EURASIA «

Legionnaires’ Fear As Woman Dies In South Wales

Last modified on 2010-09-07 16:25:10 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: www.bbc.co.uk

“All 11 cases required hospital treatment, said Public Health Wales, with a further three possible cases, including that of the dead woman, under investigation.

The organisation said investigations into the possible source of the outbreak were ongoing.

Information had been circulated advising GPs of the steps to be taken if patients report symptoms.

Dr Gwen Lowe, Public Health Wales consultant in communicable disease control, said Legionnaires’ disease was a rare but potentially life-threatening illness.

‘Flu-like symptoms’

“Most cases are isolated but outbreaks can occur,” she said.

“People become infected when they inhale bacteria spread through the air in the form of a fine mist or droplets from a contaminated water source.

“The disease cannot be passed from person to person.”

Legionnaires’ disease begins with flu-like symptoms and can lead to pneumonia, usually in adults, she added.”

Can China Save the Beleaguered Yangtze River?

Last modified on 2010-09-05 23:26:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: AlterNet.org

“Overfishing, pollution, and habitat fragmentation from dams — including the massive Three Gorges Dam — have brought the Yangtze to its current state. With more dams planned and Chinese officials intoxicated with unbridled economic growth, the future looks just as grim for the Yangtze’s vanishing species. Much of the river basin “will soon be a mere semblance of its natural state, offering few prospects for persistence of what remains of the river’s unique biodiversity,” says David Dudgeon, an aquatic ecologist at the University of Hong Kong.

“All is not yet lost, however. Seasonal fishing bans have given some species a breather. “We can save the remaining ecology of the Yangtze,” argues Xie Songguang, an ecologist at the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan. The potential savior that he and others are counting on is a 10-year fishing moratorium. Such a ban may seem drastic, but it would have a tiny effect on fish markets, as the Yangtze supplies less than 1 percent of China’s freshwater fish production, including aquaculture. A ban is feasible — if the political willpower can be summoned to implement it. With the Yangtze’s ecological health in obvious decline and the economic toll of a ban manageable, the prospects for a moratorium are looking better and better, experts say.”

read more: AlterNet

Pakistan’s Future Problem: ‘Too Little Water’

Last modified on 2010-09-02 16:27:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com

“Looking beyond the bad monsoon weather responsible for current disastrous flooding, he says glacial melting will dry up rivers crossing Indian-controlled Kashmir on their way to Pakistan, governed by an old treaty that now seems to the great advantage of Pakistan’s giant rival:

… Roll the tape forward 20 years: the glacial melt-water is coming to an end, and the total flow of the Indus system is down by half. But almost all of the loss is in Pakistan’s three rivers, since the smaller Indian three do not depend heavily on glaciers.

So India is still getting as much water as ever from the eastern three rivers, and it is still taking its full treaty allocation of water from two of Pakistan’s rivers, although they do depend on glacial melt-water and now have far less water in them. As a result, India’s total share of the Indus waters rises sharply (and quite legally) just as Pakistanis start to starve.”

Water Supplied In Gaza Unfit For Drinking

Last modified on 2010-08-31 22:42:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: www.map-uk.org

“They estimate it will take at least 20 years to rehabilitate Gazas underground water system, and any delay in dealing with the problem will lead to additional deterioration in the situation and thus might extend the rehabilitation process for hundreds of years. Since it began its siege on the Gaza Strip, in June 2007, Israel has forbidden the entry of equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate the water and wastewater-treatment systems there. The prohibition has remained despite the recent easing of the siege.

BTselem said the water crisis in the Gaza Strip arose following over-pumping of the underground water of the Coast Aquifer. It is estimated that the amount of water annually pumped from the aquifer is roughly twice the amount of water that replenishes it. As a result of the over-pumping, which has been going on for several decades, salt water has penetrated the aquifer. In addition, the poor maintenance of the wastewater-treatment facilities in Gaza, which increased following the siege, and the damage done to the wastewater-treatment facility in Gaza City during Operation Cast Lead, led to further pollution of the underground water by wastewater, and to greater salinity. Another factor for the pollution is the waste-disposal sites in Gaza, which are not properly handled. Following Operation Cast Lead, these sites received enormous amounts of waste more than 600,000 tons including asbestos, medial waste, oils, and fuels.

The daily per capita water consumption in the Gaza Strip is 91 liters, slightly higher than in the West Bank, where the figure is 73 liters, yet lower than the minimum of 100 liters recommended by the World Health Organization. By comparison, daily per capita consumption in Israel is 242 liters in urban areas and 211 liters in rural areas.”

Why Israel, Palestine And Jordan Are Rallying Around A Single Cause

Last modified on 2010-08-31 01:33:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“Fathi Huweimel leans carefully over the edge of a jagged slab of broken asphalt, peering down into a 60-foot-deep crater that was level ground just yesterday. All around him sprawl the ruins of Ghawr al Hadithah, once a farming village in central Jordan but now a jigsaw of broken houses, shattered roads and abandoned tomato fields growing wild amid the massive holes pocking the earth. To the east, the village gives way to desert fringed by stark, sere mountains. To the west, a few hundred yards away, lie the glimmering waters of theDead Sea.

“We’ve had about 75 holes open up in the last two years,” says Huweimel, a thickset man with a broad mouth and deep brown eyes who has lived all of his 45 years in the area. He works as a field researcher with Friends of the Earth-Middle East, an environmental organization. “Everyone is leaving,” he continues. “Those who stay are staying because they have no choice.”

The holes first started appearing in the 1980s, but the pace at which new ones open up has increased dramatically in recent years. Miraculously, no one has been killed by a cave-in yet, though there have been some close calls. A group of seven women — including Huweimel’s aunt — were harvesting tomatoes together one day when the ground collapsed with a roar just 2 meters in front of them. A small salt factory that employed about 100 people was evacuated before it collapsed.

The cause of all this destruction is water — or, rather, the lack of it. The ground is collapsing into sinkholes because the water beneath it is retreating. And the water is retreating because the Dead Sea, a storied feature of the landscape since at least biblical times, is drying up.”

Crece Demanda De Agua En EAU Mientras Se Agota El Recurso

Last modified on 2010-08-26 22:10:43 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Foto encontrado en: www.medioambienteok.com

“Los ingresos del petróleo de la nación del Golfo de Arabia le han permitido subsidiar su extravagante uso de agua, ya sea para aquellos que viven en barrios privados con inmaculadas piscinas y extensos campos de golf o para agricultores aferrados a antiguas prácticas de irrigación.

Ambientalistas advierten que el país, que ya depende de costosas plantas de desalinización que funcionan con sus lucrativos combustibles fósiles, debe reducir el consumo de sus 8,2 millones de habitantes o corre el riesgo de vaciar sus recursos de agua subterránea en 50 años.

“Necesitamos convencerlos de que el agua que hay aquí no es un recurso gratuito. Ni siquiera es un recurso natural, es artificial. Es costoso, y tiene un enorme impacto ambiental”, dijo Mohamed Daoud, de la Agencia Ambiental estatal en Abu Dhabi.

Pero eso no es tarea fácil en un país donde las marquesinas que alientan la conservación compiten por el espacio y la atención con las promociones de parques acuáticos, una montaña cubierta para hacer ski y una famosa fuente.

Abu Dhabi, la sede la federación de EAU de siete miembros y el más adinerado de sus emiratos, consume 550 litros de agua por persona al día, dijo Daoud, dos a tres veces el promedio mundial de entre 180 y 200 litros. Analistas dicen que el uso de agua per capita es aproximadamente cuatro veces mayor que el de Europa.

Para aliviar el uso de agua subterránea, aproximadamente un 60 por ciento del consumo en el desierto país, los EAU han invertido mucho en desalinización, produciendo nueve millones de metros cúbicos de agua a diario a un costo de 18 millones de dólares al día.

La dependencia de la desalinización es un lujo que sólo los países del Golfo ricos en petróleo pueden costear: requiere de enormes cantidades de combustible y agua de mar. Dubái es completamente dependiente, mientras que el uso de Abu Dhabi aumentó más del triple para el 2007, dijo la Sociedad de Vida Silvestre de los Emiratos.

“Los EAU eran exportadores de gas neto antes de; 2008, pero ahora se han convertido en importadores”, dijo Ayesha Sabavala, de la Unidad de Inteligencia Económica de Londres, citando el incremento en la desalinización y la producción de electricidad como causa principal.

DESPERDICIO DE ENERGIA

La desalinización funciona mayormente a gas y, en menos casos, a petróleo, recursos que en medio siglo transformaron a los EAU de un pequeño centro de buceo de perlas y pesca a un polo financiero.”

Leer mas: Terra

Libya’s Qaddafi Taps ‘fossil water’ To Irrigate Desert Farms

Last modified on 2010-08-24 18:47:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“In the Middle East and North Africa, the quest to turn thousands of miles of desert into arable land has taken a backseat to containing an impending water shortage. While many countries in the region bicker over water rights, Libya has taken it upon itself to change its topography – turning sand into soil.

The Great Man-Made River, which is leader Muammar Qaddafi‘s ambitious answer to the country’s water problems, irrigates Libya’s large desert farms. The 2,333-mile network of pipes ferry water from four major underground aquifers in southern Libya to the northern population centers. Wells punctuate the water’s path, allowing farmers to utilize the water network in their fields.

The Libyan government says the 26-year project has cost $19.58 billion. Nearing completion, the Great Man-Made River is the largest irrigation project in the world and the government says it intends to use it to develop 160,000 hectares (395,000 acres) of farmland. It is also the cheapest available option to irrigate fields in the water-scarce country, which has an average annual rainfall of about one inch.”

Pakistan Flooding Because of Farms?

Last modified on 2010-08-24 00:30:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo: People wading through flood waters

Photo retrieved from: National Geographic

“The major river engineering is basically a Faustian bargain,” says Daanish Mustafa of King’s College London, recalling the fable in which a man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for a life of luxury. Mustafa is a geographer who has studied the history of Pakistan’s river management.

“Until a few decades ago, there were typically mild floods each summer–the time when the monsoon rainfall hits, and the melt from the snowpack in the Himalaya and Karakoram Mountains is at its peak.

“But now, because humans have sculpted the river and the surrounding natural floodplain and wetlands for farming and other needs, there are fewer floods, but when they hit, they are far worse, said Mustafa.

“There’s not very much space [in the river channel] to absorb all the rainfall,” says Asad Sarwar Qureshi, a water resources expert at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) branch in Lahore, Pakistan. “We need to get it back into shape, so that it can carry its original capacity.”

