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Dam-nation: Recent Earthquakes Have Shaken Middle Eastern Confidence In Dams
April 15th, 2023
Via The Economist, a report on how February’s earthquakes have damaged the Middle East’s dams: The Turkish authorities announced on March 30th that 140 dams had been inspected since two earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northern Syria in February. None, they insisted, was seriously damaged. Still, many in the Middle East remain fearful about the […]
Read more »No Mainstream: The Mekong’s Competing Definitions
April 15th, 2023
Courtesy of The Diplomat, an article on how – both within and between nations – Southeast Asia’s largest river gives rise to competing, and in some cases conflicting, notions: Last September, during a Thailand-Australia Policy Dialogue organized by the Asia Foundation and the Australian National University in Canberra, I was reminded of the ice-breaking exercise […]
Read more »California’s Groundwater Gold Rush
April 13th, 2023
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a look at how banks, pension funds and insurers have been turning California’s scarce water into enormous profits, leaving people with less to drink: As storms battered California in March, the state’s inland breadbasket erupted with almond blossoms. It happens every year. The Central Valley—the source of 40% of America’s fruit and […]
Read more »Egypt Powerless Against Ethiopia and Its Dam
April 12th, 2023
Courtesy of The Africa Report, a look at the latest controversy over the GERD: Ethiopia is preparing to launch the fourth and final phase of filling the Renaissance Dam… without consultation or agreement with Sudan and Egypt, located downstream. On 24 March, Ethiopia announced that 90% of its Renaissance Dam project would be completed during […]
Read more »Biden Administration Proposes Evenly Cutting Water Allotments From Colorado River
April 12th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on how – as the Colorado river shrinks – the Biden administration is getting ready to impose, for the first time, reductions in water supplies to states: After months of fruitless negotiations between the states that depend on the shrinking Colorado River, the Biden administration on Tuesday […]
Read more »Rich People’s Swimming Pools Are Fueling Water Crises In Cities
April 11th, 2023
Courtesy of The Washington Post, an article on a new study that shows how rich people’s swimming pools are fueling water crises in cities: Rich elites are fueling water crises by using huge amounts of limited water resources on things like their private swimming pools, irrigating their gardens and washing their cars, a new study […]
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