Entries by Nadya Ivanova

The Stream, December 27: Global Groundwater Levels

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Groundwater levels have dropped dramatically in many places across the globe over the past nine years, with the biggest decline in parts of California, India, the Middle East and China, where expanding agriculture has increased water demand, ScienceNews reported. Nitrate pollution in the River Thames is so high that a clean-up would mean massive changes […]

The Stream, December 26: Energy Use Across Europe

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By 2100, global climate change will shift nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type — such as forest, grassland or tundra — to another, according to a new NASA study, Science Daily reported. A new interactive graphic by the Open Knowledge Foundation shows how energy is produced and consumed across […]

The Stream, December 8: Water for Export

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An Israeli desalination plant that is expected to start operations in 2013 could allow the drought-ridden country to export water to its neighbors, Reuters reported. Is water on the agenda at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa? Severe water shortages are plaguing India’s Maharashtra state, according to India Waterportal. Meanwhile, heavy rains have wreaked […]

Map: NASA Shows Big Dip in U.S. Groundwater Regionally, Especially Near Texas Drought

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Using calculations based on satellite observations and long-term meteorological data, a new map shows that groundwater is extremely depleted across more than half of Texas, as well as areas of Alabama, the Carolinas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, and Oregon. The worst Texas drought in more than a century has reduced groundwater […]

The Stream, December 6: Canada to Pull Out of Kyoto Protocol

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Canada won’t renew its commitments to the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012, The Globe and Mail reported, citing Canada’s environment minister. Peru’s president gave the military and police extraordinary powers to put an end to 11 days of environmental protests against a $4.8 billion gold mine project in the country, Reuters reported. While […]

The Stream, December 5: Afghanistan-Pakistan Water Relations

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Afghanistan’s plans to build 12 dams on the Kabul River, and India’s support for the projects, has Pakistan up in arms. But according to researchers, the timing could not be better for a water treaty between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Texas Drought Amid a dire drought that is expected to continue into 2012, Texas has pumped […]

The Stream, December 1: Australia’s Coal-seam Gas Development

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Australia’s fast-growing coal-seam gas industry is a “relatively short-term prospect” and may not be worth the cost to farmland and the environment, a according to an interim report for the Senate Inquiry into the impacts of coal seam gas in the Murray-Darling Basin, The Australian reported. The study recommends that coal-seam gas development be suspended […]

The Stream, November 29: New Water Blueprint for Australia’s Food Bowl

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ABC Australia has published the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s long-awaited draft plan for the ailing river system. The plan proposes to cut water use by 2,750 gigaliters a year, short of the 3,000-4,000 gigaliters initially proposed. But according to Reuters, even the scaled-back plan looms more political trouble for Australia’s minority government as irrigation cuts have […]

Report: Thirsty Power Plants Increase U.S. Water Stress

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Water-energy choke points in Texas serve as examples of a larger issue for the United States, as pointed out in a new report for the Energy and Water in a Warming World Initiative, spearheaded by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Stream, November 28: Drought in Mexico

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Mexico’s worst drought in seven decades is battering farmland in almost 70 percent of the country and threatening to further cut corn production, Reuters reported. Down Under, floods have isolated hundreds of properties in northwestern New South Wales, according to ABC Australia. Oil and gas companies have purchased at least 500 million gallons of water […]

The Stream, November 24: Big Business and Climate Policy

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Big carbon-intensive corporations are campaigning to increase their access to international climate negotiations, and are working to defeat progressive legislation on climate change and energy around the world, according to a new Greenpeace report. Contrary to reports in the media, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have found “no evidence of a […]

The Stream, November 22: Future of the Salton Sea

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California’s Aral Sea? The vanishing Salton Sea figures large in a court battle over how Southern California gets its water, with huge costs for human health, ecological health and agricultural production, Associated Press reported. And check out again Brent Stirton’s images from the Imperial Valley and the Coachella Valley in California. Shale gas exploration in […]