Expert explains a world suffering from water shortage

This is a very interesting video about the water situation in the World and in the US, with some useful recommendations at the end.

Ethiopia Says It Needs $266 Million for Emergency Drought Aid

By Jason McLure

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia needs $266 million to help feed 6.4 million people suffering from food shortages due to drought, an increase of 1.8 million since June, the government said.

Millions of peasant farmers and pastoralists in the Horn of Africa country are struggling to cope with the affects of the failure of the short rains in February and March, known as the “belg,” Mitiku Kassa, the state minister for agriculture and rural development, said today in the capital, Addis Ababa.

“It is unprecedented, the failure of the belg,” Kassa said at a meeting with international donors. “We need additional resources.”

International relief agencies need 270,245 metric tons of food to meet aid needs from September to December of this year. Donors have pledged less than two-thirds of the aid requests made earlier this year, Kassa said.

About 80 percent of Ethiopians rely on rain-fed farming even though the economy has experienced double-digit growth over the past four years. Beyond the number of people needing emergency aid, another 7.4 million people depend on a donor- funded “safety-net” program that provides food to families for at least six months of the year.

Ethiopia, a nation of 78 million people, now has 50,000 tons of food in its emergency reserves, down from 400,000 normally.

Shortages of emergency food reserves hampered the response effort to the drought earlier this year, the agriculture ministry said in a report today.

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Source: Bloomberg

Australian Farmers Trade Water

By Tanalee Smith, The Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia - For farmer Malcolm Holm, water now is just like a new shovel or tractor - he has to buy it.

The amount of water he is allowed to take from nearby Murrumbidgee River has dwindled to nothing for the past three years because of Australia’s crippling drought. And so, except for rain he can catch and store himself, he needs to buy water for his 1,000 acres at Finley in New South Wales state, where he grows crops to feed his 600 dairy cows.

“It’s no different to buying a ton of grain or a ton of fertilizer,” Holm said. “It’s just another commodity.”

In the world’s driest inhabited continent, there is simply not enough water to go around, and households, cities, industries and agriculture all demand their share from stressed reservoirs and rivers. So Australia’s irrigation planting sector relies on a unique trading system to make the most of every drop.

What began as a localized trade within states is now an active national market that shares water along hundreds of miles of river systems used by thousands of farmers. And with the drought, the trading of water is picking up pace.

“Trading activity is certainly strengthening over previous years,” said Mark Siebentritt, operations manager of Waterfind, the nation’s largest water broker. Water is traded mostly through independent brokers who bring sellers and buyers together and who know the myriad rules in the heavily regulated market. “During drought we’re seeing a lot of water moving around.”

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Source: RedOrbit

Starbucks Wasting More Than 6 Million Gallons of Water a Day

American coffee giant Starbucks became the target of conservationists today after an investigation by the U.K. newspaper The Sun estimated that the company wasted up to 6 million gallons of water every day, enough to quell the thirst of a small African nation.

As part of a company policy aimed at preventing germ buildup in its taps, Starbucks stores are directed to keep water running constantly into a sink, called a dipper well, to clean utensils and wash away food residue, The Sun reported.

As a result of running water all day, every day at each of the company’s 10,000 worldwide coffee emporiums, Starbucks wastes water in an amount The Sun estimated to be “enough daily water for the entire 2 million strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.”

The investigation was launched after a couple who spotted a running tap at a U.K. Starbucks were told by a store employee that it was left on to clean the pipes. They contacted Starbucks head office to find out more and later received a letter confirming that it was company policy to keep water constantly running into the dipper wells.

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Source: ABC News

Planet is running out of clean water, new film warns

(CNN) — One sixth of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water. More than 2 million people, most of them children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

Water-related problems aren’t restricted to the developing world. A harmful pesticide, banned by many European countries, remains widely used in the United States, where it runs into rivers and streams.

And one expert estimates California’s water supply will run out in 20 years.

These sobering statistics come from “FLOW,” a new documentary film about the world’s dwindling water supply. The filmmakers and their sources argue a combination of factors, including drought and skyrocketing demand, have created a looming global crisis that threatens the long-term survival of the human race.

After premiering in January at the Sundance Film Festival, “FLOW” opened September 12 in New York and Los Angeles, California, and expands to more cities this week. The New York Times called the documentary “less depressing than galvanizing, an informed and heartfelt examination of the tug of war between public health and private interests.”

