Raising levels of water recycling

Economics, not lack of technology, stands in the way of wider reuse
Heiner Markhoff Straits Times 26 Jun 10;

FRESH water is a finite and scarce resource.

How to ensure an adequate supply of fresh water is a large, growing and immediate concern for developed and developing nations alike.

Driven by population growth, industrial development and other factors, many areas now face a stark reality: water resources are either under severe pressure or are simply unavailable.

This same reality prompted the Singapore Government to implement the 'four taps' strategy to ensure water supply for its inhabitants and economic growth.

One of these 'taps' is water reclamation and reuse.

Water reuse is critical to make the most of our freshwater resources. It involves extensively treating wastewater and using the resulting high-quality reclaimed or recycled water to supplant freshwater usage in industrial processes, for crop or landscape irrigation, or elsewhere.

Leading the world in this area is Singapore, where Newater now provides an impressive 30 per cent of total water consumption, mostly for industrial use, with 40 per cent anticipated by 2020.

Singapore consumes about 1.7 billion litres of water daily. To achieve the 40 per cent target, another 340 million litres per day will have to be met by Singapore's five Newater plants.

Other regions and countries have even farther to go.

Many water-reuse projects in other parts of the world are already in place or are being implemented.

Although global reuse capacity will have tripled from 2008 to 2016, accounting for some US$47.5 billion (S$66.3 billion) worth of project transactions, the world's water problems are so severe that this noteworthy initial progress is nonetheless a drop in the bucket compared to what can, and must, be done.

It is not for lack of technology. Treatment and disinfection technology has long existed to ensure that public health and environmental quality are protected.

For example, technology has enabled reclaimed water to be used for crop irrigation for more than 100 years, landscape irrigation for more than 70 years and drinking water augmentation for more than 40 years.

What stands in the way of greatly expanded water reuse is economics.

While financial and regulatory incentives encouraging water reuse do exist, they tend to be project-focused or limited in scope. Therefore, governments and public-private partnerships must come together to create a coordinated system of financial incentives and regulations to stimulate water reuse practices and habits on a wider basis.

Governments in water-scarce regions often are looking for ways to expand water recycling and reuse.

It is important to know and understand the policy options available. To that end, GE commissioned a White Paper that provided a menu of policy options, drawing on examples from around the world.

The research found that there were four major types of policies being used to increase water recycling and reuse: education and outreach; removing barriers; incentives; and mandates and regulation.

Education and outreach

THIS is one of the tools commonly used by governments with water recycling programmes.

This is critical to encourage reuse and to overcome any public concerns about the safety and quality of recycled water.

Universal techniques to raise awareness of water recycling include recognition and awards programmes; information dissemination and educational outreach; technical assistance for industrial users such as water-use audits, technical manuals, construction and permit application guidelines; and reporting of water consumption, discharge and reuse.

Removing barriers

BARRIERS to water recycling come in many forms such as technological, financial and regulatory.

Oftentimes, municipal, state or regional water code does not recognise the use of recycled water.

The first steps are to set specific quality standards for recycled water and to provide guidance on the use of reclaimed water.

Although local communities may be constrained by state or federal requirements, they do have control over their own building and development codes and local funding.

Incentives

INCENTIVES used by communities to encourage water recycling most commonly take the form of economic incentives that make recycled water cheaper than potable water.

Another approach is to tie water usage to conservation programmes and exempt recycled water users from many of the community's conservation requirements.

Still others involve property rights and payments for the reuse of recycled water; pricing schemes that use higher rates for potable water; subsidies or grants for water recycling and reuse technologies; and programmes for government procurement of water recycling infrastructure.

Other examples of these types of financial and regulatory incentives include direct subsidies usually in the form of grants; tax deductions or reduced lease payments; compensating water users for recovering and reinjecting treated water into its original source; pricing that imposes higher charges for the use of potable water; and regulatory relief by eliminating certain requirements for users of recycled water.

Mandates and regulation

COMMUNITIES facing severe water restrictions due to natural water scarcity, population growth or resource overuse frequently adopt laws requiring the use of recycled water.

Two common approaches to mandating the use of recycled water are requirements for regional and local wastewater treatment and water supply districts, and requirements for residents and businesses.

In July, GE will be releasing a follow- up White Paper building upon the original data by offering examples of the policies that have the most impact that governments around the world have already implemented to promote water reuse.

The White Paper is geared towards policymakers and influencers including government officials, industry associations and non-governmental organisations.

The world is fortunate that technology already exists to make widespread water reuse possible.

What are needed now are effective policies, financial incentives and regulatory strategies which will truly make it possible to ensure an adequate supply of fresh, clean water for the world's thirsty population.

We look forward to discussing critical issues and solutions related to global water use and reuse at the Singapore International Water Week coming up next week.

The writer is the president and chief executive officer of water and process technologies for GE Power & Water.

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Five win grants to power clean energy drive

Grace Chua Straits Times 26 Jun 10;

SOMEWHERE on the grounds of the University of New South Wales in Australia, there is a golf cart chugging along on vanadium redox batteries.

Now, Ngee Ann Polytechnic senior lecturer Tuti Mariana Lim, 42, who did her undergraduate and doctoral work at

UNSW, is trying to take these batteries further.

The chemical engineer's team is attempting to shrink these batteries while allowing them to store the same amount of energy, so they can be used in vehicles like electric cars.

Vanadium redox batteries can store renewable energy, such as solar and wind power, in the form of chemical energy.

And while other rechargeable batteries must be powered up by plugging them in for hours, vanadium batteries can be recharged simply by changing the electrolyte solution, much like filling a petrol tank.

For her work, Dr Lim, who is also an adjunct assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University's civil and environmental engineering school, received one of five grants from the Clean Energy Research Programme, a $50 million kitty set up by the Government in 2007.

Selected from 48 proposals this year, the five make up the third grant call from the fund, and will be given a total of $13 million over the next three years.

Public agencies and institutions qualify for full grants for direct costs, while private-sector proposals can receive up to 70 per cent of a project's costs.

Previous grant calls focused on research into solar energy.

This current round focuses on making solar energy more cost-effective, and on improving ways to store renewable energy forms, such as the wind, which are at the whim of weather conditions.

To date, about half of the $50 million fund has been disbursed to some 20 projects.

Economic Development Board managing director and Clean Energy Programme Office executive director Beh Swan Gin said: 'These research topics address the issues of cost-effective solar cells and renewable energy storage, both of which are critical to the development of clean energy markets globally.'

He added: 'We believe that the five successful projects... could lead to commercially viable technologies that will enjoy mass adoption.'

