Water tables all over the world are falling, as "world
water demand has tripled over the last" 50 years. When these aquifers are depleted, food production worldwide will fall.
March 2003
Earth Policy Institute
World Creating Food Bubble Economy Based on Unsustainable Use of Water.
The World Water Forum begins in mid-March in Japan. Although the main interest of the 10,000 participants is water scarcity, they will indirectly be discussing food scarcity, since 70% of the world's fresh water is used for irrigation. Water tables all over the world are falling, as "world water demand has tripled over the last" 50 years. When these aquifers are depleted, food production worldwide will fall. These aquifers are inexorably being depleted in ways that are "largely invisible, historically recent, and growing fast", and "the near-simultaneous depletion of aquifers means that cutbacks in grain harvests will ... [occur]... in many countries at more or less the same time". The aquifers of China, India and the US, which together produce one half of the world's grain, are rapidly being depleted. The water tables of China, India, Pakistan, Mexico and Yemen are dropping by 1 to 3 meters per year, as are those of the US, especially in the southern Great Plains where "thousands of farms ... have gone dry". Since one ton of grain requires 1000 tons of water, this water deficit will cross international borders in the form of increasing grain prices worldwide. "Importing grain is the most efficient way to import water". Grain shortages are likely to occur soon in China, where the grain harvest is shrinking as a combined result of "aquifer depletion, the diversion of irrigation water to cities and lower grain support prices". This could "destabilize world grain markets." There are 4 potential solutions to the problem of increasing water deficits. Raising irrigation efficiency and recycling urban wastewater is being practiced with some success in some countries. More permanent solutions require raising water productivity and, most importantly, stabilizing the world's population.
March 2003
Earth Policy Institute
Water: Local Action For Global Challenge.
Providing potable water to communities, especially among developing nations is a major problem. Even where there is availability of water, conveying it to communities that need it becomes an issue. Provision of drinking water is expensive and difficult. Unsafe water sources have accounted for preventable diseases in rural communities. In many countries water is shared with cattle, which has serious implications on human health. The World Water Commission reported to that an estimated investment of US$100 billion a year was needed for the water sector, in addition to the current expenditure of US$80 billion over the next 25 years. Already there are about 450 million people in 29 countries, who are facing water shortages, and chasing fewer sources of fresh water. Approximately 1.2 billion people don’t have access to potable water and 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation services. The water crisis has also affected health matters of many people and at the moment, it is estimated that half the hospital beds in the world are being occupied by patients who are suffering from water related illnesses. About 200 million people are infected with dysentery, 20 million of whom are seriously ill. A study has shown that it is possible to reduce the number of incidents by 77%, through water and sanitation interventions. The average distance undertaken by African and Asian women and children to gain access to water is approximately six kilometres. Agriculture also has effect on water since intensive cultivation of crops causes chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides to trickle down into the groundwater. The routine application of fertilizers and pesticides are being recognized as water pollution. Waste water from manufacturing as well as chemical processes in industries have also contributed to water pollution. In 2000, the WHO estimated that of the world’s six billion people, at least 1.1 billion do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion live without access to sanitation systems. An estimated 14,000 to 30,000, most being children, die everyday from avoidable water related diseases. It is important that governments develop cost effective methods to ensure safe drinking water for everyone. In order to move towards sustainability, industries must be assured of having adequate water supply but must see that water use in industrial processes is handled efficiently. Policy makers need to allocate water to satisfy environmental demands. Water managers could improve the sustainability and productivity of irrigated systems, by considering groundwater availability when allocating surface water for irrigation.
January 19, 2006
Graphic Ghana
The Drought: Ecologically, Perpetual Growth is Impossible Thing.
Georgia's water supply is finite, it always will be. The quantity of water varies depending on rainfall, but there is data to have an excellent idea of averages and extremes.
Georgia's population represents a constantly growing demand on water supply and quality. During extreme droughts, the conflict between an ever-growing population and a finite water supply becomes obvious.
It should be obvious, at least to those caught up in the belief that a viable economy demands constant growth, even though rational thought, should logically lead to a contrary opinion.
Ecologists use the term "carrying capacity" to describe how many plants or animals a given piece of real estate might support. Farmers recognize the concept, knowing that the number of cows their pastures will support depends on the type and quality of the forage, availability of water, the acceptable growth rate and other factors.
The concept of carrying capacity is just as applicable to humans as to cows. In the US, mankind has artificially extended human carrying capacity while maintaining a high living standard by using stored energy reserves from eons past and perpetual growth and improved living standards have become basic expectations.
Georgia has long used state resources to promote economic growth, fueled by population growth, without considering the ultimate outcome.
Even while announcing a lawsuit aimed at forcing the more of a finite regional water supply to Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue was on a mission to attract more industry to the state.
The sole reason when we already have full employment is to attract more people. More people equal a larger GDP, for which groupthink demands a favorable view, regardless of the effect on quality of life.
Georgia's population is about 9.5 million. If growth rates of the past dozen years are maintained, population will double to about 19 million in just 26 years (2033) and double again to 38 million by 2059.
From an ecological perspective, it is imperative that we stop and determine what an optimum population might be. Instead, we continually ask ourselves to use less water, go further into debt, sit in longer traffic snarls and lower our living standard in various other ways so we can accommodate more people.
The ultimate irony was when Gov. Perdue asked everyone to pray for rain. Does he expect God to increase our water supply while the Governor does his best to increase demand?
November 15, 2008
Journal-Constitution
Global Warming Aside, Fresh Water Dwindling.
One-third of the world's population is water-stressed, with 8% severely water-stressed, including the western United States and northern Mexico, South America, India, China, Africa surrounding the Sahara Desert, and southern Africa and Australia.
In Africa and many parts of Asia, this means inadequate water for drinking, sanitation and crops. In emerging economies it translates as an inability to meet the dietary and lifestyle aspirations of a growing middle class.
Water stress in places such as Phoenix and Las Vegas means an inability to sustain a growth economy and support lavish lifestyles. Per capita water use varies according to a country's technological capacity and economic profile, but almost 66% of water is used for agriculture. Domestic households use 10%, industry 20%, and 4% is lost from evaporation.
It takes 57 gallons of water to produce a pound of corn and 855 gallons of water to produce a pound of corn-fed beef. World trade can exacerbate or relieve water stress.
The world will grow to 9.3 million in 2050, with nearly all growth in developing countries lacking capacity to increase water supplies. The world is rapidly urbanizing, concentrating demand in small areas. Currently, the developed world is more than 70% urbanized, whereas less than 40% of the population of Africa and Asia is urban. However, 50% of Africans and Asians and 60% of the world will live in urban areas by 2030.
Cities will intensify aquifer drawdown, leading to conflicts between sectors, people, regions and countries. The rising middle class in many developing countries demand better diets and urban lifestyles.
Climate change has the potential to alter both water supply and demand. Increasing temperatures suggest increased evaporation and decreased stream flows, rising seas that could contaminate freshwater. Variable precipitation will likely mean more frequent high-intensity droughts and floods and less available rainfall in arid and semiarid regions.
Water and energy are closely intertwined. Water provides the steam driving nuclear turbines and cools thermal plants and powers hydroelectricity. Loads of energy go toward desalinating, pumping and moving water. Producing 1 kilowatt of electricity requires an estimated 36 to 53 gallons of water.
Large-scale desalination plants require large amounts of energy making them accessible for Middle Eastern countries with large energy reserves, but non-viable for places that are poor. We have long recognized that energy is a global resource, and water, too, is global. Rich countries, using energy to solve water-shortage problems, may accentuate global warming.
Dams can lead to population displacements, among poor and indigenous populations, and international tensions.
For the 1 billion people who lack access to safe drinking water and the 2.4 billion who lack adequate sanitation, climate-induced water stress may devolve into humanitarian crises and mass population displacements.
Water resources are in crisis, with or without climate change, because, Earth's freshwater supply is limited and geographically variable. Pressure upon it will only increase with global climate change. Meanwhile, easy-fix technological solutions, with their high energy requirements, are not affordable for poor countries.
August 17, 2008
Arizona Republic
Australia: Population Bomb Ticks Louder Than Climate Change.
Population growth is a bigger threat to the world's food production and water supplies than climate change. Overpopulation's impacts are potentially more destructive than those of climate change.
Climate change is overshadowed by the amount of water, land and energy needed to grow food to meet the projected increase in population. We are facing a crisis.
The price of rice in Thailand had risen from $A200 a tonne to $A800 a tonne, and India had banned rice exports in a bid to ensure the country had sufficient supplies of this food.
Australias needs smarter ways to improve water efficiencies so we can continue to grow those crops.
Many politicians are out of touch with crucial issues facing rural Australia, particularly poverty and the loss of jobs in communities built on wealth generated by irrigated food production.
Irrigators are trying to make a living for their families, and have made a lot of effort to achieve water efficiencies. Australia must also think about the future social and environmental implications of its "population footprint".
It has to be a decision about geographic spread and location, about benefits for indigenous communities, for river systems and wetlands. It's a big exercise and needs to be done very carefully.
Ralph says: Not only in Australia! Water will continue to be a problem in many countries. Remember, ----More People Need More Water, and there is a limit to the water available.
July 22, 2008
Canberra Times
Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water.
The Middle East and North Africa are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their supply of water.
This region has drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the mighty Nile to make the deserts bloom. But they used so much water that today, some countries import 90% of their staples.
The population of the region is expected to reach nearly 600 million by 2050. Then the amount of fresh water for each person will be cut in half, and could inflame political tensions. These nations are turning to expensive schemes to maintain their food supply.
Djibouti is growing rice in solar-powered greenhouses, fed by groundwater and cooled with seawater, probably the most expensive rice on earth.
Several oil-rich nations have started searching for farmland in Pakistan and Sudan, with the goal of growing crops to be shipped home.
In Egypt, officials are looking into growing wheat on two million acres straddling the border with Sudan.
Saudi Arabia tapped aquifers to become self-sufficient in wheat production in the 1980s. This year, however, the Saudis will phase out the program because it used too much water.
Egypt dreamed of converting desert into farmland. The most ambitious of these projects is in Toshka where the farm was started in 1997. But no one has moved there, and only 30,000 acres or so have been planted.