As the film shows, some nations are banking on controversial technology, such as desalination plants that convert seawater into freshwater, to meet future water needs. Meanwhile, water has become a commodity that supports a $400 billion global industry — the third largest behind electricity and oil.

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Source: CNN

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

The world has a water shortage, not a food shortage

MOST people may drink only two litres of water a day, but they consume about 3,000 if the water that goes into their food is taken into account. The rich gulp down far more, since they tend to eat more meat, which takes far more water to produce than grains. So as the world’s population grows and incomes rise, farmers will—if they use today’s methods—need a great deal more water to keep everyone fed: 2,000 more cubic kilometres a year by 2030, according to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a research centre, or over a quarter more than they use today. Yet in many farming regions, water is scarce and likely to get scarcer as global warming worsens. The world is facing not so much a food crisis as a water crisis, argues Colin Chartres, IWMI’s director-general.

The solution, Mr Chartres and others contend, is more efficient use of water or, as the sloganeers put it, “more crop per drop”. Some 1.2 billion people, about a fifth of the world’s population, live in places that are short of water (see map). Farming accounts for roughly 70% of human water consumption. So when water starts to run out, as is happening in northern China, southern Spain and the western United States, among other places, farming tends to offer the best potential for thrift. But governments, whether to win votes or to protect the poor, rarely charge farmers a market price for water. So they are usually more wasteful than other consumers—even though the value they create from the water is often less than households or industry would be willing to pay for it.

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Source: The Economist

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Palestine: Israeli water policies leave West Bank dry

Per capita water consumption in Palestine is far below the minimum recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The chronic water shortage in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, resulting from an unfair distribution of water resources shared by the Palestinians and Israel, will be much graver this summer because of this year’s drought.

In the northern West Bank, water consumption has fallen to one-third of the minimal amount needed.

The 2008 drought, the most serious in the area in the past decade, aggravates the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank. Rainfall this year in the northern West Bank was 64% of the average, while in the southern sections, it was 55%.

As a result, the water stored from rainfall has already been used. The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) estimates this year’s water shortage in the West Bank at 42 to 69 million cubic metres. The total water consumption in the West Bank is 79 mcm.

The PWA has already requested Mekorot — the Israel Water Company — for an emergency supply of eight mcm.

According to the WHO, the per capita minimal amount of water needed for household and urban needs is 100 litres a day. Due to the chronic water shortage, water consumption in the northern West Bank has dropped to one-third this amount.

In Tubas, per capita consumption is 30 litres; in Jenin, it is 38 litres. In Nablus and the Southern Hebron Hills, the figure is slightly higher than 50 litres a day.

Average per capita consumption throughout the West Bank is 66 litres, two-thirds of the minimal amount needed according to the WHO. These figures include water for livestock, meaning that the water consumed for personal use is even less.

In comparison, average daily water consumption in Israeli cities is 235 litres, and 214 litres in local councils, 3.5 times higher than Palestinian consumption in the West Bank.

A total of 227,500 Palestinians in 220 towns and villages in the West Bank are not connected to a water network at all, 75% of them in the northern West Bank. Another 190,000 Palestinians live in villages that are only partially connected to a water network.

Some 20% of Palestinians in the West Bank are not connected to a water network.

Even in Palestinian towns and villages that have a water network, water supply is not regular most of the year. Water is supplied only some hours of the day, and sometimes on a rotational basis. In distant areas, water supply may be disconnected for days or weeks.

Residents of communities with water networks hooked up to Mekorot report that the company discriminates against them, reducing water supply to Palestinian residents to enable it to meet the increased demand in the Israeli settlements.

Lacking regular water supply, many Palestinians have to buy water on the private market. Last year, the price for a cubic metre of water ranged from 15-30 shekels, three to six times higher than Israeli households pay.

It is expected that prices will be even higher this year. The high rate of unemployment and poverty in the West Bank has made water purchases an economic burden for a substantial portion of the population.

Israel holds complete control of the water sources shared by Israel and the Palestinians, primarily the Mountain Aquifer, and prohibits by army order any Palestinian drilling of wells without a permit. At the same time, Israel draws from the West Bank some 44 mcm — five million more than it supplies to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel allocates to Palestinians only 20% of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, and prevents the PWA from developing additional sources to enable greater water supply for Palestinians in the West Bank.

