Archive for the 'drought' Category

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Drought fears for Midlands and south-west England

Published on 04/01/2012 in climate change, drought, rivers, water conservation and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: england's water supplies.

Photo retrieved from: www.bbc.co.uk

“The government agency expects drought to spread west across the country following the recent dry weather.

It comes amid reports that rivers are at their lowest levels since 1976, with a severe lack of rainfall not seen since the drought of 1921.

From Thursday, hosepipe bans are due to come into force in parts of south-east England and East Anglia.

Those areas are already officially in drought, while that status was declared in South and East Yorkshire earlier this week.

Two years of lower-than-average winter rainfall has meant rivers across the country have not been replenished.

The past week’s hot weather saw 1mm or less fall across the whole country, the Environment Agency said in its latest Drought Management Briefing on Friday.”

Economic Talks Open Arab League Meeting In Iraq

Published on 03/27/2012 in agriculture, climate change, drought, groundwater, hydrology, peak water, policy, rivers, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: Euphrates river, trigris river.

Photo retrieved from: www.lookupfellowship.com

“Economic ministers tentatively agreed to cooperate on proposals for tourism and to deal with water shortages and natural disasters. The proposals, put forward at the summit’s opening meeting, still need to be approved by the rulers and heads of government on the final day of the gathering Thursday.

“We are suffering mainly from the lack of finance and some technical problems,” Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said at the economic ministers’ meeting.

As in Iraq, where the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers are drying up, water resources also are strapped elsewhere across the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan say their ground water is rapidly depleting, and the Dead Sea is drying up. Much of the problem is due to the failure of governments in the region to manage growth and use of the major rivers.

In Libya, the fall of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime last year halted construction on a $25 billion project to pump water to the country’s north, said economic delegation official Giuma Rahuma.”

“Many farmers are in the north,” Rahuma said. “The (Libyan) revolution stopped the project. Maybe it will start again next year, or in two years.”

Are We Running Out of Water?

Published on 03/19/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, drought, groundwater, hydrology, lakes, oceans, peak water, rivers, tap water, water shortage and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: world rivers.

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“Early in 2001, the Rio Grande River failed to reach the Gulf of Mexico for the first time.

With that nefarious event the Rio Grande joined a growing list of once-mighty rivers that are running dry from overuse: the Colorado River in the U.S., the Yaqui in Mexico, the Indus in Pakistan, the Ganges in Bangladesh, the Yellow and Tarim in China, and the Murray in Australia, along with many other rivers large and small.

Not surprisingly, fisheries in these once-bountiful rivers have crashed. After all, fish do need water.

We’ve tapped underground water sources pretty heavily as well. The water level in the Ogallala Aquifer in the Midwestern U.S. has dropped more than 150 feet in some places, leaving many farmers’ wells bone dry.

As water is sucked out of aquifers, the overlying soil and rock can compact or collapse into the dewatered void, causing tall buildings to teeter in Mexico City, automobiles to tumble into sinkholes in Florida, or swallowing tourists on the fringes of the shriveling Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan.”

Drought risks killing off British wildlife

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: drought, forest fires, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, wildlife.

Wildlife ranging from dragonflies to water voles will be severely hit if the drought gripping parts of England continues, the Environment Agency has warned

Retrieved from: The Telegraph

“Following the driest 18 months on record for some parts of the country, streams and rivers are drying up leaving insects, fish, mammals and amphibians fighting for survival.

Newly hatched tadpoles of frogs, toads and newts are under threat while wading birds such as snipe, curlew and lapwings will suffer from a lack of moist soils in which to find food such as worms for themselves and their young.

In drought-affected areas, some streams, ponds and shallow lakes are likely to dry up before aquatic insects such as dragonflies have taken wing, which will cause them to perish, experts claim.

“The Environment Agency warned that many species have declined in much of England in recent years and the drought could sound the death knell in some smaller breeding sites.

Forest fires will be of increasing concern in the English countryside, the agency said, while some trees including beech and birch could die off in the face of the drought.”

Olympics kept from going brown by watering cans and recycled sewage water

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought, graywater, peak water, wastewater and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: gray water, London, Olympics, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, water shortage, wildlife.

Retrieved from: The Telegraph

“Gardeners are also preparing to use “grey water” – domestic waste water – to help irrigate the million square meters of meadows, wetland and woods at the East London site.

The emergency measures are being drawn up ahead of Thames Water’s hosepipe ban, which comes into force on April 5 as the worst drought in 30 years spreads across England.

“But the gardens around the main events, which are meant to provide an attractive backdrop for athletes and spectators, may be badly affected by the drought.

Soil moisture levels in areas of the South East of England are now lower than the spring before 1976 when most gardens and parks went brown.

“The Olympic “ecological park” is supposed to bring back wildlife to the area. But the Environment Agency has warned that birds, frogs and dragonflies will struggle to survive this summer without enough water.”

Water firms banning hosepipes lose 300m gallons a day in leaks

Published on 03/19/2012 in drought, management, peak water, policy and water conservation. 0 Comments Tags: drought, Olympics, peakwater, U.K., United Kingdom, Water, water management, water policy.

