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Could Siberian River Water Be Diverted to Save a Drying/Dying Aral Sea?
December 6th, 2008
Via Window on Eurasia, an interesting look at how the rapid drying up of the Aral Sea in Central Asia – it is likely to completely disappear within months – has sparked new interest in the possibility that Moscow could divert Siberian river water to the region to save not only the sea but also […]
Read more »Russia’s Water
September 28th, 2008
From Russia Profile, an interesting look at Russia’s freshwater situation. As the article notes, issues of distribution, pollution, and excessive use abound: “..Rich with almost every resource that matters, Russia never had to worry about the quantity, but rather about the quality. Now, this seems to be particularly the case with water, a resource which […]
Read more »Russian Water: A Growing Problem
September 21st, 2008
Via Windows on Eurasia, an interesting comment on the state of Russia’s water resources. Despite the country having the largest amount of fresh water of any country on earth, much of the water coming out of taps in that country’s cities and towns contains so many harmful substances that many people there are turning to […]
Read more »Water – Energy Links in Central Asia
August 1st, 2008
A second excellent piece from the Brookings Insitution details Central Asia’s opportunities and challenges to make better and more efficient use of it water resources, both by investing in large water storage and hydropower capacity and by more efficient utilization of water, especially in irrigation use. As the article notes: “…A visit to the site […]
Read more »Serious Regional Water Crisis Looming: Central Asia
August 1st, 2008
A highly informative piece recently published by Brookings examines the current and coming water ‘crisis’ facing Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan, Mongolia and the Western most province of China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The article details the complicated dance between the region’s countries, with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan upstream […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Water Challenges: Uzbekistan’s Legacy of Salt
June 17th, 2008
Via The New York Times, an interesting article detailing the destructive environmental and human legacy left behind in Uzbekistan, a land-locked country whose rivers were diverted to grow cotton on arid land, causing the Aral Sea, a large saltwater lake, to lose more than half of its surface area in 40 years. As noted in […]
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