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In Israel, Desalinization At The Heart Of A Water Revolution
May 31st, 2015
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at Israel’s comprehensive efforts to combat water scarcity: At the peak of the drought, Shabi Zvieli, an Israeli gardener, feared for his livelihood. A hefty tax was placed on excessive household water consumption, penalizing families with lawns, swimming pools or leaky pipes. So many of Mr. Zvieli’s […]
Read more »The Tragedy Of The Aral Sea
May 30th, 2015
Via National Geographic, a detailed look at the tragedy of the Aral Sea since 1987, when the Aral Sea split into northern and southern halves. The completion of Kazakhstan’s Kokaral Dam in 2005 worsened the divide, reviving the northern sea but cutting off the southern sea from the Syr Darya river. By 2014, irrigation and […]
Read more »Where The River Runs Dry: Southwestern America’s Water Crisis
May 29th, 2015
Courtesy of The New Yorker, a detailed look at the US southwest’s water crisis: Our pilot, David Kunkel, asked me to retrieve his oxygen bottle from under my seat, and when I handed it to him he gripped the plastic breathing tube with his teeth and opened the valve. We had taken off from Boulder […]
Read more »Water Scarcity: Major Factor In Middle East Tensions
May 28th, 2015
Via Water Online, an article on the impact that water scarcity is having upon Middle East tension: Water crises in the Middle East are helping “radicalize” the region, according to VICE. The inaccessibility of clean drinking water, water scarcity, drought, and food insecurity all combine to “make communities vulnerable—especially to extremist groups. By either providing water access […]
Read more »Federal Dollars Financing The Water Crisis In The American West
May 28th, 2015
Via Pro Public, an interesting detailed look at how federal dollars are financing the water crisis in the West: STATE ROUTE 87, the thin band of pavement that approaches the mostly shuttered town of Coolidge, Ariz., cuts through some of the least hospitable land in the country. The valley of red and brown sand is interrupted […]
Read more »Peace Pipe: China’s Plan To Pump Water To Taiwan
May 25th, 2015
Courtesy of The Economist, a report on a Chinese plan to pump water to its rival, Taiwan: Kinmen, a cluster of tiny islands two kilometres (just over a mile) off the coast of China’s Fujian Province, bears the scars of many a past battle. Chiang Kai-shek used the archipelago for his rearguard after Mao Zedong’s […]
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