The Stream, August 22: UN Conference Links Water and Sustainable Development

Yesterday’s United Nations (UN) conference stressed water management at national and global levels as the key to achieving sustainable development for the future, UN News Centre reported. “At the national level, community involvement, women’s voices and participation and private sector cooperation are essential […] at the Regional level, dialogue, information sharing and cooperation on transboundary waters to advance peace, security, environmental protection, and regional economic development should be supported,” said Rebeca Grynspan, associate administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Water Shortages
Israel and Jordan move forward with plans, which include building a desalination plant between the Red Sea and the shrinking Dead Sea, to relieve the region’s water shortage, The Media Line reported. Proposed as a means to help relieve water scarcity in both countries’ agricultural sectors, the plant will be powered by either nuclear energy or electricity generators.

The Tokyo government has been experimenting with cloud seeding techniques to stop one of the Kanto region’s worst water shortages in history, The Japan Daily Press reported. A 10 percent water pumping restriction in local reservoirs has been enforced since late July, with water levels in dams currently at 47 percent in the Tone River system and at 69 percent in the Tama River system.

Tepco
An advisory panel to the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) claims to have urged the company to tighten water management procedures weeks before it leaked 300 metric tons of radioactive water from its Fukushima plant, Bloomberg News reported. While company representatives have promised action, panel chairman Dale Klein still sees a lack of communication and notes that “they really do need to stop going from crisis to crisis and have a systematic approach to water management.”