“Wetlands along the river’s course used to take up some floodwaters, and the government also used to divert excess water into “no man’s land” during the monsoon season, he says. But those areas have been converted to farmland, he says . . .

“Allowing the river to flood more regularly, and naturally, could help temper the floods and make them more tolerable, say Mustafa and other experts . . .

“Managing Pakistan’s floods is a delicate balance between giving the river more room, and building barriers to protect people and their land.”

read more: National Geographic

Pakistan floods leave millions stranded with no food or water

Last modified on 2010-08-17 01:03:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Pakistani flood affected people look towards an army helicopter which was dropping relief supplies at the heavily flooded area of Rajanpur, in central Pakistan Sunday, August 15, 2010. AP. Photo retrieved from: Haaretz.com

“Pakistan authorities forecast on Monday a brief respite in rains that sparked the country’s
worst floods in decades, but aid agencies warned help was too slow to arrive for millions without clean water, food and homes.

“Water levels in the Indus River feeding Pakistan’s plains have fallen in Punjab, the country’s most populous and worst hit province, although flooding would stay high where
embankments were breached. In Sindh province, flooding could get worse.

“The speed with which the situation is deteriorating is frightening,” said Neva Khan, Oxfam’s country director in Pakistan.

“Communities desperately need clean water, latrines and hygiene supplies, but the resources currently available cover only a fraction of what is required.”

Biggest relocation in China since Three Gorges

Last modified on 2010-08-14 01:59:28 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“China’s growing thirst for water is driving one of the world’s biggest mass relocations, with 440,000 people leaving their homes to make way for a huge man-made canal project to channel water to drought-prone Beijing.

“An advance party of 499 villagers were moved yesterday from their homes near Wuhan in Hubei province, China’s heartland, in preparation for one of the biggest irrigation schemes in history.

“By the end of September, 60,000 people will have left the area. The remainder will be relocated by 2014, giving up their homes to make way for the South-North Water Diversion Project (SNWD) which will divert water from China’s largest river, the Yangtze.”

City may get 3 desalination plants to solve water woes

Last modified on 2010-08-10 02:47:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo Retrieved from: environment.gov.au

“The city and suburbs might get three desalination plants if the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has its way. There are plans afoot for a plant each at Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar and in the city.

“MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said they are aiming for 500 million litres a day and detailed project reports would be ready in a few months. The state government started pushing the desalination plant idea after plans for one were announced in Chennai. There, the plant is expected to help the city tide over a water shortage, which assumes serious proportions every year.”

In Pakistan, Water Everywhere–and Not a Drop to Drink

Last modified on 2010-08-10 02:37:04 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo Retrieved from: blogs.state.gov

“”I was offered a glass of the brown river water yesterday,” says Lisa Beyl, a Catholic Relief Services program manager in flood-stricken northern Pakistan. “It literally looks like mud. It is the dirtiest water I have ever seen in my life. I can’t believe that people are drinking it, but they are, out of necessity.”

“As rains continue to pour down on the flooded country, hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis have been left homeless. Worse, they have no access to drinkable water.

“”We have to drink water from the river but it is so dirty. But we have no other options because the floodwaters damaged our water source and washed away our pipes,” says a man in the northern town of Besham whose home and land were swept away. “My family is getting sick. Today, I took my 15-month-old son to the hospital because he has diarrhea and a high fever. If the water problem is not solved, I do not know what I will do.”"

Clean water bottle wins UK leg of James Dyson Award

Last modified on 2010-08-09 04:08:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Tim Whitehead is now in the running for a £10,000 prize. Photo retrieved from: BBC

“The water bottle contains two chambers. Dirty water is put in an outer chamber and the inner chamber is plunged through it, filtering water particles as small as four microns.

“Once filtered, the water is sterilised by a wind-up ultraviolet bulb in a process lasting 90 seconds.

“A prototype was effective in killing 99.9% of bacteria and viruses.

“Professor Matthew Harrison, who is one of the judges and also director of education programmes at the Royal Academy of Engineering, commented: “Pure provides a practical solution to a real problem – how to get clean drinking water in the most hostile of conditions.

“It has the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Palestinians Denied Access to Water

Last modified on 2010-08-08 22:45:07 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo Retrieved from: inspriedpath.blogspot.com

“According to OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), Palestinians face a serious water crisis, being denied access to their own resources.

“Cara Flowers with the Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Group (EWASH – a coalition of almost 30 water and sanitation sector organizations in Occupied Palestine) said many vulnerable communities in Israeli-controlled Area C (covering 60% of the West Bank) are hardest hit, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) having limited say over its own resources, ones Israel uses itself, an international water expert saying:

“It’s “easy (making) the desert bloom by using someone else’s water (and) denying them access to their fair share….” In some areas, it’s easier denying them none except what they can obtain by other means or illegally.

“In 2009, Amnesty International (AI) addressed the problem in its report titled, “Troubled Waters – Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water,” explaining that water is life, stealing it a crime, without it “we can’t live; not us, not the animals, or the plants,” said Fatima al-Nawajah, a South Hebron Hills area resident.

“Throughout the Occupied Territories, the problem is longstanding, exacerbated by Israeli water policies, denying Palestinians for themselves, preventing their right to their own resources.

“”The inequality in access….between Israelis and Palestinians is striking,” especially in summer when needs are greatest. Palestinians consume about 70 liters per capita a day (the lowest amount in the region), well below the WHO-recommended 100 liter minimum, and in some rural areas much less, as little as 20 liters.

“In contrast, Israelis use about 300 liters, denying Palestinians an equitable share, including from the underground Mountain Aquifer and Jordan River surface water, reserved solely for Jews.”

Trash Threatens To Block Three Gorges Gates In China

Last modified on 2010-08-04 01:56:31 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo Retrieved from: Huffington Post

“BEIJING — Intense flooding has swept thick layers of garbage down the Yangtze River that are threatening to block the gates of the Three Gorges Dam, state media reported Monday.

“The large amount of waste in the dam area could jam the miter gate of the Three Gorges Dam,” dam official Chen Lei told the official China Daily in an interview, referring to the dam’s huge shipping locks.

“Chen said heavy downpours have pushed unusually large amounts of garbage downstream, including tree branches, plastic bottles and other domestic waste. Nearly 3,000 tons (6 million pounds) of garbage are collected from the dam daily, but there is not enough manpower and equipment to clear it all, he said.

“A layer of garbage about 60 centimeters deep (nearly 2 feet) covering an area of more than 50,000 square meters (about a half million square feet) began to form in front of the dam when the rainy season began in early July, the China Daily reported, citing the Hubei Daily newspaper. In some areas, the trash is so thick that people can walk on it, it said.”

read more: Huffington Post

Environmentalists say pollution makes baptism at sacred spot in Jordan River unsafe

Last modified on 2010-08-01 21:05:09 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Environmentalists claim that the hallowed spot along the Jordan River where Christians believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ has become too filthy for human use.

“”Untreated sewage continues to flow both directly and indirectly into the river,” said Gidon Bromberg of Friends of the Earth Middle East, a group calling for baptism to be banned at a site where thousands of Christian pilgrims immerse themselves each year in the green-brown water.

“Israeli authorities vigorously dispute the claims of unhealthful levels of pollution at the sacred bend in the Jordan. They rushed this week to reassure pilgrims about the site, which is a major draw for the more than 2 million Christians who visit Israel each year.”

Death toll rises in Pakistan floods

Last modified on 2010-08-01 19:30:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The death toll from Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory has exceeded 1,100 and rescue workers are struggling to save more than 27,000 people trapped.

“Officials on Sunday said that more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the floods, as bloated rivers washed away villages and triggered devastating landslides throughout the northwest of the country.

“They warned the death toll could go even higher as rescuers have been unable to access certain areas.

“Aerial monitoring is being conducted, and it has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away,” Latifur Rehman, a spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said.

“The destruction is massive.”

3,000 chemical barrels washed into Chinese river

Last modified on 2010-07-29 21:18:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water supplies were cut for a time to part of the north-eastern Chinese city of Jilin, after a flood washed thousands of barrels of a dangerous chemical from a factory into the area’s main river, state media said today.

“A “small quantity” of two pollutants produced by the plant were found in the Songhua river, and a reporter smelt a strange odour as he watched dozens of the metal containers float through downtown Jilin, the official Xinhua agency said.

“It was not clear how well the barrels were sealed. But the environmental protection ministry said yesterday that tests showed nothing abnormal about the water quality. It would monitor the river closely, it said.

“The latest spill was triggered when flood waters rushed through a chemical plant yesterday morning, carrying off barrels, including some of trimethyl chloro silicane, a colourless, flammable liquid with a pungent smell, Xinhua said.

“Around 3,000 barrels contained 170kg (375lb) of chemicals, and another 4,000 were empty, Xinhua said, citing a government official speaking at a news conference in Jilin. That suggested as much as 500 tonnes could potentially contaminate the river.”

Pollution makes quarter of China water unusable: ministry

Last modified on 2010-07-28 14:11:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Fishermen load bags of dead fish onto a forklift at the Mian Hua Tan reservoir in Yongding county, Fujian province, July 13, 2010. REUTERS/China Daily

Fishermen load bags of dead fish onto a forklift at the Mian Hua Tan reservoir in Yongding county, Fujian province, July 13, 2010. Credit: Reuters/China Daily

“Almost a quarter of China’s surface water remains so polluted that it is unfit even for industrial use, while less than half of total supplies are drinkable, data from the environment watchdog showed on Monday.

“Inspectors from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection tested water samples from the country’s major rivers and lakes in the first half of the year and declared just 49.3 percent to be safe for drinking, up from 48 percent last year, the ministry said in a notice posted on its website (www.mep.gov.cn).

“China classifies its water supplies using six grades, with the first three grades considered safe for drinking and bathing.

“Another 26.4 percent was said to be categories IV and V — fit only for use in industry and agriculture — leaving a total of 24.3 percent in category VI and unfit for any purpose.”

Flooding tests China giant dam

Last modified on 2010-07-25 03:18:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“China’s most severe floods in a decade are threatening to get worse as the landmark Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river is close to overflowing, with its reservoir almost full.

The water level reached 158 metres on Saturday morning, just 17 metres from the reservoir’s maximum capacity, flood control headquarters in the central province of Hubei told The Associated Press.

Two typhoons – Conson and Chantu – and weeks of heavy rain have caused widespread flooding across several of China’s southern provinces, affecting 110 million people.

Weather conditions are likely to worsen further with China’s national weather centre issuing a warning on Saturday of more torrential rains for the region.

The floods have left 273 dead and 218 missing since July 1, Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan, reporting down river from the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province, said. The direct economic losses are estimated to be around $20bn, she said.”