The farm's manager says the Sahara is perfect for farming, as long as there is plenty of fertilizer and water. It's a nice project, but it needs a lot of money.
Mubarak calls his country's growing population an "urgent" problem that has exacerbated the food crisis.
Adding 1.3 million Egyptians each year is a daunting prospect for a country in which 2% of citizens live in poverty.
People used to buy pasta for their kids. But now that it cost's four and a half pounds, they give them bread instead.
Economists say that, rather than seeking to become self-sufficient with food, countries in this region should grow crops for which they have a competitive advantage, like produce or flowers. A 39-year-old runs a 150-acre tomato and pepper empire in the Negev Desert of Israel. His plants, grown in greenhouses with elaborate trellises and then exported to Europe, are irrigated with treated sewer water that he says is so pure he has to add minerals. The water is pumped through drip irrigation lines covered tightly with black plastic to prevent evaporation.
Israel has become the world's leader in maximizing agricultural output per drop of water. Egypt's new desert farms now use drip irrigation.
Another 200 million cubic meters of marginal water are to be recycled, in addition to promoting the establishment of desalination plants in Israel.
Four years of drought have created "a deep water crisis," forcing the country to cut farmers' quotas.
Under a 1959 treaty, Egypt is entitled to a disproportionate share of the Nile's water, that rankles some of its neighbors. It has built canals to bring Nile water to the Sinai Desert, and to the vast emptiness of Toshka.
An adviser says that the country has little choice. All of Egypt's farms and population are now crowded onto just 4% of its land.
Egypt is establishing an estimated 200,000 acres of farmland in the desert each year, even as it loses 60,000 acres of its best farmland to urbanization. The scourge is development.
July 21, 2008
International Herald Tribune
The Food Chain: Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water.
Global food shortages have forced the Middle East and North Africa to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their scant supply of water.
For decades nations in this region have drained aquifers, and diverted the Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects used so much water that it remained more practical to import food. Some countries import 90% or more of their staples.
The population of the region has more than quadrupled since 1950, to 364 million, and is expected to reach nearly 600 million by 2050. By that time the amount of fresh water available for each person will be cut in half and declining resources could inflame political tensions.
The countries of the region are caught between rising food prices and declining water availability. Losing confidence in world markets, these nations are turning to expensive schemes to maintain their food supply.
Djibouti is growing rice in solar-powered greenhouses, fed by groundwater and cooled with seawater, producing the most expensive rice on earth.
Several oil-rich nations, including Saudi Arabia, have started searching for farmland in politically unstable countries with the goal of growing crops to be shipped home.
In Egypt, where a shortage of subsidized bread led to rioting in April, government officials say they are looking into growing wheat on two million acres straddling the border with Sudan.
Nutritional self-sufficiency presents challenges that are not easily overcome. Saudi Arabia tapped aquifers to become self-sufficient in wheat production in the 1980s. This year, the Saudis said they would phase out the program because it uses too much water.
Egypt, too, has for decades dreamed of converting huge swaths of desert into lush farmland. When the Toshka farm was started in 1997, the Egyptian president, compared its ambitions to building the pyramids, involving roughly 500,000 acres of farmland and tens of thousands of residents. But only 30,000 acres or so have been planted.
The Sahara is perfect for farming, as long as there is plenty of fertilizer and water. "You can grow anything on this land, but it needs a lot of money."
Adding 1.3 million Egyptians each year to the 77 million squeezed into an inhabited area roughly the size of Taiwan is a daunting prospect. Economists say that countries in this region should grow crops for which they have a competitive advantage, like flowers, which do not require much water and can be exported for top dollar.
Israel has become the world's leader in maximizing agricultural output per drop of water, and many believe that it serves as a viable model for other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Israeli government strictly regulates how much water farmers can use and requires many of them to irrigate with treated sewer water, pumped to farms in purple pipes. Another 200 million cubic meters of marginal water are to be recycled.
Egypt has the Nile and is entitled to a disproportionate share of the river's water, a point that rankles some of its neighbors. It has built canals to bring Nile water to the Sinai Desert, to desert lands between Cairo and Alexandria and to the vast emptiness of Toshka.
Egypt is establishing an estimated 200,000 acres of farmland in the desert each year, even as it loses 60,000 acres of its best farmland to urbanization. For farmers the new buildings not only ruin the rural tranquility of their ancient fields, but they also reduce yields.
July 21, 2008
New York Times*
Is Growth Over? California's Continuing Water Crisis May Mean the End of the State as We Have Known It.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's order certifying that California is in a drought and directing state agencies to think what to do about it is only the latest sign that a way of life built on available water is coming to a close. The continuing water crisis raises the question of whether we are approaching the limits of growth in California.
California's economy and population exploded, fueled in large part by abundant water supplies. Snowmelt which historically has filled the state's major reservoirs has been shrinking steadily. California's rights to Colorado River water have been scaled back. Court orders aimed at protecting endangered fish have slashed water deliveries from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. Reduced rainfall has made it difficult to replenish groundwater basins.
Now, the situation is that the water agencies are beginning to give the public a taste of what lies ahead.
The largest water agency in the region and the principal supplier to the cities announced a 30% reduction in deliveries to agricultural customers. The agency adopted a plan that could result in similar cutbacks to urban consumers and rate hikes of up to 20%. Such steps alone will probably not make enough of a difference to avert a water-supply crisis. There is a finite amount of water in Southern California, and it has not increased since 1990. Major sectors of the state's economy such as agriculture and real estate development will soon face unimagined restrictions.
Environmental groups contending that many water-use practices violate the state's constitutional mandate that water be put to beneficial use to the maximum possible extent and that waste or unreasonable use be prevented.They object to pumping water from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to irrigate cotton and alfalfa, as well as lawns. These environmentalists plan to petition to permanently reduce Delta pumping that would affect every aspect of water use.
State laws require water agencies to document sufficient long-term supplies to support large developments. The Eastern Municipal Water District, the largest water agency in Riverside County, recently delayed approval of a huge industrial development because it couldn't guarantee water supplies. The state Supreme Court overturned approval of a major new planned community in the Sacramento area because the project's environmental impact report did not adequately address long-term water supplies.
Don't expect new homes to be built along a new golf course or the shores of a man-made lake. The appliances in the new homes will be low-flow, and the pavement outside permeable to help replenish groundwater. The Legislature is considering a requirement that all urban water agencies reduce their consumption by 20% within 12 years.
Agriculture is also feeling the sting of dwindling water supplies. Agencies throughout the state are pressing farmers to cut their water consumption by not growing water-intensive crops, investing in more efficient irrigation systems and even taking land out of agricultural use altogether.
Yet it is unrealistic to expect that California's population will stop growing.
The current shortage of water is largely the product of global warming. The easiest way to increase water supplies is conservation.
California is approaching the limits of growth. Those areas with limited local water supplies already are off-limits for development, and big users of water, such as agriculture, are cutting back.
Ralph says: Natures resources are limited and it is time we limited the number of people using them.
July 20, 2008
Los Angeles Times
Coca-Cola's Big Fizzle.
Coca-Cola CEO pledged in Beijing that every drop of water his company uses would be returned to the earth or compensated for through conservation and recycling programs. It takes about 2.5 liters of water to produce just one liter of its products. In 2006 Coca-Cola used 80 billion gallons of water. Some 40% went into drinks. The other 60% was consumed by the firm's supply chain and in the production of ingredients.
It's essential that Coca-Cola addresses water issues as part of its corporate social responsibility. Population growth and climate change mean that water is no longer available in limitless quantities. Coke last year announced it would spend $20 million over five years to help the WWF preserve seven of the world's major rivers.
But Coke is trying to protect its brand and ensure the availability of a crucial ingredient. By 2025, two-thirds of the global population will face water shortages. Businesses that don't address shortages run the risk of plant closures, water rationing and sullied reputations.
In 2006, when a New Delhi research group found high levels of pesticides in locally produced soft drinks, several Indian states banned their sale.
Last December, Coke spent $10 million to establish the Coca-Cola India Foundation, which has installed 320 rainwater harvesting structures in 17 Indian states, and plans to provide clean drinking water to 1,000 schools by 2010.
The company is likewise trying to avoid incurring public wrath in China. In the first quarter of this year, Coke's sales there rose by 20% compared with the same period last year; sales growth in North America was flat in the quarter. But in the future, double-digit increases could be constrained by China's environmental problems. China is home to roughly 20% of the world's population, but only about 7% of the world's water. That means there are some 300 million people living in water-scarce areas ' and increasingly, citizens and officials are becoming more militant about protecting the resource. That kind of pressure is one of the reasons why Coke has partnered with local NGOs to promote environmental education, rainwater harvesting and river conservation in China ' and why the company's Chinese bottling plants are on the cutting edge of the company's conservation and recycling efforts. Between 2004 and 2007, Coke's 37 bottling plants in China reduced water usage by 27%.
At Coca-Cola's biggest bottling plant in China, wastewater is shunted to a separate building behind the factory where it is treated so it can be used for secondary uses. Leaking pipes have been fixed to save water, and a dry lubricant is used to keep conveyer belts running smoothly with less water.
The company has yet to silence its critics. A left-leaning think tank in Ottawa faults the firm for not setting a target date for its water-neutrality goal, and for not establishing water-efficiency requirements for its agricultural suppliers.
Karen Gaia says: To be truly sustainable, you don't use scarce water to make a non-nutritious drink.
July 10, 2008
Time Magazine
Dawn of a Thirsty Century.
The amount of water in the world is limited. It covers about two-thirds of the Earth's surface, admittedly. But most is too salty for use.
Population is rising, but water supplies are not.
Only 2.5% of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is locked up in the icecaps and glaciers.
Of what is left, about 20% is in remote areas, and much of the rest arrives as monsoons and floods.
Humans have available less than 0.08% of all the Earth's water. Yet over the next two decades our use is estimated to increase by about 40%.
In 1999 the UN reported that 200 scientists in 50 countries had identified water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems for the new millennium. We use about 70% of the water in agriculture. But by 2020 we shall need 17% more water than is available if we are to feed the world.
There are several reasons for the water crisis. One is the constant rise in population, and the desire for better living standards.
Another is the inefficiency of the way we use much of our water. And pollution is making more of the water that is available to us unfit for use.
