China denies responsibility for shrinking Mekong River

China denies it has “hijacked” water from the Mekong River, causing its lowest levels in 20 years for areas downstream in Southeast Asia.

Liu Ning, vice minister of water resources, suggested that China’s dams and irrigation projects upstream have actually helped stave off some of the effects of drought — though it was not clear whether he was referring just to parched areas of southwest China or the wider region.

The Mekong River, which originates in the Tibetan Plateau, is at its lowest level in nearly two decades, halting cargo traffic on the waterway that is the lifeblood for 65 million people in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, according to the Mekong River Commission.

Nongovernmental organizations have long blamed China for shrinking the Mekong and causing other ecological damage [See for example International Rivers page on the Mekong]. China has built several dams on the upper reaches of the river and has more planned.

“We cannot say that China hijacked water resources and contributed to the drought,” Liu told a news conference when asked about the effect of China’s water projects on the water supply in Southeast Asia.

“If there were no irrigation facilities and reservoirs built in drought areas, the drought would have come earlier, the situation would have been more severe, and there would have been more people suffering from a lack of drinking water,” Mr. Liu said.

He did not specify which areas he meant.

Mr. Liu emphasized the need to step up the construction of more water conservancy projects to insure adequate drinking water.

He said neighbouring countries are aware of China’s measures and China will discuss with groups like the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental organization that oversees the sustainable development of the river basin.

“The building and use of hydropower plants will only be done based on scientific evidence, and this process is very strict in China,” said Mr. Liu, who is also secretary-general of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Little rainfall since late last year in southwest China has left millions of residents facing water shortages in that region’s worst drought in a century. About 24 million people, twice more than in the same period during normal years, face drinking water shortages, Mr. Liu said.

“We should prepare to fight a long drought … to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” he said.

Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou regions have been the hardest hit by the drought despite teams of workers drilling for wells and transporting drinking water, Mr. Liu said.

Mr. Liu said the severity of this year’s drought was due to a decline in rainfall, low river flows, higher temperatures, and inadequate water storage facilities and is likely to continue until mid- to late May, when the rainy season begins.

Source: Chi-Chi Zhang, AP / Globe and Mail, 31 Mar 2010

India, Punjab: factories in Ludhiana getting water for free

Many commercial establishments and small factories in Ludhiana are getting free water and sanitation services. They are making misuse of a government scheme that exempts houses with an area of less than 125 square yards (105 square metres) from paying water and sewer bills.

Most houses in Millerganj, Shimlapuri and Janta Nagar areas in Ludhiana have been converted into commercial units and are not paying water or sewer bills. According to the Municpal Corporation (MC) records, they are still in the category of residential accommodation.

These facts came to light when a group of residents from Millerganj area went to enquire about their water and sewer bills which they had not been receiving for some time. The MC staff, however, told them that as their area is not more than 125 square yards, they have not been sent any bill.

Pawan Sood, a consumer who went to pay the bill, however, clarified that he runs an office. The MC staff then prepared the bill accordingly, which the owner paid. But a number of other houses in the area are still enjoying free service while the MC staff are sleeping over this issue.

MC Zonal Commissioner Amarjit Singh Sekhon said, “A resolution has been passed by the Corporation states if the usage of water is only for home activities and not for commercial purpose, the bill can be waived. However, if the entire building is commercial or if a full-fledged factory is operating, then they need to pay the bill. We will conduct a survey from April 1 and hence they will be covered.”

In Janta Nagar, Shimlapuri and other areas, most houses have residential accommodation upstairs and factories below. Yet, a majority do not pay any bill. Hence, a fresh survey needs to be done in the area.

Source: Raakhi Jagga, Indian Express, 31 Mar 2010

Philippines: poor most vulnerable to water crisis

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar warned of a looming crisis on safe drinking water, saying the poor will most likely be vulnerable to the scarcity of the life-sustaining resource.

Villar sounded the alarm in the observance of the World Water Day, which emphasized water quality in its awareness campaign “Clean Water for a Healthy World.”

“Less and less of our people have access to clean, safe drinking water.

“The proliferation of purified water stations in the country’s major cities says it all – what used to be free, as God would want it to be, now costs almost similarly (depending on where you buy it) to petroleum derivatives such as kerosene and diesel. You could just imagine its impact on the population which is predominantly poor,” Villar said.

A 2009 report of the Leadership Group on Water Security in Asia claimed that Asia’s water problems are severe – one out of five people (700 million) does not have access to safe drinking water and half of the region’s population (1.8 billion people) lacks access to basic sanitation.

