The Stream, February 24: South Africa Invests in Energy

Energy
South Africa may invest $78 billion in new nuclear power plants, a hydropower project and a coal-fired power plant in order to keep up with energy demand, Business Week reported.

A European Union expert committee failed to reach a decision on a proposal that would label fuel from tar sands as highly polluting, pushing the vote back to June, according to Reuters. Lobbyists from Canada, where vast reserves of tar sands are located, are pressuring the EU to scrap the measure.

North America
Mexico is the world’s largest bottled water consumer, drinking an average of 248 liters per capita in 2011, Forbes reported. Sales are projected to reach $13 billion by 2015.

Droughts linked to the decline of the Maya civilization may have been caused by relatively small reductions in rainfall, new evidence suggests, according to Xinhua.

The U.S. federal government announced it will spend $51.5 million in 2012 to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, reported the The Wall Street Journal.

The United States could seek up to $1,100 in fines for each barrel of oil spilled in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon explosion after a federal judge ruled that BP and Anadarko Petroleum can be held liable for Clean Water Act violations, Bloomberg News reported.

Southeast Asia
The effects of last year’s large scale flooding are still being felt in Cambodia, where impoverished people are deeper in debt and using loans to pay for immediate costs like food and health care, AlertNet reported, citing a study released by aid agencies.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek