The News Review:

- Zimbabwe: Power, Water Cuts Ruining Women in Business – Mutasa
- Study: Climate Change Escalating Severe Western Water Crisis
- Scientists see looming water crisis in western US
- Water supply fix is priority

Zimbabwe: Power, Water Cuts Ruining Women in Business – Mutasa
AllAfrica.com – Jan 31, 2008
"He (Mutezo) is always on national television highlighting problems (faced by the authority) every time. When is it going to be right?" Mutasa, asks. Her point: Despite millions of dollars being pumped into the water supply system by both the government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, ZINWA has never been the bearer of good news. It is always this problem, that problem, another one and many more. Mutasa, also the chairperson of the gender taskforce of the National Economic Consultative Forum, says ZINWA has a national obligation to restore water and sewerage reticulation systems and prevent company closures as a result of ablution facilities that cannot work because there’s no running water. At the end of September last year, she wrote to Mutezo as president of IBWO, highlighting "the plight of women of Zimbabwe who are facing life difficulties due to poor water supplies and burst sewers". "The two scenarios have risen higher among the women and children now face a great danger of diseases such as cholera, scabies and diarrhoea," she wrote to Mutezo.

Study: Climate Change Escalating Severe Western Water Crisis
Wired News – Jan 31, 2008
With such a constrained supply and rising demand, the cost of water is likely to rise, experts said. Some California farmers, responding to a record water shortage, are even beginning to consider. Barnett’s team worked with climate models to simulate the impact of greenhouse gases on the Western water cycle…
If their models for the future prove as accurate as their modeling of the past, the paper predicts unprecedented water shortages. “We’re already at a level that can’t be sustained,” said Barnett. “Climate models show there will be less water supply while we continue to grow more cities out in the desert. Under the new conditions, what to do with the water we do have will become increasingly important, said.

Scientists see looming water crisis in western US
Reuters AlertNet – Jan 31, 2008
0 article title –> Scientists see looming water crisis in western US 31 Jan 2008 19:01:36 GMT Source: Reuters. 0 article title end –>. Trends over the past half century foreshadow a worsening decline in water, perhaps the region’s most valuable natural resource, even as population and demand expands in western states, researchers led by a scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography wrote in the journal Science on Thursday. Up to 60 percent of changes in three key factors affecting the West’s water cycle — river flow, winter air temperatures and snow pack — are due to human-caused climate change, they determined using multiple computer models and data analysis. "Our results are not good news for those living in the western United States," wrote the team led by Tim Barnett, a climate expert at Scripps Institution, part of the University of California at San Diego. "It foretells of water shortages, lack of storage capability to meet seasonally changing river flow, transfers of water from agriculture to urban uses and other critical impacts…
"Our results are not good news for those living in the western United States," wrote the team led by Tim Barnett, a climate expert at Scripps Institution, part of the University of California at San Diego. "It foretells of water shortages, lack of storage capability to meet seasonally changing river flow, transfers of water from agriculture to urban uses and other critical impacts. " Barnett said computer models point to a looming crisis in water supply in the coming two decades. It has been clear for some time that the climate has been changing in the western United States, and the question was whether it was due to natural variability or driven by climate change related to human-produced greenhouse gases and aerosols, the scientists said. LOOKS LIKE PEOPLE While the western United States has experienced natural wet and dry cycles in the past, current water flow trends differ in length and strength from past natural variations, the scientists found. The changes match those expected from the impacts of human activity on climate.

Water supply fix is priority
NEWS.com.au – Jan 31, 2008
article-tools –> CHARLES WATERHOUSE January 31, 2008 12:00am TASMANIA’S water-strapped East Coast council has decided to spend most of its capital budget next financial year improving water supplies. Glamorgan Spring Bay Council, at a meeting this week, resolved to spend the majority of its capital budget of about $3 million in 2008-09 and operational savings on water infrastructure. Coles Bay, Bicheno, Swansea and Triabunna have all experienced water problems, generally storage or pipe capacity related. Only problems at Coles Bay look to have been resolved. Mayor Bertrand Cadart said the council had decided to do everything it could to concentrate on fixing water problems.