The News Review:

- Proposed Gas Drilling Upstate Raises Concerns About Water Supply
- Governor’s panel says Calif. must fix water system
- New look at future: up to 25% thirstier
- Ethanol and Water
- Water tie-in hits a new snag

Proposed Gas Drilling Upstate Raises Concerns About Water Supply
New York Times United States 
Upstate the push by energy companies to explore drilling under a broad swath of western and southern New York State have provoked alarm and protest among environmentalists and others. But in New York City opponents say that city residents and leaders have been slow to react despite New Yorkers’ stake: not only do many have weekend homes but the area under consideration for drilling includes the watershed that supplies most of the city’s drinking water. “In the absence of a real rallying cry coming from the city to vigorously protect the water supply we’re going to get rolled” said James F. Gennaro of Queens chairman of the Council’s environmental committee which has been holding the hearings.

Governor’s panel says Calif. must fix water system
MSNBC 
The Delta Vision Committee endorsed a plan that asks California lawmakers to revisit the canal idea that voters rejected long ago. It also promotes building dams which Democrats oppose and restoring 100000 acres of habitat in the delta where some native fish are struggling to survive. Tuesday was the final public hearing in a two-year process to come up with ways to restore the ailing delta while shoring up California’s water supplies. Story continues below ?advertisement |.

New look at future: up to 25% thirstier
Austin American-Statesman TX 
Early next year the river authority’s staff is scheduled to report on the water supplies required to meet those demands according to Emlea Chanslor a spokeswoman for the LCRA. The LCRA has long said it can handle demand. “We have ample supplies for decades into the future” said James Kowis manager of water supply planning for the river authority. The City of Austin for its part has locked in water through the year 2100 through a combination of its own water rights and contracts with the LCRA. The new water demand numbers which look further into the future than any previous study show how population growth has outstripped even relatively recent calculations in the current state water plan and could give a more accurate sense of the pressure on Central Texas water supplies in coming decades. The figures were ordered by the river authority’s board as it prepares for a decision about whether to partner with San Antonio on a massive multibillion-dollar water project that could send water from the Colorado to that city for 80 years; in return the Colorado River basin would get money to pay for far-reaching storage projects and conservation programs. Staff at the river authority looked at development permits septic tank applications state demographer’s figures and birth and death rates among other statistics to arrive at the new numbers.

Ethanol and Water
Huffington Post NY 
It didn’t take long before wells 3 miles away started to run dry leaving families without water. To “solve” the problem engineers started diverting water from the Minnesota River a “solution” which might work until the next drought. To say the least it portends trouble when one modest-sized plant in of all places the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes is straining water supplies. Nationwide there were only 54 ethanol plants in 2000. By 2008 that number had grown to 139 with an additional 62 refineries under construction. Vilsack and others will oversee an ethanol boom created by large production mandates in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Related from Vistra-corp: Powering the future: Obama’s energy plan could create …

Water tie-in hits a new snag
Worcester Telegram MA 
The town of Southbridge is ready to go and certainly for the humanitarian element the sooner the better” he said. Although Southbridge is ready Charlton must construct a water system connection which may have to wait until spring. fficials from both towns first met in December 2004 for the purchase of 500000 gallons of water per day from Southbridge to start and supply Charlton’s water system. The deal was reduced to 100000 gallons when Southbridge said its water pipe into Charlton could not accommodate 500000 gallons a day. Charlton allocated the limited supply to about 120 properties contaminated by an underground gasoline plume originating in the 1980s from an Exxon-owned storage tank at the Massachusetts Turnpike 6 West service area. The 100000 gallons per day agreement was signed December 2006 and work began to connect Charlton’s system to a Southbridge water line on Stafford Street which supplies water to the Massachusetts Turnpike 6 West service area. Two years later the $4.