As the occupying power, Israel is required under international law to ensure public order and safety in the occupied territory, without discrimination. In addition, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Israel ratified, ensures access to clean drinking water without discrimination.

International human rights law also ensures the Palestinians’ right to utilise and enjoy freely their natural resources.

B’Tselem calls on the government of Israel to ensure, immediately and without discrimination, adequate, regular water supply to all residents of the West Bank. B’Tselem also urges the government to allow the Palestinian Authority to develop new water sources.

Source: Green Left Online

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

Afghanistan: Groundwater Overuse Could Cause Severe Water Shortage

The excessive use of groundwater for a variety of purposes has significantly depleted water tables and aquifers throughout Afghanistan and if the trend is not reversed soon the country will face a severe shortage of drinking water, the Ministry of Water and Energy said. Recurrent droughts, low precipitation and poor water management have exacerbated the country’s water crisis, ministry officials said.

“Our assessments indicate that due to several factors, mostly drought and excessive use, about 50 percent of groundwater sources have been lost in the past several years,” Sultan Mahmood Mahmoodi, general director of the water management department at the Ministry of Water and Energy (MWE), told IRIN in Kabul.

Almost 70 percent of the country’s estimated 26.6 million people are dependent on agriculture, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL). Limited access to surface water has prompted many farmers, mostly in the drought-stricken south and north, to increasingly use groundwater to irrigate agricultural land or dig deep wells.

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Source: The Environmental Expert

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

Tension Grows as Pakistan claims India closed water flow in Chenab river

Islamabad, Sep 15 (PTI) Pakistani authorities have said that India has closed water flow in the Chenab river which it claimed was making a water shortage in the country more severe.
The alleged “water blockade” by India could adversely affect kharif crops, particularly cotton and sugarcane which are in maturity stage and require final watering, and the sowing of rabi crops early next month, sources told the Dawn newspaper.

They said Pakistan’s Indus Water Commission had taken up the matter with the federal government. It has also convened a meeting tomorrow to take stock of the situation and to try to reach a diplomatic solution with India.

If the issue is prolonged, the sowing of rabi crops, particularly wheat, would be hit severely, the sources said.

Pakistan had to import over two million tonnes of wheat this year despite a record production of more than 23 million tonnes.

The water shortage could force Pakistan to import more wheat next year, adding to foreign exchange pressure and worsening its balance of payments crisis.

The Indus River System Authority has convened a meeting of its technical committee on September 20 to ascertain the overall water availability for the rabi season that begins on October 1. PTI

Source: Press Trust of India

For more information about water conservation, visit our LEARN section

Why Water Could be Worth Fighting For

Over one billion people - 18% of the world’s population - lack access to safe drinking water worldwide. Only 56% of Africa’s 800 million population have access to clean water. About 700 million people in 43 countries are affected by water scarcity, according to the UN.

In another few years - in 2025 to be precise - the number could swell to 3 billion driving back gains in the fight against poverty and under-development, otherwise known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

For many people around the world, safe drinking water is a scarce resource and out of necessity, they resort to what’s available - polluted water.

But contaminated water isn’t just dirty—it’s deadly. Some 1.8 million people die every year of diseases like cholera, caused by poor sanitation. Tens of millions of others are seriously sickened by a host of water-related ailments—many of which are easily preventable.

A child dies of a water-related illness every 15 seconds. This translates to 2 million children dying each year due to a lack of clean water and inadequate sanitation, a situation that can be changed by just providing access to clean water and sanitation. If this was done, it would reduce the risk of a child dying by as much as 50%.

Africa is one continent caught squarely in the middle of potential conflicts over this precious commodity among other scarce resources. Africa has two of the world’s longest rivers - the 6,400-kilometer Nile River and the 4,370-kilometer Congo River, but it suffers from a perennial shortage amidst potentially plentiful supplies. It also has 21 of the world’s most arid countries, in terms of water per person.

Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 m3 of water available per person per year, while water stress means less than 1,500 m3 of water available per person per year.

According to a 1999 UN Development Program report, the possible African ‘water wars’ flash points are the Nile, Niger, Volta and Zambezi basins. The report says that by 2025, another 12 African countries will join the 13 that already suffer from water stress or water scarcity.

Yet UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, admits that the state of the world’s waters remained fragile, with the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to water resource management pressing as ever.

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Source: Eco Worldly

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