The Stream, May 18: Drought-Affected Herders Told To Leave Tanzania Parks

The Global Rundown

Herders affected by a severe drought in East Africa have taken refuge in Tanzania’s national parks, where the government ordered them this week to remove their cattle. Men in drought-hit Haryana died while trying to revive a well. The European Investment Bank made its biggest ever water loan to finance London’s Thames Tideway Tunnel. A quarter of major earthquakes in Texas over the past four decades were almost certainly linked to oil and gas operations, researchers found. A toxic algae bloom in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee could move into coastal estuaries as excess water is drained.

“The government promised to apportion special grazing areas (but) it hasn’t fulfilled that promise. Where can we take our cattle to graze?” –Daudi Kivanda, a herder in northern Tanzania, on a government announcement ordering the removal of cattle from the country’s national parks. Cattle farmers enduring severe droughts in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have taken their herds to the parks in an effort to find pasture and water. (Reuters)

By The Numbers

5 men Number who died in Haryana as they were trying to revive a well in the drought-hit Indian state. Agence France-Presse

$1 billion Amount loaned by the European Investment Bank to finance the London ‘super sewer’, a massive tunnel planned to reduce sewage overflows into the River Thames. It is the bank’s largest ever water loan. Reuters

Science, Studies, And Reports

A quarter of the 162 earthquakes in Texas that were 3.0 magnitude or greater over the past four decades were “almost certainly” caused by oil and gas operations, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas-Austin. The disposal of wastewater from oil and gas wells has previously been implicated in a rise in earthquakes in neighboring Oklahoma. Reuters

On The Radar

A toxic algae bloom in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee could spread into coastal estuaries, according to researchers. Extra water is being drained from the lake to alleviate flood risks in South Florida, and it may help the bloom move to other regions. Sun-Sentinel

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