UN rejects water as basic human right

[KNOWTHIS]

www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=b65b35fd-477f-4956-98f4-c17a46fe3e26&k=40211

The Harper government can declare victory after a United Nations meeting rejected calls for water to be recognized as a basic human right.

Instead, a special resolution proposed by Germany and Spain at the UN human rights council was stripped of references that recognized access to water as a human right. The countries also chose to scrap the idea of creating an international watchdog to investigate the issue, choosing instead to appoint a new consultant that would make recommendations over the next three years.

Federal officials in Canada said last week that the government wanted to ensure the meeting's outcome reflected the fact that access to water is not formally recognized as a human right in international law. But a social advocacy group said that the position was designed to protect the right to sell water under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

[Mech]

Man....F**K the UN!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing but a collection of Global Beauracrats trying to decide what THEY think is best for the rest of us.

[KNOWTHIS]

The UN resolution couldn't have come at a worse time.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/water-will-be-source-of-war-unless-world-acts-now-warns-minister-799292.html

Water will be source of war unless world acts now, warns minister

The world faces a future of "water wars", unless action is taken to prevent international water shortages and sanitation issues escalating into conflicts, according to Gareth Thomas, the International Development minister.

The minister's warning came as a coalition of 27 international charities marked World Water Day, by writing to Gordon Brown demanding action to give fresh water to 1.1 billion people with poor supplies. "If we do not act, the reality is that water supplies may become the subject of international conflict in the years ahead," said Mr Thomas. "We need to invest now to prevent us having to pay that price in the future."

His department warned that two-thirds of the world's population will live in water-stressed countries by 2025. The stark prediction comes after the Prime Minister said in his national security strategy that pressure on water was one of the factors that could help countries "tip into instability, state failure or conflict".

The coalition of charities has appealed for a global effort to bring running water to the developing world and supply sanitation to a further 2.6 billion people. It said international action was needed to prevent competition for water destabilising communities and escalating into conflicts.

[KNOWTHIS]

www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82077120-fd13-11dc-961e-000077b07658.html

Businesses face clean water scarcity risks

Companies around the world face disruptions to their supply chains and other risks from the growing scarcity of clean water, but assessing such exposure is near-impossible due to the highly inadequate information companies make available, according to a new report.

JP Morgan Chase, which will publish on Monday a comprehensive study of the risks to companies of growing water scarcity and water pollution, also warns that firms could face consumer boycotts and other bad publicity if they are not regarded as taking serious steps to preserve water.

“The politics around water are inseparable from the economic issues,” said Marc Levinson, one of the analysts leading the report. “Companies could get permits revoked, or lose access to water in other ways. Yet the appropriate disclosures are not available. What is published, usually in environmental reports, is often not at all relevant to determining these risks to companies.”

The report comes amid an increased discussion of water-related problems by executives in some of the sectors most exposed, including power-generation, mining, semiconductor manufacturing and the food and beverage industries.

The issue is not limited to operations in just a handful of countries - projections from the World Resources Institute indicate that by 2025 river basins in the US, Mexico, western Europe and China will face problems. Water shortfalls will be particularly severe in South Africa, northwestern India and north China.

Peter Brabeck, chief executive of Nestle, said in a recent interview with the Financial Times that water “seems to be the most urgent issue”. “It is not an issue of ‘perhaps in ten years’ it is an issue that affects our lives today,” he said.

Most companies make available information about water usage in environmental reports, usually glossy publications which highlight steps companies are taking to limit their negative impact on the environment.

Mr Levinson said that, for example, statistics in such reports about water usage usually only accounted for water used in factories owned by the company. It did not include the often large amounts of water needed throughout the production chain and by suppliers on which the companies depends for its production of goods.

He also said that companies questioned about contingency plans in the event of water shortages had few useful schemes in place. “Most of the plans involve hiring trucks to carry in water,” Mr Levinson said.

Managing water supplies, has, of course also generated large investment opportunities for investors and banks like JPMorgan Chase. Around the world there have been privatisations of water systems and investments in water supply infrastructure and waste water treatment.

[KNOWTHIS]

www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/409441

Protect Canada's water, Ottawa urged TheStar.com - Canada - Protect Canada's water, Ottawa urged
Groups fear exploitation of country's supplies in face of freshwater crises in U.S. and elsewhere

Warning that most Americans see Canada as that "great green sponge up north," four organizations plan to issue a plea today to the Conservative government to protect the nation's water before it's too late.

A study authored by the Polaris Institute, a public policy group, and obtained by the Star challenges "myths" about Canadian abundance and describes how the country lost control of its water to U.S. interests under the terms of binding trade deals, including the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Moreover, while U.S. Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama recently raised the spectre of Washington renegotiating NAFTA for its benefit, this report – done in co-ordination with the Canadian Labour Congress – underscores that Ottawa has the option of abrogating the deal if it can't establish control over water.

The Sierra Club environmental group and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a progressive think-tank, also participated.

The study, which outlines the water shortage crisis in the United States, says Canada's renewable freshwater supplies are roughly only 40 per cent of what they had previously been thought to be – 2.6 per cent of the world's supply rather than 6.5 per cent.

