Welcome to H20 Weekly

Welcome to H2O Weekly

Issue # 007

H2O Weekly is an on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities about the world’s water on a weekly basis. A full article is followed by other brief headings are followed by links that will take you to the complete article you are interested in.

Created & Published by Lorne Haveruk C.I.D., C.I.C., C.L.I.A

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Weekly Water Events

1. Ride of his life – Now promotes fresh water!

2. WATER IN THE CITY CONFERENCE

3. India: looking ahead to one and a half billion people

Your Comments from last week.

Lorne,

Be careful with broad statements like:

water sources are rapidly being polluted, depleted, diverted and exploited by corporate interests ranging from industrial agriculture and manufacturing to electricity production and mining.

There are many places where there are just too many people living in places that will not support them. Also, much of the depletion of resources is possible because of government policy. Many units of government are more concerned with generating tax base than environmental impact. I am not on anyone's side, I believe in balance. No one seems to promote balance. All interests, both public and private, will need to recognize this in order to sustain resources for future generations.

Andy Smith

State and Affiliate Relations Director

Irrigation Association

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1. A Banff Alberta park employee was backpacking over the Saskatchewan Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield. Wading across a speedy meltwater river that flow along polished channels down the glacier, he slipped and was swept downstream. The water carried him down a crevasse, right into the glacier. It was black inside with no light plus hardly any clearance between the icewater stream he was bashing down and the jagged ceiling above him. As he was swept further into the glacier, he was battered about by sharp ice. The ceiling of ice gradually began to close up around him. Sharp rocks and ice cut into him as he was carried deeper and deeper inside the glacier. Somehow, miraculously, he managed to avoid being struck as he whipped past theses deadly obstacles. After a terrifying roller coaster ride in total darkness of some 400 yards, he emerged into daylight on the east side of the Saskatchewan River. He was cut and bruised and hypothermic, but not seriously injured. He now works with the United Nations to improve Canadian’s awareness of the importance of fresh water, including that locked in glacial ice.

March 2006 Explore Magazine

2. WATER IN THE CITY CONFERENCE
SEPTEMBER 17-20, 2006
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA

A Unique Conference...

Water in the City is a unique conference that will bring together the people who make decisions about water. Not just engineers and water managers, but also municipal politicians and staff, senior governments, the development industry, consultants, the environmental community, interested citizens, youth, and commercial and institutional water users from all over North America. We are bringing people together to take a broad, visionary look at water issues facing our communities and to explore innovative approaches and practical policy alternatives necessary to solving these issues. http://www.waterinthecityvictoria.ca/

3. India: looking ahead to one and a half billion people

Robert Cassen, visiting professora and Pravin Visaria, directorb

If India faces an acute problem anywhere arising from population growth, it is likely to be with water. Availability of fresh water does not change much, although climate change will add some incertainties.19 By the middle of the next century, it will be down to some 1400 m3 per person (simply as a result of population growth), well below the 1700 m3 per person commonly accepted as the threshold of water scarcity.20 But current water problems have much to do with policy and practice.

Agriculture takes 80% or more of the nation’s fresh water. As water is largely under priced there is no economic incentive for conservation. Irrigation water is charged for, but at rates which do not allow the major irrigation schemes to pay for essential maintenance. So canal systems are leaky, and a lot of water is simply lost. Some farmers use too much water and end up with waterlogged land; some do not get enough. Where water is scarce, such as in parts of western India, matters have been made much worse by several things. Most of the water used for irrigation comes from tube wells. But until recently development of tube wells was virtually unregulated; those who could afford it dug deeper wells, often emptying their neighbors’ shallower ones as water tables dropped. Power and fuel prices have been kept low so that pumping is too cheap, and water is often over pumped. Crops such as sugar, which might not even be grown if water was properly priced, bring farmers high returns. Overall the results have been socially inequitable and environmentally dangerous.2122 India’s rivers are also highly polluted by agricultural chemicals and dumping of human and industrial wastes.23

Urban water presents a similar picture. A commonly used standard of need is 100 litres per person per day. But better off consumers already use over 250 litres a day, while the poor make do with 10 litres or less. Many water users, including the better off with piped household supplies, pay nothing for their water whereas poor people often pay for drinking water supplied by tanker.24 As India’s population grows and becomes more urban, these issues will become more prominent. Pollution with industrial and human waste is rife. Coliform bacteria in the river Jumna have been measure at 75 000/l as it enters Delhi and 3 000 000/l as it leaves.25 Obviously the availability and quality of water supplies will have an important effect on health.

Clearly with better management and pricing policies, India could have done a lot better and could still solve many of its future problems. As much as 30% of irrigation water has been estimated to be wasted, so great potential exists for more efficient use. New plant varieties requiring less water, shifts to less water intensive crops, and low cost irrigation techniques would help a great deal. Many low cost measures for reducing water pollution are available already, and many more will undoubtedly be developed. Population growth will add to water needs; whether those needs will be met depends on technology and on water management all over the country. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1116811

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Thanks for reading!

Lorne Haveruk C.I.D., C.I.C., C.L.I.A
Editors, H20 News
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