The Stream, January 14: India Introduces New Crop Insurance Plan To Tackle Droughts, Floods

The Global Rundown

India introduced a new crop insurance program and plans to expand insurance coverage to protect farmers following two consecutive years of drought. Wastewater infrastructure in the United States needs hundreds of billions of dollars in upgrades, the Environmental Protection Agency found. Carbon emissions rose dramatically in Southeast Asia over the past 20 years, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease coincided with a water supply switch in Flint, Michigan, and South Africa recorded its lowest rainfall total in half a century. A disagreement over water delivered by a new pipeline from Turkey threatens Northern Cyprus’ financial stability.

“There is extreme uncertainty in cropping, the rewards are low. Given that kind of a situation I think crop insurance is an important thing. Whenever there is excess rainfall, the crops get destroyed and whenever there is a shortage of rainfall the crops get destroyed.” –,” D. Jayaraj, a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies in Chennai, on India’s new crop insurance plan to protect farmers from droughts and floods. The government plans to nearly triple spending on crop insurance by 2019 and expand coverage to 50 percent of India’s total cropped area. (Bloomberg)

By The Numbers

$271 billion Amount that needs to be invested in America’s wastewater infrastructure, much of it within the next five years, according to a survey released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA

55 years Time since rainfall levels in South Africa have been as low as they were last year. The drought continues to limit municipal water supplies and destroy crops. Bloomberg

227 percent Rise in Southeast Asia’s carbon emissions over the past 20 years from burning fossil fuels. The Asian Development Bank warned that climate change could cause more heatwaves, floods, droughts, and storms in the region. Bloomberg

Science, Studies, And Reports

At least 87 people living near Flint, Michigan contracted Legionnaires’ disease between 2014 and 2015, a spike that coincided with a switch in the city’s water supply. However, state officials said the increase in Legionnaires’ cases could not be directly linked to the water change. CNN

On The Radar

Northern Cyprus may not receive critical economic assistance from Turkey due to a dispute over how to distribute and sell water from a new undersea pipeline. The two governments disagree over whether water from the pipeline, which carries supplies from Turkey to Northern Cyprus, should be under private or local municipal control. Al-Monitor

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek