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Watching Weak Nation States Wilt Away
July 13th, 2016
Via Bloomberg, commentary on how environmental stress can tip weak nations into catastrophe: Venezuela was unraveling even before Hugo Chávez died in 2013. The situation has only gotten worse since. Despite having the world’s largest oil reserves, inflation has soared to 500 percent, the murder rate is the highest in the world, and chronic shortages of […]
Read more »Pakistan’s Biggest Dam Stymied By Land Dispute
July 11th, 2016
Via Third Pole.net, a detailed look at how a small area at the center of the dispute between two tribes and two provinces is critically delaying the Diamer Bhasha dam and the China-Pakistan economic corridor: The site of the Diamer Dam site on the Indus River The construction of the Diamer Bhasha dam being built on the […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China’s Massive Effort To Purify Seawater Is Drying Up
July 11th, 2016
Via MIT’s Technology Review, a look at how stalled projects and underperforming plants have hampered China’s desalination plans: The site of a seawater desalination plant that could provide up to one-third of the water consumed by Beijing’s households lies about 200 kilometers southeast of the parched Chinese capital. In 2014, China’s state news media reported […]
Read more »Turmoil In Saudi Water Sector As Country Runs Dry
July 10th, 2016
Via Middle East Eye, an interesting report on Saudi Arabia, a nation that some predict could run out of water in the next 20 years after decades of mismanagement of domestic resources: Middle East watchers are familiar with the considerable financial problems facing Saudi Arabia as oil prices continue to drag along the bottom and […]
Read more »Stressed Indus River Threatens Pakistan’s Water Supply
June 29th, 2016
Via Nature, a report on how population growth and agriculture have stressed the Indus, which flows the length of Pakistan: The Indus River, which supports the lives of 300 million people, is supplying Pakistan with less water than it did 50 years ago, particularly in the spring and summer, researchers have found. The news comes as demand […]
Read more »Dry Dams, Leaky Pipes and Tanker Mafias – Karachi’s Water Crisis
June 28th, 2016
Via The Guardian, a look at how Pakistan’s largest city is struggling to deliver water to residents amid a shortfall and claims of state mismanagement: A young boy sells water in Bilal Colony, Karachi. The city is currently meeting just 50% of its total water requirement. “There’s nothing here,” says Farzana Khatoun, surveying the dry […]
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