Water Woes

[lovuian]

Run time: 01:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TcDor0rk98   Posted on YouTube: May 05, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 05, 2007 By DU Member: lovuian Views on DU: 810

 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070504.witaly04/BNStory/International/Europe/


Italy's largest river drying up

Reuters

May 4, 2007 at 12:10 PM EDT

ROME — Italy declared a state of emergency in northern and central regions on Friday due to fears of drought following unusually warm and dry weather.

Farmers have been fretting as Italy's largest river, the Po, has dried up in recent months. The river, running west to east across northern Italy, feeds the broad Po valley which accounts for about a third of the country's agricultural output.

Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said the state of emergency had been declared as a precautionary measure. It came a day after neighbouring France imposed water rationing in several of its regions, also in fear of drought.

Italy's hottest winter in 200 years meant snowfall was light in the Alps, with little snow-melt to swell the Po. Then a hot, dry spring set in, with temperatures in April approaching levels usually seen in June.
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http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/noticias/marzo06/marzo14/noticiasmundo5.htm

World's Largest Rivers Drying Up

United Nations, March 14 (RHC)-- A United Nations investigation has revealed that half of the planet's 500 biggest rivers are seriously depleted or polluted. The world's great rivers are drying up at an alarming rate, according to the report, with devastating consequences for humanity, animals and the future of the planet.

The UN report shows that from the Nile to China's Yellow River, some of the world's great water systems are now under such pressure that they often fail to deposit their water in the ocean or are interrupted in the course to the sea, with grave consequences for the future. Adding to the disaster, all of the 20 longer rivers are being disrupted by big dams. And one-fifth of all freshwater fish species either face extinction or are already extinct.

An article on the UN report, appearing in The Independent, says that the Nile and Pakistan's Indus are greatly reduced by the time they reach the sea. Some, such as the Colorado and China's Yellow River, now rarely reach the ocean at all. Others, such as the Jordan and the Rio Grande on the U.S.-Mexico border, are dry for much of their length.

The United Nations report warned the world's governments of an "alarming deterioration" in the planet's rivers, lakes and other freshwater systems. Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, said that the state of the world's rivers is "a disaster in the making."
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were not going to need armies for oil but for water

From Chimo's great article today

[Monkeyman]

1. K&R you never fail to amaze me

[Rydz777]

2. Great post. You can have a civilization without

oil, but you sure can't have one without water. As I recall, Egypt was once the source of much of the grain for the Roman Empire and then dried up (except for the Nile.) Consider the number of large cities we have built in our own western deserts draining away rivers and ground water. It's the end of the world as we know it.

[RestoreGore]

3. Absolutely recommended-water is life

Where is the fluid that gives us life going? I wish more people would be in tune with just how catastrophic this already is on a global scale and just what is coming if we do not understand what we are doing and how we can work now to solve this. People continue to waste water, cut down trees, slash and burn, overconsume, and pollute this planet with wild abandon as the world thirsts and cries out for our help and we are now reaping the whirlwind. The pictures do not lie and they show us as a species with no moral code and one that believes in their satisfaction and convenience at all costs, and that is most disturbing of all. This should be on the greatest page as well and I appreciate you posting this, for the global water crisis is the environmmental challenge of this century that can no longer be ignored. We sinply cannot live without water.


http://water-is-life.blogspot.com

[GETPLANING]

4. Spain is having a major drought too

I live in Zaragoza, on the Ebro river, and it is down to about 50% of it's normal levels. The glaciers of the Pyrenees are vanishing, and the rivers are disappearing.

[lovuian]

5. I saw the Glacier in Germany is melting so fast

it will be gone in less than 20 years but they think maybe even 10 years

Europe isn't ready for these high temperatures