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Vol. 1, No. 6: November 30, 2007
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This edition of Water Environment Trading News covers a month aplenty with water-related news. In the United States, Congress overrides the President's veto of the $23 billion plus Water Resources Development Act of 2007 as presidential candidates stay mum on the hot topic of water. Drought strikes hard through the South, and in the North Connecticut earns an EPA award for its water quality trading program. On the international front, a controversial water pipeline heats up the already hot debate over water in the Murray basin of Australia.
In business news, sales of water filtration technologies and products
have skyrocketed as bottled water sales, despite mounting criticism, continue to climb in Europe, the U.S, and Japan. Fiji Water has announced that it will go carbon negative, an ambitious plan to remove 20% more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. Lastly, American Water postponed its IPO due to the droughts in the U.S., and Basin Water, a contaminated groundwater treatment company, saw huge losses.
Read on for more news water-related news and developments.
— The Ecosystem Marketplace Team
For questions or comments, please contact newsletter@ecosystemmarketplace.com
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INTERNATIONAL
Congress Overrides Bush Veto on Water Bill
On Nov. 8, Congress voted to override President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA). This is the first time Congress has overridden a veto from President Bush and the first Congressional override since 1998. The Act is a reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 1986, and provides for non-federal project funding contributions, and enables performance-based partnership ventures. The House first voted for the override on Tuesday by a margin of 361-54, followed by a Senate vote of 79-14. The legislation provides the Army Corps of Engineers with authority for over 200 water resources development projects, including wastewater treatment projects, worth over $23 billion. The package includes authorizations for projects to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, restore the Everglades, and restoration projects along the Gulf Coast.
– Read the Water Environment Federation article
– Read the Water Power Magazine article
Presidential Hopefuls Avoid Wading Into Water Issues
While U.S. Presidential candidates are working to out do each other on greenhouse gas reduction plans, they aren't saying much about another big environmental issue: water supplies. The government predicts that 36 states will run short of water within five years because of drought, overuse and other reasons. But it hasn't come up much during the campaign. One reason may be that water can be a political minefield.
Candidates are well aware that there are few faster ways for a candidate to get into political trouble than to wade into the sensitive subject of the water shortages afflicting large areas of the nation. That's especially true when it comes to proposals for regional water sharing. Water-rich regions such as the Great Lakes states have long been wary that water-scarce, but politically robust regions like the Sun Belt will try to siphon off their precious resource. Such competing regional interests are laden with political implications. The handful of states leading off the presidential nominating contests in January tentatively includes the Great Lakes state of Michigan, as well as Nevada in the desert Southwest and South Carolina and Florida in the Southeast, which is suffering a historic drought.
– Read the AP article
Two Growing Markets That Start at Your Tap
Sales for water purification systems and reusable water bottles skyrocket as public scrutiny on bottled water grows. Inc. Magazine recently cited Sun Water Systems, which sells high-end Aquasana filter systems, as one of the 10 fastest-growing consumer product companies in the country. Brita, the Clorox Company's filter brand, has seen sales up 11 percent in the 13 weeks ending on Sept. 30. Procter & Gamble's filter brand was also seeing "all-time record high sales."Also, Nalgene Outdoor Products, which sells reusable bottles, introduced a Web-based campaign to promote their use. The company has partnered with Brita, on Filterforgood.com, a web-based consumer campaign that includes an online pledge, sales of reusable bottles and promises to donate 40 percent of proceeds, up to $25,000, to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a water-centered nonprofit group.
– Read the New York Times article
Connecticut Water Quality Trading Program Wins Blue Ribbon Award
The state of Connecticut was awarded the first Blue Ribbon Water Quality Trading Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. An innovative program to reduce discharges of nitrogen from sewage treatment plants into Long Island Sound has earned Water quality trading allows pollution sources to meet regulatory obligations by purchasing credits from facilities that have exceeded their mandated water quality standards.
"Connecticut has done a remarkable job working to reduce nitrogen to Long Island Sound," said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "Their hard work will result in a healthier ecosystem in the Sound for millions of residents to enjoy." The EPA award showcases programs which have achieved environmental and economic benefits and align well with the EPA's Water Quality Trading Policy.
– Read the Environmental News article
Water Wars Continue in Southern US due to Drought
Governors of three drought-ridden Southern states – Georgia, Florida and Alabama – met with federal officials to address water usage issues for two river basins recently as the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to present a plan meant to relieve regions dangerously low on water. "The current Corps of Engineers operating plan, with regard to the drought, is inadequate," said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who attended the meeting to examine the dispute.
