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JimD

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General Drought Stuff
« on: May 01, 2014, 09:29:36 PM »
I could not find a natural place for the below so I started a new thread.  If the El Nino happens I expect we will have lots of other new places to add to this one.

Big drought in central Africa.

NASA satellites show drought taking toll on Congo rainforest

Quote
23 April 2014 (NASA) – A new analysis of NASA satellite data shows Africa's Congo rainforest, the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world, has undergone a large-scale decline in greenness over the past decade.

It's important to understand these changes because most climate models predict tropical forests may be under stress due to increasing severe water shortages in a warmer and drier 21st century climate," Zhou said. .....

http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2014/04/nasa-satellites-show-drought-taking.html
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Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2014, 01:24:10 AM »
I posted this under the California Drought thread, but perhaps it belongs better here:

It's only the beginning of May, yet five US states have 100% of their land in drought:
• California
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Arizona
• Kansas

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
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JimD

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2014, 05:39:15 PM »
That list makes sense to me.

Here at my house in Prescott, AZ we have had a total of 0.3 inch of moisture since 1 Dec.  And we are in the process of shifting into the dry season.  It would be surprising to get any meaningful rain now until the monsoons arrive (assuming they do) in mid-July.
We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable. Alexander Solzhenitsyn

How is it conceivable that all our technological progress - our very civilization - is like the axe in the hand of the pathological criminal? Albert Einstein

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2014, 05:57:19 PM »
I posted this under the California Drought thread, but perhaps it belongs better here:

It's only the beginning of May, yet five US states have 100% of their land in drought:
• California
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Arizona
• Kansas

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Yikes! Meanwhile, 5 other states  (Washington, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska) have drought conditions across most of their state.

Laurent

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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2014, 04:36:42 PM »

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2014, 01:27:05 PM »
Four counties in the US state of Colorado have been declared disaster areas due to drought.  They are in the southwest corner of the state.  The article doesn't mention any other counties similarly declared, but the severest drought is actually in the southeast part of the state.

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/07/02/drought-disaster-areas/12092995/

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CO
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2014, 11:00:31 PM »

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2014, 06:54:50 PM »
Australia is drying out thanks to our emissions
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25887-australia-is-drying-out-thanks-to-our-emissions.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|environment#.U8QJhFFJzlc

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2014, 09:36:32 PM »
NASA:  GRACE satellite data shows the Colorado River Basin lost nearly 53 million acre feet (65 cubic kilometers) of freshwater, almost double the volume of the nation's largest reservoir, Nevada's Lake Mead, from 2004 to 2013.  And more than three-quarters of the total was from groundwater.

"We don't know exactly how much groundwater we have left, so we don't know when we're going to run out."

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/satellite-study-reveals-parched-us-west-using-up-underground-water/#.U9Ffl7S9KSM
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2014, 07:32:00 PM »
A Mega Drought Is Threatening To Drive Up Olive Oil Prices
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/16/3472137/spain-drought-olive-oil-california/

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2014, 05:12:17 PM »
Conserving water on the International Space Station. 
Via Twitter:

@astro_reid: I have not showered in 92 days.  Just needed to get that off my chest.  #ISS

@CosmosCraig: @astro_reid ISS has no shower, they wash with wet towels.  Also no clothes washer, they wear disposable clothes replaced every 3 days or so
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2014, 10:10:51 PM »

Laurent

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Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #14 on: September 14, 2014, 10:00:20 PM »
Deforestation adds to drought by drying up the Amazon's "flying rivers."

http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/09/drought-bites-as-amazons-flying-rivers-dry-up/
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Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #15 on: September 16, 2014, 03:15:25 AM »
"The ongoing drought crisis in Sao Paulo has reached a critical level that continues towards rock bottom. Brazil’s largest city, home to more than 9 million people, could run dry in the next 100 days according to Brazil’s Public Ministry.

