Photo retrieved from: www.aljazeera.com
“Pictures taken by NASA satellites reveal an alarming loss of freshwater in the Middle East.
Two important rivers are disappearing, and if they vanish millions of people will be affected.
In just seven years, 144 cubic kilometres of water has been lost.
Al Jazeera’s Gerald Tan explains.”
Read more: Aljazeera
Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com
“Forty years ago, when the farming started, there was a staggering 120 cubic miles (500 cubic kilometers) of water beneath the Saudi desert, enough to fill Lake Erie. But in recent years, up to five cubic miles (20 cubic kilometers) has been pumped to the surface annually for use on the farms. Virtually none of it is replaced by rainwater, because there is no appreciable rain.
Based on extraction rates detailed in a 2004 paper from the University of London, the Saudis were on track to use up at least 400 cubic kilometers of their aquifers by 2008. And so experts estimate that four-fifths of the Saudis’ “fossil” water is now gone. One of the planet’s greatest and oldest freshwater resources, in one of its hottest and most parched places, has been all but emptied in little more than a generation.
Parallel to the groundwater pumping for agriculture, Saudi Arabia has long used desalination of seawater to provide drinking water. But, even for the cash-rich Saudis, at about a dollar per 35 cubic feet (one cubic meter), the energy-intensive process is too expensive to be used for irrigation water.”
Read more: National Geographic
Retrieved from: NBC
“At the height of this year’s drought, decision-makers at the agribusiness giant Archers Daniels Midland kept an uneasy eye on the reservoir down the hill from their headquarters.
“At one point, the water level fell to within 2 inches of the point where the company was in danger of being told for the first time ever that it couldn’t draw as much as it wanted. The company uses millions of gallons of water a day to turn corn and soybeans into everything from ethanol and cattle feed to cocoa and a sweetener used in soft drinks and many other foods.
“Rain eventually lifted Lake Decatur’s level again. But the close call left ADM convinced that, like many Midwestern companies and the towns where they operate, it could no longer take an unrestricted water supply for granted, especially if drought becomes a more regular occurrence due to climate change or competition ramps up among water users.
“ADM, which pumps more water out of Lake Decatur than any other consumer, wasn’t the only big water-user affected by the drought. Two Midwestern power plants shut down for periods this summer because they lacked water to operate, according to Midwest ISO, the electrical-grid operator for the region. MISO spokesman Brandon Wright declined to identify the plants because they’re owned by grid clients.”
Read more: NBC
Photo retrieved from: www.thehindu.com
“National Cadet Corps of 5th battalion took out a rally at Palayamkottai on Saturday to create awareness among the public on establishing rainwater harvesting structure in every house before the monsoon intensifies.
After being flagged off by Mohamed Sathick, Principal of Sathakkathullah Appa College in Palayamkottai, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Zakhir Hussein spoke on the need for creating rainwater harvesting structures in every house to save every drop of rainwater to improve the groundwater table. Around 150 rallyists from SAC and Christhuraja Higher Secondary School, after traversing Government Law College, District Court Complex, Bell Matriculation Higher Secondary School, reached the college premises again.
NCC Officer of SAC Lt. Syed Ali Basha and Sub. Selvaraj and Sub. Mohanan of 5th battalion and NCC Officer of Christhuraja Higher Secondary School Radhakrishnan had made arrangements for the rally.”
Read more: The Hindu
Retrieved from: Casey weekly berwick
“A doubling of Australia’s population in coming decades combined with the crippling effects of future droughts means there will not be enough drinking water by the middle of this century if authorities do not do more to protect underground supplies, scientists warn.
“This doomsday scenario has prompted some of the country’s leading groundwater experts to call for a greater push to store treated stormwater and wastewater caused by coal seam gas extraction under the ground. They say that instead of keeping water on the surface in dams and reservoirs where it can evaporate or become polluted, it should be pumped into the ground to refill, or ”recharge”, aquifers – naturally occurring underwater storages.
“About 43 per cent of the NSW population either fully, or partially, relies on groundwater. More than 200 towns in the state use groundwater, tapped by sinking bores as deep as 600 metres, as the principal water supply source.
“Two local councils in western Sydney, Penrith and Blacktown, have already received federal government grants for feasibility studies into schemes to collect stormwater run-off and store it underground in a managed aquifer recharge – or MAR – project. The water would be used to maintain sports fields at Blacktown International Sportspark in Rooty Hill and Leonay Oval near Penrith.
“An MAR administered by a local council in Adelaide has already produced small quantities of drinkable water after it was stored in an aquifer for 12 months.
“The director of the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Craig Simmons, said much more was needed to ”waterproof the nation” despite hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on trying to protect the nation’s groundwater resources as part of the National Water Initiative, which emerged from reforms agreed by the Council of Australian Governments.”
