Water Conservation Blog Archive

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November 27, 2006

China's Water Shortage Extremely Severe

The whole Chinese economic miracle is an illusory, short-lived experiment in over-population, over-resource use and disregard for ecological systems and their limits in general. Nowhere is this more evident than the the extreme water shortage wracking the country. "Two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages... More than 400 cities had water shortages, with 100 of them 'in serious trouble, lacking enough water to support industry or daily life." A country that dumps "45 billion tonnes of untreated waste water pumped directly into lakes and rivers" can not expect to engineer their way out of a looming water crisis [search]. China's hyper-economic growth cannot be maintained. Their leadership has traded the Earth's long-term prospects for an orgy of production of consumer crap, most of which is not needed. No one can realistically deny China the right to develop. But failure to get a grasp on environmental issues ensures the Chinese nation will implode - taking much of the region if not the world with it. The rich must live simply - rejecting the throw away consumer society - so that developing countries can simply live. It's called sustainable equity.

November 12, 2006

World's Water Woes Dangerous and Deadly

After years of being treated as disposal dumps and water for crops, The Earth's natural freshwater hydrological systems are failing. Australia's Murray River system [search] has run virtually dry after years of water mismanagement compounded by climate change. As water discharges into surrounding wetlands [more] are discontinued in order to continue profiligate irrigation in deserts, the river's riparian zone is effectively dying making river recovery unlikely even if some rains should return. And as highlighted before, in a world of plenty with trillions to spend on military weaponry, some 5,000 children a day are dying from water carried preventable diseases. "Nearly two million children a year die for want of clean water and proper sanitation while the world's poor often pay more for their water than people in Britain or the US." Where is the outrage at this entirely preventable tragedy? NOTE: Following site redesign we have not had time to be water blogging, but expect to now. Thank you for your patience.