Ask The U.S. Ambassador to Support the Human Right to Water

Last modified on 2010-07-22 17:26:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo retrieved from: Food and Water Watch

“For the first time since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted 60 years ago, the UN General Assembly is finally poised to recognize the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Billions of people are suffering because the world is not focused on providing water and sanitation for all. A strong UN General Assembly resolution will signal that water and sanitation is a key priority for the international community.”

Take action by signing the UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation at: Food and Water Watch

Water Dispute Increases India-Pakistan Tension

Last modified on 2010-07-21 15:32:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Kishenganga dam project in Kashmir is a crucial part of India’s plans to feed its rapidly growing but power-starved economy. Photo retrieved from: NY Times

“BANDIPORE, Kashmir — In this high Himalayan valley on the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir, the latest battle line between Indiaand Pakistan has been drawn.

“This time it is not the ground underfoot, which has been disputed since the bloody partition of British India in 1947, but the water hurtling from mountain glaciers to parched farmers’ fields in Pakistan’s agricultural heartland.

“Indian workers here are racing to build an expensive hydroelectric dam in a remote valley near here, one of several India plans to build over the next decade to feed its rapidly growing but power-starved economy.

“In Pakistan, the project raises fears that India, its archrival and the upriver nation, would have the power to manipulate the water flowing to its agriculture industry — a quarter of its economy and employer of half its population. In May it filed a case with the international arbitration court to stop it.

“Water has become a growing source of tension in many parts of the world between nations striving for growth. Several African countries are arguing over water rights to the Nile. Israel and Jordan have competing claims to the Jordan River. Across the Himalayas, China’s own dam projects have piqued India, a rival for regional, and even global, power.”

Metro water woes traced to dry Angat

Last modified on 2010-07-19 01:34:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: img.youtube.com/vi/ddXqGxenfSc

“If only rains pour in Bulacan instead of Metro Manila.

“Water concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. are facing dwindling shares of water from Angat Dam, which is hardly getting enough replenishment from the recent rains after a long dry spell.

“Maynilad has resorted to water rationing. Water disruptions in its network started on July 16 and were expected to continue till July 23.

“Manila Water said there was no reduction yet on the supply and pressure in the Ayala-led company’s area.

“Angat Dam, which supplies more than 90 percent of Metro Manila’s domestic water supply, had an elevation of 157.59 meters as of 4 p.m. on Sunday, way below the critical level of 180 meters and lower than the dam’s lowest level of 158.15 meters in September in 1998, an El Niño year.”

Rains continue in flood-hit China

Last modified on 2010-07-14 16:46:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

One million people have been evacuated from their homes due to the floods. Retrieved from: Al Jazeera

“The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday that the floods have forced the evaculation of more than 10,000 people.

“It also said that four landslides triggered by heavy rains left 37 people dead earlier this week.

“The landslides swept through villages in the southwestern provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan and in the central province of Hunan.

“Since the beginning of July, flooding across China resulted in nearly a million people evacuated from their homes, according to Xinhua.

“Parts of China experience annual flooding but this year’s rains have been especially devastating.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Alaska Company Plans to Ship Small Town’s Extra Water to India

Last modified on 2010-07-14 03:37:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A tiny company has a big plan to ship billions of gallons of water from Sitka, a town of 8,500 located on Baranof Island off the southeast coast of Alaska, to a port south of Mumbai on India’s west coast.

“Alaska Resource Management was formed by S2C Global Systems and True Alaska Bottling, which holds the right to 2.9 billion gallons a year of water from Sitka’s Blue Lake Reservoir for a penny per gallon. An S2C press release claims that the joint partnership will be distributing water in India within six to eight months. The water will move from Blue Lake Reservoir through an already-complete pipeline to the True Alaska facility in Sitka. From there, it will be loaded onto Suezmax vessels capable of holding 41 million gallons of liquids. After being transloaded into holding tanks, the water will be distributed in office-cooler sized bottles.”

Dammed if they do: China’s hydropower plans are a test of its avowed good neighbourliness

Last modified on 2010-07-14 02:15:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: The Economist

“To the engineers who dominate China’s leadership, the rivers’ wildness must seem an impertinence. On the Mekong alone China has planned or built eight dams. In Xishuangbanna the new Jinghong dam has just started operating. Further up, Xiaowan dam will be finished by 2013. It will be the highest arch dam in the world, and China’s biggest hydropower project after the Three Gorges on the middle Yangzi. The reservoir behind it is already filling up.

“In general, scrutiny of China’s water projects is scant, and the government is in a hurry. It wants to add electricity-generating capacity, lest China’s breakneck growth be impeded. Giant hydropower companies, with impeccable political connections, add their own layer of secrecy. Risks attend those who question the lack of transparency. Perhaps 500,000 locals, mainly ethnic minorities, are being displaced and forcibly resettled. Those who protest are threatened with less compensation, if not jail.

“The Chinese press steers clear of dams with a barge-pole. Academics and NGO representatives who oppose the dam-building on social or environmental grounds do not want their names published. In private even academics in favour of hydropower development complain that nearly all relevant information, even the amount of rain that reaches them, is treated as a state secret. (Though, they add, at China’s meteorological and rivers bureaus, even state secrets can be imparted if the price is right.)”

“Until recently China was no less communicative towards downstream neighbours, who have seen a sharp drop in Mekong levels in recent years. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam complain that China neither consults nor informs them about what it is up to. For all that it preaches harmony and good neighbourliness, China comes across as a regional bully, with its foot on the Mekong’s throat. The Mekong basin is the greatest inland fishing region in the world. Distraught Thai, Laotian and Cambodian fisherman and farmers blame Chinese dams for killing off fish stocks, cutting irrigation and disrupting livelihoods. Recently a Bangkok Post editorial accused China of “Killing the Mekong”.

Everything You Need to Know About Groundwater

Last modified on 2010-07-13 15:22:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Groundwater is fresh water located underground in porous soil or fractures in rock formations. Collections of groundwater are called aquifers, and we draw from aquifers for drinking water and water for use in everything form irrigation to agriculture to manufacturing.

“Groundwater pumping is when we pull water from the aquifer for our own use. When we pull more water than is naturally replenished, this is called groundwater mining because we have to drill deeper and deeper into the earth to get at the remaining water.

“Groundwater is a very important source of water for civilizations worldwide, making up about 20% of the world’s fresh water supply. Many cities have gotten used to mining groundwater to sustain its residents. However, as we overuse the resource, pull water faster than aquifers can naturally refill, and continue to pollute groundwater supplies, we’re beginning to face a whole new set of serious problems with this vital resource.

“The more we pump from aquifers, the farther the available water is from the surface of the earth. That means more energy has to go in to mining the water, and the costs begin to outweigh benefits, and our capabilities. When aquifers are mismanaged and too much water is extracted, it can mean the aquifer is no longer a viable source of water and a new source needs to be found. Depending on the available options, it can mean anything from a city moving to energy intensive and environmentally problematic solutions, such as desalination plants, to the community being unable to survive.”

read more: AlterNet

World Rivers Review: Focus on Dam Standards

Last modified on 2010-07-10 03:50:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Since the World Commission on Dams (WCD) issued its groundbreaking report in 2000, governments, institutions and civil society around the world have taken up the challenge of adapting its recommendations to their local context. This issue on dam standards examines where these efforts have been successful, and where more work needs to be done. As our senior policy analyst, Shannon Lawrence, notes in the commentary, “We know how to do it: the WCD framework provides the road map. What we’re lacking are the political will and the long-term vision to make it happen.”Read the full commentary on what the road towards better dams, healthier environments, and stronger communities looks like.

This special issue also looks at China’s budding efforts to adhere to standards, the dam industry’s proposed scorecard system for rating dams, and specific cases where the WCD recommendations are being put into practice.

Protecting Rivers and Rights: The World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action

Last modified on 2010-07-02 15:40:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The most comprehensive guidelines for large dams that protect the rights of river-dependent communities were outlined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) in 2000.

“Ten years later, International Rivers is happy to announce a new briefing kit for activists and allies, “Protecting Rivers and Rights: The World Commission on Dams Recommendations in Action,” as part of our WCD+10 activities to move the dams debate forward. The purpose of this publication is to provide activists with concrete examples of where and how the WCD principles have been (or in some cases, failed to be) applied.

Download the briefing kit (ENG)

“The briefing kit explores six broad principles covered by the WCD, which encompass basic values of human rights and sustainable development that are essential to minimizing the negative impacts of large dams on people and the planet.”

Report from South Asia: Is Universal WASH Access in Reach?

Last modified on 2010-07-01 15:32:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Five to ten years ago many villagers did not have safe drinking water or a sanitary latrine — the situation on the ground has improved. In Bangladesh, deaths caused by diarrhea have decreased significantly in the past several years.

“Many folks I spoke with attribute the substantial drop in death rates to the increase in the amount of safe drinking water. In most villages I visited families had their own tube well, though some did share a well with a few other families. Before this rapid expansion of a water source close to the home, many families collected water from the ubiquitous unprotected ponds of Bangladesh and West Bengal. According to Water For People country coordinator Rajashi Mukherjee, “The ponds are absolute death traps; hygiene is the last thing you can associate with them.” Fortunately, with the proliferation of tube wells, most people can now avoid collecting water from unsanitary ponds.

“One of the unfortunate and unforeseen side effects of the installation of the millions of tube wells is that a fair proportion of the wells are infected with naturally-occurring arsenic. Many programs have emerged to test and mark the wells, but large-scale solutions to rectify the problem are not yet in place. I did see several arsenic removal technologies of varying cost, but the very expensive options would be hard to bring to scale without large donor support. There were also other less expensive arsenic removal technologies that are still being tested that might hold promise in the future.”

read more: Huffington Post

Report lists top ten countries at risk of water shortages

Last modified on 2010-06-29 15:18:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The dark shaded countries represent those most vulnerable to water scarcity conflict. Retrieved from: TheEcologist.co.uk

“Depleting water supplies are increasing the risk of both internal and cross-border conflict as competition between industry, agriculture and consumers increases, according to an assessment of world most vulnerable countries.

“The report from the analysts at Maplecroft, says that the ten countries most at risk are: Somalia (1), Mauritania (2), Sudan (3), Niger (4), Iraq (5), Uzbekistan (6), Pakistan (7), Egypt (8), Turkmenistan (9) and Syria (10).
“The ranking was based on an assessment of access to water, water demands and the reliance on external supplies with countries like Mauritania and Niger more than 90 per cent reliant on external water supplies.

