Archive for the 'rivers' Category

Egypt Must Ratify Nile Water Agreement

Published on 02/22/2012 in climate change, peak water, policy, riparian zone, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Nile river. Retrieved from: www.businessdailyafrica.com

“The impact of climate change is likely to exacerbate the water scarcity in Nile Basin in which most of its members have already been identified as water deficient countries. If such phenomena is not addressed it might lead to a regional conflict over water.

Without an agreeable water allocation mechanism and with realisation that the status quo on the Nile water usage is unsustainable, the ten riparian states: Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eriteria, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda established the Nile Basin Initiative in February 1999.

They agreed on shared vision” “to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilisation of and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources”.

Read more: Business Daily

 

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Malaysian Indigenous Communities Demand Referendum on Mega-Dams

Published on 02/21/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, deforestation, displacement of people, greenwashing, hydropower, policy, rivers and water rights. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.networkblogs.com

“The 110 meter (360 foot) high dam in Batang Ai National Park in Sarawak, financed by the Asian Development Bank, began operating in 1985. It caused the displacement of some 3,000 people from 26 longhouses. These people have been relocated to cultivate cocoa and rubber but the program has not been successful, says Amarhit Kaur, author of “A History of Forestry in Sarawak.”

The Bengoh dam on Sarawak’s Kiri River is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. Some 250 families involving 1,500 people from four villages are rejecting the government’s resettlement plans to give each family a free house and three acres near the dam. Instead, they preferred to resettle themselves on higher ground upstream of the dam on their traditional territory.

The 63 meter (206 foot) high Bengoh dam is expected to submerge about 8.72 square kilometers (3.3 square miles) of land. Wildlife habitat will be destroyed, affecting two species of hornbill and 50 other species of birds, seven species of bats, 14 species of mammals and 52 species of fish.”

Read more: Earth First!

 

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Jordan’s Green Fairytale- ‘Once Upon A Water’ Campaign

Published on 02/20/2012 in management, peak water, rivers, tap water, water rights, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: .

"Every year, we lose 70 million cubic metres of water due to water theft”. Retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

“According to the WHO, Jordan has one of the lowest water resource availability per capita in the world. By the year 2025, if current trends continue, per capita water supply is expected to fall from the current 200 cubic meters per person to only 91 cubic meters, putting Jordan in the category of having an absolute water shortage. The Once Upon A Water In Jordan campaign, launched by the influential 7iber media site, is hoping to raise awareness of this dire water situation and also encourage Jordanians to take positive action now.

The title of the project plays on the Arabic for ‘once upon a time’ to which one letter is added to make it read ‘once a upon a water’. According to the campaigners this projects want to:

channel efforts and conversations around the water issues throughout Jordan into one platform that invites interested multimedia professionals and environmentalists to collaboratively produce digital stories of Jordan’s diminishing water, with the technical support from 7iberINC.

Such stories will seek to amass a wealth of oral history and thus put a human face on an ongoing issue, in the eyes of the average citizens and communities affected by the loss and scarcity of water.”

Read more: Green Prophet

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Snuffbox and Rayed Bean Mussels: Freshwater Species of the Week

Published on 02/20/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water, policy, rivers and species extinction. 0 Comments Tags: , .

A rare freshwater snuffbox mussel (Epioblasma triquetra), now protected as an endangered species. Retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“Although they have long served as an important food source for a wide variety of animals (including people), freshwater mussels are highly sensitive to poor water quality and large-scale changes in the flows of rivers. As we have altered and polluted rivers, freshwater mussels, which live by filtering tiny bits of food out of water, have been hard hit.

Besides depriving other animals of a high-quality food source, the loss of freshwater mussels has further harmed water quality because the animals filter out pollutants over time.

The snuffbox (Epioblasma triquetra) is a medium-sized, yellow mussel with triangular-shaped females and oval-shaped males.  It tends to live in small to medium-sized creeks with a swift current, although it is also found in Lake Erie and in some larger rivers.

The snuffbox was formerly common in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. But it has declined by more than 60 percent in recent years and has disappeared entirely from four states. Conservation advocates have sought endangered species protection for the species since at least 1991.”

Read more: National Geographic

 

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Ethiopia’s tribes cry for help

Published on 02/18/2012 in agriculture, dams, displacement of people, lakes, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.aljazeera.com

“Violent clashes between the Ethiopian army and tribes from the region are on the rise. A local human rights worker told me of their fears of an escalation in the crisis to civil war. “Many tribes are saying they will fight back rather than be moved off their traditional lands to make way for these plantations. They are living in fear but feel they have nothing to lose by fighting back.”

Roadblocks are now in place in many parts of the Lower Omo Valley, limiting accessibility and ensuring the relocations remain out of the spotlight. Tribal rights NGO Survival International is leading calls for a freeze on plantation building and for a halt to the evictions. They have been campaigning to draw more attention to the deteriorating situation in the region since the Ethiopian government announced plans for the Gib III Dam [PDF] – Africa’s tallest, and one that is scheduled for completion later this year.

When completed, it threatens to destroy a fragile environment and the livelihoods of the tribes, which are closely linked to the river and its annual flood. Up to 500,000 people – including tribes in neighbouring Kenya – rely on the waters and adjacent lands of the Omo River and Lake Turkana, most of which lies in Kenya. The Karo people, now estimated to number just 1,500 along the eastern banks of the Omo River, face extinction. Already suffering from dwindling fish stocks as a result of the dam, the reduced river levels have also harmed their crop yields.”

