Water Scarcity: merged thread
Moderator's Note
Thread re-named and several SWJ Blog links added. A strategic issue around the world, although the only articles appear to have a Middle East focus. (Ends).
I'll kick this off with a 29 April 2010 article from Aswat al Iraq regarding the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources entitled: Iraq signs contract to implement water strategy with Italian companies
Quote:
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Minister of Water Resources, Abdulatief Jamal Rashied, signed on Thursday implementing strategic study of Iraq’s water and lands resources contract with Italian SGI and MED companies at a cost of $35.8 million, according to a Ministry statement.
“The contract will be implemented within 42 months,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“The long term study represents the future policy of the water situation in Iraq, as it includes a comprehensive plan to develop water resources in Iraq until 2035 through the integrated management of the water resources,” the statement quoted the minister as saying
A google search turns up a possible website for SGI which links to DFS Engineering website
Quote:
DFS is an Italian engineering group providing highly qualified services on the international market. With the challenge of offering a broad range of capabilities, relationships and experience to provide efficient and environmentally sound technologies and sustainable solutions to our Client's needs, DFS merges together the competences of three leading Italian companies:
•D'Appolonia S.p.A., a major consulting engineering firm providing multi-disciplinary services to both public and private clients in the energy, environment, infrastructures, transportation and industry sectors.
•Favero e Milan Ingegneria Spa, a multidisciplinary firm qualified in the architectural and structural design of complex structures, from the conceiving and evaluative stage, to the financial evaluations of intervention, the control and the management of execution, up to the delivery of the finished work to the final client.
•SGI - Studio Galli Ingegneria S.p.A., a consulting firm leader in the application of innovative technologies ensuring the accomplishment of environmentally sustainable solutions while managing water resources and optimising the design, operation and management of water infrastructures.
A google search turns up a possible website for MED which links to the Landi Renzo Group
Quote:
MED’s market position consolidates rapidly and in 2001 the company joins the Landi Renzo Group, the world’s leading manufacturer of CNG and LPG systems.
With renewed energy MED continues its growth in the field of Alternative Fuel Components: in 2003 with a high-quality CNG tank valve conceived for the OEM market, in 2004 starting the production of specific gas injectors featuring high-repeatability, while in 2007 the company introduces new electronic control units for the management of CNG and LPG driven engines.
Nile Basin Conflict: Perspectives on Water Sharing, Food Shortages, Civil Wars and Te
Water and Sanitation: Decisive Effects in Modern Operations
Water and Sanitation: Decisive Effects in Modern Operations
Entry Excerpt:
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Water Security Conflicts: A Regional Perspective
Water Security Conflicts: A Regional Perspective
Entry Excerpt:
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China's African Water Scramble
An interesting commentary, although the conclusion is rather strong. Anyway it starts with:
Quote:
Under the radar of the Western world, China has patiently established its influence among Africa's emerging powerhouses, setting its sights on the continent's most contested resource: The Nile River. Amidst the decline of Egypt and the rise of Ethiopia, China has managed to manipulate a long-brewing conflict between Africa's two major powers to its benefit, slowly replacing the West as the continent's new kingmaker.
In recent months, China has ruffled feathers from Lake Victoria to Alexandria with its aggressive funding and building of dams in Ethiopia, a likewise aggressive contender for regional hegemony.
It ends with:
Quote:
Recognizing the potential of the world's most truly valuable resource, China has assumed a dominant role in African affairs for years to come. As Bejing's new leadership has keenly understood, the ability to foment and mediate conflicts in Africa's vital Nile River Basin will put China on the fast-track to global leadership. With Egypt in decline and Ethiopia on the rise, the West's options for tipping the scales back in their favor are drying up.
Link:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel...?utm_hp_ref=tw
How funding new dams enables global leadership eludes me, nor has the West been dominant in Africa for a long time. China's track record in Africa is very mixed, although I do concede much of the past was state-led and now the state plays a different, lesser role.
Water rationing may lead to protests
From a longer post on the David Kilcullen thread.
Water supply was one issue and he cited Syria as an example. Syria, with an expanding population for several years had issues over water supply, so much that water rationing applied in most cities. This was aggravated in 2010 with a drought in the south-east, which pushed more people into the cities and in 2011 two of those cities were where the protests began.
I've not heard of this before; no doubt it is fully explained in the book, but if anyone can add please do.
Protests and rioting after water cut
As if by magic - a tweet from the BBC's World Service (west African reporter) Thomas Fessy:
Quote:
Mini demos and riots in #Dakar last night sparked by 2-week long water cut.
Nothing on BBC News website.
Day Zero: how Cape Town stopped the taps running dry
A short 10 mins video explains 'Day Zero':
Quote:
Early this year, the South African government announced that Day Zero was looming – a moment, after three years of unprecedented drought, when dam levels would be so low that taps would be turned off and people would have to fetch water at communal collection points.
After taking remedial measures, Capetonians managed to push back the date of Day Zero until next year. We visited the city to find out how the threat of an apocalyptic disaster has changed lives.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ning-dry-video
There is only one reference to why the reservoirs are now 20% full and that it is the richer suburbs which have had to adjust the most - the townships may have 25% of the population, but use 4% of the water.
Will World War Three Be Fought Over Water?
Quote:
Yemen is gripped by civil war—and some experts say it could be the first of many “water wars” to come, as the planet grows hotter and drier. In This Is the Way the World Ends: How Droughts and Die-Offs, Heat Waves and Hurricanes Are Converging on America, Jeff Nesbit writes of the Yemeni conflict and many other geopolitical consequences of a warming world, including the precarious future of the Indus River, under the control of China, India and Pakistan, and why Saudi Arabia’s biggest dairy company is buying farmland in the Arizona desert.
Soundcloud link to the whole shebang here -> https://www.sciencefriday.com/segmen...57e2a-53934117