Watertracker – In Depth #13

Watertracker - In Depth
Issue 13
March 13th, 2013
In This Issue
Greetings!
CINCS is pleased to send you Watertracker - In Depth, an edited
snapshot of global water news, as well as in-depth research and analysis on
current issues affecting water policy, stewardship, regulation, and the data
management and technological challenges facing organizations involved in
representing their risks associated with climate change and operations in the U.S.
and abroad
Policy and Regulation Updates
Business Tracker
Water Stewardship
Water Issues
Science and Technology
Corporate Stewardship Highlight
Academic Research Highlight
Report Tracker
Conference Tracker
Sincerely,
CINCS - The Water Team
Waterracker In Focus #22
The Adequacy of Free Water Risk Tools
From the desk of CINCS team member Bright Kim
Freely Available Tools Begin the Task of Quantifying Water Risk for
Managers. Dwindling water supplies pose significant risks to companies and
other organizations by way of regulation, reallocation of natural resources, and
potential for higher cost. Concurrent with the threat of higher costs is a rising
demand for water in agriculture, industry, and domestic use. Hence, introducing
water sustainability to business strategy is a vital measure that will spark changes
to many aspects of business operations, from management strategies,
technology, capital allocations and investments, and heightened awareness of
water issues from customers and employees.
Read the Full Report
Policy and Regulation Updates
UN officials spotlight need for prevention systems to deal with water-related
disasters
Early warning systems and cooperation among countries are some of the measures
needed to increase resilience to water-related disasters, United Nations officials
stressed today. "Preparing for the worst can save lives. That is why we need early
warning systems, disaster education and resilient structures," Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said in his remarks to the Special Thematic Session of the General
Assembly on Water and Disasters. The meeting at UN Headquarters, convened by
Mr. Ban's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and the High-level Expert Panel
on Water and Disasters, brought together representatives of the international
community, governments and civil society to discuss water disaster issues and share
experiences and good practices on the subject.During the past decade, water-related
disasters have struck more frequently but have also been more severe, causing
political, social, and economic shocks in many countries including Japan, Indonesia,
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Pakistan, the Philippines, the United States and Thailand.
United Nations
Role of Business Highlighted at CEO Water Mandate Conference
The UN Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate today convened an international
conference in Mumbai, India, to explore how the global business community can
positively contribute to the growing global and regional water and
sanitation challenges - especially with respect to the UN's Post-2015 Development
Agenda. Approximately 160 leaders from business, civil society, UN agencies, and
other groups gathered to discuss collaborative approaches to water and sanitation
problems. The event - "Corporate Water Stewardship and the Post-2015
Development Agenda: Drawing from the India Experience'' - constituted one of the
United Nations' formal consultations with respect to the post-2015 process, which
seeks to identify critical development objectives and possibly formulate new
Sustainable Development Goals. The event was live-streamed to the UN's official
website devoted to the formal UN water consultations.
UN Global Compact
Africa and Middle East
Tunis Post 2015 Water Consultation Calls for a Water Secured World for All
A total of 74 representatives of governments in Africa, Regional Economic Communities / River and Lakes Basin Organisations,
Intergovernmental Organisations, development and financing partners, Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental
Organisations including youth and women organisations from Africa and beyond met in Tunis March 1st 2013 with a call for a
distinct water goal in the post-2015 global development agenda. The goal they proposed "Ensure a water secure world for all" was
aimed to reemphasise the need for the world to work toward guaranteeing water security for life and socio economic development
taking into consideration such issues as universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation, water for food, energy, and green
growth.
African Minsters Council on Water
AfDB Cites African Countries' Integrated Climate Resilience Solutions in the Water Sector in CIF Global 2012 Annual
Report
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has laid out solutions some African countries are about to apply, with help from the AfDB
and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), to respond to complex problems that climate change is creating on their combined sectors
of water, food and energy. The article, part of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF's) newly released 2012 Annual Report "Creating
the Climate For Change", reflects Africa's uniquely challenging circumstances in the water sector caused by climate change with
repercussions in the agricultural and energy fields, and countries' work to apply innovative solutions with AfDB and CIF support.