The Cantareira reservoir which supplies 45% of the city’s metropolitan population has reached a record low of 10.7% capacity. Despite ongoing recommendations to implement water rationing to the city, the Sao Paulo state have failed to do so."

http://tcktcktck.org/2014/09/brazils-drought-sao-paulo-100-days-till-rockbottom/64440#sthash.CkynG4Dk.uxfs
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #16 on: October 13, 2014, 06:36:57 PM »

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2014, 11:35:26 AM »

pikaia

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2014, 12:13:33 PM »
It is getting desperate in the Sao Paolo region of Brazil:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/10/water-crisis-squeezes-brazil-sao-paulo-state-20141017215812595820.html

"The water levels at the Cantareira are now below four percent, the lowest in recorded history, and estimates on when it could totally dry range from November to March of next year."

deep octopus

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #19 on: October 21, 2014, 11:15:02 PM »
It's surreal, the nonchalance of the world over with the crisis in Brazil building to a fever pitch. So the strategy I've been able to glean from the few English-translated stories out there, or haphazardly trying to translate Portugese, is for the region to use "reserves" and hope for rain. So what happens when the reserves (sediment-laden as they are) are expended? There seems to be absolutely no pro-action here, no sense of any real urgency for the most part--only the poor and most vulnerable have expressed palpable fear. That's my take away. As far as precedents for future crises go for the world at large, this is dreary to observe.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-21/sao-paulo-warned-to-brace-for-more-dramatic-water-shortages.html

Water Crisis Seen Worsening as Sao Paulo Nears ‘Collapse’

Quote
Sao Paulo residents were warned by a top government regulator today to brace for more severe water shortages as President Dilma Rousseff makes the crisis a key campaign issue ahead of this weekend’s runoff vote.

“If the drought continues, residents will face more dramatic water shortages in the short term,” Vicente Andreu, president of Brazil’s National Water Agency and a member of Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, told reporters in Sao Paulo. “If it doesn’t rain, we run the risk that the region will have a collapse like we’ve never seen before,” he later told state lawmakers.

...

Sabesp is struggling to find new ways to supply greater Sao Paulo after the drought turned its Cantareira reservoir, which serves half of Sao Paulo, into a dried-up bed of cracked earth. What’s left of the four-lake complex are sediment-filled pools in the center -- so-called dead reserves -- that were previously untappable until Sabesp built 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) of pipes to drain the water.

Water levels fell to 3.3 percent of capacity at Cantareira and 8.5 percent at Sabesp’s Alto Tiete reservoir, according to the company’s website.

ritter

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #20 on: October 22, 2014, 12:35:45 AM »
It's surreal, the nonchalance of the world over with the crisis in Brazil building to a fever pitch.

Denail is strong. I think most non Brazilians that are even aware of situation there don't realize that the problem could be coming to a town near you (think California). Most people have no idea the complexity of their water systems. They just expect the tap to produce.

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #21 on: October 24, 2014, 08:00:33 PM »
Severe Drought Leaves One of Sao Paulo's Biggest Reservoirs Nearly Dry
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/sao-paulo-reservoir_n_6041426.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green

pikaia

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #22 on: October 25, 2014, 12:26:31 AM »

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2014, 10:12:23 AM »
US drought 2014

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2014, 11:23:10 PM »
Not only losing water service. Losing electricity?  Brazil's ultra-green, mostly-hydro electricity mix means little backup power is available as reservoirs go dry.

Quote
... many of the hydroelectric facilities that serve Sao Paulo are below 10% capacity.

