The News Review:

- RI bill water supply bill moves forward
- Illinois sues Crestwood over contaminated well
- Mueller Water Products climbs after upgrade
- TVA IG critical of water-access deal with group that had ties to …

RI bill water supply bill moves forward
Water Technology nline
The Coalition supports the bill. Sheila Dormody the group’s coordinator told the Journal that the bill will give the state better oversight over its water resources while also maintaining the state’s quality of life by protecting natural resources. The bill mandates that the state’s Water Resources Board sets targets for water conservation; gives suppliers the authority to set rates to promote conservation; and allows water suppliers to set up enterprise funds so they can set aside cash to spend on infrastructure improvements. To read the full Journal article click.
Related from Yydxyey: Kindergarten start focus of ND bill

Illinois sues Crestwood over contaminated well
Chicago Tribune
EPA inspectors questioned him after discovering the well water could be pumped untreated into the village’s distribution system. Nine days after the Tribune’s investigation was published Robert Stranczek and his lawyer gave Madigan’s office a chart outlining how much water village officials had drawn from the well between 1985 and 2007. The monthly amount ranged from about 3 percent to as high as 20 percent of the village’s total water supply. In an April 24 interview with the Tribune Stranczek acknowledged he has known about the use of the well since at least 1997 when he became a village trustee. He was appointed mayor in 2007 when his father retired. “The leaders of this community including my father who served four decades as mayor have always put the safety and security of our residents first” Stranczek said in the interview. Efforts to reach him for comment about the lawsuit were not immediately successful.

Mueller Water Products climbs after upgrade
Forbes
which makes flow control products rose Tuesday after an analyst upgraded the shares on a recent decline in price prospects for favorable changes to the company’s loan agreement and the likelihood that product demand is set to climb. Since May 5 when Mueller reported earnings the stock has fallen 22 percent. In the year to date shares have lost more than half their value. In a client note Tuesday ppenheimer analyst Christopher Glynn upgraded the stock to “Perform” from “Underperform” saying the shares’ current valuation fairly reflects the “current demand environment.

TVA IG critical of water-access deal with group that had ties to …
Knoxville News Sentinel
The program came under scrutiny last year after the News Sentinel reported that an entity with ties to Shuler – a former University of Tennessee football star and Washington Redskins quarterback – received approval for a transaction that provided 145 feet of water-access rights along the shoreline of Watts Bar Reservoir in Roane County. That entity The Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC agreed to relinquish 150 feet of water-access rights in Rhea County and also provide about $15000 for a bank stabilization project at a different location on Watts Bar Reservoir. Investors in The Cove at Blackberry Ridge included Shuler who was formerly a member of the House transportation committee’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. That subcommittee is one of two congressional panels that provide formal oversight of TVA. The IG’s report said there is no evidence the congressman used his position to pressure TVA into providing water access for his firm but it also made clear that TVA officials were aware of Shuler’s involvement in the project. The report says Jason Rudd who was an executive with the development group used the congressman’s name occasionally to prompt agency staffers to action and it also noted that TVA CE Tom Kilgore was scheduled to appear before the House’s Water Resources subcommittee in February 2007. “(Kilgore) was briefed by e-mail by his staff about Blackberry’s Maintain and Gain application in anticipation of possible questions by then-Congressman Shuler” the report said.