SBS program Dateline explores water wars in California.
SBS explores the serious threat of water running out in California on Tuesday night’s episode of Dateline.
As the city started to populate in the 19th century, it started to outgrow its water supply, and started to divert some water from Owens Valley.
Native American Kathy Bancroft tells the program her ancestors had been buried deep in the valley and decades of water mismanagement and the drought had uncovered the dead.
Dateline reveals 100 years ago Owens Valley’s underground river was diverted to LA, using a 300km aqueduct.
It has helped LA thrive but those in Owens Valley are feeling the struggle.
She saw her backyard completely dry up four years ago.
“It’s easy to say ‘let’s move’ but when you realise that you’re stuck here with a property that in the future has no value because you can’t be selling a property without a well.” Dateline reports water scarcity could be a problem across the world, with one expert suggesting two thirds of the world population will live in conditions of water scarcity in just eight years.
A UN water scarcity report in 2014 also claimed there would likely be armed conflict in our lifetime in relation to water scarcity.
Watch the full Dateline report, California Water Wars, on Tuesday August 1 at 9.30pm on SBS.

Considering the decades-long interventions and millions of dollars channeled to the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) in the water sector, the failure of donor communities to enhance the living conditions of Palestinians demonstrates how aid has harmed the recognition of Palestinian rights.
Since the 1990s, international donor agencies have increased investment in the Palestinian water sector by constructing small- and large-scale wastewater treatment plants, water networks, sewage lines, and even a desalination plant in Gaza.
This project will significantly reduce health risks for the population of North Tubas governorate and the contamination of the environment.
In other words, the focus on the potential of wastewater rather than Palestinians’ lack of water rights couches water as a natural crisis that needs a technological solution — rather than a man-made problem that deliberately deprives Palestinians of a vital resource.
As for the Gaza Strip, over the last decade news articles, reports, and international campaigns have described its water scarcity as “catastrophic,” “alarming,” and constituting a “humanitarian crisis.” Indeed, the population is forced to make do with a main water source — a coastal aquifer — that is 96 percent unfit for human consumption.
The international community as well as the PA have since the 1990s framed Gaza’s water crisis as solvable via a desalination plant.
The urgency for the Desalination Facility for Gaza has increased with the rising level of humanitarian crisis in Gaza related to inadequate water resources with related impacts on human health.” Such an approach strengthens the narrative of the geographical and political separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, treating Gaza as a standalone entity requiring its own energy-intensive facility for water.
The historical Palestinian struggle for water rights, for an ‘equitable and reasonable share of transboundary water resources,’ which is enshrined in international water law, is abandoned under this new paradigm.
Huge amounts of surplus water are literally flowing past Gaza, while the Strip keeps drying up.” Similar to the wastewater treatment plants in the West Bank, Gaza’s desalination plant, though constructed, is not fully operational.
It also exemplifies donors’ naive approach to water in Gaza and the West Bank.

Singh bats for water literacy.
Pointing out that water scarcity is a global problem, renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh, well-known as ‘Waterman of India’ said that there is an urgent need for water literacy campaign in the country.
The fifteen-day campaign kicked off with a state-level symposium in the city with focus on saving and conserving water, and to deliberate upon understanding of drought, approach to mitigate drought and experiences in managing drought and water management.
Addressing the gathering at a symposium on ‘River Rejuvenation and ecosystem’ here on Monday, Singh while acknowledging that there are greater investments and more focus from the government’s side indicated that unless these are backed by the right kind of measures to involve the communities, long-term success will not be achieved.
We changed the course of rivers.
We built dams indiscriminately.
And, there is a climate change,” Singh said observing, “We can solve the looming crisis if local and traditional water-management practices are followed.” Singh recalled how he revived an ancient dam technology in his state of Rajasthan.
The Johads, earthen check dams, hold water and allow it to percolate deep down replenishing the aquifer.
Blaming mushrooming large-scale hotels for water crisis in the state, an environmental activist Fr Simon Fernandes said that the case study carried out by CSJP in the state in 2010 has found that 75 per cent of the water accessed through public supplies is utilised to serve large scale hotels with no limit on commercial usage, the remaining is used by the locals and small traders as a result the state has to face acute water shortage.
He further highlighted the helplessness of the government to resolve the water scarcity and said that there is no plan with the government agencies on water management as also there is lack of attention given to revive the traditional water conservation systems which are left abandoned.

