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COCKERMOUTH, England - Military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and emergency workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods swamped homes and roads Friday in northern England's picturesque Lake District. Heavy rain and gales also brought widespread flooding to Ireland, as more than 3 feet (1 meter) of water shut down the center of the country's second-largest city, Cork, and more than a dozen towns and villages.Among the hardest hit communities in England's Lake District was Cockermouth, a market town 330 miles (530 kilometers) northwest of London.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Nov. 20--CALHOUN, Ga. -- Members of the Northwest Georgia Regional Water Resources Partnership say it has a unique role -- to conduct studies and help implement needed changes where water's concerned. The partnership is different from the state's 10 regional water planning councils, which were mandated in 2008 and will develop long-term plans and policies for water management, Chairman Jerry Jennings said.
Source : Chattanooga Times/Free Press
Nov. 20--Paying for sewers is taking an increasing bite out of the wallets of Lexington residents, but most of us are blissfully unaware of what is going on beneath our feet. A survey commissioned by local officials shows, for example, that three out of four people don't know the difference between sanitary and storm sewers. Rainwater that runs off lawns and driveways goes into the storm sewer system, then directly into a creek.)
Source : Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)
Nov. 19--A northern Texas water district was dealt a blow Wednesday in its attempt to buy water from southern Oklahoma, but the battle is not yet over. U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton dismissed a substantial part of a lawsuit filed by the Tarrant Regional Water District, which intended to send Oklahoma water to Texas. "Let me be crystal clear, the court did not dismiss this case," said Jim Oliver, general manager of the Tarrant Regional Water District in Fort Worth, Texas.
Source : The Daily Oklahoman
FORT MILL TOWNSHIP Brown, smelly water continues to be an issue for some residents in the Foxwood neighborhood, but behind the scenes, the neighborhood's utility company said it is making efforts to improve the water quality. Since then, the company has been performing water quality tests, including taking samples from the wells and distribution system in the neighborhood, Utility Services official Bruce Haas said.Work on the water distribution system in Foxwood will continue this week and through the weekend, Haas said Monday.
Source : Herald; Rock Hill, S.C.
Nov. 19--Erie residents could see a better sewer system and higher sewer bills in 2010. Erie City Council on Wednesday approved the first reading of an ordinance approving the Erie Sewer Authority's plan to issue a $15.6 million bond that would help fund several capital improvement projects, including the rehabilitation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant incinerator. That number could change, however, once Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott presents his 2010 preliminary budget Nov. 25, if other costs within the Bureau of Sewers increase, city officials said.
Source : Erie Times-News
Nov. 17--Moving to defuse a backlash of anger from Milwaukee-area civic leaders, the University of Wisconsin System issued a formal assurance that Milwaukee -- and not Madison -- will act as the center of Wisconsin's efforts to use water technology as an economic catalyst. The two-page letter from UW System President Kevin Reilly, addressed to Milwaukee-area legislators and business leaders, follows a tug-of-war this month over control of what many across the state have come to see as a ripe opportunity: a $400 billion-a-year global growth sector for technologies that clean, conserve, recycle and deliver drinkable water. The 2-year-old Milwaukee Water Council, a bare-bones operation that struggles to fund itself, balked this month when the UW System hired a full-time consultant at $100,000 a year to spur water investment and jobs across the state.
Source : The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Nov. 16--ROSEMEAD -- Students at Eldridge Rice Elementary School will soon learn a valuable lesson about water conservation when they look out at the green grass and trees that surround the school. The school's yard will be nourished by recycled sewage water treated to high levels that make it safe for human contact, but not considered drinkable. The grounds around Southern California Edison and the Panda Express headquarters will also be the recipient of the latest expansion of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District's recycling program.
Source : San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Nov. 17--FORT WORTH -- The thorny issue of how to quench Texas' thirst drew hundreds of elected officials and policy experts to Fort Worth on Monday as part of an effort to rally support for investment in water projects. In his welcoming remarks, state Sen. Kip Averitt, a Waco Republican who is co-hosting the two-day event, said that Texas has a long-range water plan that is the envy of many states, but it is not fully funded. The Texas Development Board projects that 85 percent of Texans won't have enough water during times of drought as early as 2060.
Source : Houston Chronicle
Nov. 16--ALBANY -- Aging sewer systems in the Capital Region are dumping more than a billion gallons of watered-down, untreated sewage into the Hudson River each year, according to a report by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission. The first-ever report on river pollution caused by sewers that serve more than 150,000 people also warned that repairs to keep sewage out of the river will be incredibly expensive, likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The river is under assault from 1.2 billion gallons of "combined sewer overflows" annually from systems in Albany, Troy, Watervliet, Rensselaer, Cohoes and the village of Green Island, said Rocky Ferraro, director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission.
Source : Times Union
Nov. 16--Mayor Richard Daley says any part of city government is up for grabs if the price is right. But if he is tempted to dangle Chicago's vast water system as his next lease deal, he might want to first consult Atlanta, which is still smarting from a botched experiment with privatizing a big-city water supply. Daley is searching for more jackpots as his administration draws heavily on the money it reaped from leasing parking meters and the Chicago Skyway to ease the city through the recession.
Source : Chicago Tribune
Nov. 15--Municipal and industrial water users may have another source of water next year when a regional water pool program proposed by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District comes online. In some areas of Northern's boundaries, that has been doubled or even tripled in some cases. Wind, speaking at Northern's recent annual fall water users meeting in Loveland, said the pool will be implemented in years when the district has at least 200,000 acre-feet of water in reserve.
