Group items tagged

"Did you know that 3,5 Million people die every year due to the lack of clean drinking water and proper water treatment?! On January the 1st 2013, the United Nations introduced the International Year of Water Cooperation. The access to clean water is a Human Right. Cutting the number of people without access to safe fresh water is one of the Millennium Development Goals. This high appreciation in international agreements has a reasons. Water is crucial for the development in many different sectors: For example, the agriculture sector, the health sector and sometimes even the security sector. How exactly do these relationships work and what are the main problems in the water sector?"

"Water security is defined as the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. (UN-Water, 2013)"

"Critics of California's current water policy advocate more infrastructure spending on things like dams, canals, and desalination plants.  Many would also curtail water releases for the benefit of fish and other wildlife. Certainly, infrastructure spending would be better than wasting money on the governor's high-speed-train fantasy.  However, California cannot spend enough money on water infrastructure to prevent water shortages."

"Five hundred scientists meeting in Bonn last month warned that 9 billion people would face the consequences of severe water shortages within a generation or two, but did not point the finger at industries devastating fresh water supplies. Meanwhile, a battle against a metal mining industry that has ravaged freshwater supplies in El Salvador shows just how difficult it is for a developing country to build economic alternatives for a water-secure future."

"A year from now, the 1,000km middle section of the South-North water diversion is expected to begin operation, channelling water from the south to the arid northern region, in one of the world's biggest feats of engineering. These pictures show the raising of the Danjiangkou dam in preparation for water diversion, which has resulted in the massive relocation of villagers in Xichuan county, Henan province"

"Texas voters last night approved the creation of a water bank expected to fund nearly $30bn in water infrastructure projects in the coming decades. The passage of Proposition 6 means the state will begin putting its 2012 State Water Plan - which calls for more than $50b in spending on new water infrastructure by 2060 - into action."

"Every inhabited continent, to varying degrees, has areas where there is extremely high water stress. These are areas where more than 80% of the local water supply is withdrawn by businesses, farmers, residents and other consumers every year. These so-called stressed areas are also the ones most vulnerable to episodic droughts. With chronic overuse of water resources, it only takes a string of years with bad rainfall or poor management decisions to plunge a region into crisis and chaos. Here's a look at seven extreme droughts that have occurred in the past decade."

"A Billion people don't have access to sufficient water and with water use growing at twice the rate of the population, water will surpass oil as the most desired and needed liquid. BBC sent 4 correspondents around the world to investigate. Then Matt Frei talkes with Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University."

"The Colorado River flows from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado through the southwestern United States. Along its route, the river passes through an elaborate water-management system designed to tame the yearly floods from spring snowmelt and to provide a reliable supply of water for residents as far away as California. The system is appreciated for the water it supplies, but criticized for the environmental problems and cultural losses that have resulted from its creation."

"Conflict continues to rage in Iraq over control of the Mosul dam, which impounds 11 cubic kilometres of water and controls water levels and supplies across the country, writes Jonathan Bridge. It's not the first battle fought over control of water - and it's certainly not the last in a drying Middle East with fast-growing populations."

"Freshwater supply and water quality under pressure, warns UN secretary general on International Day of Biological Diversity"

Ban Ki-moon has warned the world is on course to run out of freshwater unless greater efforts are made to improve water security. Speaking on the UN's International Day of Biological Diversity, Ban said there was a "mutually reinforcing" relationship between biodiversity and water that should be harnessed.

"If India can deploy adequate technology to treat water, it could significantly expand its water supply and better water means better public health and economic development"

"This blog post explains and justifies the rationale for creating a set of lessons on the current water crisis in Las Vegas and the American southwest. The lessons are designed to grab students' attention, teach key geographical concepts, improve their skills and challenge students' mental facilities. They are pitched at able GCSE Geography students and have enough stretch and challenge to also be used at A level. With minor tweaking these resources and tasks could easily be used by for Year 13 A2 geographers studying the 'Water Conflicts' Unit 3 topic. "

Water crises in the Middle East are helping "radicalize" the region, according to VICE. The inaccessibility of clean drinking water, water scarcity, drought, and food insecurity all combine to "make communities vulnerable-especially to extremist groups.

Water stories

"Water regulators in California voted on Tuesday to outlaw watering the lawn within 48 hours of a rainstorm, the latest effort to spur Californians to conserve as the state enters its fourth year of drought."

"Lester Brown says grain harvests are already shrinking as US, India and China come close to 'peak water'"

"As population rises, overpumping means some nations have reached peak water, which threatens food supply, says Lester Brown"

"f the global community is to adequately address water challenges and associated risks, cooperation is imperative"