cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33295794

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/24354375

Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 39 of these sitting in regions of “extremely high water stress”, new analysis and mapping has shown.

Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown.

Watershed Investigations and the Guardian mapped cities on to stressed catchments revealing that Beijing, New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Delhi are among those facing extreme stress, while London, Bangkok and Jakarta are classed as being highly stressed.

Separate analysis of Nasa satellite data, compiled by scientists at University College London, shows which of the largest 100 cities have been drying or getting wetter over two decades with places such as Chennai, Tehran and Zhengzhou showing strong drying trends and Tokyo, Lagos and Kampala showing strong wetting trends. All 100 cities and their trends can be viewed on a new interactive water security atlas.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33166281

Last week, Tunbridge Wells went without running water for days on end, for the second time this winter. Over the course of this decade, the town has suffered a run of outages and on-off supply, or what South East Water is pleased to call “resilience issues”.

One of the richest towns in one of the richest societies in human history shows the rest of us that even lavish private affluence cannot make up for the really important forms of public scarcity.

Charophytes are underwater plants that play a crucial role in the water quality and biodiversity of lakes; they stabilize the lake bed, produce oxygen, promote water clarity, and provide habitat for numerous aquatic organisms. In Europe, their abundance has declined sharply since the late 19th century.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6490767

Archived version

The state-run ISNA news agency reported on Sunday, January four, quoting the director general of Iran’s Water Information and Data Office, that the country’s water resources remain in a fragile condition due to the continuation of multi-year droughts.

According to Firouz Ghasemzadeh, the recent rainfall has had only temporary effects and is not capable of compensating for the accumulated deficit caused by several consecutive years of drought in Iran.

According to this report, precipitation in the current water year has increased by 11% compared to the long-term average and by 76% compared to last year.

...

Nevertheless, the provinces of Tehran and Alborz have experienced the largest decline in rainfall, with a decrease of more than 70% compared to the long-term average.

...

The reservoirs of dams in the provinces of Tehran, Isfahan, Razavi Khorasan, Qom, Zanjan, and Markazi are in unfavorable conditions, and the supply of drinking water in cities dependent on these sources faces limitations; therefore, water consumption management remains a serious necessity in the country.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/32234877

• Hungary’s Great Hungarian Plain faces severe desertification as groundwater depletes and droughts intensify, threatening agriculture and prompting government action.
• Farmers dubbed “water guardians” redirect thermal spa water to artificially flood low-lying fields, re-creating natural flooding cycles disrupted by river channelization.
• Early results show improved groundwater levels and increased vegetation, offering a potential conservation model for other drought-stricken regions worldwide.

Shelton Tucker is part of a novel plan to deal with the waters that are increasingly encroaching on his neighborhood in Hampton, Virginia. Situated at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and afflicted by one of the fastest paces of sea-level rise in the U.S., Hampton has long battled flooding.

But while flood-prone coastal cities have historically defaulted to levees, pumps and miles of cement-covered storm drains, Hampton is leaning heavily on rain barrels, rain gardens, declogging creeks and fortifying shores with oyster reefs.

Hampton residents like Tucker have a part to play, too. The 67-year-old president of the Greater Aberdeen Community Coalition has a spot for a rain garden—a plot designed to collect and absorb stormwater runoff—prepared in the front yard of his father’s house. “I got it all bricked out,” Tucker said. “I just need to know the plants to put in it.”

Hampton’s rain gardens and oyster reefs are part of a flood-management strategy heavily influenced by the Netherlands, dubbed “Living With Water.” At its core is a change in mindset about how to approach a future increasingly defined by rising oceans, more intense rains and soggier ground.

Instead of fighting water, the thinking goes, let it in. Guide it to areas where it can flow and sit safely; enjoy it while it’s there. Restore natural systems that absorb, buffer and cleanse. Take steps big and small, public and private, since every little bit counts.

In practice, that means Hampton is trying to better handle large volumes of water, dotting flood-prone areas with plant-lined storage basins, inserting low weirs in rivers to slow the flow of excess water and raising some key streets that are likely to submerge regardless.

While some nearby coastal cities are proposing billion-dollar floodwalls and surge barriers, Hampton is looking at restoring marshes and “naturalizing” miles of rock-fortified shoreline with sand and marsh grasses.

At a coastal park a few blocks from Hampton City Hall, the city is building a sandy marsh over the rocks that currently line the shore, and experimenting with new types of protective sills—including 3D-printed concrete reefs seeded with oysters.

