8/4/2019 Daily Water News
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By Patrick Juillet
Water, water, every where,And all the boards did shrink;Water,
water, every where,Nor any drop to drink.So wrote Samuel Taylor
Coleridge in his seminal work, The Rime of the Ancient Mar
iner. The irony of finding oneself completely surrounded by
water unable to partake a drink is not lost on us, and that may be
the future as rapidly increasing populations are expected to more
than double the need for more water by 2025. What really irks me is
the lack of awareness from politicians and people in general:
whenever I have a conversation with a friend or a client about
water scarcity,I get the same vacant look, eyes roll, and shrugs
ensue. I mostly get "but we have had water for millions of years,
and surely, the rain replenishes aquifers!"Hum, no. Google aquifers
and you will discover an entirely different story. Clean, potable
water is finite. The world's apparent warming climate has caused
fresh water reserves to fall across the globe. And to make matters
worse a well known idiot, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a
Republican from Orange County, has anidea to battle global warming:
"cut off the trees!" My head hurts at such asinin
e pronouncing.
To most it may seem obtuse to talk of a water crisis when we've
had recent floods and deluges in some countries and yet we know
water scarcity already affects 45% of the worlds population. The
next twenty five years will be crucial for not only governments but
food producers worldwide. The message is stark: less water,less
food.
The following linked articles and known facts are causes for
concern.
.Closer to you (from EPA):
Growing water scarcity in many parts of the USA, including Los
Angeles, Phoenix,Dallas, and Atlanta, could result in less water.
The Ogalala aquifer stretchesacross 8 states and accounts for 40
percent of water used in Texas. Its volume will fall a staggering
52 percent between 2010 and 2060.
Texans are pumping the Ogallala at about six times the rate of
recharge.Water conservation and regulation policy is difficult to
implement because Texasviews groundwater as essentially a property
right.
Who benefits? T. Boone Pickens business Mesa Water and other
companies are snapping up water rights, and looking to market water
to cities like Dallas. What's n
ext? Air? And don't get me started on water privatization run by
the IMF & WorldBank brigands!
Climate change in tropics poses food threat to poor:
The shorter growing seasons expected with climate change over
the next 40 yearswill imperil hundreds of millions of already
impoverished people in the global tropics, say researchers working
with the world's leading agricultural organizations. The effects of
climate change are likely to be seen across the entire tropical
zone but many areas previously considered to be relatively food
secure are likely to become highly vulnerable to droughts, extreme
weather and higher temperatures, say the researchers with the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (Cgiar).
Source
Trouble in Big China:
8/4/2019 Daily Water News
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YINCHUAN, ChinaEven along the middle reaches of the Yellow
River, which irrigates402,000 hectares (993,000 acres) of farmland
north of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions provincial capital,
there is still no mistaking the smell of dry earthand diesel fuel,
the abiding scents of a desert province that is also among Chinas
most efficient grain producers. Source
More trouble in China:
The months-long drought parching middle and lower parts of the
Yangtze River basin is the latest reminder of the risks that
China's limited and heavily used water sources pose for the world's
second-biggest economy. Even before this drought, smaller lakes
around Lake Honghu were disappearing, taken over for fields andfish
farms. Source
UN warns of food riots in developing world as drought pushes up
prices:
Food prices are expected to hit new highs in the coming weeks,
tightening the squeeze on UK households and potentially triggering
further unrest in developing countries unless there is heavy
rainfall across drought-affected Europe, the Unit
ed Nations has warned. The average global price of cereals
jumped by 71% to a new record in the year to April, more than three
times higher than a decade ago, according to latest UN figures,
prompting its Food and Agriculture Organisation to warn that Europe
faces a pivotal few weeks. Source
Africa Faces More Severe Droughts:
The increased frequency of drought observed in eastern Africa
over the last 20 years is likely to continue as long as global
temperatures continue to rise, according to new research published
in Climate Dynamics. Source
Australian gov latest data on drought:
Rainfall across Australia was mixed during April 2011. All
states and territories showed some areas of below average rainfall
and some areas of above average rainfall. The largest areas of
above average rainfall were in the north of the country, mainly
over the Kimberley and northern parts of the NT, while the
largestareas of below average rainfall occurred in the centre of
the continent, with smaller areas along the southern coast and in
western parts of WA. Source
Population Increases Key Driver of Water Scarcity:
The report, Is Physical Water Scarcity A New Phenomenon? Global
Assessment of Water Shortages over the Last Two Millennia, was
published by the Institute of Environmental Studies and the VU
University in the Netherlands and the Finish Waterand development
Research Group from Aalto University. Source (3rd on pdf)
South America Does Not Escape Droughts:
A 2,300-year climate record University of Pittsburgh researchers
recovered froman Andes Mountains lake reveals that as temperatures
in the Northern Hemisphererise, the planet's densely populated
tropical regions will most likely experience severe water shortages
as the crucial summer monsoons become drier. The Pitt team found
that equatorial regions of South America already are receiving less
rainfall than at any point in the past millennium. Source
The following quote is extracted from a major study done just a
few years ago bythe Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. The summary of
its findings can be read in
that link, it's in a pdf titled "Living Beyond our Means". If
you have the timeto peruse it, it will shock you.