Totladoh reservoir, which is a major source of water supply to the city, is only 11% full even after two months of rainy season.
Last year the dam was 70% full in July end.
A Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) official said that the storage capacity of Totladoh was 1,017 million cubic metres (mm3).
"On the morning of July 31, the dam had only 113 mm3 water, which is worrying.
The rainfall in the district has also been far lower than the average," he added.
The average storage of last five years is 561 mm3.
In 2013, the dam had 934 mm3.
The average of last five years is 1,658 mm3.
The storage in 40 medium-sized reservoirs in the division is also a cause for worry.
The average figure for July end is just 21%.

Villagers block Gulmarg road protesting water shortage.
BUDGAM: Residents of Cheki-Kawoosa village in central Kashmir’s Budgam district blocked the Srinagar-Gulmarg highway on Monday, to protest water scarcity in the area.
The village comprises of almost 3000 households.
Holding a traditional Kashmiri urn, a metal container for potable water, Haleema-45, lamented that the village gets “no portable water” from last few years.
Adding to the crisis, she said, the village was getting water from Mazhama water tank for half an hour daily, but “that has been stopped for the last nine days”.
“Our clothes have gathered dirt and dust, and we even can’t wash them,” she said.
Blaming the officials for their apathetic approach the protestors said that if the authorities can’t fix the water problem here, “how they can deal with the big problems?” “We request the higher officials of the PHE, MLA concerned, and flood and irrigation department to kindly intervene in this matter,” a protestor said.
National Conference, political secretary, Tanveer Sadiq, who spoke on behalf of Omar Abdullah, told Kashmir Reader that they had recently discussed the water shortage issues with PHE officials at DC office Budgam.
They didn’t pay any heed to public woes in Beerwah since Omer Abdullah was elected as MLA Beerwah,” Sadiq said.
“I will personally intervene and see if there is shortage of funds.”

District Development Committee decides to revive water bodies.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water bodies in and around the city will get a new lease of life with the authorities planning to use them to meet the potable water needs of the city.
In a recent meeting, the District Development Committee (DDC) has decided to revive water bodies in the district.
Corporation will be launching a campaign for better waste management since it is one of the prerequisites for rejuvenating water bodies.
Dumping of septage and other waste lakes, ponds and rivers continue to be a big challenge.
Major water bodies in the district will be protected under the coordination of district planning council.
Vellayani lake, Anchuthengu lake and Aruvikara dam will be protected under the plan.
Kattakada MLA, I B Sathish has taken the lead in Jalasamrudhi project which aims to conserve and rejuvenate water resources in the constituency.
The district faced acute water shortage in the last few summers.
During the past summers water was pumped from Neyyar reservoir to Aruvikara to augment the water supply.

The “Apolitical” Approach to Palestine’s Water Crisis.
You may also like: For decades, Israel has proposed technological solutions to address this scarcity, such as desalination plants and wastewater treatment and reuse.
Yet the Accords allow Israel to control Palestinian water infrastructure development by sanctioning and freezing Palestinian water projects while also intimidating Palestinians so as to legitimize water projects in settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Israel is currently using 85% of the shared water resources of the West Bank, leaving Palestinians high and dry.
Not only does Israel exert hegemony over access to West Bank resources, the Palestinian Water Authority is completely dependent on Israel as the main supplier of water, purchasing its stock from Israel since the Oslo Accords.
The freeze was due to a conditional arrangement in which Israeli settlement projects had to be approved for Palestinian projects to be considered.
Since the 1990s, international donor agencies have increased investment in the Palestinian water sector by constructing small- and large-scale wastewater treatment plants, water networks, sewage lines, and even a desalination plant in Gaza.
Such an approach strengthens the narrative of the geographical and political separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, treating Gaza as a standalone entity requiring its own energy-intensive facility for water.
The Elision of Palestinians from Infrastructure, Technology, and Scientific Collaboration With the Israeli occupation imposing military laws on the access and control of essential resources such as water, as well as tightening imports of basic fuel and energy sources, the Palestinian Authority has not developed substantial infrastructural development in the water sector for decades, especially in Area C, which constitutes 60% of the West Bank.
In sum, donors have continued a business-as-usual approach that normalizes the occupation, engaging with and funding research and scientific collaboration with Israel and investing millions of dollars in water infrastructure development commandeered by Israel.