The changes mean incoming waves will be gently buffered, rather than reflected by hard surfaces as they are now, reducing flooding and erosion, said Olivia Askew, a Hampton city resilience officer.

The water “will rise and fall in the new marsh that we’re creating, which will soften the shoreline,” she said.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/collapse/p/1578842/the-worsening-geopolitics-of-water-in-the-middle-east

Countries across the Middle East are facing acute water shortages, owing to poor resource management, accelerating climate change, and regional power politics. In the absence of concerted diplomacy, water will soon be another flash point in a chronically unstable region.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/31561834

Shaving every tenth of a degree off whatever final thermometer number we end up at means a few more glaciers hanging on, diminished perhaps, but a glacier still, with room to grow.

Archived link of the article

A new study published in Nature Sustainability warns that India’s largest cities are slowly sinking. Using eight years of satellite radar data, researchers found that parts of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru are subsiding due to groundwater extraction and soil compaction, a process where the ground compresses as water is drawn out from underground layers.

• Located on the coast of Sulawesi Island’s largest city, Makassar, Tallo ward endures high water stress and contamination of local sources with heavy metals and other pollutants.
• Water stress is a well-documented driver of gender-based violence around the world, with extensive correlation established by numerous research studies, and causation in many circumstances.
• In Makassar, women are commonly responsible for ensuring local households are supplied with water, which typically involves hauling more than two dozen plastic containers of water across town.
• In response to these challenges, a grassroots women-led organization has entered direct talks with local political leaders and the municipal water company in a bid to improve access to water for consumption and sanitation.

archived (Wayback Machine)

The situation in Tehran is the result of “a perfect storm of climate change and corruption,” says Michael Rubin, a political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

The overuse did not just deplete underground reserves—it destroyed them, as the land compressed and sank irreversibly. One recent study found that Iran’s central plateau, where most of the country’s aquifers are located, is sinking by more than 35 centimeters each year.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/30547655

Tehran is running out of water.

Rationing has begun in Iran’s capital city, with some of the approximately 10 million residents experiencing “nightly pressure cuts” between midnight and 5 a.m. The entire country is in an unprecedented drought, facing its driest — and hottest — autumn in nearly 60 years. Tehran has received no rain at all since the start of September, and no rainfall is expected for the foreseeable future.

The city depends on five major reservoirs for its water supply. One has dried up completely, with another below 8 percent capacity. The managing director of the Tehran Regional Water Authority told state media last week that the Karaj Dam has only two weeks of drinking water left. The drought extends beyond the city, too. The water reserves of Mashhad, the second largest city in the country, have dropped below 3 percent capacity, putting 4 million people at imminent risk.

But if nothing changes, Tehran may soon face Day Zero — or when a municipality can no longer supply drinking water to its residents and taps run dry. In October, President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed that Tehran could no longer serve as the country’s capital, citing the water crisis as a major factor.

”If it doesn’t rain in Tehran by late November, we’ll have to [formally] ration water,” Pezeshkian told Iranian state media on Thursday. “And if it still doesn’t rain, we’ll have to evacuate Tehran.”

archived (Wayback Machine)

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/29903812

To many people, Brazil conjures up images of the endless Amazon River, lush tropical rainforest and breathtaking wildlife. In a country of its size, this picture can remain true while also containing a more complex and changing set of realities. For example, climate change, high water demand and human activity are also leading to increased desert-like conditions. One recent study found that in the past 30 years, there has been a 30% expansion in dryland habitat across Brazil. One of the most affected areas includes the state of Pará, a major part of the Amazon rainforest and home to Belém, which is hosting this year’s UN climate summit.

Water shortages

Brazil’s northeast region is particularly noted for its semi-arid landscape and water scarcity.

Pernambuco, a small state by Brazilian standards, extends from the eastern Atlantic coast into the region’s interior for around 450 miles. Water availability is a constant concern for many communities across the state, especially family farms which are significant contributors to the regional economy.

“One of the main problems people are facing here is the growing frequency of droughts and the irregularity of rainfall. As a result, producing food has become extremely difficult,” said Carlos Magno, a coordinator at Centro Sabiá, a non-profit organisation in the area.

“We’re also experiencing stronger heatwaves, which have been causing the death of many trees and affecting the local environment even more,” Magno added.

He went on to describe how family farming in the region is almost entirely dependent on rain to grow food. There are no irrigation systems or wells to support communities so when the rains fail, it means less food on the table.Addressing these concerns is a key objective of an ongoing project supported by the Adaptation Fund’s Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA), administered by the UN Development Programme and carried out by Centro Sabiá.

