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Archive for July, 2023

The Thirsty Dragon: China Is Building The World’s Biggest Dam In Secret

Via Stagecraft and Statecraft, an article on the the Brahmaputra super-dam project which poses risks for India and Bangladesh: China is unmatched as the world’s hydro hegemon, with more large dams in service than every other country combined. Now it is building the world’s first super dam, close to its heavily militarized frontier with India. […]

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Private Firms Scour Booming Nevada Desert For Water Profits

Via Terra Daily, an article on private firms scour booming Nevada desert for water profits: Beneath a bone-dry Nevada lakebed, close to the dusty desert where the Burning Man festival is held each year, an ambitious water project is reshaping this pocket of the US West.A giant, natural underground aquifer containing enough water to supply […]

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Want to Win a Chip War? You’re Gonna Need a Lot of Water

Via Wired, a report on how the US is spending billions to boost semiconductor manufacturing but – for the new plants to crank out silicon chips – they need to source millions of gallons of ultra-pure water: BUILDING A SEMICONDUCTOR factory requires enormous quantities of land and energy, then some of the most precise machinery on Earth to […]

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Facing a Future of Drought, Spain Turns to Medieval Solutions and ‘Ancient Wisdom’

Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on how Spain is excavating acequias, a network of water channels created by the Moors over 1,000 years ago, to adapt to the crises of climate change: High in Spain’s southern mountains, 40 or so people armed with pitchforks and spades cleared stones and piles of grass […]

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The Cash Is Always Greener: Hamptonites Are Shelling Out 6 Figures to Keep Lawns Lush

Courtesy of Vanity Fair, an interesting look at the passion – and cost (in terms of water and money) – that some Americans have over lawns where, in the Hamptons, some residents spend nearly half a million dollars and truck in water to keep their estates looking impeccable: To achieve that perfect green lawn, well-heeled […]

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Sun-baked Iraqis Protest Water Shortages

Via Al Monitor, an article on Iraq’s water crisis: Despite punishingly high temperatures, dozens of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday to protest water and electricity shortages, and to blame Turkey for reduced flow of rivers. Designated by the United Nations as one of the five countries in the world most touched […]

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