The Stream, February 19: Thailand Allocates $US 240 Million to Deal with Drought

The Global Rundown

Thailand will spend millions on alleviating drought this year, while a Palestinian developer may have wasted more than 1 billion building a city with no water supply. Qatar plans to enact penalties for wasting water and electricity, and the state of Ohio is working on legislation to limit when farmers can apply fertilizer. It will take decades to bring Ireland‘s water infrastructure up to par. California‘s public water supply violated safe contaminant levels over 1000 times in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

“Although the vast majority of Californians who receive drinking water from a public water system receive water that met quality standards in recent years, there are still many who may have consumed unsafe water.” — California Senate researchers in a report on the state’s public drinking water. (Reuters)

By The Numbers

$US 240 million – Money Thailand has set aside to alleviate drought this year. The irrigation department has said that the country will see its worst drought in 10 years in 2015. The measure, which the Thai cabinet approved Wednesday, will disburse funds for 1,712 water projects as well as water emergencies. Reuters

25 years – Time it will take to reduce leakage in Ireland’s water infrastructure to “acceptable levels”, according to Irish Water. It will also take 10 years to replace dangerous lead pipes in public water mains – but customers will have to replace in-home lead pipes themselves. Irish Independent

Science, Studies, And Reports

A report ordered by the California Senate’s Environmental Quality committee shows that California’s public drinking water violated safety standards over 1,000 times during the 2012-2013 fiscal year, though 98% of water was safe. The most common contaminants were arsenic, nitrates, perchlorates and naturally-occurring radioactive minerals. Reuters

On The Radar

The Ohio Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would limit conditions under which farmers may apply fertilizer. The bill is aimed at preventing toxic algae blooms like the one that fouled Toledo’s water supply last summer, and makes it illegal for farmers to fertilize while fields are frozen or saturated, or when the weather forecast calls for heavy rain. The Ohio House of Representatives is working on a similar bill. Reuters

Qatar has plans to soon enact “heavy penalties” for wastage of water or electricity. The legislation would be the first of its kind for a GCC member state. Qatar is also currently engaged in a public information campaign on the conservation of water and energy. Gulf Times

The decision to connect the Palestinian development of Rawabi to a water supply is causing controversy within the Israeli government. Rawabi is a new, modernized city built by Palestinian-American Bashar Al-Masri, and is ready to house 25,000 – once it has running water.  Al-Monitor