Increasingly, governments are turning away from reliance on rainfall and surface water, and using subterranean supplies of groundwater instead. But that is like making constant withdrawals from a bank account without paying anything into it.
Rivers, wetlands and lakes that depend on it can dry out. Saline seawater can flow in to replace the fresh water that has been pumped out.
Some ways to begin to tackle the problem are irrigation systems which drip water directly onto plants are one, precision sprinklers another.
Plant less water-intensive crops, and perhaps desalination may play a part - though it is energy-hungry and leaves quantities of brine for disposal.
But we should remember that we have only one interdependent planet to share.
June 14, 2008
BBC News
Africa: Women, Water and Sanitation - Going the Extra Mile.
At The African Union Summit leaders will be discussing Meeting the MDGs on Water and Sanitation. Will they take into consideration women's concerns, and remind them that women amount to almost more than half of the population in Africa? MDG's goal 7 calls on governments to ensure environmental sustainability. The goal is to reduce the proportion of the people without access to safe drinking water. Many countries have used the MDG's as a standard for their policy and planning processes. Goal 3 calls on governments to promote gender equality and empower including in decision making and policy formation.
States are required to ensure that women have access to clean drinking water and advocates for women's control over productive resources and in decision-making, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes.
There are various uses of water. Women in Africa will walk 10-15 kilometers to get water and carry up to 15 litres per trip, yet their role in water and sanitation is overlooked. This should be the basis upon which women should be fully involved in public decision making with regard to water resources.
In lower income rural areas, women have to use lower quality water which makes the household susceptible to waterborne diseases. The unavailability of clean water then becomes burdensome reducing the quality of life.
Women have no rights to land for varying reasons yet they are the majority of the world's agricultural producers. They are the least title holders among the property holders in the world. Legislative provisions may be gender neutral but most land is registered in the name of the eldest male of a household. This excludes women from and predicates the rights to use land to the male title holder.
There is little incentive for women to make environmentally sound decisions and their lack of access to credit hampers them from buying technologies that would be less damaging to natural resources. These factors may lead to declining productivity and increased environmental degradation. Women are increasingly becoming heads of households partly due to the numerous conflicts in Africa, HIV/AIDS and other existing social problems. They are then solely responsible for providing for their families, yet they do not have the legal access to water and land. Women and girls face the threat of becoming economically unstable and dependant on their male relatives or husbands.
The absence of clean water increases the impact of HIV/AIDS. Bad hygienic conditions affect people living with HIV and they need more water for better health and general hygiene. The proximity of sanitary facilities to the household increases security and privacy for women. It also reduces health and digestive system problems that arise when women have to wait until nighttime to relieve themselves. Separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys in schools boost the school attendance of girls and ensure a safe and healthier learning environment.
Poor sanitation heightens the conditions women face during menstruation because it is difficult to concentrate knowing there is no proper sanitary facilities to use. In Rwanda secondary school girls have proposed an increase in tuition fees so that schools can provide sanitary towels.
Lack of adequate sanitation and clean water makes women susceptible to infections that affect their sexual and reproductive health. States must ensure that when discussing about water and sanitation they take into consideration how the lack of these impact women and the society at large.
There is a need to break the social barriers restricting the participation of women in community forums that influence water policies. Some of the basic rights are intertwined, for example the rights to water and land, and a practical approach needs to be established.
During conflict, sanitation facilities in camps are generally poor and women rely on foreign aid to cater for their needs. There is a need for women to be integrated in the process of peace building and natural resource management.
The African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women and the United Nations MDGs have given standards that ensure the right to water and proper sanitation is assured to all citizens and most importantly to women. African leaders can no longer afford to ignore the voice of women.
June 12, 2008
Africa News Service
Falling Water Tables, Falling Harvests.
Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers to satisfy their growing water needs. This has pushed water withdrawals beyond recharge rates. The failure of governments to limit pumping to the sustainable yield of aquifers means that water tables are falling in countries that contain more than half the world's people. Most of the world's aquifers are replenishable, when they are depleted, the maximum rate of pumping will be reduced to the rate of recharge. Fossil aquifers, however, are not replenishable. For these, including the US Ogallala aquifer, the deep aquifer under the North China Plain, or the Saudi aquifer, depletion brings pumping to an end. Farmers who lose irrigation water have the option of returning to dryland farming if rainfall permits. But in more arid regions, such as in the southwestern United States or the Middle East, the loss of irrigation water means the end of agriculture.
Falling water tables are already affecting harvests in some countries, including China, which rivals the US as the world's largest grain producer. A groundwater survey revealed that the water table under the North China Plain, that produces over half of the country's wheat and a third of its corn, is falling fast. Overpumping has depleted the shallow aquifer, forcing well drillers to turn to the deep aquifer, which is not replenishable.
Under the North China Plain, the average level of the deep aquifer is dropping nearly 3 meters (10 feet) per year. Around some cities, it is falling twice as fast. As the deep aquifer is depleted, the region is losing its last water reserve.
China is mining underground water in three river basins in the north, the Hai, which flows through Beijing and Tianjin; the Yellow; and the Huai. Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of grain, the shortfall in the Hai basin of nearly 40 billion tons of water per year means that when the aquifer is depleted, the grain harvest will drop by 40 million tons.
Water shortages are even more serious in India. The 100 million farmers have drilled 21 million wells, investing $12 billion in wells and pumps. A survey reported that half of India's traditional hand-dug wells and millions of shallower tube wells have dried up. India's grain harvest plateaued in 2000. A World Bank study reports that 15% of India's food supply is produced by mining groundwater. 175 million are fed with grain produced with water from irrigation wells that will soon go dry.
In the US, in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas the water table has dropped by more than 30 meters (100 feet). Wells have gone dry on thousands of farms in the southern Great Plains, forcing farmers to return to lower-yielding dryland farming. Irrigated land accounts for only one fifth of the U.S. grain harvest, compared with three fifths of the harvest in India and four fifths in China.
Pakistan is also mining its underground water. Observation wells in the fertile Punjab plain show a fall in the water table between 1982 and 2000 that ranges from 1 to nearly 2 meters a year. Water tables around Quetta, are falling by 3.5 meters per year. Six basins have exhausted their groundwater, leaving their irrigated lands barren. Within 1015 years virtually all the basins outside the canal-irrigated areas will have depleted their groundwater supplies, depriving the province of much of its grain harvest.
Iran is overpumping its aquifers by an average of 5 billion tons of water per year. Under the Chenaran Plain in northeastern Iran, the water table was falling by 2.8 meters a year in the late 1990s. New wells being drilled both for irrigation and to supply the nearby city of Mashad are responsible. Villages in eastern Iran are being abandoned as wells go dry.
Saudi Arabia developed an extensive irrigated agriculture based largely on its deep fossil aquifer. After several years its wheat harvest dropped from a high of 4.1 million tons in 1992 to 2.7 million tons in 2007, a drop of 34%. Some Saudi farmers are now pumping water from wells 4,000 feet deep. In early 2008 the Saudi government announced plans to phase out wheat production entirely by 2016.
In Yemen, a nation of 22 million, the water table under most of the country is falling by roughly 2 meters a year as water use outstrips the sustainable yield. In western Yemen, the estimated annual water extraction of 224 million tons exceeds the annual recharge of 42 million tons, dropping the water table 6 meters per year. World Bank projections indicate the Sana'a Basin may be pumped dry by 2010.
With its population growing at 3% a year and with water tables falling everywhere, Yemen is fast becoming a hydrological basket case. With its grain production falling, Yemen imports four fifths of its grain supply.
Since the overpumping of aquifers is occurring in many countries more or less simultaneously, the depletion of aquifers and the resulting harvest cutbacks could come at roughly the same time, producing a potentially unmanageable food scarcity.
Karen Gaia says: I guess some people think that technology will take care of it. They are too afraid to think that maybe there are too many people. If technology will take care of it, why doesn't the article mention it? Could it be that there is not an economical technological solution?
June 04, 2008
Earth Policy Institute
Is Water Becoming the New Oil?.
Cyprus will ferry water from Greece this summer. Australian cities are buying water from that nation's farmers and building desalination plants. China plans to divert Himalayan water. And 18 million southern Californians are bracing for their first water-rationing in years.
Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, "water is the oil of this century." Global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as "blue gold."
Water has snared the attention of big equipment suppliers as well as big private water companies. Notably France-based Suez and Aqua America, the largest US-based private water company.
Drinking water distribution, management, waste treatment, and agriculture are a nearly $500 billion market and growing fast. But governments pushing to privatize to maintain public water systems are colliding with a global "water is a human right" movement. We're at a point where decisions need to be made about how this basic human need, water, is to be provided. The profit motive and human need for water are in conflict.
It's obvious that we're running up against limits to new supplies. It's no longer cheap and easy to drill another well or dam another river.
The world's remaining accessible fresh-water supplies are divided among industry 20%, agriculture 70%, and domestic use 10%, according to the UN.
Fresh-water consumption has more than doubled since World War II to nearly 4,000 cubic kilometers annually and set to rise another 25% by 2030. Waste, climate change, and pollution have left clean water supplies running short.
Population and economic growth across the developing world is a major factor driving fresh-water scarcity.
The US may consume even more water by importing goods that require lots of water to make. As scarcity drives up the cost of fresh water, more efficient use will play a huge role. Drip irrigation is more frugal than "flood" irrigation. But water's low cost in the US provides little incentive to build new systems. Leaking water pipes waste billions of gallons daily.
Dozens of desalination plants are in planning stages or under construction in the US and abroad.
When for-profit companies sell at a price based on what it costs to produce water, that higher price curbs water waste and water consumption. Water should be priced at the cost to provide it, and subsidized for those who can't afford it.
But private companies' promises of efficient, water delivery have not always come true. Last year Bolivia's president celebrated the departure of French water company Suez, which had held a 30-year contract to supply La Paz.
Water is a public resource and a human right that should be available to all. Private-water industry officials say those pushing to make water a "human right" are ideologues struggling to preserve inefficient public water authorities that sell water below the cost to produce it.
Water scarcity may be one of the most underappreciated global political and environmental challenges of our time.
In January, a report identified 46 countries with a combined population of 2.7 billion people where contention over water has created "a high risk of violent conflict" by 2025.
