By Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic Thirty years after Arizona tried to stop cities and towns from using up their groundwater, the state still can’t shake its thirst for one of its most finite resources. The steady drain on underground reserves grows out of two realities: Canals and pipelines don’t reach far enough to deliver […]
By James Painter, BBC News, Khapi, Bolivia Marcos Choque is a 67-year-old Aymara Indian with holes in his trousers and battered sandals. He appears remarkably cheerful. Sitting among his fellow villagers from Khapi, perched high up in the Bolivian Andes, he seems to delight in cracking jokes. But ask him about Illimani – the 6,400m […]
By Fred Pearce Diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to supply agriculture, alongside a warming climate, means the once-bountiful region is becoming desert Is it the final curtain for the Fertile Crescent? This summer, as Turkish dams reduce the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to a trickle, farmers abandon their desiccated fields across Iraq […]
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis SHAIZAR CASTLE, Syria (Reuters) – Only a few decades ago, fish were plentiful in the Orontes river which for thousands of years has provided water to the lush Syrian plains, at the crossroads of the ancient world. These days the Orontes’s 12th century norias, enormous water wheels famous for their distinctive […]
By Missy Ryan YUSUFIYA, Iraq (Reuters) – What was known as history’s fertile crescent, where lush farmland and abundant water gave rise to civilization, is today a dusty desert where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers crawl sluggishly toward the sea. Vast tracts of Iraqi farmland are cracked and barren, precious marshes have dried up […]
Boulder CO (SPX) Jul 21, 2009 – All reservoirs along the Colorado River might dry up by mid-century as the West warms, a new study finds. The probability of such a severe shortage by then runs as high as one-in-two, unless current water-management practices change, the researchers report. The study’s coauthors looked at the effects […]
Baghdad (AFP) July 20, 2009 – Iraq’s water resources ministry on Monday called for talks with neighbouring Turkey and Syria after the flow of water in the Euphrates river fell by more than half in less than a month. The ministry is aiming for “an urgent meeting with ministers and experts from the three countries […]
By Matt Weiser California’s San Joaquin Valley has lost 60 million acre-feet of groundwater since 1961, according to a new federal study. That’s enough water for 60 Folsom reservoirs. This is among the findings in a massive study of groundwater in California’s Central Valley by the U.S. Geological Survey. It helps shed light on the […]
Shangri-La is in trouble. According to an article by Stephen Faris in Foreign Policy and the IPCC, the Himalayan glacier in the Kashmir province that provides 90 percent of Pakistan’s water for agricultural irrigation will disappear by 2035 as a consequence of climate change. Appropriately titled “The Last Straw,” the article reviews water conflicts exacerbated […]
We talk about drought in California, rainwater capture issues in Colorado, and fresh water troubles in the South East. But, as water expert Peter Gleick pointed out yesterday, we haven’t a clue about what a real water crisis looks like. Australians do. As we discussed during June when we examined Peak Water, Australia has some […]