African Development Bank
'Sand dams' bank water for dry season in semi-arid Kenya
Barely a month after heavy rains pounded Kenya, many seasonal rivers in the country's semi-arid east are already drying up, and
residents are preparing for the months-long dry season. But some, like Paul Masila and other members of the Woni Wa Mbee selfhelp group, are not worried about the looming dry spell. Instead, they are preparing to plant crops or are harvesting fields they
planted before the rains. The group - the name means "progressive vision" in Kamba, the local langage - have revolutionised the
region's fortunes by finding a way to store millions of litres of water under the bed of the Kaiti River, providing the once-parched
community with water for domestic use and irrigation throughout the year. "Drought will never again be a problem, particularly for
future generations," said Titus Mwendo, a 31-year-old farmer in Miambwani, in the Eastern region's Makueni County.
Reuters
Zimbabwe's farmers dig in to capture the deluge
For the smallholder farmers in arid Esigodini, just south of Bulawayo, the heavy downpours that have hit the area in recent months
have been a godsend. "We have not seen this much rain in years," said farmer Brenda Zulu. The rains first came in January,
destroying homes and claiming lives as people were caught unawares. But farmers struggling to grow crops and raise livestock in
the traditionally low-rainfall area surrounding Zimbabwe's second-largest city realised that if they could find a way to harness the
deluge, they could use it to help their thirsty farms. So the villagers grouped together and started digging.
"It was a community suggestion that we dig the earth to trap the water," said Zulu as she scooped water from an artificial pond her
community created. The size of a small tennis court, the pond now serves as a reservoir for scores of farms in the area. She uses
the water to water her kitchen garden and fill a trough for her small herd of livestock. "It seems to be helping a lot," she said.
Reuters
Asia
Planned Hydropower Plant Key Step to Easing Nepal's Energy Crisis
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is lending $150 million towards a $500 million project that will build a hydropower plant with a
140-megawatt capacity. "Nepal has an energy crisis, and this is affecting badly economic prospects," said Yongping Zhai, Director,
Energy Division in ADB's South Asia Department. "This energy project is a means to stop this crisis." Electricity demand is growing
at 10% a year, but lack of investment means supplies are not keeping up. Blackouts of up to 18 hours a day in the dry season are
common, even in the capital Kathmandu. This forces businesses and households to use expensive and polluting diesel generators.
Asian Development Bank
Pakistan launches first national climate change policy
Disaster-prone Pakistan has launched its first ever national policy on climate change, detailing how it plans to tackle the challenges
posed by global warming, mitigate its risks and adapt key sectors of the country's economy to cope with its consequences. Pakistan
is highly vulnerable to weather-related disasters such as cyclones, droughts, floods, landslides and avalanches. Devastating floods
in 2010 disrupted the lives of 20 million people - many more than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami - and cost $10 billion. The climate
change policy, developed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), recommends some 120 steps
the country could take to slow down the impact of global warming, as well as adapt sectors such as energy, transport and
agriculture.
Reuters
Europe
Island communities explore sustainability
A group of North Sea island communities have combined their energies to test a range of sustainability ideas involving water,
energy and materials use, in the European Union funded Cradle-to-Cradle Islands project, which finished at the end of 2012. The
island communities - representing Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom - decided to
work together on the basis that they have common interests and needs when it comes to sustainability. The islands would all prefer
to be less dependent on the mainland for services such as water and energy, and would like to manage more effectively the
demands placed on their resources. In particular, because of summer tourism, the islands typically see hugely increased use of
water, energy, accommodation and transport during the high season.
European Commission
Going With the Flow
Netherlands - When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York proposed the other day to spend up to $400 million to buy and raze
homes in the floodplains damaged by Hurricane Sandy, I thought of Nol Hooijmaijers.Some dozen years ago the Dutch government
ordered Mr. Hooijmaijers to vacate the farmland that he and his family shared with 16 other farmers so it could be turned into a river
spillway for occasional floods. I visited Mr. Hooijmaijers recently. He and his wife, Wil, served coffee in their new farmhouse and
showed off the new stall for their cows.
New York Times
Romania Utility Plans 13% Price Rise for Bucharest Water
The Romanian utility Apa Nova Bucuresti SA, a unit of France's Veolia Environnement SA (VIE), plans to increase water and
wastewater-treatment prices in Bucharest by 13 percent starting in March to fund network improvements. The company seeks to
raise water prices in the Romanian capital by 0.75 lei per cubic meter from the current 5.86 lei ($1.76) a cubic meter next month
pending approval from the public-utilities regulatory authority, the Bucharest-based subsidiary said today in a statement on its
website.
