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In the Face of Criticism, Laos Pushes Ahead With Four Mekong Dams
January 15th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, a report on Laos’ plan to push ahead with four Mekong dams but whose costs and competition could leave the putative “battery of Southeast Asia” running on empty: As a struggling least developed country, Laos stands alone when it comes to ignoring common sense and pushing ahead with infrastructure development that it can […]
Read more »A River Used To Run Through It: Handling A Dwindling Rio Grande
January 12th, 2021
Via The Guardian, a report on how the Rio Grande used to flow freely, but now in Las Cruces, humans, fish and plants are vying for water in the arid landscape: Imagine the world without its most famous rivers: Egypt without the Nile, or London without the Thames. In Las Cruces, New Mexico, residents don’t have […]
Read more »Nile Dam Talks Hit Yet Another Snarl
January 11th, 2021
Via Al Monitor, a report on the latest round of talks between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the controversial Nile River dam which collapsed amid Sudanese objections and calls for African Union experts to take on a greater role in resolving the dispute: The latest round of negotiations brokered by the African Union on the filling and operation […]
Read more »Asian Water Towers On Tighter Budget: More Runoff Won’t Quench Indus or Ganges Thirst
January 11th, 2021
Via Eureka Alert, notice of a new study on the Asian Water Towers: The Third Pole centered on the Tibetan Plateau is home to headwaters of over 10 major Asian rivers. These glacier-based water systems, also known as the Asian Water Towers, will have to struggle to quench the thirst of downstream communities despite more […]
Read more »Caspian Faces “Catastrophic Drop in Water Levels” This Century
January 11th, 2021
Via EurasiaNet, a report on the plight of the Caspian that may make the Aral Sea merely a forewarning of what is ahead: As the globe warms and sea levels rise, the lands abutting the Caspian Sea are facing the opposite problem. Forecasters expect a sharp drop in precipitation in Central Asia and increased evaporation […]
Read more »The Thirsty Dragon: China Belatedly Notifies Mekong Nations of River Disruption
January 9th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, an article on China’s belated notification to other Mekong nations of a river disruption: Earlier this week, I wrote about the sudden drop in water levels along the Mekong River in northern Thailand, and their likely link to the filling of a dam reservoir upstream in China. The fall first became apparent on January 4, […]
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