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[ ♪ music ] a new ceasefire was reached in gaza, israelis in palestine yans agree to begin -- palestinians agree to begin another cae fire today at -- ceasefire today at 5:00 pm. let turn to jane ferguson in west jerusalem, can you tell us the details of how the latest temporary deal was reached? >> well, it's a surprise to some on the ground. this morning, after the israeli cabinet meeting heard stronger talk. basically binyamin netanyahu saying that they would not be coming back to cairo for the talks unless there was a cessation of violence, rockets,

coming out of gaza. during the cabinet meeting, members had called for an escalation, an increase in israeli operations in gaza, some calling for a full occupation. it's been a dramatic day. there's no confirmed reports as to how this came about. we know that the egyptians have been hosting and shuffling between the two. the egyptians have a pump card when it comes to pressuring hamas in the palestinians, because of the rafah boarder crossing with egypt. it's highly participation that that has -- potential that that has been a carrot or a stick to stop the rocket fire coming. once the rocket fire stopped, the is recallies said -- israelis said they'd honour a ceasefire. >> now that there's a deal, what

do the two sides need to negotiate? i know it's quite a bit. >> it's enormous, this is where negotiations begin. these are still only going to be indirect discussion, indirect negotiations. the israelis are still calling for the disarmament of hamas in gaza, hamas have said that is not going happen. for the gazans, the delegation, what is the main priority is the lifting of the blockade on gaza. it's been in place since 2007, after hamas won elections into power in gaza. the blockade severely restricts the movement in and out of people and goods in gaza, and that is severely restricting economic development there, and the quality of life inside gaza. both sides will have to negotiate huge meaty issues that they have disagreed on for years. those negotiations, even though they are indirect, will be fraught - still be a painful

process of trying to dom an agreement on some issues. >> does that truce change binyamin netanyahu's position and his strategy, in his latest offensive in gaza? >> technically not, because israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu was able to save face by this morning saying "we are going to continue the operation, we will not be returning to negotiations, and then this evening the reports that they will be because he had said that as soon as rocket fire stops from gaza into israel, that the israelis would stop. it's important to remember the whole operation has been a rolling operation, not something planned from start to finish. it responds to the needs on the ground. it's possible for binyamin netanyahu, and the israelis to attend the talks and abide by a 72 hour ceasefire and

potentially restart more operations on gaza, or stop them indefinitely as would need be, because of the nature of the rolling operation itself. it's going on a day by day basis, almost. >> jane ferguson, thank you so much. joining us via escape is gabriel, a foreign media advisor for the knesset, the deputy speaker, that was. thank you for joining us perhaps you can fill in some of what jane didn't know. what led to the 72 hour ceasefire that seemed to catch many offguard. what happened behind the scenes that you can tell us? >> hamas recognised they weren't going to get anything out tv. it's like ground hog day. i've lost count the number of times hamas broke a ceasefire. they were at ceasefire talks, and because they didn't like the way negotiations were going,

they started to fire rockets at israel as a negotiating tactic. is it realistic for his rail to insist that the rockets stop? what i mean is most agree that hamas doesn't necessarily control outline the factions launching all the rockets. is it realistic to think they are all going to stop, each if they should, is it realistic to expect that they will? >> yes, israel must - hamas had a ceasefire for 20 months, a palestinian author said an charlie rows that hamas learnt a lesson from the schille at deal. they learnt -- schille at deal. they learnt they could get things in response to violence. i consulted for the opposition deputy speaker, i'm not a spokesman for the government oar prime minister binyamin netanyahu, but my view and that of the peace camp is israel has to stop giving it to demands on

the terrorists. you can't negotiate under fire. hamas can hold down the ceasefire, they are permitting other factions to fire. i want to remind viewers that it's not a palestinian and israeli as much as it's painted that way. it's been extremists and moderates. >> extremists being hamas. >> hamas and the moderates bean the palestinian authority. what has to happen is the extremists must be disarmed and like the appointment lo in the 19 -- plo in the 1980s, they have to be deployed as a political tool and a long-term peace negotiation can take place. >> under no circumstances would you be willing to sit face to face with hamas. is that correct, i assume not, considering you call them extremists, is that right. >> they are extremists, the plo

