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22 Feb 2012 - 05:29 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
MANILA, Philippines (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The Philippines’ Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, the government water agency in the capital region, is moving to consolidate management of four watershed areas that provide 97 percent of water supply for close to 14 million people in Metro Manila and surrounding cities.
22 Feb 2012 - 05:27 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
NEW DELHI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — China’s Linyi Jinmin Water Co. Ltd. plans to enter the Indian market by forming technical partnerships and establishing a distribution network to promote its products in the country.
22 Feb 2012 - 05:25 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
dhaka, Bangladesh (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Bangladesh is hopeful that it can reach an agreement with India on sharing water from the Teesta River during the coming dry season, Water Resources Minister Ramesh Chandra Sen said on February 12.
The neighboring countries exchanged data on common rivers at a meeting this month of the inter-governmental Joint Rivers Commission in Kolkata.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:56 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
India, BHOPAL (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The Madhya Pradesh government ordered water department officers to develop five new drinking water projects for each of the state’s 230 assembly constituencies.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:51 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
CHENNAI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Israel’s IDE Technologies is seeking partnerships with large water companies in India in hopes of gaining entry to the country’s municipal desalination market.
The company is in talks with several Indian engineering, procurement and construction firms that it could team up with on a project-to-project basis.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:48 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
washington, DC -- (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Urban flooding is a serious challenge for fast-growing low- and middle-income countries in East Asia, according to a World Bank guidebook released last week.
The report warns of the urgent need to build flood risk management into day-to-day planning of cities and towns.
21 Feb 2012 - 23:03 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
NEW DELHI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Heeding warnings that the already wide disparity between water demand and supply in the state will grow in the next few years, the Delhi government is turning to treated sewage water to help bridge the gap.
Delhi plans to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government of Singapore -- which has a major water reuse program -- to help promote the idea in the Indian capital.
21 Feb 2012 - 23:00 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Sri Lanka is planning a new reservoir project in the north central dry zone as part of the government’s efforts to improve irrigation and drinking water facilities in rural areas.
The Malvathu Oya project, which would be built between the districts of Anuradhapura and Mannar on the Malvathu River, is expected to provide water for a large number of rural households.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:25 by Local Press Report
PARIS (Local Press Report) — Veolia Eau, the water services unit of French environmental services group Veolia Environnement, said last week it had won a contract to manage and maintain drinking water plants servicing the southern Japanese city of Matsuyama. The company has been operating in Japan since 2002 in the wastewater sector. This is the first contract won by Veolia for drinking water management in the country.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:35 by Local Press Report
BEIJING (Local Press Report) — More than 3 million people in China are facing a shortage of drinking water because of droughts, authorities said last week. The shortage was caused by a severe lack of precipitation since last autumn and insufficient water storage by water conservancy authorities in some parts of the country, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:10 by Local Press Report
Bangkok (Local Press Report) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s adviser on water management has proposed the construction of a dam on the Salween River to solve floods and droughts as well as to produce electricity for the country.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:23 by Local Press Report
KUALA LUMPUR (Local Press Report) — Another 142 new acute gastroenteritis cases were detected in the Batang Padang and Hilir Perak districts yesterday, bringing the total number of suspected cases to 2,686 since late last month. The acute gastroenteritis cases were said to be caused by the water-borne rotavirus, which brings about severe diarrhoea and vomiting.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:33 by Local Press Report
TAIPEI (Local Press Report) — The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) last week rejected an environmental assessment of a long-stalled reservoir project in southern Taiwan presented by the Water Resources Agency (WRA). The Kaoping Reservoir passed an environmental impact assessment a decade ago, but it has since gone nowhere because of public misgivings about its construction.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:08 by Local Press Report
