Ridenbaugh Press/Water Rights

The Sitka, Alaska assembly has voted to keep in place, for at least another six years, an effort to ship water from the southeast Alaskan city to Asia.

The vote drew some interest in part because of word that the local Sitka participant in the commercial effort, True Alaska Bottling, was discontinuing its arrangements with S2C Global Systems, with which it has had a joint venture for the water shipment.

The joint venture, formed in 2008, was set up to export overseas water from the Sitka area.

S2C says it “provides water globally from the source to consumers (”S2C”). In this thirsty world access to clean water is critical for life, food and industry. Long term supplies of pure mountain water can be shipped to any deepwater port on the planet. Shipping, off-loading and distribution solutions for bulk water are readily provided. Smaller scale innovative strategies for ongoing water supply and purification.”

True Alaska, the local provider of water, says that it “was founded in 2002 to bottle water at the Sawmill Cove Industrial Park in Sitka, Alaska and to sell bulk water. In 2006, the city of Sitka completed the construction of a dedicated pipeline from Blue lake to Silver Bay. TAB secured a bulk water contract from the city of Sitka at the same time. TAB has now focused its full attention on the sale of bulk water.”

The effort may not be finished yet, however.

The news site Circle of Blue reported on February 2, “Yet the end of the partnership, named Alaska Resource Management, may not be a fait accompli. S2C’s president Rod Bartlett told Circle of Blue in an email that, as the main shareholder, S2C had not consented to dissolving the joint company. Additionally, as of his last conversation with True Alaska, Bartlett said that he still anticipates selling Sitka water. Trapp told Circle of Blue in a phone interview that True Alaska’s lawyer had sent a notice of dissolution to S2C’s legal representative, but that he would have to follow up on whether it had been received. He declined to comment on why the notice was sent.”

One of the key native Alaskan corporations has begun a process leading to large-scale export of some of the Alaskan water under its control.

The Aleut Corporation said in August that it envisions exporting as much as a half-million gallons daily three freshwater lakes it controls on Adak Island. Adak is described in Wikipedia as “near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska’s southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island.”

The demand for the water is thought to be mainly in the form of bottled drinking water aimed at China and India.

The three lakes involved are Lake Bonnie Rose, Lake De Marie and Lake Betty.

Other water shipping proposals in Alaska, which unlike most states has far more water than residents seek to use, are making their way through the process as well.

One of those is from the Anchorage-based Aqueous Northern Holdings LLC, which July 19 asked the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for water rights at four Southeast locations.

Also, Texas-based S2C Global Systems Inc. said on July 7 it has ambitious plans to develop a “water hub” in India.

From its release:

S2C Global Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: STWG) today announced that within 6 to 8 months the company expects to start distributing fresh water from its first “World Water Hub” located on the west coast of India.

For security reasons the port will not be disclosed, however this first hub will include a berth for a Suezmax vessel (156,000 cubic meters/41Million USG), an offloading system to a dedicated tank farm and a distribution complex for packaged water. Within 18 months after that we will be able to switch to a very large class vessel (302,833 cubic meters/80 Million USG), as both the ship and the berth for her will be completed within this time frame. Contracts for the distribution hub and ships are being finalized.

The company will be able to sell from its hub bulk fresh water by way of smaller ships that can deliver to shallower ports, like Umm Qasr in Iraq (located within 4 days of India’s west coast). S2C will also sell fresh water in 20-foot containers with flexi-tanks (4623 USG) suitable for pharmaceutical/high tech manufacturing and packaged water (18.9 and 10L) for the consumer markets anywhere containers are delivered in south and west Asia from India.

India itself provides a particularly significant growth market for the packaged waters with a current population of 1.15 billion people, an emerging middle class and an increasing clean water shortage.

Our Alaskan mountain water is so pure it requires no treatment except to remove organics that might be present through the natural cycle. During its 30 day voyage from Alaska to the Arabian Sea we will protect the water using an “Ozonating” system in the ships holds.

Water rights at the very small and even more remote community of Eagle, Alaska, may be the subject of some intense negotiations, because the water, and the power it can generate, are high at that point along the Yukon River.

Eagle, located northeast of Fairbanks, has been a focus of attention recently on the part of a number of players. Alaska Power and Telephone Company and the Denali Commission (which is a federal-state organization aimed at infrastructure development, and which has provided to Alaska Power some funding for development at Eagle) both have been looking at water and power generation prospects at Eagle. Alaska Power has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to pursue generation in the area.

But in August, Hydro Green Energy of Texas said it has a permit from FERC allowing it sole control of water passing by Eagle. That firm intends to test a hydrokinetic opertion over a period of three years – and its federal permit now may give it precedence.

Alaska Power may wind up waiting the three years before it can begin development, assuming it too received a permit.