Archive for the 'drought' Category

Worst drought in 50 years takes toll in northern Brazil

Published on 05/13/2012 in drought, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.china.org

“RIO DE JANEIRO — Severe drought gripping northeastern Brazil — the worst in a half-century — is taking its toll on more than 1,100 towns, even triggering fighting in rural areas, local media reported Sunday.

An average of one person a day is being killed in “water wars” in rural areas, while scores of animals are wasting away before perishing, the O Globo newspaper reported over the weekend.

Short water supplies have devastated farm output, the report said, endangering the lives of local people and their livestock.

Many people in the area have lost half their livestock, and the Brazilian government has reduced forecasts for corn, soy and bean crops.

In Pernambuco, 66 municipalities are on water emergencies, rivers have run completely dry and animals looking for water in the riverbed can only find the odd muddy puddle.

Local dams in the region are running dry, and abuses are rife. In one cited example, water truck drivers make deliveries — but only if customers promise to vote for certain local candidates.”

Read more: AFP

 

lily victoria

MENA Changing Drastically & NASA Has The Pictures To Prove It

Published on 05/07/2012 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, dams, drought, groundwater, hydrology, lakes, oil, peak water, policy, rivers, tap water, water diversions, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

“Lake shrinkage in Iran

Retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

Left: August 1985. Right: August 2010.

Iran’s Lake Oroumeih (also spelled Urmia) is the largest lake in the Middle East and the third largest saltwater lake on Earth. But dams on feeder streams, expanded use of ground water, and a decades-long drought have reduced it to 60 percent of the size it was in the 1980s. Light blue tones in the 2010 image represent shallow water and salt deposits. Increased salinity has led to an absence of fish and habitat for migratory waterfowl. At the current rate, the lake will be completely dry by the end of 2013.

Urban Growth in Morocco

Retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

Left: July 2, 1985. Right: June 24, 2011.

The Moroccan cities of Agadir, Inezgane and Tikiouine are close to the Atlantic coastline (seen in blue in the images), and stretch into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Agadir was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1960. Reconstruction has focused on tourism, turning this area into a winter destination. The 1985 image shows the area 25 years into the rebuilding. By 2011, the urban areas reach into the Sahara Desert. Growth has been influenced by the expanding fishing industry and modern commercial ports.”

Read more: Green Prophet


lily victoria

It’s Raining, Again: Britain Endures Damp Drought

Published on 05/04/2012 in drought, floods, groundwater and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.wtop.com

“Sodden fields. Deep puddles. Flash floods. This is what drought looks like in Britain.

Last month, water authorities banned 20 million U.K. homeowners from using hoses to water their lawns or wash their cars, saying two exceptionally dry winters had plunged much of Britain into drought.

Since then, the rain has hardly let up. Official figures show that April was both cooler than average and the wettest in a century, leaving a trail of flooded properties, canceled events and grumpy residents.

But officials insist the drought and the watering ban remain — to the bafflement of many Britons.

In eastern England, Daniel Allen noted with irony that he’s been told he can’t water the lush foliage in the grounds of his riverside pub, the Rushbrooke Arms — “which is incredible as I had a river running through it yesterday.”

The River Lark usually runs past the thatched pub in Sicklesmere village as a trickle.”

Read more: NPR

 

lily victoria

Drought Causes Water Shortage, Parches Crops

Published on 04/29/2012 in agriculture, climate change, drought, tap water and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.english.people.com

“BEIJING – Lingering drought has left more than 8.57 million people short of drinking water and huge areas of farmland parched in China, the nation’s top drought-relief authority said Friday.

As of Friday, droughts have affected 3.64 million hectares of farmland, mostly in the provinces of Yunnan, Shanxi, Hubei, Sichuan and Gansu, according to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The amount of farmland and number of people affected by the droughts are both below the average figures registered in previous years, said the office.

Since mid-April, arid regions in the south have seen rounds of scattered rainfall, but the rains have been too weak to ease regional droughts, the office said.”

