infrastructure failure – Page 23

A bird sits on a straw bale on a field in Frankfurt, Germany, as the sun rises on Thursday, 25 July 2019 during Europe's record-breaking heatwave. Photo: Michael Probst / AP Photo

July 27, 2019

The full scoop on Europe’s historic onslaught of heat – At least five nations had highest temperatures on record – Hottest day ever observed at hundreds of locations

By Bob Henson 26 July 2019 (Weather Underground) – Temperatures on Friday soared above 40°C (104°F) in Germany for an unprecedented third day in a row—and that’s just one in a mind-boggling swarm of all-time heat records set across western and northern Europe this week. At least five nations saw their highest temperatures on record, […]

A woman walks past a window reflecting a thermometer showing a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius on 25 July 2019, in Paris, as a new heatwave hits the French capital. Photo: Dominique Faget / AFP / Getty Images

July 25, 2019

All-time heat records melt in Europe – Paris warmer than Singapore at 42.6°C (108.7°F) – National records broken on Wednesday fell again on Thursday – “‘If you’d have said five years ago we’d see temperature records fall this frequently, I wouldn’t have believed you”

By William Wilkes and Megan Durisin 24 July 2019 (Bloomberg) – Europe’s latest summer heatwave broke heat records just weeks after the continent had its hottest ever June, fueling concern that a shifting climate is triggering more extreme weather. Germany probably set a new all-time temperature record of 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit) in the […]

Aerial view of Millstone Power Station. Unit 2 of Millstone Power Plant near New London was shut down on 12 August 2012 after temperatures in the sound exceeded 75 degrees for 24 hours, the maximum temperature at which the nuclear power plant has permits to extract cooling water for the unit. Photo: Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis

July 23, 2019

Nuclear power, once seen as impervious to global warming, threatened by heat waves – “You need to solve global warming for nuclear plants to survive”

By Alan Neuhauser 1 July 2019 (US News) – There’s a reason nuclear plants are built close to water. Harnessing the enormous power of nuclear fission, plants generate steam, which shoots through pipes to spin a turbine that generates massive amounts of electricity. To keep from getting dangerously hot, the plants suck up surrounding water […]

A young man looks for mud crabs and snakehead fish as he walks on the parched bed of Chembarambakkam Lake, on the outskirts of Chennai, on 21 May 2019. Photo: Arun Sankar / AFP / Getty Images

July 21, 2019

In Chennai, water is now more expensive than petrol – 600 million people dealing with high to extreme water shortages – “I know what I am doing is wrong, but we are in a situation where you have to do what you can to survive”

By Karim Raslan 21 July 2019 (The Star) – Nearly four years ago, the south Indian city of Chennai (capital of Tamil Nadu) was under water. The worst floods in living history – the result of cyclones from the Bay of Bengal – had reduced this manufacturing and services powerhouse of eleven million to a […]

A kangaroo is seen stuck in drying mud in the drainage canal of lake Cawndilla, one of the four main lakes of the Menindee Lakes in New South Wales, Australia, 10 January 2019. Photo: Getty

July 15, 2019

Australia towns close to reaching “day zero” as drought dries up water supplies – “We could be looking at anything from $500,000 to $1.5 million per month to transport the water”

By Lucy Barbour 14 July 2019 (ABC News) – Across New South Wales and Queensland’s southern downs, country towns are approaching their own ‘day zero’, as water supplies dry up in the drought. Ten towns, including major centres, are considered to be at high risk of running out within six months, if it doesn’t rain […]

A woman wades through a flooded street during monsoon rain in Mumbai, July 2019. Photo: PTI

July 15, 2019

Deluge and drought: A tale of two Indian cities – Worst floods in 14 years cripple Mumbai while Chennai thirsts for a drop of water – “It’s scary and the problem persists every year despite government promises”

2 July 2019 (Gulf News) – Mumbai: Wall collapses in Mumbai and nearby towns, caused by the worst monsoon rains in a single day in 14 years, killed 30 people on Tuesday and disrupted rail and air traffic, prompting officials to shut schools and offices. Financial markets were open in the city of 18 million […]

A worker fills a tanker train with water, which will be transported and supplied to drought-hit city of Chennai, at Jolarpettai railway station in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India, 11 July 2019. Photo: P. Ravikumar / REUTERS

July 12, 2019

Water train set to relieve drought-hit Indian city – Doctors forced to buy water for surgery – “We won’t be able to supply water even to the people who can pay a huge sum for a tanker of water”

By P. Ravikumar 11 July 2019 JOLARPETTAI, India (Reuters) – Indian authorities on Thursday filled tanks with water and loaded them onto a train in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to supply its manufacturing capital Chennai where reservoirs have run dry. Technicians in the railway station at Jolarpettai, located over 135 miles (217 km) […]

Satellite view of the proliferation of small dams in the Amazon rainforest, visible as “water mirrors”. Photo: Imazon / Sentinel 2

July 7, 2019

The silent proliferation of small dams in the Amazon rainforest

By Francy Nava 6 July 2019 (Imazon) – Recent land cover mapping in Amazonia has identified a considerable number of water mirrors in rural properties, indicating the presence of small dams supporting agricultural activities. In Sorriso-MT, for example, Arvor, et al., (2018) identified a five-fold increase in the number of dams (86 to 522) in […]

Mannubai Chamariya at the check dam construction site in Sangvi village in Madhya Pradesh. Photo: Aarefa Johari / Quartz India

July 5, 2019

An investigation into how India dismantled its main defence against drought – “By shifting the focus to farm irrigation, the government is taking water conservation efforts back by 20 years”

By Aarefa Johari and Nithya Subramanian 1 July 2019 (Quartz) – At the height of the June summer in Madhya Pradesh, Mannubai Chamariya heaved boulders from the banks of a dry stream to a site where other workers arranged them in a tiled wall, filling the gaps with cement. The work was arduous but Chamariya […]

Groundwater levels across Chennai, June 2018 and June 2019. Wells in Anna Nagar and Choolaimedu in June 2019 were dry. Data: The Rain Centre, Chennai / Gaurav Dogra. Graphic: Reuters

July 4, 2019

Villagers accuse city of seizing water as drought parches “India’s Detroit” – “Private tankers have fitted more than eight bore wells in our village and are indiscriminately extracting thousands of liters of water every day”

By Sudarshan Varadhan 2 July 2019 CHENNAI (Reuters) – In the small village of Bangarampettai, 20 miles from India’s manufacturing capital Chennai, about 150 people last month “captured” a water tanker, breaking its windscreen and deflating its tires before handing it over to a nearby police station. People living on the outskirts of this southern […]

Desdemona Despair

Tag: infrastructure failure