Under the Government's clean energy initiative, the industry is targeted to contribute $1.7 billion to gross domestic product and create 7,000 jobs here by 2015.

Other proposals which received funding in this latest round include projects to texture the glass used in solar panels so the cells inside capture more light, and to improve lithium-ion batteries so they can be used to store renewable energy.

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Asia Square clinches LEED platinum award for environmental sustainability

Business Times 26 Jun 10;

ASIA Square, an office project under construction at Marina Bay, has won a top award for environmental sustainability.

The twin-tower development, which comprises 2 million square feet of Grade A space, has been awarded 'Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Core & Shell (LEED-CS) Platinum' pre-certification by the US Green Building Council.

Real estate private equity firm MGPA, which is developing the project, said Asia Square is the only building in Singapore touted on the US Green Building Council website as having attained a LEED platinum rating.

The project will raise the bar in sustainability in Singapore and the region, according to MGPA.

'Achieving the LEED platinum award is an excellent testimony to our commitment to exceptional building quality and an important milestone in the development of Asia Square,' said project director Jeremy Choy.

'Asia Square has been designed for long-term sustainability and to create a healthier working environment for tenants to boost employee productivity. This will enable future tenants to attract and retain high-value, knowledge-based employees. Very simply, what's better for people will, in the long run, be better for business.'

The LEED certification system measures how well a building performs in terms of saving energy, water efficiency, emissions reduction, indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources and environmental sensitivity.

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BP accused of killing endangered sea turtles in cleanup operation

Environmentalists press Obama administration to put a halt to BP's 'burn fields' to dispose of oil from the Gulf spill
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;

Endangered sea turtles and other marine creatures are being corralled into 500 square-mile "burn fields" and burnt alive in operations intended to contain oil from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration confirmed today.

The killing of the turtles – which once teetered on the brink of extinction – has outraged environmentalists and could put BP into even deeper legal jeopardy.

Environmental organisations are demanding that the oil company stop blocking rescue of the turtles, and are pressing the US administration to halt the burning and look at prosecuting BP and its contractors for killing endangered species during the cleanup operation. Harming or killing a sea turtle carries fines of up to $50,000 (£33,000).

"It is criminal and cruel and they need to be held accountable," said Carole Allen, Gulf office director of the Sea Turtle Restoration Project. "There should not be another lighting of a fire of any kind till people have gone in there and looked for turtles."

The Obama administration, confirming the kills, said BP was under orders to avoid the turtles. "My understanding is that protocols include looking for wildlife prior to igniting of oil," a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said. "We take these things very seriously."

The agency this week posted a single turtle spotter on the burn vessels, but government scientists are pressing for more wildlife experts to try to rescue the animals before the oil is lit – or at the very least to give them access to the burn fields.

"One can't just ride through an area where they are burning and expect to be safe while looking for turtles. We don't expect that, but we would like to access those areas where we suspect there may be turtles," said Blair Witherington, a sea turtle research scientist at Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

More than 425 turtles are known to have died in the spill zone since 30 April, Noaa said.

Conservationists say the losses could imperil the long-term survival of the creatures. All five species of turtles found in the Gulf are endangered or threatened: the Kemp's Ridley most of all.

But in a video posted on YouTube, Mike Ellis, a skipper from Venice, Louisiana, accuses BP of chasing away a boat of conservationists trying to rescue turtles caught in the oil and weed a few miles away from the leak.

"They ran us out of there and then they shut us down," said Ellis.

On days when the weather is fine and there is relatively no wind, BP conducts up to a dozen "controlled burns", torching vast expanses of the ocean surface within a corral of fireproof booms.

Biologists say such burns are deadly for young turtles because oil and sargassum – the seaweed mats that provide nutrients to jellyfish and a range of other creatures – – congregate in the same locations. The sargassum is also a perfect hunting ground for young sea turtles, who are not developed enough to dive to the ocean floor to forage for food.

Once BP moves in, the turtles are doomed. "They drag a boom between two shrimp boats and whatever gets caught between the two boats, they circle it up and catch it on fire. Once the turtles are in there, they can't get out," Ellis said.

The heartbreak for conservationists is that the convergence of sargassum and oil offers the best chance of finding young turtles before they suffocate on the crude. But it can also be deadly.

"When they breathe and come to the surface, they get a mouthful and a bellyful of toxic substance that is very much like wallpaper paste," said John Hewitt, the director of husbandry at the New Orleans aquarium. "If we don't remove them and clean them up, in three or four days that probably spells the end of the turtle."

Since the spill, the aquarium has taken in 90 sea turtles, scrubbing the oil off their shells with toothbrushes and washing-up liquid.

Even before the fires, the two-month gusher in the Gulf of Mexico was threatening the long-term survival of sea turtles.

"This is the worst calamity that I have ever seen for sea turtles," said David Godfrey, executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy. "This is really the cradle of sea turtle reproduction for the western hemisphere."The threat to the turtles could continue well after the gusher is capped. The oil spill is turning vast expanses of the Gulf into a dead zone, killing off the jellyfish, crabs and conches that are the staples of an adult diet.

Conservationists are also worried about the survival of the next generation of loggerhead turtles, which are about to climb up on to badly oiled shorelines to begin their nesting season. "They are doomed" said Godfrey.

Godfrey said his organisation was working on plans to dig up about 1,000 nests, or 100,000 eggs, from nesting grounds in the Florida Panhandle and transfer them to hatcheries for safekeeping. "It is a last gasp measure to save 100,000 young sea turtles," he said. "We need every one of these turtles to survive."

In The Line Of Fire: Rare Turtles Near Gulf Flames
Elizabeth Shogren NPR 25 Jun 10;

A YouTube video accusing BP of burning turtles alive is popping up on lots of blogs these days.

But animal rescuers in the Gulf have reported no burned wildlife so far, although some scientists say endangered turtles are at risk of being caught in controlled fires intended to contain the oil spill. Some experts are training turtle observers to go out with the boats that ignite fires.

Research scientist Blair Witherington put two and two together a couple weeks ago. He was on a rescue mission 20 miles out at sea near where the Deepwater Horizon exploded.

"We were out catching turtles in the oil lines and witnessing the flames of the fires nearby," he says.

As they did every day, Witherington and his team raced to catch as many turtles as they could. They looked for the coconut-sized animals in skinny lines of oil. The rescuers had to leave the area when it was time for clean-up boats to set the oil on fire.

"We knew that we might be missing some. After all, they're just an oily lump amidst lumpy oil. They blend in well," he says.

