The Stream, July 23: Monsoon Rains Flood Parts of India

India
While some regions of India are mired in drought, the country’s eastern states are being inundated by monsoon rains, AlertNet reported. Floods have displaced 10,000 people in Odisha, where floodwaters from a major river washed into 30 communities.

Agriculture
A drought in Thailand and the closure of a government subsidy program for rice growers will likely bring rice production down 10 percent to a 5-year low, Bloomberg News reported. Farmers expect rice yields to decline 20 to 50 percent in major growing regions due to a lack of water.

Wheat production in Canada, the world’s third-largest exporter, is expected to fall after record rainfall in June destroyed crops and reduced the amount of area farmers planted, Bloomberg News reported. In Manitoba alone, farmers could face $US 1 billion in losses from the floods.

Energy
An unfavorable audit of Pennsylvania’s environmental regulator coincided with the release of data showing that oil and gas operations in the state damaged water supplies 209 times since 2007, the Associated Press reported, citing the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The industry says there were more than 20,000 new wells drilled in that time period.

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