February, 2008

BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) — The number of Chinese officially suffering drinking water shortages has more than doubled in less than a week after the government revised its statistics.

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“One of the problems that we face is that climate change is on the ascendant, and people are not always making the links to water as they perhaps should. I think that’s coming and over the next two to three years water will progressively build into a really central component of the Davos agenda.” — John Elkington, SustainAbility   

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SACRAMENTO – Results of today’s snow survey by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) show Sierra snowpack conditions at 118 percent of normal for this time of year. While this would normally be a positive indication that the state’s water supply is in good shape, DWR also announced that it will need to further reduce Delta pumping starting today to comply with a federal court order limiting water exports to southern California, the Bay Area and Central Valley.Read the release here.

 

The Sierra snowpack continues to exceed normal levels, which is good news for skiers and the state’s water users, but water officials say it’s not enough to wipe out the state’s water-supply deficit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.Read more here.

 

A visualization of water use by US state in the year 2000.

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Drought-parched Georgia got a “cool wet kiss of friendship” Wednesday from neighboring Chattanooga, Tenn., in the form of a truckload of bottled water delivered to lawmakers at the state Capitol.
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BEIJING, Feb. 29 (China Daily) — China’s top legislature on Thursday adopted an amended water pollution law that toughens punishment of company officials through hefty fines.The Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law was passed at the 32nd session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), which concluded here on Thursday.The law, with eight chapters and 92 provisions, will take effect on June 1.
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TAMPA, FL — Officials in Tampa, Florida, got a surprise recently when a local firm building the state’s first ethanol-production factory put in a request for 400,000 gallons a day of city water. The request by U.S. EnviroFuels would make the facility one of the city’s top ten water consumers overnight, and the company plans to double its size. Florida is suffering from a prolonged drought. Rivers and lakes are at record lows and residents wonder where the extra water will come from.

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AUSTRALIA, Feb. 28 (ABC News) — The Federal Opposition’s environment spokeswoman says the Rudd Government’s plans to buy water from Murray irrigators will threaten the industry.Read more here.

 

The diversion of water for the Beijing Olympics threatens the livelihoods of millions of people, a senior Chinese government official has said.
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