http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=44294
Zimbabwe - hit hard by political conflict, man-made famine, poor government land policies and drought - is suffering from water scarcity and on the cusp of conflict over water.
This piece cites the Zimbabwean government's "failure to provide adequate resources to reduce water scarcity -- including skilled water experts, fuel for field technicians to reach remote areas, drilling machines to make boreholes and water purification chemicals -- have worsened water woes."
Wells have dried up throughout Zimbabwe and there has not been an effort to drill more boreholes.
The Ramakgoebana River which separates Zimbabwe from Botswana has become a source of tension between residents on both banks.
"Residents from the Botswana side of the river have claimed parts of the river as their own, threatening those from the Zimbabwean side with assault if they come to fetch water...out of desperation, villagers have started to bring their livestock to drink from the river too, as there is no alternative water source for animals."
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
CSIS Report: GLOBAL WATER FUTURES - a roadmap for future US water policy
http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,4876/
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies has produced a report on the state and future of United States international water policy. The current state of US water policy is one focused largely around water as a humanitarian relief and development issue. USAID has taken a lead in this realm, but the report encourages a re-tooling of government efforts to bring more strategic thinking about water as an economic and security issue.
The report promotes forging a cohesive integrated effort to pull together currently disjointed agencies dealing with water - the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and Intenraitonal Environmental and Scientific Affairs, USAID, EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, Agriculture Department, Interior (reclamation etc.) under a unified water policy committee or secretariat. These traditional water actors would act in concert with partners in defense, national security, health and intelligence. (There are currently 15 agencies involved in US international water projects.)
Water must be integrated into key strategic elements of US foreign policy planning, the report argues, in recognition that the rapidly growing significance of water as a factor in international security and stability and economic opportunity.
One factor that guided the report was Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, signed into the law on Dec. 1, 2005 which calls for an increase in the percentage of drinking water and sanitiation asssitance directed towards high-priority developing countries and for the State department to develop a strategy to provde affordable and equitable safe drinking water and sanitiation.
See: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/WFPA%20-%20LAW.pdf
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies has produced a report on the state and future of United States international water policy. The current state of US water policy is one focused largely around water as a humanitarian relief and development issue. USAID has taken a lead in this realm, but the report encourages a re-tooling of government efforts to bring more strategic thinking about water as an economic and security issue.
The report promotes forging a cohesive integrated effort to pull together currently disjointed agencies dealing with water - the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and Intenraitonal Environmental and Scientific Affairs, USAID, EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, Agriculture Department, Interior (reclamation etc.) under a unified water policy committee or secretariat. These traditional water actors would act in concert with partners in defense, national security, health and intelligence. (There are currently 15 agencies involved in US international water projects.)
Water must be integrated into key strategic elements of US foreign policy planning, the report argues, in recognition that the rapidly growing significance of water as a factor in international security and stability and economic opportunity.
One factor that guided the report was Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, signed into the law on Dec. 1, 2005 which calls for an increase in the percentage of drinking water and sanitiation asssitance directed towards high-priority developing countries and for the State department to develop a strategy to provde affordable and equitable safe drinking water and sanitiation.
See: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/WFPA%20-%20LAW.pdf
Sunday, October 12, 2008
EU Parliament adopts report on water scarcity
EU Report calls for revamping water infrastructure and use of improved technology for water savings. Report acknowledges unrestrained urban sprawl and deforestation leading to dangerous water scarcity conditions.
PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/064-39027-282-10-41-911-20081008IPR39026-08-10-2008-2008-false/default_en.htm
In adopting an own-initiative report on water scarcity and droughts in the European Union, MEPs urge the Commission and Member States to acknowledge that deforestation and unrestrained urban development are contributing to growing water scarcity. The House calls on the Member States and the authorities concerned to pay heed to water-related considerations in their land-use planning. The report was adopted with 594 votes in favour, 45 against and 12 abstentions.
Parliament stresses that any supply of water regardless of the purpose of its consumption must comply with the principle of fair water tarification, thereby encouraging companies especially to use water more efficiently.
The report stresses that the cross-regional and trans-border nature of river basins can have a serious cross-border impact on upstream and downstream regions, and that it is thus indispensable for the Member States, as well as regional and local authorities, to cooperate on the issue of water scarcity and drought ensuring sustainable and fair use of water resources. The House considers that the specificity of the water scarcity and droughts issue requires coordinated action at EU and Member State level as well as at regional and local government level.
Structural funds
The House calls on regional and local authorities to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by the Structural Funds and invest in the improvement or renewal of existing infrastructure and technology (in particular in regions where water resources are wasted due to leakages from water pipes) including, notably, clean technologies that facilitate the efficient use of water and can be linked to integrated water resource management (IRM), in particular to address the challenge of water efficiency (in terms of savings and reutilisation) in the industrial and agricultural sectors as well as on the part of domestic consumers.
The report stresses that planning for the European agricultural model should take account of the most frequent and acute environmental hazards as well as water scarcity and drought and that, in that context, an effective crisis management mechanism should constitute a fundamental element of the CAP.