In the developing world rising economic success means a rising demand for clean water and an increased potential for conflict. China is one of the world's fastest-growing nations, but its lakes, rivers, and groundwater are badly polluted because of the widespread dumping of industrial wastes. Tibet has huge fresh water reserves.
Little has been reported about China's keen interest in Tibet's Himalayan water supplies, locked up in rapidly melting glaciers.
China is proceeding with plans for nearly 200 miles of canals to divert water from the Himalayan plateau to China's parched Yellow River. Himalayan water is sensitive because it supplies the rivers that bring water to more than half a dozen Asian countries.
Once this issue of water resources comes up it also raises emerging conflicts with India and Southeast Asia.
Canada, which has immense fresh-water resources, is wary of its water-thirsty superpower neighbor to the south, observers say. Canada has 20% of the world's fresh water. The prospect of losing control of its water under free-trade or other agreements is something Canadians seem to worry about constantly.
A year ago, Canada's House of Commons voted 134 to 108 in favor of a motion to recommend that its federal government "begin talks with its American and Mexican counterparts to exclude water from the scope of NAFTA."
May 29, 2008
Christian Science Monitor
Global: Water and Sustainability: Blue Gold.
Water is unequally distributed around the world. All humans do not have access to safe drinking water.
Many women in Mali, West Africa, have to walk several hours to the nearest river and back every day to collect water. Only half of the people in Mail have access to safe drinking water. In Yemen women fill canisters with water at a cistern before transporting it away on donkeys. Mali and Yemen are two countries out of over 50 that are threatened by acute water shortages that already affects roughly one third of the world's more than 6.6 billion people. However, Mali and Yemen are two examples for international development cooperation. In Yemen, leaky pipe networks are being repaired with German support and water supply and sewage disposal systems have been renewed in three Yemeni coastal towns. A network of water taps developed in cooperation with German development workers now exists in many small towns in Mali.
Germany is one of the largest bilateral donors and a partner for 28 countries. The Federal Government has committed to 400 million euros a year. More than 450 million euros are planned for 2008. A large proportion, 40%, goes to Africa. Germany is collaborating with 11 countries there on various water projects. They are also assisting the Kenyan government in the reform of the water sector and how to develop efficient water management procedures. German cooperation has been active in neighboring Tanzania since the end of the 1980s. The health situation has significantly improved for some 300,000 people. Diseases caused by contaminated water have decreased substantially.
Germany is also making a contribution to the MDGs of the UN. Water is high up on the political agenda and will become the key to success for all the UN MDGs that depend on progress on nutrition, education, poverty and the environment and crucially on the development of irrigation in agriculture. The UN has proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2015 an International Decade for "Water for Life".
According to figures published, only 0.35% of all the water on Earth is freshwater - the rest is salty seawater or ice. The lack of freshwater is being intensified by climate change. It is having an effect on precipitation. Precipitation is becoming more extreme. Where there is little rain today, there will be even less tomorrow, and where there is already lots of rain, it will rain even more.
Water shortages are being made worse by population growth, urbanization and industry. In the past 100 years there has been a tenfold increase in global water consumption.
Agriculture and industry are also dependent on water. Agriculture consumes nearly two-thirds of all drinking water reserves. In a number of regions, supplying enough water for the population and to meet the demands of agriculture and industry has already become a challenge during dry periods. That can also lead to social and economic tensions that reach beyond national borders.
Conflict potential exists and the security significance of water has grown. Yet cooperation in the use of transborder waters predominates in the world today.
May 04, 2008
Deutschland Online
UN Sees More People Going Hungry in Philippines as Rice Prices Soar.
A UN official warned that the Philippines may have to feed people to save them going hungry as the price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households.
The World Food Programme director said, "People who were able to meet their own food needs have been pushed over that precipice and are no longer able to feed their families," .. "We're seeing it in many countries."
The UN agency provides food aid to about 1.1 million of the Philippines' 90 million people. The UN was unlikely to ramp up its food aid since the Philippines is considered a "middle-income country" with lower priority.
Manila could be hit in the pocket by having to boost spending on subsidies to maintain current prices of the lowest-quality rice that it sells to the poor.
Rising rice prices and tight supplies could impact most severely on poor households in the rebellion-torn southern island of Mindanao. Any increase in the rice price is going to put them in a very difficult situation.
April 22, 2008
Agence France Presse
Malawi: Water Utility Over-Stretched and Under-Maintained.
Blantyre is losing its reputation for tranquility.
Residents find themselves waking up to the hustle and bustle of women as they move around the city in search of water. Water cuts sometimes last up to three days, And the Blantyre Water Board (BWB), the city's sole water supplier, has warned that the cuts are likely to persist until 2013 as it replaces dilapidated equipment.
Businesses have resorted to installing on-site water tanks. The 2007 Malawi MDG Report indicates that the country is making progress towards reaching the target which calls for the reduction by half of the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. The access to water has improved from slightly over 47% in 1992 to 75% in 2006. But Superintendent Clive Bismarck explained that transformers have been breaking down at the point where the water is pumped from river to pipeline.
BWB's ability to cope with demand is being outpaced by the growth of Blantyre. The utility can pump 75,000 cubic metres of water daily against a demand for 95,000 cubic metres.
Malawi is one of the fastest urbanising countries in the world with an urban population growth rate of 6.3%. Water shortages cause city residents to flush their toilets less frequently and to compromise on household hygiene. As a result, the risk of water-borne diseases has become a problem.
There are instances of cholera throughout the year, as poor hygiene is conducive to the spread of the bacterium.
Since the beginning of this year at least eight people have died in a cholera outbreak in areas around Blantyre. Up to 291 cases of cholera were reported within a three-week period.
The BWB Chief Executive Officer had been suspended ahead of investigations into the causes of the water shortages.
He had said that the shortages were a result of the water system being inadequately maintained and over-utilised. He has been reinstated.
Many residents have now resorted to using rain water from ditches.
Those who have cars drive to BWB headquarters where they draw water from taps at the utility's offices.
March 29, 2008
Africa News Service
Water Will Be Source of War Unless World Acts Now, Warns Minister.
The world faces "water wars" unless action is taken to prevent international water shortages and sanitation issues escalating into conflicts. The warning came as 27 international charities marked World Water Day, by writing to Gordon Brown demanding action to give fresh water to 1.1 billion people with poor supplies. Two-thirds of the world's population will live in water-stressed countries by 2025.
The coalition of charities has appealed for a global effort to bring running water to the developing world and supply sanitation to a further 2.6 billion people. Each year 443 million school days are lost globally to diarrhoea and 1.8 million children die unnecessarily from these diseases.
Rising temperatures together with extreme weather will increase pressures on water supplies. A growing and urbanised global population will increase demand for food and water. Over 1 billion people suffer from water shortages and 30 countries get more than a third of their water from outside their borders. With climate change, those figures are likely to grow, increasing the possibility of disputes.
The whole of sub-Saharan Africa and most of south Asia and western South America are at risk of water shortages if global warming continues.
If average global temperatures go more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels you are looking at 2 to 3 billion people potentially suffering water shortages. It's a serious business.
March 22, 2008
Independent
China: World Water Day.
Beijing has always been a dry landscape but has never had to cope with 17 million people, comparable to the total of Australia's population. Civic officials have a "to do" list and among the multitude of tasks are, demands for clean air, improving traffic flows, constructing subways, bettering air transportation and implementing waste water management systems. At the same time higher learning institutions are bursting at the seams with students. Water supply has first place on the list.
Complicating matters, the last 9 years has seen rainfall below average levels. Local Miyun reservoir is down to one third the volume a decade ago. The local rivers and reservoirs are exhausted so the city has turned to Hebei Province for its supply.
As the city went up, the groundwater went down, 76 feet in the last half-century! Parks, lakes, golf courses and modern high-rise apartment buildings are all adding to the consumption.
For the short term a canal will bring water from the Yangtze and its tributaries. For the mid- to long-term plans to channel water from the south appear problematic, recalling the record droughts that took place there last year. Making matters grimmer is the revelation of climate change and forecasting concern for the future of major rivers flowing out of Tibet and the three major rivers running down into southern China and beyond.
Hong Kong, which drains most of its supply from nearby Dongjiang in Guangdong, may also soon feel the pinch. Water management becomes a national and global priority. UN Secretary General mentioned that the international community needed to start conceiving strategies for using water more efficiently and sharing it more equitably. He said population growth and climate change would only worsen.
Appreciating this necessity for urban regions to become more water self-reliant the example of Singapore offers some hope. This week the Minister for Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim opened the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute, while speaking about the constraints of climate change and long-term sustainability. He recognized the economic opportunities such issues present, and how his government had identified the environment and water technology as areas deserving of strategic research and development dollars. The vision is for Singapore to solve world water woes like those now and soon to be faced in China.
Singapore has developed renewable sources in the form of "Newwater" a product arising from public utilities which can now meet 15% of the nation's water needs; desalination plants, which meets 10%, in addition to vigorous water conservation.
The eighth Forum for Asia will question how to secure Asia's future through renewable energy sources, and how the private sector can contribute towards this.
March 21, 2008
China Daily
A Fresh Approach to Water.
The water shortage will have wide-ranging consequences for agriculture and energy production. Our planet is facing a water crisis, more than a billion people in developing nations lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 2 billion lack proper sanitation. Water shortages are likely to spread into other key sectors. Some of this world crisis will be driven by climate pressures, but much of it will be driven by population growth and economic development. As nations grow more prosperous, their citizens are switching to more protein-rich Western diets. These nations are also increasing their energy consumption. The US is already using more than 500 billion litres of fresh water per day for cooling electric power plants.
Global energy demand is projected to increase 57% by 2030, and water demand for food production may double. By 2050, feeding the world's population may require the volume of Lake Superior every year. Yet many of the world's rivers and lakes are already overused: China's Yellow River doesn't always reach the ocean, and Lake Mead in the American southwest could be dry by 2021 if water usage is not curtailed.
There are many new ideas and fresh approaches that could ease the water crisis if we can collectively figure out how to implement them. The key to tackling the crisis is managing green water': the more abundant moisture that infiltrates the soil from rainfall, and that can be taken up by the roots of plants. Experts estimate that in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 95% of crops are rain-fed, only 10%30% of the available rainfall is being used in a productive way. The fixes are decidedly low-tech: harvesting rainwater, planting roots deeper, better terracing, and switching from ploughing to tilling, the gains could be enormous. In heavily irrigated regions equally simple improvements in water usage could take the pressure off drinking water.