Endangering The Endangered

Witherington says some turtles may be able to swim away from the fires, but he's concerned that others may be getting trapped in the flames. He's says it's especially alarming to see turtles at risk because they're so rare, and the majority of the ones getting caught in the oil are Kemp's ridleys, the rarest of them all.

"There's a legal reason to care because they're protected under the Endangered Species Act, and one can't just go about killing sea turtles the way one kills ants or flies. And people really do care about them. I'd like to think that the world is a richer place because we have sea turtles. Each and every one of them," Witherington says.

He raised his concerns about the fires with Michael Ziccardi, a veterinarian from the University of California Davis who's been coordinating the turtle rescues. Ziccardi says so far Witherington's theory hasn't been proven.

"No wildlife has been reported burned," the veterinarian says.

But Ziccardi and other experts say there's no question that turtles are in the line of fire.

The problem is that the oil is collecting in the areas of the Gulf where currents come together. The points of meeting currents pull in stuff that floats, including the golden-colored seaweed called sargassum, which is prime feeding ground for lots of animals — including young turtles.

"They're in the same areas where the oil congregates. So they are at high risk," Ziccardi says.

Working Toward A Solution

Ziccardi says he is now on the verge of putting together a system that should help prevent turtles from getting trapped in fires. He's training a team of 20 observers, and they are going out with turtle rescue boats to learn how to spot turtles in the oil. Then they'll be sent out with the boats that ignite the fires.

Witherington says the observers' job will be to thoroughly examine the pools of oil for turtles before those pools are set on fire.

"The goal is not to allow turtles to die in oil, and not to allow them to die in fires set on the sea," Witherington says.

Witherington is not sure why it has taken weeks to come up with this simple solution for preventing turtles from dying in the burns. He's sorry he wasn't able to push the bureaucracy to move faster. But he was focused on the rescues.

"We were very much immersed in a task, and I can't say that I was paying as much attention as I should have," he says.

Witherington says even he can't argue for stopping the burns because burning is a crucial way of keeping the oil from coastal areas that are home to so much other wildlife. That includes mature turtles, which are even more essential for keeping the species alive.

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Turtle Deaths Called Result of Shrimping, Not Oil Spill

Shaila Dewan New York Times 25 Jun 10;

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist says he believes most of the dead turtles that have been examined since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill died not from the oil or the chemical dispersants put into the water after the disaster, but from being caught in shrimping nets, though further testing may show otherwise.

Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinary pathologist who specializes in reptiles, said that more than half the turtles dissected so far, most of which were found shortly after the spill, had sediment in their lungs or airways, which indicated they might have been caught in nets and drowned.

“The only plausible scenario where you would have high numbers of animals forcibly submerged would be fishery interaction,” he said. “That is the primary consideration for this event.”

Many times the usual number of turtles have been found stranded this year, but NOAA has cautioned from the beginning that the oil spill is not necessarily to blame.

Shrimp boats are the chief commercial fishing danger for turtles because they tow their nets underwater for long distances, and turtles trapped in them are unable to come up for air. Shrimpers are supposed to equip their nets with turtle extruder devices, which help turtles escape. But environmentalists have complained that some shrimpers disregard the law or do not install the devices properly.

“I’m not surprised at all that shrimp fishing is causing a lot of turtle deaths right now, it happens every year and it’s a chronic problem that the federal government has refused to address,” said Todd Steiner, the executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network in Marin County, Calif., which works to protect sea turtles around the world. He said there was not enough enforcement of the law requiring the extruder devices, though turtle deaths spike every year when shrimp season begins.

After a rash of turtle deaths in Texas in April, before the oil spill, NOAA and Texas authorities inspected 10 boats and cited 4 of them for improperly installed devices, according to news reports.

More than half of the 417 dead sea turtles collected since the spill have been found in Mississippi. Full or partial necropsies were conducted on 67 of them in the second week in May. Many were badly decomposed, but of those that could be fully analyzed, more than half had sediment.

Dr. Stacy said tissue from the turtles would still be tested for hydrocarbons and other toxic substances. But he said poisoning would generally leave some turtles alive but sick, whereas the turtles found along the Mississippi coast were all dead. He said that while sediment might enter the airway of a turtle after death, some of the dissected turtles that were recovered in sandy areas had dark, bottom sediment in their airways.

The federal shrimping season began before the oil spill, but state authorities have also responded to the autopsy findings. The Mississippi Marine Patrol did a full inspection of shrimping boats in state waters when the state’s shrimping season began on June 3, said Lisa Damiano Jones, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Marine Resources. No violations were found, she said.

On Monday, the department reduced the maximum tow time for skimmer trawls to 30 minutes from 55 because of an unusually high number of turtles in the area. “The reason for the smaller drag times is to increase the survival rate” for a trapped turtle, Ms. Jones said.

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Whalewatching worth billions and booming: study

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;

AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Whalewatching revenue topped two billion dollars in 2009 and is set to grow 10 percent a year, according to a new study.

The findings boost arguments that the marine mammals are worth more alive than dead, the researchers said.

They also coincide with a decision by the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC), meeting in Agadir, Morocco, to move forward with a "five year strategic plan" exploring the economic benefits and ecological risks of whalewatching.

Some 13 million eco-tourists in 2009 paid to see the animals in their natural element, generating 2.1 billion dollars (1.7 billion euros) and employing 13,000 people across hundreds of coastal regions worldwide, the study found.

"This shows that we can have our whales and still benefit from them, without killing them," said co-author Rashid Sumaila, a researcher at the University of British Columbia.

Whale tourism has expanded steadily over the last two decades, and could add more than 400 million dollars and 5,700 jobs to the global economy each year, said the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Policy.

"Given our methods of calculation, this is a conservative estimate. The real figures are probably much higher," Sumaila said by phone.

At least half of this growth would benefit seaside communities in developing countries, especially in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa, where many fisheries are in decline.

"It can be launched with little initial investment and carried out by local fishers who are already familiar with the area," the study noted.

Whaling countries have argued that watching whales and killing them are not necessarily incompatible when populations are robust and expanding.

Indeed, every year half-a-million people ply the coastal waters of whaling nations in the hope of glimpsing a humpback, orca or other whale if full breach.

But if attitudes continue to shift toward protection, the researchers suggested, tourists may one day insist on observing whales near countries that are not also engaged in slaughtering them for market.

An effort to bridge the gap between pro- and anti-whaling nations during the IWC's annual meeting, which ends Friday, collapsed earlier this week.

Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling that went into effect in 1986, Iceland, Japan and Norway -- taking advantage of legal loopholes -- harvest hundreds of large cetaceans every year, more than 1,500 in the 2008-2009 season alone.

Opponents of commercial whaling hope that tourism will help tilt an organisation created in 1946 to insure the long-term viability of the whaling industry toward other goals.

"All international bodies must evolve," said Peter Garett, Australia's minister for environment protection. "We see a future for the IWC that is much more about conservation than counting the number of whales that are killed."

"There is a tremendous economic future -- a sustainable future -- in whale watching, not whale killing," he told AFP.

Many local communities are thriving thanks to mammoth sea mammals that happen through their waters, delegates said.

The New Zealand town of Kaikoura, for example, "has subsequently been transformed, and now attracts 100,000 visitors annually," said Kerena Lyons.

And in tiny Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic, "43 boats and 10 tour operators offer trips for more than 25,000 tourists every year," said Liliana Betancourt of the Conservation Centre of Bahia de Samana.

But whalewatching can have unintended consequences, warned Vincent Ridoux, a marine biologist at the University of La Rochelle in France and a member of the French delegation.

"We tend to observe whales where they feed and reproduce. If the whalewatching is too invasive and always in the same place, it can push the whales into less optimal areas," he explained.

But perhaps the greatest danger is running out of whales.

"It could be a multi-million dollar industry, but in Tonga there are not enough whales anymore," Sue Taei of the Pew Environment Group said of the Pacific island nation.

The region's whales were decimated by Soviet factory ships in the 1960 and 1970s, she explained.

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Greenland gets green light to hunt humpback whales

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;

AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Greenland's indigenous peoples won the right Friday to hunt 27 humpback whales, capping three years of acrimonious debate within the 88-nation International Whaling Commission.

The self-ruled Danish territory can now kill and consume nine of the giant marine mammals each year through 2012, with its existing quota of more than 200 minke and fin whales cut by the same number.

The decision -- greeted with applause -- came on the closing day of the IWC's annual meeting in Agadir, Morocco, where a big-tent compromise deal between pro- and anti-whaling nations collapsed earlier in the week.

So-called "aboriginal subsistence whaling" to meet nutritional and cultural needs is the only kind allowed under a 1986 ban on commercial whaling, with quotas also allocated to indigenous groups in the Russian Far East and Alaska.

The only other nation allowed to kill humpbacks -- a species noted for spectacularly breaching the ocean surface -- is St. Vincent and The Grenadines in the Caribbean, which has a yearly allocation of four animals.

"Our rights will be violated if we can't get this resolution," Greenland's fishing and hunting minister, Ane Hansen, said during a tense plenary session.

IWC scientists, she noted, had determined that harvesting 10 whales every year for a decade would not adversely affect humpback populations.

But the proposal quickly ran into flak from some of the 11 Latin American nations in the so-called Buenos Aires group.

"The fact that the quotas do not affect the survival of stock does not mean that they will not effect tourism in the Caribbean," said Costa Rica's top whaling negotiator, Eugenia Arguedas.

The same whales that might be killed off Greenland's west coast also nourish a booming whalewatching industry half a world away, she said.

Monaco's Commissioner, as top negotiators are called, also questioned whether the whales were truly needed to meet the subsistence needs of Greenland's Inuit population.

"This population is not exactly starving. They enjoy one of the highest average household incomes in the world," said Frederic Briand.

He also pointed out that "more than 3,000 small cetaceans" -- an order including whales, dolphins and porpoises -- caught every year in Greenland's waters also supply meat to the 55,000-strong population.

But a large majority of delegates backed the proposal.

"You are talking about money from whalewatching, but we are talking about food," an indigenous delegate from Russia said angrily in support.

"There are two types of whaling, sustainable and non-sustainable. This is sustainable whaling," Iceland's top negotiator, Tomas Heider, told the plenary.

Delegates from several nations, including Japan, warned that rejecting Greenland's request -- or even taking it to a vote -- would further damage the deeply riven Commission, which is openly questioning its future viability.

"I do not believe that purity and absolutism can be a guide for an International Organisation that works," said New Zealand's Geoffrey Palmer, who backed the bid despite his country's strong anti-whaling positions.

The European Union, after hammering out a deal with Denmark reducing the total number of whales, also threw in its support, sparking the ire of animal welfare groups.

"The EU's support is shameful," said Joanna Toole of the World Society for the Protection of Animals. "What is the point of protecting whales in EU waters and then voting for them to be harpooned just a few hundred miles further north?"

After a flurry of diplomatic activity and several breaks for consultation, the measure finally passed by consensus.

Despite the moratorium on commercial whaling, Iceland, Japan and Norway use legal loopholes to harvest hundreds of large cetaceans every year, more than 1,500 in the 2008-2009 season alone.

More than 33,000 whales have been killed since the global ban went into effect.

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What is killing Argentina's right whales?

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 25 Jun 10;

AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – Fatal strandings of southern right whales around Argentina's Valdes Peninsula have soared in recent years, and worried scientists are not sure why, the International Whaling Commission heard Friday.

From 1971, when systematic monitoring began, only a relative handful of whale deaths were reported over the next three decades.

Starting in 2003, however, the mortality rate began to soar: from 31 that year, to 47 in 2005, 83 in 2007, 95 in 2008 and 79 last year, the IWC's scientific committee reported.

"Over 90 percent of the deaths have been of first-year calves," the scientists said.

The Valdes Peninsula is one of the most popular whalewatching venues on the planet, attracting some 200,000 eco-tourists every year hoping to see the huge mammals -- which grow up to 17-metre (56-foot) long -- in their element.

It is also a critically important breeding and nursery ground for right whales.

Three causes, possibly in combination, have been fingered as possible culprits.

One is reduced availability of food for adult females, notably small crustaceans called copepods and krill. Poor feeding conditions lengthen the normally three-to-five year reproduction cycles, studies have shown.

High concentrations of biotoxins and the spread of an infectious disease are also suspects.

"The fact that the strandings are happening where they do is not that surprising because it is a breeding ground," said Vincent Ridoux, a marine biologist with the French delegation.

"What we don't know is why they are dying," he told AFP.

If females are undernourished it would severely impact calves, which normally consume about 125 litres of milk every day.

Weakening might also explain "an extremely strange phenomenon": kelp gulls that alight on the backs of young whales at the water's surface and feed on their backs, creating lesions vulnerable to toxins or viruses.

"We don't know to what extent they contribute to mortality, but they are the only visible sign of abnormality," Ridoux said, adding that he was unaware of similar cases in other whale populations.