Bangkok (Local Press Report) — Thailand could be inundated by up to 20 billion cubic meters of water this year but Bangkok will not be flooded, Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi said. The country may be hit by 27 typhoons and four tropical storms in the coming months and sea levels will be higher than last year by 15 centimeters.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:21 by Local Press Report
RANGOON (Local Press Report) — Water in Rangoon, already in short supply in some areas, is going to cost more starting April 1. The Rangoon City Development Committee announced last week that water bills would increase from $0.04 USD to $0.06 USD per gallon for non-commercial use and $0.08 USD for commercial use.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:32 by Local Press Report
MACAU (Local Press Report) — The Macao Water Supply Company Ltd. announced last week that it reduced its water loss rate to below 9 percent by the end of last year. This was not only a record-breaking result in the local water supply industry but also a fulfilment of the company’s promise on water conservation to the government and local residents, said Felix Fan, executive director of Macao Water.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:06 by Local Press Report
HANOI (Local Press Report) — Vietnam has a dense network of rivers which accounts for about 2 percent of the total flow of the rivers in the world. However, the water resources are facing big challenges, including the depletion and the pollution in a wide scale.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:43 by Local Press Report
KABUL (Local Press Report) — The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is boosting its technical support to help rebuild Afghanistan’s dilapidated traditional irrigation systems, which have been neglected for decades owing to war and migration away from rural areas.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:19 by Local Press Report
YANGON (Local Press Report) — Myanmar and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have agreed on a country program action plan as part of their cooperation. The Myanmar-UNICEF country program action plan was signed in Nay Pyi Taw last week by Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic Development Dr. Kan Zaw and Resident Representative of UNICEF Remesh Shrestha.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:30 by Local Press Report
BEIJING (Local Press Report) — Ten people have been arrested over industrial waste discharges that polluted a river in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The ten people, stakeholders or executives of Guangxi Jinhe Mining Co. Ltd. and Jinchengjiang Hongquan Lithopone Material Co. Ltd.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:41 by Local Press Report
PHNOM PENH (Local Press Report) — Five primary schools in Ratanakkiri province are set to receive water and sanitation facilities following donations by Moët Hennessy Asia Pacific and development efforts from Plan International Cambodia. The $77,400 USD will provide more than 1,300 students with proper toilet facilities, wells, and campaigns to educate the children on the importance of hand-washing and basic hygiene.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:17 by Local Press Report
MANILA (Local Press Report) — MANILA Water Company Inc. said in a statement last week that it has brought down its system loss or non-revenue water (NRW) to a record low of 11 percent at the end of 2011 from the 63 percent when it took over the East Zone concession in 1997. The NRW level of 11 percent is “unprecedented” in the Philippines’ water industry, the Ayala-led company said.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:28 by Local Press Report
BEIJING (Local Press Report) — The rapid growth of the chemical industry has caused an increase in water pollution which is outstripping the government’s ability to monitor it, a senior official said last week. The buildup of chemical plants along rivers, particularly the Yangtze River, threatens the quality of drinking water in cities already short of this essential resource, said Hu Siyi, vice-minister of water resources.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:39 by Local Press Report
MACAU (Local Press Report) — The government lost a new battle over the contract for the operation of the Macau peninsula wastewater treatment plant, after the top court confirmed that a second bidder had been wrongfully excluded from the tender.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:14 by Local Press Report
MANILA (Local Press Report) — METRO Pacific Investments Corp. and DMCI Holdings-led Maynilad Water Services Inc. (Maynilad) will soon put up a sewage and septage treatment plant in Quezon City and Manila to help clear the San Juan River Basin, one of the major tributaries of the Pasig River.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:26 by Local Press Report
NEW DELHI (Local Press Report) — The Nepal-India Joint Ministerial Level Commission on Water Resources will mainly dwell on the feasibility study of Saptakoshi high dam project, Pancheshwor multi-purpose hydroelectric project and bilateral power trade agreement.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:37 by Local Press Report
BEIJING (Local Press Report) — The State Council, China’s cabinet, unveiled guidelines last week to ensure sustainable supplies of freshwater and to protect water resources by raising China’s capability to desalinate seawater.