“In addition to natural depletion, the report also pointed out the increasing scarcity of water resources due to pollution. The Yellow River Conservancy Committee estimates 34 per cent of the river is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, and agriculture. An estimated 30 per cent of the tributaries of Yangtze River are extremely polluted and in India, 50 per cent of the Yamuna River, the main tributary of the Ganges is extremely polluted.”

Arsenic water killing 1 in 5 exposed in Bangladesh

Last modified on 2010-06-27 17:59:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: robrasa.com

“Hanufa Bibi stoops in a worn sari and mismatched flip-flops to work the hand pump on her backyard well. Spurts of clear water wash grains of rice from her hands, but she can never get them clean.

“Thick black warts tattoo her palms and fingers, the result of drinking arsenic-laced well water for years. It’s a legacy that new research has linked to one in five deaths among those exposed in Bangladesh — an impoverished country where up to half of its 150 million people have guzzled tainted groundwater.

“The World Health Organization has called it “the largest mass poisoning of a population in history,” as countless new wells continue to be dug here daily without testing the water for toxins.

“The magnitude of the arsenic problem is 50 times worse than Chernobyl,” said Richard Wilson, president of the nonprofit Arsenic Foundation and a physics professor emeritus at Harvard University who was not involved in the study. “But it doesn’t have 50 times the attention paid to it.”

“The issue surfaced about two decades ago, after some 10 million shallow hand-pump wells like Bibi’s were sunk across the country in the 1970s with money from international donors.

“The wells were meant to provide clean drinking water to help prevent deadly waterborne diseases, such as cholera. But they unintentionally tapped into arsenic deposits in the ground, releasing the odorless, colorless and tasteless toxin into water used for drinking and cooking. Arsenic has been linked to cancers, liver ailments, skin diseases, heart problems and other health issues.”

Special Report- All The Facts Behind The World’s Water Crisis

Last modified on 2010-06-28 19:16:26 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Rtrieved from: BaliNews.com

“1. By 2025, more than 2.8 billion people will live in 48 countries facing water stress or water scarcity, a recently revised United Nations medium population projected. Of these 48 countries, 40 are either in the Near East and North Africa or in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the next two decades population increase alone—not to mention growing demand per capita—is projected to push all of the Near East into water scarcity. By 2050 the number of countries facing water stress or scarcity will rise to 54, and their combined population to 4 billion people—40% of the projected global population of 9.4 billion

“2. The 20 countries of the Near East and North Africa face the worst prospects. The Near East is the most water-short region in the world. In fact, the entire Near East “ran out of water” in 1972, when the region’s total population was 122 million, according to Tony Allan, a University of London expert on water resources. Since then, the region has withdrawn more water from its rivers and aquifers every year than is being replenished. Currently, for example, Jordan and Yemen withdraw 30% more water from groundwater aquifers every year than is replenished. Also, Israel’s annual water use already exceeds its renewable supply by 15%.

“3. Saudi Arabia presents one of the worst cases of unsustainable water use in the world. This extremely arid country now must mine fossil groundwater for three-quarters of its water needs. Fossil groundwater depletion in Saudi Arabia has been averaging around 5.2 billion cubic meters a year

“4. Of 14 countries in the Near East, 11 are already facing water scarcity. In five of these countries the populations are projected to double within the next two decades. Water is one of the major political issues confronting the region’s leaders. Since virtually all rivers in the Near East are shared by several nations, current tensions over water rights could escalate into outright conflicts, driven by population growth and rising demand for an increasingly scarce resource.

“5. In many countries, the water problem is the primary reason people are unable to rise out of poverty. Women and children bear the burdens disproportionately, often spending six hours or more each day fetching water for their families and communities.

“6. 1.1 billion people in the world…

100…”

Chlorine’s importance in water treatment set to grow

Last modified on 2010-06-24 14:55:55 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Image courtesy of: icis.com

“AS THE world becomes more populous, water is becoming more scarce. There is strong growth potential for all types of water treatment technologies, but some could do better as countries bid to quench their thirst in a cheap and environmentally friendly way.

“The UN’s estimates (see map below, which shows projected global water withdrawal as a percentage of total water available) are based on its medium-population projections made in 1998. According to these, more than 2.8bn people in 48 countries will face water stress, or scarce conditions, by 2025. Of these, 40 are in West Asia (also known as the Middle East), North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa.

“Over the next two decades, population increases and growing demands are projected to push all the West Asian countries into water scarcity conditions.

“By 2050, the number of countries facing water stress or scarcity could rise to 54, with a combined population of 4bn – about 40% of the projected global population of 9.4bn. It is striking to note that even some developed nations, such as the US and many European countries will see more serious water scarcity by 2025. This could be one reason that some are already calling water the “new oil.”

“In order to arrive at the different qualities of water required for its various applications, and for the world to meet its goals, it must be treated. There are several different ways to do this, which are either combined or taken in isolation, according to each instance. Essentially, the aim is to remove, or in some cases reduce, the contaminants present in the water to bring it to an acceptable level for its required end use.”

The Burmese villagers who face a flood of discontent and displacement

Last modified on 2010-06-23 00:33:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Harsh lessons: children at Tang Hpre, the centre for the Roman Catholic mission to the isolated Kachin tribes. The village is scheduled to be flooded by a Chinese-built dam. Families are gradually being moved to a new purpose-built settlement. Retrieved from: irishtimes.com

“In northern Burma up to 15,000 subsistence farmers and fishermen will be displaced from their homes when the Myitsone Dam, being built by China to provide electricity to China, is flooded. A special correspondent reports from a village that is to be wiped out

“IN A REMOTE part of Kachin state in northern Burma, or Myanmar, lies the village of Tang Hpre, one of a series of villages that will be underwater in a few years’ time. Nestled between the mountainous Chinese border and the banks of the mighty Irrawaddy River, it is home to

“Fr Jing Paw and his congregation of ethnic Kachin hill people. His redbrick church, built by Irish missionaries in 1952, towers above the shallow banks of the Irrawaddy, a stone monument in a jungle of the wicker-walled thatched houses that radiate from the church compound.

“The nearest big town, Myitkyina, is 45km away, almost two hours via dust roads with sharp bends cut into thick jungle.

“As Fr Jing Paw watches the heavy rain clouds of the wet season gather over hills across the river, he describes the Kachin people’s history, disturbed only by the distant laughter of children. Tang Hpre is a unique village, as the centre for the Roman Catholic mission to the isolated Kachin tribes, and also lying beside the confluence of the N’Mai and Mali – the “brother” and “sister” rivers that are the birthplace of the Irrawaddy. But Tang Hpre is disappearing. Families are being moved to a new settlement that has been built downstream, and in a few years the church, its boarding houses, school and village will be flooded in the name of progress.

“Life is becoming more difficult, in little ways, Fr Jing Paw confides. Do they plant crops for the coming season? Do they build that new school? There is a lot of confusion here, about relocation plans, and also information, compensation and rights. There is fear, too: fear of resisting, of trucks coming in the middle of the night, of labour camps, of speaking out, of the future, of how will they survive in the resettlements, of where they will find food, of how they will earn money. “Our people have been here for years,” explains the elderly Kachin priest. “These are our farms, our mountains. Here we know how to survive, but what will we do in a new place?”

Afghanistan’s Kabul Basin Faces Dry and Thirsty Future

Last modified on 2010-06-22 14:20:09 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Refuse fouls the Kabul River as it flows through Afghanistan's capital city. (Photo by Stefan in Kabul) Retrieved from: ENS.com

“In Afghanistan’s Kabul Basin, at least half the shallow drinking water wells supplied by groundwater are likely to become dry or inoperative within 50 years as a result of climate change, according to new research by U.S. and Afghan scientists.

“A combination of higher temperatures due to global warming and the increasing demands of a larger population is predicted to stress the basin’s water.

“These are the findings of a new study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the Afghanistan Geological Survey, a division of the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines, and the Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water.

“Training with USGS scientists has helped our engineers to modernize their skills and improve their capabilities,” said Afghanistan Geological Survey Director Mohammed Omar. “Our engineers are using these improvements as they monitor groundwater levels and water quality in the Kabul Basin.”

China flood chaos persists

Last modified on 2010-06-22 13:36:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Torrential rains that hit southern China more than a week ago have triggered destructive floods and landslides that have killed at least 175 people.

“An estimated 10 million people have been affected by the disaster that has devastated the region and forced the evacuation of more than a million residents.

“Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett reports from the southern Chinese province of Fujian on how people are struggling to get basic aid and relief after rains destroyed key roads and bridges.”

retrieved from: Al Jazeera

The Forgotten Downstream Victims of Large Dams

Last modified on 2010-06-19 15:05:49 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The school of the abandoned Haji Ismail Jat village on the Indus Delta. Retrieved from: InternationalRivers.org

“An estimated 472 million people have likely been negatively impacted by the downstream impacts of large dams. This is the main finding of a scientific study which was just published by a group of eminent global freshwater experts. The study documents the impacts which dams have had on some of the world’s most productive ecosystems, and recommend measures which can prevent the further loss of floodplains that sustain unique ecosystems and millions of people.

“In the 1970s, Kharochan was a bustling town in Pakistan’s Indus Delta. The local farmers grew rice, peas, coconuts, mango and guava on their rich soils. From the nearby harbor Sokhi Bandar — the “Port of the Prosperous” — traders exported silk, rice and wood. When I visited in 2006, no traces of prosperity were left in Kharochan. The port had been swallowed by the sea, and the groundwater had become saline in large parts of the delta. A white crust of salt covered the earth, and turned Kharochan’s fertile fields into parched land. More than half the region’s population lived below the poverty line, and thousands had left their homes for the sprawling city of Karachi.

“The Indus Delta has not been struck by a natural disaster. Its plight is human-made. The Indus — the world’s tenth-largest river in terms of the water it carries — has been plugged by 19 dams and is being sucked dry by 43 large canals. The Indus no longer reaches the sea in most years, and its sediments no longer replenish the delta. As a consequence, Pakistani experts told me, 8,800 square kilometers of agricultural land have been lost to the sea since dam building began.”

read more: Huffington Post

Sustainable wastewater treatment plant planned in Netherlands

Last modified on 2010-06-19 03:28:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Contract signing ceremony. Seated L-R: Paul Spaan (Managing Director, Water Board Veluwe) and Piet van Helvoort (Board Member, DHV). Standing L-R: Robbert van der Kuij and George Onderdelinden (DHV); Douwe-Jan Tilkema and Patrick Blom (Water Board Veluwe).

“EPE, Netherlands, June 18, 2010 — Water Board Veluwe and engineering consultancy DHV have signed a Design & Build contract with a value of approximately 15 million euro for the replacement of the existing wastewater treatment plant at Epe with a new plant utilizing DHV’s Nereda® technology.

