Water, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2011), Pages 445-717 Released

Here's the latest from:

Water, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2011), Pages 445-717 at http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/

Table of Contents:

Michael D. Dettinger, Fred Martin Ralph, Tapash Das, Paul J. Neiman and Daniel R. Cayan
Article: Atmospheric Rivers, Floods and the Water Resources of California
Water 2011, 3(2), 445-478; doi:10.3390/w3020445
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/445/

Lisa J. Lucero, Joel D. Gunn and Vernon L. Scarborough
Article: Climate Change and Classic Maya Water Management
Water 2011, 3(2), 479-494; doi:10.3390/w3020479
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/479/

Erick Butler, Yung-Tse Hung, Ruth Yu-Li Yeh and Mohammed Suleiman Al Ahmad
Review: Electrocoagulation in Wastewater Treatment
Water 2011, 3(2), 495-525; doi:10.3390/w3020495
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/495/

Alvaro Calzadilla, Katrin Rehdanz and Richard S.J. Tol
Article: Trade Liberalization and Climate Change: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis of the Impacts on Global Agriculture
Water 2011, 3(2), 526-550; doi:10.3390/w3020526
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/526/

R. O. Abdel Rahman, H. A. Ibrahium and Yung-Tse Hung
Review: Liquid Radioactive Wastes Treatment: A Review
Water 2011, 3(2), 551-565; doi:10.3390/w3020551
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/551/

Daniel J. Bain, Jennifer A. S. Arrigo, Mark B. Green, Brian A. Pellerin and Charles J. Vörösmarty
Communication: Historical Legacies, Information and Contemporary Water Science and Management
Water 2011, 3(2), 566-575; doi:10.3390/w3020566
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/566/

Olga E. Scarpati, Maria I. Botana, Alberto D. Capriolo, Veronica Pohl Schnake, Yamile Puga and Edgardo Salaverry
Article: Present Characteristics of Northwestern Patagonia (Argentina)
Water 2011, 3(2), 576-589; doi:10.3390/w3020576
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/576/

Joe Magner
Article: Tailored Watershed Assessment and Integrated Management (TWAIM): A Systems Thinking Approach
Water 2011, 3(2), 590-603; doi:10.3390/w3020590
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/590/

Manoj Kumar Jha
Article: Evaluating Hydrologic Response of an Agricultural Watershed for Watershed Analysis
Water 2011, 3(2), 604-617; doi:10.3390/w3020604
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/604/

Claudio Cassardo and J. Anthony A. Jones
Editorial: Managing Water in a Changing World
Water 2011, 3(2), 618-628; doi:10.3390/w3020618
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/618/

Yung-Tse Hung, Erick Butler and Ruth Yu-Li Yeh
Review: Chemicals and Allied Products Waste Treatment
Water 2011, 3(2), 629-648; doi:10.3390/w3020629
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/629/

Phil Rowland, Colin Neal, Darren Sleep, Colin Vincent and Paul Scholefield
Article: Chemical Quality Status of Rivers for the Water Framework Directive: A Case Study of Toxic Metals in North West England
Water 2011, 3(2), 649-666; doi:10.3390/w3020650
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/649/

Marko Stenroos and Tapio S. Katko
Article: Managing Water Supply through Joint Regional Municipal Authorities in Finland: Two Comparative Cases
Water 2011, 3(2), 667-681; doi:10.3390/w3020667
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/667/

John Crowther, Danyel I. Hampson, Ian J. Bateman, David Kay, Paulette E. Posen, Carl M. Stapleton and Mark D. Wyer
Article: Generic Modelling of Faecal Indicator Organism Concentrations in the UK
Water 2011, 3(2), 682-701; doi:10.3390/w3020682
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/682/

Ludovico Spinosa, Azize Ayol, Jean-Christophe Baudez, Roberto Canziani, Pavel Jenicek, Angelique Leonard, Wim Rulkens, Guoren Xu and Lex van Dijk
Article: Sustainable and Innovative Solutions for Sewage Sludge Management
Water 2011, 3(2), 702-717; doi:10.3390/w3020702
http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/3/2/702/

End of the issue.