Bloomberg
Latin America
Estimated 30% Water Waste in Costa Rica - Large Agriculture and Businesses Costs Passed to Us
Although Costa Rica has plenty of precipitation, water is not a renewable resource; the fact is that in Costa Rica culture has not
educated regarding water resources with estimates that Costa Rica waste 30% of their daily water consumption. The Water
Resources Center for Central America and the Caribbean National University (HIDROCEC) conducted a study focusing on the cost
of water. Currently it is estimated that on average Tico consumes 180 liters of water a day, which is more than the average 80 liters
(50 to 100 liters) recommended the World Health Organization (WHO). "Many people think you have to have free water. Water is in
the public domain and has no price, but there are certain actions such as distribution and purification that do have money and that is
not included in the water bill, "said Andrea Suarez, of HIDROCEC.
The Costa Rica News
Peru Starts South America's Biggest Water Treatment Plant
Peru began operations today at the Taboada water-treatment plant, South America's largest, which will handle sewage for almost
half of the 9 million inhabitants in the capital, Lima. The plant, built by Spain's Actividades de Construccion & Servicios SA, will be
running at full capacity by July, Peru President Ollanta Humala said. Taboada will boost sewage treatment capacity in Lima and the
neighboring port of Callao to 75 percent from 16 percent now. Fishermen and beachgoers will benefit as less raw sewage is
dumped into the sea, Humala said. After removing solid waste, the residual liquid will be pumped into the sea 4 kilometers (2.5
miles) off Peru's Pacific coast, he said. "This is part of the master plan to resolve the problem of water and sewage in Lima and
Callao," Humala said. "A big part of what we eat comes from the sea so we need to treat nature well."
Bloomberg
North America
In California, What Price Water?
On a calm day, a steady rain just about masks the sound of Pacific Ocean water being drawn into the intake valve from Agua
Hedionda Lagoon. Listen hard, and a faint sucking sound emerges from the concrete openings, like a distant straw pulling liquid
from a cup.At the moment, the seawater is being diverted from the ocean to cool an aging natural-gas power plant. But in three
years, if all goes as planned, the saltwater pulled in at that entryway will emerge as part of the regional water supply after treatment
in what the project's developers call the newest and largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
The New York Times
Water Canadian Group Licensed for 1.5 Billion Litres Premium Water Per Annum
The Water Canadian Group has been issued thirty-year licenses to harvest up to 1.5 billion litres of premium glacial drinking water
per annum. All licensed water source collection points are accessible by year-round, protected deep water ocean access, in close
proximity to the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The water will be collected at its source, just prior to entering the
ocean. Water Canadian Group will utilize a unique, environmentally friendly extraction method requiring no permanent infrastructure
at the point of diversion (zero footprint). The process was designed to leave no negative impact on the ecosystem, leaving it
unharmed as it has stood for thousands of years. An initial phase of approximately 1 million litres daily is planned to eventually
expand via Water Canadian's licenses, netting up to 4.1 million liters of premium drinking water daily. Fully utilized, this is 1.5 billion
liters per annum, providing the Water Canadian Group with the largest volume of drinking water licensed to a single entity in
Canada. Mexico.
Marketwire
Oceania
Taking the plunge in Mighty River
If there's a single question that's bound to be hogging dinner table conversation for the next few months it's whether Mighty River
Power (MRP) is a good investment. The process of selling a 49 per cent stake in the Government-owned power company kicked off
this week, with mum-and-dad investors given the opportunity to pre-register for shares in the float. Judging by the 200,000 who
signed up in the first three days, and the patchy performance of the Treasury-run website mightyrivershares.govt.nz, which buckled
under the deluge of traffic, public interest has been astronomical. Even if those who registered received only their guaranteed $2000
of shares, it would add up to $400 million out of a possible $1.7 billion in shares that are up for sale. But while interest is sky-high,
information assessing the merits of the deal has been scarce ahead of the release of the investment statement and prospectus
required in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process. Sources within the fund management industry say that's largely due to the Maori
Council's challenge to the sale, which was dismissed by the Supreme Court at the end of last month.
Fairfax Media
Tony Burke's water safeguards to stifle investment: business
Business groups have lashed out at proposed federal laws to protect the Great Artesian Basin from coal and coal-seam gas
development, claiming the extra green tape could delay billions of dollars' worth of investment. Federal Environment Minister Tony
Burke announced yesterday that he would expand commonwealth environmental protection laws to include the effect coal and coalseam gas had on underground water. Currently, the effect mining has on water reserves has been assessed under state
environmental protection laws and has not been considered under commonwealth powers. Mr Burke's decision recognises the
warnings of an independent scientific panel and a groundswell of public concern about the potential environmental and social
impact of coal and coal-seam gas. The new laws involve a "water trigger" in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act. "The proposed amendments will ensure that coal-seam gas and large coal mining developments must be
assessed and approved under national environment law, if they are likely to have a significant impact on a water resource," Mr
Burke said.
