The News Review:

- Not so easy for city to ban bottled water
- MC employees threaten to cut power, water supply in Mohali
- FEMA Gets Better Marks for Response to Ike After Katrina Fiasco
- Jordan: Water supply from Lake Tiberias to resume Saturday
- Water crisis closes KZN court
- Utilities get a wake-up call
- FVR, Netherlands prince worry over water supply

Not so easy for city to ban bottled water
TheChronicleHerald.ca, Canada 
Last month, in response to London, Ont. s total ban on bottled water, Mayor Peter Kelly said Halifax would look at ways to cut down on its consumption. But in an interview this week, the mayor said its still necessary to supply water to some of the citys hundreds of employees. “It will be used for specific divisions, like on hot days for bus drivers or for the outside staff there are some contractual obligations that we have to provide water,” he said. The water will also be used to quench peoples thirst at civic events or for participants in city recreation programs. The president of the bus drivers union said Thursday that Metro Transit drivers on a handful of routes rely on bottled water because there are no facilities along the way. Some routes boast water fountains or at least cold water taps at depots or other facilities, but others dont.

MC employees threaten to cut power, water supply in Mohali
Indian Express, India 
This was the ultimatum served by the MC Employees Union to Mohali Deputy Commissioner Rahul Bhandari and Senior Superintendent of Police Jatinder Singh Aulakh. Already, work at the MC office has been suspended as almost 400 MC employees went on an indefinite strike on Thursday.

FEMA Gets Better Marks for Response to Ike After Katrina Fiasco
Bloomberg 
'' Since Katrina devastated New Orleans, FEMA has doubled itsstaff to almost 4,000 and upgraded its logistics system so supplytrucks can be tracked electronically. Agency officials saidthey're working with and training their state and localcounterparts. FEMA has distributed more than 7 millions meals and 24million liters of water to 63 distribution sites in Texas sinceIke hit on Sept. The agency is reimbursing storm victimsstaying in hotels and motels for up to 30 days. 3 millionresidents left the Houston-Galveston area before the storm.

Jordan: Water supply from Lake Tiberias to resume Saturday
Zawya, United Arab Emirates 
The Kingdom is also entitled to an annual quantity of 10mcm of desalinated spring water diverted from the river. The treaty stipulates that Jordan and Israel should cooperate to supply the Kingdom with an additional quantity of 50mcm of potable water every year. According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Jordan is the world’s fourth poorest country in terms of water resources, with an annual per capita share of water standing at about 110-150 cubic metres, compared to the international water poverty line of 1,000 cubic metres of water per person annually. The Kingdom’s drinking water deficit for this summer stands at 12. 7mcm a figure the ministry hopes to cut down to 5. 5mcm through 48 artesian wells that have been put into service this year. This year’s rainfall stood at 4.

Water crisis closes KZN court
Independent Online, South Africa 
Magistrate Steven Mundhree said the Ingwavuma court had closed its doors last week. “We are sitting with 150 cases currently waiting to be heard and many witnesses have arrived after long journeys from rural areas. “We have contacted the uMkanyakude Municipality on numerous occasions to find out when we might have water again, but with no joy,” he said. uMkanyakude Municipality’s director for water services, Angus Patterson, said they had recurring problems with the water pump for the Ingwavuma area.

Utilities get a wake-up call
guardian.co.uk, UK 
It was only by a whisker that 500,000 inhabitants of Gloucestershire and south Wales, and 750,000 people around Sheffield did not lose power due to flooding the electricity substation serving their homes. As the Pitt review noted, a power failure on that scale in either region would have almost certainly caused loss of life. As it was, the flooding of the Mythe water treatment works in Gloucestershire meant 350,000 people were without fresh water for up to two weeks, 40,000 had no power for 24 hours in Gloucestershire and 9,000 were on rota disconnection in South Yorkshire and Humberside. It was a wake-up call for the utilities industry. Many power stations, substations and water treatment works were built near rivers, therefore a large proportion of the UK’s critical infrastructure is at risk of flooding, their contingency plans were not up to scratch. They were not always quick enough off the mark in helping with the emergency response to ensure safety checks on gas and electricity supplies in flooded homes were carried out. This year, utilities companies were much more on the ball.

FVR, Netherlands prince worry over water supply
Sun.Star, Philippines 
However, knowing how much or how little water is left in the city would be difficult, said engineer Geoffer Gonzaga, principal engineer of the Metro Cebu Water District. There are so many owners of water pumps who remain unregistered, said Gonzaga in yesterdays Cebu City State of the Water Address 2008. Former Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary Elisea Gozon suggested bringing down the management of water to the local level, in order to easily monitor water consumption. Through this, as a medium-term goal, wed be able to provide potable water all over the country, especially to the 432 municipalities that are waterless right now, said Gozon.