Dam disaster victims stare at uncertain future

Fears linger for livelihoods as new villages being built for Lao victims may not be suitable for agriculture THE VICTIMS of the Xi Pian-Xe Namnoi Dam collapse may not be able to return to their normal lives any time soon because the locations of their new villages and farmlands are unsuitable for living and farming.
Some of the people affected by the deadly hydropower-dam disaster in Attapeu province of southern Laos were recently compensated for the loss of family members.
So they are finding new land for us on higher ground to rebuild and to farm and the dam companies are building the houses for us,” Wan said.
“Even though the village construction is slower than planned, we can now see where our village will be and where we can farm because the site has already been cleared and construction is now progressing.” Sanamxay district chief Bounhome Phommasane told ABC Laos News report in October that every displaced resident would be able to move into five newly built villages the following month.
If we move into the new village, we will have to live in an unfamiliar arid environment where we cannot grow rice and will find it very difficult to find clean water,” he said.
The authorities will dig groundwater wells to provide clean water for the villagers, Wan was told.
Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said the main priority for the government was to assist the affected people in every way so they could get back to their normal lives.
The Prime Minister’s Office last Friday issued an order directing SK Engineering and Construction, the South Korean dam construction company, and Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Co, the dam operator, to pay US$10,000 (Bt320,000) for each of the 71 people officially accounted for as deceased or missing to their families.
Many said $10,000 was a large sum, but for the disaster victims who had lost family members and all their possessions, the amount was far from enough to rebuild their lives.
The affected people will have to wait until the government and dam companies can agree on the amount, the source said.

In SC town, residents live under cloud of uncertainty during water controversy

DENMARK — The water is rotten in the city of Denmark.
Many have opted to stop drinking public water completely, looking to bottled water or a nearby spring instead.
When Moncrieft started, Wheeler said he thought not brushing with the water was “extreme.” “I used to tease her all the time,” he said, “then she was right, the whole time.” No confidence It’s unclear exactly what health effects HaloSan has when consumed in water over a long term.
“More often than not, it’s not a health issue,” Edwards said.
As Edwards has worked with Smith, Brown and other residents concerned about water quality, he eventually asked to test the drinking water wells directly, but the city denied his request.
In its responses to the two class-action suits, the city has broadly denied the claims that it is harming residents’ health and that it is overcharging residents for water.
One other option has been the water distributions organized by several groups, including Denmark Citizens for Safe Water.
Organizer Deanna Miller-Berry, who is also a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, helped run a string of distributions Thursday.
“I don’t even have to call them, when they see it, and they hear about it, they’re coming,” she said.
Jones has lived in Denmark for three years, but she said she doesn’t want her daughter to get sick, and she’s frustrated that the city government continues to charge for a utility most people have lost faith in.

Itchy skin, hair loss and uncertainty: What’s in SC city’s water?

EPA officials have said HaloSan’s use is uncommon in public drinking water systems, if it ever has been used at all, according to emails obtained by The State.
“We are looking internally at the product and the process.’’ S.C. regulators have been unable to show how much of the chemical was injected into Denmark’s water from 2008 until this year, when Clemson pesticide regulators ordered the city to quit using it.
DHEC can’t say what caused Williams’ skin problems.
At a Nov. 19 public meeting, Denmark resident Jimmie Funches brought a small plastic bottle of water to illustrate the problem.
The state Safe Drinking Water Act allows DHEC to issue fines of $5,000 a day for each violation.
“I don’t trust them, period, and they know it,’’ said Eugene Smith, 74, who has complained about Denmark’s water for years.
Washington’s letter said Denmark’s water-quality woes were “serious,’’ asking Sellers to help address the problems so residents could “live healthier lives.’’ ‘Quit spreading rumors’ Mayor Wright says Denmark is making progress in fixing its water system, using government grants to replace old pipes and worn-out wells.
I’m just as concerned as anybody about the quality of water.’’ Denmark officials declined to tell The State how much they have spent to repair the aging water system.
Other problems that residents complain about are no different than in other communities, Wright said.
Today, Williams lives in an apartment in Orangeburg, too small for all her belongings, some of which remain in the Denmark house.

