Forty years ago, Muynak was a busy fishing port where the waters of the Aral Sea lapped up against the shoreline. 

Today the waters have receded so much, that there is not a drop as far as the eye can see. 

When the former Soviet Union diverted the Ama Dariya and the Syrdariya - the rivers which fed the Aral Sea - to grow cotton in the desert, they created an ecological and human disaster. 

You need to take to the air to appreciate the scale of the damage that has been done. 

What was the fourth biggest inland sea is now mostly desert. 

What appears to be snow on the seabed is really salt. The winds blow this as far as the Himalayas. 

An analyst from the organisation set up by five countries nearest the old sea told me that by changing farming methods, they have slowed down the rate of shrinking. 

Still, it will be years yet before what is left of the sea begins to grow again. 

All of this was done in the name of cotton - grown where it would not grow naturally. 

The Soviet Union developed huge plantations here. It remains the main source of income for the newly independent republics. 

Change is difficult, but change they must. Miles from the Aral Sea, the ground is encrusted with salt. 
Decades of heavy irrigation have raised the water table and brought all the salts the soil held to the surface. 

Disease is rife 

The human misery is huge. One victim has tuberculosis, which is rife and on the increase in the rest of the population. 

Tuberculosis, cancer and infant mortality are common

Cancers, lung disease and infant mortality are 30 times higher than they used to be because the drinking water is heavily polluted with salt, cotton fertilisers and pesticides. 

Rim Abdulovich Giniyatullin of the International Agency for the Aral Sea Program hopes that the rest of the world can learn lessons from the Aral Sea tragedy. 

"Don't allow the misuse of water," he warns. 

"Be careful about how much you use, and stop before the source starts to shrink." 

The Utegenova family lives in Muynak. One of them works - but only part-time. 

Jobs and food died with the sea. The Utegenovas are constantly hungry and sick. 

Their tea is salty because of the contaminated water. It killed their father who died 10 years ago of cancer of the oesophagus, a common complaint here. 

Zulayho, who is pregnant, goes for more water. Like 80% of expectant mothers, she is probably anaemic. 

She knows that if her child survives, it will almost certainly be ill. 

"I know the water is not good. If my children get ill, I take them to the doctors," she explains. 
"But whatever the doctor does the children don't get well again - because they still have to drink this water." 

The Red Cross and Red Crescent have begun to bring food to the most destitute. Rice, flour and oil supplement a meagre diet. 

These organisations are only able to help 10% of those living below the poverty line in a poor country. 

Nina Nobel of the Red Cross says that she hopes it will help to reduce some diseases. 

"Particularly tuberculosis," she says. 

"The immune system becomes weakened due to poor nutrition. People become very vulnerable. 

"You have these big extended families living in very poor conditions right now and the tuberculosis spreads very quickly." 

Bleak future

The children of Muynak have made a playground out of the wrecks of ships which might have provided food and a future for them. As I walked with Togian Ibragimova, Muynak's deputy mayor, through the ship graveyard, the rusting remains of their fishing fleet, she expressed the concern that no one would ever learn from what has happened to the Aral Sea and its people. 

"It could happen again," she explains. 

"No one looked scientifically at what changing farming methods here would do." 

"It could easily happen again and again. Human beings can be very stupid." 

Some 3000 miles from here in The Hague, the World Water Forum will endeavour to change Ms Ibragimova's bleak vision of the future for millions worldwide.(BBC)

You try living down here

Ottawa's failure to clean up the Great Lakes puts at risk 16 million Canadians and a priceless resource, says Environment Commissioner JOHANNE GÉLINAS

By JOHANNE GéLINAS

Yet an audit of efforts to protect the Great Lakes basin from environmental degradation that I tabled yesterday in the House of Commons found that Ottawa has retreated from many areas where it was once active. It found a government that has abandoned important stated positions; a government that is losing the basic science capacity necessary to meet its commitments.

We must address the problem of declining and unstable funding to those departments whose responsibilities include the health of the Great Lakes. Federal departments received only 12 per cent of the $125-million in new funding promised for Great Lakes programs. Faced with multiple priorities and less money, they are spreading their efforts thin. Many activities are short-term and unconnected, rather than being part of consistent long-term strategies.

