Drought In Mozambique

Another day, another report on water scarcity, this time in Mozambique where rivers are drying up.

Boys play along the banks of the Zambezi river in Mozambique. The country has been hit by
flooding in the north and drought in the south. Photograph: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images

Excerpts from an article from The Guardian:

It rained in Mbalavala two weeks ago. The clouds built up from the south, a shower cleared the dusty air, but then, cruelly, it stopped after an hour. For a moment, the 120 families who live in the southern Mozambican village thought their two-year drought was ending.

But that was it. Since then there has been no hint of rain and the chances of planting crops this year in Mbalavala diminish every day as El Niño, the natural weather phenomenon that upturns normal weather patterns every few years in southern Africa, reaches its peak and Mozambique comes to the end of another dry rainy season.

For the second year running, Mbalavala’s maize fields, which should have been planted months ago, lie empty; the soil in vegetable gardens is like sand and what little water there is from an emergency borehole must be shared between cattle and people.

Read full article here: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/feb/17/mozambique-drought-hopes-harvest-evaporate?CMP=twt_gu

Water Scarcity, Water Wars?

Water scarcity and water wars are definitely in our future. All we have to do is look to what's happening around the world. We once thought that developed countries would be the last to experience water scarcity, but if you're paying attention, that's no longer true.

The latest from The Guardian:

Four billion people face severe water scarcity, new research finds

At least two-thirds of the global population, over 4 billion people, live with severe water scarcity for at least one month every year, according to a major new analysis.

The revelation shows water shortages, one of the most dangerous challenges the world faces, is far worse previously than thought.

The new research also reveals that 500m people live in places where water consumption is double the amount replenished by rain for the entire year, leaving them extremely vulnerable as underground aquifers run down.

Many of those living with fragile water resources are in India and China, but other regions highlighted are the central and western US, Australia and even the city of London.

Read the full article: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/12/four-billion-people-face-severe-water-scarcity-new-research-finds

Just Water

Do you prefer fancy-labeled bottled water to tap water? Here are some results from a taste test done by Katie Herzog:

“This tastes better than the tap water I’ve been drinking all day,” said Patrick, holding up a glass of the tap water he’d be drinking all day. “It must be JUST water.”

“This one is metallic,” said Darby. “It’s definitely tap water.” It wasn’t.

“Oh, this is harsh,” said Eve. “Tap water.” Nope. JUST water.

“This one is so smooth it’s almost thick,” said Brian, pointing to a warm glass of Seattle city water. “JUST water.”

In the end, six out of eight subjects misidentified the samples. Remarkably, they also preferred the tap water to the fancy stuff in the box.

Read the full article here: http://grist.org/article/we-tested-fancy-water-vs-tap-water-heres-what-we-learned/

Good News For Canada's Oceans

Via innovation.ca

As Canada celebrates the election of Justin Trudeau, the world celebrates the announcement that the Leader of the Liberal Party will take action to protect Canada's oceans.

         “Liberals will build a better country and a sustainable economy that gives hard-working Canadians a real and fair chance to succeed. We will improve the air we breathe, the water we drink, the parks and beaches where our children play,” said Mr. Trudeau. “From coast to coast to coast, that means investing in the protection of our oceans – the health of which is vital to safeguarding our environment and growing our economy.”

        A Liberal government will:

• Meet Canada’s international commitments by increasing the amount of our protected marine and coastal areas from 1.3 percent to 5 percent by 2017, and 10 percent by 2020;
• Reinstate the $40 million cut from the federal government’s ocean science and monitoring programs, and restore scientific capabilities at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans;
• Re-establish thorough environmental assessments, review all amendments made by the Harper Conservatives to the Fisheries Act and other legislative changes, and incorporate modern safeguards to protect our ocean and freshwater fish habitats;
• Work with provinces, Indigenous Peoples, and other stakeholders, to effectively co-manage our oceans; and
• Formalize the moratorium on crude oil tanker traffic on British Columbia’s North Coast – including the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, and Queen Charlotte Sound – and ensure that ecologically sensitive areas and local economies are protected from the devastating impacts of a spill."

