International demand and new technologies have pushed the nation to the top for hydrocarbon exports. But massive production has also created worries over water use and pollution.
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Australia | Water News
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Thursday, 19 April 2012 10:33
4 Comments
Thursday, 19 April 2012 10:33
4 Comments
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Thursday, 19 April 2012 07:33
No Comments
Thursday, 19 April 2012 07:33
No Comments
New photos published on the Guardian reveal that early construction work for the controversial Belo Monte dam has already started in the Amazon, despite ongoing legal battles over environmental licenses. And there are already signs of deforestation.
Australia’s water market has helped farmers and irrigators in the ailing Murray-Darling River Basin to weather drought and chronic water shortages, according to a new report by the country’s National Water Commission. Active water trading during Australia’s 12-year drought allowed water to be reallocated to the higher-value users and thus helped maintain food production even as water allocations decreased.
As droughts are worsening around the world, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles have made breakthroughs in understanding which plants will survive dry weather and climate change, according to Environmental Research Letters.
The director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars talked with the Green Prophet blog about the recently released U.S. intelligence assessment on global water security and what it says about the Middle East. Read Circle of Blue’s in-depth analysis of the report.
Meanwhile, a prominent water and sanitation expert has warned that water scarcity may contribute to political instability in sub-Saharan Africa, Bloomberg reported.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Monday, 16 April 2012 07:30
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Monday, 16 April 2012 07:30
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The Murray-Darling Draft Plan
The Murray-Darling River Basin draft plan is likely to trigger another round of legal arguments over state water entitlements, according to Adelaide Now. The states of New South Wales and Victoria have rejected the plan — which recommends returning 2,750 gigaliters of water a year to the river system — arguing that it takes away too much from their irrigators. South Australia is also opposing the proposal, saying that it doesn’t return enough water to the environment.
Meanwhile more than 60 Australian scientists have released a joint statement that calls for more transparency in the proposed plan. They say that the document fails to take into account future climatic changes and other trends.
A recent scientific report has put monetary value on the ecological benefits of the Murray–Darling plan, Nature reported, but it likely comes too late to influence public debate.
Mining in Peru
Peru is expected to release today a report by three international experts on the water use by a proposed $US 4.8 billion mining project that was suspended last year following violent public protests, according to the Dow Jones Newswires.
Drought
Could the drought in southern China hamper the central government’s ambitious project to transfer vast amounts of water from the south to the parched north?
Meanwhile, drought conditions are intensifying in the U.S. Southwest, upper Midwest, Southeast and along the East Coast, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Parts of every American state — except for Ohio and Alaska — are experiencing abnormally dry weather.
After an unusually warm March, federal forecasters have lowered their projections for the Colorado River water levels, Associated Press reported. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said that 2011 was so wet that Lake Mead won’t feel an immediate impact.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Thursday, 12 April 2012 07:46
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Thursday, 12 April 2012 07:46
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As the consultation period for the draft plan on the Murray Darling River Basin draws to a close this week, a prominent Australian environmental expert said that the proposed plan is a step back from current arrangements. Why is the draft so controversial?
Managing India’s water resources sustainably will be a top priority in the country’s next five-year plan, according to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India’s water problems could hamper economic growth unless the country reins in rampant consumption, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Tow an iceberg to California and capture what melts for the Colorado River? Divert water from the Mississippi? Reform the oil and gas industry? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is reviewing more than 140 ideas from the public about ways to cut water demand and increase the water supply in the arid Colorado River Basin, AP reported.
The drought in the U.K. is set to extend into at least late spring as the region will not get major rain in the coming weeks, Reuters reported, citing a German meteorologist.
New climate models reveal that Mars was mostly cold and dry, and did not host oceans, as previously suggested, Nature reported. But researchers say that the shift in thinking doesn’t rule out life on ancient Mars.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Codi Yeager-Kozacek
Wednesday, 11 April 2012 08:00
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Wednesday, 11 April 2012 08:00
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Forty-six Chinese and multinational clothing companies are buying textiles from suppliers who are illegally discharging polluted water in China, according to a new report released by five non-governmental organizations, Xinhua reported.
