Blue News from around the world. The most important news on water and sanitation from a human rights perspective.
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Pakistan: Water security
Pakistan: Water securityPakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has hinted at consulting the provinces regarding a plan to increase Pakistan’s water storage capacity to meet potential shortages after India announced last month that it was holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
This is a good decision and should help prevent future controversies, especially where friction among the federating units over certain water storage projects in the past is concerned. Speaking at a jirga at the Corps Headquarters Peshawar on Tuesday, Mr Sharif also directed the authorities to speed up the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha hydropower project.
Indus Treaty: Can India Stop All the Water?
Indus Treaty: Can India Stop All the Water?In order to stop the western rivers, India would need to build storage capacity to hold about 40 BCM. This is the quantity of water which flows from Indian territory to Pakistan from these western rivers. Given the terrain through which the western rivers flow and other factors, such as availability of land, the cost of building a dam to store their water would be several times higher. To store all the water from the western rivers in India, assuming this is even possible given the nature of terrain, it could go up to $100 billion.
So, this would be the cost of stopping every “drop of water flowing into Pakistan from the Indus Live system” as articulated by the water resources minister.
Read The Wire / Tags: India – Pakistan – WaterConflicts
Himalayan glacier melt threatens water security for nearly 2 billion in South Asia
Himalayan glacier melt threatens water security for nearly 2 billion in South AsiaThe Himalayas, often called the “Third Pole,” store more ice than anywhere else outside the Arctic and Antarctic. Their glaciers feed rivers that sustain nearly one-fourth of the world’s population. When this vast water reserve melts too quickly, the risk isn’t just water scarcity — it’s floods, disrupted agriculture, and cross-border conflict. Black carbon, a fine pollutant from burning wood, crops, and diesel, accelerates melt rates by darkening snow and making it absorb more heat. Unlike carbon dioxide, black carbon stays in the atmosphere for days to weeks, meaning reductions could yield fast relief. Yet monitoring and mitigation are underfunded across South Asia. Meanwhile, extreme heat linked to climate change worsens glacier retreat and places strain on vulnerable communities with few safety nets. With some glaciers losing ice mass at four times the normal rate, the region faces a convergence of environmental, health, and geopolitical crises.
US: They promised to save our way of life, then sold us down a (nearly dry) river. Opinion.
US: They promised to save our way of life, then sold us down a (nearly dry) river. Opinion.Arizona’s elected leaders promised to protect our rural way of life. Instead, they sold it out to corporate interests that are draining our precious water.
Year after year, more than a million citizens in rural Arizona communities walk a precarious path — with virtually no real tools to secure our long-term water future.
While urban regions continue to benefit from immediate, well-funded water solutions, rural areas are left to fight a losing battle against unchecked groundwater exploitation and political neglect.
This is not just a crisis of policy. It is a crisis of principle that has played out before our eyes this legislative session.
Read azcentral. / Tags: US
France, Reunion: A first victory for group action!
France, Reunion: A first victory for group action!Launched in 2021, the group action brought by UFC-Que Choisir against Cise Réunion, a subsidiary of the private water utility Saur, has just resulted in a landmark court ruling. The Saint-Denis Court has ordered the company to compensate some of its users for supplying water that was unfit for consumption for years.
For years, almost 90,000 Réunion residents, particularly in the communes of Sainte-Marie, Saint-André, Salazie, Saint-Benoît and Les Avirons, did not get drinkable tap water. They had to buy bottled water or invest in expensive filtration equipment. In 2019, the courts ordered the distributor to reimburse a consumer for bottled water purchased over a five-year period.
Read QueChoisir (French) / Tags: France
UK steps up drought response after driest spring in over a century
UK steps up drought response after driest spring in over a centuryThe Environment Agency (EA) said reservoirs across England were only 77% full, compared with the average 93% for this time of year, although it noted that recent rain at the start of June was having a positive effect.
Niger flood: 1,249 communities in 30 states, FCT at risk
Niger flood: 1,249 communities in 30 states, FCT at riskNigeria’s Federal Government raised alarm that 30 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are currently at risk of flooding, reminiscent of last Thursday’s flood in which over 200 persons lost their lives in Mokwa, Niger State.
Several houses were also washed away, rendering thousands homeless, even as over 500 persons have been declared missing.
The high flood risk states include Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, and Edo.
Others are Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Read Vanguard / Tags: Nigeria
Artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT was built in Iowa — with a lot of water
The cost of building an artificial intelligence product like ChatGPT can be hard to measure.
But one thing Microsoft-backed OpenAI needed for its technology was plenty of water, pulled from the watershed of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers in central Iowa to cool a powerful supercomputer as it helped teach its AI systems how to mimic human writing.
As they race to capitalize on a craze for generative AI, leading tech developers including Microsoft, OpenAI and Google have acknowledged that growing demand for their AI tools carries hefty costs, from expensive semiconductors to an increase in water consumption.
Read AP – Associated Press / Tags: US
The show will go on until water comes finally back into public ownership and under public control:
Bonuses banned for 10 English water bosses over sewage pollution.
The show will go on until water comes finally back into public ownership and under public control:Sanctions, including for Thames Water CEO, announced as part of new government powers under Water Act.
Bonuses for 10 water company executives in England, including the boss of Thames Water, will be banned with immediate effect over serious sewage pollution, as part of new powers brought in by the Labour government.
The top executives of six water companies who have overseen the most serious pollution events will not receive performance rewards this year, the environment said.
Read The Guardian / Tags: UK
US: Seeking solace, and finding hard truths, on California’s Highway 395
US: Seeking solace, and finding hard truths, on California’s Highway 395In the early 1900s, agents secretly working for the city posed as farmers and ranchers, buying up land and water rights in the Owens Valley. Then Los Angeles built an aqueduct, diverting water from the Owens River to feed the city’s growth. Owens Lake largely dried up. The city later extended the aqueduct north to Mono Lake.
As a lifelong Angeleno, I felt compelled to see some of the results for myself.
Read Los Angeles Times / Tags: US
South Asia’s Rivals Are Weaponizing Water for Geopolitical Gain
South Asia’s Rivals Are Weaponizing Water for Geopolitical GainIndia’s recent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, alongside China’s growing dominance over regional water resources and infrastructure, has heightened tensions in South Asia, one of the world’s most water-stressed regions. Those geopolitical strains are exacerbated by the effects of climate change, which have altered weather patterns in an area that is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population.
Most of those inhabitants depend heavily on rivers fed by the mountains of the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan system. Those ranges are collectively known as the world’s “Third Pole” for their vast frozen reserves of glaciers, which are second only to the Arctic and Antarctic. But their glaciers are vanishing, with downstream implications for the rivers they feed.
Read WPR – World Politics Review / Tags: Himalaya – India – Pakistan – China
Canada: State of emergency. 16,000 litres of water flown to Cree Nation in Chisasibi
Canada: State of emergency. 16,000 litres of water flown to Cree Nation in ChisasibiThe Cree Nation of Chisasibi in northern Quebec has declared a state of emergency due to a water supply crisis caused by damage to its treatment plant following a lightning strike.
‘There is no water in the community until further notice,’ the community wrote in a press release. ‘Our team is working hard to assess and repair the damage to the water treatment plant.’
However, drinking water was flown in on Tuesday evening.
‘8,000 pounds of water have just landed in Chisasibi,’ Air Creebec announced on Facebook. Another 8,000 pounds will arrive this evening, bringing the total amount of water delivered to support the community during this state of emergency to 16,000 pounds.”