The study cites former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed's 2007 warning: "The United States will be coming after our water in three to five years."

Further, the report reminds Canadians that water is on the table in negotiations for the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America, a hemispheric undertaking being negotiated in secret among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

"It is absolutely critical for the government to take action," Polaris executive director Tony Clarke said yesterday. He challenged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to accept a five-step agenda to begin to reverse the damage.

"We as Canadians must become good stewards of our water – or our freshwater supplies will continue to dwindle."

Already, according to documentation cited by the report, the Prairies are drying up, the South Saskatchewan River has declined by 80 per cent and other western and northern river systems are suffering.

"Meanwhile, Canadian wetlands, which play a vital role in the regeneration of the fresh water, are vanishing at an alarming rate."

[KNOWTHIS]

www.terradaily.com/reports/Worldwide_Water_Shortage_On_Horizon_999.html

Worldwide Water Shortage On Horizon

A crisis is looming over water shortages worldwide. By 2025 more than half the nations in the world will face freshwater stress or shortages and by 2050 as much as 75 percent of the world's population could face freshwater scarcity. So say Mike Hightower and Suzanne Pierce, water experts at Sandia National Laboratories, in an article they wrote that appeared in a recent issue of Nature.

"This growing international water crisis is forcing governments to rethink how they value and use and manage water, especially because economic development hinges on water availability," they say.

"Drinking water supplies, agriculture, energy production and generation, mining and industry all require large quantities of water. In the future, these sectors will be competing for increasingly limited freshwater resources, making water supply availability a major economic driver in the 21st century."

Freshwater withdrawals already exceed precipitation in many parts of the U.S., with the worst shortfalls often in areas with the fastest population, particularly in the southwest. But, this is also very much a global problem.

[KNOWTHIS]

www.naturalnews.com/022915.html

Thirty-Six U.S. States to Face Water Shortages in the Next Five Years

At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates. Available freshwater supplies are dwindling across the country due to rising temperatures and droughts, while increasing sprawl, population and inefficient resource usage are leading to rising demand.

"Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be," said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the American Water Works Association. Rising temperatures due to global warming have increased evaporation rates across the country and reduced the availability of important water sources. One of these is the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which supplies a significant portion of California's water. Across the West, similar trends are expected to reduce flows of the Colorado River, which supplies water for seven states.

Meanwhile, rising sea levels are expected to cause saltwater to infiltrate freshwater aquifers in coastal states, rendering that water unusable.

California uses about 23 trillion gallons of fresh water per year. The United States as a whole uses more than 148 trillion gallons for all purposes, including agriculture, manufacturing and other uses.

Other threatened regions include the Midwest, where the Great Lakes are shrinking, and upstate New York, where reservoir levels have fallen to record lows. Georgia's crisis has already arrived, and Florida's is expected to hit soon.

While Florida has no shortage of rainfall, widespread draining and paving of the region's natural wetlands has left the water unable to drain back into the soil. As a consequence, the state is forced to flush millions of gallons of water into the ocean per year to avert floods. The state's environmental chief, Michael Sole, has asked the Florida legislature to increase the use of reclaimed wastewater. Other states are encouraging measures such as desalinization, but it is widely accepted that conservation is the cheapest alternative.

Even with such measures, the forecast is not expected to improve. "Unfortunately, there's just not going to be any more cheap water," said Randy Brown, utilities director for Pompano Beach, Fla.

[KNOWTHIS]

A small town in Central Florida is considering forcing a 100-gallon-per-person daily limit on water for its residents.

Some residents in Oakland, which is located south of Apopka, are outraged over the proposed limit on water and said the rapid growth in the area must stop until there is no longer a shortage.

"I don't understand why they are allowing them to still build if the water supply is not there," Oakland resident "Susan" said. "And, why should we be cut?"

"What bothers me is when I get my bill and it is $50 or $100 and then they say, you can't use this much water," Angela Cardon said.

The proposal comes days after Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said that if the county does not have a 40 percent reduction in water use, the aquifer will not have enough water to sustain the county.

Similar to surrounding cities, water bills in Oakland order "no watering on any day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. or face a $500 fine."

Local 6 reported that an average resident can use up to 90 gallons of water before leaving the house for the day.

"If the growth stops today and we don't build another house, you're still going to have a water problem," Commissioner Willie Welch said. "People are going to have to learn to save (water)."

"Stop building and adding more and more and taking away from us," Susan said. "I don't think it is right."

Commissioners are proposing a 500,000 gallon water tank, Local 6 has learned.

[KNOWTHIS]

sdbj.com/industry_article.asp?aID=44531097.139187.1612754.93804402.7010244.692&aID2=124049

County’s Growers Scaling Back Crops as Water Shortages Loom

Avocado grower and grove manager Al Stehly said impending water shortages left him no choice but to cut back on the number of trees that line his hillside Valley Center groves.

Stehly had originally planned to “stump” 2,066 trees, or 37 percent, but winter rains during the early months of the year offered growers a reprieve. Now, Stehly estimates that he will have to cut back 1,300 trees.

Images like these make it impossible to argue that this is just some imaginary problem.