was regards as a terrorist group. the israeli opposition leader, and the deputy speaker and others said that they would sit with hamas, if it was disarmed and they demilitarized gaza and stopped using violence as a political tool. the former intelligence chief in israel said to ask hamas to demilitarize gaza is like asking a priest to convert to judism, not an easy task. >> an israeli delegation is on its way to gaza. you used the terms groundhog day. it feels that way that it's the same thing over again. both sides have the same set of demands. tell us again what are the grievances, what are the issues that israel has? >> the rocket fires has to stop. >> in addition to the rockets

stopping? >> there are no other - the only demand is that the rocket fire stops so negotiations can take place between the palestinian authority and - the recognised interlock tours of the palestinian people and israel. hamas can be part of that if they agree to demilitarize gaza and foreswear their charter calling for the genocide of israeli people, and infidels. by the way, nears not moderates like the ploar mahmoud abbas, and shimon peres and others, that were called men of piece. these are fundamentalists extremists. hamas is the i.s.i.s. of gaza. they are committed to the genocide of infidels. "the new yorker" ran a superb piece, and the yazidi stuck in the mountains. in one day they called 2,000

yazidi, and the world says save gaza. all of a sudden the world discovered i.s.i.s. where was the outrage over the past few weeks? >> let me ask you something. 436 palestinian children have died in this last offensive. the last offensive, israel said, is about the tunnels. how is 436 children consistent with the issue of the tunnels. >> it's appalling. i'm disgusted with the killing of civilians in gaza. i'll say two things about that. first of all, it shows you the cynicism of hamas in being prepared to use violence to achieve a better deal out of the ceasefire deal. that's what they did, walking out of ceasefire negotiations that they agreed to to attack is

ril to extract -- israel to extract concessions. >> i'm asking about the actions of israel. >> i understand and i'll respond. my point about that would be that no war is - war is a bloody miserable thing. everyone knows that. 100,000 civilians were killed in iraq. over 20,000 killed in afghanistan, and, by the way, in one of the cleanest wars conducted in modern history, the costs of the war, to save the muslims kosovo. 500 civilians were killed. >> war is awful, no one debates that. that's not what i'm asking. >> zero nato competence were killed this that war. it's an appalling thing that women and children are killed in the conflict. and that can end in an instant and it didn't need to happen, if hamas did not fire rockets at

israel, there would not have been a response. they want this, the killing of civilians on both sides. this is a terrorist group. they are no different from i.s.i.s. >> let me ask you, do you think the palestinian people should have a state. >> yes. >> that was a yes or no. i got a yes. >> look, the world needs to unconditionally condemn the aggressors, it's not the palestinians and israelis, it's the extremists and moderates. the world needs to unconditionally condemn the aggressors, not the palestinians, hamas. they need to tell hamas the rocket fire should stop. and what should happen is israeli and palestinian moderates and there'll be a withdrawal - there has been a withdrawal from gaza, and from the west bank. >> let me ask you about the withdrawal from gaza. not a lot of attention has been paid to this.

let's talk about the buffer zones inside of gaza that israel controls. has there been a total withdrawal from gaza, and to that point, to that point. in many ways, palestinians in gaza say that they feel as if r erevery aspect of their life has been controlled by israel. has there been a total withdrawal. >> israel and egypt are prepared to lift certain parts of their restrictions. the withdrawal took place in 2005. there was no blockade until 2006. people forget it. it sounds like ancient history. between 2005 and 2006 no blockade. it began when happen as orchestrated a cow day tar and -- cue day tar and fired rocket attacks at the center. then there was a blockade, which was a legitimate access.

that will end in an instant as soon as we stop seeing the tunnels and the rocket fire, and we see a commitment from hamas, like there was from the plo in the '80s, and mahmoud abbas, a man i met and shook hands with in ramallah. there needs to be the same commitment from hamas. the u.k. didn't negotiate with the ira until they agreed to lay down their arms. the same happened with the plo. the israelis would not negotiate with the plo as long as they had the charter of israel. as soon as they said they accepted a two-state solution, and living next door to israel, not instead of israel, that opened the door to peace. if hamas is a different organization to the plo, it's not secular, it's a fundamentalist terror group. as soon as that happens, certainly, they can be part of the discussions too. >> gabriel, foreign media