Photo retrieved from: Daily Mail online

“The seven water firms due to impose hosepipe bans are losing almost 300million gallons a day through leaks.

The huge volume disappearing down the drain would be enough to supply the daily needs of 11million people.

Two of the biggest companies involved, Anglian and Southern, are introducing rationing despite the fact they have missed official leak reduction targets.

Consumers will be angry that companies are imposing restrictions backed by a £1,000 fine before they meet their own obligations to save water.

Between them, the seven companies are wasting 286million gallons or 1,299.2million litres of treated water every day, the equivalent to 520 Olympic-size swimming pools.”

The Dusty Limpopo River

Published on 03/16/2012 in agriculture, climate change, drought, peak water, rivers and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: limpopo river.

www.blogs.ei.columbia.edu

“The Limpopo River Basin is one of the most water stressed and, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, extreme droughts occur in the basin every 10 to 20 years.

The basin has a catchment area of around 413,000 km² that covers four countries – Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe – affecting a combined population of 14 million people, most of whom are subsistence farmers. About 244,000 hectares are under irrigation and an estimated 234,000 hectares are under crop production here, while 1.7 million hectares are used for pasture.

However, due to bad environmental management, only craggy stumps of trees line the riverbank. People have cut down the trees that once used to create jagged coves along the river, which has long been home to crabs, fish and wild animals.

“But at the few water holes on this part of the river you can hardly catch a frog. The river is gone, siltation has taken over. The rains are no longer reliable. They come late and sometimes don’t come at all,” Ramovha says.

He says the daily temperatures have increased substantially within the region and have killed many of the catchment’s once-lush grass beds, depriving livestock and game of their natural feed and habitat.”

The Prem Rawat Foundation Partnership Brings Clean Water into Niger Village

Published on 03/11/2012 in boreholes, drought, groundwater, policy, solutions and outreach and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: drinking water, niger.

Photo retrieved from: www.tprf.org

“Residents of Ebagueye in the parched Azawak region of Niger danced in celebration last month as the first water gushed from a borehole that will provide them with a reliable source of clean water year-round. TPRF has contributed $40,000 to the nonprofit Amman Imman Water is Life to help fund the drilling and upkeep of the borehole, which brings pure, fresh water from a natural aquifer more than 600 feet underground.

The project is a collaboration with Vibrant Village Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides direct assistance to help people in vulnerable communities around the world. Ken DeLaski, VVF’s founder and director, also sits on TPRF’s board of directors.

Amman Imman was founded in 2006 by Executive Director Ariane Kirtley, then a Fulbright Scholar conducting public health research in the Azawak region, a dry plain about the size of Florida bordering the Sahara Desert. In recent years, drought and political turmoil have disrupted the traditional way of life to the point where half of the Azawak’s children die before the age of five, mostly from dehydration and water-related illnesses.”

World Rivers Review: Dam Greenwashing Flows at World Water Forum

Published on 03/06/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, dams, displacement of people, drought, greenwashing, hydrology, hydropower, lakes, management, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers, solutions and outreach, tap water, water conservation, water diversions, water technology, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: HSAP, world commission on dams, world rivers review 2012, world water forum 2012.

Photo retrieved from: www.wash-united.org

“The stated goal of this year’s World Water Forum- the world’s largest meeting devoted to water- is to create solutions to the water, energy, and food challenges presented by climate change and economic growth. However some of the “solutions” being presented will do more to protect business-as-usual interests rather than spark innovative approaches to pressing water-related problems.

The sixth World Water Forum (this year in Marseille, France from March 12-17) is, like its predecessors, heavily weighted with corporate players, including many from the large dam industry, making pitches for large-scale projects and private-sector approaches.

One corporate “solution” on the agenda this year, the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), proposes to replace the “best practice” recommendations of the World Commission on Dams with a voluntary, non-binding scorecard that allows dam builders to assess the social and environmental performance of each other’s projects.”

Water Wars: The ‘Why’ of Desalination for Santa Cruz County

Published on 03/06/2012 in desalination, drought, greenwashing, hydrology, oceans, policy, tap water and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: desalination project, water wars santa cruz.

Photo retrieved from: www.tpgonlinedaily.com

“To Desal or not to Desal, that is the question. The Santa Cruz Water Department and the Soquel Creek Water District believe that is the most rational option to ensure an adequate, consistent water supply for the future. They have formed a partnership known as scwd2 to pursue a regional seawater desalination program. A pilot plant at UCSC’s Long Marine lab facility has already addressed the technical issues of seawater intake, brine disposal, and quality of the water produced.

The results of all this testing can be found on the scwd2 website, www.scwd2desal.org along with an explanation of why desalination is considered the best long-term choice for additional supply.

Why is more water needed?

California is subject to droughts. In the late 70’s Santa Cruz County suffered a three-year drought, but there have been documented periods of little rain lasting five years and longer. Without a new and reliable water supply, such protracted dry spells would seriously affect our local economy, environment, and quality of life.

Our tourist economy — which includes hotels and restaurants — would suffer, agricultural income would be hurt, hospitals and schools would be first priority while residents would see their lawns and gardens dry up and shower-sharing would become a necessity, not just recreational.”