Read more: Aljazeera

 

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Tibetan Village Stops Mining Project Near the Nu River

Published on 02/17/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, dams, displacement of people, greenwashing, mining, policy, privatization, rivers, water diversions and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“A Nu Challenge Looms for Ethnic Groups

After the villagers of Abin successfully canceled the mining project near the Nu River in January, they claimed the mountain itself had played a role. In these remote regions of western China, where many non-Han ethnicities reside, traditional views and nature worship can still be found. But while Abin was successful, development projects continue to be a looming threat to the traditional livelihoods of thousands of ethnic villagers living along the Nu River valley.

In particular, the 13-dam cascade first proposed in 2004 has returned to haunt the landscape, as seen through the roadwork, tunnels, and make-shift workers huts and equipment springing up along the Nu River. The watershed is home to thirteen different ethnic groups, most of whom are subsistence farmers. As many as 50,000 largely Lisu, Tibetan and Nu villagers would lose their farmland and be forced to move to prefabricated houses in new towns and look for work. Moreover, China has been reluctant to accord its ethnic minority nationalities “indigenous” status under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, which recognizes the rights of indigenous people to prior consultation and consent. The dams would even wipe out portions of the pilgrimage route around Mount Kawagebo – a serious blow to the Tibetans both in and outside the area. As one ethnic Tibetan told the New York Times in 2007:”

“If people are forced to move because of the project, they are going to lose the way of life that makes them special. It’s inevitable that people will lose their traditions if they move away.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

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Kariba Dam Wall On Zimbabwe Side Risk Collapsing:Mangoma

Published on 02/16/2012 in dams, displacement of people, management, rivers and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Karima dam. Retrieved from: www.radiovop.com

“I repeat that the wall on the Zimbabwean side is weak and requires anchoring and this is being attended to. It is something that is high on the agenda because without the dam wall you really have nothing,” “Mangoma said.

The Kariba dam on the Zambezi River is one of the largest dams in the world, standing 128 m tall and 579 m long. The dam was built by Italians between 1955 and 1959 during the colonial time when Zimbabwe was still called Rhodesia. It borders with Zimbabwe’s northern neighbour Zambia which also generates electricity on the dam.

At the time of the construction of the dam several people and animals were killed forcing authorities to embark on an “Operation Noah” aimed at saving thousands of animals while over 57 000 people were relocated to safer areas away from the flooding rising water.”

Read more: Radio VOP

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Uganda Hydropower Plant Plan Hits Funding, Technical Snags

Published on 02/15/2012 in dams, greenwashing, hydropower, lakes, policy, rivers and water diversions. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: www.culturalsurvival.org

“Plans by Uganda to start building the planned 700 MW Karuma hydropower project this year have been thrown into jeopardy, following disagreements with would-be financiers over the design and capacity of the plant.

Days after the East African nation abolished subsidies in the energy sector, prompting a huge rise in the cost of electricity, the potenial financiers, including the Germany Development Bank, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, stated that it was not realistic that the water flow at Karuma would sustain the generation of 700 MW.

They argued that it did not make economic sense for Uganda to invest heavily in the project when it was clear the plant would only achieve full capacity during specific periods. The project has a $1.3-billion price tag.”

Read more: Engineering News

 

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China detains Korean ship over Yangtze chemical leak-Xinhua

Published on 02/13/2012 in contaminated water, policy, rivers and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.energygreen.net

“A Chinese maritime court on Saturday ordered the detention of a South Korean cargo ship over a chemical leak that polluted the Yangtze River, contaminating drinking water in parts of Jiangsu province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The country’s second water pollution scare in a month sparked a run on bottled water.

The court ordered the cargo ship, Gloria, to be detained at the city of Nantong and set a bail of 20.6 million yuan ($3.3 million), Bu Xiaofang, a spokesman of the Zhenjiang municipal government, was quoted as saying late on Saturday.

Officials in Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province said phenol, an acid compound used to make nylon and detergents, was found in its water source last week. The pollution caused tap water in some parts of the city to emit a pungent smell, sending panicked residents to stockpile bottled water from supermarkets.”

Read more: Reuters

 

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Water Wars: The drive to develop and consume pose threats to the Great Mekong River

Published on 02/11/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water, greenwashing, hydrology, peak water, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.africanwater.org

“Every morning at sunrise, Sutas Kom Sri casts his net into the river out of faith. As the fog unveils the horizon, the Mekong River looms before him, luring him into the richness of its waters. But like other fishermen in this part  of   the  Mekong   in north east Thailand, his daily catch has been steadily declining through the years. As a result, he says, more and more fi she rmen ha v e  be en  abandoning their nets. “ T h e r e ’ s   l e s s e r   fi s h   a n d   t h e y ’ r e s m a l l e r   i n   s i z e , ”   h e   s a y s .   “ W e ’ r e earning less than half than what we u s e d   t o   g e t   e i g h t   y e a r s   a g o . ”   T h e r e a son  for   thi s ,  he  be l i e v e s ,   i s   the waters’ increasing unpredictability wrought  by  dams   in China   in  the upper mainstream. Now he sees a bigger threat, a new dam in Xayaburi province in northern Laos, the first hydropower dam to be built on the mainstream of the Mekong River. But unknown to him and to the other fishermen in Chiang Khan, they would likely stand to lose in a complex web of power play that courts the interests of only the moneyed and the powerful.”

Read more: Asia News

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