As a precaution, the ICW has asked local authorities to try to keep the gulls at bay.

NGOs and the government have also stepped up aerial surveys to hunt for more clues as to what is killing the whales.

Scientists estimated that there were about 3,200 mature female southern right whales in 2007, double the number 10 years earlier. The population is not considered threatened, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Created in 1946, the IWC is the only international body that oversees the management of global whale populations.

It's scientific committee is charged with studying all of the environmental impacts affecting the animals worldwide, including toxins, noise pollution, climate change, ocean acidification and ship strikes.

So-called "by-catch" -- where whales are snared in fishing nets set for other prey -- are perhaps the most serious short-term threat to the marine mammals besides large-scale whaling.

From 1994 to 2006, Japan and South Korea each caught more than 1,000 minke whales in their coastal waters this way, according to government statistics.

DNA analysis suggests that the real number of whales killed in the same waters by by-catch is likely twice as high.

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How water raises the political temperature between countries

Water wars haven't started yet, but shortages certainly cause tensions between states to rise
John Vidal guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;

Fifteen years ago Ismail Serageldin, an Egyptian who was vice-president of the World Bank, shook politicians by predicting that the wars of the 21st century would be fought not over oil or land, but water.

So far he has been proved wrong, but escalating demand for water to grow food and provide drinking water for burgeoning urban populations has raised political tensions between many countries.

In Asia, there are disagreements over the right to dam shared rivers. India and Pakistan are in semi-permanent dispute over hydro-power on the river Indus. China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh all spar over the rivers rising in the Himalayas and which flow through neighbouring countries, providing water for nearly 500 million people on the way.

Tensions run high between Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan over the Amu Daria and Syr Daria rivers, as well as the severely depleted Aral Sea. Argentina and Uruguay have taken their dispute over the river Plate to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, while Mexico and the US argue over rights on the Rio Grande and Colorado.

Last month, Baghdad demanded that Syria cease pumping water from the Iraqi portion of the Tigris. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Palestine and Israel, and Iraq and Iran, row over water supplies from the Shatt al-Arab waterway and Turkey's dams.

In Africa, the Chobe, a tributary of the Zambezi, has caused tension between Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while there have been incidents between Mauritania and Senegal over control of the Senegal. Shares of the Niger, Volta and Zambezi are all disputed.

According to the UN, there are more than 250 internationally shared rivers covering nearly half the total land surface of the earth, as well as innumerable shared aquifers. Around 300 potential conflicts around the world have been identified but history suggests very few if any are expected to develop into armed conflict. In the last century, only seven minor skirmishes over water were documented.

However, nearly all the world's major rivers are expected to come under increased pressure to provide farming, industry and drinking water for the three billion extra people expected to be born before the world's population starts to drop. By 2025, says the UN development programme, nearly one in three people will live in countries that are affected by water shortages. These already affect 450 million people in 29 countriesand, and according to the World Water Forum, tensions over water rights and allocations are expected to mount.

Last year the Pentagon predicted that water disputes would rise up the agenda in global politics in the coming years. It argued that water was central to border disputes. Conflicts in Chad, Yemen and Somalia, it said, have all been linked to water scarcity.

The disputes are not just between countries but between states and rural and urban users. The Yellow river in China, the Ganges, the Mekong and other Asian rivers do not always reach the sea in dry seasons, leaving farmers short and blaming factory users higher upstream.

The river Kaveri is the bone of serious contention between Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Karnatgaka states, and water from the Vansadhara river is disputed between Andrah Pradesh and Orissa states.

Battle for the Nile as rivals lay claim to Africa's great river
With crises of population and resources upstream, there is now deadlock over who owns the Nile
Xan Rice guardian.co.uk 25 Jun 10;

Simon Kitra's back garden looks out over the world's second-largest freshwater lake. His front lawn opens onto the world's longest river. If the 20-year-old Ugandan fisherman needs reminding of where his tiny island is, he can look up to the pink obelisk on the hillside, marking where the British explorer John Hanning Speke, sextant in hand, stood in 1862 to ascertain the point where Lake Victoria begins to empty — the source of the Nile.

The water that sustains Kitra – he drinks it, bathes in it, and eats and sells the fish which swim in it — slips gently and quietly past his canoe on its three-month, 3,470-mile journey to the Mediterranean. But at night, when he listens to his radio before casting his nets, news of the Nile's future is all anger and recriminations, stretching from its most remote headwaters in Burundi all the way to Egypt.

For a decade the nine states in the Nile basin have been negotiating on how best to share and protect the river in a time of changing climates, environmental threats and exploding populations. Now, with an agreement put on the table, talks have broken down in acrimony. On one side are the seven states that supply virtually all the Nile's flow. On the other are Egypt and Sudan, whose desert climates make the Nile's water their lifeblood. "This is serious," said Henriette Ndombe, executive director of the intergovernmental Nile Basin Initiative , established in 1999 to oversee the negotiation process and enhance co-operation. "This could be the beginning of a conflict."

The sticking point between the two groups is a question going back to colonial times: who owns the Nile's water? Kitra's answer – "It is for all of us" – might seem obvious. But Egypt and Sudan claim to have the law on their side. Treaties in 1929 and 1959, when Britain controlled much of the region, granted the two states "full utilisation of the Nile waters" – and the power to veto any water development projects in the catchment area in east Africa. The upstream states, including Ethiopia, source of the Blue Nile, which merges with the White Nile at Khartoum, and supplies 86% of the river's eventual flow, were allocated nothing.

However debatable its claim under international law, Egypt strongly defends it, sometimes with threats of military action. For decades it had an engineer posted at Uganda's Owen Falls dam on the Nile, close to Kitra's island, monitoring the outflow.

But in a sign of the growing discord, Uganda stopped supplying the engineer with data two years ago, according to Callist Tindimugaya, its commissioner for water resources regulation. And when Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the agreement in April on "equitable and reasonable" use of the Nile unless it protected their "historic rights" the other states lost patience. Isaac Musumba, Uganda's state minister for regional affairs, and its Nile representative, said: "We were saying: 'This is crazy! You cannot claim these rights without obligations'." Minelik Alemu Getahun, one of Ethiopia's negotiators, said all the upstream states saw the move by Egypt (Sudan has a more passive role) as "tantamount to an insult".

Ugandans endorse this stance. Ronald Kassamba, 24, scything grass along the banks of the Nile near Jinja, 50 miles from the capital Kampala, said: "Egypt is being very unfair. We have the source, so we should also be able to use the water."

