On Friday, Stop La Parota PDX launched its campaign to pressure companies with ties to the financing of La Parota Dam to sever all connections to the destructive project.

Activists held a colorful demonstration in front of the Lloyd Center Sears to demand the Sears Holding Corporation cut all ties to Grupo Carso. Grupo Carso is the financial umbrella of Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim Helú, who has publicly declared that Grupo Carso subsidiaries will be involved in every aspect of La Parota.

La Parota, a 765-megawatt hydroelectric dam slated for the Papagayo River in Guerrero, Mexico, is a classic infrastructure expansion project resulting from trade agreements like NAFTA and the FTAA in the worst of ways. The dam would submerge 43,000 acres of forest and farmland along the river's banks, displacing at least 25,000 mostly indigenous campesinos (subsistence farmers) from the Communal Lands of Cacahuatepec. Already, indigenous resistance to the dam has been met with imprisonment and murder.

Peasants Against La Parota Dam Talked with the Company that Promotes the Installation of the Hydroelectric Central | Marcos: "Only With a War in the Mexican Southeast" Will They Be Able to Build the Parota Dam in Guerrero

Grey water activists and editors Laura Allen and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine will be celebrating the release of the book, Dam Nation: Dispatches From The Water Underground, and facilitating an interactive workshop, Future Water Solutions, on May 24th at the Louden Nelson Community Center from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. You are invited to take a closer look at what individuals, communities, and municipalities are doing to reconnect to water cycles, and join a discussion of local and global issues.

Edited by the coauthors of the notorious zine The Guerrilla Graywater Girls Guide to Water, Dam Nation is a collection of original essays, drawings, and photographs. It is part radical history of water and part DIY guide to disengaging one's home, school, or workplace from the wasteful water grid. Read More

Audio: PeaceTalks: Laura Allen, editor of Dam Nation

The May Day Parade in Minneapolis is one of my favorite events in the Twin Cities. The parade is held on the first Sunday in May, which usually doesn’t fall on May Day.  This parade, which welcomes the arrival of Spring after a cold winter (yes, all of the winters are cold in Minnesota), has two parts. The first part is dedicated to a theme, and this year's theme was water. I posted a photo-essay diary on this topic a few days ago. The second part of the parade is known as the free-speech zone. This posting is dedicated to free speech zone and my friends who marched in it.

Through Section 817 of the Patriot Act, Congress has authorized a mass domestic de-population program.

Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa, and Klamath Tribal members gathered with other river residents and PacifiCorp ratepayers at the company's headquarters in Portland Friday to advocate for the removal of the lower four dams on the Klamath River.

Members of California's three largest Indian Tribes and allies from commercial fishing and conservation groups demonstrated today at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, known as the Woodstock of Capitalism. The group is demanding the removal of four Klamath Dams owned by Berkshire subsidiary PacifiCorp. Two members of the coalition asked questions directly to Buffett and his partner Charles Munger before a crowd of 27,000 shareholders. Buffett denied the need for dam removal with an uneducated remark. | read more >>

Reflections and Photogs of Fish Kill Memorial Rally

Tribes and supporters met at Holladay Park near Lloyd Center and marched a few short blocks to the offices of PacifiCorp, now owned by billionaire Warren Buffet. After a few brief words by the moderator, the mic was opened up to whoever wished to speak to the issue at hand, the dams on the Klamath river that are destroying the fisheries and Native American cultures who have subsisted in large part on these salmon runs for thousands of years. | read more >>

Klamath River People Rally at PacifiCorp

Karuk, Yurok, Hoopa, and Klamath Tribal members gathered with other river residents and PacifiCorp ratepayers at the company's headquarters in Portland yesterday [May 4] to advocate for the removal of the lower four dams on the Klamath River. | read more >>

Today [March 27] the Klamath Riverkeeper is filing a citizens enforcement lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Warren Buffett's PacifiCorp for polluting one of the nation's most important and controversial salmon rivers - the Klamath. Klamath Riverkeeper's suit asserts that the Iron Gate Dam hatchery, which is owned and operated by PacifiCorp and the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is unlawfully discharging pollutants into the Klamath River, in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The complaint is seeking an assessment of civil penalties for violations of the CWA, and injunctive relief to enjoin PacifiCorp and the CDFG from further violating its discharge permit and the CWA. Read More>>