advisor for the knesset deputy speaker, thank you for your type of. >> thank you so much. the u.s. military continues to take aim at the islamic state in northern iraq. four air strikes were carried out along roads leading to the territory held by the kurd of the kurdish forces say the air strikes have given them an upper hand, allowing them to drive the rebels out of two key villages. >> reporter: in the town of mack more where u.s. air strikes hit targets with the -- mack more where u.s. air strikes hit targets, armed trucks, intent on launching attacks against the kurdish forces. the peshmerga went in to try to fight back, managing to contain the city between erbil and the oil capital between kirkuk. fierce fighting along other

parts of the kurdish territories with the iraqi government-controlled territory, and in the mountains tens of thousands of the tiny yazidi are trapped. many are without food and water. the u.s. and its allies have been launching air drops, food and water dropped by helicopter to help them. many are out of range of help. in the past 48 hours kurdish officials tell us they have opened a corridor for the mountain and up to 5,000 have come down. we have tone to some who -- have spoken to some of those who walked down the mountain, and they tell stories of seeing women dying in childbirth, children dying and intense suffering. in baghdad and erbil, a visit by the french foreign minister fabius to reinforce france's commitment to aid. other countries do not want to get involved in military help

but want to help with the widening humanitarian crisis. >> to john terrett in washington. lawmakers are question the strategy behind the u.s. intervention. i suspect that's their role, they are supposed to arriving the questions. >> right, right. >> do the thing the strategy is going far enough, not too far or what are they saying? >> as you might imagine we are getting both sides of the argument. we have a war of words going on, to begin the week, the main forum is the famous sunday broadcasts. you have the republicans saying what the white house is doing is ipp effective, and the white house saying "what we are doing is strategic and pinpoint, designed not to escalate. we have two sounds, beginning with john mccain who said if he were in charge he'd equip the

kurds, instruct bomb strikes on is in syria and iraq, and offer training to the iraqi forces. in short, according to senator mccain, there is no leadership on this issue in the white house. >> decisions have consequences, and the consequences of our failure to leave a residual force, and our announcement that we are leaving the area in a vacuum of leadership, especially in that part of world, we are paying a price for it. >> democrats heading back, dick durban, the majority whip from illinois saying this is strat geesed and escall -- strategized and escalation is not in the cards. >> the american people and congress are not in the business of wanting to escalate the congress, the president made it clear it's a limited strike, he has, i believe, most congressional support for that

at the moment. to go beyond will be a challenge. >> in the meantime the president is on holiday, saying he'll be back for meetings next weekend and on holiday again. he's making it clear it can't be resolved militarily and has to be resolved by the iraqi government. documents in the embassy in baghdad and the consulate in erbil have been moved for their own safety, states saying the consulate and the embassy are open for business. with the diplomats out, daily business will be slowed down. >> it will. john terrett live from washington. thank you. tensions are running high in st. louis after a police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager seat. morgan radford has the details. >> reporter: angry resident ral identified outside the police

force in st. louis, chanting i'm black and proud, with signs no justice, no peace. they are protesting the death of michael brown, shot and killed by a police officer, near his grandmother's house. police say brown was in a police car. it's unclear why, and somehow became involved in a struggle with an officer. >> it was a physical altercation within the police car between the subject and police officers, that extended to the street. that is, in fact, where the shooting occurred. the fatal shooting was in the street, outside the police car. >> reporter: asked how many times brown was shot the police chief said. >> it was more than a couple, but i don't think it was many more than that. >> reporter: brown was a high school graduate due to start college on monday. as word of his death spread through the community saturday night, the reaction was shock, then anger.

>> he not hurt nobody. he 18 and graduate high school and bother nobody. >> county officials have taken over the investigation from the police department. the officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while it goes forward. the fbi has been called to be part of that investigation. belmar left open that possibility. still ahead on al jazeera america - celebrations in ankara. you are looking live at the turk your prime minister recep tayyip erdogan addressing supporters. we'll have a live report on that next. and police in eastern ukraine trying to keep order in a land torn apart by violence. when you run a business, you can't settle for slow.