21 Feb 2012 - 22:12 by Local Press Report
20 Feb 2012 - 19:13 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
nairoBi, Kenya (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Naftali Mwaura, OOSKAnews, NAIROBI, Kenya -- The loss of topsoil due to mechanized farming, urbanization and population growth is contributing to depletion of freshwater ecosystems, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
15 Feb 2012 - 07:44 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
NANJING, China (OOSKAnews Corre...) — China’s Wuhan Maritime Court on February 11 ordered the detention of South Korean cargo ship Gloria, which allegedly spilled phenol into the Yangtze River.
Bail for crew members was set at $3.3 million USD, according to the Zhenjiang government website.
The cargo ship’s owners could face trial.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:40 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
MYANMAR, RANGOON (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The Chinese government is pressuring neighboring Myanmar to resume the controversial Myitsone Hydropower Dam project in Kachin state.
The project, which was to be built by the Chinese, was cancelled last year in the face of local and international opposition.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:52 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
CHENNAI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Chennai-based water treatment solutions provider Salacia Water Technology wants to tap into the Middle East and South Asian markets, while at the same time working to consolidate its position in India.
After carrying out some small projects in Malaysia, Salacia wants to enter the markets in Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar in the next few years.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:50 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
MANILA, Philippines (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The government of Cebu island in the central Philippines last week awarded a joint venture contract to a consortium led by Manila Water Company to build and operate a $16.5 million USD bulk water facility.
The facility will supply 35 million liters per day to an area that includes the country’s second biggest urban center and its top tourist destination.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:48 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
dhaka, Bangladesh (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Experts are calling for a water reuse program to reduce the threat of water crisis in the Bangladeshi capital.
Eighty percent of water used by households daily can be reused, Mofizur Rahman, a professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, told OOSKAnews.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:46 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
NEW DELHI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The Delhi government may set up pay-and-use “water ATMs” in slum areas of the city in an attempt to resolve water shortages there.
About 50 percent of the city’s population lives in slum areas, which are either not on the potable water supply network, or have low supply, leaving many residents dependent on private water tankers.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:56 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
NEW DELHI, India (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The Delhi High Court has asked state-run water utility the Delhi Jal Board to turn over all documents related to the contract for the Bhagirathi water treatment plant, after workers at the utility and the Jal Mal Kamgar Sangharsh Morcha union grouping filed public interest litigation over the contract award.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:42 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
TAIPEI, Taiwan (OOSKAnews Corre...) — Taiwanese environmentalists held protests last week against discharge of toxic wastewater by high-tech industries located in the Central Taiwan Science Park.
The protesters said the science park, now in its fourth phase of development, was stealing water and discharging toxic waste into water sources.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:54 by OOSKAnews Correspondent
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (OOSKAnews Corre...) — The World Bank’s Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) approved a $5.08 million USD grant to increase access to domestic sanitation for low-income households around Colombo.
It is the first time the output-based aid model has been tried in Sri Lanka. This approach will link payment of unit subsidies to actual delivery of agreed-on “outputs.”
15 Feb 2012 - 07:23 by Local Press Report
MANILA (Local Press Report) — The earthquake that rocked the central Philippines Monday damaged $2.92 million USD worth of crops and irrigation facilities. The Department of Agriculture said today the 6.9-magnitude earthquake damaged rice and corn crops, fishery products and irrigation facilities in the province of Negros Oriental. Agriculture Secretary Proceso J.
15 Feb 2012 - 07:35 by Local Press Report
GUANGZHOU (Local Press Report) — Gunagzhou Water Supply Company published accounts last week that showed the company was heavily in debt. As well as increased operating costs, the company said it had invested more than $274.5 million USD to fund a project to divert water from the Xijiang River, the main branch of the Pearl River, to the city’s waterworks.
Countries covered: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
OOSKAnews, Inc is a specialist publisher of hard to find international water sector and water-related news and intelligence.
We produce weekly email subscription newsletters covering local, regional and global water policy, government, business, finance and funding, environment, waste and supply.
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