BLOG
Detroit’s Water War
June 30th, 2014
Via The Guardian, a report on a controversial plan by the City of Detroit plan to cut off water to approximately 300,000 residents as part of its economic shock therapy: It was six in the morning when city contractors showed up unannounced at Charity Hicks’ house. Since spring, up to 3000 Detroit households per week […]
Read more »Is Water Scarcity Destablizing Iraq?
June 30th, 2014
Via Slate, commentary on the impact that water scarcity may have had upon the emerging conflict in Iraq: This winter was not a good one for farmers in the Fertile Crescent. A punishing drought hit most of Syria and northern Iraq during what’s normally the wettest time of the year. In the mountains of eastern […]
Read more »The Parched Tiger: New Delhi’s Water Crisis
June 19th, 2014
Via the Financial Times, a report on New Delhi’s water crisis: Hunting for one of the necessities of life was not how Lakhvinder Singh, a former civil servant from India’s Telecommunications Department, imagined he would spend his otherwise comfortable retirement. But as the summer temperature tops 45 degrees, Mr Singh and many of the other […]
Read more »Conflicts in Kyrgyzstan: Foreshadowing Water Wars to Come?
June 17th, 2014
Via Creative Time Reports, a look at the water stress of Central Asia where the region is divided into water-rich upstream states, and water-poor downstream ones, and the division leads to conflict and tit-for-tat exchanges, in which water is used for leverage. This article places a particular focus on Kyrgyzstan where the convergence of a […]
Read more »Last Straw: How The Fortunes Of Las Vegas Will Rise Or Fall With Lake Mead
June 15th, 2014
Via Popular Science, a detailed look at the massive, expensive, and politically fraught project to build a new tunnel under Lake Mead to deliver water to Las Vegas: The bathtub ring can be seen for miles. The 120-foot-high band of rock, bleached nearly white by mineral-rich water, circles the shoreline of Lake Mead. Water levels […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon And Parched Tiger: Climate Change Could Lead To China-India Water Conflict
June 15th, 2014
Via RTCC, some commentary on how decline in water flow from Tibetan Plateau likely to exacerbate tensions in region over coming decades: Melting Himalayan glaciers and erratic rainfall could exacerbate tensions between central Asian countries later this century, warn defence analysts in a new report.They say droughts or extreme rains linked to climate change could […]
Read more »