Read more: Casey weekly berwick
Retrieved from: News organizer
“Texas cattle rancher Gary Price knows what it is like to worry about water.
“With 2,500 acres of rough range land situated about an hour south of Dallas, Price relies on rain-fed soils to provide the hearty grass forage he needs to fatten his cattle. When the animals are sold at grocery meat counters, every pound of flesh spells potential profit for Price’s family.
“A recent stretch of devastating drought in Texas and fears of ongoing water scarcity across many parts of the United States are pushing Price and others in ranching and farming into new frontiers of water conservation.
“In Price’s case, that means teaming up with a corporate partner, water-thirsty MillerCoors Brewing Co. The second-largest U.S. brewer has been helping him build fences for new grazing rotations and plant native prairie grasses that grow thick, retain rainwater and limit runoff.
“Corporate America’s concerns about water availability are not new, but of late they are growing. More than 40 international corporate leaders met in June in Rio De Janeiro to reaffirm the need for concerted action to address a growing water crisis.
“Across the globe, water consumption has tripled in the last 50 years, and at least 36 U.S. states are anticipating some areas of water shortages by 2013, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Farming alone consumes 70 percent of all fresh water used around the world.
“With that in mind, public and private interests working on water conservation have started pushing partnerships with farmers and ranchers to protect water quantity and quality. The work is starting in Texas but is intended to spread nationwide.”
Read more: Chicago tribune
Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com
“Groundwater depletion will soon be as important a factor in contributing to sea-level rise as the melting of glaciers other than those in Greenland and Antarctica, scientists say.
That’s because water pumped out of the ground for irrigation, industrial uses, and even drinking must go somewhere after it’s used—and, whether it runs directly into streams and rivers or evaporates and falls elsewhere as rain, one likely place for it to end up is the ocean.
To find out how much of an effect this has on sea level, a team of Dutch scientists led by hydrologist Yoshihide Wada, a graduate student at Utrecht University, divided the Earth’s land surface into 31-by-31-mile (50-by-50 kilometer) squares on a grid to calculate present and future groundwater usage.
To make the calculation as precise as possible, they used not only current water-use statistics from each country, but also economic growth and development projections. They also took into account the impact of climate change on regional water needs, considering “all the major factors that contribute,” Wada said.
Because aquifers can be refilled, the scientists also used climate, rainfall, and hydrological models to calculate the rate of groundwater recharge for each region. From this, they projected the net rate of groundwater depletion.”
Read more: National Geographic
Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org
“For decades, Simmons has been buying and selling companies, running into government regulators and unions along the way, and more often than not stubbornly overcoming his opponents—through paying campaign donations, lobbying and changing laws. In 1995, he became involved with a project to create a nuclear waste dump in Andrews County in West Texas. Last year, after Texas’ legislature passed a bill to allow 36 states to dump low-level waste, Forbes reported that his stake in the project jumped from $5 billion to $9.6 billion.
Fish-shaped Long Island, New York, is underlain by aquifers that are its sole source of drinking water. Retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com
“After all, water from underground meets 20 percent of U.S. water demand for drinking, crop irrigation and everything else. It also provides the base flows that keep many rivers and streams from drying up during the summer months.
So groundwater is crucial to our economies and ecosystems, yet it’s out of sight – and usually out of mind, as well.
Which is why a most-endangered aquifers list might help.
On such a list I would name the Ogallala Aquifer beneath the Great Plains, which supplies 27 percent of the nation’s irrigated farmland and has undergone decades of depletion. I would include California’s Central Valley aquifers, which are greatly over-pumped to grow the nation’s fruits and vegetables.
I would add coastal aquifers in Florida and the Carolinas, which are threatened by the intrusion of seawater. In some areas, heavy pumping from those aquifers has reversed the hydraulic gradient: instead of groundwater flowing out to sea, ocean water moves in, polluting fresh drinking water with salt.”
Read more: National Geographic
Retrieved from: www.reynolds-group.com
“A proposed law designed to keep water bills from skyrocketing has passed a state Senate committee, but opponents vow to fight the measure they say is a “political power grab.”
Senate Bill 1386, authored by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, would remove barriers to storing groundwater in the Central Basin and would allow for underground water reserves to protect against high rates in dry periods. Area cities and water agencies have been embroiled in legal battles over how and by whom the water should be stored.
The bill unanimously passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week.
Supporters for Lowenthal’s bill include the cities of Lakewood, South Gate, Norwalk, Paramount and Torrance, along with the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, the Southeast Water Coalition and Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce.
The basin water rights and sales of water basin customers are managed by the Central Basin Municipal Water District.
SB 1386 would clarify state law by establishing that one entity, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, is responsible for managing groundwater in the region.”
Read more: Press-Telegram
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