A revised plan, Kempthorne said, will be turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which can take up to 135 days to review the plan but has pledged to get it done in 14 days. The plan adds flexibility to the existing Corps of Engineers operating procedure, said Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, Corps commander. "We will be looking at all needs, all users, and we want to create a balance," he said.
Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been wrangling over water usage from the two river basins -- the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa and the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint -- for years. Meanwhile, the population of metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, has doubled to more than 4 million since 1980.
– Read the CNN article
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Australia's controversial water pipeline
A final report by The Food Bowl Modernisation Steering Committee was released on Thursday on how to manage its controversial plan to pipe water from the Goulburn-Murray irrigation district to Melbourne. The Victorian government will consider 45 recommendations on how to implement the project, which faces strong opposition from some farmers.
Water Minister Tim Holding said the government would now review the committee's recommendations on governance arrangements, water sharing rules and project planning, and make decisions on those issues by the end of the year. The Victorian government plans to save 225 billion litres of water a year by upgrading irrigation infrastructure in the state's north. Opponents argue the Goulburn-Murray system is already stressed, and any water saved should remain in the food bowl region.
– Read The Age article
Israel-China Technology Transfer
Israel expects "to significantly increase" its water technology exports to China over the next few years following a successful round of meetings between National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Chinese water-technology leaders attending WATEC Israel 2007. According to the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, China, one of the world's fastest growing countries, expects that over the coming years at least 400 of its cities will face a serious water crisis.
"China is highly interested in the Israeli expertise in water management," Hezi Kugler, director general of the National Infrastructures Ministry told The Jerusalem Post. "They are very interested in our desalination techniques - the entire delegation traveled to see IDE Technology's desalination plant in Ashkelon - there is definitely a lot of interest."
Ben-Eliezer also met with a group of governmental leaders from Australia, another fertile market for Israeli water technology, as it has now suffered through 11 years of drought.
– Read the Jerusalem Post article
BUSINESS NEWS
Fiji Water Goes "Carbon Negative"
After receiving mounting criticism for its negative environmental impacts, Fiji Water has moved to bolster its green credentials with the launch of a major sustainability project that will see it become one of the first companies in the world to go "carbon negative".
Under the new plan, the company will invest in forestry and renewables projects, and thereby remove 20 per cent more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. Fiji Water added that the initiative would see it offset the entire carbon footprint of its bottled water, covering "raw materials production through post-consumer handling" of the company's products.
– For more information, see Read the Green Business article
American Water IPO Postponed
Citing "unfavorable conditions" in U.S. markets, German utility RWE AG recently postponed a planned initial public offering of its U.S.-based water unit. RWE had planned to spin off American Water Works Co., based in New Jersey, through an IPO at the end of 2007, in order to focus more on European gas and electricity markets. In August, when American Water Works filed for an initial public offering of its common stock, but now is postponing the plan following recent market turbulence.
"In light of the currently unfavorable conditions in the U.S. capital market, RWE does not expect that it can achieve an adequate value for American Water at present," the Essen-based company said in a brief statement.
– Read the Associated Press article
Basin Water posts huge Q3 loss
Basin Water Inc reported a huge quarterly loss, hurt mainly by a charge related to reserve for future projected losses, triggering an 18 percent fall in its shares. The company, which builds systems to treat contaminated groundwater, said the reserve was due primarily to poorly priced contracts, rising waste disposal and salt purchase costs, and the inability to contractually pass increased costs on to its clients. Basin Water reported a third-quarter loss of $9.9 million, or 50 cents a share, on revenue of $5.3 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company had posted a loss of $781,000, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $4.8 million.
– Read the Reuters article
UPCOMING EVENTS AND TRAININGS
EPA to Conduct Daily Loads Webcast December 6th
On Dec. 6, EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds will be conducting a free webcast to introduce it's recently released draft document, Options for Expressing Daily Loads in TMDLs. The webcast is designed to provide information to TMDL practitioners regarding options for developing appropriate daily load expressions for TMDL allocation time frames that are greater than one day (e.g., annual, seasonal). According to EPA, the webcast will review the process for developing daily load expressions, provide examples and highlight the implementation benefits of identifying daily loads, address impacts of the daily loads requirement to the NPDES community, and provide the opportunity to pose questions to EPA staff and program experts. For registration information, contact EPA's Rosaura Vega at 202.566.1514 or vega.rosaura@epa.gov.
– Details on the event
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