Source : Greeley Tribune, Colorado
BEIJING - Plans to raise the water level behind China's massive Three Gorges dam to full capacity this month - which would mark the symbolic culmination of the decades-old project - have stalled amid a worsening drought and reports of increased landslide risks.China has for years promoted the world's largest hydroelectric project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze River and to provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom.The explanation given by dam officials is that too little water is flowing from the upper reaches of the Yangtze - 34 percent less than last year - coupled with a deepening drought in the downstream provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was promoting a complex legislative package to rebuild California's water system, he often appeared alongside farmers who were unable to cultivate their land amid a third year of drought and federal pumping restrictions.Most of the reforms included in the legislation won't produce measurable results for years, and the projects funded through an $11.1 billion water bond are far from getting started - and that's assuming voters pass the spending measure in November 2010."We'll be all gone by the time it gets implemented," said Bill Koster, whose family has farmed in the Central Valley for 129 years.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
LA PAZ, Bolivia - Evaporation blamed on global warming has reduced Lake Titicaca, one of the world's highest navigable lakes, to its lowest level since 1949, authorities said Thursday.Diminished rainfall and a rise in solar radiation have in the past four years led to critically low water levels that now threaten fish spawning areas and plant life, the Lake Titicaca Authority said in a statement.The lake, straddling Bolivia and Peru at 3,800 meters (12,493 feet) elevation, is an 8,400 square kilometer (3,240 square mile) oasis on an arid high plain an hour's drive from the Bolivian capital, La Paz.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Nov. 13--There was nothing overtly troubling about the plan a Pinehurst development company laid before the Moore County Planning Board last week. No stranger to development standards in Moore, he pointed out that the plan is to keep 40 percent of the tract forested, buffer the tributaries and use native species. Worse pitches are made every day.
Source : The Fayetteville Observer
RICHMOND, Va. - Relentless rain is swamping a long stretch of the Atlantic seaboard, triggering coastal flood warnings and watches from North Carolina to Long Island.The downpour Thursday comes from the remnants of tropical storm Ida, which blew ashore in Alabama from the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and has meandered north and eastwards.Dominion Power reported more than 19,000 outages in Virginia early Thursday.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Nov. 12--Ida got into the sewer, and the sewage got out. The tropical storm that brought about 5 inches of rain to Columbus on Monday and Tuesday produced a runoff that deluged Columbus' sanitary sewers, causing four overflows that spilled into Lindsay Creek. Two spills at Bellanca Street and at Grumman Avenue were in the neighborhood near West Britt David Road, north of the Columbus Metropolitan Airport.
Source : Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
PORTLAND, Maine - Fishermen have known for years that they've had to steam farther and farther from shore to find the cod and haddock found on dinner plates in New England.It also indicates that the typical meal could eventually change to other fish normally found to the south, including Atlantic croaker and red hake.Fisheries biologist Janet Nye says that if New England's traditional fish keep moving offshore, it eventually won't be economical for fishermen to go after them.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
FRIANT, Calif - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a far-reaching water bond intended to rebuild California's crumbling water system and fund new dams to save up the precious resource for dry years.Yet at a time when several Western states are preparing to tear down dams rather than build new ones, the governor acknowledged Monday that he will face hurdles in persuading voters to support the $11 billion measure in November. In recent months, officials in Oregon, Washington and California have agreed to spend millions to dismantle colossal dams built decades ago in order to protect native fish species, following legal tussles over water between the federal government, environmentalists, Indian tribes and farmers.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Nov. 10--YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima County commissioners are offering their version of using Columbia River water to supply basin water needs. The county's plan, outlined for the first time Monday, proposes to pipe water from Priest Rapids across the Army's Yakima Training Center to a reservoir in Selah Creek, northeast of Selah. Water from the 100,000 acre-foot reservoir would supply the Roza Irrigation District, which provides water to 72,000 acres of farms stretching from outside Yakima to Benton City.
Source : Yakima Herald-Republic
Nov. 10--A federal study shows that Utah remains at the top of the list for per-capita water use even though the state has made great strides in conservation. A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) ranks only Nevada higher in municipal and industrial water use per person in 2005 than Utah -- which makes sense, as the two states also are the most arid in the nation. The USGS report, undertaken every five years, shows that in 2005, Utah's per-capita use was 245 gallons per day.
Source : The Salt Lake Tribune
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - The Mexican government has declared parts of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco disaster zones due to flooding from days of heavy rains, freeing up federal relief funds for the area.The Interior Department decree issued Monday covers the cities of Cardenas and Huimanguillo, where the government is handing out food and household goods to some of the estimated 200,000 people affected by high waters.But flooded roads are making it difficult to get aid in. Some areas have been under water for about 10 days.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
California's long-running battle to avert a state water crisis moves from the river delta to Sacramento County Superior Court today as the legality of an agreement that created the largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer in U.S. history is challenged.The deal, known as the Quantification Settlement Agreement, or QSA, made it possible to provide millions of Southern Californians with additional water supplies.Just days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers celebrated passage of an $11 billion package to fix environmental problems that threaten the state's largest water source, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, this battle involving another key water issue looms.
Source : USA TODAY
Nov. 9--As a youngster, Marty Lawrence and his friends paid little attention to the nearby Delaware River. Fast-forward about a half-century and Lawrence lives near New Bern, still roughly 40 miles from the Atlantic. But, these days, he's retired and does pay attention to the river -- the Neuse.
Source : Sun Journal