“Water Board Veluwe is the first water management authority to make full use of the highly innovative and sustainable Nereda® technology.

“The new treatment plant will be exceptionally sustainable and cost-effective. DHV intends to replace the existing system with a Nereda® plant, which will treat all wastewater produced in and around the town of Epe (in the east of the Netherlands). This will result in a doubling of the plant’s treatment capacity without increasing its footprint. The new plant will be taken into operation in mid-2011.

“The planned construction of the Nereda® plant in Epe is considered being a milestone in wastewater treatment. International interest in the technology is on the rise, with many experts viewing Nereda® as a major breakthrough in wastewater treatment. The technology is suitable for newly build as well as retrofit projects and for both domestic and industrial wastewater treatment systems; it achieved several national and international awards.”

Thirsty Pakistan gasps for water solutions

Last modified on 2010-06-18 15:44:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Karachi, Pakistan, water, Adam Ferguson, urbanization, development, growth

KARACHI: Sewage pours into a storm drain that runs directly to the sea from Lyari District. Amidst accusations of only appointing political supporters to the water board, Mayor Kamal has spent nearly half a billion dollars on water and sewer projects. Retrieved from: Time.com

“Pakistan is facing a “raging“ water crisis that if managed poorly could mean Pakistan would run out of water in several decades, experts say, leading to mass starvation and possibly war.

“The reliance on a single river basin, one of the most inefficient agricultural systems in world, climate change and a lack of a coherent water policy means that as Pakistan’s population expands, its ability to feed it is shrinking.

“Pakistan faces a raging water crisis,” said Michael Kugelman, program associate for South and Southeast Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

“It has some of the lowest per capita water availability in Asia, and in the world as a whole.”

“Venice of Asia” Canals Disappearing

Last modified on 2010-06-15 18:48:40 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo: People in long boats on the water

Kashmiri vendors sell flowers and vegetables at an early morning market on Dal Lake. The livelihoods of people that live on the lake are at risk from pollution and declining water levels. Photograph by Ami Vitale, Getty Images

“You take a look at my flowers,” said a middle-aged Kashmiri man, pointing to the bright bouquets of gladiolas, carnations, and lilacs bursting from their clay pots on his shikara, a type of small boat. “My name is Marvelous.”

“He was called Mr. Marvelous by his father, who was also a flower seller on Nigeen Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir (see map). Known for its many waterways, the region is often called the “Venice of Asia” and is home to a vibrant tourism-oriented community that lives on the lakes, many of them in houseboats. In 1958, two National Geographic magazine journalists, Brian Brake and Nigel Cameron, visited the fabled houseboats moored along the lake, where they met Mr. Marvelous—then a four-year-old clutching a marigold—and his father.

“At the time, the rugged disputed territory between India and Pakistan was just over a decade into its independence from Britain. “Business was good in those days,” Mr. Marvelous recalls. But between 1989 and 2002, bloody conflict over Kashmir’s status brought the steady stream of lake tourists to a standstill.

“Now, just as some tourists are trickling back to the region’s lakes, there’s a new enemy to contend with: Water pollution. Poor sanitation systems, shortsighted city planning, and the encroachment of thousands of people like Mr. Marvelous—who have literally turned the lake into land for their gardens and homes—are destroying the region’s waters, according to scientist Majeed Kak, of Srinagar’sIslamic University of Science and Technology.

“Dal Lake, for instance, has shrunk to less than half its original size in just 30 years, Kak said.

“Kak has been studying the water chemistry of the two major lakes, Dal and Nigeen, over the past three decades. He says that if steps are not taken to curb the pollution, the lakes will literally shrivel up and disappear.”

read more: National Geographic

Vital River Is Withering, and Iraq Has No Answer

Last modified on 2010-06-14 15:28:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Rubbish fills a fetid canal in Basra. Photo: Holly Pickett/The New York Times

“The Shatt al-Arab, the river that flows from the biblical site of the Garden of Eden to the Persian Gulf, has turned into an environmental and economic disaster that Iraq’s newly democratic government is almost powerless to fix.

“Withered by decades of dictatorial mismanagement and then neglect, by drought and the thirst of Iraq’s neighbours, the river formed by the convergence of the Tigris and the Euphrates no longer has the strength to keep the sea at bay.

“Last year, for the first time in memory, saltwater extended beyond Basra, Iraq’s biggest port city, and even Qurna, where the two rivers meet. It has ravaged freshwater fisheries, livestock, crops and groves of date palms that once made the area famous, forcing the migration of tens of thousands of farmers.”

Tibet’s watershed challenge

Last modified on 2010-06-14 15:06:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: japanfocus.org

“While Tibet raises a number of controversial questions, one dimension will assume increasing political significance: its water resources. The Tibetan Plateau, known to many as the “Third Pole,” is an enormous storehouse of freshwater, believed by some to be the world’s largest. It is the headwaters of many of Asia’s mighty rivers, including the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Indus and Sutlej. These vast water resources are of course vulnerable to environmental challenges, including climate change, but they are subject to an array of political issues as well.

“Should China be the lone stakeholder to the fate of the waters in Tibet? What happens in the downstream nations that depend heavily on these rivers? China has exploited all but two rivers from the Tibetan Plateau; an exception is the Nujiang River, which flows through Yunnan province and enters Burma, where it is known as the Salween. China’s north-south diversion plans on the Yarlung Zangbo (known in India as Brahamaputra), the other untouched river, are bound to worry India, a downstream state.

“China’s rise in recent years has been displayed in military capability, economic pace and, now, water diversions. By 2030, China is expected to fall short of its water demands by 25 percent. Its increasingly aggressive hydrobehavior is intended to secure its massive water requirements in its northern and western regions. But control over such a valuable natural resource gives Beijing enormous strategic latitude with its neighbors; when one of those countries is a rival, such as India, it becomes an effective bargaining tool and potential weapon.”

Water Pressure

Last modified on 2010-06-14 01:57:50 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Photo: Ethiopian boy drinks water

Drawing deep from a new well, Soti Sotiar is among a lucky few: the 10 to 20 percent of rural Ethiopians with access to clean drinking water. Photograph by Peter Essick

“Among the environmental specters confronting humanity in the 21st century—global warming, the destruction of rain forests, overfishing of the oceans—a shortage of fresh water is at the top of the list, particularly in the developing world. Hardly a month passes without a new study making another alarming prediction, further deepening concern over what a World Bank expert calls the “grim arithmetic of water.” Recently the United Nations said that 2.7 billion people would face severe water shortages by 2025 if consumption continues at current rates. Fears about a parched future arise from a projected growth of world population from more than six billion today to an estimated nine billion in 2050. Yet the amount of fresh water on Earth is not increasing. Nearly 97 percent of the planet’s water is salt water in seas and oceans. Close to 2 percent of Earth’s water is frozen in polar ice sheets and glaciers, and a fraction of one percent is available for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use.”

“Gloomy water news, however, is not just a thing of the future: Today an estimated 1.2 billion people drink unclean water, and about 2.5 billion lack proper toilets or sewerage systems. More than five million people die each year from water-related diseases such as cholera and dysentery. All over the globe farmers and municipalities are pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be replenished.”

“Still, as I discovered on a two-month trip to Africa, India, and Spain, a host of individuals, organizations, and businesses are working to solve water’s dismal arithmetic. Some are reviving ancient techniques such as rainwater harvesting, and others are using 21st-century technology. But all have two things in common: a desire to obtain maximum efficiency from every drop of water and a belief in using local solutions and free market incentives in their conservation campaigns.”

Jats cut water supply from Ganga canal to Delhi

Last modified on 2010-06-14 01:31:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

retrieved from: IBNLive.com

“Protesting the denial of reservations in recruitment for central services, members of the Jat community Sunday stopped the water supply to Delhi from the Upper Ganga canal. The Delhi government said talks were on to resolve the issue and there was no need to panic.

“Angered over not being granted reservation in central services, the community leaders decided to stopwater supply to Delhi from the Upper Ganga canal in Muradnagar town of Ghaziabad,” said Satya Pal Chaudhary, one of the 10,000-strong crowd of volunteers.

“The Upper Ganga Canal is one of the sources for water for Delhi, which also draws on the Yamuna river, the Bhakra Nangal dam on the Sutlej river in Himachal Pradesh (through the West Yamuna canal) and underground reservoirs and wells.

“Earlier, leaders of the Jat Arakshhan Sangharsh Samiti (Reservation Struggle Committee) organised a public meeting at Muradnagar in which a resolution was presented to stop the water supplies.

“After it was passed, the leaders proceeded towards the treatment plant at Abupur and downed the shutters from where the water was being sent to the treatment plant prior to being pumped to Sonia Vihar in Delhi.”

China hit by heavy flooding

Last modified on 2010-06-13 15:25:25 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“At least 155 people have died in seasonal flooding in China that has also forced more than one million to flee, government officials say.

“Large stretches of the country’s southeast have been hit especially hard, the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said on Saturday.

“About 140,000 homes have collapsed, many of them in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, and more than 1.3 million people have been moved to temporary shelter.

“Virtually all of the country’s major rivers are swollen, while water levels in lakes along the Yangtze river are higher than in 1998, when flooding killed about 4,000 people.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Baghdad Urged to Tackle Water Crisis

Last modified on 2010-06-11 16:05:11 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Euphrates River at Dayr az Zwar, Syria, near the Syria-Iraq border (Photo by Shay Haas)

“Iraqis are calling on their incoming government to devote more energy to resolving the country’s chronic water problems, with some experts stating that water will be more important than oil in the long-term development of the country.

“Even as recent rains have brought some relief to drought-stricken Iraq, the historic problem of water scarcity has forced tens of thousands of rural Iraqis from their homes.

“The government estimates that nearly two million people face severe drinking water shortages and extremely limited electricity due to hydropower shortage.

“Meanwhile, diplomatic tensions are running high as promises from upriver counties such as Turkey, Syria and Iran to allow more water into Iraq appear not to have been met.

“This week, Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zebari denounced a plan by Syria to divert water from the Tigris River to irrigate some 200,000 acres of land as detrimental to Iraq’s future water supply.

An Iraqi boy collects water in a camp for displaced persons at Gardasin, about 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. April 2010. (Photo courtesy UN High Commission for Refugees)

“A UNESCO report found that 100,000 Iraqis have fled their native communities since 2005 due to water shortages.

“Another United Nations report claims the water levels in the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, Iraq’s primary sources of water, have fallen by more than two-thirds. The report cautioned that the vital lifelines could completely dry up by 2040.

“At the current rates, Iraq’s water supply will fall an estimated 43 billion cubic metres by 2015, far short of the 77 cubic metres that the country will need to avert a widespread humanitarian disaster,” the UN report states.

