Welcome to H2O News

Issue # 016 :

H2O News is an on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities about the world's water on a weekly basis. Articles or headings are followed by links that will take you to the complete article you are interested in.

Visit our website at http://www.DHWatermgmt.com for additional articles, product, educational offerings, design services, LEEDs info, Rainwater Harvesting info, and more.

We can help “Solutioneer” your water problems into positive results.

Weekly Water Events

1. Going into debt a risky proposition… by David Suzuki
2. Salton Sea's salvation?
3. RWE Sells Thames Water to Macquarie for $8.9 Billion
4. The ruin of the Great Lakes
5. IA comes to San Antonio in November

H2O Weekly is sent only to those who have requested it. We value your privacy and never share our mailing list with anyone. To subscribe and unsubscribe contact us and add subscribe or unsubscribe in the subject line.

________________________________________________________

1. Going into debt a risky proposition

Most of us are all too aware of what it’s like to live in financial debt, but what about ecological debt?

On October 9th, according to the Global Footprint Network, humanity went into ecological debt for the year, where demand for resources and the production of waste outpaced the planet’s capacity to produce new resources and absorb those wastes. In other words, we ceased to live off the ecological services provided by the planet and started consuming the ecosystems themselves.

The date is merely symbolic, as in reality human consumption of resources and production of waste is highly varied across the planet. In some areas, we’re already going into debt at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day. Other areas, however, are far less exploited and we may never reach those particular ecosystems’ ecological limits during the year.

So ecological debt is more of a global average, based on the “ecological footprint” concept, conceived by Bill Rees and Mathis Wackernagel at the University of British Columbia.

Ecological debt is similar, as it also helps us understand how human activities are affecting the planet and the services it provides to us. The concept requires us to look at these services as if they are sorts of paycheques. If we live off our income, we’re doing fine – that’s sustainability. But when we start living beyond our means, just as we would with our finances, we go into debt and we may end up in trouble. Global warming is one example of that kind of trouble.

The Global Footprint Network calculates that the first ecological debt day occurred in 1987, on approximately December 19. But every year since it has been getting earlier and earlier, as our rate of consumption has increased. What happens if we break the bank? Well, it certainly would be problematic for our species, as the planet could simply no longer provide all the services we need and absorb all the wastes we create. Our population would then have to shrink down to a level that was sustainable with whatever functioning ecosystems we had left.

Although we often talk as though we should reduce our impact on the planet to protect nature, it’s actually much more about protecting ourselves. As pointed out in an excellent recent article in New Scientist magazine (available free online), nature would get along quite well without us. If humans were to go ecologically bankrupt and die off as a species, nature would no doubt spring back.

Human beings may have permanently altered some ecosystems, but life on Earth is remarkably tenacious. Without people around, wooden structures in our cities would start to decay almost immediately, and plants pushing their way into cracks would gradually overtake concrete, turning sprawling suburbs into forests and prairies once again. Over-fished seas would rebound with life. Many species currently on the brink would flourish. Our oceans would gradually absorb the carbon dioxide we’ve pumped into the atmosphere. Even nuclear waste would gradually decay. As the author points out, alien visitors to Earth 100,000 years after our demise would see no obvious signs of what we once were.

It’s sad to think that all we have created on Earth could, in evolutionary terms, disappear in the blink of an eye. Life would go on, but the remarkable story of a unique bipedal species would come to an end. A humbling thought and a compelling reason to stay out of debt.

The David Suzuki Foundation [subscribers@davidsuzuki.org]

________________________________________________________

2. Salton Sea's salvation?

10 plans to revive lake emerge after two years of study.

Two years after plunging into the murky science and politics of the Salton Sea, the state of California finally emerged with an evaluation of 10 proposals to revive the troubled lake. The Department of Water Resources today is set to unveil a 3,000-page draft report looking at proposals it estimates will cost $2.3 billion to $5.9 billion to revitalize the state's largest lake.

http://www.bcwaternews.com/CAWaterNews/CWN-22.html

3. RWE Sells Thames Water to Macquarie for $8.9 Billion (Update2)

By Nadja Brandt and Thom Rose

Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- RWE AG, Europe's third-largest utility, agreed to sell its Thames Water unit for 4.8 billion pounds ($8.94 billion) to a group led by Macquarie Bank Ltd. to focus on growing energy markets.

RWE, which said the board approved the sale, expects a book gain of at least ``hundreds of millions'' of euros, the Essen, Germany-based company said today in a statement to the Frankfurt exchange. The sale of Thames Water, which has net debt of 3.2 billion British pounds, is expected to be completed by the beginning of December.

RWE is selling Thames Water to buy natural-gas and electricity assets as European Union energy markets open to full competition in the middle of next year. It bought the company, Britain's largest water utility with 13 million customers in and around London, in 2000 for 6.7 billion pounds.

``The sale of Thames Water is a significant step in the realization of our…

________________________________________________________

4. The ruin of the Great Lakes

Nearing Lake Michigan is an invasive species that could change the Great Lakes forever - from how, and even whether, people use the water recreationally and commercially to the entire ecological balance of the deep blue waters.

Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Egan explained the peril posed by Asian carp in a three-part series of articles that began on Sunday. These articles should not be viewed as alarmist. The real issue is why loud warning clangs have not been sounded long before now by those charged with keeping the largest bodies of fresh water in the world healthy and accessible.

Those along the northern Mississippi basin, where the Asian carp already have gained a foothold, can tell you why those warnings should have been issued. In the absence of not nearly enough official countermeasures, they have resorted to a "Redneck Fishing Tournament" to beat back the infestation.

Agitated by the sound of motors on the water, the carp jump out of the water. The tournament makes a game of it, with boaters catching the fish by net and other means. These are fish weighing 20 pounds or much more that can become missiles, projectiles that bruise, break and bloody any boater who happens to get in the way.

Now imagine this on Lake Michigan or any of the Great Lakes, home to a $4.5 billion annual commercial and recreational fishing industry. Goodbye, industry. Goodbye, jobs.

Oct. 18, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

________________________________________________________

5. Remember the IA show in San Antonio is coming soon.

For info go to www.irrigation.org. See you there.

________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading! If you have suggestions or ideas for articles send them along.

Lorne Haveruk C.I.D., C.I.C., C.L.I.A
Editor, H20 News
Click to contact us
http://www.DHWatermgmt.com

Need a keynote speaker, presenter, or trainer for your next meeting – drop me a line.

Privacy and Spam Policy: We never rent, trade or sell my email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever.

You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.

Copyright 2006, DH Water Management Services Inc., All Rights Reserved.