LeakBird

(May 11, 2009, The Miami Herald)
The states of Florida and Alabama are meeting Georgia in federal court in Jacksonville over the allocation of water from Lake Lanier, which is the city of Atlanta’s water supply.
U.S. District Judge Paul Manguson will hear arguments Monday from the three states over the legality of the water supply allocations [...]

(April 25, 2009, Jeff Sachs, Starbroek News)
But future water stresses will be widespread, including both rich and poor countries. The US, for example, encouraged a population boom in its arid southwestern states in recent decades, despite water scarcity that climate change is likely to intensify. Australia, too, is grappling with serious droughts in the agricultural [...]

(April 20, 2009, The International Relations and Security Network)
Much of Central Asia’s water flows from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, leaving downstream countries Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan dependent and worried about the effects of planned hydropower plants upstream.
“There are lots of discussions about water and energy going on among the Central Asian states. [...]

(April 1, 2009, The Associated Press)
Many farmers in this northern Colorado plains region are struggling to keep their crops irrigated and stay afloat as they find themselves on the wrong side of state water rules dating back to the 19th century.
The farmers around Wiggins, population 830, recently lost a lengthy war over access to the [...]

David Zetland of Aguanomics and Professor Robert Stavins, Director of the Environmental Economics Program at Harvard, were “on the same page“ with regard to water conservation pricing after Professor Stavins wrote a recent op-ed for the Huffington Post.  Until Stavins took a slightly different tack on two water pricing misconceptions.
In his first piece, Professor Stavins [...]

(March 16, 2009, GreenBiz)
This report examines the opportunities and challenges of strategic water management. Five case studies provide perspectives from projects around the world.
Though it’s a worldwide entity, water is treated as a regional issue, IBM says. There is no global market and very little international exchange.
“Water is about quantity, quality, space and time,” says [...]

(March 14, 2009, The New York Times)
During the past four decades here in Quillagua, a town in the record books as the driest place on earth, residents have sometimes seen glimpses of raindrops above the foothills in the distance. They never reach the ground, evaporating like a mirage while still in the air.
What the town [...]

(March 5, 2009, The Salt Lake Tribune)

I have a classic Western postcard tacked to the bulletin board above my computer. It shows two men in a field holding shovels over their heads, locked in mock battle. Behind them runs an irrigation ditch. The caption reads: “Discussing Western Water Rights, A Western Pastime.”
I know firsthand how [...]

(March 3, 2009, Dan Bacher, IndyBay)
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Department of Water Resources and corporate agribusiness have continually tried to frame the battle over restoring the California Delta and Central Valley rivers as one of “fish versus people.”
This false dichotomy was exemplified by an article published in the Sacramento Bee, “Delta cutbacks put Valley [...]

(Feb. 16, 2009, Tara Lohan, The Nation)
If you’ve read anything about the global water crisis, you’ve likely read a quote from Dr. Peter Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute, and one of the world’s leading water experts. His name has become as ubiquitous as drought itself, which is suddenly making major headlines. [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, Ventura River Ecosystem)
According to an article in the Ojai Valley News, the current drought and new water pricing is creating tension between water agencies and farmers. When wells run dry, growers have become accustomed to subsidized water imported from Lake Casitas. But with rate increases intended to cover the true cost of [...]

(Feb. 2, 2009, The Merced Sun Star)
An unprecedented shift of San Joaquin River water from farmers in the east Valley to those in the west could further complicate the scramble to save crops from drought this year.
At stake is precious San Joaquin River water, which has helped east-side farmers cultivate a multibillion-dollar economy on 1 [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, The Anniston Star)
For metropolitan Atlanta, the stakes — or the lake levels — could not be higher.
First, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court decision that invalidated the “secret” plan to draw more water from Lake Lanier than was agreed to by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Governments in metro [...]

(Jan. 29, 2009, AlterNet)
The privatization of public water supplies is occurring in many places around the world. Sold like a common commodity, the rights for distribution and management of community water are being bought and controlled more and more by private entrepreneurs and corporations. But a global movement of activists say this most basic element [...]

(Jan. 24, 2009, The Merced Sun-Star)

Draw a tall cool glass of water from the tap anywhere in this county, and you’ll be drinking water that came out of the ground.
For cities and farms alike, most water comes from one source — wells. Much of the water Merced County uses comes from a common [...]

(Jan. 3, 2009, CapitolChronicles)
Many urban planners and conservationists now see water replacing oil as the new precious commodity this century. It’s conceivable that the next wars will be fought over the wet stuff. Arizona, California and New Mexico are all struggling with droughts, but it’s not just the Southwest. Atlanta and parts of the Old [...]

(Jan. 1, 2009, SeacoastOnline)
When word got out this summer that the Kennebunk Kennebunkport Wells Water District was thinking of selling up to 432,000 gallons of water a day to Nestle/Poland Springs, the reaction was immediate and largely negative…
“Spring water is now a commodity item, not unlike Maine lobsters or wood products,” said KKWWD Director Norm [...]

(Dec. 28, The Daily Gazette, 2009)
Hart said the two cities have invested millions of dollars in their respective water systems and sewer plant and he can understand the city of Johnstown’s reluctance to share resources and risk being burdened by outside development. He said a possible solution to the problem would be if Fulton County [...]

(Oct. 25, 2008, The Houston Chronicle)
TULSA, Okla. — The Dallas City Council has approved an agreement with other north Texas entities to pressure the state of Oklahoma into selling them water.
The council has joined forces with the Tarrant Regional Water District, which is suing Oklahoma over a moratorium passed by the Legislature that bars the [...]

(Oct. 14, 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Attorney General Henry McMaster predicted future water wars in the Southeast and said Tuesday that a lawsuit South Carolina brought against North Carolina will set a precedent for settling the disputes.
“This is the kind of thing we’re going to be seeing from now on,” McMaster told [...]