“According to UN research, “Inefficient irrigation, lack of government coordination and weak capacity to manage the resource has compounded the current shortage of water.”

Water lessons from Singapore

Last modified on 2010-06-09 15:17:53 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Domestic water use in Singapore from 1995 to 2009 (liters per person per day) showing improving efficiency of use.

“Today, Singapore depends on four different sources of water: about 35% of their water comes from rainfall captured on its own limited territory, about 15% is high-quality recycled water produced by its NEWater treatment plants, 10% comes from desalinated water, and around 40% is water imported from Malaysia.

“As a result of the heavy dependence on Malaysia, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore has been working for years to do two key things: reduce the demand for water by improving efficiency and cutting waste; and expanding alternative sources of supply. California could take a lesson from these two approaches. I know that water agencies (state, federal, local, and agricultural) argue the state is already doing these things, but compared to Singapore, California’s efforts are half-hearted.”

Salt water plant opened in London

Last modified on 2010-06-04 22:57:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The Duke of Edinburgh has opened what is thought to be the first water desalination plant on the UK mainland.

“The facility in Beckton, east London, is part of Thames Water’s plan to tackle water shortages in the capital.

“It said the £270m centre would deliver up to 140 million litres of water to 400,000 homes in a drought.

“The plant will be run by using renewable biofuels such as cooking oil and waste fat in an effort to reduce its impact on the environment.

“Drinking water will be produced by treating a mixture of sea and river water from the River Thames.

“Thames Water said it built the facility to avoid a repeat of water shortages which hit the South East in 2005 and 2006.

“However the plant’s opponents, which include former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, have accused the company of wasting money.”

China-India Water Shortage Means Coca-Cola Joins Intel in Fight

Last modified on 2010-06-03 01:02:59 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A fight breaks out as student Vikas Dagar jostles with dozens of men, women and children to fill buckets from a truck that brings water twice a week to the village of Jharoda Kalan on the outskirts of New Delhi.

“Three thousand kilometers (1,900 miles) away, near Xi’an in central China, power-plant worker Zhou Jie stands on the mostly dry bed of the Wei River, remembering when he used to fish there before pollution made the catch inedible.

“Dagar and Zhou show the daily struggle with tainted or inadequate water in India and China, a growing shortage that the World Bank says will hamper growth in the world’s fastest- growing major economies. It also is pitting water-intensive businesses such as Intel Corp.’s China unit and bottling plants of Coca-Cola Co.against growing urban use and the 1.6 billion people in China and India who rely on farming for a living.

“Water will become the next big power, not only in China but the whole world,” Li Haifeng, vice president at sewage- treatment company Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd., said in a telephone interview. “Wars may start over the scarcity of water.”

Poisoned Wells: In Asia, Cutting Arsenic Risk in Water Through Well-Drilling Techniques

Last modified on 2010-06-02 20:42:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Munir Uz Zaman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“Arsenic is so common in groundwater in Bangladesh, Nepal, westernIndia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam — all heavily populated countries in the flood plains draining the Himalayas — that their drinking water has been called “the largest poisoning of a population in history.”

“But a recent study in Science magazine suggests simple well-drilling techniques that could lower the risk. The arsenic comes from eroding Himalayan coal seams and rocks containing sulfides; it is released into the groundwater only under certain chemical conditions deep underground. Some of those are affected by human activities, including pumping out huge volumes of water for irrigation. Different-colored sands may indicate how likely an aquifer is to be dangerous: rusty orange sands full of iron oxides often have less dissolved arsenic in the water around them than gray-colored sands do. Any village may have many orange and gray layers at different depths underneath it, and villagers may unknowingly live near both safe and dangerous wells. But testing is usually inadequate.”

Scottish national park chief raises prospect of water exports

Last modified on 2010-06-01 19:15:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Low water levels at Scammonden dam, West Yorkshire in summer 2003.

“Chairman of Scottish tourism agency says abundant water resources could be sold to England if climate change pushes up cost and supply.

“Scotland could export millions of gallons of water to drought-stricken parts of England if climate change pushes up the cost and scarcity of water, the head of a national park has predicted.

“The country’s abundant water resources would become crucial if supplies in England come under intense pressure in future decades, said Mike Cantlay, the convenor of Loch Lomond national park and chairman of the tourism agency VisitScotland. It could then be sold, he added.

“I think that Scotland’s water has enormous potential, and the point is approaching where we will have to have a really good look at Scotland’s inland waters and its total potential,” Cantlay said.

“Proposals for the mass transport of water across the UK using a national “water grid” have been studied closely by bodies such as the Environment Agency and engineering organisations but ruled out on the grounds of cost and practicality.”

Passing the Point of “Peak Water” Means Paying More for H2O

Last modified on 2010-06-02 00:17:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Nile River Basin image by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/)

“We have passed the point of “peak water”–or the end of cheap, easy-to-access water–in several places around the globe, experts say.

“Those places include the Great Plains in the southern and central U.S., California’s Central Valley, northern China, the Nile River Basin in northern Africa, the Jordan River Basin in the Middle East, India, and more.

“The term “peak water” has been sprinkled throughout recent media accounts of droughts and groundwater depletion, but a May 20 article in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finally provides a clear definition.

“It means that every new sources we tap is going to be farther afield, harder to access, and more expensive. We are at the end of the era of cheap, easy-to-access water,” said study co-author Meena Palaniappan, director of the International Water and Communities Initiative at the Pacific Institute.”

read more: National Geographic

India assures Pakistan of addressing ‘legitimate’ water concerns

Last modified on 2010-05-31 05:19:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Retrieved from: architecture.mit.edu

“Indian minister says New Delhi has no intention of taking away Pakistan’s water.

“India on Sunday assured Pakistan of taking care of the country’s “legitimate” concerns on water, as both countries began a four-day joint meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC). India’s Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters on the eve of deliberations that New Delhi had no intention to deprive Pakistan of its share of water.

“We never deprived them of water, not even during wars and have no intention to do so ever,” he said.

“A nine-member Pakistan delegation led by Indus Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah began talks on Sunday with the Indian Commission headed by G Aringanathan.

“The annual Indus Commission talks will exchange technical data on river flow, besides devising mechanism to exchange advance flood information during the monsoon season.”

Saving Water, the (Really) Old-Fashioned Way

Last modified on 2010-05-30 07:27:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Woman Retrieving Water from the Arvari River, Retrieved from: flickr.com (Patrick McCully)

“Drawing on indigenous Indian knowledge of geology, hydrology and ecology, Rajendra Singh helped to save a watershed.

“Rajendra Singh, founder of Tarun Bharat Sangh, (TBS, or Young India Association), always wanted to be a farmer. Bowing to family pressure, he studied to be a doctor of traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine and after school moved to the Alwyn district in the arid state of Rajasthan. Singh was not simply practicing medicine, he wanted to test some ideas about healing ecosystems.

“The local Arvari River had dried up during the 1940s when the surrounding hills were stripped of trees. It flowed only during the monsoon season. Since that time most people fled local villages to seek a livelihood elsewhere. When Singh arrived in 1985, he noticed that only the oldest and poorest people were left in the area.”

Thames boaters face Environment Agency pollution drive

Last modified on 2010-05-30 05:25:56 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Boaters along the River Thames in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Surrey are being targeted by the Environment Agency in a bid to tackle pollution.

“The agency says boat pollutants, such as oil leaks and the discharge of phosphate-based cleaning products, harm wildlife and water quality.

“Staff will be stationed at 14 locks to hand out pollution packs, including phosphate-free detergent.

“They will also hand out a quiz and tips on ways to prevent pollution.

“The pollution packs also contain “bilge socks”, which are placed in a boat engine to soak up any possible oil present in boat waste water.”

Lake in Pakistan begins to overflow

Last modified on 2010-05-30 04:36:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“A lake in northern Pakistan formed when landslides blocked a river four months ago has begun to overflow, Al Jazeera’s correspondent says.

“Levels are now critical and it is feared that the spillage on Saturday could weaken the wall of rocks and earth preventing it from engulfing dozens of villages.

“Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from the town of Gilgit, 100km downstream from Hunza lake, said thousands of villagers from the area have been forced to move to higher ground.

“The armed forces started an emergency helicopter service on Thursday to evacuate some villages amid fears a potential burst could affect about 50,000 people downstream and sever a road serving as an important trade link with China.”

Scientists Offer Solutions to Arsenic Groundwater Poisoning in Southern Asia

Last modified on 2010-05-30 02:46:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“An estimated 60 million people in Bangladesh are exposed to unsafe levels of arsenic in their drinking water, dramatically raising their risk for cancer and other serious diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Because most of the contaminated water is near the surface, many people in Bangladesh have installed deep wells to tap into groundwater that’s relatively free of arsenic.

“In recent years, farmers have begun using the deep, uncontaminated aquifers for irrigation — a practice that could compromise access to clean drinking water across the country, according to a report in the May 27 issue of journal Science.

“The report is co-authored by groundwater experts Scott Fendorf (Stanford University), Holly A. Michael (University of Delaware) and Alexander van Geen (Columbia University).”

Underground “Fossil Water” Running Out

Last modified on 2010-05-08 18:21:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic’s Freshwater website.

“In the world’s driest places, “fossil water” is becoming as valuable as fossil fuel, experts say.

“This ancient freshwater was created eons ago and trapped underground in huge reservoirs, or aquifers. And like oil, no one knows how much there is—but experts do know that when it’s gone, it’s gone. (See a map of the world’s freshwater in National Geographic magazine.)

“You can apply the economics of mining because you are depleting a finite resource,” said Mike Edmunds, a hydrogeologist at Oxford University in the Great Britain.

“In the meantime, though, paleowater is the only option in many water-strapped nations. For instance, Libya is habitable because of aquifers—some of them 75,000 years old—discovered under the Sahara’s sands during 1950s oil explorations.

“The North African country receives little rain, and its population is concentrated on the coasts, where groundwater reserves are becoming increasingly brackish and nearing depletion.

“Since Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi launched his Great Man-Made River Project in the 1980s, an epic system of pipes, reservoirs, and engineering infrastructure is being built. It will be able to pump from some 1,300 paleowater wells and move 230 million cubic feet (6.5 million cubic meters) of H2O every day.

“But while fossil water can fill critical needs, experts warn, it’s ultimately just a temporary measure until conservation measures and technologies become status quo.

[...]

Radioactive Worries

“But the project has encountered an unexpected stumbling block. The Disi’s fossil water was recently found to contain 20 times the radiation levels considered safe for drinking. The water is contaminated naturally by sandstone, which has slowly leached radioactive contaminants over the eons.

