Levels of chloride, a component of salt, are elevated in many urban streams and groundwater across the northern U.S., according to a new government study. Chloride levels above the recommended federal criteria set to protect aquatic life were found in more than 40 percent of urban streams tested. The study was released today by […]
Jerusalem (AFP) Sept 14, 2009 – The Gaza Strip’s underground water supplies are “in danger of collapse” following years of overuse and a devastating war Israel waged in the territory at the turn of the year, the UN said Monday. “The underground water supplies, upon which 1.5 million Palestinians depend for agriculture and drinking water, […]
In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance By Peter Beaumont in Elwak Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family’s smallest children. They have walked out of […]
By CHARLES DUHIGG Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals — […]
By Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer The key spawning grounds for what was once the greatest run of salmon on the North Coast are close to being as dry as they have ever been, according to biologists and the U.S. Geological Survey. As California bakes under a third year of drought, the Scott and Shasta […]
NAIROBI, Kenya, September 14,2009 (ENS) – A multimillion dollar appeal to save the Mau Forests Complex, the most important source of water for human consumption in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya, was launched by the government of Kenya at a forum hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme last week. Continued destruction of these […]
NKAYA, 11 September 2009 (IRIN) – Degradation of the environment is reaching alarming levels in Nkaya in southern Malawi, where people have to walk ever greater distances to collect firewood and water. Mayi Chambo, a village head in Nkaya, blamed charcoal makers for the deforestation. This is her story. “In the 1980s we had lush […]
Addis Ababa (AFP) Sept 10, 2009 – The European Union granted Ethiopia 10 million euros (14.5 million dollars) to help feed more than six million people in need of emergency aid due to drought, the bloc said Thursday. “Ethiopia faces growing humanitarian challenges which are largely due to climate change,” EU’s country representative Dino Sinigallia […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 11, 2009) — The world faces a compounding series of crises driven by human activity, which existing governments and institutions are increasingly powerless to cope with, a group of eminent environmental scientists and economists has warned. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers say that nations alone are unable to resolve the […]
Synopsis by David Buchwalter, Ph.D. and Wendy Hessler Levels of antibiotics measured in streams, lakes and well water near pharmaceutical factories in India are 100,000 to 1,000,000 times higher than levels measured in waters that receive sewage effluent in the US or China. Much of the world’s supply of generic antibiotics is produced in the […]