The world is going to need all the solutions it can get but low-tech efforts can offer big gains at comparatively modest costs.
For the energy sector, there are big gains to be had from water conservation and reuse. For example, power plants could switch to brackish groundwater or treated wastewater. Here again, the fundamental challenge is to agree on who is in charge. In the US the water policy is rarely coordinated at a regional or national level, and coherent solutions are almost impossible.
This has recently begun to change, but it has to change everywhere. Unless policy-makers want water resources to be constantly squabbled and fought over, with farmers pitted against city dwellers, upstream users against downstream users, and region against region, every nation needs to think about water strategically.
March 20, 2008
Nature
Canadians Over-confident in Country's Supply of Fresh Water New Poll Reveals .
A new poll by Unilever, RBC and the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the UN Water for Life Decade shows that 80% of Canadians are confident that the country has enough fresh water to meet the country's long-term needs. Two-thirds disagree that Canada has a fresh water shortage problem at all.
Canadian NGOs and a report from Environment Canada asserts Canada faces threats to its fresh water resources.
Water scarcity has constrained economic growth in parts of Western Canada and low lake levels have caused a reduction in shipping loads and reduced water availability for clean hydro-electric power on the Great Lakes. With climate change, water quality and availability will deteriorate. The health of the economy is linked to the availability of fresh water. Environment Canada estimates that water contributes $7.5 to $23 billion annually to Canada's economy.
We need to change our attitude toward water and implement conservation techniques in our everyday lives. When it comes to water sustainability, everyone has an important role to play. Although water is a renewable resource, it is not limitless. Canada possesses only 6.5% of the world's renewable fresh water. Canadians are the second largest wasters of water, second to only the Americans.
Almost all (97%) of Canadians agree that an abundant supply of fresh water is important to Canada's national economy. Twenty-eight per cent of Canadians identified removal of water to the United States as the number one threat to Canada's supply of fresh water. This belief is incorrect. The greatest threat to Canada's supply of fresh water is our belief in its absolute abundance which is being challenged by heavy use, rapid growth and by climate change and global warming-induced drought. be 'confident' that Canada in general has enough fresh water to meet our long-term needs.
March 19, 2008
Trading Markets
Nigeria: Good Water, Sanitation Crucial to Poverty Eradication.
A good agenda on water and sanitation is crucial to eradicating poverty and achieving development goals.
All 17 local governments, communities and all stakeholders are asked to ensuring the availability of clean and safe water.
Today, about 700 million people in 43 countries have inadequate sanitation, and by 2025, this could increase to more than three billion.
The global water situation remains fragile and there is a need for a sustainable approach to resource management.
Available supplies are under duress from a high population growth, unsustainable service patterns, poor management practices, pollution, investment in infrastructure and inefficiency in water and sanitation use.
They would need more water to grow food, provide potable water and sanitation services, operate industries and support expanding cities. The water demand gap is likely to grow wider, threatening development and environmental sustainability. All are charged with promoting echnology transfer, mobilisation of resources and scaling up good practices and lessons learned.
The UN declared March 22 of every year as World Water Day.
February 29, 2008
Africa News Service
China: Olympics Threat to Water Supply.
A Qiyuan from Shaanxi province, told the UK's Financial Times that people in north-western provinces may see social upheaval and environmental harm because of the strain on local water supplies.
China is building a network to divert water to the north that will divert water from rivers in the south via tunnels, dams and canals to cities in the north. Part of the project was brought forward to provide water for the Olympics.
In order to preserve the quality of Beijing's water we have to close all our factories, he said, and the government needs to compensate Shaanxi.
The project is blamed for the Yellow River silting up and causing flooding. It is unusual for a leading communist official to be so openly critical of government policy.
Shaanxi and Hebei province are required to pump clean water to Beijing in time for the Olympics.
They are on the northern stretch of a larger water transfer project designed to bring supplies from the Yangtze River in the south to northern industrial areas, including Beijing.
The project, costing tens of billions of dollars, is due for completion by 2010, but the authorities are hoping the northern leg of the network will be ready for the Olympics.
Water demand could rise to 30% above average as thousands of visitors arrive for the games.
Hebei province, which lies next to Beijing and supplies most of its water, is suffering from severe drought, caused by a lack of rain and snow.
Hebei province is being asked to provide an extra 300m cubic metres of back-up supplies to Beijing's 16 million residents. Several hundred kilometres of pipe and channels are being constructed to supply the capital, but farmers complain that lack of water is undermining agricultural land.
About 33,000 sq km (12,740 sq miles) of farmland was now affected by drought, while a quarter of a million residents were facing problems with drinking water.
Two western routes move water from the upper Yangtze to the Yellow river, the central route will divert water from the Danjiangkou reservoir underneath the Yellow river to Beijing and Tianjin. The Eastern route will pump water from the Yangtze to supply Shandong and Jiangsu provinces. The project is expected to cost at least $60bn and the estimated completion date is 2010 but Beijing hopes some northern sections will alleviate water shortages in time for the Olympics.
Critics say the diversions will drain farmland, forcibly relocate tens of thousands of people and impair water quality.
February 28, 2008
BBC News
Water Fears Lead Saudis to End Grain Output.
Saudi Arabia plans to halt wheat production by 2016 because of concerns about scarce water resources. The Saudi government has not publicly given details, which comes as global cereal prices surge. Saudi Arabia will begin reducing production annually by 12.5% and will use imports to bridge the gap. The US estimates that Saudi Arabia's wheat imports will reach 3.4m tons by 2016, which could be in the top 15 largest importers of the cereal. The country at present produces about 2.5m tons annually.
The increase in demand would tighten global wheat supplies even further. The US report said that "the main reason for change in wheat production was concern over the depletion of fossil water since the crop is grown on 100% central pivot irrigation. The Saudi administration launched an agricultural development programme in the 1970s, including the establishment of irrigation networks, to become self-sufficient for some food supplies. Saudi Arabia became a net exporter and by 1991 production had reached 3.8m tons.
Demand for water is increasing rapidly as the population has swelled from 7m in 1974 to about 24m, with the government seeking to boost industry. The country has no permanent rivers or lakes and very little rainfall. The government has relied on dams to trap seasonal floods, tens of thousands of deep wells and 27 desalination plants. It is so expensive to produce water in Saudi Arabia.
Karen Gaia says: I believe this makes the case against desalination as a cure-all for the world water crisis. Saudi Arabia is a fuel-rich country, and if desalination were feasible for agriculture, the Saudis could do it.
February 27, 2008
unknown
Multi-Million Dollar Initiative to Tackle World Water Crisis.
Seven organisations including the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) have announced a partnership to address the lack of access to clean water.
The Initiative will work in Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. It will spend US$15 million in its first year, with a similar sum for each of the following nine years.
This partnership comes at a time when climate change threatens to reduce water availability. The organisations involved have different strengths which, when employed in partnership with local organisations and government agencies, will help to improve the management of water resources and sanitation for millions of people.
Projects will deliver water and sanitation in rural communities. In addition, strengthen institutions, build capacity to sustain long term projects, increase community participation, improve local governance, facilitate inter-governmental coordination and cooperation, raise awareness, emphasize innovation and support the development of responsible water policies.
February 12, 2008
International Institute for Environment and Development
U.S.: People Blamed for Water Woes in West.
Human activity is responsible for up to 60% of changes contributing to dwindling water supplies in the arid and growing West and those changes are likely to accelerate. This will add to calls for action from Western states competing for the precious resource to irrigate farms and quench the thirst of growing populations. Researchers studied climate changes in the West between 1950-1999 and noted that winter precipitation falls increasingly as rain rather than snow, and river flows decrease in summer, and warming is exacerbating dry summer conditions. They found that most changes in river flow, temperature and snow pack between 1950 and 1999 can be attributed to human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The changes differed significantly from trends due to natural fluctuations between wet and dry periods. The picture is quite grim and suggests the need for conservation, more water storage, and a slowdown on development in the desert Southwest.
The research "foretells of water shortages, lack of storage capability, transfers of water from agricultural to urban uses and other critical impacts."
February 09, 2008
Associated Press
Atlanta's Role in Drought is Scrutinized.
With officials projecting that Atlanta could run out of water within three months, Georgia politicians have pleaded with the Army Corps of Engineers not to release more water from the reservoir as part of an effort to save two species of mussels 200 miles downriver.
Yet there is a growing sense that the metropolis itself is the problem. Atlanta's rapid growth, and its disregard for conservation, is straining the region's ecosystem.
The governors of Florida, Alabama and Georgia agreed to reduce by 16% the amount of water released from Lake Lanier, which would give some relief. But experts say the Southeast's struggles over water resources are far from over.
What has got to be on the table is Atlanta's unrestricted growth and cavalier attitude to water use. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wrote in a letter to President Bush that Florida's $134 million commercial seafood industry depended on the water and added that his state had acted responsibly in enacting water legislation. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley argued that downstream communities and a nuclear-power plant in his state required water, too.
Within Georgia the drought has brought to the fore long-simmering resentment against the booming capital of the New South. There is concern that Atlanta could slake its thirst on Augusta's water supplies. Atlanta is a greedy, poorly designed behemoth of a city incapable of hearing the word 'no' and dealing with it. They cannot bring themselves to tell their constituents that perhaps if they didn't have six bathrooms, it might ease the situation a bit.
While other cities have water-conservation measures, Atlanta, one of the country's fastest-growing metropolitan regions, has been particularly shortsighted.
Atlanta's population climbed to 4.1 million from 2.9 million. Its draw on the water increased to 420 million gallons a day from 320 million. For its drinking water, Atlanta relies almost entirely on Lake Lanier, a 38,000-acre man-made reservoir in northern Georgia built in the 1950s.
Not surprisingly, developers and members of the business community rankle at suggestion that the state should introduce legislation to prohibit developers from building if no water is available.
Karen Gaia says: several states do have legislation to prohibit developers from building if no water is available. However, counties often play a shell game with the water to make developers happy. If states where water is a problem were take a careful look at their water supply and were to act responsibly, there would be litttle or no more development allowed.
