean water.