Global Rundown
- A new study forecasts that drought will cost Europe’s farmers upwards of $15 billion per year if current heating trends continue.
- As eastern Oregon contends with extreme groundwater stress, proposed water usage regulations have been met with resistance from several communities and farmers.
- After a summer of deadly and devastating flooding in Pakistan, access to clean water and sanitation facilities remains a major concern.
- The United Nations have designated 26 new biosphere reserves around the world, many of which protect wetlands, marshes, mangroves, and floodplains.
The Lead
A study published this summer in the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies estimates that European farmers’ annual losses due to drought will exceed $15.2 billion if global heating reaches 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and more than $20 billion per year if temperatures rise by 3 degrees Celsius, the Guardian reports. Over the last few decades, losses have already been measured at $13 billion per year.
Significant agricultural and economic deficits have been documented across much of the continent in just the past few months. The United Kingdom was hit with its driest spring in more than a century, while regions in Greece contended with its fourth consecutive year of drought. Earlier this summer, low water levels on both the Rhine and Danube rivers forced ships to sail while only half-full, and by August, “red alert conditions had set in across large parts of south-west France and the Balkans.”
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- “America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs — Influenced by the close of U.S.A.I.D, millions overseas are thirsty, while farm markets at home close.
- What’s going on in Wasaga Beach? Profit, piping plovers and an Ontario town’s complicated future — The Ontario government is handing provincial parklands over to the town in hopes of boosting the local economy. Residents wonder whether the beach will still be welcoming to the endangered birds — and the public.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
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Number of residential and livestock wells in eastern Oregon’s Harney Basin that have run dry in recent years, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. The amount of groundwater being pumped for irrigation roughly tripled between 1991 and 2018, and now accounts for roughly 97 percent of the area’s water usage. Groundwater levels in some areas continue to fall by up to eight feet per year.
In response to the region’s worsening water crisis, the Oregon Water Resources Department has proposed classifying the basin as “critical,” a designation which would allow greater agency to more strictly limit water usage. But farmers, local governments, the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, and the Burns Paiute Tribe have all signed a petition that opposes this new regulation, saying the new rules would be impossible to realistically follow and likely spur an economic crisis for area growers.
On the Radar
More than 6 million people in Pakistan have been affected by this summer’s stronger-than-normal monsoon rains, which have given rise to devastating flooding and landslides, Al Jazeera reports. According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority, roughly 1,000 people and 6,500 livestock have died, 2 million people have been displaced, and 12,500 houses have been destroyed.
The longer-lasting impacts of these storms threaten further devastation. Experts are warning that those living in affected areas don’t have access to clean water, handwashing facilities, and toilets, exacerbating the risk of disease. Cholera — a water-borne bacterial infection that can prove fatal within hours if untreated — remains a top concern.
Wetland Watch
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: This weekend, the United Nations announced the designation of 26 new biosphere reserves across 21 countries, prioritizing ecosystems that “balance conservation and research with local economic and cultural needs,” the Associated Press reports. The new class of reserves includes the Snæfellsnes Biosphere Reserve, a 564 square-mile landscape of wetlands, lava fields, and grasslands in western Iceland; the Quiçama Biosphere Reserve, a 128 mile-long stretch of forest, flood plains, and estuaries in Angola; and the marshes and tides that cover the region in France between the Loire and the Vilaine rivers.