Convinced that from their point of view there was no purpose in more talks, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania signed a "River Nile Basin Co-operative Framework" agreement in May. Kenya followed, and Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo look likely to do so – causing alarm and anger in Egypt. When parliaments in six states ratify the deal, a permanent commission to decide on water allocation will be set up – without the two states that need the river most.

Opposition by the upstream states to the colonial treaties is not new. Ethiopia was never colonised, and rejected the 1959 bilateral agreement that gave Egypt three-quarters of the Nile's annual flow (55.5bn cubic metres) and Sudan a quarter, even before it was signed. Most of the east African states also refused to recognise it, and earlier Nile treaties agreed by Britain on their behalf, when they became independent in the 1960s.

A combination of factors, including instability, poor governance, financial constraints and the availability of other water sources, meant the matter remained dormant. It was in the 1990s that various governments seriously started to consider using their Nile Basin waters to generate energy and irrigate crops. But when funding applications were made to the World Bank and others, problems arose. "Our development partners would always ask what other countries on the Nile were saying," said John Rao Nyaoro, Kenya's director of water resources. "We needed a clearing house for these projects," which will be a function of the Nile commission.

Officials in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, which all have significant, if increasingly unreliable, rainfall, do acknowledge Egypt's huge dependence on the Nile and its right to a large part of its flow. But they say it is unreasonable to ask them to leave a valuable resource untouched, as the demand increases due to the changing climate and, especially, population growth. Egypt's population of 79 million is expected to reach 122 million by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau . But in the upstream states the growth is even faster. There are 83 million Ethiopians today, but in 40 years there will be 150 million. In Uganda, where the average number of children per woman is 6.7, one of the highest in the world, the population is due to more than triple over the same period to 97 million. For Uganda, the priority for now is electricity, and it wants to build more dams.

Ethiopia has begun a hydropower development, opening a dam at Lake Tana, the Blue Nile's source, and is in talks with Egypt and Sudan to build several more dams on the river. The electricity will be shared among the states – the mutual benefit envisaged when the Nile Basin Initiative was established. But Ethiopia also plans large irrigation schemes, which it says are essential for food. Tanzania has also talked of tapping Lake Victoria to supply dry villages in its north-west.

Under the agreement signed by five countries, each state's share of the Nile Basin water will depend on variables such as population, contribution to the river's flow, climate, social and economic needs, and, crucially, current and potential uses of the water – a factor which will heavily favour Egypt and Sudan.

The disputed article, in which Egypt and Sudan want their historic rights guaranteed and the other governments prefer to a clause where each nation agrees "not to significantly affect the water security of any country" – has been left out of the agreement, for further discussion.

This, the upstream states hope, leaves the door open for Egypt and Sudan to join them before the one-year signing period closes.

"Diplomacy will help us navigate this issue," said Musumba, the Ugandan minister, playing down any talk of conflict.

"What it is Egypt going to do – bomb us all?"

Water treaties

Agreements over the Nile's water date back to the late 19th century when Britain, which controlled Egypt and Sudan, signed deals with other colonial powers and with Ethiopia to guarantee the river's unimpeded flow. But, in 1929, a bilateral treaty went further. Egypt, which by then enjoyed nominal independence, and Britain, acting on behalf of Sudan and its other colonies around Lake Victoria, signed an agreement on water rights. It reserved the entire dry season flow of the Nile for Egypt and allowed Cairo to veto any water development project in the Nile basin .

In 1959, Egypt and the newly independent Sudan signed a deal that gave them "full utilisation of the Nile waters". Using the river's annual average flow of 84bn cubic metres of water, it was agreed that Egypt had the right to use 55.5bn cubic metres a year, with Sudan's share at 18.5bn cubic metres. The other 10bn cubic metres was reserved for seepage losses and evaporation in Lake Nasser, behind the Aswan dam. Upstream countries were not allocated a share.

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 Jun 10

The ICCS Workshop for Organisers 2010
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Dillenia excelsa var. tomentella: A new phenotype arising
from Flying Fish Friends

Be fair, many things are anthropogenic, but many things are NOT. from Hell Hath No Fury Like Nature Scorned

Singaporeans Proudly Replanting Our Unique Trees and Shrubs
from The Green Volunteers

"The present extent of mangrove forests in Singapore"
from Habitatnews and wild shores of singapore

Olive-winged Bulbul taking a bath
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Macro Macro Macro
from Mendis' World

Raffles Museum Treasures: Common Asian toad
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Scientists warn that Malaysia is converting tropical forests to rubberwood plantations from Mongabay.com news

Rainforest scientists urge UN to correct "serious loophole" by changing its definition of 'forest' from Mongabay.com news

Food for thought from Japan's accused
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black

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Heavy flooding in parts of Singapore

AsiaOne 25 Jun 10;

Singapore residents woke up to another downpour early this morning.

Skies were dark and in the eastern part of Singapore, the downpour started after 7am.

Photographer Alvin Teo, 20, an intern with AsiaOne, said of the scene he saw while walking from Braddell MRT station to the junction leading to his workplace: "The junction was flooded. People looked like they were swimming!"

A check half an hour later by AsiaOne revealed that the waters at the junction has since subsided.

Mr Teo also saw two women chasing after their slippers, which was swept away by the waters.

Reports coming in indicate heavy flooding in parts of Singapore.

Floods were seen in several areas, including parts of Upper Thomson Road and Jalan Boon Lay.

Branches, snapped off by strong gusts of wind, also caused traffic chaos.

Fallen branches disrupted traffic flow near Orchard Central, as two lanes were blocked.

The Meteorological Services Division has issued a rain-with-thunder warning. It said to also expect showers with thunder late morning and early afternoon for the next three days.

Last Wednesday, parts of Orchard Road and Bukit Timah were flooded, leading to damage to luxury shops and vehicles. In Orchard, Hermes and the three-day-old fast-food outlet Wendy's were among those whose premises and goods were reported damaged by the flood.

AsiaOne readers also said that parts of Bukit Timah were uncrossable for a period of time, except for buses and bigger vehicles.

Flash floods in many areas
Hoe Pei Shan and Lee Jia Xin Straits Times 25 Jun 10;

THE heavy downpour on Friday morning has sparked fears of a repeat of last Wednesday's massive flooding in the Orchard Road area.

Torrential rain caused traffic snarls on all the major expressways in Singapore during the morning rush hour.

The darkened morning sky, along with the high amount of rainfall, cut visibility on the roads making driving conditions tricky.

Information from the one.motoring portal reported heavy traffic on the AYE, KPE, SLE, BKE and CTE.

Traffic on the CTE towards SLE after Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 almost came to a standstill due to an obstacle blocking three lanes.