After years of drought, Colorado water bosses face uncertainty

The fallout of the 416 Fire is an example of how hotter, drier conditions due to climate change are making it tougher to plan water supplies in Colorado.
There are currently fishing restrictions – some voluntary, some mandatory – on eight rivers in Colorado because of low flows and high water temperatures.
Colorado is expected to warm 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050 due to climate change, according to a Western Water Assessment study.
The Statewide Water Supply Initiative, which previously predicted Colorado will run out of water in 2050, began in 2016.
The project is known as the San Juan Headwaters Project, and previously Dry Gulch.
“It doesn’t create any new water.” Instead, Burk said water managers need to be thinking about new ideas for conservation and efficiency.
Most of the money for water conservation projects comes from the state’s tax on oil and gas production, known as the severance tax.
As a result, funding specifically for the Colorado Water Plan was slashed this year from $10 million to $7 million.
Sen. Don Coram, a Republican from Montrose who serves on the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee, mentioned a water bottle tax, a 25-cent per-thousand-gallon water meter surcharge, and a sales tax as potential other sources of revenue.
Even so, Eric Kuhn, a retired manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District, said compacts are only agreements to agree.

Climate of uncertainty fuels anxiety, exodus in Dry Zone

In Chauk Township, Magwe Division, all but one farmer DVB spoke to in April were unaware of the country’s unenviable podium finish on climate change vulnerability, but each individual confirmed that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns had acutely changed the nature of their livelihoods.
Once predictable rainfall patterns are a thing of the past for farmers in the region.
“The monsoon rain has reduced by as much as 30 percent during the last 30 years, therefore the water availability from the rain has reduced.
Often, these rains must sustain farming communities for the rest of the season.
So you have more rain in less days of rain,” Capizzi said.
“When I went to those villages, I found out that the people there are really short.
When I asked them why they are so short and why their skin is so dark, they confessed that their village was experiencing water shortages and that they had to travel three or four miles to get water and then carry them back to home,” Kyaw Thu added.
Government representatives warned attendees at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions would increase in line with industry and infrastructure development.
The DMH data recorded an increase in annual mean temperatures almost nationwide, with particular spikes in major central cities Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe.
Youth exodus Most farmers in the Dry Zone can trace their lineage on the arid land for generations.

Integrated waste load allocation for river water pollution control under uncertainty: a case study of Tuojiang River, China

Integrated waste load allocation for river water pollution control under uncertainty: a case study of Tuojiang River, China.
Abstract This paper presents a bi-level optimization waste load allocation programming model under a fuzzy random environment to assist integrated river pollution control.
Taking account of the leader-follower decision-making in the water function zones framework, the proposed approach examines the decision making feedback relationships and conflict coordination between the river basin authority and the regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on the Stackelberg-Nash equilibrium strategy.
In the pollution control system, the river basin authority, as the leader, allocates equitable emissions rights to different subareas, and the then subarea EPA, as the followers, reallocates the limited resources to various functional zones to minimize pollution costs.
This research also considers the uncertainty in the water pollution management, and the uncertain input information is expressed as fuzzy random variables.
The proposed methodological approach is then applied to Tuojiang River in China and the bi-level linear programming model solutions are achieved using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker condition.
Based on the waste load allocation scheme results and various scenario analyses and discussion, some operational policies are proposed to assist decision makers (DMs) cope with waste load allocation problem for integrated river pollution control for the overall benefits.
http://ift.tt/2s8UEYO

Hunan Yonker Investment Group Submits Final Application for a USD 4 Million Investment in LiqTech

Hunan Yonker Investment Group Submits Final Application for a USD 4 Million Investment in LiqTech.
LiqTech International, Inc., a Nevada corporation, is a clean technology company that for more than a decade has developed and provided state-of-the-art technologies for gas and liquid purification using ceramic silicon carbide filters, particularly highly specialized filters for the control of soot exhaust particles from diesel engines and for liquid filtration.
Using nanotechnology, LiqTech develops products using proprietary silicon carbide technology.
In particular, LiqTech Systems A/S (www.provital.dk), the Company’s subsidiary, has developed a new standard of water filtration technology to meet the ever-increasing demand for higher water quality.
For more information, please visit www.liqtech.com Follow LiqTech on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/liqtech-international Follow LiqTech on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiqTech This press release contains "forward-looking statements."
Although the forward-looking statements in this release reflect the good faith judgment of management, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.
Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in the our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows.
Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release.
We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hunan-yonker-investment-group-submits-final-application-for-a-usd-4-million-investment-in-liqtech-300440394.html

Economics terms everyone should know

Here are a few to get started.
Opportunity cost: The cost of doing something in terms of time and money.
Examples: If you watch one movie, you cannot watch another.
If you go to one school, you cannot attend another.
Risk versus uncertainty: Risk can be described in probabilities.
That’s why there’s no insurance for bad dates — or climate change!
Examples: My phone costs $600, but that’s less than $1/day if I use it for 2 years.
If I spend 10 hours learning how to do my taxes when I am 25, I can use that knowledge for the rest of my life to save on accountant fees (as well as having a much better idea of how the government "thinks" and how to track my finances).
Examples: This bike is worth $400 to me but it’s priced $200.
The seller may only value it at $100.