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U.S. West: Megadry
August 21st, 2021
Via The Economist, an article on the large number of Americans moving to a region plagued by a 22-year drought: Weather was the ultimate arbiter in the American West,” Marc Reisner wrote in “Cadillac Desert”, his book on water there, published in 1986. Reisner was musing about the great white winter of 1886, which devastated cattle […]
Read more »‘Go West, Young Man’…But Where Is The Water?
August 20th, 2021
Via AP News, an article on Greeley, Colorado’s search for water: “Go West, young man,? Horace Greeley famously urged. The problem for the northern Colorado town that bears the 19th-century newspaper editor’s name: Too many people have heeded his advice. By the tens of thousands newcomers have been streaming into Greeley — so much so […]
Read more »Water and (In-)Security in Afghanistan
August 20th, 2021
Via the Wilson Center, a look at water and (in-)security in Afghanistan: The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban not only threatens people’s lives, security, and fundamental freedom, but also significantly increases risks of water insecurity both immediately and in the long term. While our hearts and minds are with the people struggling for survival […]
Read more »How Water Shortages Are Brewing Wars
August 18th, 2021
Via BBC, a look at how water shortages are brewing wars: Speaking to me via Zoom from his flat in Amsterdam, Ali al-Sadr pauses to take a sip from a clear glass of water. The irony dawning on him, he lets out a laugh. “Before I left Iraq, I struggled every day to find clean […]
Read more »Swathes Of Libya Without Water After Sabotage Threats
August 18th, 2021
Via Terra Daily, a report on water shortages in Libya due to sabotage threats: Libyan authorities have shut water supplies to swathes of the country after gunmen demanding the release of a jailed Kadhafi-era official threatened to sabotage the water network. Supplies to western and southwestern Libya were interrupted overnight Saturday to Sunday, the Great […]
Read more »Tensions Rise As Iranian Dams Cut Off Iraqi Water Supplies
August 18th, 2021
Via Deutsche Welle, an article on how drought in Iran is sparking protests, but its strategy of building dams to conserve water has devastating consequences across the border in Iraq: Alqod Mahmoud stands on the bank of the Diyala River, staring helplessly into the stagnant pond where deep waters once swelled. Diyala means “shouting river” […]
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