A tree fell outside Orchard Central, near the Somerset MRT station on Orchard Road, blocking three of the five lanes. But no floods were reported in the shopping belt.

Readers called in to report floods at Upper Thomson Road near the junction of Sin Ming Road, Bishan area, and Jalan Boon Lay in the direction of Corporation Road.

The weather forecast from the National Environment Agency's Meteorological service says showers with thunder are expected over all parts of Singapore from 8am to 11am.

The heavy downpour recalled last Wednesday's massive floods in many areas of central Singapore, flooding basement carparks and shops, and causing businesses to lose millions of dollars.

On Thursday, the PUB announced that it is spending $25,000 to install five debris-trap gratings at Stamford Canal to prevent future floods. All five will be in place by Friday.

Heavy downpour causes flooding, road chaos
Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE: The heavy downpour Friday morning is causing chaos on the roads.

MediaCorp received several calls about floods in various parts of Singapore.

Among them are Upper Thomson Road near Sin Ming Road, Jalan Boon Lay, and Bukit Timah Road after the Balmoral Road junction in the direction of Corporation Road.

The Meteorological Services Division had issued a heavy rain warning, saying flash floods could occur.

Floods in some of these areas have since subsided.

The downpour accompanied by gusty winds also caused branches to break off trees.

One such incident near Orchard Central along Orchard Road blocked two lanes of traffic.

SCDF personnel are helping evacuate children from a childcare centre at Telok Kurau Lorong G, affected by the floods.

They're also pumping water out of the childcare centre.

The traffic police are diverting traffic away from the CTE towards SLE in between the Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 and Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 exit due to a fallen tree.

The huge tree fell across the entire northbound carriageway after the junction with Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 in Friday’s morning's heavy downpour, causing a massive jam which stretched several kilometres.

Traffic is also being diverted away from the junction of Balmoral Road and Bukit Timah Road, due to flood caused by heavy rains.

In a statement, Traffic police said officers at the affected roads are regulating traffic and directing motorists.

Motorists are informed to follow the directions of traffic police officers.

Members of the public are advised to avoid the affected areas.

They say the public may call the police hotline at 1800 65471818 for further enquiries concerning the matter.

- CNA/jy

Over 60% of June rain fell during morning downpour, causing road chaos
Channel NewsAsia 25 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE: Heavy and intense rain fell in many parts of Singapore early Friday morning causing road chaos with fallen trees and floods.

The PUB said 100 mm of rain fell within an hour, between 8 and 9.30am.

That's the same amount of rainfall on June 16 which led to massive floods in Orchard Road. That amount is more than 60 per cent of the average rainfall for the entire month of June.

PUB says the heavy rain caused localised flash floods in a number areas and the waters subsided within 30 minutes.

During the heavy downpour Friday morning MediaCorp received several calls about floods in various parts of Singapore.

Among the areas affected were Upper Thomson Road near Sin Ming Road, Jalan Boon Lay, and Bukit Timah Road after the Balmoral Road junction in the direction of Corporation Road.

Several roads also had traffic diverted due to fallen trees.

An uprooted tree fell across the entire northbound carriageway after the junction with Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 in Friday’s morning's heavy downpour making the expressway impassable to traffic.

The incident caused a massive jam which tailed back several kilometres.

A van was also trapped by the fallen tree and the SCDF said two people in the van were injured and were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Traffic Police were also on hand to divert traffic away from the CTE towards SLE in between the Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 and Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 exit due to the fallen tree.

On Orchard Road, a fallen tree near Orchard Central blocked two lanes of traffic.

SCDF personnel were also called in to help evacuate children from a childcare centre at Telok Kurau Lorong G, affected by the floods.

They also had to pump water out of the childcare centre.

Traffic police officers were also kept busy regulating traffic and directing motorists at jammed up roads.

At the junction of Balmoral Road and Bukit Timah Road, traffic had to be diverted away from due to flood caused by heavy rains.

- CNA/jy/sf


Orchard Road flooded again
Today Online 25 Jun 10;

Nine days after a blocked canal running under Orchard Road overflowed and caused millions of dollars in damage to shops, floods were again reported along Singapore's main shopping stretch this morning.

Mr Goh, a caller to the MediaCorp hotline (68 2222 68), said that flood waters at the junction of Orchard, Scotts and Patterson Roads - badly affected last week - were up to knee level at 8.50am this morning.

Another hotline caller, Ms Brenda Khaw, told MediaCorp that a fallen tree branch had caused a minor traffic jam outside Centrepoint. Other callers told MediaCorp that Bukit Timah Road was gridlocked due to the heavy rain.


Heavy and Intense Rainfall Causes Flash Floods - 25 June 2010
PUB Press Release 25 Jun 10;

Heavy and intense rain fell over many parts of Singapore in the early morning.

About 100 mm of rain fell within one hour between 8 am to 9.30 am. The amount of rainfall is approximately more than 60% of the average monthly rainfall for June.

The heavy rain caused localised flash floods in a number of areas including Bukit Timah Road/ Dunearn Road, Thomson Road and Balestier Road junction, and Old Airport Road. The flash floods subsided within 30 minutes.

PUB, Traffic Police and SCDF officers were activated to render assistance on site.

PUB advises the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms.

The public can obtain the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, by tuning in to radio broadcasts, calling NEA’s weather forecast hotline at 6542 7788, visiting the NEA website at www.nea.gov.sg or accessing the mobile weather service (Weather@SG - weather.nea.gov.sg). The public can also call PUB’s 24-hour Call Centre at 1800-284 6600 to report obstructions in drains or to check the flood situation.

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Johor to start probe into sand smuggling claims

Nelson Benjamin, The Star 25 Jun 10;

JOHOR BARU: The state government will initiate its own probe into allegations that sand is being smuggled out of the country via Sungai Johor.

“We have nothing to hide,” said Local Government, Housing, Arts, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Datuk Ahmad Zahri Jamil.

The state, he said, had stationed staff from the Johor Baru Land and Mining office (PTG) at all Customs checkpoints since earlier this month, especially in Pasir Gudang, Tanjung Belungkur and Stulang Laut.

He also confirmed that the sand from Sg Johor needed to pass Singapore to reach its destination on the west side of the country if moved via pontoons.

Asked about the possibility that some of the sand could be diverted as the barges cross into Singapore waters, he insisted that all records were in order and the state’s jurisdiction was only within three nautical miles. Anything above that is within federal jurisdiction.

“I do not see how you can smuggle sand into Singapore as they are so strict when it comes to enforcement,” he told a press conference held with officers from various departments, including the PTG, yesterday.

