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Offshore Fresh Groundwater Reserves: A Global Phenomenon or Conflict Trigger?
January 14th, 2014
Via Third Pole, an interesting report on a recently discovered new sources of freshwater under the sea that could sustain thirsty megacities like Shanghai for thousands of years, but that could also trigger conflict between countries in the future: Scientists have discovered potentially vast undersea reserves of groundwater, close to many coastlines around the world, […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Massive Water Diversion Project Starts Delivering Water
December 13th, 2013
Via Terra Daily, an update on China’s South-to-North water diversion initiative: A portion of China’s massive South-to-North Water Diversion Project has started to supply water. Shandong province will get about 1,200 million cubic feet of water in the first use of the project’s east route, officials said, China Daily reported Tuesday. The three-route project, expected […]
Read more »India Fast Tracks Hydropower Dams in Response to China’s Brahmaputra River Diversion
December 7th, 2013
Via Future Directions, an interesting report on how China’s US$62 billion South-North Water Transfer Project has India scrambling to establish a “prior use” claim over the affected water resources of the Brahmaputra River, streamlining a number of large-scale dam projects near the border: Background The Brahmaputra is a strategic water resource for both India and […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Continued Growth Exacerbates Water Scarcity
November 19th, 2013
Courtesy of STRATFOR, an interesting video on China’s water water scarcity and the inevitable competition growing between economic sectors. Transcript is as follows: Yu the Great controls the waters. This ancient Chinese idiom perhaps best captures the almost primordial relationship between political legitimacy and the ability to manage water in China. From the beginnings of […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon and Parched Tiger: Damming Politics Surrounding India, China, And A Trans-Border River
November 5th, 2013
Courtesy of the Third Pole.net, an interesting commentary on how – by refusing to acknowledge the Brahmaputra as the critical source for millions of subsistence livelihoods – Indian negotiations have instead opted to be embroiled in the narrow politics of damming: In recent years, whenever India and China have met at the highest level, the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Great Dam Boom
November 5th, 2013
Via Yale’s e360, a detailed look at China’s push to build hydroelectric dams on a scale unprecedented in human history which – while being touted for producing lower-emission electricity – these massive dam projects are wreaking havoc on river systems across China and Southeast Asia: In their search for renewable electric power, China’s engineers have been […]
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