Mrs.Lucysnow
Valued Senior Member
SANAA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Yemeni water trader Mohammed al-Tawwa runs his diesel pumps day and night, but gets less and less from his well in Sanaa, which experts say could become the world's first capital city to run dry.
"My well is now 400 metres (1,300 feet) deep and I don't think I can drill any deeper here," said Tawwa, pointing to the meagre flow into tanks that supply water trucks and companies.
From dawn, dozens of people with yellow jerricans collect water from a special canister Tawwa has set aside for the poor.
"Sometimes we don't have any water for a whole week, sometimes for two days and then it stops again," said Talal al-Bahr, who comes almost daily to supply his family of six.
The West frets that al Qaeda will exploit instability in Yemen to prepare new attacks like the failed Dec. 25 bombing of a U.S. airliner, but this impoverished Arabian peninsula country faces a catastrophe that poses a far deadlier long-term threat.
Nature cannot recharge ground water to keep pace with demand from a population of 23 million expected to double in 20 years.
More water is consumed than produced from most of Yemen's 21 aquifers, especially in the highlands, home to big cities like Sanaa, with a fast-growing population of two million, and Taiz.
"If we continue like this, Sanaa will be a ghost city in 20 years," said Anwer Sahooly, a water expert at German development agency GTZ, which runs several water projects in Yemen.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLAE656628._CH_.2420
Are we paying so much attention to politics du jour that we are unaware that the the world is running out of drinking water? Are we being distracted?
Check out this map put out by the US Department of the Interior, it outlines the areas West in the US where existing supplies of water are inadequate to meet the demands of farms, the environment and its population and where they expect actual conflict by 2025
http://sustainca.org/files/WPuUSA-DOI_2003.jpg
http://sustainca.org/content/potential_water_supply_crisis_2025
Scary isn't it? So what would happen to these populations if water becomes scarce?
Its no longer just a fear for developing countries, it will eventually affect us too.
There needs more dialogue about the environment in regards to water, water privatization, water rights and distribution.
As we have all heard of Australia's drought issues and their need for water, I find interesting is that the US government and probably the Chinese tend not to publicize their concerns and future plans (whatever that may be) to counter act this issue.
China:
Last December, 160,000 residents living along the Qingzhang River in Hebei, north-east China petitioned local government over the construction of a new hydropower station in neighbouring province Shanxi, complaining that it was cover for a new reservoir. They wanted the authorities to call an immediate halt to the project, saying that the Qingzhang River – the lifeblood of the county and its 400,000 inhabitants – would, otherwise, be cut off.
Hebei has been busy building its own reservoirs but a mixture of economic growth, a rising population and years of drought left parts of Hebei suffering from water shortages. And so reservoirs originally intended to prevent flooding were gradually used to supply water to the cities.
"Currently, local governments are fighting to hold onto any water that passes through their borders. Hebei is also vexed about a project planned in Shaanxi, central China, that will divert water from the stretch of the Han River in the south of the province, through the Qinling mountains and into the Wei River, where it will raise water levels and reduce pollution. With such large quantities of water being taken at the upper reaches – and another 10 billion cubic metres from the middle reaches earmarked for Beijing – nobody can predict what kind of conflict will arise."
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3520
We may actually be heading into a time where the wars on religion will pale compared to the wars over water.
"My well is now 400 metres (1,300 feet) deep and I don't think I can drill any deeper here," said Tawwa, pointing to the meagre flow into tanks that supply water trucks and companies.
From dawn, dozens of people with yellow jerricans collect water from a special canister Tawwa has set aside for the poor.
"Sometimes we don't have any water for a whole week, sometimes for two days and then it stops again," said Talal al-Bahr, who comes almost daily to supply his family of six.
The West frets that al Qaeda will exploit instability in Yemen to prepare new attacks like the failed Dec. 25 bombing of a U.S. airliner, but this impoverished Arabian peninsula country faces a catastrophe that poses a far deadlier long-term threat.
Nature cannot recharge ground water to keep pace with demand from a population of 23 million expected to double in 20 years.
More water is consumed than produced from most of Yemen's 21 aquifers, especially in the highlands, home to big cities like Sanaa, with a fast-growing population of two million, and Taiz.
"If we continue like this, Sanaa will be a ghost city in 20 years," said Anwer Sahooly, a water expert at German development agency GTZ, which runs several water projects in Yemen.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLAE656628._CH_.2420
Are we paying so much attention to politics du jour that we are unaware that the the world is running out of drinking water? Are we being distracted?
Check out this map put out by the US Department of the Interior, it outlines the areas West in the US where existing supplies of water are inadequate to meet the demands of farms, the environment and its population and where they expect actual conflict by 2025
http://sustainca.org/files/WPuUSA-DOI_2003.jpg
http://sustainca.org/content/potential_water_supply_crisis_2025
Scary isn't it? So what would happen to these populations if water becomes scarce?
Its no longer just a fear for developing countries, it will eventually affect us too.
There needs more dialogue about the environment in regards to water, water privatization, water rights and distribution.
As we have all heard of Australia's drought issues and their need for water, I find interesting is that the US government and probably the Chinese tend not to publicize their concerns and future plans (whatever that may be) to counter act this issue.
China:
Last December, 160,000 residents living along the Qingzhang River in Hebei, north-east China petitioned local government over the construction of a new hydropower station in neighbouring province Shanxi, complaining that it was cover for a new reservoir. They wanted the authorities to call an immediate halt to the project, saying that the Qingzhang River – the lifeblood of the county and its 400,000 inhabitants – would, otherwise, be cut off.
Hebei has been busy building its own reservoirs but a mixture of economic growth, a rising population and years of drought left parts of Hebei suffering from water shortages. And so reservoirs originally intended to prevent flooding were gradually used to supply water to the cities.
"Currently, local governments are fighting to hold onto any water that passes through their borders. Hebei is also vexed about a project planned in Shaanxi, central China, that will divert water from the stretch of the Han River in the south of the province, through the Qinling mountains and into the Wei River, where it will raise water levels and reduce pollution. With such large quantities of water being taken at the upper reaches – and another 10 billion cubic metres from the middle reaches earmarked for Beijing – nobody can predict what kind of conflict will arise."
http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/3520
We may actually be heading into a time where the wars on religion will pale compared to the wars over water.
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