Ahmad Zahri also said that sand mining in Sg Johor was for domestic use only and that it was being carried out by four companies and “an individual” over the past three years.

The companies involved within the Kota Tinggi area were Bidari Kekal Sdn Bhd, SSB Construction Sdn Bhd, AZY Sdn Bhd and Sovereign Earth Sdn Bhd.

He said the individual concession was given to Nor Hisham Mohd Ali under the PTG.

“They have been extracting sand as part of a project to deepen the Kota Tinggi river in 2007,” he said, adding that these companies were given approval to transport sand via lorries or pontoons. (One pontoon is equivalent to 150 lorry loads.)

“The sand is for domestic use. Johor does not export sand. So far, all our records indicate that everything is in order. All the sand from the east coast of the state is supplied to areas within the west coast, especially in Iskandar Malaysia,” he said.

“The Customs Department is tasked with ensuring all the barges that depart their designated areas reach the proper area with the same payload and quantity,” he said.

Asked if those involved in the sand mining operations included politicians or VIPs, Ahmad Zahri said: “That is getting personal. I cannot reveal even if I know.”

On whether Johor planned to stop sand mining at the end of the licensing period at the end of the year, he said the state received revenue from it and there was still demand for sand.

He noted that there was a case in March last year where the Maritime Enforcement Agency detained a barge with six Indonesians for trying to smuggle sand.

Since then, there had been no other cases.

Asked if the PTG had received complaints about sand smuggling, Ahmad Zahri said that all complaints had been investigated and no wrongdoing had been detected.

Smuggling of sand a security threat
The Star 25 Jun 10;

PETALING JAYA: The ease with which sand can be smuggled out of the country has raised concerns of border security here.

A security official said a proper investigation must be carried out to check the alleged rampant smuggling of sand into Singapore.

“This is a very serious matter as it concerns national security,” he said, adding that if sand could be easily smuggled out of the country, it could pose a security threat at the country’s exit and entry points.

The Star reported yesterday that sand worth millions of ringgit was being smuggled into Singapore via Sungai Johor.

Checks by the Starprobe team revealed sand-laden barges from Johor heading towards a private jetty in Pulau Punggol. Further checks showed that sand was also being smuggled by lorry-loads across the Causeway.

Observers said tonnes of sand were hidden underneath layers of bricks to avoid detection.

The smugglers also seem to be using the service of tontos.

“They seem to know when the authorities are going to conduct spot-checks.

“Once the tontos alert them, lorries will suddenly make a U-turn and go elsewhere.

“They wait by the roadside and resume journey only when the ‘coast is clear’,” said an observer.

Although Singapore had always maintained that it was only importing silica from Malaysia, and not sand, another official has called on Singapore to assist Malaysian officials to put a stop to the smuggling of sand from Johor and other states into the republic.

It has been widely reported that due to the rapid reclamation and construction needs in Singapore, Malaysian contractors could be colluding with their partners in Singapore to smuggle sand to the republic despite the ban on sand exports by Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia.

A check revealed that new sites where sand was being stockpiled include the coastal stretch of the Western Catchments area and the northeastern tip of the NSRCC Kranji Sanctuary Golf Course.

Sand thieves get inside help
The Star 25 Jun 10;

PETALING JAYA: The country has lost billions of ringgit worth of sand over the years with sand thieves, greedy contractors, corrupt officials, unethical politicians and daring smugglers working hand-in-glove.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigations director Mustafar Ali, said sand smuggling activities could be halted if those entrusted with responsibilities conducted themselves diligently.

“How difficult is it to keep track of slow-moving barges carrying 5,000 tonnes of sand worth RM250,000? And how difficult is it to use the X-ray machines available at the Malaysia-Singapore border checkpoints to see if tonnes of sand are hidden inside lorries?” he asked.

Mustafar said MACC findings showed that the Government has been losing revenue amounting to about RM600mil for every lorry that makes about 3,000 trips a year, transporting sand to Singapore.

“That figure is for one lorry that can carry a 34-tonne load per trip. How many lorries are plying across the straits daily?

“For every two barges that transport a total 8,000 of tonnes of sand per day over a period of one year, the Malaysian Government loses RM144mil in revenue.

“Companies involved in the sand smuggling activities are earning hundreds of millions without having to pay royalty fees and taxes,” he said.

Mustafar said MACC had arrested 43 people, including 30 enforcement officers, between January and March this year to facilitate sand smuggling investigations, adding that illegal sand mining was rampant in Selangor, Johor, Perak and Pahang.

“We found that the enforcement officers took bribes ranging from RM500 to RM88,000. Six of the enforcement officers admitted that they were also bribed with sexual favours,” he said.

In January, two Customs officers and a Land and Mines officer were charged with accepting bribes in July 2009 as inducement not to take action against four lorries found to have smuggled sand to Singapore.

Mustafar also said that it was against the law to carry out sand mining activities at night.

“But the law is rarely enforced,” he added.

Sources from the Malaysia Maritime Enforce-ment Agency said most of the barges that left Johor had documents claiming the sand was to be delivered to Selangor.

“The barges had to ply international waters. More than 90% of the shipments never made it to Selangor,” said one source.

The Star reported yesterday that sand worth millions of ringgit was being illegally “floated” out of the country daily via Sungai Johor.


MP files motion on sand smuggling
The Star 25 Jun 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: An opposition MP has filed an emergency motion in the Dewan Rakyat, seeking for a debate on sand smuggling in the country.

Er Teck Hwa (DAP – Bakri), who filed the motion, said such activities were humiliating and had caused Malaysia to suffer huge losses.

“It is as though we are selling our land to another country,” he said. Such crimes indicated weak enforcement, he added.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia will decide on the the motion on Monday.

Agencies urged to jointly work against illegal sand mining
The Star 25 Jun 10;

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has called on all relevant agencies to join forces and dig deeper into illegal sand smuggling activities in the country.

MACC investigations director Mustafar Ali told The Star that illegal sand mining was rampant in Selangor, Johor, Perak and Pahang, with some enforcement officers admitting to accepting cash bribes and also sexual favours. He also said laws were rarely enforced.

Other developments:

● The Johor government is starting its own investigation and welcomes all quarters, including the media, to provide evidence to the agencies, following the Starprobe report on sand smuggling in Johor.

● An opposition MP has filed an emergency motion in Parliament to debate the sand smuggling activities in Sungai Johor.

● The ease with which sand is being smuggled out of Malaysia via the country’s exit points poses a security threat, say security officials.

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