Thank you, Canada!


Read the full article here: https://www.liberal.ca/trudeau-announces-plan-to-protect-canadas-oceans/

Environmental Organizations Sued the US Forest Service

Here's a headline that grabbed my attention:

The Feds Just Got Sued for Letting Nestlé Bottle Water in California’s Drought Country
Is this lawsuit good news, or what?

It's pretty well known that there is a drought in California, so why would the US Forest Service still allow Nestle to pump water? And, why allow the company to "illegally divert millions of gallons of water from California's San Bernadino National Forest to use for Arrowhead brand bottled water?"

Water activists around the world have to be shaking their heads over this decision and asking how this was allowed to happen.

The plaintiffs in the case are the Center for Biological Diversity, the Story of Stuff, and the Courage Campaign Institute. They charge the Forest Service with "breaking its own policies by allowing the bottling operation to continue, as the siphoning of water from already depleted water source is harming local habitats and wildlife."

And how about this:

"Recent reports have indicated that water levels at Strawberry Creek are at a record lows," said the plaintiffs in a statement. "In exchange for allowing Nestle to continue siphoning water from the Creek, the Forest Service receives just $524 a year, less than the average Californian's water bill."

This sounds like a 5th grader would be able to determine that this was not a good deal for California, so why has the US Forest Service determined that it is?

Water activists must remain vigilant!


Read full article here: http://linkis.com/www.motherjones.com/6TRgU

Protecting Water In Colombia

I came across a great article I want to share with all of you. The topic on WaterKeeper website already grabbed my attention:

Won’t Back Down: Colombia’s Coal-War Warrior

But it was the first paragraph that got me excited to read more about who this Warrior is and what she is doing.

"There is an old saying that dynamite comes in small packages. At just a smidgen over five feet, Bocas de Ceniza Waterkeeper Liliana Guerrero is pure Colombian dynamite. From her small office on a busy street in Barranquilla on Colombia’s north coast, Guerrero is leading a determined charge to stop the destruction that multinational coal companies are wreaking on her country, and she is doing it in spite of considerable personal risk."

Trials and tribulations:

"When Guerrero started her organization, the main problem she thought she would be dealing with was Barranquilla’s untreated domestic and industrial sewage, which were polluting the Magdalena River and devastating the legendary coastal mangrove stands in the Mallorquín marshes north of the city.

“I did not think the coal industry would be the greatest threat to Barranquilla and our precious wetlands, mangroves, river and sea,” she says. “But as the industry expanded, I came to understand the magnitude of the devastation of open-pit mining in the departments of César and La Guajira, as well as from the transportation of mined coal across the department of Magdalena and the catastrophic spills into the ocean at the coal-export ports.”"

This is a great story about a water activist—her struggles and her work. Thank you for all the work you do, Liliana!

Read the full article here: http://waterkeeper.org/magazine-article/wont-back-down-colombias-coal-war-warrior/

Fatbergs: Coming To A Sewer Near You

Fatbergs are plaguing cities across the world, so it looks like educational campaigns are needed to educate people on the proper disposal of household grease and wet wipes - the biggest contributors to fatbergs. Water utility officials are spending great sums of money to clear fatbergs, and face even higher costs when fatbergs cause pipes to burst.

A fatberg filled with baby wipes, cooking grease and other waste pulled
from an Atlanta sewer. 

The word 'Fatberg' is a term that refers to a congealed lump of fat mixed with food, wet wipes and sanitary products. Earlier this year a 10-tonne fatberg was removed from a London sewer after it broke the sewer pipe.

Sally Bethea writes about the problem cities are facing with fatbergs, and will participate in a public campaign to create awareness about proper disposal in Atlanta. She commented"

      "The flow of untreated sewage and wastewater that backs up behind these gooey blobs has to go somewhere, so it spews from the pipes through manholes and cracks, and spills into nearby creeks."

Just what we need: another threat to clean drinking water.


Read Sally Bethea's commentary on fatbergs here: http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2015/09/12/commentary-lets-keep-fatbergs-out-of-our-drains/