<< Picture: Iron Gate Dam photo by Thoman Dunklin

World Water Day was celebrated at the Fairmount Water Works behind the Art Museum with the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Urban Nutrition Initiative. Leading up to the event, on Thursday, March 22, at 1:00 pm, students from the High School of the Future in Philadelphia joined representatives from the United Nations and students at schools in Vancouver, BC, West Linn, OR, and White Plains, NY, to discuss world water shortages and the dire consequences they present to people around the world at the Fairmount Water Works.

More than one billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Please commemorate World Water Day by joining Mercy Corps, Starbucks, and Ethos in a "Walk for Water". The event is free and open to the public.

Commemorate World Water Day and "Walk for Water"
Saturday March 24, 11:00AM
Alki Beach (Statue of Liberty Plaza across from Starbucks) 1702 Aliki Ave. SW

For the past 23 years I have lived in Hemlock. The surrounding environment is absolutely stunning and it makes for an experience to not soon be forgotten. Venturing down to Hemlock or Canadice lakes makes for some pretty rugged wild adventures into the woods where the bears hibernate and the bald eagles soar. Sometimes late at night I can hear the coyotes howling at the moon. The two lakes are magical spots that have magnificent ancient histories surrounding them, including but not limited to being one of the largest tracts of old growth forest in North Eastern America. These lakes and their undeveloped surroundings have also acted as the source of Rochester's drinking water for over 130 years.

On December 17th, the Democrat and Chronicle (D&C) reported that “the Monroe County Water Authority and the City of Rochester, are about to begin discussions that could lead to a radical restructuring” which could lead to a possible ownership change for Hemlock and Canadice lakes. Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy wants to permanently preserve the land which encompasses the two lakes, but has also not ruled out the possibility of development. Rumors are also around that some folks would like to develop the land and although the specific groups are not mentioned in the article it seems that one of the prime prospects for making a profit off of Hemlock Lake could come from logging companies.

Hemlock Lake and Canadice Lake should remain forever wild and the surrounding community should be able to directly participate in the decisions that most effect their lives, such as the preservation of this eco-system in their backyard. The Finger Lakes region of Upstate, NY along with the Great Lakes make for one of the highest concentrations of fresh water in the entire world and we need to protect these natural resources from further development along with promoting a more sustainable lifestyle. Read the full article here.

Additional Information: Article originally posted at York Staters | City Paper: Ferry's problems aren't like Water Authority's | The Return of the Water Scandal | Monroe County Water Authority board members' corporate and political affiliations | Atlantic (NY) Chapter of Sierra Club Refutes Arguments of MCWA for New Water Supply Plant | Will the New Webster Water Plant Help or Hurt the Community of Monroe? | Protecting New York's only remaining undeveloped Finger Lakes | Should we cut old growth trees in Hemlock?

This evening I attended a program at Southern Oregon University here in Ashland entitled The Spirit of Water: An Evening to Honor the Water of Life.

This program convinced me that I must stop buying and using bottled water forever and I urge you to use containers of your own and to add filtration to your water and better yet to urge your water district or city to improve the quality of your water supply so that there are no worries about drinking from the tap.

"Water is life and we are the water. We must protect her,” said an American Indian Elder.

We will be gathering to honor the Native American relationship to the water and Mother Earth. With the ongoing controversies in the West over sacred Native American sites being desecrated by development and commercialism, the issue needs to be addressed more than ever. Water is sacred and needs to be held in reverence.

Jim Shetler, head of the negotiating team of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), on November 16 announced a historic "agreement in principle" between federal and state agencies, NGO's and the public utility over the terms and conditions of its 50-year license for its Upper American River Project. Photos

The US Coast Guard has recently announced its plans to create a numer of different sites scattered throughout the five great lakes designated to be used as target practice with live ammunition.