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he won is decisive victory. can you give us a feel for what is happening now? >> well, yes, forgive me, i'm competing against the heavily amplified voices of recep tayyip erdogan prime minister and prime minister-elect in giving his speech to his supporters. he is thanking them, winning more than 50% of the vote, enough to avoid a run off. there were concerns of the opposition's authoritarian capabilities - they have been brushed aside. he will be president until the end of august and wants to make it a more us-style executive president than the ceremonial role that it has been. >> i understand if you can't hear me.

i'll do my best. will recep tayyip erdogan shift from prime minister to president - will that have an effect on turkey's relationship with the u.s. or countries in the middle east. what does this many? >> turkey is an owa sis of -- oasis of calm. it's an n.a.t.o. member and an important ally of the united states. those relationships have been troubled recently, they used to have a close relationship with president obama, but recep tayyip erdogan's intall rans. he treed to ban twitter. those accesses earned him condemnation. he's been outspoken in his

attacks. using strong language against israel for action in the gaza strip. that's winning rebikes on the arab strikes, and from abroad. united states needs turkey on side. it's a rare oasis in a turbulent region. >> you talked had his intolerance of dissent. a lot will remember his government cracking down on social media. did that have an effect on the election? > that crack down came ba because it was twitter and youtube was proceeding news about corruption against recep tayyip erdogan's inner circle. it forced a cabinet reshuffle. recep tayyip erdogan shook it off. the domestic media - it's all about television and radio and newspapers still. of course, social media is used,

but domestic television and radio is sympathetic to the government and followed closely, given a lot of coverage to recep tayyip erdogan's rallies and work as prime minister. that has has most of the impact on how people vote. social media, twitter and youtube not so much at the moment. >> bernard smith, way to focus and drill down and block out the noise around you. well done. bernard smith reporting live from ankara turkey. pakistan is braces for protests, demonstrations turned deadly. at least eight were killed in lahore. supporters of an anti-government cleric fought with police. critics are calling on the prime minister to resign. police expected large protests in islamabad. new developments to stop the spread of ebola outbreak.

welcome back to al jazeera america. a new ceasefire in gaza-israel will begin in an hour. a delegation is expected to meet in cairo for another round of talks. in iraq - kurdish forces are taking advantage of the u.s. strikes. the peshmerga saying they have driven out the rebels out of two key villages south of erbil. tensions are running high in stows -- st. louis area after the shooting of a black teenagers of the dozens rallied outside the police station, and police held a conference. in donetsk at least one is dead. the ukranian military is advancing on the military. the rebels want a ceasefire, but the ukrainian army say they'll

agree if the separatists surrender their arms. many in the city are fleeing to moscow. those left behind are cut off from food, electricity and are in need of humanitarian aid. >> reporter: they have been given their orders from the day ahead, receiving mug shots of people that the police want to find. each say the station receives almost 100 calls from residents reporting crimes committed during separatist rule. there's a new man in charge. police force, which was chased out of slovyansk when the separatists arrived. >> the police never had to deal with such a situation. they are used to work and live in peaceful times. now we are living in post-war times. police men and citizens need

psychological help. for three months they were under occupation, there was a threat of killing or kidnapping for civilians. >> reporter: the police are trying to deal with the crimes of separatists and their supporters, there were concerns in the community that people could be wrongly accused of being collaborators. outside the police station we met this boy and his mother. he filed a report saying he'd been beaten by men in military, not police uniform, and accused him of being a separatist, wrongly. >> translation: i'm enjoyment, i'm an ordinary citizen. they beat me, took my car and driver's licence. i don't know what justice will be served. i hope they don't kill me and my car will be returned. >> reporter: the editor in chief of the local paper reasoned to work. they stopped printing when the separatists arrived.

now they have gone, they still wield power here, he says. >> translation: the separatists came and destroyed the fru and houses -- infrastructure and houses and killed people. i thought those that supported the separatists would change their mind. there was a lot of people who changed their attitude, but i'm amazed a lot doesn't learn anything, thinking that the kiev government is a junta and are illegal and the bp r is good. >> reporter: many are keen to move forward. forced to hold back their opinion, a trade off for peace. join us tonight as we examine the deteriorating relationship between russia and the united states on "the week ahead", and look at the sanctions imposed on each government. governmentses in west africa are closing the borders hoping

to stop the spread of ebola. guinea closed off borders with sierra leone. sierra leone declared a state of emergency, a nigerian man in hong kong tested negative. nancy writebol contract the disease, and is being treated at emory university hospital. her family says she is improving but has a big fight ahead. >> unfortunately she has a long way to go. at this point the doctors are trying to care for her and keep her as kafrtable as possible. >> china is sending help to fight an outbreak in west africa. disinfect ants, they are mum

tors and infectant are being sent. officials in saudi arabia ruled out a case of ebola. a 40-year-old man died showing symptoms that looked like ebola after a trip to sierra leone. lab results say he tested negative. hospital workers are under medical observes. because of the resources devoted to fighting off ebola, health care workers in liberia are demanding more pay and better work continues. during a meeting with the president workers say they are on the front line and the government is not supporting them. >> you will see right now that we are committed. how many have died? yes, we have to go out there to fight.