Water for the World Act Needs Your Help

Thank you, Waterdoc:

The Sen. Paul Simon Water for the World Act unanimously passed the U.S. Senate (S. 624) last September. It now is in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2030), where the hope is that it will be passed during the current lame duck session of Congress. Most observers give the bill little chance of passage when the 112th Congress convenes in January 2011. So it's now, or perhaps never.

The bill would provide clean water and sanitation to 100M people.

Here is more information from Water Advocates:

Now is the most important time to contact your member of the House of Representatives to ask them to pass the Water for the World Act. The bill has already passed the Senate. We have an opportunity with one last push from all of you to make this work. Your member of the House of Representatives needs to hear from you during the lame duck Session, which begins on November 15 and may end in early December.

This lifesaving legislation would go a long way toward ending the world's largest health crisis - the diseases caused by the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. It would also give the United States an important leadership role in providing access to water, sanitation and hygiene for millions of the world's poorest people.

All House offices can be called through 202-225-3121, or more directly by getting their office numbers from www.house.gov. Even better, send them a short email: Go to www.house.gov to go to the Representative's site where they provide an email contact form (and sometimes an actual email address).

Friend, filmmaker, and hydrophilanthropist Jim Thebaut, whose visage has graced these pages a number of times, has prepared a brief video to promote the bill. It features former Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), former Senate minority leader; Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); and Patti Simon, the Senator's widow. Frist, Blumenauer, and Durbin played instrumental roles in getting the bill to where it is today, and Simon championed the cause as well.

Here is the link to Jim's video on You Tube (you will need Adobe Flash Player 10 to view it); you can also view a Quick Time 7 version on Jim's WWW site.

I would appreciate it if you would contact your representative and request that she or he vote for the bill, H.R. 2030. Thank you!



“This important legislation complements the efforts of US nonprofit development organizations, philanthropies, corporations, faith communities and civic groups, and could profoundly improve millions of lives.” -- David Douglas, President, Water Advocates

The Water We Drink

The Water We Drink: Small Community Outreach Campaign, which offers information about maintaining safe, sustainable, and secure water supplies in small and rural communities, has added new content to its website.

The website, located at www.nesc.wvu.edu/waterwedrink/, is a joint effort by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and the National Environmental Services Center (NESC), located at West Virginia University, and is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

New articles about source water protection, setting water and sewer rates, water and energy, and the benefits of joining your state’s Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) are available to complement previous articles related to pharmaceuticals and personal care products in our waters, impending labor shortages, and aging infrastructure. The articles are written especially for those who oversee local water and wastewater services, and may be downloaded at no charge and used for educational purposes, such as reprinting in newsletters and magazines, training sessions, and websites.

RCAP’s Director of Training and Technical Services Joy Barrett, Ph.D., says, “Our main message is that local leadership is essential in protecting water resources and maintaining critical water and wastewater services, and there are practical options for ensuring the short- and long-term viability of these systems. The new articles encourage local officials and small water utility board members to be proactive in working with local utilities to determine adequate rates, prevent water pollution, conserve water and energy, and partner with neighboring utilities to plan and respond to emergencies.”

The website also offers a brochure, a PowerPoint presentation and instructor’s guide, and fact sheets about keeping pharmaceuticals and personal care products out of our waterways. The Water We Drink project strives to raise awareness about crucial water issues and solutions, and invites everyone to use the articles and resources to support or complement state and local efforts.

Learn more by going to www.nesc.wvu.edu/waterwedrink/.

Take Back the Power!

Or, How We Can Really Make the Power Companies Even More Dependent on We the Ratepayers

This posting is ostensibly about power generation, so why am I, Oregon Water Thorn, tackling this topic?  Because the issue of distribution and big utilities can, naturally, be translated to water or sewage distribution/collection.  Think about the parallels:

I have a friend that lives over in Bend that was griping the other day about the local electric utility raising rates. A normal response, in fact, a great response, because the rate hike prompted a declaration that the family would lower their electricity use to avoid paying more. Assuming that the electric utility's goal was to cover the increasing costs of electricity generation, then this family's response is perfect. After all, conservation is the cheapest, fastest, and easiest way to increase system capacity regardless of whether a given distribution system delivers electricity or water services. In short, these kinds of homeowners end up working towards the utility's goal of maximizing the resource in the cheapest way possible.