The Australian
Business Tracker
Business Stream to supply water to Bernard Matthews
Scottish Water's business division has won a contract with turkey giant Bernard Matthews that the utility hopes will lead to other
deals when the English market is opened up to full competition. Under the three-year agreement, Edinburgh-based Business
Stream will supply water to Bernard Matthews' meat factory at Holton, in Suffolk, and will offer advice on water and waste efficiency.
Mark Powles, chief executive of Business Stream, said: "This is a very significant deal for the prospect of competition south of the
Border since it demonstrates that business customers in England are willing to switch suppliers. "Signing a deal with Bernard
Matthews sends a clear message to the UK that we have the ability to provide a quality service to major British brands."
The Scotsman
Texas Told Not to Issue Water Permits That Hurt Cranes
Texas was ordered to temporarily stop issuing new water permits for a river system that supplies dozens of Central Texas cities,
power generators and petrochemical plants to ensure enough water reaches the last migratory flock of endangered whooping
cranes. U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack in Corpus Christi, Texas, yesterday blocked state regulators from approving new
permits for the Guadalupe, San Antonio or Blanco rivers "until the state of Texas provides reasonable assurances to the court that
such permits will not take whooping cranes in violation of the Endangered Species Act." Jack said in her ruling that the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, which grants water permits in the state, violated federal wildlife protections by
failing to monitor how much water cities and industrial users took from the rivers during droughts.
Bloomberg
Water Stewardship
Joint Venture with CAPP: Projects focus on water stewardship
When energy producer Encana was seeking water management strategies for its Two Island Lake hydraulic fracturing operations in
British Columbia's Horn River Basin, the primary goal was to have the least-possible impact on surface water. "We were fortunate to
identify the Debolt formation, a deep, non-potable aquifer containing saline water, unsuitable for human or agricultural use," says
Mike Forgo, Encana's Vice-President of Business Services & Stakeholder Relations. "This type of formation is not available in many
areas of B.C." The discovery led to a project with peer company Apache to design and build the Debolt Water Treatment Plant and
develop the formation as a water source reservoir - the first of its kind in Canada. It took a great deal of innovation and collaboration
to tap this unique resource, but the effort brought a significant payoff. Some 98 per cent of water needed for both companies'
operations at Two Island Lake now comes from this saline source.
Financial Post
Water Issues
Thin Snowpack in West Signals Summer of Drought
After enduring last summer's destructive drought, farmers, ranchers and officials across the parched Western states had hoped that
plentiful winter snows would replenish the ground and refill their rivers, breaking the grip of one of the worst dry spells in American
history. No such luck. Lakes are half full and mountain snows are thin, omens of another summer of drought and wildfire.
Complicating matters, many of the worst-hit states have even less water on hand than a year ago, raising the specter of shortages
and rationing that could inflict another year of losses on struggling farms.
New York Times
Drought Takes Its Toll on a Texas Business, a Town and Its Families
After two years of drought, people are starting to leave this parched West Texas town. The lack of significant rainfall has slowed the
rush of cattle that came to the largest employer here, a beef processing plant that employed 2,300 people in a town of 22,343.
When the plant shut this month, it took with it an annual payroll of $15.5 million. The closing has challenged families who had
worked at the plant off Interstate 27 for generations. The drought - the third-worst in Texas since 1895 - has dried up pastures and
increased the costs of hay and feed, forcing some ranchers to sell off their herds to reduce expenses.
New York Times
Colombia's glaciers could disappear in 30 years - report
Colombia's glaciers are melting so fast that the country has lost more than half of its glacier mass over the past three decades due
to rising temperatures linked to climate change, according to a report by the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and
Environmental Studies (IDEAM). "In the last 30 years, we have lost 57 percent of our glacier mass due to climate change... If
current trends continue it is estimated that in about 30 years there will be no snow-capped mountains in the country," Ricardo
Lozano, the head of IDEAM, said in a statement. The report, which looked at glacier retreat in Colombia since 1850, said the
Andean nation is losing between three and five percent of its glaciers each year.
Reuters
Warming Lakes: Climate Change Threatens the Ecological Stability of Lake Tanganyika
Tropical lakes in East Africa don't grab headlines the way polar bears do, but climate change is having an effect on them, too.