“Geochemist and water-quality expert Avner Vengosh of Duke University, one of the scientists who first discovered the problem, said the Disi’s situation is not unusual.

“Radiation contamination has been found in Israel, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, and Libya, Vengosh said.

“Fortunately, radiation contamination can be fixed through a simple water-softening process, though it does cost money and creates radioactive waste that must be disposed of properly, he noted.”

read more: National Geographic

Jordan River could die by 2011: report

Last modified on 2010-05-04 00:13:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The once mighty Jordan River, where Christians believe Jesus was baptised, is now little more than a polluted stream that could die next year unless the decay is halted, environmentalists said on Monday.

“More than 98 percent of the river’s flow has been diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan over the years.

“The remaining flow consists primarily of sewage, fish pond water, agricultural run-off and saline water,” the environmentalists from Israel, Jordan and the West Bank said in the report to be presented in Amman on Monday.

“Without concrete action, the LJR (lower Jordan River) is expected to run dry at the end of 2011.”

Water pollution expert derides UN sanitation claims

Last modified on 2010-04-25 19:47:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Safe drinking water

“In its latest report on the progress of the UN Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, the World Health Organisation said that since 1990 1.3 billion people had gained access to improved drinking water and 500 million better sanitation. The world was on course to “meet or exceed” the water target, it said, but was likely to miss the sanitation goal by nearly 1 billion people.

“However, Prof Asit Biswas, who has advised national governments, six UN agencies and Nato, said official figures showing that many cities and countries had met their targets were “baloney”, and predicted that by the UN deadline of 2015 more people in the world would suffer from these problems than when the goals were first adopted.

“If somebody has a well in a town or village in the developing world and we put concrete around the well – nothing else – it becomes an ‘improved source of water’; the quality is the same but you have ‘improved’ the physical structure, which has no impact,” said Biswas. “They are not only underestimating the problem, they are giving the impression the problem is being solved. What I’m trying to say is that’s a bunch of baloney.”

“Barbara Frost, chief executive of the UK-based global charity WaterAid, said: “Here is a global catastrophe which kills more children than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined and which is holding back all development efforts including health and education.”

Coca-Cola’s response disappoints Plachimada activists

Last modified on 2010-04-25 19:00:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Accused of exploiting groundwater resources, the Coca Cola factory at Plachimada in Palakkad, Kerala, has been shut since 2004. Photo: C. Ratheesh kumar

“Activists who raised the issues of unethical groundwater use and pollution by Coca-Cola plants in India during the soft drinks giant’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Atlanta this week have expressed disappointment with the response of Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, accusing him of misleading investors about the problems the company had run into with regulators.

“Speaking to The Hindu, Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Centre — which campaigns for the rights of communities in the affected areas — said that he had brought up the recommendations made on March 22 by an High Power Committee (HPC) set up by the Kerala government, according to which Coca-Cola should be held liable for $48 million (Rs.216.26 crore) in “damages to the community and the environment around its bottling plant in Plachimada”.

“The company has also been involved in a controversy in Kala Dera in Rajasthan, where groundwater resources had been declared as “over-exploited” by the government in 1998. Yet, Coca-Cola built a new plant there in 2000, leading to severe water shortages in at least 40 villages in the vicinity of the plant, according to reports.”

UK relies on ‘virtual’ water from drought-prone countries, says report

Last modified on 2010-04-25 00:30:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Cut flowers from Kenya

“We must recognise how the UK’s water footprint is impacting on global water scarcity. We should ask whether it is right to import green beans – or even roses – from water-stressed countries like Kenya,” said professor Peter Guthrie, chair of the group of engineers who compiled the report. “The burgeoning demand for water from developed countries is putting severe pressure on areas that are already short of water. Our water footprint is critical”, he said.

“The report backs analysis by the UK chief scientist, John Beddington, the World Bank and others who say that water shortages are worsening, especially in developing countries. More than 700 million people in 43 countries are now regularly affected by water scarcity and this is expected to grow as a result of climate change, population growth, the switch to meat-based diets in countries such as China, rapid urbanisation in Asia and the pollution of rivers and lakes in many developing countries.”

PAKISTAN: Harvesting rain, restoring dignity

Last modified on 2010-04-25 00:21:22 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Tharparker District in Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, is among the most arid regions in the country. Limited rainfall, brackish underground water and the private ownership of wells by an elite minority have made access to potable water very difficult for much of the district’s 900,000 mostly rural inhabitants.

“However, an innovative project by local NGO Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) in conjunction with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Sindh is helping alleviate Tharparker’s drought problems.”

read more: AlterNet

Dow cannot run from the legacy of Bhopal by sponsoring ‘Run For Water’ events

Last modified on 2010-04-20 03:02:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Desperate battle to shore up quake dam

Last modified on 2010-04-15 04:51:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Workers search for survivors, left, but the rescue effort is hampered by lack of equipment and the remoteness of the region

“The quake, with a magnitude of 6.9, left a large crack in a dam in the area. Workers planned to release water from a reservoir to try to stop it from bursting and flooding the region.

“Emergency officials said the dam could burst at any time, putting 100,000 people in danger. According to the US environmental group International Rivers, China’s old dams have a poor safety record with more than 3,000 collapsing since the 1950s.”

Aral Sea Almost DRIED UP: UN Chief Calls It ‘Shocking Disaster’

Last modified on 2010-04-10 01:53:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The drying up of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s most shocking disasters, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday, as he urged Central Asian leaders to step up efforts to solve the problem.

“Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the sea has shrunk by 90 percent since the rivers that feed it were largely diverted in a Soviet project to boost cotton production in the arid region.

“The shrunken sea has ruined the once-robust fishing economy and left fishing trawlers stranded in sandy wastelands, leaning over as if they dropped from the air. The sea’s evaporation has left layers of highly salted sand, which winds can carry as far away as Scandinavia and Japan, and which plague local people with health troubles.”

read more: Huffington Post

Ground water extraction blamed for huge rise in soil salinity

Last modified on 2010-04-08 21:40:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The amount of salt content in the Maltese soil has increased by a staggering 30% between 2002 and 2006, due to uncontrolled ground water extraction, MEPA’ State of the Environment Report reveals.
“The accumulation of salts on or near the soil surface results in unproductive soils and the degradation of agricultural land. Maltese soils are already vulnerable to soil salinisation, due to the proximity to the sea. But the State of the Environment Report concludes that “the main cause of salinisation is the use, for irrigation, of groundwater that is rich in salts.”

Arab Company Agrobics Cleans Industrial Wastewater, Inspired By Olive Waste

Last modified on 2010-04-06 20:11:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Sabbah explains the problems of the agriculture business: Even with good intentions, the most “organic” of farms produces waste – of the organic variety. Whether it’s a citrus fruit facility, olive press, or meat packing plant, any producer in the agro-industry must be mindful of plant and animal waste that’s flushed down the drain.

“If agricultural wastewater went straight to the wastewater treatment plant, the facility would just collapse.” In his search for ways to increase the effectiveness of biological reactors that digest organic materials in wastewater, Sabbah developed an idea for a system that could be a standalone or add-on to treat agricultural wastewater.”

China rejects Mekong drying blame

Last modified on 2010-04-03 16:46:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“While nations around the Mekong meet in Thailand to discuss the drying up of the river, China insists the current problems emanate from an act of nature.

“Millions of dollars worth of Chinese cargo are stranded in barges along the Mekong, due to the low water levels.

“Chinese dams along the Mekong have been blamed for disrupting the water supply, but the Chinese foreign ministry blames drought for water scarcity in the Mekong region.

“China has built, or is planning to build, eight dams along the river. The Southeast Asian countries that blame Chinese construction have eleven dams of their own.

“Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan reports from Yunnan province in China.”

Cambodians hit as Mekong dries up

Last modified on 2010-04-03 03:21:08 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Nations around the Mekong are meeting in Thailand to discuss the vital river’s low water levels. The once mighty Mekong is at a 50-year low in parts of Thailand and Laos.

“Chinese companies have started construction on two hydroelectric dams in Cambodia, one on a tributary of the river.

“However, the Cambodia government has much to lose by being too critical of China, which continues to pump billions of dollars into the country’s infrastructure.

“Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay reports from northern Cambodia, where the lack of water is affecting people’s livelihoods.”

Countries Blame China, Not Nature, for Water Shortage

Last modified on 2010-04-02 15:55:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of millions of people short of water.

“Chinese officials, normally media shy, recently held a news conference and have appeared at seminars, including one on Thursday, to make their case that the drought is purely a natural phenomenon.

“Still, many in the room continued to focus on China’s dams. Mr. Yao listened to impassioned pleas by residents of northern Thailand to stop further construction on the river.

“It’s where we fish, where we get food,” said Pianporn Deetes, a Thai campaigner for the environmental group International Rivers. “It’s where we feed our families.”

“She blamed Chinese dams and the blasting of rapids to make the river more navigable for reduced fish catches, and she criticized plans for more dams without more transparent public consultations.

“By one recent count, there are more than 80 hydropower projects in various stages of preparation and construction for the Mekong and its tributaries.”

Resilient Bangladesh: Mapping local solutions

Last modified on 2010-04-01 03:51:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The changing climate is making it difficult for peasants in Bangladesh to harvest enough food from their land. Based on traditional knowledge, Bangladeshis used to be able to accurately predict when the rains would fall. They could then sow seeds in accordance to these patterns in order to yield the crops upon which they relied for survival. But rains are no longer following such a predictable schedule and the people must do their best to adjust to this new climate reality.

“United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace Researcher Chun Knee Tan has been working with the International Union on the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to address the growing challenges the region faces and empower local people to deal with the changes in their environment.

“In partnership the two organizations have created a project designed to involve the people affected into the machinations of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, such as the Convention of Biological Diversity and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This Community-based Implementation and Compliance of Multilateral Environment Agreements project aims to better communicate to communities on the issues surrounding such agreements and get their input and help in implementing relevant national strategies and action plans.”

U.N. report: Let’s turn foul water from mass killer into global treasure

Last modified on 2010-03-30 19:32:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Ganges is one of India's sacred rivers, but concern over pollution along the river's entire course is growing.

“Contaminated and polluted water now kills more people than all forms of violence including wars, according to a United Nations report released Monday that calls for turning unsanitary wastewater into an environmentally safe economic resource.

“As a result, “it is essential that wastewater management is considered as part of integrated, ecosystem-based management that operates across sectors and borders, freshwater and marine.”

