UN Report Warns Of A Looming Global Water Crisis

 

UN News: Climate change, population increase fuel looming water crisis: 

WMO Improved water management, monitoring and forecasting are needed in the face of a looming global water crisis, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and partners said in a report published on Tuesday. 

The warning comes as floods, droughts and other water-related hazards increase due to climate change, while the number of people experiencing “water stress” continues to rise amid population growth and dwindling availability. 

In 2018, some 3.6 billion people globally had inadequate access to water for one month per year, which is expected to surpass five billion by 2050. 

“Increasing temperatures are resulting in global and regional precipitation changes, leading to shifts in rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons, with a major impact on food security and human health and well-being,” said Petteri Taalas, the WMO Secretary-General.  

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: The report is here .... Wake up to the looming water crisis, report warns (World Meteorological Organization). 

More News On A Recent UN Report Warning Of A Looming Global Water Crisis  

UN report warns of global water crisis amid climate change -- AP  

Five billion may struggle to access water in 2050 - UN -- RTE  

UN agency warns of looming global water crisis -- The Hill 

U.N. weather agency says world ill-prepared for 'looming water crisis' -- Washington Post

 UN Warns Over 5 Billion People Could Struggle to Access Water by 2050 -- Science Alert

China Is Now Using Water As A Weapon Against Its Neighbours

An aerial view of the 185m-high Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, which would be dwarfed by the planned Shuangjiangkou hydropower project on the Dadu River. Photograph: Reuters

Eugene K. Chow, National Interest: China Is Weaponizing Water

Hidden in plain sight is an intimidating Chinese weapon that allows it to hold a quarter of the world’s population hostage without firing a single shot. While much attention has been given to the nation’s fearsome new military hardware, a formidable component in its arsenal has largely escaped notice: dams.

With more than 87,000 dams and control of the Tibetan plateau, the source of ten major rivers which 2 billion people depend on, China possesses a weapon of mass destruction. With the flip of a switch, the Middle Kingdom can release hundreds of millions of gallons of water from its mega dams, causing catastrophic floods that would reshape entire ecosystems in countries downstream.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: China is one of the worst managers of water in the world .... if not the worst one. I have seen first hand since the mid-1980s on how China treats its rivers (pollution, deforestation resulting in erosion that ends up in the waterways, lake management, and God only knows what they have done to their ground water). Because of geography they also control the waterways that feed southwest and southeast Asia .... and yes .... there is no doubt in my mind that they will use it to squeeze their neighbours for political concessions .... or simply keep the water if they need it.

Is The World Running Out Of Fresh Water?

Washington Post: New NASA data show how the world is running out of water

The world’s largest underground aquifers – a source of fresh water for hundreds of millions of people — are being depleted at alarming rates, according to new NASA satellite data that provides the most detailed picture yet of vital water reserves hidden under the Earth’s surface.

Twenty-one of the world’s 37 largest aquifers — in locations from India and China to the United States and France — have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water was removed than replaced during the decade-long study period, researchers announced Tuesday. Thirteen aquifers declined at rates that put them into the most troubled category. The researchers said this indicated a long-term problem that’s likely to worsen as reliance on aquifers grows.

WNU Editor: The Arabian Aquifer System in the Middle East is .... according to the report .... the most stressed groundwater basin in world. Is the impacting the current conflict in Yemen .... definitely. But warnings on how the Yemenis were treating their water supplies to treat their khat habit were issued years ago .... Is Yemen Chewing Itself to Death? .... but no one did anything.

More News On The World's Fresh water Supplies Running Out

Millions Face Thirst as World's Water Supply Reaches Critical Level -- Sputnik
Third of the globe's largest groundwater basins are distressed -- UPI
Global Water Shortage: Study Says Third of Aquifers Running Dry -- NBC
Global water supplies are ‘in distress’, scientists warn -- Financial Times
Many of the world's water basins are being depleted, studies find -- L.A. Times
A Third Of The Planet's Largest Groundwater Reservoirs Are Now At Risk: Study -- IBTimes
World Is Running Short Of Water, Many Groundwater Resources 'Overstressed,' Study Warns -- Tech Times
Global Water Going Fast: How Much Is Left? -- Discovery

Israeli Invention Will Make Military Water Tanker Convoys A Thing Of The Past

Haaretz: Liquid asset: The Israeli start-up that turns air into water

WNU Editor: This is actually an old story .... this Israeli start-up company has been around for a few years, and they have already generated a lot of interest and customers .... the U.S. military included .... This Gadget Makes Gallons of Drinking Water Out of Air (Time).

 Fast Company has more info (and reaction) on the military applications for this tech .... the link is here.

Defense Contractor Lockheed Martin Finds Method For Cheap Clean Water

Pentagon Weapons-Maker Finds Method For Cheap, Clean Water -- Reuters

(Reuters) - A defense contractor better known for building jet fighters and lethal missiles says it has found a way to slash the amount of energy needed to remove salt from seawater, potentially making it vastly cheaper to produce clean water at a time when scarcity has become a global security issue.

The process, officials and engineers at Lockheed Martin Corp say, would enable filter manufacturers to produce thin carbon membranes with regular holes about a nanometer in size that are large enough to allow water to pass through but small enough to block the molecules of salt in seawater. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

Because the sheets of pure carbon known as graphene are so thin - just one atom in thickness - it takes much less energy to push the seawater through the filter with the force required to separate the salt from the water, they said.

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My Comment: The long term benefits from such a discovery should not be discounted.

Growing Water Tensions In Asia

A Rising Hydro-Hegemon Raising Worries Downstream -- Japan Times

NEW DELHI — Just as China has aroused international alarm by wielding its virtual rare-earths monopoly as a trade instrument and by thwarting efforts to resolve territorial disputes with its neighbors, it is raising deep concern over the manner it is seeking to fashion water into a political weapon against its co-riparian states.

China, the geographical hub of Asia, is the source of transboundary river flows to the largest number of countries in the world — from Russia to India, and from Kazakhstan to the Indochina Peninsula. This unique status is rooted in its forcible absorption of sprawling ethnic-minority homelands, which make up 60 percent of its landmass and are the origin of all the important international rivers flowing out of Chinese-held territory.

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Previous Posts: China's Coming Water Crisis
How China's Quest For Fresh Water Is Stirring Tensions With Its Neighbors
The Coming Fresh Water Shortages

My Comment: Are the Chinese listening to the protests from their neighbors on this issue .... nope. Expect tensions to escalate as the need for water increases in places like India and South-east Asia.