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Archive for April, 2010
Dead Sea pipeline plan an ‘ecological disaster’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2010
Ecologist: Simple water conservation rather than a multi-billion pound pipeline project would be the best way to save the Dead Sea from disappearing, say environmentalists The future of the Dead Sea in the Middle East is in grave danger. Its water level is dropping at an alarming rate of one metre per year and by 2050, if no urgent action is taken, the saltiest lake at the lowest point on earth will be reduced to little more than a large pond. Five years ago this month, in recognition of ...
Court turns down Michigan over Great Lakes carp
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2010
Reuters: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a legal request by Michigan aimed at keeping voracious Asian carp out of the Great Lakes where they are considered a threat to fisheries. Two species of Asian carp -- the Bighead and Silver carp, which can grow to five feet in length and weigh 100 pounds (45 kg) -- are seen as a danger to the lakes' $7 billion fisheries. Scientists fear they would consume plankton and other small life forms, crowding out other fish species. The action ...
ALERT! Brazil’s Proposed Belo Monte Dam Damns Amazonian Rainforests and Peoples
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on April 25th, 2010
The wild and free Xingu River is critical to maintaining intact the Amazon, its peoples, Brazil's national advancement, and the Earth we share
TAKE ACTION! The Brazilian government continues with plans to build the massive Belo Monte Dam [search] on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest [search], despite massive domestic and international opposition. The 11.2 billion dollar dam will flood an estimated 500 square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest and threaten the survival of tens of thousands of indigenous and traditional peoples who depend on the Xingu River for their livelihoods. The Kayapó leader Raoni Metuktire, who gained international exposure touring the world with Sting, said indigenous men from the Xingu were preparing their bows and arrows in order to fight off the dam. "I think that today the war is about to start once more and the Indians will be forced to kill the white men again so they leave our lands alone.
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Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 25th, 2010
Reuters: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered troops to crack down on wildcat miners who use mercury, chain-saws and high-pressure hoses to strip gold from beneath the South American nation's jungles. Venezuela's southern forests contain some of Latin America's largest deposits of gold. Industrial mining is scarce in the region, but hundreds of local miners have devastated tracts of forest in the past few decades. "This is a crime that we cannot keep on permitting. Look ...
Water pollution expert derides UN sanitation claims
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 25th, 2010
Guardian: Hundreds of millions of people that the UN declares have gained access to safe water and sanitation are still struggling with polluted supplies and raw sewage, a leading expert has told the Guardian. In its latest report on the progress of the UN Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, the World Health Organisation said that since 1990 1.3 billion people had gained access to improved drinking water and ...
Drought returns to Minnesota in reprise of last year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2010
Associated Press: Drought has returned to Minnesota. The ongoing dry weather has led to a repeat of the drought that covered much of Minnesota last year. Data this week from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that a fourth of the state is now in moderate drought, east of a line from the northeast metro area to International Falls. The lack of significant rainfall has raised the fire danger across much of Minnesota. Campfires have been banned on federal lands in the Superior National Forest, ...
South Africa: Children Help to Assess Water Health
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Miss, Miss, there are tiny creatures here in the water!" a Grade 7 pupil shouts excitedly, trying to draw attention to his water sample. At first, the liquid looks clear, but upon closer examination, one can make out a tiny aquatic invertebrate. The 13-year-old boy is part of a conservation education project that his school, Sid G Rule Primary from Grassy Park, conducts in collaboration with the Rondevlei Nature Reserve, located about 20 kilometres outside of Cape Town. The creatures ...
Argentina: We’re Drowning in Sadness
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2010
Inter Press Service: The legal battle waged by an indigenous community in northern Argentina against the government over a project that flooded half of their territory highlights the fact that legal title to their land is not enough to overcome the marginalisation they have faced for centuries. El Descanso, 1,500 kilometres north of Buenos Aires, is a Pilagá indigenous community in the northeastern Argentine province of Formosa. It is located next to the La Estrella wetlands, an area spanning 400,000 ...
United Kingdom: ‘Water rats’ to carry on polluting
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on April 24th, 2010
Times (UK): BRITAIN'S "water rats' -- the giant utility companies -- have been given permission to carry on polluting beaches just as families start digging out buckets and spades for the summer holidays. The government's Planning Inspectorate has rejected an attempt by the Environment Agency to impose regulations on 4,200 outlets that pump raw sewage into the sea and rivers. It means the water companies -- which together recorded profits of £1.8 billion in 2008-09 -- have again escaped ...
United States: State Decision Blocks Drilling for Gas in Catskills
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 24th, 2010
New York Times: New York State environmental officials announced on Friday that they would impose far stricter regulations on a controversial type of natural gas drilling in the upstate area that supplies most of New York City's drinking water, making it highly unlikely that any drilling would be done there. Although they did not impose an outright ban on drilling, state officials said that any natural gas company would have to conduct a separate environmental impact review for each well it proposed ...
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