Scientists in Israel are worried over low water levels in the Dead Sea, which they believe to be caused in part by increased water withdrawals from the rivers that feed it, United Press International reported.
Durban plans to become the first city in South Africa to purify sewage effluent into drinking water, seeking to supply 12 percent of the city’s tap water needs through recycling, according to the Daily News.
Water Scarcity
National Geographic looks at how Perth, Australia’s fourth largest city, is adjusting to climate change and increased water scarcity.
The former chief executive of Welsh Water said that Wales should transfer and sell its water to drought-plagued England, BBC News reported. Watch the video report here.
Scarce water in California’s Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge has hastened the spread of an outbreak of avian cholera, which has killed 10,000 of the waterfowl that visit the refuge while migrating, CBS News reported.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Tuesday, 03 April 2012 07:52
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Tuesday, 03 April 2012 07:52
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India’s proposed mega project to link more than 30 rivers and divert waters from wet to dry areas has triggered worries in neighbouring countries, according to the BBC.
Energy-hungry Nepal has approved the China Three Gorges Corp.’s controversial $US 1.6 billion hydropower project after the Chinese state-owned company threatened last month to withdraw its investment, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, China has broken ground on yet another hydropower station on the Yangtze River, this time near the megacity of Chongqing. A massive cascade of at least 14 dams is now slated for construction between the Tiger Leaping Gorge and Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River Basin. To complete the mammoth project, China has hurried to move a national reserve’s boundaries. Foreign Policy looks at the region’s damming legacy.
The government of South Australia has jumped on a new report that says the Murray-Darling River Basin draft plan falls short on protecting the environment, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mining giant BHP Billiton has declared force majeure at coal mines in eastern Australia as production was hit by industrial action and heavy rains, AFP reported.
Saudi Arabia has awarded contracts worth $US 145 million to develop water and sanitation projects in the kingdom, Bloomberg News reported.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Wednesday, 28 March 2012 07:50
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Wednesday, 28 March 2012 07:50
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Diminishing supplies of water, metals and biomass could slow the deployment of clean energy technologies by 2035, Reuters reported, citing a new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute and by business initiative 3C. Some low-carbon technologies use more water than conventional fuels. Read the policy brief to find out why cutting carbon emissions and saving water are not always compatible.
Water Security
Drought, declining water supplies and uprisings are threatening to undermine the Middle East’s economy, according to officials at the Arab League’s annual summit in Baghdad.
Water expert Geoff Dabelko offers four takeaways from the newly released unclassified National Intelligence Council report on water and security.
India and Pakistan have resumed talks to resolve a dispute over India’s plans to build a dam on River Jhelum in Kashmir, Asian News International reported.
Energy
Coal seam gas, which many consider to be a greener fuel than coal, could have just as high greenhouse emissions as coal unless world-class standards are used to extract the gas from the ground, according to a new report published in the journal Energies, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
One of Fukushima’s crippled nuclear reactors still has extremely high radiation levels and hardly any water to cool it, Associated Press reported, citing an internal examination at the damaged Japanese nuclear power plant.
Water Pollution & Law
A Venezuelan court has ordered news media in the country to back up with hard data any reports on an alleged water pollution case that has recently ruffled feathers in the state, Associated Press reported. The court decision came as a response to public warnings by critics of the government about possible contamination of aquifers and streams supplying drinking water to parts of central Venezuela and the capital Caracas.
Asian Carp
Chicago Tribune reports on the limited success of years-long efforts to prevent Asian carp from advancing to the Great Lakes region.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Monday, 26 March 2012 07:55
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Monday, 26 March 2012 07:55
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South Australia has become the third Australian state to agree to the federal government’s tightened approvals process for future coal seam gas and large-scale coal mining projects, Platts reported.
Water Security
Germany has offered to help resolve the water disputes in Central Asia and to invest in water-saving solar and wind energy in the region, uznews.net reported.
The British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has warned that the growing pressure on water resources globally could worsen existing tensions or trigger wars, the Guardian reported.