Studies by water utilities, engineers, and advocacy groups estimate [PDF] that making all the needed investments in U.S. water infrastructure would add $220 billion and 1.3 million jobs to the U.S. economy annually.
Public consumption makes up 11 percent, while mining and industry comprises another 5 percent.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the country will need to spend $632 billion over the next decade on infrastructure including pipes, treatment plants, and wastewater management facilities.
At the same time, federal support has dried up: according to Congressional Budget Office numbers, the federal contribution to national water infrastructure spending has fallen from 63 percent of the total in the 1970s to just 9 percent in 2014.
How is supply regulated?
Under both laws, the federal government, through the EPA, sets pollution limits and regulations for all discharges into drinking water supplies, including surface waters and wastewater treatment output, while states are responsible for day-to-day implementation and enforcement.
The Colorado River, in particular, has become a major source of concern.
A primary role is to authorize financing for water projects through what are known as the State Revolving Funds.
Since its creation in 1987, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has provided states with over $111 billion in low-interest loans.
Some in Congress have proposed various mechanisms for increasing federal contributions to the water system.

On a bitingly cold winter day in Ladakh, Chewang Norphel was leaving for work, hen he spotted a pipe of running water outside his home had flowed into a nearby pit and frozen there.
That chance observation helped Norphel find a solution that would considerably mitigate the water woes of the region.
Looking at the pit of frozen water made Norphel, a civil engineer, wonder if there was any way to create an artificial glacier that would provide people with water.
What is an ‘artificial’ glacier and how does it work?
In the months of November and December, water is diverted towards the shady side of the mountain, where it can slow down, and freeze (in a way that quickly-flowing water will not).
The entire mountain slope then becomes an artificial glacier, and efforts are made to trap every drop of water in the winter which would otherwise be wasted.
The artificial glacier is located between a village and a natural glacier at different altitudes so as to ensure the water melts at different times.
The artificial glacier located closest to the village/at the lowest altitude melts first, and provides irrigation water at the crucial sowing time in the months of April, May.
As the temperature rises, the next glacier — which is located at a higher altitude — then melts, and as this process of glaciers melting at different times continues, there is assured irrigation for the fields below.
Thirty years ago, when Norphel first proposed this solution, he was laughed at.

Egypt faces water insecurity as Ethiopian mega-dam starts filling.
The water scarcity farmers have experienced to date has other causes: climate change and the demands of a growing population.
Indeed, when Abo Khokha tried pumping underground water to make up for reduced river flow, he found only half the usual volume, with a higher level of salinity.
Egypt’s five million feddans (21,000 square kilometres) of crops consume more than 85% of the country’s share of Nile water.
“So by the time these studies are concluded, we are already in front of the fait accompli”.
Diaa al-Qousi, a water specialist who worked for government, says the findings point to heavy rains for the next 30 years, then a huge drop the 60 years that follow.
There is no evidence for this common rumour; the Ethiopian government says it is funding the project nationally.
Ethiopia will not be allowed to alter the balance of water supply along the river, Nasr asserts: “Egypt’s water share is internationally known.
Yet work on the 6GW dam, a prestige project for the Ethiopian government, has continued unabated.
“Farmers have traditional knowledge, which they lived by for a long time.