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Go West (for water), young man…
December 15th, 2007
As The Economist recently noted, America’s West – gripped by drought – is rethinking how it uses water. As the article notes, seven states, as well as northern Mexico, rely on the Colorado River and are quickly coming to the realization that things have changed: “This is not a normal drought,†says Pat Mulroy of […]
Read more »A Mother’s Milk (River): Down to A Trickle but Still Causing Waves
December 7th, 2007
Along the normally placid U.S./Canadian border, American officials are causing waves by contending that the U.S. is not getting its adequate share from the Milk and St. Mary’s Rivers which flow into the Canadian province of Alberta. As the Calgary Herald noted recently, this argument is not just about competing claims between Montana and Alberta, […]
Read more »Tajikistan: Asia’s Reservoir of Last Resort?
December 6th, 2007
In view of the current Water Summit and its focus on the fact that many Asia-Pacific countries lack adequate clean water, NewEurasia offered an interesting look at Tajikistan – a nation often considered as a strategically important country which has huge resources of water. The article notes: “…A lot of people in Tajikistan believe that […]
Read more »China and Central Asia: Working Together to Manage the Balkhash-Alakol Basin
November 29th, 2007
News from the Central Asia Water site that a draft agreement on the use of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin has been prepared. As the article notes: “…Kazakhstan’s Minister of Environmental Protection Nurlan Iskakov stated that Kazakhstan, China and Kyrgyzstan prepared an agreement on rational use of the Balkhash-Alakol basin. According to the Minister, ecological consequences of […]
Read more »Great Lakes Water Wars
November 9th, 2007
With large sections of the American West and South suffering through drought, some politicians and water managers are viewing the Great Lakes as the natural-resource equivalent of a fat pension fund, a “tappable” resource which could help in the near-term at the expense of future generations and regional communities. As a recent article from the […]
Read more »Water Politics in the U.S. West – No Dry Spell Ahead
October 27th, 2007
The New York Times Magazine recently published a long article on the drought in the Southwest by Jon Gertner. His main thesis is that water shortages resulting from climate change may take a greater toll on humanity than a slow rise in the sea level. I believe it also gives a prescient snapshot of the […]
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