But I know that most homeowners don't understand the real power that comes with distributed power generation. And I use the dualistic word "power" in this context in the "We the People" sense because without we the ratepayers, utilities would not exist.

Given this fundamental linkage between paying rates and the big utility (to draw the obvious comparison for you, paying taxes and the big guv'mint), I don't understand why Tea Party types don't all have grid- or non-grid-tied photovoltaic, or wind, systems on their land. This is the common person's arena where they can jump in to free themselves of the big utility. Free themselves of rate increases. Become independent in that true American homesteading fashion. And, with grid-tied systems, an individual property becomes part of the electric production network which makes the utility just that little bit beholden to you for their stock in trade.

Power to the people, by the people, for the people.

The photovoltaic, or PV, system on the roof of our state capitol building is a most elegant representation of this concept and, in my opinion, one of the best investments Oregon has ever made. And it makes me wonder, why aren't more of us free of monthly power bills?

I suspect it is because of the upfront investment that's needed to take back the power. In a sense, it is the very corporate concept that it takes money to make money that prevents a lot of cash-strapped folks I know from making the investment. But I also know a lot of non-cash-strapped folks that could easily make the investment and that are the classic Tea Party type complainers.

So I have to ask, what is freedom worth? What is it worth to a nation of so-called rugged individualists to be truly independent in such a fundamental part of their lives? Apparently it is not worth much if the ever increasing complaints about rates are any measure.

So to return to my by-line, do I need to draw the parallel with water and wastewater? What is it worth to the folks that want small government to reduce the capacity of our water and wastewater systems? What is it worth to get off the grid of our municipal water and wastewater plants by using less, by harvesting rainwater, by reusing wastewater or greywater on our land? What is it worth to be free of that tie? Again, apparently not much, given the number of people I know that want to tie themselves to the big wastewater treatment system.

Reverse auctions for stormwater mitigation

Here's a study out of Cincinnati, Ohio where they did a reverse auction to ask people how much they had to be paid to take a rain barrel or rain garden on their property to reduce stormwater runoff in a small watershed. It is a good description of how to do this kind of thing to get people to adopt a new technology/approach, but the report stops short of providing monitoring results (in other words, do these things actually have a measurable effect on runoff in the watershed).

http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600r08129/600r08129.htm

Protecting the Public, Protecting the Profit, or Profiting from Power?

Stolen from Rainbow Water Coalition...

 

Monday, May 3, 2010

Protecting the Public, Protecting the Profit, or Profiting from Power?

A consistent message is being spread by the wastewater industry about greywater which I have been perplexed by, but think I am starting to understand why.  Take, for example, this article from The Daily Lobo (The Independent Voice of University of New Mexico since 1895) where they quote Katherine Yuhas who is the water conservation officer at the Albuquerque Water Authority:

“The state regulates gray water. And, in 2003, the state made it legal to use up to 250 gallons of gray water per day,” Yuhas said. “It’s not very popular at all, frankly. We don’t promote the gray water program. We don’t offer rebates for it. The reason is that we treat water at our water reclamation plant to a much higher standard than you could in your yard.”

I did not realize that someone's yard was in competition for water "treatment" with a wastewater treatment plant. Ms. Yuhas is silent whether or not the treated water is available for the homeowner to reuse in their yard, which I think is the idea behind greywater reuse.  (see remainder of post at link above)

DEQ and Groundwater Management

Interesting to note the Environmental Quality Commission meeting agenda for this week includes an informational item about the Lower Umatilla Groundwater Management Area (staff report is available here).  The opening of the staff report states, "Oregon’s 1995 Groundwater Protection Act requires DEQ to declare a 

groundwater management area if groundwater contamination, resulting at least in part from nonpoint source activities, exceeds certain contamination levels." The staff report goes on to say that it is worth continuing to use voluntary methods to control contamination in the region even though groundwater nitrate levels have not declined and in fact show increasing trends. 

Perhaps I noticed this item because within the same week I received a notice that the DEQ is holding a public meeting about establishing a steering committee for what they are calling the S. Deschutes/N. Klamath Groundwater Protection Project.  On the map on the web site for this project it shows a statewide map of the incidence of detected nitrate-nitrogen levels in groundwater around the state and there several bright red spots of 10+mg/L around the state.  