While there have been many improvements to the environment in this region over the past three decades, these gains are at risk of being lost. For while federal leadership wanes, the basin is being subject to increased environmental pressures, including pollution from industry, municipalities and livestock production.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin is home to 16 million Canadians and has major economic importance. Its lakes, rivers and streams support the highest concentration of industry in the country. Agricultural production in the area is now valued at more than $11-billion annually. Beyond this, the basin is a natural wonder and holds 20 per cent of the Earth's fresh water.

My findings have implications that are nationwide. The health, prosperity and social well-being of half of Canada's people are inextricably linked to the quality and health of the basin's environment.

My audit found a number of challenges that face Ottawa, including:

There is no clear strategy to deal with threats to drinking water. The federal government's understanding of changes in water quality is based on monitoring a limited number of contaminants. It does not know whether our drinking water meets the national safety guidelines it helped develop. Unlike the United States, Canada does not have enforceable drinking water standards. As well, Ottawa's readiness to deal with large-scale exports of the basin's waters remains incomplete;

Current farming practices are not sustainable. In spite of conservation efforts, close to half of Ontario's agricultural soil is at risk of washing away faster than new soil can form. Livestock operations in Ontario and Quebec -- often "factory farms" -- generate manure equal to the sewage of 100 million people. This activity contributes nitrogen, phosphorus and bacterial contamination to groundwater and nearby streams and lakes. Ottawa is not working effectively with the provinces to manage the problem, nor has it any formal plan in place;

Only 10 per cent of the endangered and threatened species under the federal government's jurisdiction in the basin have stable or improving populations. Forty per cent have declining populations. Trends for the remaining 50 per cent are not reported;

Invasive aquatic species such as zebra mussels are a serious and growing threat to the basin's ecosystem balance. Ballast water and sludge from ocean-going ships are the main sources of this risk. Canada relies upon voluntary guidelines and compliance with U.S. regulations;

Canada is not living up to its international commitments. Under an agreement with the United States, 17 highly contaminated sites on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes were identified for cleanup in 1985. Sixteen sites are still on the list.

My audit also found that the federal government has delayed responding to information requests and recommendations from the International Joint Commission -- the century-old, Canada-U.S. body established to safeguard the Great Lakes. Ottawa's loss of scientific expertise due to budget cuts leaves Canadian input to the IJC at risk.

Protection of the basin cannot be achieved without U.S. co-operation. Canada's failure to meet its cleanup and IJC commitments serves to undermine Canada's best interests.

Ottawa should renew its commitment to the millions of Canadians who rely on the environmental health of the basin for clean air and drinking water, food and shelter, good health, employment and recreation by:

Formulating a long-term plan for living within the carrying capacity of the ecosystem, including concrete steps, clearly defined roles, dedicated resources, and follow-through;

Providing clear-cut federal commitments to deal with clearly defined threats to the basin's sustainability;

Funding those commitments adequately;

Rebuilding or acquiring the scientific knowledge needed to understand and manage threats to the basin.

Progress that has been achieved to date is at risk. The leadership, innovation, science and diligence that served the basin in the past has diminished. This is a legacy worth protecting, and yet there is a sense of complacency, not urgency, and of resignation, not inspiration. 
Johanne Gélinas is Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. She and her staff are part of the Office of the Auditor-General. The full audit appears at http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/environment. [The Globe & Mail]

Anti-pollution additive to be phased out 

WASHINGTON  — A Senate panel voted Tuesday to phase out the anti-pollution fuel additive MTBE after leaks were blamed for fouling some communities' drinking water.

The bill approved by the Senate environment and public works committee would require the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether in motor fuel within four years.

The action comes as Methanex Corp., a major Canadian producer of the methanol from which MTBE is made, is seeking damages under the North American Free Trade Agreement over California's state ban on the compound.

MTBE — the second-largest end use of methanol, consuming more than one-quarter of global output — is used as an oxygen and octane enhancer in gasoline, enabling engines to run more cleanly.

However, it also has been linked to cancer and found to pollute groundwater, though the industry argues that this is the fault of leaky tanks, not MTBE.