The report said that as population growth and urbanization rates in the region rise, the stress on Asia’s water resources is rapidly intensifying.

“With the onslaught of the El Niño phenomenon, our problems on rice and crops production threatening our food security have just been compounded.

“We simply cannot survive without clean drinking water, and it is intrinsically linked to health and sanitation, and poverty alleviation. Eventually, it is the poor that will bear the brunt of potable water shortage,” added Villar.

[...] “The next government should make it a priority issue and must pave the way – either through increased public investment or partnership with the private sector, for access to safe water and sanitation.

“Investments in support of infrastructure for generation and distribution must be fasttracked, and the government must extend its efforts to privatize water services outside of Metro Manila,” he said.

He added that government should make drastic efforts to implement environmental laws that seek to protect and preserve our natural resources. He said that our water problem has been aggravated by pollution and unjustifiable destruction of forests and wetlands.

Meanwhile the Department of Health (DOH) reminded the public to make sure that their drinking water is safe in the face of an impending water crisis, and in observance of the “Clean Water & Energy Week”.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier declared, through Presidential Proclamation No. 23, that March 22-28 is “Clean Water & Energy Week for a Healthy World” in support of the United Nations Declaration marking March 22 as “World Day for Water”.

“Make your drinking water safe by bringing it to a rolling boil for at least two minutes,” said DOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral, adding that this will kill bacteria and other micro-organisms that cause diarrhea and other food- and water-borne diseases.

Cabral also reiterated that personal hygiene practices such as washing hands after using the toilet and before and after handling food can be of huge help in the prevention of disease.

Food- and water-borne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever, are some of the leading cases of morbidity and mortality in the country.

“Giving attention to clean and safe drinking water is all the more important given the looming water supply shortage due to El Nino,” she said. (PNA)

Source: PNA / Balita, 23 Mar 2010 ;

India, Kerala: rivers drying up due to excessive sand mining says activist

Drinking water shortage in Kerala, especially in the high and midland areas, has become so acute that the inhabitants have to depend on water supply by private operators.

In the Erath Panchayat of Pathanamthitta district, many households are buying water for washing and other purposes at Rs 350 (US$ 7.80) / 1,000 litres while drinking water costs Rs600-800 (US$ 13-US $18) / 1,000 litres.

According to Mr Mohan Das, a social activist, neither the government nor the panchayats are supplying drinking water in areas facing severe shortage

The Seva Bharathi, he said, is supplying drinking water to households free of cost in the Ayroor Panchayat.

He said that lack of summer rains this year, coupled with indiscriminate sand mining had led to a fall in ground water levels.

“Ever-increasing human intervention in recent years has changed the physical structure of the rivers Pampa, Manimala and Achankovil in such a way that it might sound their death knell , if the authorities continued to remain indifferent,” environment activists told Business Line.

One of the major victims of these activities is the River Pampa.

Sand mining has removed the sand bed, exposing the clay soil along several stretches of the river bed.

The river bed has also become deeper by even six meters at some places.

Consequently, the water table in the wells in the catchment areas also has fallen sharply , Mr N. K. S. Nair, General Secretary of an NGO, said

Check dams across the rivers are pointed out as a reason for the degradation of the rivers. When the riverbed level falls, the hydraulic gradient increases, leading to higher velocity.

As a result, immediately after the monsoon, water that flows into the rivers is drained out quickly, said Mr Nair, a retired engineer.

“In the absence of sand, no natural retention of water takes place. Sediment deficient flow of ‘hungry water’ picks up more sediment from the stream below the mining site, furthering the degradation process,” he said.

The normal monsoon season in Kerala is from June 1 to November 30 and the State used to receive on an average 3,000 mm of rainfall.

Source: G. K. Nair, The Hindu, 29 Mar 2010

India, West Bengal: Govt to provide safe drinking water to arsenic-affected area by 2011

The West Bengal government would complete 338 schemes to supply safe drinking water to the arsenic-affected areas in the state by 2011 with a total cost of Rs 974.42 crore (US$ 216 million), Housing and Public Health Engineering Minister Gautam Deb said.

The minister said about 292 schemes would be completed within December 2010 while the remaining schemes by March 2011.

These projects would benefit about 65,85,446 people in districts like Purulia, Nadia, Murshidabad and Hooghly where crisis of drinking water was acute due to the presence of arsenic, he said.

”In the state Assembly we had promised that the government will provide arsenic-free drinking water to the people of the state. In keeping with that promise we would be able to provide safe drinking water to 95 per cent people of the affected areas,” he said.

