Texas town without water in heat wave

Kemp, Texas, had to shut off its water system due to 37 days of triple-digit temperatures depleting the town's water supply, officials say.

The Sunday afternoon shutdown was to give the town's aging water system time to refill its reserves, WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The hot weather has caused 14 major water mains to break in the past three weeks, which has drained the city's water reserves, the TV station said.

Kemp Mayor Donald Kile says the old infrastructure has a lot to do with the problem. The local water treatment plant was last replaced 40 years ago, and a lot of the town's 30 miles of pipelines were installed in the 1930s and haven't been updated in years.

"It's sad to say, but it's poor planning," said Kile, who was elected mayor recently. "When they put that water treatment plant in, they should have implemented something then ... . It just wasn't ever done."

Local residents expressed their displeasure with the situation.

"You tell them this old woman is hot down here -- and not just because of the heat!" Kay Bloomfield yelled at a utility worker who gave her a notice of the water shutdown.

Clyde Scott, who relies on the city water for his ranch that houses 31 horses and his family, said he also was upset about the water shortage.

"They told me they can't fill me up with water. I've got seven kids ... . We can't be without water!" he said.

Britain contracting facilities management

Britain's Defense Infrastructure Organization is developing a prime contract for management of the country's military training ranges.

The National Training Estate Prime contract will deliver management of training areas, camps and ranges when the current arrangement starts to expire in 2013.

Key sites will include the Salisbury Plain Training Area, Catterick Training Area, Sennybridge and Otterburn.

The contract is valued at between $653 million and $1.5 billion over a minimum of five years and a maximum of 10 years, the Defense Infrastructure Organization said.

The Defense Training Estate supports training for an average of 9,000 military personnel per day. Services to be provided under the project will include management and operation of ranges and training areas, specialist range safety and range warden services.

They will also include built estate facilities management, accommodation services, management of the rural estate, catering, cleaning, construction, range bookings and information management.

"The training estate contains a variety of terrain, buildings, and training facilities across U.K.," said Brig. Ian Simpson, head of International and Training. "By creating a national contract, we will ensure coherent management and optimized value for money across highly complex assets and training requirements."