The Stream, July 5: Water Trading

The Australian water industry, valued at up to $27 billion, is booming, according to CNBC. But can water trading lead to water grabs?

Fourteen city councils are up in arms over London’s plan to build a “super sewer” to collect the millions of tons of raw sewage that overflows into the Thames River after heavy rain, the Guardian reported. The leaders of the city councils argue that there are greener and cheaper alternatives to the 20-mile-long tunnel, which could cost more than the Wembley Stadium, and the Olympic stadium and park together.

The United Nations has called for emergency aid for the Horn of Africa as one of the worst droughts in more than 50 years is putting the lives of 10 million people at risk, The World Today reported.

Meanwhile, this Voice of America story summarizes why water scarcity is one of the major drivers of the ongoing conflict in Darfur.

There is a 64 percent chance of a catastrophic levee failure in the San Francisco Bay Delta in the next 50 years, according to a geologist at the University of California, The New York Times reported. The delta is the link between two-thirds of California’s fresh-water supply and two-thirds of its population.

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