MEPs take the view that the environmental value of forests and agricultural production must be reassessed in a context of climate change where it is absolutely vital to balance the increase in greenhouse gas emissions with an increase in forest cover, whose contribution as a carbon sink must be taken into account in all policies on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Parliament supports the Commission's commitment to continue to highlight the challenge of water scarcity and drought at international level, in particular through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/064-39027-282-10-41-911-20081008IPR39026-08-10-2008-2008-false/default_en.htm
In adopting an own-initiative report on water scarcity and droughts in the European Union, MEPs urge the Commission and Member States to acknowledge that deforestation and unrestrained urban development are contributing to growing water scarcity. The House calls on the Member States and the authorities concerned to pay heed to water-related considerations in their land-use planning. The report was adopted with 594 votes in favour, 45 against and 12 abstentions.
Parliament stresses that any supply of water regardless of the purpose of its consumption must comply with the principle of fair water tarification, thereby encouraging companies especially to use water more efficiently.
The report stresses that the cross-regional and trans-border nature of river basins can have a serious cross-border impact on upstream and downstream regions, and that it is thus indispensable for the Member States, as well as regional and local authorities, to cooperate on the issue of water scarcity and drought ensuring sustainable and fair use of water resources. The House considers that the specificity of the water scarcity and droughts issue requires coordinated action at EU and Member State level as well as at regional and local government level.
Structural funds
The House calls on regional and local authorities to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by the Structural Funds and invest in the improvement or renewal of existing infrastructure and technology (in particular in regions where water resources are wasted due to leakages from water pipes) including, notably, clean technologies that facilitate the efficient use of water and can be linked to integrated water resource management (IRM), in particular to address the challenge of water efficiency (in terms of savings and reutilisation) in the industrial and agricultural sectors as well as on the part of domestic consumers.
The report stresses that planning for the European agricultural model should take account of the most frequent and acute environmental hazards as well as water scarcity and drought and that, in that context, an effective crisis management mechanism should constitute a fundamental element of the CAP.
MEPs take the view that the environmental value of forests and agricultural production must be reassessed in a context of climate change where it is absolutely vital to balance the increase in greenhouse gas emissions with an increase in forest cover, whose contribution as a carbon sink must be taken into account in all policies on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Parliament supports the Commission's commitment to continue to highlight the challenge of water scarcity and drought at international level, in particular through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
NYT: On Parched Farms, Divining for Water
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/09water.html?scp=1&sq=water%20farm&st=cse
Dowsing water diviners in need in California's drought-ridden Central valley. The State estimates $250 million in drought damage to crops.
Dowsing water diviners in need in California's drought-ridden Central valley. The State estimates $250 million in drought damage to crops.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Texas Tech researchers receive grant to study societal attitudes towards water scarcity in diminishing Ogallala Aquifier region
The Ogalla aquifier is an underground water table lying beneath 8 midwest/plains states - spanning from Texas to South Dakota. The aquifier provides much of the irrigation water for plains states farming. The aquifier is being depleted at an alarming rate, exceeding natural recharging (replenishing) of the table.
http://lubbockonline.com/stories/100608/loc_340719522.shtml
Tech researchers receive Ogallala water study grant
Two Texas Tech researchers are part of a team receiving a $747,528 grant from the National Science Foundation to study water scarcity in the Ogallala Aquifer.
Researchers Lucia Barbato, associate director of the Center for Geospatial Technology, and Colleen Barry-Goodman, director of the Earl Survey Research Lab in the Department of Political Science at Texas Tech, will use the three-year grant from the Human and Social Dynamics competition to study changing societal attitudes toward water scarcity as affected by ethanol production and increasing groundwater depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
IHT: Water scarcity in Cairo
Forty percent of Cairo's 17 million inhabitants get drinking water for no more than three hours a day, according to the Egyptian government's National Research Center. At least four large districts receive no water at all from the municipal system, including a swath of Saft al-Laban, home to 100,000 people.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/30/africa/letter.php
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/30/africa/letter.php
UN Secretary General on Clean Water and Sanitation
http://mediaglobal.org/article/2008-09-28/ban-ki-moon-addresses-water-scarcity-and-sanitation
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has focused on trying to meet Millennium Development Goals of bringing safe drinking water and sanitation to those who currently lack it. However, the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS), published by the WHO in early 2008, found that sanitation trails behind access to safe water everywhere and targeted South Asia and Africa as the most affected regions.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is alarming. To meet the targets, the region will need to more than double the annual number of additional people served with drinking water, and increase by six-fold the additional number served with basic sanitation,” said Ban Ki Moon.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has focused on trying to meet Millennium Development Goals of bringing safe drinking water and sanitation to those who currently lack it. However, the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS), published by the WHO in early 2008, found that sanitation trails behind access to safe water everywhere and targeted South Asia and Africa as the most affected regions.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is alarming. To meet the targets, the region will need to more than double the annual number of additional people served with drinking water, and increase by six-fold the additional number served with basic sanitation,” said Ban Ki Moon.
Tajik leader, speaking at UN General Assembly calls for urgent action on water
President Emomali Rahmon, addressing the UN General Assembly has urged the world body to convene a special session to review steps taken towards meeting water-related goals (set forth in Millenium Development goals) and identify what steps can be taken to accelerate progress.
Tajikstan has suffered drought, low river levels, and locusts which have resulted in social unrest. Dushanbe will be hosting the World Water Forum in 2010.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28252&Cr=General%20+%20Assembly&Cr1=Debate
Tajikstan has suffered drought, low river levels, and locusts which have resulted in social unrest. Dushanbe will be hosting the World Water Forum in 2010.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28252&Cr=General%20+%20Assembly&Cr1=Debate
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