During the past nine months, the lack of water that flows through, or is maintained in, Brazilian hydro facilities is having an immeasurable negative effect on social concerns in Sao Paulo. An article on TheWeatherNetwork.com reports people suffering from forced water rationing have “burned buses in protest as taps run dry and hijacked water tankers in desperation.”
http://www.hydroworld.com/articles/2014/10/brazil-s-hydroelectric-facilities-almost-dry-due-to-drought.html
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #25 on: November 03, 2014, 06:35:08 PM »
NASA Bombshell: Global Groundwater Crisis Threatens Our Food Supplies And Our Security
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/31/3586561/global-groundwater-crisis/

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #26 on: November 08, 2014, 06:06:55 PM »
South Africa's water supply is threatened by a high percentage of wasteage and acid mine drainage.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/South-Africas-looming-water-disaster-20141103
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maltose

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #27 on: November 08, 2014, 08:22:17 PM »
Any update on the reservoirs for Sao Paulo?--the largest one (sorry, forgot the name) was at 3.2% mid-October, but there has been no stories on Google News since Oct. 24th. I wish there was a website with daily numbers (like for California or Lake Mead), but I can't find anything. This is a real crisis, and the water could be gone by the end of November if no rains come.

deep octopus

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #28 on: November 08, 2014, 08:58:23 PM »
maltose, Cantareira reservoir is the name.

Sabesp, which is São Paulo's water utility company, started tapping water from reservoirs, so that "boosted" the reservoir levels from 3% to about 13% at the end of last month. Last I checked, and that's just by loosely translating Portugese, is that the reservoir is down to about 11.5%.

São Paulo government now planning to build water treatment plants to supply the reservoirs with treated water...

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2359673&CategoryId=14090

Quote
Brazil’s largest metropolis has announced measures to battle the worst water crisis in its history caused by severe drought conditions in the region.

Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin said Wednesday that from 2016, the reservoirs, where water levels are currently at a critical level, would be replenished with treated water, reducing dependency on rains which have been scarce in recent months.

A water treatment center has been planned which will have the ability to produce two cubic meters (2.2 cubic yards) of water per second, for the Guarapiranga reservoir which supplies 4.9 million people in the city.

The regional government has also announced the construction of 29 new reservoirs aimed at increasing the water storage capacity by 10 percent for Sao Paulo.

Despite some rain over the last few days, the water levels in the Cantareira system reservoirs, which supply water to almost 7 million people, have fallen drastically and reached reserve levels.

During the first five days of November, Sao Paulo received 43.2 millimeters (1.7 inches) of rain, while in the entire month of October, it received 42.5 millimeters (1.67 inches).

Acute drought conditions, apart from Sao Paulo, have also affected other regions of the country and could also have repercussions on other sectors of the country, such as electricity generation.

I guess the only problem here is... at this rate, the reservoir water will be gone well before 2016 clocks in. Sounds like Brazil, as with the developed world at large, needs to institute environmental education, and work towards reforestation and water conservation practices. And global demand for Brazilian crops and livestock that exist at the expense of the rainforest will have to soften dramatically. Too bad I think it's a quixotic fantasy that this will happen soon, but without those, this is going to drag on, and fester as growth continues, unfettered. The old lady swallowed a fly, who swallowed a spider, who swallowed a...

maltose

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #29 on: November 09, 2014, 01:47:37 AM »
Hi Deep Octopus,

Thanks for your update and link. Good that Cantareira was brought back up to 13%, but of course that means less water in the other reservoirs. Now it's down to 11.5% in a week or two? Unless there is rain, rain, rain coming, 2016 is going to look very bad...

What is the website that you are tracking this? I like to follow these things.

deep octopus

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #30 on: November 12, 2014, 08:54:20 PM »
Maltose, you can track the water levels on Sabesp's website:
http://www2.sabesp.com.br/mananciais/DivulgacaoSiteSabesp.aspx

According to their latest data, the reservoir is at 11.0% now, down 0.8% from the last week. That seems to be the weekly rate of decline, although a month ago the reservoir was losing about 1% a week. Seems nothing has improved much. They can't afford another no-show wet season.

maltose

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #31 on: November 16, 2014, 11:50:29 PM »
Thanks, Deep Octopus. This is a disturbing trend but like the summer Arctic ice season, I have to follow it every day because it is so interesting.

