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Extreme Weather Eastern Germany is bracing for high water as the floods that have plagued Austria, Bavaria and the Czech Republic move east, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The floods have set records in some towns, and prompted governments in both Germany and the Czech Republic to declare a state of emergency. Water Contamination After a summer [...]
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At a conference in Bonn, Germany, water scientists warned that the majority of the world’s population will be dealing with water shortages within two generations, the Guardian reported. The shortages will affect both developed and developing countries, driven by climate change, over-use and pollution. Natural Disasters The United States could see as many as 11 [...]
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Poultry farms may not be creating as much water pollution as previously thought, according to research that challenges U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards used to forecast pollution in water systems, USA Today reported. The research could change the implementation of federal programs meant to clean up dead zones in bays and rivers, such as the [...]
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The salinity of Bangladesh’s water supply is increasing, especially in coastal areas, due to sea level rise and natural disasters like floods and cyclones, according to a World Bank study, AlertNet reported. Families in remote areas sometimes have to walk miles to get safe drinking water. U.S. Water Supply The final measure of California snowpack [...]
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A leak was discovered at yet another underground water storage tank used to contain radioactive wastewater from Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, The New York Times reported. The country is struggling to find places to store the contaminated water, but has promised not to release it into the Pacific Ocean. A Chilean court [...]
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The Chinese government recently decided to construct five new dams on rivers flowing to neighboring countries – effectively negating the bilateral water treaties that its neighbors agreed upon. Professor and commentator Brahma Chellaney argues in The Washington Times concerns about water wars and biodiversity disruption follow the decision Pacific Islands A freshwater shortage in the [...]
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While Brazil’s major crop growing areas are producing a record soybean harvest, the country’s northeast region is still suffering a severe drought, Aljazeera reported. This photo slideshow focuses on the heavy toll being paid by cattle ranchers. Pollution Clean-Up China is setting aside $US 16 billion over the next three years to reduce pollution in [...]
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Canada Oil Sands An unknown volume of water has been released from a holding pond at Suncor Energy’s oil sands project in Alberta, Reuters reported. The water was released into the Athabasca River, though it is unclear if the water contained toxic materials. China Water Pollution Another wave of dead animals has hit China’s waterways, [...]
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Canada Oil Sands An unknown volume of water has been released from a holding pond at Suncor Energy’s oil sands project in Alberta, Reuters reported. The water was released into the Athabasca River, though it is unclear if the water contained toxic materials. China Water Pollution Another wave of dead animals hit China’s waterways Sunday, [...]
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To kick off World Water Day 2013, the United Nations released an analytical brief about global water security and the global water agenda. The report includes a working definition of “water security” as “The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, [...]
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None of the 16 firms awarded exploration rights for Chinese shale-gas reserves has ever drilled a gas well before. That lack of experience, Reuters reported, could be another setback in China’s plans to tap its shale-gas reserves, the largest in the world. Read Circle of Blue’s coverage of the barriers to China’s shale-gas development potential [...]
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Water Disputes China is once again eying the Nu River (Salween River) for dam development, which could cost 60,000 people their homes, Reuters reported, citing government officials. The river is part of a UNESCO protected area due to the region’s high level of biodiversity. India and Bangladesh remain embroiled in a dispute over the sharing [...]
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Food Sustainability A new interactive tool, developed by the nonprofit Oxfam, rates the supply chains of the ten largest global food companies on their performance in areas like water consumption and human rights, The New York Times reported. Oxfam hopes the scorecards will spur consumers to demand more from their favorite food brands. Extreme Weather [...]
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When a Greenpeace China rapid response team ventured to a chemical spill site in the Shanxi province, they found that the area’s water supply was dwindling rapidly to support the growing coal production there, reports The New York Times. Much like the water-energy nexus story that Circle of Blue uncovered in other Northern Chinese provinces, [...]
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Storms spawned by Tropical Cyclone Oswald created “record turbidity levels” in Australia’s Brisbane River and forced the main water treatment plant for the city of Brisbane to close earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported. The plant is back online, but officials say water supplies for the metropolitan area remain tight. The legal case between Chevron [...]
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The latest issue of the UNESCO journal, A World of Science, is focused on the human face of water politics. Researchers have found that conflict is no more likely in arid nations than in humid nations, and that water conflicts, when they do arise, are not more or less frequent in a nation based on their wealth or political structure. The report is released in anticipation of the beginning of the 2013 UN International Year of Water Cooperation.
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U.S. Drought The Food Price Index for December 2012, released yesterday, hit its lowest point since prices began to rally in June 2012, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Index is a measure of international food commodity prices, and, driven in part by the severe drought in the [...]
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Pollution A pig farm in the Chinese town of Houtonglong has polluted water sources, created health problems, and made it difficult for local farmers to raise other animals, the Guardian reported. As China’s appetite for meat continues to grow, ban production at 93 iron ore mines in Goa, which were found to be contributing to [...]
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Temperatures nudged higher by climate change will increase evaporation levels from plants and soil in the American west, a new Columbia University study predicted. Higher evaporation rates, the Los Angeles Times reported, will dry out land and reduce water runoff into rivers and streams by about 10 percent in California, Nevada, Colorado River headwaters and [...]
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China has revealed plans to boost its desalination capacity to produce 2.2 million cubic meters (77.6 million cubic feet) of fresh water each day by 2015, Xinhua reported. The plan also calls for more than 15 percent of the water supply delivered to coastal factories to come from desalinated sea water by 2015. Winter Storms [...]
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