Archive for the ‘Water Ressources’ tag
China Admits Problems with Three Gorges Dam
The Guardian Weekly (in its issue October 5-11, 2007, page 6) reports that chinese officials admit for the first time major problems with the Three Georges Dam which was finished last year, and since the planning phase has been object of major criticism. As far as I can recollect, this is the first statement that I’ve read so far that admits that there are problems. And substantial problems:
China’s showcase hydro-engineering project, the Three Gorges Dam, could become an environmental catastrophe unless remedial action is taken, the state media reported last week. […] officials warned that landslides and pollution were among the “hidden dangers†facing the world’s biggest hydro-electric plant. The alarmist reports, carried by the Xinhua news agency and the People’s Daily website, were in stark contrast to the congratulatory tone of most domestic coverage of the project, which was planned for flood control along the Yangtze and for lessening China’s dependence on power driven by coal.
[…] ‘There are many new and old hidden ecological and environmental dangers concerning the Three Gorges Dam,’ Xinhua quoted officials as saying. ‘If preventive measures are not taken, the project could lead to a catastrophe.’ […] Li Chunming, vice-governor of Hubei, reportedly said that tributaries were being affected by outbreaks of algae. According to Xinhua, the rising volume of water in the reservoir behind the dam has eroded river banks along 91 stretches of the Yangtze, triggering landslides. The sudden collapses of soil into the water has created waves that have been up to 50 m high, the agency said.
[…] The prime minister, Wen Jiabao, raised these issues in the state council this year. His senior advisers have warned that the problems are as yet far from solved. ‘We cannot lower our guard against ecological and environmental problems caused by the Three Gorges project,’ Wang Xiaofeng, director in charge of building the dam, was quoted as saying. ‘We cannot win by achieving economic prosperity at the cost of the environment.’
Milk from the Dessert
Saudi-Arabia is an arid country. Cows do like and need water. Hence, Saudi-Arabia and cows don’t match very well. One would think. However, money can make things go round and round. This (german) news-story from the ZDF “auslandsjournal” shows a milk farm in Saudi-Arabia. It is the biggest milk farm in the world, and it does have a cooling system for the cows, including cold-water foot-baths for them. Also the kind of cows, bread in Saudi-Arabia drink 50L more water per day than an average european cow. Were does all this water come from? Fossil ground water. For an hydrogeologist, the interview with the grand-son of the current king of Saudi-Arabia is rather hilarious!
Climate Change and Water-Price-Change
London will be where Porto is now
This interesting and well designed map shows some cities but not at their current geographic location, but at a geographic location that currently has the climate that this city will have in 70 years.
Drinking Water too Expensive in Germany
The German magazine Der Spiegel has reported on may-23 how prices of publicly supplied drinking water vary in Germany. Today the same magazine interviews the economic minister of the province of Hessia on that topic today, and he announces dramatic price cuts.
Yangtze Polluted
The Boston Globe quotes today a chinese newspaper stating that the Yangtse is irreversible polluted
War for Water?
The German news magazine “Der Spiegel” has an article today about how more and more people live on the earth, and how less and less have access to drinking water. The provocative title asks if that unequal distribution will be cause for future wars.
Water at Mexico–USA border
The NYTimes has an interesting article on cross-boundary water issues