The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar At this point, unless you live under a rock, you’ve seen pictures of the swollen, chocolate milk-colored Ohio River.
"What people sometimes don’t understand is just how blessed we are in terms of natural water resources," said Mike Ekberg, manager for water resource monitoring and analysis at the Miami Conservancy District.
Our water situation is a positive one, actually, because of natural and man-made water systems in Southwest Ohio.
We have the Ohio River, which provides 88 percent of Cincinnati’s drinking water and much of the water for Northern Kentucky and other communities along the river.
The aquifer is the source of clean water for 2.7 million people in communities including Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown, Dayton, Springfield and Oxford.
"As one of my old colleagues would say, ‘It’s a gift from the glacier,’ " said Nash, who oversees an aquifer monitoring station in Hamilton County.
At Greater Cincinnati Water Works, most of the water comes from the Ohio River.
Water Works tests the water 600 times per day to make sure of the quality.
Seven of those wells are closed because of the flooding, said Jeff Swertfeger, water quality and treatment superintendent for Greater Cincinnati Water Works.
Officials remind owners of private wells to make sure they are operating properly, that "water from the well is coming from the aquifer, through screens, not coming from above," said Ekberg.

Shutterstock How does a city run out of water?
What we do know, however, is that Cape Town is not alone, with a recent report exposing 11 other cities at risk.
On the surface, the underlying story is about a failure in how the public sector manages water.
In other words, water is too often treated as a taken-for-granted asset, rather than a strategic resource for economic development, social well-being and ecosystem health.
In thinking through the Cape Town crisis, therefore, it is unfair to place all the blame onto the public sector.
If these fundamental drivers of water scarcity are not addressed, with costs shared proportionately, we hinder the public sector’s ability to ensure water resiliency and security.
The key is whether we will act now and plan for the future.
In particular, the private sector has an essential role to play in devising technology and infrastructure solutions.
Innovation: We need a broader view of innovation beyond technology to include business models, financing/funding, public policy and partnerships.
We have a shared responsibility to manage our scarce fresh water supplies.

The next inter-tribal war in Kenya will not be about political power.
What Kenyans will fight over next will be natural resources starting with water.
When you escalate these isolated conflicts and add the anxiety over possibility of a drought laden future, you have a full scale ‘water war.’ And while global warming has contributed to our current situation, it is also a fact that Kenya’s rivers are no longer flowing and lakes are drying up due to human activities on the country’s water towers.
In the end one side of government including the President, grew cold feet and didn’t attend symbolic tree planting in the forest.
Like in 2009, the current nationwide scarcity of water provides Kenya with a chance to do the right thing for future generations.
Can you imagine what the situation would be 20 years from now if environmental degradation is declared a national disaster?
If all Kenyans are made to plant a tree each as a government policy and environmental conservation is made a mandatory subject in schools?
However, you need water to grow food and you need trees to get that water.
China this week assigned 60,000 soldiers to plant trees to combat pollution through increasing the forest cover.
There is no reason why this cannot be done in Kenya.

The water crisis in the Western Cape should usher in a new era of governance of and new attitudes towards the resource, experts have said.
Whereas in the past, water in South Africa has been dealt with as a finite resource, suggests Anthony Turton, a professor at the Centre for Environmental Management of the University of the Free State, South Africa now needs to start treating water as an infinitely renewable resource through policies informed by science and new technology.
Speaking at a recent conference attended by scientists, activists and organisations concerned with water scarcity, Turton and other panellists urged that continued reliance on antiquated water distribution and conservation methods would result in a recurrence of the same crisis during times of drought, especially given the threats posed by climate change.
Turton referred to what is required as a paradigm shift from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance.
“We need […] to understand the physics and chemistry of water.
Water is not a stock… Water is a flux.
A flux moves in time and space,” he said.
Recovering water from waste, the lowest hanging fruit, was but one of the areas new policies needed to focus on, he said.
Dr Clive Lipchin, director of the Centre for Transboundary Water Management at Israel’s Arava Institute, suggested that South Africa had much to gain in terms of expertise in the area of waste water management from this Middle Eastern country.
“We want to see water as a basic human right, something that cannot be denied to people, because water is life.