As approved, the Senate bill would give each governor power to exempt his state from a federal requirement that gasoline contain a two per cent oxygen additive to reduce air pollution.

"Without this step, MTBE will continue to contaminate groundwater across the country, and states and EPA will be prevented from acting to stop it," said the committee chairman, Independent Senator James Jeffords of Vermont.

Sponsored by Bob Smith (R — N.H.), the bill also would authorize $400 million for monitoring and cleanup of MTBE contamination from leaking underground tanks.

A federal study last year found one-third of drinking water wells in 31 states were contaminated.

The committee sent the legislation to the Senate over protests from several Republicans who said it would reduce gasoline supplies and was not ready for debate by the full Senate.

Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), who shouted "No!" during the voice vote, said the bill would increase American reliance on foreign oil.

The Energy Department estimates the bill might reduce U.S. gasoline supplies by more than 400,000 barrels per day.

"It's a very bad piece of legislation, and I'll do everything I can to make sure it's not enacted," Bond said.

He and other opponents pledged to block further action because of language in the measure that would let states opt out of using corn-based ethanol — the only other fuel oxygenate available. Most opponents of the measure are from midwestern farm states with major corn production.

Twelve states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, New York and Washington — have partially or totally banned MTBE.

In June, the EPA ordered California to continue using gasoline additives to reduce air pollution, which provided a boost to the ethanol industry. 

Vancouver-based Methanex (TSE:MX), the world's biggest methanol producer, filed a claim for $970 million US in December 1999, alleging the California ban violated NAFTA's Chapter 11 requiring fair and equitable treatment of foreign investors.

The company said the ban amounted to expropriation of its business, and last March it added an allegation that in imposing the ban California Gov. Gray Davis had been misled and been given financial contributions by Archer Daniels Midland, a massive American agribusiness which is the main supplier of the ethanol that competes with MTBE as an oxygenating agent.

Methanex contends the problem lies in leaky fuel storage tanks — not the additive, introduced about a decade ago as a replacement for more toxic compounds such as benzene. [Toronto Star]

Water plants poorly funded, hearing told 

Small Ontario water utilities are underfunded, their employees need more training and most are unprepared to cope with an emergency, a U.S. expert says.

Dr. Edwin Geldreich, a consultant microbiologist, gave this assessment to the Walkerton inquiry yesterday after he conducted two field studies of 27 Ontario water utilities this summer.

``Small utilities are struggling with inadequate funding. They have no back-up operators,'' Geldreich told the commission. He found smaller utilities often rely on one person to handle all aspects of drinking water supply and have no back-up staff with training or experience who can provide relief.

Geldreich said while he found many committed utility workers as he toured water treatment plants across the province, he was concerned by some weaknesses and deficiencies he discovered.

Geldreich, who spent 46 years working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said some operators had what he called a compliance attitude: ``We'll do what the regulations say and that's it.''

He said some operators didn't seem to realize that the provincial requirements represented a minimum standard. ``The goal should always be to do a better job than required because of the importance to human health.''

Geldreich said even small utilities operators trying to excel are often frustrated because they lack the necessary resources, and they often don't find the needed support when they reach out to provincial officials. ``They are sitting there at a loss what to do and they just can't seem to find the help.''

Geldreich recommended that the province establish a group of roving ``circuit riders'' who would regularly visit small and medium-sized water utilities across Ontario, helping them to troubleshoot.

He also suggested utilities take a serious look at how much they are charging consumers, to ensure the system is properly funded. Geldreich said he found the customer wasn't being charged enough.

``They're selling water below cost and you can't keep operating in the red,'' he said.

Geldreich said more accessible training courses also need to be made available to the operators of small water treatment facilities, especially those in remote communities.

More information about the latest in water treatment techniques needs to be supplied to utilities, Geldreich said.

And he said most utilities he visited had no plans about what to do if the water supply became seriously compromised.

``Many utilities don't have an emergency plan for a catastrophic failure of their water system.'' They didn't know where they would look for alternative sources of safe water.

The Walkerton inquiry, headed by Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor, was sparked by a contaminated water crisis that left seven people dead and 2,300 ill in May of last year. 
 [Toronto Star]
 
 
 

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