Tighter restrictions on Australia's water usage

with Melbourne city continuing to reel under drought for the tenth consecutive year, the Victorian state government has announced tighter mandatory restrictions for water use in the state capital. On January 15, 2007, the state's acting premier and water minister, John Thwaites, announced the list of new residential estates that were to have mandatory recycled water.

Bone of contention Nepal's water bill

On January 31, 2007, the Nepal government got temporary reprieve in a long-standing controversy over the Kathmandu water supply bill. Its ministry of physical planning and works signed an agreement with the protesting Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti, a union of employees of the Nepal Water Supply Corporation, the government water supply utility, to break the impasse over the bill.

Bihar, UP move to check misuse of groundwater

the Bihar Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Legislation, 2006, has been recently approved by the state assembly during its winter session. Another water-endowed state, Uttar Pradesh, is expected to follow. It has prepared a bill on the same lines. They also plan to ban boring without permission in regions where there has been a rapid depletion in the groundwater table.

People sceptical of Arunachal Pradesh Water Resources Management Authority Bill

the Arunachal Pradesh Water Resources Management Authority Bill, 2006 has been passed by the sixty-member Arunachal Pradesh legislative assembly in its October session. However, it has constituted a committee headed by the secretary, water resources department to look into the discrepancies in the bill.

Gujarat to set up water regulatory commission

the Gujarat government is planning to set up a water regulatory commission to monitor and regulate water supply and sewerage services, rationalise tariffs, curb subsidies and promote water conservation, as envisioned in the Gujarat Water Regulatory Commission Bill (gwrcb), 2006. The bill is expected to bring clarity to the roles of various government bodies involved in water distribution, give a boost to private sector investment, improve productivity and efficiency of the sector, and also address the tariff issue.

Australian town says no to drinking recycled sewage

Malaysian water offenders beware

A Malaysian water bill, due for a second review in the country's parliament, provides for capital punishment for those guilty of contaminating water and causing loss of life. The Water Services Industry Bill says that anyone who contaminates water supply with the intention of endangering lives or causing deaths could face death penalty. The penalty would also apply to those who contaminate the water supply with any substance that could endanger lives.

Eyewash

the hike in water prices in Delhi has a major flaw: it encourages people to use more water rather than less, for the prices effectively come down if the water usage goes up. Also, the new prices neither guarantee the Delhi Jal Board's (djb) financial health nor ensure consumers -- willing to pay more realistic prices-- an assured supply of safe drinking water.

New water law

The Bangladesh government is formulating a new law to protect rivers, canals and other water bodies and flood-flow zones from encroachment. This law would be crucial because an existing law to protect playgrounds, open spaces, gardens and natural water bodies focuses only on the capital and other urban areas.

Paying the price

To tide over acute water crisis in the Punjab province of Pakistan, members of parliament of the ruling coalition of Punjab have asked the government to buy water from India. They have also demanded renegotiation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with New Delhi over the Sutlej waters. Members of the treasury benches, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari and Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari, moved a motion in the national assembly on the issue.