February 07, 2008
Los Angeles Times
Much of U.S. Could See a Water Shortage.
The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.
Water managers will take bold steps including conservation, recycling, desalination and stricter controls on development.
The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency.
Experts estimate that upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.
There's not going to be any more cheap water.
Australia is in the midst of a 30-year dry spell, and population growth in urban centers of sub-Saharan Africa is straining resources. Asia has 60% of the world's population, but only about 30% of its freshwater.
By 2050 up to 2 billion people could be facing major water shortages.
The U.S. used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000 for residential, commercial, agriculture, manufacturing and every other use - almost 500,000 gallons per person.
Coastal states like Florida and California face a water crisis from rising temperatures that are causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. More water lost to evaporation and rising seas could push saltwater into underground sources of freshwater.
Florida biggest problem was it has too much water. But decades of dikes, dams and water diversions have turned swamps into cities.
Little land is left to store water, and so much of the landscape has been paved over that water can no longer penetrate the ground to recharge aquifers.
Florida's environmental chief is seeking legislative action to get municipalities to reuse the wastewater.
Florida reclaims 240 billion gallons annually, but it is not nearly enough. The state projects that by 2025, the population will have increased 34% from about 18 million to more than 24 million people, pushing annual demand for water to nearly 3.3 trillion gallons.
There are more than 1,000 desalination plants in the U.S., many in the Sunbelt. The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant is producing about 25 million gallons a day of fresh drinking water, about 10% of that area's demand. The $158 million facility is North America's largest plant of its kind.
Californians use nearly 23 trillion gallons of water a year, much of it coming from Sierra Nevada snowmelt. But climate change is producing less snowpack and causing it to melt prematurely, jeopardizing future supplies.
Experts also say the Colorado River will provide less water in coming years as global warming shrinks its flow.
California, like many other states, is pushing conservation as the cheapest alternative. Water efficiency is the wave of the future.
Karen Gaia says: desalinazation often depends on fossil fuels, whose supply is shrinking.
February 05, 2008
Associated Press
Are Our Current Growth and Water Use Sustainable?.
The use of water is constantly changing as our population continues to expand, and we respond to any number of external events, including new technologies, global climate, and energy availability. Arizona initially developed through exploiting its natural resources, often at rates that would deplete the region over time. We will need the ability to make adjustments in a timely manner and avoid crossing critical thresholds that could result in irreversible shortages.
Groundwater overuse could dewater an aquifer and compact its underground structure. This could lead to permanent loss of water storage capacity, increased vulnerability to drought, drying up of streams, or land subsidence. All of which have occurred in Arizona.
To meet demand, we must increase our investments in new water resources. Many of our leaders miss this fundamental relationship. They want to allow continued growth, but do not want to invest in the tools needed to manage and serve our complex communities.
Arizona has made significant advances in linking water and growth including requiring Arizona's larger or faster-growing local governments to consider water adequacy in their long-range plans. They require a 100-year renewable water supply before land can be subdivided, and last year's legislation allowing cities and towns to require new subdivisions to have a 100-year water supply.
Arizona's leaders will be considering transportation and water-management initiatives. It is hoped that we will, envision and plan for strong and healthy communities and be willing to invest to make it happen.
Priority goals for assuring a sustainable Arizona water supply include:
Develop long-range water-demand projections.
Forge regional partnerships.
Secure future supplies.
Understand and prepare for climate change.
Modify the state's regulatory and water-management organizations to require water adequacy in urban and rural areas, and to facilitate water transfers.
Address environmental quality, related to water management.
February 01, 2008
AZ Central.com
Clean Water Goal on Course to Fail.
The international community must review its goal to improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
The target, one of eight goals includes the aim of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
To meet the target, an additional 1.6 billion people need access to improved sanitation by 2015, but the world is likely to miss this by almost 600 million people.
Parts of Asia, northern African and Latin American are on track, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people without access to sanitation has increased from 335 million to 440 million.
The whole approach to meeting the target has to change and it is imperative that we see the scale of the challenge.
A UN report found there were problems in meeting environmental sustainability, including improved water supplies.
One of the reasons was the failure of international governments to live up to their financing commitments.
One sixth of the world's population get their water from sources contaminated by human and animal feces and half of all people in developing countries are estimated to have an illness related to sanitation and water quality.
January 30, 2008
EDIE
What it Means Yemen's Water Crisis.
Yemen suffers an imbalance between annual rainfall and water demand. Average renewable water resources are 125 cubic meters per capita, approximately 10% of the amount consumed by a Middle Easterner. Yemen is among the 10 water-poorest countries in the world.
The water volume in Yemen is about 5.1 billion cubic meters. Rainwater is 93% of the total water resources, while surface water, ground water and unconventional source waters (seawater distillation, reuse of sewer water, etc.) represent 4.86%, 2.08%, and 00.01% respectively.
The total water demand is increasing from 4.5 billion cubic meters in 1990 to an estimated 13 billion cubic meters in 2020. The current demand has three main areas: agriculture (95%), households (3.2%) and industries (1.8%).
Water shortage is expected to reach 15 billion cubic meters in 2020. The problem is getting worse due to pollution from human activity which negatively impacts water quality. There is a possibility for increased untreated sewer water to make its way down to the water-bearing layer. The problem is going to exacerbate in the future, given the quick-paced population growth. Water pollution primarily affects the the poor and marginalized who are more vulnerable. They are mainly herders and small farmers whose livelihood depends on water. The shortage and low quality of water affect the poor urban centers where it is difficult to find any source of water.
The importance of water is not limited to drinking and irrigation to produce crops and food but it is important for sustainable development because water availability is linked to public health, poverty, education and development in general. Water scarcity and competition for it may be a cause for economic and social instability, especially as 53% of Yemen's workforce is employed in the agricultural sector.
Consecutive Yemeni governments have adopted improper measures for managing water affairs. Usually focused on cost management, which implies that the government provided fresh water at the lowest cost possible. It gave little attention to fair distribution of water.
Estimates indicate that the cost of facilities reached $113 million, an average of $1.20 per cubic meter, which is high by all means.
Qat, which covers some 40% of the irrigated area, consumes 60% of the usable water in Yemen and is around double the volume of water consumed by the city of Sana'a.
To maintain water resources and optimize their use could be achieved through water demand management (WDM), a package of measures to urge individuals to regulate the quantity and price of water, the way they access it and the way they dispose of it. It is necessary to adopt a comprehensive view of water as an essential component of any good governance strategy. Water issues must be incorporated into school curricula and become a subject of scientific research and knowledge transfer activities.
January 21, 2008
Yemen Times
Global Costs of Attaining the Millennium Development Goal for Water Supply and Sanitation.
Target 10 of the MDGs is to "halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation". This study presents cost estimates of attaining this target. Taking into account population growth, costs per capita for investment and recurrent costs are applied. Estimated spending in developing countries to meet the MDG target is US$ 42 billion for water and US$ 142 billion for sanitation. The cost of maintaining existing services totals US$ 54 billion. Spending for new coverage is largely rural (64%), while for maintaining existing coverage it is largely urban (73%). Additional costs, of between 10% and 30% are required for effective implementation. Estimates of cost should include the operation, maintenance and replacement of existing coverage as well as new services and programme costs.
Karen Gaia says: with the earth's resources already strained, and the economy failing, it is nearly too late to realize that money will not solve the problem of too many people for too few resources.
January 16, 2008
World Health Organization
US North Carolina: When Short Showers Aren't Enough.
Gov. Easley's request to turn down the taps has resulted in a 11% drop in water use in the City of Durham. Old habits die hard.
The scrambling to tap new sources of water has dominated, but we're failing.
That failure has some saying Easley and the legislature should do more to coordinate a statewide effort. The governor and his office have repeatedly said that, short of declaring a state of emergency and launching public relations campaigns calling for conservation, his office has relatively little power. Local leaders say the state needs to spend more money on a regional approach. No long-term solutions are being considered within Durham County.
Water experts say a carefully calibrated tiered water system promotes year-round conservation and is one of the best ways to reduce water usage. Greensboro put one in place in 2001 and average household use has dropped by 25%.
But leaky pipes account for 14% loss of water in Durham. The city would identify and triage the hemorrhaging offenders. Getting municipalities up to speed depends on better coordination among municipalities, rewriting statewide building and plumbing codes, tracking and regulating well water use, and storm water management and gray water laws. Important information is lacking. An obvious step would be to throw more money and celebrity power behind a statewide education campaign. Durham grows closer to sucking muddy water from below the intake on its reservoirs.
January 02, 2008
The Independent Weekly
As Australian Agriculture Adjusts To Economic, Climate Changes, Is Its Future In Jeopardy?.
In the mid-90s, a two-year drought triggered more than $630 million (AUS) in federal farm support. With the current drought, spanning five growing seasons, the Australian government has spent $2.4 billion on relief measures. Some analysts are projecting a decline in that country's agricultural productivity.
Climate change is a driver in the downsizing of the farm sectors, although shrinking rural populations, global competition for commodity crop market share and perhaps most importantly, land-use issues. But there is no underestimating the impact of sustained drought which is linked to global warming. Since 2002
Annual grain harvest harvests have dropped from 37 million metric tons (MT) to less than 25 million MT
The national sheep herd has declined by 21%
Cattle have dropped from 27.7 million to 25.4 million
Milk production has fallen from 1.4 billion liters to 9.23 billion liters
Wool production has dropped from 645,000 MT to less than 438,000 MT
The decline has been dramatic when coupled with a surge in the financial fortunes of much of Australia's interior and western regions due to China's demand for coal and metals. Some are projecting that farming would become a mere afterthought in the 21st century.
On the measures of population and national income, farming matters less to Australia's make-up today than truck driving. It's hard to argue with the numbers. More than 50,000 ag-related jobs have been lost in the last decade and the total workforce of 360,000 people in ag, forestry and fishing sectors is now less than 3.5% of the nation's workforce from more than 5.2% in 1997.
Prime Minister Rudd was cautioning that big challenges lay ahead for the Australian farm economy.
Adapting to climate change is about tackling a major economic and agricultural reform necessary to underpin the future of Australia's food supply.