A woman collects rainwater harvested for use on smaller agroforestry plots. (Image: Centro Sabiá)

Transforming lives

Centro Sabiá has an intimate knowledge of how family farming operates in the region. It spent time consulting with communities to better understand their concerns, and hearing their ideas on how to combat water scarcity.

The project is implementing simple, yet affordable, climate solutions which are improving the livelihoods of local people. One intervention being explored is to recycle wastewater to help with the growth of new agroforestry plots. The water – taken from washing or cleaning – is filtered and then redirected for use on plots that combine crop farming with tree planting. The technique is designed to improve soil health, cut pollution and improve biodiversity.

“The water that used to pollute the soil now nourishes crops and trees,” added Magno. “When people realise that their available water is limited, but they can reuse it to grow food, it changes everything.”

On the project, 130 families, totalling over 31,000 people, introduced greywater reuse across 30 new agroforestry plots. The systems are low-cost and simple to implement within a farm’s existing infrastructure. They can be used for years with the initial access to technical support, and, as a result, are now treating millions of litres of water each year.

The impacts in Pernambuco have been immediate. Each family is estimated to be saving US$350 a year on water, and earning over US$300 a month from selling agroforestry products.

Making farming greener

Agroforestry has been identified as a sustainable alternative to industrial farming.

According to some scientists, the Amazon rainforest is able to recycle up to 5 litres of water per square metre a day. By contrast, land used for pasture is only able to recycle 1.5 litres. This helps to explain why some previously biodiverse areas that have been converted for cattle ranching and farming are now becoming drier.

Agroforestry seeks to redress the balance by including trees in the agricultural process, bringing more moisture – and carbon – back into the soil. The response to these techniques from people across Pernambuco has so far been overwhelmingly positive.

“Nature is doing really well for us,” reported Cilene, a local participant in the project. In a recent interview with the Adaptation Fund, she explained how in the past, “we bought things with pesticides. Now with this project we are learning to have better, healthier food.”

“Compared to how we were living before, we see better results and sustainable benefits,” she added.

Francisca Ferraz de Aquino Silva, a farmer in Calumbi, agrees. “This project was a real turning point in my life,” she said.

“After the technology arrived, I realised it was possible to make better use of water, without waste, and to produce food while improving the soil. It was a new opportunity in my life,” she told Centro Sabiá.

“Agroforestry reduces the need for heavy labour. You work without much effort, it brings economic return, and nature works in your favour…I saw that it was possible to live in semi-arid conditions with dignity and prosperity – planting biodiversity and working with agroforestry systems,” she added.

One of the greywater reuse systems installed during the project. (Image:Centro Sabiá)

What this means for COP30

As heads of state discuss the state of the planet in Belém, they only need look around at the surrounding rainforest to see how vital a role it plays.

Human development and extreme weather are putting significant pressure on nature and people’s livelihoods. If these drier conditions persist, the rainforest could be turned into savannah, which some scientists believe will create further dry weather and drought.

But the lessons from Belém’s southerly neighbour over in Pernambuco could provide an answer.

“Policymakers and delegates attending COP30 have a lot to learn from the project,” commented Magno. “It was built with civil society. It was carried out with the contribution of organisations and people who work every day with local communities.”

“By the end of the [climate] conference, the decisions and commitments must truly guarantee that adaptation resources reach the communities that are struggling every day to adapt to climate change,” he continued.

“It is crucial for funds from international climate agreements and adaptation policies to reach the local level, where they are needed the most.”

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/29903562

A new study warns that deforestation across Ghana, Niger and Nigeria is intensifying West Africa’s water crisis, threatening the health and livelihoods of more than 122 million people.

Drawing on 12 years of satellite data from 2013-2025, the joint report by WaterAid and Tree Aid finds a direct correlation between forest loss and the decline of both the quality and quantity of freshwater. For every 1,000 hectares of forest cleared in Niger and Nigeria, 9.25 hectares of surface water disappear, leaving communities more exposed to disease, food insecurity and dehydration.

archived (Wayback Machine)

• Mongabay article
• research cited

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/29768594

• The Ganga river is experiencing its most severe drought ever recorded, with the steepest decline in streamflow in over 1,300 years.
• Reduced monsoon precipitation, global warming, and groundwater depletion from irrigation are the primary drivers of this unusual drying.
• Most climate models fail to capture the ongoing decline accurately, highlighting the need for better projections and adaptive water management strategies.

cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/36932806