Four new water supply schemes would be inaugurated soon in the state, he said adding on April nine Governor M K Narayanan would inaugurate two schemes–one in Itapara near Asansol and another in Krishnanagar.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would also inaugurate two water supply schemes–one in Jhalda, Purulia, on April 18 and another in Beldanga, Murshidabad, on April 21, 2010.

These two schemes were set up with a cost of Rs 8.11 crore (US$ 1.8 million) and Rs 13 crore (US$ 2.9 million) respectively, he said adding a total of 1,33,000 people would benefit from the schemes.

Source: UNI / NewKerala.com, 30 Mar 2010

India, Andhra Pradesh: funds sought to tackle water crisis in district

The district administration [in Kakinada] has sent a proposal for sanctioning Rs. 4.81 crores (US$ 1.1 million) towards the summer action plan for drinking water supply. Two hundred and fifty habitations have been identified for supplying water through tankers.

Priority is attached to getting repairs done to tanks and other infrastructure to ensure that drinking water scarcity is mitigated. The Rural Water Supply Department has been asked to make necessary arrangements to face the problems bound to crop up in peak summer months.

The Animal Husbandry Department has also been instructed to meet the drinking water needs of cattle. The Disaster Management Plan is being updated and sent to the government to avail of its financial assistance at the earliest so that the summer does not take its toll.

In Kapada district, the State government has sanctioned Rs. 1.43 crore (US$ 318,000) for mitigating drinking water scarcity during the summer months in Kadapa district, under disaster management funds.

Source: The Hindu, 31 Mar 2010 ; The Hindu, 31 Mar 2010

Laos, Vientiane: water supply to meet 2015 consumption demand

The water supply in Vientiane Capital will be sufficient to meet demand in the next five years, said a high-ranking official.

The next five-year plan of the Water Supply Enterprise increase the production capacity of water supply by more than half of the current capacity to 335,000 cubic metres per day, from 160,000. The plan was unveiled on 29 March 2010 by the Director General of the Vientiane Capital Water Supply Enterprise, Mr Duangphet Bouapha.

Under the plan, he said that some pumping floats were placed at the Kaoliao water supply plant to help pump water from the Mekong River and there will also be a plan for upgrading production of Dong Mark Khai plant by laying out a 12-km water pipeline which water will be pumped up from the Nam Ngum River to the plant. The investment is expected to be US$4 million. The plan will also concentrate on increasing the daily production capacity of water supply of the Dong Mark Khai plant to 60,000 cubic metres, which is expected to cost US$20 million.

The Vientiane Capital Water Supply Enterprise plans to build new water supply plants in the capital. The plans include a new water supply plant at Senedinh village or Nam Suan area with the initial production capacity of 20,000 cubic metres, valued at US$12 million; one in Hardsaifong district with production capacity of 15,000 cubic metres, valued at US$8 million; and another one at Hard Kieng village with production capacity of 20,000 cubic metres, valued at US$12 million. One more new water supply plant in That Gnone area with installation capacity of 60,000 cubic metres per day costing US$66 million, will be also built in 2012, according to a study of JICA project. So far, there is any survey to be conducted. “If all construction projects are achieved, local residents of the capital will enjoy sufficient water supply by 2015″, claimed Mr Duangphet.

Between February and March 2010, the two main plants of Kaoliao and Chinaimo suffered the insufficient supply of raw water for the production of tap water because of the unprecedentedly low Mekong River.

To cope with the problem, the Vientiane Capital Water Supply Enterprise made a decision to install additional water pumps, which have now been in operation. As a result, the production of water is now back to normal. At present, the capital relies on the service of water supply from three main water supply plants of Kaoliao, Chinaimo and Dong Mark Khai with a total production capacity of about 165,000 cubic metres per day.

Source: Lao News Agency, 30 March 2010

India: 2011 National Census will include drinking water

Data on household access to treated drinking water will be included in the largest census exercise ever to be attempted in history. On 1 April 2010 the 2011 National Census kicks off to cover India’s 1.2 billion population in one single database.

The Rs 2,200 crore (US$ 489 million) natoinal census project, in which President Pratibha Patil will be the first person to be enumerated, will see engagement of 2.5 million people who will ensure that every citizen of the country comes under it.

During the mammoth exercise, the enumerators for the first time will collect information like ownnership of mobile phones, computers, internet, having treated or untreated drinking water facility and obtain finger prints and photographs which will help government formulate plans and strengthen the country’s security.

Government made it clear that no information will be collected on castes as no caste-based census has ever been conducted in Independent India.

Source: PTI, 30 Mar 2010