Whose Water Is It Anyway?

League of Women Voters^®
of the Upper Valley

More information on water issues

Natural Resources Committee - February 2009

New Hampshire Information

NH Department of Environmental Services http://www.des.state.nh.us/water_intro.htm/ page on Water Resource and Quality, with links to departmental water programs.
The NH Groundwater Commission to has an official website where you can find annual reports for 2006 and 2007 http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/statstudcomm/committees/1723/. From that page you can link to commission details, where a timeline and list of commission members can be found. The Commission was created by law, SB 155, in 2003 and a final report is now expected in Nov 2009.
A DES factsheet that summarizes NH existing groundwater legislation (RSA 485-C, adopted in 1991) can be found at http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-22-1.pdf
Barnstead NH In 2005, the town adopted a Warrant Article called the "[Town] Water Rights Ordinance." An unusual PA organization, the Community Environmental Defense Fund, collects local ordinances such as Barnstead's at http://www.celdf.org/Ordinances/tabid/61/Default.aspx [see `anti-corporate water withdrawal']
Connecticut River Joint Commissions website, http://www.crjc.org/ has diverse information about the Connecticut River. Go to "information and education" pages.

Vermont Information

VT Department of Environmental Conservation http://www.vtwaterquality.org/resources.htm#sw/ Water Quality Division, links to assorted programs/resources.
The recent Vermont legislation S 304, adopted in 2008: titled `An Act Relating To A Groundwater Withdrawal Permit Program' http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/senate/S-304.HTM
Vermont Natural Resources Council, article Jan 2008, about groundwater as a public trust http://www.vnrc.org/article/articleview/19010/1/632/

General Background on Water Issues

A water footprint calculator: Check out http://www.h2oconserve.org/ the calculator at this site is handy and easy-to-use, with good tips on how to reduce those numbers. It's a bit sobering to use.
EPA home page on water http://www.epa.gov/water/index.html/ many facts and links to data.
Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, The UN Human Development Report 2006, http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2006/
UNESCO's homepage on water issues http://www.unesco.org/water/ special section on freshwater.
UN Environmental Programme http://freshwater.unep.net/, lists resources of international interest
World Resource Institute http://earthtrends.wri.org/. EARTHTRENDS: Environmental Information Portal. Got to Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems to reach a searchable database.
The Global Freshwater Crisis, and Quest for Solutions. American Prospect, June 2008, special issue on water: http://www.prospect.org/cs/archive/view_report?reportId=68 with 13 articles about various aspects of the topic. Note in particular, `The Perils of Privitazation' and `Where Has All the Water Gone".
Food and Water Watch, http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org -- go to "Know Your Water' on the home page, and this leads you to all sorts of facts about water issues. It is here (under `Your Top Picks') that you can download `Take Back the Tap' document [ http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/take-back-the-tap/#documentContent ] or PDF file about bottled water.
Contaminants in bottled water: The Environmental Working Group, an October 2008 report: http://www.ewg.org/reports/bottledwater
The Real Cost of Bottled Water, San Francisco Chronicle article -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/02/18/EDG56N6OA41.DTL%20
NY Times has run several stories on groundwater:

A story by Ruth Fremson, with dramatic photos of groundwater depletion in India + http://petroleum.berkeley.edu/patzek/Harmful/Materials/nyt_09_30_06.htm
Story by Felicy Berringer about proposal for bottling plant in Vermont and the recent legislation to protect groundwater: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/us/21water.html
Story by Nicole Cotroneo about movement to ban bottled water -- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/nyregion/long-island/26waterli.html
NY Times links to more than 400 stories stories published about bottled water http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/w/water/bottled_water/index.html
Andrew Martin's recent article notes decline in sales of bottled water http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/business/15pepsi.html?_r=1&ref=business

The Pacific Institute http://www.worldwater.org/ Website with huge list of links, tables and regular updates on world's freshwater resources.
World Water Council was established in 1996 in response to increasing concern about world water issues, http://www.worldwatercouncil.org Its mission is to "promote awareness, build political commitment and trigger action on critical water issues at all levels, including the highest decision-making level, to facilitate the efficient management and use of water in all its dimensions and on an environmentally sustainable basis". However, though sponsored by the World Bank and the UN, as noted by Maude Barlow in Blue Covenant, its membership includes all the large corporate members from 139 countries, most are interested in privatized water operations.
Water Wars --- a website with summary of state (and international) efforts to contain water mining and bottled water, and to document experiences of worldwide privatization of water. For NH: http://www.worldwaterwars.com/UnitedStates/NewHampshire/index.htm Pointers to recent articles on water issues http://www.worldwaterwars.com/index.htm

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