One question I had is that there are 5 other reservior systems on that page. I can't tell how small or big they are, and whether they serve Sao Paulo. Does someone know what the total water amount is? I follow Lake Mead every day too and their website is excellent.

wili

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #32 on: November 28, 2014, 09:12:08 PM »
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #33 on: December 06, 2014, 03:12:19 AM »
Quote
South Africa’s power utility started the most aggressive cuts in nine months to prevent a collapse of the grid supplying the continent’s second-biggest economy after it ran out of water and diesel and some plants tripped.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-05/south-africa-starts-biggest-power-cuts-since-march-to-save-grid.html
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #34 on: December 17, 2014, 04:49:40 PM »

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #35 on: December 20, 2014, 07:20:40 PM »
Want to know how the Bresilian reservoir are filled :
http://nossaaguasp.com

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #36 on: December 30, 2014, 08:42:23 PM »
Crowd-funded, artificial glaciers will provide a source of water to communities in the Himalayan desert mountains who are losing their traditional supplies.
http://www.rtcc.org/2014/12/29/crowdfunded-ice-stupas-help-ladakh-adapt-to-climate-change/
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #37 on: January 06, 2015, 01:48:08 PM »

JimD

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #38 on: January 18, 2015, 02:10:47 AM »
Sao Paulo's water supply in 'critical' condition as drought bites

Quote
Halfway through the rainy season, the key reservoir for the southern hemisphere’s largest city holds just 6% of its capacity, and experts warned Friday that Sao Paulo’s authorities must take urgent steps to prevent the worst drought in more than 80 years from drying it out.

The system of reservoirs and rivers that provide water to millions in the Brazilian metropolis have received less rainfall than hoped during the first weeks of the wet season, raising fears they will not be replenished as hoped. Rainfall during the first two weeks of January totalled just 7.1 centimetres, well below the historic average for the month of 27.1cm.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/17/sao-paulos-water-supply-in-critical-condition-as-drought-bites
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wili

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #39 on: January 19, 2015, 06:58:33 PM »
It's now slightly below 6%. And rainfall is predicted to be below normal for the next two weeks, at least--crucial periods, since rainfall will naturally taper off as they enter dry season in May.

They will have to try to divert ever more water from neighbors who are themselves not anywhere near full capacity. This is going to get very ugly--really, it already is, especially for the poor and working classes.

Meanwhile:

Central America: Food Crisis Looming for 2015 due to projected low harvests, drought, coffee rust

Quote
... as a result of projected poor harvests in 2014, the reduction in coffee-sector income for day laborers, and a more rapid than usual increase in the prices of some staple foods, extremely poor households across large areas of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador will experience a rapid deterioration in their food security in early 2015. Atypically high levels of humanitarian assistance, possibly the highest since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, will likely be required in order to avoid a food crisis. The lean season in this region typically ends in September with the Primera harvest. This year, however, departments located in the region’s dry corridor, along with some surplus- production areas in all four countries, have received poor rainfall. The worst-affected areas are in eastern and western Guatemala and El Salvador, southwestern and southeastern Honduras, and northern and central Nicaragua.

http://latinamericacurrentevents.com/central-america-food-crisis-looming-for-2015-due-to-projected-low-harvests-drought-coffee-rust/32221/
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Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #40 on: January 21, 2015, 06:50:41 PM »
New Zealand farmers, economy brace for 2nd bad drought in three years
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-01/20/c_133932448.htm

silkman

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #41 on: January 23, 2015, 03:52:53 PM »
There's no relief in sight for Brazil it seems, according to the Guardian. Cantareira is down to 5.4% capacity and the effects are now spreading both geographically, with Rio starting to be affected, and into power supply as hydroelectric schemes fail, impacting everything from transport to the Internet:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/23/brazil-worst-drought-history

ritter

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #42 on: January 23, 2015, 08:05:17 PM »
What does one do when 10s of millions of people suddenly have no water? Unfortunately, it's looking like we may find out.