yes, we go and come back hungry. nearly 1,000 people died from ebola so far. more than twice as many have been infected. they have lost more team to ebola followed by sierra leone, nigeria, and liberia. one of the causes is bush meat, which is the remains of wild animals from rats to bats and monkeys, it's protein in an area where nutrition is scarce. despite warnings from health officials some are still eating the wild game >> reporter: this woman has been selling game meet for 30 years, running this makeshift restaurant. on the menu today is monkey and antelope. she prepares the meat for customers that may not come. >> still come, like a day.

only one person or two buy. before, everywhere used to buy. >> reporter: bush meat is what is suspected to be the bridge that caused the disease to go from the animal to the human world. all it teaks is a single transmission of handling fresh carcasses of animals to create an epidemic. game meat is the food of their ancestors. and they have been consuming it for a long time. it can be found available in almost every street corner. the chairman of nigeria's national association of hunters is livid. >> it's a lie. if you don't want bush meet, you should not eat it. they can not say we should not eat it and not tell the public not to be eating it.

>> reporter: for now, it's only the brave and ardent of game meet consumers who demand for it. for them, abandoning the tradition is out of the question. >> i continue to eat bush meet. i'll continue -- bush meat. i'll continue because i like it. i wish to do so. >> poor knowledge, health care and cross-boarder movement contributed to the spread. there's concern that the refusal by some to believe bush meat is safe will further spread the disease. joining us on set an arthur cap lip, director of med -- caplin, director of medical ethics to talk about this. there's an ethical angle. you wrote about this in the "the washington post," and it got a

lot of attention. if ebola is an international crisis, why is the experimental drug, zmapp, why is it used on two americans, but not everyone who is affected in africa? >> yes, it's a great question. i think a lot of people in africa are asking the question of the the answer is kind of simply - it's not prejudice, discrimination or america's first, the group that sent the missionary workers over tracked it down and asked. they asked and the company said okay. >> aren't race and funny part of that, a privileged part of that. it had an advantage having someone behind them to ask. no one in rural ginny would have an operation looking for them. it would be useful if we have a system to, have rules and a system for accessing the drugs. we don't have that.

>> there you go. ebola - it's awful that it kills people, but to put it in perspective, aid alone takes more than a million lives. why the panic with ebola? >> well, ebola looks like it's unknown. how am i getting this, people getting sick. >> we know it's blood born and you shouldn't eat the bush meet, because it could be infected. i think because it's contagious in an coffee a, it tell you the truth, honestly, because it has to come other places. i'm not sure that we worry that certain diseases, not coming to the u.s. or richer countries, there's class presidents. you call it like it is. last week it was testified in

congress that ebola can be stopped. is now. >> it's not drugs. i way to stop it is to get boots on the ground, get doctors, healthcare workers, give them the goggles and gloves. isolate. >> government is part of this. >> very much so. i think you need a good public health response. the company that gave the two americans a drug, if they could make five more doses, i'd fall out of the chair. there won't be drugs right away. what there'll be is isolation, guarantee each, brave people putting on their goggles, getting in there to help. that's the response, where we need the resources. >> this is not the first ebola outbreak. >> no, it's the fourth big one historically. how do you prevent it happening. is it a lot of what you said. >> it's getting there fast. as soon as the cases were reported out of rural guinea,

the world should have paid attention. they shouldn't. they spread out. began to travel. >> are race and class why people are not paying attention. >> a disease that no one cares about. >> no one to advocate on their behall. >> it ha a head of steam. there's no trains, aeroplanes, boats. it's over in the rural part of guinea and in your backyard. it's not smart not to have an international response ready to go past. the best defense is stop the epidemic, not worry about what gets duration. >> do you think it will be stopped soon? >> i will give it 3-4 months. it's spread out. it will take a while to shut it down. it's easier to stop it. we won't see much in the way of drugs. remember our two friends who got the drug, you know, we'll make sure that they don't get sick

and die within a year. it's not a cure. >> it's sad for the people in africa who feel helpless and feel that their government is not doing enough for them, in some cases. nascar driver tony stewart says there's no rewards to express his sadness after he struck and killed a 20-year-old driver during a race on saturday. ward stepped on to the track to confront stewart, that's when ward was hit by stewart's car. an investigation is under way, but officials say it's treated as an on track accident. stewart said he'd race today and pulled out. coming up, clean, safe drinking water. many of us believe it will always be here, but recent drought and pollution are reasons to be concerned.

