Global Water Rights Activists Campaign Against Privatisation
'India associates water with sacredness. It understands that water cannot be for sale!' This was Venezuelan activist Santiago Arconada speaking on the scope for a mass struggle in India against privatization of the most important of natural resources. Arconada was one of the four activists of a global movement for preserving water as a public asset who met Indian fellow activists here for an interaction this weekend.
Of the four, Arconada and Bolivian Julian Perez represented the movement in Latin America while Olivier Hoedeman from the Netherlands and Tamsyn East from Britain spoke for environmentalist groups in the West.
All of them represent a network named Reclaiming Public Water (RPW), set up in November 2005 by different water rights groups. The name is taken from the title of a book published in January that year.
For more information, please visit: Yahoo! News India
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New Internat'l Standards For Water Treatment Products
Kiwa, an independent inspection and certification institute founded by Dutch water companies, recently announced it is seeking comment until May 3, 2007, on its draft Kiwa Quality (KQ) guidelines for water treatment products that are to be used domestically in Europe.
Kiwa Certification and Inspection has available online two sets of guidelines for review and comment:
- The general document guidelines describe the requirements for products that are intended to be used in a residential environment, in cold and hot water installations, according to a Kiwa press release.
- The draft guidelines regarding residential water treatment products can be viewed online by clicking here and a template for comments also is available. Incorporated in these requirements are ultraviolet-reactor and membrane filtration, as well as electrical and health safety, according to a press release.
For more information, please visit: WTOnline
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U.S. EPA Orders Navy To Reduce Drinking Water Chemical Levels
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the Navy to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act at its naval auxiliary landing field on San Clemente Island, located off the coast of San Diego, Calif.
The order requires the Navy to reduce levels of total trihalomethanes - byproducts of the water disinfection process – in the drinking water system that serves approximately 700 people on the island.
“Chemical byproducts in treated drinking water must meet federal guidelines to protect public health,” said Alexis Strauss, Water Division director for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “The EPA will ensure this system returns promptly to compliance.”
The EPA is ordering the Navy to provide a written compliance plan describing how it will meet federal water regulations by June 30. By Dec. 31, 2008, the Navy must reduce its total trihalomethane levels to below federal standards. Failure to comply with the EPA order could result in penalties for as much as $32,500 per day per violation.
For more information, please visit: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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Switching To Less Dangerous Chemicals Not Required In New Federal Rules
New federal regulations for chemical facilities neither require nor encourage companies to switch from potentially dangerous chemicals to less hazardous substitutes, and that has some lawmakers and activists worried.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and three Democratic colleagues expressed “deep concern” Monday about the reported thefts and attempted thefts of chlorine gas from California water treatment plants.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff they said the incidents underscored the need to switch to safer liquid chlorine or other methods for water treatment.
Chlorine gas can be fatal, and it has been used as a weapon in a series of chemical bomb attacks in recent months in Iraq.
For more information, please visit: SignOnSanDiego.com
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Taking The Plunge Into Bottled Water Means 80ppl Against 18ppl For Milk
A DAIRY farmer and his family are launching Lancashire’s only spring water business this month to supplement returns from milk.
‘Pure Bowland’ is effectively a £350,000 business venture gamble for David Gardner, wife Kath and children Becky and Chris although they have taken advice from a consultant who has helped with business plans and securing 30 per grant aid from Defra.
The Gardners have found it increasingly tough to make a living out of milk. Selling water at up to 80ppl looks an attractive proposition against selling milk at 18ppl.
Of course it is not as simple as that and there are considerable production and marketing costs to be covered in the water venture, and the Gardners were also taking into account other pressures on milk production other than price.
For more information, please visit: Farmers Guardian
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