London's new mayor has withdrawn a legal challenge launched by his predecessor over a desalination plant. The new

Efforts are on worldwide to make desalination units more energy efficient and environment-friendly. Water has always been a volatile topic in Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent. Yet, protesters are complaining that a planned desalination facility outside Melbourne, Victoria, will generate too much freshwater. The $3-billion government-owned plant will produce more than 300,000 cubic meters of drinkable water a day when it opens in 2011, placing it among the world's biggest.

Nearly $13bn will be invested over the next ten years in securing water supplies in the face of climate change, the Australian government has announced. The investment includes $1.5bn in new urban water investment to help secure water supplies for homes and businesses in the face of climate change. Announcing the government's plans, Climate Change and Water Minister Penny Wong said most Australian towns and cities can no longer rely on rainfall to supply drinking water.

The Rudd Government is buying into the flawed plans to alleviate the water crisis. IT IS possible to have life without oil, but life without water is impossible for more than a few days. Given the impending water crisis you would think that, at the very least, the Rudd Government would have looked at all the alternatives before Water Minister Penny Wong announced a $13 billion investment program in "strategic water priorities" in a speech to the Annual Water Summit on Tuesday.

ALL government policies

Cyprus, facing its worst drought in a decade, will start importing water from Greece within the next two months, Agriculture Minister Michalis Polinikis said on Monday. Reservoirs are dangerously low and the crisis has forced emergency water rationing and sped up plans by Cyprus to desalinate more seawater. Its two desalination plants are already running at full capacity. "We are looking at many options to find conclusive solutions to this issue," Polinikis told reporters.

The work on the 100-million-litre-a-day (MLD) seawater desalination plant at Minjur, on the northern outskirts of Chennai, is progressing expeditiously, Local Administration Minister M. K. Stalin informed the Assembly on Tuesday. Initiating the debate on the demand for grants to his department, he said the work would be completed this year. ILF-Mantech, an independent consultant, was appointed to monitor the work. As per its bulk water purchase agreement with Chennai Metrowater, Chennai Water Desalination Limited should deliver 15 MLD next month and 100 MLD in August.