Can water fountains fight fat?

Here's something to drink to: easy access to water fountains and a nudge from teachers to use them might help kids stay lean. A new study published today in Pediatrics suggests that installing fountains in elementary schools and pushing students to drink more water may reduce their risk of being plump by as much as a third.

"Drinking fountains won't solve the obesity epidemic, but they could be effective components of the solution," says study co-author Rebecca Muckelbauer, a nutritionist at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany.

Muckelbauer and her colleagues studied the water-drinking habits of nearly 3,000 second and third graders attending schools in the neighboring cities of Dortmund and Essen during the 2006-2007 academic year. At the beginning of the school year, the researchers had water fountains installed in 17 of the schools and worked with teachers to implement educational programs to promote water drinking. (In contrast to U.S. schools, few German schools actually have water fountains, according Muckelbauer). The researchers surveyed the children about their drinking habits and measured their heights and weights at the beginning and end of the school year.

Over the school year, children in the schools given fountains upped their water consumption from about three to four cups per day, while those in the other schools continued to drink an average of three cups daily. Over the course of the study, the number of overweight children increased from 384 to 385 out of 1,641 (23.4 to 23.5 percent) at the schools with fountains; in contrast, the number of fat kids at the other schools jumped from 339 to 364 out of 1,309 (25.9 percent to 27.8 percent), Muckelbauer says.

Winter has arrived and it is cold outside, so lets keep it outside , ok.

I have a few tips for keeping your pipes from freezing during this type of weather.

During Freezing Weather:

* Keep meter box lids closedDo not open your meter box, as injuries can result from lids which are not properly secured. Also, cold air can freeze the meter. It you notice a meter box lid which is not properly secured, please call your water company and they will repair it.* Make sure heat reaches your pipesIf your pipes are enclosed in a cabinet under the bathroom or kitchen sink, leave the doors open so heat can get in.* Keep a trickle of water runningDuring periods of low usage and particularly on sub-zero nights, keep a trickle of water running from the faucet highest in the home. This trickle should be a steady stream the size of the lead in a pencil. If You Have A Frozen Pipe:

* If you do not know the location of the problem, call Your Public UtilitiesThey will check to see if you have water available at the meter. If the water is frozen at the water meter, they will correct the problem. If not, the problem is in your household plumbing and it is your responsibility to correct it.* Wait for the pipes to thawIf you have some running water, the safest and cheapest thing to do is wait for the frozen pipes to thaw.* Never use an open flameNever try to thaw a pipe with a flame, because you may start a fire. I great tool for thawing a pipe is to take the lamp shade off a lamp and position the bulb about 1 inches from the frozen area, Bulbs emit a lot of heat and this will thaw the pipe.Never leave this lamp unattended!
* Call a plumberIf all else fails, call a plumber and get professional assistance.

Residents urged to conserve water

By Star-Bulletin staff

POSTED: 12:26 p.m. HST, Dec 27, 2008

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply is urging residents to conserve water because the reservoirs are depleted from the power outage.

“They can not refill the reservoirs until they have power back because their pumps are electrically run,” Board of Water Supply officials said in a written statement. “Because HECO is unclear about how long it will take for all of Oahu to be back up, and fully operational, they want to request that Hawaii Kai to Salt Lake, especially in the lower elevations, really conserve their water. Even when power if fully restored the system will not be back to normal and they are estimating that this conservation should last through the weekend.”

Su Shin, spokeswoman for the board, said if residents have no water, they can call 748-5010 and a water wagon will be sent to the area.

DID HOVNANIAN RUN AWAY FROM WATER PROBLEMS??
The L.A. Times says they did.

After only building 35 homes in an estimated 425 home development outside Lancaster, The developer stopped building homes and "beat feet" outa there!!
Why would Hovananian run away from a project?  Well it was started without enough water pressure or supply to finish the project, Now home owners are up in arms.

How would a developer agree and pursue the job without first testing and re-assuring that water supply was there to meet the demand for the houses? Its beyond me.

Read on,

Upset over water shortages and unfinished development, residents of the community are suing the developer for fraud, negligence and breach of contract.

