Countries blame China, not nature, for water shortage

By THOMAS FULLERPublished: April 1, 2010 BANGKOK — In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of millions of people short of water. But the drought has also created a major public relations problem for the Chinese government in neighboring countries, where in recent […]

Ken Salazar: Water a ‘ticking time bomb’ for California

The U.S. Interior secretary discusses water infrastructure and climate change legislation with Times editors and reporters. March 22, 2010 Below are excerpts from a conversation Monday morning between U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Times reporters and editorial board members. Dan Turner, L.A. Times: I know that you’ve been involved in the climate bill talks. […]

Despite the rain, California drought lingers — ‘Agriculture will have another year of record acres unfarmed’

California needs much more to beat effect of three dry years By Mark Grossi, mgrossi@fresnobee.comand John Holland, jholland@modbee.com The Sierra Nevada snowpack has improved. Waterfalls are starting to thunder in Yosemite Valley. A spring storm adds to the bounty. It’s time to celebrate the end of the state’s three-year drought. Right? Wrong. The El Niño-powered […]

Ecologists fear for Lake Baikal as Putin saves factory

  BAIKALSK, Russia (Reuters) – On the shores of Lake Baikal, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is held up as a savior and cursed as a scourge after allowing a Soviet-era paper mill to reopen beside the world’s largest freshwater lake. Ecologists have branded Russia’s most powerful man as the killer of Baikal, a 25-million-year-old […]

Image of the Day: Dried Riverbed in Kenya

A young boy from the Turkana tribe stands on a dried up riverbed on November 9, 2009 near Lodwar, Kenya. (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images) Scenes from Kenya Technorati Tags: drought,freshwater depletion,Africa,Kenya,desertification,global warming,climate change

Desert spreading like ‘cancer,’ Egypt conference told

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AFP) – The desert is making a comeback in the Middle East, with fertile lands turning into barren wastes that could further destabilise the region, experts said at a water conference on Thursday. “Desertification spreads like cancer, it can’t be noticed immediately,” said Wadid Erian, a soil expert with the Arab League, at […]

Image of the Day: Manaquiri River Anoxia

Brazilian fisherman Elson de Oliveira, hauls a dead alligator into his boat at Reis Lake, in Manaus, Amazonas state, on Dec. 3, 2009. Plummeting water oxygen levels due to a severe drought have led to thousands of fish dying along the Manaquiri River. MARCIO SILVA / AFP / Getty Images The Big Thirsty: From contamination […]

Water crisis in Trinidad and Tobago

  By Staff WritersPort Of Spain (AFP) March 30, 2010 Trinidad and Tobago is facing a crisis in its ongoing water shortage, with consumption levels recklessly high, authorities warned Tuesday. The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) cautioned that at current consumption levels, water will not last until the end of the dry season in June. […]

Graph of the Day: Record Hot and Cold Days in Australia, 1960-2009

The number of days with record hot temperatures has increased each decade over the past 50 years. There have been fewer record cold days each decade. 2000 to 2009 was Australia’s warmest decade on record. State of the Climate [pdf] Technorati Tags: Australia,global warming,climate change,drought,flood,agriculture,sea level,freshwater depletion,heat wave

Worst drought in a century expands in China despite rain

(philstar.com) Updated March 29, 2010 04:57 PM BEIJING (AP) – Rainfall in southern China provided little respite for millions of residents suffering from the worst drought in a century, a local official said Monday. The army, meanwhile, began delivering water to some of the worst-affected areas. Teams of workers in China’s southern province of Yunnan, […]

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