But the country’s 4 000 privately owned dams would not translate to a solution to the country’s water access problems, according to the Department of Water and Sanitation.
“I think people only look at the fact that 4 000 dams are privately owned as compared to the 320 dams owned by government, when actually the capacity of [the latter] is about 90% of the water available in the country.
The 4 000 private dams are also spread in terms of ownership and their existence within the law.
Water resource expert Anthony Turton said Chauke’s statements were more political than practical, given that water resources were already nationalised in 1998 under the National Water Act, a law he said government had failed to implement.
“I would argue that the problems we are having in the country are a manifestation of the act; that the resource has been nationalised when the government lacks the capacity to manage that resource.
And now we want to nationalise even more, and this is just a bankrupt, ideological argument.” In a bid to lend a hand to government in alleviating the Cape Town water crisis, farmers from the Overberg region began the release of 10 billion litres of private water into Cape Town’s reticulation system.
For instance, it is farmers’ money that created our dams, and billions went into creating the dams in our valley and that is all privately funded dams that were built 40 years ago with the thought that one day we may need a little more.
“To nationalise [those] dams, what are you going to do with that?
The GWUA said it regularly pumps billions of litres of surplus water into Cape Town’s system, depending on the supply available in that year.
Our water surplus varies between nine billion litres up to 27 billion.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says a plan is being worked on to access the remaining 10% of water still available in the Theewaterskloof Dam.
The Western Cape is suffering from a severe drought, which has threatened to empty the city’s water supply.
The department released a statement on Sunday following a media tour of the site at the Theewaterskloof Dam.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation is currently assisting with drilling into the Table Mountain Group Aquifer as part of the effort to combat the water scarcity in the area,” the statement read.
“There is also a plan underway to access the 10% of water still in the Theewaterskloof Dam to increase capacity in the Western Cape Water Supply System.” The remaining 10% in the Theewaterskloof Dam is largely regarded as unusable if used through the current dam system.
Desired drilling depth of 250 metres Drilling started on Saturday, February 10, “with the current drilling having intruded various formations of sandstone and shale-like material after which reaching a hard rock formation at 28 metres”.
It said the depths of water strikes are at 39 metres and 46 metres.
“A preliminary blow yield was conducted at a depth of 55 metres which yield was measured at 1L per second.” During the media tour this week, the drilling was at a depth of 84 metres.
An ultimate desired depth of 250 metres is being looked at, it said.
The department urged residents to practice strict water saving methods and to adhere to the water restrictions imposed in their respective areas, especially the City of Cape Town.

Resident in water-scarce area of the country need to recognise and adjust to the water supply limitations, especially those in drought-stricken areas, the water and sanitation department said on Sunday.
The department was continuing its endeavours to ensure security of the supply of water for the country, and more particularly for the currently drought-stricken Western Cape, spokesman Sputnik Ratau said.
There was also a plan underway to access the 10 percent of water still in the Theewaterskloof Dam to increase capacity in the Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS).
The media was recently able to see the drilling as it was happening, “with the hydrologists indicating a form of satisfaction with the artesian flow being reached”, Ratau said.
Drilling started on February 10, with the current drilling having intruded various formations of sandstone and shale-like material after which reaching a hard rock formation at 28 metres.
The depth of water strikes were at 39 metres and 46 metres.
The drilling on February 22 was at a depth of 84 metres.
The department was also working at accessing the 10 percent of water still available in the Theewaterskloof Dam as a further means of augmenting the WCWSS.
The department urged all citizens to practice strict water saving methods and to adhere to the water restrictions imposed in their respective areas, especially the City of Cape Town.
– African News Agency (ANA)

