Published on
03/31/2010 in
climate change, contaminated water, dams, drought, floods, groundwater, policy, water wars and world water supply.
Tags: blue gold, maude barlow, sam bozzo, water documentary, water literacy, water pollution, water wars, world water supply.
“The night before I was to set out shooting, the sponsor backed out. I was about to wake my wife and tell her that I must quit and return the goods. However, en route to our bedroom, I encountered our three-year old son Ethan in the hall, awakened from his sleep.
“He said, “I’m thirsty.”
“I fetched him a glass of water. I went to bed. I did not tell my wife about the financial situation. I awoke and set out traveling alone; a one-man crew on an adventure that changed me forever.”
read more: ourworld
“The hearing’s subject was the economic crisis created by a multiyear drought in parts of California’s Central Valley. Hundreds of thousands of arable acres are being fallowed for lack of irrigation supplies, and the unemployment rate in communities such as Mendota has reached 40%.
“McClintock’s argument appears to be that the fault lies with the “environmental left” and its puppets in Washington, who place the fate of a silvery, 2-inch fish above the needs of human beings. McClintock is California’s preeminent member of the don’t-confuse-me-with-facts caucus. But his spiel is echoed across the political spectrum.
“All this makes the Central Valley the epicenter of fact-free policy-mongering on water.”
read more: LA Times
“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.”
read more: The News
“If one looks to the Council on Foreign Relations to define the tragedy that has been Darfur you initially get: “Farmers and Arabic nomads have long competed for limited resources in western Sudan’s Darfur region, particularly following a prolonged drought in 1983.”
“Taking a closer look at this position suggests, “the crises in Darfur stems in part from disputes over water.”
“In fact, according to a report dating back to 1999 and sponsored by the UN Development Program, fighting over limited resources as the scarcity of water, over the next 25 years, will possibly be the leading reason for major conflicts in Africa, not oil.”
read more: The Final Call
“The Endangered Species Act is corrupt and a tool used for collectivist control. You will recall that a whopping 48% of deliverable water is is used for “environmental” purposes by the federal government (most of it is runs off into the Pacific Ocean) and only 41% goes to agriculture. Despite 3 years of increased water restrictions, the Delta Smelt populations continue to fall: the federal Endangered Species Act “solutions” are not working. This “water shortage” game was played in the Klammath Basin, on the border of California and Oregon in 2001.”
read more: Prison Planet
“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.”
read more: The News
“Violent clan feuds over livestock and access to water are common in the Horn of Africa country, where weapons are readily available and often used to resolve land disputes.”
read more: news
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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.”
read more: emagazine
“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.”
read more: grist.org
“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.”
read more: TheNews.com
“Worldwatch says that already the water needed to produce the annual combined imports of grain by the Middle East and North Africa is equivalent to the annual flow of the Nile.
Importing grain is much easier than importing water, but for poorer countries in Africa it may not be an option.
For this reason the UN proposes monitoring worldwide reserves of drinking water and establishing agreements for the use of water.”
read more: BBC News
Oil was the major impetus for the wars of the 20th Century. Will water be the driving force for war in the 21st? In the new book (avail. January 5th)
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization, journalist Steven Solomon argues that water is surpassing oil as the world’s scarcest critical resource.
“A fascinating and provocative work of history that shines new light on what is probably the biggest environmental and political challenge of our time. Steven Solomon’s brilliant book reveals how today’s planetary crisis of freshwater scarcity is recasting the world order and the societies in which we live.”
-Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
more on NPR: Will The Next War Be Fought Over Water?
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