Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/728580
crease, 1.3 percentage points, came from a net decline in respondents ex- pecting future business conditions to be worse, and the rest came from a net decline in respondents expecting future business conditions to be the same. Consumers' assessments of current employment conditions improved but were mixed. The share of respondents reporting jobs were "not so plentiful" decreased from 54.9% to 50.6%. Most of the 4.3 percentage point decline (3%) was the result of a net increase in assessments of "jobs plentiful," an up- grade, while the rest was the result of a net increase in assessments of "jobs hard to get," a downgrade. Similar to consumers' assessments of current employment conditions, expec- tations of employment over the next six months were mixed. The share of respondents expecting "same jobs" declined by 0.8 percentage points. Most of the decline (0.7%) upgraded to "more jobs," while the rest downgraded to "fewer jobs." The Conference Board also reports the share of respondents planning to buy a home within six months. The share of respondents planning to buy a home rose to 6.4% from 5.1%. The share of respondents planning to buy a newly constructed home and an existing home were 1.4% and 3.5%, respectively. The share of respondents who were "uncer- tain" whether they would buy a newly constructed or an existing home was 1.5%. The trend in the share of respondents planning to buy a home within six months has been steadily upward since the end of the recession, suggesting growing optimism among consumers about the housing market. Partnership for Sustainable Groundwater Management Set to Tackle Initiatives NGWA has joined with 15 interna- tional organizations concerned with groundwater sustainability as part of the Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP). As part of this partnership, NGWA will be part of a network of partners with the critical mass to confront today's groundwater issues and advance groundwater management. As surface water supplies dwindle, groundwater use is soaring. It is being pumped at unprecedented rates for irri- gation, industry, and urban develop- ment—which cannot be sustained left unmanaged. Groundwater is also in- creasingly being degraded because of human pollution, damaging to the envi- ronment and imperiling food supplies, jobs, and health. In addition, climate change is likely to intensify our depend- ence on groundwater, so the need for solutions is becoming critical. The GRIPP partnership, led by the International Water Management Insti- tute, has established several goals to strengthen, expand, and connect current groundwater management initiatives: • Creating a knowledge hub on groundwater and food security to in- fluence international negotiations on curbing overexploitation of ground- water • Helping 20 million people, currently at risk of scarcity, adopt sustainable groundwater strategies • Improving groundwater access for 4 million rural households and irri- NEWS continues on page 16 Solinst Canada Ltd., 35 Todd Road, Georgetown, ON L7G 4R8 Fax: +1 (905) 873-1992; (800) 516-9081 Tel: +1 (905) 873-2255; (800) 661-2023 instruments@solinst.com www.solinst.com High Quality Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring Instrumentation Water Level Meters Reliable & Repeatable Measurements Model 101 P7 Water Level Meters feature extremely durable, laser marked PVDF flat tape and a submersible pressure-proof probe. 0 Tape lengths to 5000 ft (1500 m) 0 Markings every 1/100 ft or mm; certified traceable to national standards 0 P7 probe ideal for measuring total well depth Water Levels in Tight Spaces Model 102 Water Level Meters feature narrow probes and laser marked cable. 0 3/4" diameter P10 Probe, with segmented stainless steel weights 0 Flexible for snaking past down-well pumps and restrictions 0 Same reliable electronics and well-designed reel as the Model 101 10:58 AM Twitter @WaterWellJournl WWJ October 2016 15