Drought is crippling our regional and rural communities, crops are failing. Feed-grain and water prices are rising. Farm debt is higher than at any other point in history and there are warnings about the impact of declining food exports and rising food prices on the Australian and global economies.
It is clear that agriculture was not at the top of the new government's “To-Do” list. Among Labor's top priorities were educational reform, action on climate change, new measures for national security, economic reforms in non-farm sectors to benefit workers and new national health-care reforms.
Even the climate change initiatives centered mostly on funding “green” power sources, implementing “clean coal” technology and increasing the country's investment in solar power generation.
Typical of the lobbying was the Victoria Farmers Federation, which called for “continued development of the Australian farm industry” and demanded increased spending to fund a review of the nation's quarantine system. New climate change initiatives; and upgrading Australia's irrigation and transport.
The New South Wales Farmers Association launched an effort to secure aid for farmers in eastern and central Australia who have been forced out by drought.
A brief “state of the industry” review reveals the impact of four consecutive seasons of below-average rainfall on the country's key ag sectors. The 2008 forecast is 5.9 million MT, down from 8.3 million MT in 2002. Australian feed and malting barley prices are forecast to remain high as a result of EU deficiencies and increased world demand.
» Grain production has dropped the 2008 sorghum forecast is 1.92 million MT, versus 2.12 MT in 2002, and the 2008 oats forecast is 10.3 million MT, versus 14.32 million MT in 2002.
Wheat estimates are for 15.5 million MT. Growers who find themselves with positions above what they will eventually deliver are exiting, which in turn is pushing prices up further.
The outlook Australian lamb industry remains reliant on an improvement in seasonal conditions. The drought has had a significant impact on the nation's sheep flock, with sheep slaughterings increasing by 12% in 2006 and 2007. Lamb numbers are down by 9%.
Dry seasons have caused reluctance among growers to sow canola.
The federal government has pledged more than $714 million (AUS) to help stricken farmers.
More than a century ago, Australia's Surveyor General, drew a line across the map dividing the country's southern region into farming lands, or grazing lands. But climate change, some say, has shifted the line south, and the region where much of the country's produce, wine grapes and cereal crops are now produced may no longer have a future in farming.
More than 40% of the farmers in South Australia receive government assistance. Many rural towns and regions have lost as much as 90% of their former farm populations.
For many farm families, seeking greener pastures has meant moving away to take jobs in cities and the mining industries farther north.
December 28, 2007
CattleNetwork.com
US Oklahoma;: State Supply Brings Woes.
A hand-dug water well has served Crenshaw's rural Pawnee County home for more than a century, but last year, it ran dry. The Crenshaws spent $1,200 to drill another well. It was dry, but then rains came and their old well came back to life.
This past spring and summer, record rains caused widespread flooding. The state's water wealth, experts warn, could become a mirage. Growing population and increased demand could bring more water problems and dry wells in the future.
"We are beginning to see the limits of the water resources that the state has," said Miles Tolbert, state secretary of the environment. Oklahoma's problem is complex. Sustainability is a concern, especially for those who draw water from depleted underground aquifers. However, some parts of the state rely upon abundant lakes and reservoirs.
All of these factors add up to an estimated $5.4 billion in water improvement projects needed throughout the state.
Demand for water is soaring. Supplies are limited and shrinking. Prices are rising. Last year the Legislature voted a new Comprehensive Water Plan that will address water needs, competing water interests, vulnerability to drought and flooding, environmental protection and economic development through 2016.
The state predicts that Oklahoma will add 17% more residents during the next 20 years, with a population of 4.2 million by 2030.
The state will use more than 744 million gallons of water in the year 2030.
The effects of growing demand and limited supplies were sped up during last year's drought. In one instance, Lone Chimney Lake ran out of potable water. That left the towns of Glencoe, Morrison, Yale, Blackburn, Skedee, Marimec, Terlton, Pawnee and Cleveland high and dry.
That reality is apparent in areas that draw water from wells.
Drought-breaking rains helped refill the state's 34 major reservoirs, most of which are now into their flood-control pools. These reservoirs store more than 4.2 trillion gallons of water.
But underground aquifers are depleted.
These aquifers will hold more than 24 times the amount of water pooled in the reservoirs. But pressure on their stores is growing.
The state reports a tenfold increase in the number of wells drilled into these aquifers since 1972. The Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer in south central Oklahoma has declined more than any other bedrock aquifer since 2000. It dropped more than 21 feet. The Blaine aquifer in southwestern Oklahoma dropped more than 9 feet. The Garber-Wellington, in central Oklahoma, fell more than 6 feet.
Disparities in the state's water reserves beg questions about pooling resources. While Oklahoma looks inward to settle these issues, it also must handle outsiders' claims to its water.
Two Texas Tarrant Regional district that serves Fort Worth and Arlington, and the Upper Trinity district in Denton County have applied to buy the state's water.
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board has a moratorium on out-of-state sales. But the Tarrant district has sued, challenging the ban as unconstitutional.
Authors of the state's water plan set out to have 42 meetings to discuss local and regional water supplies with the public. They plan to inventory the state's water supplies and size up the needs of local and regional water districts.
It is a process that will affect the way water flows throughout the state.
November 27, 2007
Edmond Sun
We Face Worldwide Drought with No Contingency Plan.
What happens when there is not enough water to go around? Atlanta is a city in trouble in a region in trouble. Sonny Perdue, Georgia's Baptist governor, led a crowd of hundreds in prayers for rain.
It seems, however, that the Almighty was otherwise occupied and the regional drought continued. Water rationing has hit the capital. Car washing and lawn watering are prohibited. Harvests in the region have dropped by 15 to 30%. By the end of summer, local reservoirs and dams were holding 5% of their capacity.
But that compares Ankara, Turkey, hit by a fierce drought and high temperatures. Over the last decade, 15 to 20% decreases in precipitation have been recorded, accompanied by record temperatures and increasing wildfires in areas where populations have been growing rapidly. Or the drought that has swept huge parts of Australia, the worst in a century. Morocco has 50% less rainfall than normal. In Mexico's Tehuacán Valley, the drought conditions have made subsistence farming next to impossible. Four cities in Southern California, top the national drought ratings: Los Angeles, San Diego, Oxnard, and Riverside.
We don't think of our country as water poor. But acording to the National Climate Data Center, federal officials have declared 43% of the contiguous US to be in "moderate to extreme drought." The Southwest is in the grips of a 'mega-drought,' even the 'worst in 500 years.' Such conditions may represent the region's new "normal weather."
The water level of Lake Superior, has fallen to the lowest point on record for this time of year. In the Southeast, 26% of which, according to the National Weather Service, is in a state of "exceptional" drought, tt has been the driest year on record for North Carolina and Tennessee, while eighteen months of blue skies have led Georgia to break every historical record, whether measured by the percentage of moisture in the soil, the flow rate of rivers, inches of rain.
Rock Spring, South Carolina, has been without water for a month. Farmers are hauling water by pickup truck to keep their cattle alive. Atlanta, its metropolitan area "watered" mainly by a 1950s man-made reservoir, Lake Lanier, which, is turning into baked mud. With a population of five million and known for its uncontrolled growth (as well as lack of water planning), the city is expected to house another two million inhabitants by 2030. And yet, Atlanta will essentially run out of water.
The worst outcome would be mass migrations with bitter interstate court battles over the dwindling water supplies. But before that, if too much water is siphoned from agriculture, farm towns and ranch towns will wither. If drought becomes more widespread, more common in heavily populated parts of the globe already bursting at the seams (and with more people arriving daily), if whole regions no longer have the necessary water, How much burning and suffering and misery are we likely to experience?
November 26, 2007
Alternet
Australians Concerned with Population.
Mr. Beattie said Australia's ageing population of 21 million was too small to meet future needs. The credentials of the Queensland government to make any statement on this issue are very poor. It has failed to plan for the large numbers of Australians attracted to SE Queensland when climate change data suggested that they could not be sustained. In South Australia there are targets for a large increase in population in the face of continuing water shortage. Governments worry about the increasing numbers of elderly Australians and reason that we need more young people to pay for them. How naive, population growth in perpetuity!
No-one likes to talk about it, but population is the common denominator of climate change. Climate change cannot be arrested with an expanding population.
2 billion airline journeys each year are the fastest increasing cause of green house emissions, but the world's population creates 4 times as much carbon dioxide each year as the airlines. Add energy usage and consumption and even if the world managed to achieve a 52% cut in its 1990 emission levels it would be cancelled out by population growth. The most effective global climate change strategy is to limit the size of the population.
Now Mr. Beattie wants skilled immigrants. We support necessary immigration of refugees but not immigration that purloins skilled workers from developing countries.
Procreation is a sensitive issue. This is why it's not on the climate change agenda. But liberty is a matter of degree and in this crisis there is no right to a liberty that affects the future of the entire community. Perhaps the ultimate deterrent to procreation is whether you want to create offspring to compete for space when everywhere else is uninhabitable.
November 22, 2007
Doctors for the Environment Australia
India;: Are We Destroying the Himalayas?.
India needs 5.6 times its current installed capacity; to 'electrify' everyone in Indian. To reach world level of consumption might result in environmental disaster if coal technological options take primacy over sustainable ones. The plan for milking Himalayan waters is showing devastation that is being documented with the hope that our concerns result in saner voices prevailing in Delhi.
The Himalayan potential for hydro-power is 'reassessed' at 248,871 MW. The estimated country-wise potential is: Pakistan: 41,722 MW, India 108,143 MW; Nepal 83,000 MW; and Bhutan 16,000 MW. In Himachal Pradesh about 286 micro hydel projects of below 10 MW have been approved, many under execution. True data are not available; much is under wraps.
At least one major dam has been constructed without environmental clearance; rivers are being diverted, debris from construction work is destroying forests, shrubs, creating water channels that were never there. This is eroding ecosystems that have supported thousands of livelihoods in the mountain areas and millions in the basins that are served in the plains. Those who oppose this destruction are called 'anti-development.'
Himachal Pradesh state, accounts for about 20% of hydro-electric potential of India. The state of affairs is documented with examples from several project areas and villages where ecosystem destruction has threatened livelihoods. This paper explores impact on ecosystems at three Chamba and one Kangra village with photographic evidences. The response of the government is discussed and the responses of the civil society are briefly documented.