Although the changes are not as visible as melting polar ice caps, they are no less real. As in many lakes around the world, water
temperature is on the rise in Lake Tanganyika. This and other climate-related factors are causing subtle but significant changes that
threaten the ecological stability of the lake and the livelihoods of people who depend on it. With air temperatures across tropical
Africa expected to rise as much as 2-5 degrees Celsius (3.5-9 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next 50-100 years, warming lake trends
are also expected to continue. The changes underway serve as early warning signs, not just for the lake region, but perhaps, for the
planet as a whole.
National Geographic
Science and Technology
Texas Cities Pursue 'Toilet-to-Tap' Water Technology
In response to the drought - lake levels in Wichita Falls, Texas dropped below 40 percent capacity last week - several Texas cities
are pursing projects to turn treated sewage into millions of drinking water per day, the New York Times reports. Wichita Falls, for
example, hopes to produce 5 million gallons of potable water daily through reuse technology, and by the spring, a $14 million
treatment plant in Big Springs will turn sewage into drinking water and distribute some 2 million gallons daily to the Midland-Odessa
area. Other Texas cities moving ahead with the technology include Brownwood, Abilene and Lubbock, according to the Times. The
Big Springs plant will be the first project of its kind in the US because it will use direct potable-reuse technology - that is, the treated
wastewater will not be sent through an aquifer before use.
Environmental Leader
NASA: A Nuclear Reactor To Replace Your Water Heater
This reactor does not use fission, the process of splitting atoms into smaller elements employed by every commercial power reactor
currently operating on earth. And it does not use hot fusion, the union of hydrogen atoms into larger elements that powers the sun
and stars. Instead, a low-energy nuclear reactor (LENR) uses common, stable elements like nickel, carbon, and hydrogen to
produce stable products like copper or nitrogen, along with heat and electricity. "It has the demonstrated ability to produce excess
amounts of energy, cleanly, without hazardous ionizing radiation, without producing nasty waste," said Joseph Zawodny, a senior
research scientist with NASA's Langley Research Center.
Forbes
Corporate Stewardship Highlight
Andersen AFB saves $25 million with contamination cleanup concept
Members of the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron Environmental Flight are working on containing contamination to protect the
environment at Site 14 here. The site, located in the southeastern corner of the base, was contaminated with harmful substances
such as polychlorinated biphenyl and asbestos since the 1970s when it was used as a construction waste site. The cleanup effort
is estimated to be completed later this month. "Before we started the project, our biggest worry was if the contaminated soil had
gone over the cliff edge and infected the marine biology below," said Gregg Ikehara, a 36th CES environmental restoration
manager. "We did find some small concentrations of PCBs in the fish tissue, but it did not trigger any risk to the occasional
fisherman."
Read More
Academic Research Highlight
Title
Abstract
Water footprints of
cities - indicators
for sustainable
consumption and
production
Water footprints have been proposed as sustainability indicators, relating the consumption of goods
like food to the amount of water necessary for their production and the impacts of that water use in
the source regions. We have further developed the existing water footprint methodology by globally
resolving virtual water flows and import and source regions at 5 arc minutes spatial resolution, and
by assessing local impacts of export production. Applying this method to three exemplary cities,
Berlin, Delhi and Lagos, we find major differences in amounts, composition, and origin of green and
blue virtual water imports, due to differences in diets, trade integration and crop water productivities
in the source regions. While almost all of Delhi's and Lagos' virtual water imports are of domestic
origin, Berlin on average imports from more than 4000 km distance, in particular soy (livestock
feed), coffee and cocoa. While 42 % of Delhi's virtual water imports are blue water based, the
fractions for Berlin and Lagos are 2 % and 0.5 %, respectively, roughly equal to local drinking water
abstractions of these cities. Some of the external source regions of Berlin's virtual water imports
appear to be critically water scarce and/or food insecure. However for deriving recommendations on
sustainable consumption and trade, further analysis of context-specific costs and benefits
associated with export production will be required.
S
Read More
Report Tracker
Climate Risk Management for Water
and Agriculture in the Dominican
Republic
Water Financing Partnership Facility
Annual Report 2012
The role of decision
support systems and models in
integrated river basin management
iisd and UNDP
Asian Development Bank
DHI and UNEP
2013
2013
2013
Conference Tracker
Disclaimer: The information contained in this Watertracker - In Depth has been carefully researched and compiled to the best of our
knowledge. However, CINCS does not accept responsibility for any consequences, which might be caused by the use or reliance
upon the information in the Watertracker - In Depth. CINCS does not assume any liability for the accuracy, completeness, or
usefulness of the content of this newsletter.
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