| This month's roundup is particularly harsh, and covers only some of the problems we're facing right now. Conserve water whenever you can.
Lubbock, Texas - Texas is parched and hot. Again:
On the heels of a very wet 2007, about 95 percent of Texas is now in some stage of drought, with a sliver of two northwestern Panhandle counties garnering the worst status - exceptional - on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. In late May, only about 59 percent of Texas had some degree of drought. A year ago 99 percent of the state was drought-free. Source
Climate change threatens New York's reservoirs:
New York City's tap water, so pure residents swear it tastes better than bottled, may become a casualty of climate change as warmer temperatures threaten to spoil the mountain reservoirs supplying 9 million people. Water from the largest unfiltered delivery system in the U.S. may become dirtier as weather patterns shift, bringing stronger storms to the region, the city's Department of Environmental Protection said in a May report. Source
Group Criticizes Beijing Water Diversion Plan:
Plans to divert water to Beijing for the Olympic Games are shortsighted and will not ease the city's severe water crisis, a Canadian-based development policy group said in a study released Thursday. Channeling water from neighboring provinces for an event billed as the "Green Olympics" is not a "fundamental solution," Probe International said in its report, compiled by a team of experts in Beijing who requested anonymity. Source
In Iraq, drought and sand storms threaten food crops and water supply:
Baghdad: It's been a year of drought and sand storms across Iraq - a dry spell that has devastated the country's crucial wheat crop and created new worries about the safety of drinking water. Source
India's parched earth:
No one talks about drinking water. When planning for drought relief and drought-proofing, all that one looks at is water for agriculture. With the country having faced drought-like conditions for the past five years, examples of bad policies adding to natural adversity are legion. Source
Project aims to replenish depleted Colorado aquifer:
Colorado Springs - The aquifer beneath the Upper Black Squirrel basin took a million years to form, as water rushing down from the mountains carved an underground lake with fingers stretching for miles beneath the eastern El Paso County plains. By some estimates, it could be depleted in less than 100 years. Source
Your gasoline $ are providing Bahrain with more water:
Bahrain is to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into improving and protecting its water supply over the next few years. It is also bringing water production, supply and distribution under a single management, to improve efficiency. Source
Drastic water measures taken in the Philippines:
Manila, Philippines - The Natural Water Resources Board and the Quezon City government have shut down several deep wells in Novaliches and Fairview to help curb the rapid decline of groundwater supply in Metro Manila. Source
Australia's degradation of river system tied to climate change:
Australia's Murray-Darling Basin Commission, after studying the health of 23 river valleys in the Basin, found evidence of long-term environmental damage. Southern valleys are generally in worse shape than northern ones. Non-native species of fish outnumber native fish and are larger in size. The Commission is now working on a three-year study that will analyse trends in the river system during droughts. Source
Benin: Sunshine + Plastic Bottle = Clean Water:
The government of Benin aims to dramatically increase the percentage of Beninese who can access drinking water by 2015 and one organisation, the Regional Centre for Water and Sanitation (CREPA) hopes to close the gap with a simple solution requiring little more than sunshine and a plastic bottle. Source
West Bank - Bedouins face acute water shortage:
Jerusalem - After three successive years of drought and a very cold winter, Bedouin and herder communities in the occupied West Bank are on the brink of an emergency, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned today. Source
And finally, some bad news for people who love French bread:
The G8 summit may have agreed to try to cut greenhouse gas emissions - but don't count on that saving your favorite crusty French bread. German researchers have shown that high CO2 levels in the atmosphere lead to wheat crops throughout Europe with less gluten, the protein in flour that forms the gooey matrix of dough. Source |