>> if you want free press in the new democracy, let the journalists live. it's a resource most of us take for granted. clean water. turp on your taps, it's at your -- turn on your taps, it's at your disposal, except when it's not available. we need it to live, nourish the crops. when supplies were threatened like a week ago in toledo, by toxins and draughts, it's hard

not to worry. this is what a map of the drought looked like in california. they have adopted strict water prestrections, by the end of 18 -- restrictions, by the end of april, a lot of the state was affected. californians are considering limiting water that can be pumped out of the ground. severe to extreme drought conditions exhaust across the south-west, and in scattered locations elsewhere and in the country. in northern iowa, the problem is not a lack of water, but what is going into the water. phosphorous. it feeds the algae that poisons the water supply. lori jane gliha filed this report from toledo where the water is safe to drink, but the threat has not subsided. >> reporter: at wade smith's

toledo home, no one takes clean running water for granted. his family of five was among half a million who couldn't use the tap water over the weekend when toxins from a blue-green algae bloom contaminated the supply. >> you couldn't drink the water, do laundry or dishes. >> reporter: toxins are no longer a threat, but lake erie is still at risk. what is the impact if nothing is done? >> fish could die, plants in the bottom of the lake could start to die. we could potentially kill the lake. >> reporter: when it comes to erie's health, an environmental engineer warns it has beg problems. algae feeds off foss ferrous, a plant nutrient flowing into the lake from farms, run off.

>> we are giving them a candy. >> excessive algae forms maps or blooms. in the 1960s, the lake was declared dead because oxigep was cut off to animals, choking the lake. >> this is a band-aid. fertilizing practices for our agricultural businesses and farmers - they need to adjust the type of fertiliser that uses less foss ferrous and nitrogen. >> i don't want anyone to be a scapegoat. there are multiple players among the industries playing a role in the health of the lake. >> wade smith is a farmer. he feels the blame coming his way. he uses fertilisers like foss ferrous, or nutrients to grow the potato crops and make a

living of. >> what would this look like? >> this would not be existent without the fertiliser. >> wade is trying to be frugal with his fertiliser. >> how often do you test this part of the plant? >> every two weeks. >> he sent samples to the lab, to utilize what he needs - no more, no less. smith says he wants to preserve the lake, and is willing to listen to now farming ideas, but patience is key, and the process must be fair. >> we can't fix the lake tomorrow. that will tag something that is a -- take something that is generational, or a mind-set. if we act too soon, we could do more arm than good coming out of the gate. joining me now is jay lund, the director of the center for watershed science at the university california, and a professor of civil and environmental engineering, and

we appreciate you joining us. mr lund, what happened here in told toledo, this situation has happened before. what can we do prevent it happening a gain. there's two things to do. one reduce the load in the lake: it takes a long time to go through the systems. you have to handle the system to you can handle the bad episodes that are likely to occur. is it a problem of us not having enough resources? >> sometimes. sometimes it occurs before people realise there's a problem. we do a pretty good job in most parts of the country in monitoring the water that comes out of the treatment plants to capture - become aware of the

problems before people drink too much of the water. hopefully before they drink it at all. >> are some cities doing a better job than others? >> i think that could be the case. they are tightly regulated by the state and federal governments that take their jobs seriously when it comes to public health. >> let's pivot to the drought situation. i'm not sure that some realise how bad the situation - i'm not sure that some realise how bad the drought situation is. can you talk about and put it in perspective for us, compared to previous droughts. >> in california, it's the third driest year in 106 years of records, and it's at a time when we have more agricultural and urban and environmental demands than we had in the past. >> so what can cities do to be better prepared or is there anything they can do? >> well, in california, what we