Given the scale of hydro-electric projects in this ecologically sensitive state, and the Himalayan region in general, the paper raises questions of long term sustainability and survival of millions of South Asians.
Follow the link to the entire article.
November 13, 2007
The People's Voice
UA Involved in 9 of 12 Projects Awarded Funding by Water Institute.
The Arizona Water Institute announced that 12 projects will receive a total of $555,000 in AWI funds.
Chris Scott, an assistant professor in the UA Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, is studying how the rapid population growth in the Arizona-Sonora border region will impact energy and water sustainability.
George Frizvold is developing agriculture scenarios and their implications for water supplies. Other projects involving UA scientists range from the impacts of forest thinning on water balance, improving water management on the Navajo Nation, enhanced drought sensitivity and monitoring, and habitat protection along the Verde River.
The Arizona Water Institute was formed in 2006, and is a collaboration of Arizona's three universities. Its charge is to develop solutions to the state's water challenges, including enhancing educational opportunities related to water and providing better access to information. Capitalizing on technology transfer and water management expertise, it is expected to help develop sustainable water supply solutions that can be used throughout the world.
November 03, 2007
University of Arizona News
Development-India: Lack of Water, Lack of Education.
While social taboos hinder the education of girls in India's poor communities, in Bangalore access to water could be just as responsible.
Women used to travel two to three miles to fetch water. We were not able to send our children to school because they had to come with us to fetch water. They had to wait all night to get a bowl of water. Some young girls get molested. In some areas, slums have given way to high-tech companies employing thousands of graduates from India's elite technological institutions. Nearby are the slums housing the untouchables shunned by the rest of the community. Bangalore has about 365 slums, home to a fifth of the city's 6.5 million population and most lack water and sanitation.
The contrast between the two reinforces the difficulties faced by the urban poor and the need for new initiatives. Public service utilities could not give water and sanitation connections to the settlements because the latter do not have land titles. Years of lobbying finally persuaded public authorities to find a way around this requirement.
At Sundamnagar, a community of around 300 households, AVAS was able to buy land and work out a land title. AVAS also gave collateral so each family could borrow up to 20,000 rupees (500 US dollars) to build a house.
AVAS gave emphasis to educating women, by setting up a water and sanitation (WATSAN) committee in each community. Most committee members are women.
It is the women who maintain the system. If the water doesn't come and leakages happen, they immediately take it up. Most of the men watch TV at home all day, and those who work spend most of their money on alcohol.
Sundamnagar was supposed to be the pilot project but water is not coming to the homes and people are refusing to pay.
The women took the case to the chairman of the Bangalore water board. They said water was being diverted to other communities and pressure was not enough to bring water into their homes. Monthly meter readings are not being made, and they refuse to pay for a service we are not receiving, but water is essential so they are trying to work out a solution.
In Palya, the residents get two hours of water a day, more than enough for each family: they have time to sleep, take a bath and do all the housework.
The community is clean because there are toilets inside the houses and they have adequate water supply.
Today, the children go to school regularly and they are doing well.
Many of the children are going to pre-university college, technical education. All the residents are happy.
There is no pollution in the slums. By organising and motivating the community, informing them about the norms, rules and regulations, they will not only pay but will also help maintain the systems properly.
October 16, 2007
InterPress Service
Population and California's Political Minefields.
The politicians and the press are reluctant to use the word "crisis" in reporting the drought in the Southeast U.S. and Atlanta potentially running out of water within a year. We are going to see more and more water crises in the coming years, especially in the overpopulated Southwestern U.S. Population growth, fueled immigration, is putting tremendous pressure on the ability of many areas to sustain vast numbers of people.
The Atlanta area ignored a potential water crisis and invited it by not putting limits on population growth. The Atlanta region has a very limited water source, limited by an interstate pact with Florida and Alabama from taking more than a certain percent of the water from the Chattahoochee River, because it is crucial that the river maintain a certain flow level all the way into the Gulf of Mexico. More people mean more businesses, schools, etc. No one has put restrictions on keeping Atlanta's lawns, including golf courses, as green as ever.
The drought-impacted area stretches from mid-Alabama across a swath of Georgia and South Carolina and into North Carolina. The lack rain has set the clock ticking on what could result in a major disaster. Population planning must be long term and permanent.
In California, the recent action by a federal judge to reduce pumping water from the North to the South has created a dilemma that cannot be solved overnight. The water squeeze reflects decades of political gridlock and also an ever-growing population. Rearranging the water allocations for the state will mean rushing a water bond issue through the legislature. This isn't an issue you can vote against. Indeed, if they want to keep the water running, California voters are going to have to pay billions more tax dollars until they finally unite and resoundingly say "NO" to more population growth.
October 15, 2007
NPG
Egypt Plan to Green Sahara Desert Stirs Controversy.
The lush fields of cauliflower, apricot trees and melon is proof of Egypt's determination to turn its deserts green.
Egypt is slowly greening the sand that covers almost all of its territory as it seeks to create more space for its growing population.
With only 5% of the country is habitable; almost all of Egypt's 74-million people live along the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea. Crowded living conditions will likely get worse as Egypt's population is expected to double by 2050.
The government is keen to encourage people to move to the desert with an estimated $70-billion plan to reclaim 1,2-million hectacres of desert over the next 10 years. The government will need to tap into scarce water resources of the Nile River as rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt.
The plan has raised controversy among some who say turning the desert green is neither practical nor sustainable.
The director of the Stockholm International Water Institute in Sweden questions the wisdom of using precious water resources to grow in desert areas unsuited to cultivation and where water will evaporate quickly.
The scope of the reclamations could add to regional tension over Nile water sharing arrangements. Egypt's project called "Toshka", would expand Egypt's farmland by about 40% by 2017, using about five billion cubic metres of water a year.
That worries neighbours to the south who are already unhappy about Nile water sharing arrangements.
Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile begins, receives no formal allocation of Nile water, but it is heavily dependent on the water for its own agricultural development.
The Toshka project will complicate the challenge of achieving a more equitable allocation of the Nile River. But other experts suggest that it may be more imperative for Egypt's government to mollify its own population rather than heed its neighbours concerns.
Overcrowding is straining infrastructure in the cities and the government is worried that opposition groups such as the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which has a fifth of the seats in Parliament, might capitalise on discontent.
A desert reclamation project last decade, south of Cairo, destroyed much of the Wadi Raiyan oasis and its population of slender horned gazelles.
A lodge, which costs $400 per night and has attracted guests such as Britain's Prince Charles and Belgium's Queen Paola, shows that the desert would be better used for ecotourism than farming.
At the Desert Development Centre, irrigation water comes through a canal connected to the Nile, about 15km away, where it is used to keep crops flourishing and grass green for hardy hybrid cows to graze.
Experts believe greening the Sahara might be Egypt's best hope of bringing prosperity to its people.
Proximity to markets in Europe and a lack of pests, which usually thrive in humid environments, make desert farming economically viable. Water supply, Tutwiler said, shouldn't be an issue at least for the next ten years. It makes sense, he says, to expand agriculture onto land that was once useless.
October 08, 2007
Reuters
Georgia Governor, Corps Differ Over Extent of Water Emergency.
Georgia Gov. declared a water emergency in north Georgia on Saturday as its water resources dwindled to a dangerously low level. But an Army Corps of Engineers official denied there is a crisis.
The Gov asked for President Bush's help in easing regulations that require the state to send water to Alabama and Florida and to declare 85 counties as federal disaster areas.
He blasted rules governing the water supplies, noting that if the state got rains, it could not by law conserve those, but must release 3.2 billion gallons a day downstream.
The Army Corps of Engineers said if there were nine months without rain, water supplies still would be adequate. The corps, releases 5,000 feet of water per second from the dam between Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River.
The figure was based on a Florida hydroelectric power plant's needs, as well as concern for endangered species in the river. Georgia filed a motion to require the Army Corps of Engineers to restrict water flows from the lake and other Georgia reservoirs. The corps said it needs 120 days to review its water policies, according to Perdue.
Rainfall is far below normal for this time of year.
Lake Lanier levels have dropped to a historically low and is hurting businesses and scaring away tourists.
A new biological review of endangered species needs will end in November to see if water requirements can be reduced. Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been wrangling over how to allocate water from the Chattahoochee watershed as metro Atlanta's population has doubled since 1980. Georgia has imposed a ban on outdoor water use by homeowners in the region.
October 2007
CNN.com
UN Warns Water Will Become the Dominant Global Issue This Century.
Water will become the dominant global issue this century, and its availability could threaten the world's social stability. Rapid urbanization is placing enormous pressure on the availability of clean water and other natural resources. There is a need for "a fundamental change" in the way the world approaches water and sanitation. For the first time, more people live in cities than in rural areas, by 2030 the urban population will reach 60%. Urbanization is a reality that we must turn to our advantage as cities are the centres of economic and social development.
The urban poor pay exorbitant prices for water to private vendors. Policymakers must work together to ensure realistic pricing policies for water "that will allow its conservation, discourage waste, and ensure that the poor will be able to meet their basic needs. The current level of investment in water and sanitation in developing countries remains woefully inadequate. The private sector can bring efficiency gains and investment funds to the water sector.
Climate change, and its threat of extreme weather, jeopardized the urban poor's access to safe, drinkable water and reliable sanitation,
September 18, 2007
MaximsNews.com
Lack of Water in Northern Sudan Refugee Camps Threaten Tens of Thousands.
The demand for bricks has been a bonanza for many of the 54,000 people who've settled in Sudan after fleeing the war in Darfur. But making bricks requires water, and that's placed a huge strain on a region parched by years of drought. Nine of the boreholes that refugees rely on for water have run dry near Abu one of the largest camps in northern Darfur. The refugee crisis has badly overtaxed water supplies in parts of Darfur, and shortages could imperil the health of tens of thousands of people.
"Livelihoods that are thriving are placing unsustainable demands on natural resources.
As the population of camps continues to rise to 2.2 million, aid workers are scrambling to find new sources of water and urging refugees to conserve supplies.
UN officials in Sudan say the shortages could complicate the deployment of 20,000 peacekeeping troops seen as the best chance yet to end the conflict.
U.N. planners aren't sure how to provide enough water in such an inhospitable environment. By agreement, the current 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission shares water with the relief effort. The water needs are going to incr