By Ann M. Simmons
December 15, 2008

The first sign of trouble came almost immediately after Kurt and Michelle Dahlin moved into Lancaster's new Westview Estates in March 2007.
The water slowed to a trickle midway through showering. The toilet tank took two hours to refill. The family often was forced to bathe at 4 a.m. -- before the neighbors awoke and the water flow became a dribble. Some days, there was no water at all.Things only got worse as more homeowners moved into the gated community on the outskirts of Lancaster. Complaints to New Jersey-based developer K. Hovnanian Homes, Los Angeles County water officials and Lancaster city representatives were met with excuses and finger-pointing, residents said in interviews.

In September 2007, the developer halted construction after building only 35 of the 425 homes originally planned. Of those, just 23 were sold.
A fight immediately ensued over who was to blame for stopping the development. The families who remain in Westview are angry. Residents said they thought they were buying into a luxury community in a coveted residential enclave. What they got was a suburban ghost town, with vacant homes and windblown tumbleweeds sweeping across empty lots.

"Our position is that these homes should never have been sold," said Jamie Duarte, an attorney representing the Westview homeowners in suing K. Hovnanian Homes for fraud, negligence and breach of contract. The lawsuit alleges the developer knew of the water deficiencies but failed to disclose them.


Read whole story on this link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-westview15-2008dec15,0,4786612.story

Taken from CNN

The value of water is starting to become apparent in America. Over the past three years a drought has affected large swaths of the country, and conflicts over water usage may become commonplace in the future, climatologists say.
Our focus is oil, but the critical need for water is going to make water the most significant natural resource that we're going to have to worry about in the future," says Larry Fillmer, executive director of the Natural Resources Management & Development Institute at Auburn University in Alabama.

At least 36 states expect to face water shortages within the next five years, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, several regions in particular have been hit hard: the Southeast, Southwest and the West. Texas, Georgia and South Carolina have suffered the worst droughts this year, the agency said.

Yet most people don't need a federal agency to tell them there's a water shortage. Plenty of cities have implemented water bans while state squabbles over water usage are common in some regions. What may surprise people, though, are the causes for the recent drought.

It's not global warming, some climatologists say. The droughts are caused by rapid population growth and unwise agricultural choices.

John R. Christy, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, says the last three years have been drier than usual in many parts of the United States, but overall there's been no shortage of rainfall. He says the U.S. mainland experienced worse droughts in the 12th and 16th centuries.

"The demand for water has gone up," Christy says. "The demand has skyrocketed in places like California and New Mexico because they've tried to grow crops in deserts."

Even drought conditions in the Southeast can't be blamed on a shortage of rainfall, Christy says. The region's water delivery systems can't keep pace with the growth, he says.

"The rain is still falling, but you're out of water because the storage facilities are not big enough," Christy says.

There's also a public perception that ordinary people are wasting more water, but that's not true, says Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center.

"Per capita use of water is down because we're learning to be more efficient," Svoboda says.

Water shortages don't have to remain a fact of modern life, drought experts say. Many offer the same solutions: Build better water delivery systems to accommodate population growth, develop more efficient uses of irrigation, and shift agriculture from the West to the East where it's easier and cheaper to water crops.

Obama Likely to Boost Water Quality Rules After Years of Lax Regulation

November 24, 2008

Nuke plant fined $67,000

Two unplanned shutdowns killed 5,000 fish

by Todd B. Bates
Environmental Writer  app.com

The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant has agreed to pay a $67,859 state
fine for two unplanned shutdowns that led to fish kills in its discharge canal, a
plant spokesman said today.

The shutdowns happened in January 2006, when 80 fish died, and December 2007, when 5,304 fish succumbed, said David Benson, the spokesman.

The Department of Environmental Protection issued the fine as part of an
administrative consent order.

"We have a responsibility to take care of the environment and we do everything
possible to plan our work activities to minimize" environmental impacts, Benson
said.

"We don't like to have unplanned shutdowns at any of our Exelon plants, but
they happen occasionally" and "demonstrate the conservative safety system that we
have built into a plant," he said.

Exelon Corp. owns Oyster Creek, which is seeking a 20-year license renewal from
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Opponents are battling the proposed
renewal.