Kottayam: Situated picturesquely on the eastern mountain ranges running through the borders of Kottayam district at an altitude of 2,500 ft above sea level is Chakirimedu, a remote village in Koruthode panchayat.
One can relish a panoramic view of Ponkunnam and Kanjirappally towns and their environs, located at a distance of about 30 kilometers, from the top of this hilly tract.
This rich and varied scenery is sure to captivate tourists, but there is something that may put them off as well.
The 25 families at the rehabilitation colony constructed around 15 years ago are now offering prayers to rain gods as the public pond in the village, their only source of water, has dried up.
Huge water tanks can be spotted in front of every house in the area.
The panchayat has constructed a huge tank along the main road, but there is not a drop of water in it.
Many people who live in rented homes do not want to construct a house there due to lack of basic amenities including water supply.
When the water crisis worsens during summer months, panchayats do make arrangements to supply water in tanker lorries in these areas, but it won’t be enough to fulfill even their basic needs.
The solution lies in effective rain water harvesting and construction of ferrocement tanks.
The residents have been demanding setting up of tanks in each house in the locality to ensure adequate water supply in the coming summer seasons.

Some areas such as Naka Estate have gone without a drop of water for over a month now.
“Taps have been dry despite having paid water bills,” said Wambui.
Most worrying is that residents are buying water from unknown sources, an issue that might result in contraction of waterborne diseases.
Even with the shortage, she said she has been paying Nakuru Water, Sanitation and Sewerage Company (Nawasco) up to Sh800 every month in water bills.
ALSO READ: Three family members die in road accident at Magina Depending on vendors “There are times we receive water twice in a week but now the situation has worsened.
We have consumed the rain water we harvested and are now depending on vendors,” said Koros.
She said they boil the water to avoid any health hazards and diseases that might result from contamination.
Other times the water is salty, but we have no alternative,” she said.
Other residents are drawing water from River Ndarugu, which is contaminated with both solid and liquid waste from industries and residential areas.
At least 250 people were diagnosed with the disease.

Perhaps, this precarious situation is a manifestation of the projections made by the Global World Water Report that the world would have only 60% of the water it needs by 2030.
Considering this situation, there must be concerted efforts of all countries to effect a significant policy that would drive development of water resources and accelerate production and supply of water for sustaining the world population.
However, Nigeria is not relenting, as the country has developed a National Water Resources Master Plan, spanning 2014 – 2030, for water resources development, water supply, irrigation, and other related issues, that would resolve the major challenges inhibiting efficiency of water supply in the Country.
Lagos, a resilient state and the commercial hub of Africa, with the population of over 22 million people, is unperturbed about this situation as it is continuously putting in place various strategies to tackle the challenge of water scarcity before it arises.
The state has developed a Lagos Water Supply Master Plan (2010 – 2020) as a road map to tackling the challenge of water production and supply.
These water plants are currently supplying over 10 communities in Agbowa /Ikorodu area of the State.
Other proposed schemes include Adiyan Phase III of 70MGD, with 6,295 km network, Ibese Phase I Water Treatment Plant of 50 MGD, and the Yewa/Ishasi water scheme calculated to produce 85MGD In addition, a proposed integrated water supply in Ikorodu and its peri-urbans will be executed to supply 35MGD.
This project will comprise upgrading Ota-Ikosi from 4MGD to 31MGD; the rehabilitation of Oke-Ota-Ona Water Plant and Lagos road mini waterworks currently supplying 3MGD and 2MGD respectively.
The Corporation now produces and supplies uninterrupted water to residents in the State, evidenced by the fact that communities that had never been supplied water for many years are now being supplied potable water.
While as of now water demand in the state is 540 MGD, and supply is 220 MGD, there is a great gap of 320 MGD Therefore, based on the present plans and ongoing water projects in the state, Lagos Water Corporation has the capacity to deliver 745MGD, when demand hits 733MGD, giving the State excess of 12MGD.