World Water Day – The Big Picture

Last modified on 2010-03-23 22:02:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Today, March 22nd, is recognized by the United Nations Water Group as “World Water Day”, this year’s theme being “Clean Water for a Healthy World”. Although we live on a water-covered planet, only 1% of the world’s water is available for human use, the rest locked away in oceans, ice, and the atmosphere. The National Geographic Society feels so strongly about the issues around fresh water that they are distributing an interactive version of their April, 2010 magazine for download – free until April 2nd – and will be exhibiting images from the series at theAnnenberg Space for photography. National Geographic was also kind enough to share 15 of their images below, in a collection with other photos from news agencies and NASA – all of water, here at home – Earth. (43 photos total)”

Reflecting on World Water Day

Last modified on 2010-03-22 16:03:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“World Water Day provides an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come and reflect upon how much we have still to do. Today is a reminder of how we should treat this valuable, precious resource. As we reach for the handle to adjust the temperature for our morning shower, or flush the toilet, or water the lawn, or turn on the tap to get a glass of clean water, we should all consider the millions of people everywhere who are walking miles to get to untreated water to sustain life in communities and villages off the proverbial grid. Our shared challenge on World Water Day, and every day, is to identify and implement solutions to the many challenges associated with water quality, access and availability.”

read more: Huffington Post

Threat to dam keeps Pakistanis on edge

Last modified on 2010-03-18 23:57:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“If the dam goes, it could wash away over a dozen major bridges that form the crucial chain in the country’s only road to China, known by many as the Karakorum Highway, or the KKH.

“People in high-risk downstream villages under immediate threat have been asked to vacate the area and move in with host families in safe zones.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Dam burst destroys Kazakh village

Last modified on 2010-03-15 00:50:03 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“At least 35 people have been killed after a dam broke in southern Kazakhstan, unleashing a flood that destroyed a village, officials said.

“Torrential rains and rising temperatures triggered the reservoir’s burst that left hundreds of homes in ruins on Friday in the village of Kyzyl-Agash near Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Movement against Indian water aggression

Last modified on 2010-03-10 14:59:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Speaking on the occasion, Saeed said that by constructing illegal dams and diverting water of Pakistani rivers, India has virtually imposed war on Pakistan. He demanded of the government to prepare the nation to counter this aggression. “The government must take practical steps to secure Pakistani water,” he stressed. He said that due to water shortage, not only cultivation of crops would be impossible but drinking water would not be available to Pakistanis. “It is a matter of life and death for Pakistan”, he said.”

Drought in Philippines Forces Blackouts

Last modified on 2010-03-10 00:21:57 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Low reservoir levels have caused several hydroelectric plants to shut down or cut operations in the Southeast Asian country.

“Such risks occur when countries rely heavily on hydroelectric power without adequate backup generating capacity.”

Mekong waters hit record low

Last modified on 2010-03-09 05:50:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Thailand’s prime minister has said he will seek urgent talks with China after the water level in the Mekong River plunged to its lowest level in 20 years.

“The river, which has its source in China, underpins the livelihoods of more than 60 million people in Southeast Asia.”

read more: Al Jazeera

Food, Water, and… Permaculture? Rethinking Disaster Relief for Haiti and Beyond

Last modified on 2010-03-09 17:56:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In Port-au-Prince, there are many solutions that can emerge, including the restructuring of built infrastructure in a way that creates hard-surface water runoff aimed at productive urban gardens; creating a microclimate through the recycling and redesign of the landscape; and implementing biological cleaning of urban grey- and blackwater waste.”

India’s ‘water theft’

Last modified on 2010-03-08 16:56:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Jamaat-ud-Dawaa (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed on Sunday declared that India had “imposed war on Pakistan” by constructing “illegal dams” and diverting water of Pakistani rivers and said the government must prepare the nation to counter this aggression.”

China declares drought emergency

Last modified on 2010-03-07 23:44:35 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“China has declared an emergency in eight northern and central drought-hit regions, where nearly four million people are suffering water shortages.

“China’s drought relief office called it an event “rarely seen in history”.”

‘Jordan does not owe Israel a drop of water’

Last modified on 2010-03-06 15:19:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Jordan receives its allocated water shares in full under the Jordan-Israel Peace Treaty’s second annex and does not owe Israel a drop of water, Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar said on Thursday.”

“The minister described as false recent reports in the local media claiming that Jordan is not receiving its fair share of water as guaranteed under the treaty or that the Kingdom has a water debt to Israel.”

Lords of Water; Finding Our Way Out of the World’s Water Crisis

Last modified on 2010-03-05 18:33:46 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The WWC knows about big money: It is led by two of the world’s largest private water corporations, Suez Environnement and Veolia Water. Fauchon, president of the Council, is also the president of Groupe des Eaux de Marseille, a company owned jointly by Veolia and a subsidiary of Suez. Critics such as Maude Barlow, director of Canada’s Blue Planet Project and recent appointee as senior advisor on water to the U.N. General Assembly, contend that the Council’s links to private water operators and to AquaFed, the industry lobby group strategically headquartered across from the European Union Parliament in Brussels, compromise its legitimacy.“I call them the Lords of Water,” says Barlow.”

“The next World Water Forum is planned for South Africa in 2012, and it can be expected that that nation’s social movements led by the militant South African Anti-privatization Forum, will be ready for a fight.”

“Systematic failure” leads to fine for over 300 waste breaches

Last modified on 2010-03-05 16:43:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies (VWS) has pleaded guilty to ten environmental breaches at Selby Magistrates’ Court. The breaches occurred in 2008 and 2009 and related to its running of a Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) in Tadcaster. The WTP served two breweries on different sites, with one run by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries and the other by Molson Coors Brewing Company.”

China villagers moved to quench the urban thirst

Last modified on 2010-03-05 02:09:41 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Tens of thousands of people are currently being moved from around the reservoir because their homes and land will soon be under water. Ding Guangyan and his family – six people in all – are just one group of people affected by the scheme.”

Return to the Center of the World; Following two storied rivers through Central Asia

Last modified on 2010-03-04 23:38:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“EARLY ISLAMIC WRITINGS call the Amu Darya and Syr Darya two of the four rivers of Paradise. Now perceived as being on the extreme fringes of the world, these rivers were once its center. Their water has sustained human life for forty thousand years, providing pastures for nomadic herders, irrigation for farmers, and enabling the development of culture, trade, language, literature, and, in parallel, an enduring succession of wars and imperial conquests over the centuries.

When the Soviet government officially incorporated the region into its empire in 1917, it began transforming the rivers into a web of irrigation canals that brought cotton production to the area on a massive scale. Such large quantities of water were diverted that the Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth largest inland sea, began to disappear, leaving salt and dust storms in its place.”

Lalkurti residents facing acute water shortage

Last modified on 2010-03-04 20:37:45 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Muhammad Ishaq, a resident of Indus Road-III, said that they regularly pay water taxes but the concerned authorities have failed to provide water to them. “There is no water supply for last 10 days and we are in a state of helplessness,” he said. He said that they have to buy water through tankers but it is not fit for human consumption. He said that several residents, particularly children, are suffering from various diseases because of drinking water supplied through tankers.”

Drought Threatens Syria Economy as Refugees Flee Parched Farms

Last modified on 2010-03-04 19:26:51 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“The lack of water has caused more than 800,000 people in eastern Syria to lose “almost all of their livelihoods and face extreme hardship,” according to an Aug. 11 report by the UN humanitarian office. About 80 percent of the hardest hit “live on a diet consisting of bread and sugared tea,” the report said.”

“I’m used to this, water is as hard to get for us as gold.”

Water and the War on Terror

Last modified on 2010-03-04 16:56:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Pakistan is also highly suspicious of India’s increased aid to Afghanistan for dams on rivers that flow into Pakistan; it fears it is an Indian subterfuge to put Pakistan in an east-west hydrological vise once America leaves Afghanistan. For their part, the Pakistanis have awarded their dam contract to China, India’s adversary with whom it has its own water disputes and testy political relations.”

Water crisis triggers violent protest in Mumbai

Last modified on 2010-03-04 06:43:18 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“We want the common man’s water woes should end. Today BMC is saying that there is less water but when there was enough water what did they do? where was the water stored and why was water harvesting not done?”

Pakistan ready to fight India on water conflict

Last modified on 2010-03-04 06:40:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“LAHORE: Federal Food Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal says that Pakistan is ready to fight a war against India if it does not stop violations and obstruction of water flow.”

Sanaa, Yemen to Become World’s First Capital City to Run Out of Water

Last modified on 2010-03-04 02:57:16 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Andrew Sahooly, a German water expert interviewed by Reuters, says that “If we continue like this, Sanaa will be a ghost city in 20 years.” Sahooly and other experts predict that millions of “water refugees” may eventually have to abandon Sanaa and the highland cities for the coast, and many will be forced into neighboring gulf states or into Europe. In other words, Yemen is facing a full blown water crisis.”

read more: AlterNet

Massive withdrawal of groundwater may cause earthquake in capital

Last modified on 2010-03-02 23:43:52 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina forewarned that earthquake could strike the capital city as the groundwater table here is going down 2-3 meters gradually due to massive withdrawal of the water.

In reply to a question from Nasimul Alam Chowdhury (Comilla-8), she said the subsiding of the underground water level is causing serious damage to geological environment and its balance. Prime Minister’s questions and answers were tabled to facilitate discussion on the President’s New Year address to the parliament. “If water level continues to go down, there is apprehension about natural calamity like earthquake,” she said, apparently referring to the presentiment coming from experts.”

New Signs the Tide May Be Shifting Against Water Privatization

Last modified on 2010-03-02 23:26:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“In the first hours of 2010, the city of Paris, whose water system has been under various forms of mixed public and private management for much of the last century, took back public control of its water utility. The decision is emblematic of changes occurring throughout the world, with the wave of utility privatizations ebbing in the face of mismanagement, dismal community relations and a rising tide of concern, in the developing world especially, about whether denial of affordable, safe water constitutes an abuse of human rights.”

“Veolia and Suez, founding members of the World Water Council, have successfully influenced World Bank policies of privatizing water management, giving rise to privatization’s moniker as “the French model.” In order to better impact international policy, the two companies created the World Water Council in 1996. Uniting hundreds of actors in the water sector, the World Water Council counts among its members global agencies like the World Bank, local NGOs and municipalities, as well as municipal water systems such as the Société des Eaux de Marseille (whose shareholders include Veolia, Suez, and la Saur).”

read more: AlterNet

Water is a Key Issue in Iraqi Election, US General Odierno Says

Last modified on 2010-03-01 14:55:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

“Water supply problems because of war, under-investment, poor management and drought are evident throughout Iraq. In Baghdad, where nearly 15 percent of its 8 million residents do not have access to potable water, officials are trying to gain control over the distribution system.”

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