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The Thirsty Dragon: Mekong Dams Threaten Tonle Sap Lake
April 27th, 2020
Via China Dialogue, a report on how the use and construction of dams on the Mekong will determine the future of Southeast Asia’s largest lake, Tonle Sap Lake: As the Tonle Sap floodplain empties into the Mekong this spring, the Cambodians who rely on these waters face bleak prospects, with fish catches reportedly 10 to 20% of previous years. […]
Read more »The Parched Tiger: Can India Show The World How To Revive Lakes
April 27th, 2020
Via Ozy, a report on efforts to revive Indian lakes: Manikandan remembers bathing with friends in the well near his house as though it were yesterday. But as the years passed, the well in Coimbatore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu dried up, as did the stream in Manikandan’s neighborhood. One year, when […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: Science Shows Chinese Dams Are Devastating the Mekong
April 22nd, 2020
Via Foreign Policy, a report on new data demonstrating a devastating effect on downstream Mekong water supplies that feed millions of people: Eleven massive dams straddle the mighty Mekong River before it leaves China and flows into Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and on into Vietnam. Yet I have long been skeptical that China could use […]
Read more »Water Cut To Millions in Libya’s Tripoli
April 22nd, 2020
Via Terra Daily, a report on recent water cuts in Tripoli: Water has been cut off to millions of Libyans living in and around the capital Tripoli, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the country said, condemning its use as a “weapon of war”. “More than two million people, including 600,000 children, who live in Tripoli […]
Read more »American West May Be Entering Worst ‘Megadrought’ In History
April 18th, 2020
Via Smithsonian Magazine, a very sobering article on the perilous water future facing the American West: Drought has scorched western North America for the better part of two decades, withering crops, draining rivers and fueling fires. Scientists now warn that this trend could be just the beginning of an extended megadrought that ranks among the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Limited the Mekong’s Flow – Other Countries Suffered a Drought
April 13th, 2020
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on new research showing that Beijing’s engineers appear to have directly caused the record low levels of water in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam: A narrow section of water flowed through the dried-out riverbed of the Mekong near Sangkhom, Thailand, in January. As China was stricken by […]
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