Agriculture & Land
Drought is plaguing Brazil’s southern soy growing states, prompting analysts to cut down their forecast for the 2011-12 output, MercoPress reported.
Despite opposition, Ethiopia’s government plans to clear land, relocate people and build infrastructure for investors to speed up a commercial farming surge in the west of the country, Bloomberg News reported. Ethiopia is one of the world’s top five recipients of food aid but has leased out hundreds of thousands of hectares of land over the past four years to foreign investors to grow crops partly for export.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government has recently proposed a re-mapping of the Amazon that would remove protection for more than 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of rainforest, including national parks, to make way for hydroelectric dams, according to International Rivers.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Thursday, 22 March 2012 07:58
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Thursday, 22 March 2012 07:58
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On World Water Day, we look at:
Water Innovation
Hindustan Times features examples of grassroots water innovation in India. With 1.2 billion people, India is teeming with innovators and places to try out ingenious ideas in energy, water, banking, and health care, according to Fast Company. What makes a country ideal for innovation?
Israel could hit its renewable energy target for 2020 just by covering its 400 wastewater reservoirs with floating solar panels, an Israeli company says.
Water Scenarios
The world’s water deficit will grow to 200 billion cubic meters (53 trillion gallons) a year by 2050, according to a World Bank official. Closing this gap will be a significant challenge, costing $104 billion annually, The Daily News Egypt reported.
A dire drought in Mexico that has cost farmers about $1.18 billion in lost harvests is just a foretaste of the drier future facing the country, Reuters reported. Mexico’s water authority says it must invest around $24 billion by 2030 to modernize the country’s water infrastructure by fixing leaky pipes, expanding reservoirs and recycling municipal wastewater.
As they build more nuclear plants, China and India are eager to invest in potential uranium resources in Australia’s state of New South Wales, Bloomberg News reported. Would uranium mining trigger public concerns about water resources in the state, whose farmers are already up in arms over coal seam gas drilling?
Water Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that landowners can sue to void compliance orders issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to The Chicago Tribune, the decision sides with corporate groups and sharply curbs the federal government’s power to enforce the Clean Water Act.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.
Written by Nadya Ivanova
Tuesday, 20 March 2012 07:45
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Tuesday, 20 March 2012 07:45
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Hydropower and Water Security
Two of the world’s biggest energy companies have pledged to measure the economic, social and environmental effects of their big hydropower projects using new voluntary guidelines, according to the Guardian.
The building of dams and the increasing water consumption in upstream Afghanistan negatively affects water supply to Iran and could exacerbate the latent tensions between the two countries, according to a report from the Australian research group Future Directions International.
Ethiopia plans to upgrade the electricity generating capacity of its controversial “Millennium Dam on the Nile” hydropower plant, Africa’s biggest dam, from 5,250 megawatts to 6000 megawatts, according to The Africa Report. The mega project was launched last year amid a diplomatic row between Ethiopia and Egypt about their use of the Nile River waters.
Drought and Food Prices
Though a December-January drought chopped early corn yields in parts of Argentina — the world’s second biggest corn exporter — new rainfall has enlivened later-seeded fields, Reuters reported. Will Argentina’s harvest affect global food prices?
The Earth Institute at Columbia University explains the link between water stress and food prices.
The Guardian features a map of the drought in England and Wales, as well as an infographic of the food crisis in Africa’s drought-stricken Sahel region, where more than 13 million people are at risk of hunger.
Water Infrastructure
Climate Central maps how the rising seas will eat the coastal cities in the United States.
Minsk, the capital of Belarus, will spend $8.5 million this year to upgrade its water infrastructure by expanding its supply network and reducing the amount of water lost through leaks, according to OOSKAnews. But some question the Belarusian government’s capacity to implement the project.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia plans to spend $80 billion on desalination projects over 20 years, Bloomberg News reported.
Floods
A Reuters photographer took these eerie images of an Australian town entirely covered with spiders that are fleeing the recent floods in the state of New South Wales.
The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.