13 Water Conflict

"As he put the state under an official emergency declaration last week, California governor Jerry Brown warned his state is 'facing perhaps the worst drought California has ever seen since records began being kept 100 years ago'. Wildfire dangers are increased, and some cities are close to running out of water"

"Project would help slow shrinking of Dead Sea, but critics say it is playing with nature and fails to address root causes"

"In their search for renewable electric power, China's engineers have been building mega-dams at a rate unmatched in human history. Many far larger than the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River - which is 221 meters high and capable of generating more than 2,000 megawatts of power - are being constructed on China's greatest rivers. Best known is the Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2008, which stretches a mile-and-a-half across the Yangtze and can generate ten times the hydropower of the Hoover Dam. Yet the Three Gorges is only a fraction of China's current dam programme. "

"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."

"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"

"The aquifer is said to hold some 200bn cubic litres of water." "According to Unesco, about 17 million of Kenya's 41 million people lack access to safe water."

"Climate change fears as 778,000 people face food insecurity amid Namibia's longest dry spell in a generation"

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

"More than 400 hydroelectric schemes are planned in the mountain region, which could be a disaster for the environment"

"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?"

"Nearly 20 million people in China live in areas at high risk of arsenic contamination in their water supplies, according to a study published on Thursday. The Chinese government has labelled arsenic contamination, which it first diagnosed in China in the 1970s, as one of the country's "most important endemic diseases," due to the chronic side effects which include cancers, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. China has been undertaking time-consuming testing of wells but the process could take decades to complete, prompting the researchers of the new study to produce a computer model able to predict which areas would be most likely at risk."

"On Sunday, I revealed in the Observer that the most persistent and frequent polluters of England's rivers and beaches are the nation's biggest 10 biggest water companies. I wrote:"

"The algae, which can suffocate marine life, is thought to be caused by pollution from agriculture and industry"

"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"

"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.

"The tanning factory has been accused by local people of dumping dangerous chemicals and causing health complaints"