are doing is having people using less water, so that makes a lot of it that we have in a dry state go longer and feel further. we are happy to have the groundwater, balancing that over the long term, so what years we charm the groundwater -- charge the groundwater so it is available. >> is there innovative thinking behind the let's use less water. that can't always be the answer. >> it's not always the answer, but we try to improve our connections so we have better access to what water is available and have better access to groundwater, which is the biggest source of water storage for the droughts. we have droughts that last for six years or so. >> is it a matter of sometimes people, as we said, setting up the story, more than anything, water is what the average person simply takes for granted, and we have to challenge the way te --

change the way we think about it. >> there's something to that, particularly in dry states like california and the west. in drought years the major point is to think about it more than we would like. in the water business you have to understand that most people have other things they like to think about, other than water. often it's a success if people don't have to worry about water most years. >> well said, if we don't have to worry, people in your business are being successful in your job. professor of civil and environmental engineering and director. center for watershed science at the university of david, california. hope you get out of the drought soon. >> thank you very much. looking forward to it. joining us now with more on the weather is meteorologist rebecca steve ep son.

>> water is coming from the sky. water is finite. we can't make more water. we are recycling the water that has been given us. it hits home when we think every drop will be recycled into something less down the line. that makes a difference when we look at how wet it's been for the east, keeping things normal. the drought situation focussed on the east and into the central south. looking at the departure when it comes to rainfall, it's striking to see most of the departure is in the west. we have been getting rain in the east, but we have some areas that are under. it's the first 10 days of august, but it's significant to note that atlanta is so far above normal when it comes to rain fall and we are below when it comes to california. today we are getting most of the rain from the thunder storms in the south-west and storms in illinois. the midwest are watching for the

tomorrows to cross to the lakes tomorrow. temperatures is a big part of the story. seattle - in the first 10 days of august you are 3.5 degrees above normal, on the east coast we are 3.5 degrees below normal plenty of showers on the east coast, not enough in the west. in the west, into the 90s, in seattle - as hot as it gets for places like seattle. usually they are cool because of the cool pacific ocean. on the east coast textures are cool. -- temperatures are cool. further inland for virginia, cloud cover and showers moving through, keeping it cooler for you. it will hit the peak of the heatwave for the north-west as we get into the day tomorrow. still in the 90s. fire danger a huge concern. we'll take the cooler

temperatures that we get in the overnight hours and relish them because it's dry with the risk of wildfire. >> there's plenty of water for this year's river race. the chaos and crazy possess of this -- craziness of this spanish tradition coming up next on al jazeera.

every year competitors from all over the world descend on northern spain for what is the ley month of canoe raising. it dates back to 1929, and attracts over 200,000 spectators, matt ramsay has more. >> reporter: what you are about to witness seems like sporting madness. it's one of canoeing's biggest, oldest and whacky races. over 900 competitors sprinting

to can use, and fighting their way to 50 square metres of water. it's chaotic, different to when the race began in 1929. >> the first race was a funny experience. it was enjoyed. with the next year, they moved to more competition event, and probably they lose their original idea of funny celebration. >> reporter: this, the 78th event, attracted competitors from 16 different countries. >> we couldn't miss it. >> we heard that it's very nice race, and very famous in spain. >> we heard that it's one of the most prestigious races compared to any other race, and we thought we better come and experience it. >> reporter: a remarkable

200,000 expectation, dressing up. every year many of them modelling giant heads. >> there's legend and meaning to the madness on and off the river. it's a celebration of mythical water creatures - giants and kings. it was said to prevent the locality crops. the party that follows the race is a costume bonanza the course is a 20km haul to the north and spanish coast. two men won the race in a dramatic finish. greg low and andy birkett claimed the third spot on the podium. they'll never forget the start. >> you have to get in your boat, and hopefully with your partner, not for love, and from there, yes, see if you can outlast the other boat. >> whether you are a man in a barrel, a professional canoeist or like messing about on or in

the water. they say a river race attracts an annual host of pilgrims. that's interesting. i'm richelle carey, "real money" weekend is next. check out the website aljazeera.com. online reviews can make or break a business. many business owners are taking steps to make sure unsatisfied customers do not bad mouth them. some tactics may backfire. i'll show you why. no more sally secrets, imagine working in a place where you know what everyone is making. i'll tell you where it happens. silon harlem, why it is attracting tech-savvy ent entrepreneu tr