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #43 on: January 25, 2015, 05:28:14 PM »
Brazil drought: It's a really dry January in the South American country, with rainfall is at its lowest level since 1930
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/brazil-drought-its-a-really-dry-january-in-the-south-american-country-with-rainfall-is-at-its-lowest-level-since-1930-10000734.html

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #44 on: January 26, 2015, 02:09:58 AM »
What does one do when 10s of millions of people suddenly have no water? Unfortunately, it's looking like we may find out.

A human can live 3 days without water.

I guess what I am saying is.......you die.

ritter

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #45 on: January 26, 2015, 06:25:28 PM »
What does one do when 10s of millions of people suddenly have no water? Unfortunately, it's looking like we may find out.

A human can live 3 days without water.

I guess what I am saying is.......you die.

Yeah. It seems a structural solution will take too long. If you plan to move that many people to where there is water, it seems that effort should be commenced right about now. There seems to be no sign of such though.

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #46 on: January 27, 2015, 04:40:57 PM »
A group of international experts convened in Pasadena, USA to discuss the next steps in coordinating global and regional information on drought monitoring, forecasting, and management.
https://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/news/GlobalDroughtInformationSystem.html
Map of droughts in the world :
http://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov/map/drought/Global.html#app=cdo

There seems to be much more than California and Sao Paulo in trouble...

Sigmetnow

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #47 on: January 29, 2015, 04:08:57 AM »
Brazil cities cancelling Carnival celebrations due to drought.
Quote
SÃO PAULO—Brazil’s epic drought, which has inflicted blackouts, withered crops and left millions short of drinking water, now is threatening the country’s most beloved institution: the riotous annual street festival known as Carnival.

Already, 15 cities and towns in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais have called off all or parts of Feb. 17’s Fat Tuesday revelries, most of them blaming a lack of water, state officials said.

The exquisite baroque city of Ouro Preto, a World Heritage Site, is rotating outages throughout its neighborhoods, partly to ensure there will be sufficient water for residents and the 70,000 tourists expected for Brazil’s version of Mardi Gras.

In Oliveira, population 42,000, which normally receives about 20,000 tourists for its seven-day Carnival celebration, officials decided to scrap this year’s festivities, citing erratic water supplies.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/brazilian-drought-leaves-carnival-awash-in-doubt-1422402594
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Laurent

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #48 on: January 29, 2015, 03:01:24 PM »
Brazil: Drastic Water Rationing May Be Put in Place in São Paulo
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/world/americas/brazil-drastic-water-rationing-may-be-put-in-place-in-sao-paulo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Quote
The worst drought to hit São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, in decades may leave many residents with water service only two days a week. São Paulo’s water utility company, Sabesp, says a five-days-off, two-days-on system would be a last-ditch effort to prevent the collapse of the Cantareira water system. The reservoir is the largest of six that provide water to about six million of the 20 million people living in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. The utility says Cantareira is now down to 5.1 percent of its capacity of 264 billion gallons. A utility official, Paulo Massato Yoshimoto, said Wednesday that “rationing could happen if rainfall does not increase in the reservoir area soon.” Details of how a rationing plan might be put in place were not released.

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Re: General Drought Stuff
« Reply #49 on: January 31, 2015, 04:21:57 PM »
The worst drought to hit São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, in decades may leave many residents with water service only two days a week. São Paulo’s water utility company, Sabesp, says a five-days-off, two-days-on system would be a last-ditch effort to prevent the collapse of the Cantareira water system.

They had better issue a boil order when they do this. Water distribution systems depend on adequate pressures to prevent intrusions of ground moisture and microbes into the system. When you shut down portions of the system, you risk contaminating the water with pathogens. Failure to boil the water could result in dramatic spikes in bacterial diseases of the gut. Unfortunately, issuing boil orders in poor communities will likely be ignored as many residents probably lack the resources to boil their drinking water. Hope their medical systems are prepared for the sick people.