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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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South America Nearly 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain pummeled Argentina’s Buenos Aires province, causing widespread floods, power outages and 31 deaths as of Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. The extreme weather has prompted calls for investment in public water infrastructure projects. Tensions are rising in the Brazilian Amazon between government forces and the Munduruku [...]
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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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Oxfam has urged the World Bank to stop its support of large-scale land investments, the Guardian reported. The land purchased by international investors could grow enough food for 1 billion people, but is instead being used to grow biofuels or is left idle, according to a report Oxfam released Thursday. Researchers are hoping to gain [...]
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The state doles out the first tranche of loans for reservoir construction. Other states are looking in the same direction.
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Negotiations The Guardian received a leaked copy of the draft negotiating text for the Rio +20 conference on sustainable development. Only about 20 percent of the document’s language has been settled, and critics of the process fear a weak agreement or even no agreement could be reached. Water is part of the draft text, but [...]
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The European Union will provide additional humanitarian aid to Yemen this year to help relieve a water, food and fuel crisis that threatens to further destabilize the conflict-torn country, Reuters reported, citing the EU humanitarian aid chief Kristalina Georgieva. Food and water are also growing scarce in Timbuktu in northern Mali, ever since rebels took [...]
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The connection between the Amazon River and its headwaters in the Andes Mountains could be partially cut by 151 proposed dams, according to a new study that is the first to look comprehensively at the ecological impacts of hydropower across the Amazon Basin, Nature reported. At least one natural gas driller has been forced to [...]
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Irrigators in Texas and New Mexico are unhappy with a decision by the International Boundary and Water Commission to release reservoir water to Mexico, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. farmers wanted to delay the annual water release in order to cope with drought later in the growing season, but Mexican farmers, who are dealing [...]
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Patagonia Chile’s supreme court has rejected seven appeals filed against a project that plans to build five large dams in Patagonia, the Guardian reported. The controversial project could generate up to 20 percent of Chile’s electricity demand in 2020 but is opposed by green groups concerned about its potential environmental damage. Asia India and Pakistan [...]
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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, [...]
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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, [...]
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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 [...]
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Dams on the tributaries of the Mekong River could have a bigger negative effect on fish biodiversity and food security than the hydropower stations on the main river, new research shows, according to the journal Nature. Extreme weather and climate change signal the emergence of a new normal that increases the risks at the intersections [...]
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The U.S. government will require natural gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing on public lands, according to draft rules crafted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Reuters reported. The eastern line of China’s South-North Water Diversion Project, which will transfer water from the Yangtze River Basin to the drought-prone [...]
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Arsenic Arsenic is tainting freshwater supplies in Mexico’s Laguna region, the country’s biggest milk producer, as dairy operations, upstream dams and climate change deplete aquifers, AlertNet reported. In Chile, people exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water during the 1950s have a higher risk of cancer despite subsequent contamination control, according to [...]
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Chevron has filed an appeal with Ecuador’s Supreme Court to review a judgment that ordered the U.S. oil company to pay $18 billion in damages for polluting the Amazon, Reuters reported. Water Pollution The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will test the water at about 60 homes in a small town in northern Pennsylvania where residents [...]
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Lake Erie and some of its biggest tributary rivers have just the right conditions for Asian carp to make themselves at home, according to a study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, Associated Press reported. The invasive species have infested numerous tributaries of the Mississippi River, including the Illinois River, and are threatening to [...]
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Growing urban populations, poor infrastructure and unenforced environmental regulations are contributing to the pollution of South America’s Lake Titicaca, the Guardian reported. The pollution threatens fishing and agriculture in the region. Australians should expect to pay 15 percent more for home insurance as the country’s biggest insurer raises premiums to offset a 40-50 percent cut [...]
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Emissions The United States passed new rules to cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, Reuters reported. Mercury emissions can accumulate in water and cause health problems. Airlines traveling to and from Europe will be required to buy carbon permits from the European Union’s emissions trading system starting in 2012, an EU court ruled, according [...]
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