11-18-2009
Climate change quadrupled natural disasters in Latin America
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 Mexico -
[Mexico] At a United Nations climate conference in Mexico City, DF, Mexico, the director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) for Latin America reported that the number of natural disasters in the region had quadrupled in the last 20 years and the number of people affected had jumped from 174 million to 250 million. Marcela Suazo blamed the increase upon climate changes, rapid deforestation (a 40% loss in two decades), and migration. By 2030, she said, it's estimated that 90% of the population could live in urban zones, with the densely packed populations becoming more vulnerable to floods and landslides.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
La Nacion by (taken from Agence France-Presse)
Original Language: Spanish
Check for stories with: global warming, international conference, flood, water shortage, deforestation
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11-17-2009
Texas officials: We're running out of water
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 Texas -
[Texas] With the population of Texas expected to double by 2060, lawmakers and water experts warned that the state was running out of water. If the state were to experience major drought conditions again with that many more people, officials estimated that economic losses could reach $90 billion. A state water plan is being crafted for the 2011 Legislative session, including the construction of 19 new reservoirs, water recycling programs, more pipelines, desalination plants, and more effective conservation methods. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst emphasized that the government's goal was to double potable water supplies as soon as possible.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
Yahoo News byJohn Mcfarland (taken from Associated Press)
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: drought, population growth, water conservation, legislation, water policy
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11-15-2009
China's plan for Three Gorges' water level stalls
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 China -
[China] Plans to raise the water level behind China's massive Three Gorges Dam to its full height have suddenly come to a halt. Officials had been increasing water storage at the dam - located on the Yangtze River in the Yichang area of Hubei Province -- since mid-September, but proceedings stopped on 2 November. The State Council Committee overseeing the project explained that drought had reduced flows in the Yangtze by 34%, but a spate of recent warnings from geologists is suspected of being an equally important reason. In the latest, a political consultative body in Chongqing Municipality, which is located near the reservoir, warned that the risks of landslides were a real threat as the weight of the stored water put pressure on hairline cracks.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
MSNBC.com by (taken from Associated Press)
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: dam, power plant, river, drought, subsidence
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11-15-2009
Mystery of Bangladesh's mass arsenic poisoning solved
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 Bangladesh -
[Bangladesh] A team of researchers led by Dr. Charles Harvey of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts has discovered the source of what is probably the worst mass poisoning in history: arsenic in the groundwater of millions of people in rural Bangladesh. The culprits, explained Dr. Rebecca Neumann of Harvard, are tens of thousands of artificial ponds excavated to provide soil for flood protection. The investigators analyzed the flow patterns of surface and underground water in a section of Munshiganj District, using tracer substances and a computer model, and found that the organic compound that unleashes the poison first settles on the bottom of the ponds and then gradually seeps into the ground. Their suggested solutions: digging deeper wells below the level of the ponds or digging shallow wells under ricefields.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
Yahoo News by (taken from Agence France-Presse)
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: wells, arsenic pollution, computer modeling
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11-13-2009
Amazon deforestation at record low
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 Brazil -
[Brazil] Brazil's space agency, which monitors rainforests in the Amazon River Basin via satellite, reported that the rate of deforestation had fallen to its lowest level in 21 years. Between January and August, 7000 square kilometers were cleared, a 45% reduction compared to 2008. President Lula da Silva has promised to slow deforestation as a way to pressure the leaders of other nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
ABC News byRichard Reynolds
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: deforestation, river, spacecraft, environmental policy
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11-13-2009
NASA finds water on the moon
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 Moon -
[Moon] A "significant amount" of water was found in the moon's Cabeus Crater, near the South Pole, when the US space agency NASA's LCROSS Mission sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month, announced principal investigator Dr. Anthony Colaprete of the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. One of the rockets crashed into the crater at around 5600 miles (9000 kilometers) per hour, sending up an enormous plume of debris that contained at least 24 gallons of water. Colaprete noted that this was only an initial result from the experiment. Finding water on the moon is a major breakthrough in space exploration and boosts hopes of someday establishing a permanent base there.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
Yahoo News byJean-Louis Santini (taken from Agence France-Presse)
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: spacecraft, lake
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11-12-2009
Water level in Lake Titicaca has dropped 81 centimeters in 7 months
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 Peru -
[Peru] The level of Lake Titicaca, which straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru, has dropped 81 cm since mid-April, alarming the Binational Lake Titicaca Authority (ALT). According to ALT, too much water loss will reduce vegetation that grows in marshy areas, as well as affecting fish reproduction unfavorably. The Authority recommended that the Foreign Ministers of both countries place immediate restrictions upon water withdrawals and inform the populations in and around the lake why it's being done.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
La Republica by (taken from EFE)
Original Language: Spanish
Check for stories with: lake, drought, fish conservation, water treaty, water conservation
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11-12-2009
Bligh mystified by Traveston Dam decision
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 Australia -
[Australia] Premier Anna Bligh of the Australian state of Queensland criticized a decision by Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett to reject the controversial Traveston Crossing Dam in Gympie. "This was on land that had been cleared for more than a century. There is no pristine rainforest," she said. "If you can't approve a dam here, it makes it difficult. . .to see how any state government will ever be able to provide a dam in the future." She warned that the state would now have to rely upon higher-priced water from four new desalination plants. Opponents of the dam, on the other hand, hailed Garrett's decision as a victory, although Member of Parliament Peter Wellington urged them not to stop fighting proposed dams in Obi Obi and Cambroon. Residents of the Mary Valley are also worried that more than 14,000 ha of land bought by the government for the Traveston Crossing project may still be lost to farming.
- summary by Louise Shaler
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Source:
ABC News byChris O'Brien et al.
Original Language: English
Check for stories with: dam, river, water shortage, desalination plant, water policy
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