What does a Groundwater Management Area get us as citizens of Oregon?  Voluntary action while groundwater contamination increases .... establishing yet another steering committee while groundwater contamination continues ... sometimes it is time to call a spade a spade and put that spade to work improving things.

Greenwalls

Thanks to Rainbow Todd for this info:

I am intrigued by the concept but admit that I found the blog site referenced annoying in that it only talked briefly about the potential environmental benefits of such an installation, the sum total that I found was:

"... located at the Vancouver International (YVR) Airport’s SkyTrain station.  The first Canadian airport to install a greenwall, international visitors to this beautiful city are greeted by the living tapestry, just one of the sustainable initiatives and ecological solutions for the airport.  Since YVR is situated within the estuary of the Fraser River on Sea Island, a large conservation project was created here to offset the environmental impact the airport causes, including a wildlife preserve and public beaches."

The blogger tended to go about the architectural aesthetic so interested persons will have to look elsewhere for substantive information.  I wonder if this gets rainwater, greywater...?

EPA Launches Web Forum on How to Best Protect America’s Waters

Unfortunately I got this too late to post and/or participate but it is interesting to read the comments that resulted from this:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking public input on how the agency can better protect and improve the health of our waters.  For a two-week period, EPA is holding a Web discussion forum on how the nation can better manage some of the most significant water pollution problems facing our nation. The feedback received on the online forum will help shape the discussion at EPA’s upcoming conference in April, Coming Together for Clean Water, where EPA will engage approximately 100 executive and local level water leads on the agency’s clean water agenda.

"We look forward to reviewing the ideas and feedback from the public,” said Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water. “This online discussion is for anyone who wants to share their best solutions for restoring healthy waters and creating sustainable communities across the country."

EPA wants to receive input from water professionals, advocates, and anyone interested in water quality issues about best solutions—from planning, scientific tools, low impact development, to green infrastructure and beyond—in controlling water pollution and how resources can be better focused to improve these efforts.

To join the discussion: http://blog.epa.gov/waterforum/

Help Oregon Develop an Integrated Water Resources Strategy

Just a reminder that OWRD's Spring 2010 open houses are coming up!

Four state agencies have been given responsibility for developing an integrated water resources strategy for Oregon by 2012, with 5‐year updates thereafter. This spring, these agencies, along with commissioners and local partners, will host a series of evening open houses throughout Oregon
communities, serving three purposes:

 
1. To ensure that participants receive information about the statewide strategy, the project timeline, and the many opportunities to participate.

2. To gather input from community members, in terms of water resource challenges, opportunities, and recommended actions.

3. To highlight successful, local examples of water resource solutions currently underway in Oregon communities.

Various stations will allow participants to engage in individual conversations and facilitated discussions, listen to presentations, and to ask questions about current issues and local projects. A “kid’s center” will allow younger attendees to participate in water‐related activities.

More info at:

http://www1.wrd.state.or.us/pdfs/2_12_10_Briefer.pdf

WSWC Report: Exempt Well Issues in the West

This is an issue near and dear to my heart - how many stirring straws can you stick in a slurpie before you start to run out of sugar water?  Thanks to Michael Campana and Todd Jarvis, from whom I stole this posting...

 WSWC Report: Exempt Well Issues in the West

Here is a timely report if there ever was one. It's by Nathan Bracken of the Western States Water Council. Hot off the press - thanks toTodd Jarvis.

Download Exempt_Wells_in_the_West_N_Bracken

Here is the Executive Summary:

There are over a million exempt domestic and livestock wells
located throughout the West. Although these wells are an important
source of water for a large number of water users, they also pose
significant regulatory and administrative challenges that have the
potential to impact the sustainability of water supplies, surface flows,
and water quality. In June 2008, the Western Governors’ Association
and the Western States Water Council issued a report entitled Water
Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future: Next Steps, which
contained recommendations on how the states and federal government
should address the ever-increasing challenges associated with water
management in the West. Item 3(D) of the Next Steps report’s
Executive Summary recommends that states “should examine their
related laws and institutions and evaluate the merits of . . . [permitting
and monitoring] exempt domestic and livestock wells as part of water
rights regulatory schemes.” The WSWC’s Legal Committee
subsequently commissioned this Report, which addresses 1) the
statutory and regulatory authority among WSWC member states
regarding exempt domestic and livestock wells, 2) the ways in which
these wells can complicate or compromise water resources allocation,
administration, and quality, 3) the specific challenges WSWC member
states are facing with respect to exempt wells, 4) the relative costs and
benefits associated with mintoring wells that are currently exempt,
and 5) the potential approaches to mitigate the adverse impacts of
exempt wells.
Perhaps I should have saved this post for April Fools' Day.
"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."  ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Great stuff from the story of stuff project