When it's operating, the plant continually discharges warm water that circulates
through its cooling system into its canal, attracting fish from Barnegat Bay that
would normally migrate south for the winter, Benson said.

When the bay cools down during cold weather, fish remain in the canal until the
bay warms up, he said.

"So when the plant isn't operating, there's no warm water discharge into the
canal, so the canal temperature goes down and it puts the fish at risk," he said.

Obama : Water issues seen as likely priorities
By Katherine Boyle, courtesy Greenwire Nov 17, 2008
	.

Greenwire -- US EPA’s efforts to improve water-treatment infrastructure, regulate emerging contaminants and protect wetlands are likely to grow in an Obama administration that has vowed to make climate change a top priority.

EPA’s outgoing water administrator, Benjamin Grumbles, predicted that mitigating climate change’s impact on water supplies will be a priority for the Obama administration. “Water is at the heart of the climate change debate,” Grumbles said in an interview. “It is a core part of both the cause and the effects of climate change.”

President-elect Barack Obama promised during the campaign to increase federal funding for water-treatment facilities and support initiatives aimed at reducing stormwater runoff. And prospects for a greater federal investment in water infrastructure have risen with concerns about the nation’s flagging economy. Democrats have called for using water projects and other infrastructure work as an economic stimulus.

The Bush White House recently threatened to veto House plans for an economic recovery package funding infrastructure projects, potentially punting the issue to Obama and the 111th Congress. Obama said last week that passage of a $60 billion to $100 billion economic stimulus package would be a top priority following his inauguration if President Bush and lawmakers do not come to an agreement in the lame-duck session (E&ENews PM, Nov. 7).

Federal funding for infrastructure has declined 70 percent over the last two decades, leaving much of the nation’s water and transportation infrastructure in desperate need of cash for maintenance, water-industry representatives say.

“We hope that the package will contain upwards of $10 billion for wastewater infrastructure,” said Susan Bruninga, spokeswoman for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies. “These are critical needs our communities have waiting. We’re ready to stick the shovels in the ground. These are projects that are necessary for environmental protection and public health.”

Jerry Johnson, general manager for the District of Columbia Water and Sewage Authority, said Washington is ready to start projects as soon as funding is available. “We have plans in place,” he said. “We have programs and projects that are ready to go. With those kinds of programs, we could put many, many people to work.”

Bruninga said sewage treatment plants will have a good shot at increased funding. “It’s not just because of who got elected,” she said. “People are starting to see that you just can’t build something and never pay attention to it again.”

George Hawkins, director of the District of Columbia’s Environment Department, said he’d like the Obama administration to provide directions for cities looking to green their water infrastructure and to work to change the Clean Water Act — written in the 1970s largely to address industrial discharges — to address stormwater runoff that fouls urban waterways.

“The Democratic Congress bodes well for changing the statutes,” he said.

The statute should address infrastructure changes like green roofs, rain barrels and green development, Hawkins said. “There should be credit, in a regulatory structure, for building in a city, not a farm field,” he said.

The advocacy group American Rivers has pushed for more green infrastructure funding as a cost-efficient approach to cleaning up waterways

Special master appointed over Montana and Wyoming water claims

November 2008

U.S. Water News Online

OMAHA, Neb. — The U.S. Supreme Court appointed a special master to investigate a claim by Montana that Wyoming is violating a 1950 water compact. Wyoming, the argument goes, is keeping more water than it is entitled to.

Montana blames increased groundwater pumping by Wyoming farmers and businesses for the shortfall. It argues that water pumped from groundwater aquifers for irrigation or use in coal-bed methane drilling is covered by the compact. Wyoming is trying to argue that it's not covered.

Think Kansas. Nebraska. The Republican River. This latest to-do looks like a rerun of the drama about the amount of water due Kansas from Nebraska in the Republican.

Montana and Wyoming state leaders could save themselves a lot of bother and expense by taking a good, long look at what has happened in Nebraska on the Republican. That issue still isn't settled but it's sure a lot closer than the newly launched Montana-Wyoming case.

As water in the West becomes an ever-scarcer and increasingly precious resource, more such arguments will crop up. Perhaps Nebraska's long (15 years) and expensive ($44 million) struggle can teach other states something before the years and the millions begin to add up