Using weapons on the lakes has been banned since the 1800's as a result of a treaty between Canada and the US. But, when the Coast Guard was brought into the Homeland Security team, things changed. Bush was successfully able to debunk the treaty made with Canada paving the way for a military presence on the Great Lakes.

Lake Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior make up 1/5th of the total world fresh water supply. They are a source of drinking water for millions of people, provide recreation for swimmers, divers, boaters, and fishers; are used as transportation for people and products such as food, manufactured goods, and ore; provide a home for thousands and thousands of various plant and animal species, and influence our climate.

The Coast Guard has already begun to stock some of its boats with machine guns, capable of firing 600 rounds per minute. If the sites for target practice are established as planned, an estimated 43,000 rounds a year will be fired. Where will all those lead bullets go? Directly into the water. [Read More | citizensforlakesafety.org]

San Francisco, CA - Hundreds of people gathered September 14th in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, unified in efforts to save a sacred mountain in Arizona from desecration by a proposed ski resort development. The courts heard arguments against the ski resort's proposed expansion and plan to make snow out of treated sewage effluent. This wastewater has been proven to contain harmful contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, hormones and cancer causing agents.

"Just the thought of making snow with reclaimed sewer water on the San Francisco Peaks should be an affront to all people of conscience," said Howard Shanker of the Shanker Law Firm who represented the Navajo Nation, Havasupai, Yavapai Apache, White Mountain Apache, Sierra Club, and others. "The Peaks are sacred to 13 of the Tribes in the Southwestern United States. We are here because the lower court decision was wrong. We are hopeful that this will be a case where what the court determines to be legal is also right and morally defensible." [Click here for full article, including photo and audio | Indybay Coverage | Save the Peaks Coalition]

For two and a half years, residents in Felton, CA have been battling with German energy giant, RWE, the world's third largest private water utility, over that companies buyout, of the local system. On Wedneday, April 27, Santa Cruz County Supervisors unanimously agreed to hold a special election, and let Felton voters decide on an 11 million dollar bond to purchase the system from Cal Am/RWE. A special mail-in ballot deadline has been set for July 26.

The California Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a public hearing for May 13 at the Felton Community Hall to take testimony on Cal-Am/RWE's proposal to consolidate the Felton and Monterey water districts.

Audio: Felton Residents Fight Water Privatization

[ Felton Flow || Felton Water News ]

Water is the Oil of the 21 Century...let's do something to protect our water supply! On December 21, 2004, Save Our Groundwater recieved notification of a public hearing scheduled on December 28, 2004 regarding USA Springs' wetlands applications to build a water bottling plant in Nottingham and Barrington, NH. SOG vigorously protests the lack of notice for these hearings and contends that it is a continuation of DES’ attempts to subvert due process and public participation in this case.

A local resident’s group, Holyoke Citizens for Open Government (HCOG), will present a proposal to the Board of Public Works at their meeting on 12/16/04, 5:30pm at 63 Canal St., Holyoke. The proposal is for a public-public partnership as an alternative to privatizing the Berkshire Street Wastewater Treatment Plant.

On December 1st a settlement was reached between The Clean Water Network (TCWN) and Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) to help eliminate sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs)in the Knoxville area over a period of ten years. SSOs are caused when sewer lines, not being properly maintained to keep up with population increase in an area, become inadequate. in periods of heavy rainfall, the sewer pipes flood increasing the pressure and causing manholes to rise and release a mixture of raw sewage and rainwater.

Open Letter to the Aquarion Company Attn: CEO Charles Firlotte. Dear Mr. Firlotte and Aquarion, Your subsidiary, the Aquarion Water Company of Massachusetts is the only bidder on a contract to design/build/operate the wastewater treatment facility and CSO abatement project in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where I would be one of your future ratepayers. Mr. Firlotte, your company appears to be an honorable institution, and I mean no disrespect when I say that many of us in Holyoke don’t want the company to come here. We’ve formed a group called the Holyoke Citizens for Open Government, and although the contract is nearing final approval, we are doing what we can to halt the process. http://water.homestead.com