From the likes of "build it and they will come" comes the manufactured demand for bottled water.  Free market, indeed:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0&feature=player_embedded

It's a wonder that the public, especially that portion of our public with family members serving in the middle east, has not outright condemned the bottled water industry for increasing our dependence on foreign oil in such a frivolous manner.

Near the boiling point; The area water district board has become a battleground over issues of incorporation, and both sides — pro- and anti-growth —

Here is another take on the subject of "land use planning is water planning." Terrebonne is a very small community with very large opinions and the only local government is the local water board.

Near the boiling point; The area water district board has become a battleground over issues of incorporation, and both sides — pro- and anti-growth — feel the heat | News
| The Bulletin

WaterSense "Fix a Leak Week" in March

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting its second annual WaterSense "Fix a Leak Week," March 15 to 21, 2010, as a time to remind Americans to roll up their sleeves and save water.
Minor leaks from household plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems account for more than 1 trillion gallons of water wasted each year in U.S. homes—enough to supply Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami with their water needs for a year. EPA created this week-long annual event to give its WaterSense utility, community, manufacturer, retail, and professional partners a call to action to encourage saving water.

For example, the City of Dallas and dozens of local plumbers will launch Fix a Leak Week by taking to the streets to repair leaks in low-income residences and replace fixtures with WaterSense labeled models. The Great Dallas Fix a Leak Week Roundup—a seven-day blitz to completely wipe out the waiting list for the city's leak repair program—is just one of many events WaterSense partners will be hosting in their communities across the country.
WaterSense is encouraging homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, and plumbing professionals to help find and fix leaks by promoting the following tips:

• Reduce faucet leaks by checking faucet washers and gaskets for wear and, if necessary, replace the faucet with a WaterSense labeled model.
• Replace worn rubber flappers, which can cause silent leaks in toilets.
• For a leaky garden hose, replace the nylon or rubber hose washer and ensure a tight connection to the spigot using pipe tape and a wrench.
• Check landscape irrigation systems each spring before use to make sure they are not damaged by frost or freezing.
• Remember to look for the WaterSense label if you have to replace a bathroom fixture.
• To learn more about Fix a Leak Week or to become a WaterSense partner, please visit www.epa.gov/watersense. Check back March 15 to 21 for updates and photos from events taking place across the nation.

WaterSense© is a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Its mission is to protect the future of our nation's water supply by promoting and enhancing the market for water-efficient products and services.

Comments on a Graywater Reuse Demonstration in Bangalore

I stole this link from the Rainbow Water Coalition site (thanks to Todd Jarvis).  It is a great little demonstration of how easily kitchen sink water can be reused.  If my math is correct this will treat up to about 30 gallons per day, easily accommodating what comes from a typical single family residence.  How many of you know people with water features in the back yard?

Bangalore graywater reuse video

There are a couple of things to think about here depending on if you are in a big municipal sewer context or in the little septic system context.  The big municipal sewer might really like these diversions because in the sense of total volume these kinds of installations will "buy" them sewer treatment plant capacity, probably at no cost to the municipality (assuming that homeowners install them on their own dime).  The other issue that municipalities may face if there is a very large proportion of graywater flow being redirected is a change in the quality of the sewage reaching the plant.  Depending on the proportion of commercial/industrial/residential contributions in the community waste stream, changes in the sewage quality may cause a change in the treatment process.  Not necessarily in all cases, and the change may be so gradual that little tweaks to the system can accommodate the change in incoming quality to still meet discharge standards.

