The Stream, February 28: Turkey-Cyprus Water Pipeline Has Political Implications

A pipeline project moving water from Turkey to northern Cyprus is expected to be completed this year and should provide much needed relief for drought-hit farmers, the Associated Press reported. The project, however, has also become a source of political tension between Turkish populations in northern Cyprus—which Turkey invaded in 1974—and Greek populations in southern Cyprus.

Agriculture
Kenya is aiming to combat unreliable rains and improve food security with a $US 3 billion investment in irrigated agriculture that could double the country’s maize production in five years, AlertNet reported. The project will irrigate more than 400,000 hectares of land near the coast, and the government is eyeing other potential irrigation areas in the Turkana region.

Shifting weather patterns that bring rain later in the year and during more intense storms have left farmers on the Caribbean island of Barbuda with fewer options for growing their crops, Inter Press Service reported. Most of the crops rely on rain water because groundwater supplies contain too much calcium, magnesium and salt.

Pollution
Surveys of above-ground chemical storage tanks in West Virginia have found 1,600 tanks near public drinking water supplies, the Charleston Gazette reported. The tanks may be subject to regulation if new laws pass the state legislature following a chemical spill that shut off drinking water for the state capital in January.

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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