Read more: China Daily

lily victoria

Warm Spring May Mean Drought and Wildfires in West

Published on 04/27/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, drought, hydrology, rivers and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“On April 10th, 61 percent of the lower 48 states were listed by the U.S. Drought Monitor to be in abnormally dry or drought conditions. And the Southwest, which largely relies on ice melt into the Colorado River Basin from the Rocky Mountains and previous years’ melt stored in the Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs for its water supply, is poised for a dry, hot summer, because those areas received less than 70 percent of the average snowfall according to the USDA National Water & Climate Center.

These reservoirs are already at only 64 percent capacity following a decade-long drought from 2000 to 2010. And the possibility of more drought years to come is raising concerns over how to manage a river of which every drop (and then some) is now allocated to some use.

Drought, however, may be only one factor in the drying up of the Colorado River Basin. To assess the vulnerabilities of the watershed and consider how water supply and demand might change in the coming years, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation has embarked on a study of the Colorado River Basin to be released this July. An interim report shows that current water use outstrips the supply and projected demand for water could be greater than the projected supply by more than 3.5 million acre-feet within 50 years, particularly when the effects of climate change are included.”

Read more: National Geographic

 

lily victoria

Tribal women in forefront of the war against drought and water scarcity

Published on 04/26/2012 in agriculture, drought, water conservation and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.theweekendleader.com

“Today, however, all that is changing thanks to a water management revolution led by ordinary village women, a majority of them tribals.

“The magic has been worked through our Self Help Group’s (SHGs) water management programme,” says Sadmoni Hembram, 39, of Tilaboni village, who proudly informs that she has a multi-crop land that yields two vegetable and one paddy crop in a year these days.

In an area where development has been stunted due to a weak government machinery and increasing Maoist influence, SHGs like Sadmoni’s ‘Petre Madwa’ have spearheaded developmental initiatives like the Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) under the government’s Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY). Of course, this has been achieved with guidance from Pradan, an NGO working on creating sustainable livelihood in the region.”

Read more: The Weekend Leader

 

lily victoria

Water Wars: Why India and Pakistan Are Squaring Off Over Their Rivers

Published on 04/16/2012 in agriculture, dams, drought, hydropower, peak water, policy and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Photo retrieved from: TIME world

“India’s Wular Lake, a popular picnic and tourist spot nestled in the Kashmir Valley, is an unlikely site for conflict. But India’s plan to build a structure on the Jhelum River at the mouth of the lake that will allow it to release water during the river’s lean winter months has outraged neighboring Pakistan, which believes the project will give India the power to control how much water flows downstream to its farmers. After two and a half decades of deadlock and 15 marathon rounds of bilateral talks — the most recent occurring in late March — the countries appear a long way from finding common ground.

The dispute isn’t the first of its kind, nor will it be the last. The waters of the Indus River and tributaries like the Jhelum — and the dams built on them by India — have long been one of the main points of contention between the rival neighbors, along with the disputed region of Kashmir itself and cross-border terrorism. Pakistan, whose agriculture-dominated economy is heavily reliant on the Indus and its tributaries, fears upstream dams allow India to manipulate the flows of water as it sees fit. Many in Pakistan accuse New Delhi of wantonly exacerbating the country’s dire water shortages, choking its agricultural production and ruining livelihoods.

“Indeed, India has ramped up its hydroelectricity projects in recent years to try to boost its woefully inadequate power supplies. The government has a total of 45 projects either already completed or in the proposal stage on the western rivers, some as large as 1000 megawatt and many as small as 2 and 3 megawatt. This expansion has irked Islamabad. “India is putting more and more restrictions and constrictions on Pakistan’s waters,” Kamal Majidulla, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani’s special assistant on water resources and agriculture, tells TIME.

A 2011 U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report said that studies show no single dam will affect Pakistan’s access to water, but the cumulative effect of multiple hydroelectric projects could give India the ability to store enough water to limit Pakistan’s supply at crucial moments in the growing season. India has never abused its water supplies in this way, the report adds, and New Delhi rejects the theory as an unsubstantiated hypothesis. But the report’s observations serve as a suitable analogy for India and Pakistan’s water conflicts overall. While no single legal or diplomatic tussle will rupture the fragile relations between the countries, the cumulative effect of a series of standoffs could cause tensions to boil over.”

