The period from February until now has

been the second driest in England and

Wales since 1921.

The worst hit region is the South East

where over the past three months some

parts have seen as little as 30% of their

average rainfall leaving many rivers

ÁoZing Dt onOy

oI norPDO Ior the

time of year.

The Environment Agency recently

granted Thames Water two drought

permits, allowing it to increase

abstraction from the River Thames

and a groundwater source for the next

four months.

Decisions are awaited on applications

for permits from United Utilities and

South East Water, while Southern

Water, Severn Trent, and Welsh

Water are all expected to ask for

permits. Among the Agency’s tips for

saving water are to replace worn tap

washers to prevent dripping, use the

minimum amount of water for boiling

kettles and saucepans, select half-

load programmes on dishwashers and

washing machines wherever possible,

and wash vegetables in a bowl rather

than under a running tap.

An additional 290

hectare of farmland

in the Balrampur

district to be under

irrigation

Around 290 hectares of additional

agricultural land will come under

irrigated after the completion of

Kanhar Irrigation Dam situated in the

Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh

state in India.

The region’s government has also

set Dside sXIficient IXnding to irrigDte

additional land of 1300 hectares under

cultivation after the irrigation projects

in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district is

completed.

According to a recent statement, the

Chhattisgarh Government has adopted

a long-term view on the development

of water resources, and ready with a

Master Plan for development of rivers

and other water bodies till the year 2025.

In the meantime, to minimize he gap

between developed irrigation capacity

and actual irrigation capacity, old

irrigation schemes are to be renewed.

At present, 34.87 per cent ground water

is currently being utilized in the region

for agriculture.

100,000 Mexicans

without water after

oil spill

Some 100,000 people living inSouthern

Mexico were left without drinking water

after rivers were contaminated by an oil

spill, believed to have been caused by

thieves who tapped a pipeline.

Authorities reopened two out of four

ZDter fiOtrDtion SODnts thDt hDd cOosed

after the weekend spill, which initially

left half a million people without clean

water in the city of Villahermosa,

Tabasco state.

0XniciSDO oIficiDOs sDid the nXPber

of people without water dropped to

bXt the tZo other fiOtrDtion

facilities took a long time to recommence

operations due to the amount of time

needed by cleanup crews to large

quantities of crude oil that had settled

near the plants.

Thieves tapped a large oil pipeline

oSerDted by stDte rXn energy firP

Pemex on Sunday, causing oil to gush

into local rivers.

The Tabasco state government urged

residents to ration water until they

could manage to clean up the mess

completely.

Stealing oil has become a lucrative

activity among drug cartels, forcing

3ePe[ to stoS shiSSing finished IXeO

through its pipelines after discovering

3,674 illegal taps last year.

The thefts have caused other

environmental disasters in the past,

with the most serious being a deadly

explosion people in the central Mexican

town of San Martin Texmelucan that

occurred in December of 2010, which

killed 29.

UAE plans to cut

water consumption

by 30% within the

next 15 years.

According to a senior government

oIficiDO the 8nited $rDb 5eSXbOic

(UAE ) have plans in place that will see

them to reduce their water consumption

by 30 per cent by the year 2030. The

savings will be made through a federal

framework for economic growth and

social development through sustainable

initiatives.

The UAE Minister for Environment and

Water, made the announcement at the

recently concluded seventhWorldWater

Forum in Korea, which featured 30,000

international government leaders and

focused on addressing the increasing

global water security challenge.

The high-level UAE delegation, played

an important role in identifying and

advancing solutions aimed at ensuring

a sustainable water future.

The delegation also highlighted

STEP, Abu Dhabi’s Strategic Tunnel

Enhancement Programme, which

when completed in 2016, will be one

of the largest gravity-driven hydraulic

wastewater network tunnels in the

world.

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