In terms of small septic systems, particularly those that serve one house, the change in water quantity through the system can have a significant impact, positive and negative, depending on the kind of system in use.  A simple septic tank and trench kind of system will probably benefit from having graywater removed from the flow going to the septic tank because the remaining blackwater will be retained in the septic tank (primary digester) for a longer period, allowing more anaerobic digestion to take place.  In addition, the flow going to the trenches that distribute the water to the environment have to take less water and therefore, the life of the trenches is prolonged.  And that leads to lower costs to the homeowner, etc. etc.

With more mechanized (i.e. pumped) systems, you would hope and pray that the homeowner is working with a professional to make sure that the pumping cycles are lowered in this system to account for the lowered flow to the septic system because the septic tank will have a higher concentration of solids that could start moving towards the trenches.  These kinds of systems are supposed to have water levels sensors and alarms on them that help protect the system and alert the homeowner to the presence of a problem, but homeowners have been known to quietly cut the electrical connection to the alarm.  If this is done before the graywater diversion is installed or if the mechanized system is otherwise malfunctioning, then the effects on the treatment systems could be bad.

There are new kinds of septic systems permitted by the DEQ currently and some of these produce very high quality effluent, which is worthy of its own reuse discussion.  In these cases, why take only part of the water when all of it is potentially reusable?  This presents another opportunity to "buy" municipal treatment system capacity:  allow homes in urban areas to install an individual system and reuse the water on site.  Each home taken off the grid in this manner means treatment capacity to the city treatment works.

Land use equals water use

I was thinking, yes, a dangerous thing for someone who has more questions than knowledge or answers, about a comment I heard Todd Jarvis give a long time ago about land use planning being water use planning.  I know enough to be dangerous about our land use system but from my personal history in Oregon I am aware of how my family's farms in the Hillsboro area were gobbled up by the tech industry when Tektronix moved in.  My childhood memories of berry field and fruit orchards are just that, memories.  I still grieve when I have the misfortune to travel those roads these days...but living in another part of Oregon now, I can move on.  I don't live a traditional agrarian lifestyle, I am very much an urbanite and relish the opportunities provided by that environment.  But, true to my forebears, I grow my tomatoes, potatoes and carrots...I have my laying hens...and I really enjoy my urban farmsteading and find that, pardon the pun, it grounds me.  So what does all this have to do with water?  I keep thinking about the environmental impacts of paving our farmlands and about providing all the things that development in suburban areas needs to continue...electricity, sewage management, trash (or more hopefully recycling) service, roads, schools, police, fire, and water.  While I list water last, so many of the previous things need water to exist or affect water: 

• sewage wouldn't exist if we didn't have flush toilets, although I think that having indoor running water at sinks and showers is probably a really good public health deal ... so we need at least some kind of sewage management
• a lot of our electricity comes from hydroelectric sources ... how different would it be if all the big boxes had solar arrays covering their flat tops?
• trash maybe doesn't take a lot of water to deal with but I have read that there can be nasty stuff leaching out of landfills
• recycling probably takes water to clean materials or reprocess them - I posted the little report from DEQ of the lifecycle costs of recycling vs. reusing water bottles.  Interesting stuff and it makes you wonder if that is a good example of other parts of the recycling industry.  The gut says it probably is...
• roads are interesting to think about - not knowing a whole lot about how they are constructed I will hazard a guess that the water related impacts come after they are there - rain runs off them and picks up whatever cars, animals or leaking trash trucks leave behind.  I've heard of roads causing local changes to groundwater flow by creating an underground dam - all of a sudden, someone floods that never flooded before... 
• schools and police equal people in my mind and people are, to pull a quote from a Star Trek episode "bags of mostly water."  We need water to survive, duh.  But do we take more than we need?
• fire services are also people but the service, by definition, uses water but probably not something I begrudge.

I think the bone I'm picking is the "bags of mostly water" part of the equation.  People have to live somewhere and work somewhere and here, in the opulent, plush, US of A, people always assume they will have water when they turn on the tap or flush the toilet.  And because of that assumption, yes, land uses that support people, homes, businesses, roads, schools, sewage services, electricity services, ad nauseum, are water uses...farms are water uses....but what's the life cycle cost of paving farmland and growing people instead of berries?  I don't know.  Yet again, I think about things and am left with more questions than ever.