Hi everyone. I have been thinking about investing in water companies lately and when I received the following announcement this morning from the Environmental News Service, I did a quick search on SI and found this thread. I will read the entire thread later tonight but thought this might be of interest to you all. Sharon
E-Wire Press Releases
U.S. Drought Signals Worldwide Water Shortage
WASHINGTON, DC, August 30, 1999 (ENS) - As much of the eastern United States suffers through the third worst drought of this century, experts say the crisis could foreshadow future water shortages throughout the world. The Worldwatch Institute warns that steps must be taken now to ensure sufficient food and water supplies in the next millennium.
Authorities in seven U.S. states and the District of Columbia have issued drought advisories, warnings, or emergencies. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared drought related agricultural emergencies in parts of 28 states.
"Not only has 1999 been a dry year, but parts of the Mid-Atlantic states have been experiencing drought conditions for the past three years and there is little hope for a significant change in the coming months," said U.S. Geological Survey chief hydrologist Bob Hirsch. "The compounding effect of dry years - one after another - is building to what may be the worst period of drought this century."
Throughout the mid-Atlantic region, more than three-quarters of all streams and rivers - including the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Potomac - have hit record or near record low flows. In late July, salt water moving up the Hudson River against its severely reduced flow was just six miles downstream of the water supply intake for the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. Rising salinity and low oxygen levels have caused massive fish kills, including one numbering 200,000 in Maryland waterways.
Traditional spray irrigation loses about a third of the water to evaporation and winds (Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)
In the worst hit areas, wells have run dry, causing owners to drill deeper in a search for vital water.
While droughts eventually come to an end, a long term, worldwide water threat is building to staggering proportions, according to Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts, and a senior fellow of the Worldwatch Institute.
"Water scarcity is now the single biggest threat to global food production," says Postel. "Only by taking action now to conserve the water supplies in our major crop producing regions can we secure enough water to satisfy future food needs."
Water supplies are running short in several of the world's major food producing regions, even as global food needs continue to climb, Postel says. Water tables are falling from the overpumping of groundwater in central and northern China, northwest India, parts of Pakistan, much of the U.S., North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula. Farmers in these regions are pumping groundwater faster than nature can replenish it.
In India, a government commissioned study found that "overexploitation of ground water resources is widespread across the country." As much as a quarter of India's grain production could be at risk as a result of ground water depletion.
Reduced water flow may threaten the birds that live in the China's Yellow River Delta (Photo courtesy Dongying Economic Research Center)
Overpumping is also widespread in China's north-central plain, which produces about 40 percent of the nation's grain. Across a wide area, water tables have been dropping one to 1.5 meters a year, and the nation's water demands continue to climb.
Each year, the world's farmers take out about 160 billion cubic meters of water more than is replaced into aquifers. That amount is roughly equal to the water needed to produce nearly 10 percent of the world's grain. As groundwater runs out, wells will run dry. Where groundwater still exists, it may become too expensive to pump from greater depths.
Surface water in rivers and streams is also vanishing. Many major rivers now run dry for large portions of the year - including the Yellow in China, the Indus in Pakistan, the Ganges in South Asia, and the Colorado in the American Southwest. Cities and farms now compete for scarce water, as do neighboring countries that depend on the same river.
Agronomist Jim Smart and Mexican farmers Miguel Morales Beltran and Hector Rodriquez Mediola discuss the 1996 drought that caused this irrigation ditch near Rio Bravo, Mexico, to dry up (Photo by Jack Dykinga, courtesy USDA's Agricultural Research Service)
In her new book, "Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?" Postel notes that irrigation alone will not solve the world?s water problems. Unless farmers begin to use new water conservation technologies, irrigated lands will turn into deserts as the water runs out.
Compounding the problems, population growth is fastest in some of the world's most water short regions. The number of people living in water stressed countries is projected to climb from 470 million to three billion by 2025. If these countries lack the water to produce sufficient food for their populations, competition for grain imports will increase, Postel warns.
"Some 40 percent of the world's food comes from irrigated cropland," said Postel, "and we're betting on that share to increase to feed a growing population."
While the U.S., Europe, and other exporters may be able to produce sufficient food to meet the demands of other countries, the exports may not be offered at a price that poor, food importing nations - especially those in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa - can afford.
¸ Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved.
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