Read more: TIME

Sami Oueida

Water Risk Threatens Businesses, National Security

Published on 04/10/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, drought, floods and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Forbes

“One of climate change’s biggest impacts is on water systems. Unreliable water can impact both corporate bottom lines and jeopardize natural security, as two recent reports point out.

“Climate change is changing precipitation patterns and intensity, increasing the incidence of droughts, floods, and erosion. These changes are making water supply and quality more difficult to obtain, affecting runoff and soil moisture, increasing water temperatures, decreasing snowpack and lake and river ice, threatening fish and aquatic species, and allowing saltwater intrusion and sea level rise. These changes are difficult to plan for, as past water patterns can no longer be used to predict the future. That uncertainty is problematic for businesses and can cause political strife, but some states and regions are taking proactive steps to avoid water trouble and will therefore be more reliable places to do business.

“A recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked U.S. states based on how their governments are planning and preparing for the water–related impacts of a changing climate, including whether they have strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that contributes to climate change and whether they have adaptation plans for projected climate-related impacts. The report includes an interactive online map highlighting the unique water vulnerabilities each state faces and what each is doing — or not doing — to prepare. Climate modeling was drawn in part from a 2009 report (PDF) from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, but the NRDC report also considered state’s policies. It said:

“Some states are leading the way in preparing for water-related impacts with integrated and comprehensive preparedness plans that address all relevant water sectors and state agencies. Unfortunately, other states are lagging when it comes to consideration of potential climate change impacts — or have yet to formally address climate change preparedness at all.”

Read more: Forbes

sammykayed

What happens when all the wells run dry?

Published on 04/09/2012 in drought, groundwater, peak water, policy, tap water and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: .

Retrieved from: www.theage.com.au

“From 2006 to 2011, they note, up to 60 per cent of Syria’s land experienced one of the worst droughts and the most severe set of crop failures in its history. The United Nations reported that more than 800,000 Syrians had their livelihoods wiped out by these droughts, and many were forced to move to the cities to find work – adding to the burdens of already incompetent government.

”If climate projections stay on their current path, the drought situation in North Africa and the Middle East is going to get progressively worse, and you will end up witnessing cycle after cycle of instability that may be the impetus for future authoritarian responses,” argues Femia.

An analysis by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published last October in the Journal of Climate, found that droughts in winter in the Middle East – when the region traditionally gets most of its rainfall to replenish aquifers – are increasing, and human-caused climate change is partly responsible.”

Read more: National Times

lily victoria

Water crisis in city may take a serious turn soon

Published on 04/07/2012 in aquifer overdraft, drought, groundwater and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

A heavy shower Friday morning though broke the hot-spell, the plight of the people facing acute water shortage is unlikely to go away soon.

“The water crisis that has been causing sufferings to the residents of different parts of the Dhaka city is unlikely to end soon.

 

“Rather lifting of excess groundwater from the aquifer and obstruction to recharge it may even intensify the crisis in the coming days, experts said.

“Excess lifting of groundwater, pollution of natural water bodies, power outage, overpopulation and policy failures are the factors causing water crisis in the capital, they said.

“The areas in which people across the capital are suffering from water crisis now include Mirpur, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Badda-Gulshan, Jurain, Khilgaon, Moghbazar, Bashabo, Mugda, Madartek, Wari, Azimpur, most parts of Old Dhaka, Hazaribag, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi-Shankar, Kalyanpur.

“Residents claimed that the water supplied by Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) was inadequate and in some areas the piped-water was also too much polluted and unfit for consumption.

“”Even, despite boiling it for more than an hour, the bad smell doesn’t go. On the other hand, its colour becomes yellow-reddish. This water can only be used for washing clothes and cleaning the floor,” Aklima Ara, a house-wife at Azimpur Graveyard (old) area in the capital said.

“She said most of the time she is forced to use this dirty water for cooking and drinking.”

Read more: The Financial Express

christinarichardson