Iraq wastes 50 percent of water: UNICEF

Baghdad (AFP) March 21, 2011 – Fifty percent of water resources are wasted in Iraq, where six million people have no access to clean water, the United Nations said on Monday, the eve of World Water Day. “Iraq faces difficulties in meeting the target of 91 percent of households using a safe drinking water supply […]

Fellow travelers: World Catastrophe Map

[UPDATE 4 October 2011: Sadly, World Catastrophe Map has closed down for good.] Occasionally, Desdemona runs across a site or a blog that’s uncannily dialed into the Des vibe. All dedicated Doomers know the Apocadocs and Wit’s End, but the World Catastrophe Map is a new and delectable find for Des. “Let the End Times […]

Pollutants in aquifers may threaten future Of Mexico’s fast-growing ‘Riviera Maya’

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 08, 2011 – Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, shampoo, toothpaste, pesticides, chemical run-off from highways and many other pollutants infiltrate the giant aquifer under Mexico’s “Riviera Maya,” research shows. The wastes contaminate a vast labyrinth of water-filled caves under the popular tourist destination on the Yucatan Peninsula. The polluted water flows through the […]

Victoria swamped: Storm wreaks havoc – ‘We’ve never seen anything like it in Australia’

Peter Munro and Mark Russell, with Ruth Williams and Anna WhitelawFebruary 6, 2011 VICTORIANS have been warned to prepare for more wild weather as flash flooding and storms wreaked havoc across the state, ripping roofs from buildings, tearing up trees and closing roads, schools and churches. Driving rain and winds of more than 130km/h battered […]

Anti-depressant metabolites pollute Montreal waterways, may change fish brain activity

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2011) — Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish. The findings are internationally significant as the city’s sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities, and moreover, it is […]

Scientists alarmed by worldwide spread of ‘black anoxic zones which belch up dead sea life’

James Cook UniversityNovember 30, 2010 Australian marine scientists have expressed disquiet over the continued worldwide spread of large, dead zones in the ocean. Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Associate Professor Mark McCormick of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies have recently published scientific articles, which raise concern about the impact of large areas […]

Indonesia declares protected zone to save coral reefs

Nusa Penida, Indonesia (AFP) Nov 21, 2010 – Indonesia on Sunday declared the coral-rich waters around Bali — a popular scuba diving spot which is home to the giant Mola-Mola ocean sunfish — a protected zone. The 20,000-hectare (49,500 acre) area around Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan islands will be protected from destructive […]

Years of drought and mismanagement hit Syria water supply, cause largest internal migration in country’s history

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis; editing by Alistair Lyon and Janet LawrenceMon Nov 15, 2010 9:32am EST JUB SHAEER, Syria (Reuters) – The ancient Inezi tribe of Syria reared camels in the sandswept lands north of the Euphrates river from the time of the Prophet Mohammad. Now water shortages have consigned that way of life to […]

Toxic algae rapidly kills coral

By Ella Davies, Earth News reporter8 October 2010 Coral reefs are increasingly under threat from environmental stress in the form of climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution. Climate change is suspected of causing a number of coral bleaching events, as rising sea temperatures stress coral communities. But the latest study, published in the journal […]

An open front door to invaders in Great Lakes

Destructive species hitching ride on cargo ships make Seaway a bigger threat By Dan Egan of the Journal SentinelOct. 3, 2010 For thousands of years, the Great Lakes were protected by Niagara Falls on the east and a subcontinental divide on the west, but those barriers to our grandest freshwater system were obliterated over the […]

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