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SAHRA's Global Water Newswatch

• New federal climate change agency forming
  published on Mon, 08 Feb 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Washington, D.C.] The Obama administration is creating a new agency to study and report on the changing climate, announced Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new Climate Service will operate alongside NOAA's National Weather Service and National Ocean Service. "More and more people are asking for more and more information about climate and how it's going to affect them," she explained. The new agency will initially be led by Director Thomas Karl of the National Climatic Data Center; its headquarters will be in Washington, DC and there will be six regional offices. NOAA is also launching a new climate portal on the Internet to collect and spread climatic data. The formation of the Climate Service will require Congressional approval.
• Ethiopia's Newest Dam Suffers Tunnel Collapse Days After Inauguration
  published on Fri, 05 Feb 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Ethiopia] A 26-km water tunnel in Ethiopia's Gilgel Gibe II hydroelectric dam collapsed, only about ten days after the project was inaugurated. With a pricetag of 374 million euros and a capacity of 420 megawatts, Gilgel Gibe II, located on the Omo River in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, is currently Ethiopia's biggest power plant. The Italian construction firm Salini has already delayed work by more than two years due to poor planning, inadequate geological surveying, and previous accidents. Although both Italian and Ethiopian laws require that only infrastructure projects based upon competitive bidding can receive funding from international development groups, Italy's Ministry of Development Cooperation - against the recommendation of its own evaluators -- granted 220 million euros towards Salini's contract, assuring that it was awarded the project. Furthermore, in violation of Ethiopian law, construction started without an environmental permit.
• Cross-border pact for Prespes
  published on Wed, 03 Feb 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Greece] Greek Environment Minister Tina Birbili and her counterparts from Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) signed a pact to protect the Prespes Lakes, the larger of which sprawls across all three countries. The intent is to mount a trans-frontier campaign to preserve the quantity and quality of the water in the wetlands, to protect their flora and fauna, to prevent soil erosion, and to encourage sustainable agriculture in the surrounding region.
• Senegal: Rural hydraulics - 128 billion francs mobilized, according to the Prime Minister
  published on Mon, 01 Feb 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Senegal] Senegalese Prime Minister Ndiaye declared that the government's ambition was to bring water service to 82% of the rural population by 2015, as opposed to the 75.5% who have access to it now. This goal will be funded by 100 billion francs from the Millennial Potable Water and Sewerage Program (PEPAM) and 82 billion from outside sources. These include the Belgian government, which has committed itself to building 15 boreholes and 100 km of water lines in the regions of Diourbel, Fatick, and Kaolack this year. The French Cooperation Agency, the French city of Lyon, and the French mega-corporation Veolia have also pledged support.
• Cyber spies and thugs attacking power-water plants
  published on Fri, 29 Jan 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Washington, D.C.] "Critical Infrastructure in the Age of Cyber-War," a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, warned that power plants, oil refineries, water treatment plants, and water pumping stations linked to the Internet are under constant attack by cyber-criminals, costing these industries more than $6 million a day in downtime. The study was commissioned by the computer security firm McAfee. Researchers surveyed 600 computer and security executives in 14 countries, finding that while defenses are still acceptable, the current recession has reduced spending on computer security. Two-fifths of the executives expected a major Internet security incident within a year; such incidents take the form of extortion from attackers who threaten to take a system down. China had the highest degree of cyber-security, while Italy, Spain, and India were at the low end of the spectrum.
• Water vapor newest marker in climate change, NOAA team says
  published on Thu, 28 Jan 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Colorado] Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado reported that a 10% drop in water vapor in the stratosphere (8-30 miles above Earth's surface) has lowered the rate of global warming in the last decade. Water vapor, like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, is a "greenhouse gas" implicated in global warming. The new study used balloon readings, satellite data, and computer climate models to show that the change caused surface temperatures to increase about 25% more slowly than they did in the 1980s and 1990s. Lead author Susan Solomon said that the reason for the decline in water vapor is still unknown.
• Cameroon: Potable water distribution - More than 220 billion already mobilized
  published on Mon, 25 Jan 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Cameroon] Cameroon is gearing up for a major program of potable water projects in 2010, thanks to substantial loans and grants from the French Development Agency and the European Investment Bank (65 billion francs) and the World Bank (31 billion francs) for household connections to water service. The Chinese government has committed 11 billion francs to a new water treatment plant in Ayatto, along the Mongo River, to step up the water supply to the city of Douala in Littoral Province. EXIMBANK of China is adding 44.6 billion francs to extend Douala's pipeline network; altogether, China's contributions will increase the city's potable water production to 280,000 cubic meters per day. The African Development Bank is loaning 22 billion francs to repair and expand water storage, pumping stations, and pipelines in 18 towns. Finally, the DEXIA Bank of Belgium will finance extensions to the drinking water networks of 52 towns.
• Tapped Out?: Are Chlorine's Beneficial Effects in Drinking Water Offset by Its Links to Cancer?
  published on Mon, 25 Jan 10 01:00:00 MST
  [United States] Chlorine is the most commonly used and inexpensive way to disinfect drinking water, but it's also a poison. When chlorine interacts with organic compounds to create trihalomethanes (THMs), drinking tapwater can encourage the growth of free radicals and has been linked to higher incidences of bladder, rectal, and breast cancers. A recent study conducted in Hartford, Connecticut found that women with breast cancer have 50-60% higher levels of organochlorines (chlorine byproducts) in their breast tissue than cancer-free women. Furthermore, "Because so much of the water we drink ends up in the bladder and/or rectum, ingestions of THMs in drinking water are particularly damaging to these organs," noted Vanessa Lausch of the filter manufacturer Aquasana. Bottled water is no solution because so much of it in the United States comes from municipal water sources - which often use chlorine as a purifying agent. To remove chlorine from tapwater at home, the easiest methods are to let it sit for 24 hours or to install a carbon-based filter on household taps.