Water wars

[vox_mundi]

Millions Without Water in Libya as Armed Group Cuts Off Supply 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/21/millions-without-water-libya-armed-group-cuts-off-supply

Water supplies to the Libyan capital and surrounding cities have been cut off after an armed group stormed a control room, leaving millions of people without water as summer temperatures begin to climb.

The gunmen arrived on Sunday at the control room in Jafara run by a consortium known as the Great Man-Made River project, which transports water via a vast underground network of pipes from the Sahara into Tripoli, a city of more than 2 million people, and other coastal areas. The group forced staff to shut down the water pipes connected to underground wells.

As a result of the attack water will not just be cut to Tripoli, but also to Gharyan and some other western mountain cities. It is not known how long it will take to restore supplies, but the incident underlines the vulnerability of Libya’s civil fabric to a prolonged war. The authority previously warned it was finding it difficult to repair leaks due to the fighting. Libya periodically suffers from water outages.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

[Alexander555]

And by next year many of these cities will lose their main source of water, groundwater. How is that going to unfold ? I think China will be happy in the future that they had a 1 child policy. Maybe not good for a capitalist system that needs constant growth. But for their survival it probably was a good step. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/water-scarcity-hits-govt-hospitals-in-hyd-ktaka-sterilisation-camp-scrapped/articleshow/69488745.cms

[gerontocrat]

Millions Without Water in Libya as Armed Group Cuts Off Supply 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/21/millions-without-water-libya-armed-group-cuts-off-supply

The water brought into the cities from the Sahara is fossil water, i.e. not replaced when extracted. How long before it is exhausted I do not know, though Wikipedia says "Independent estimates indicate that the aquifer could be depleted of water in as soon as 60 to 100 years. Analysts say that the costs of the $25 billion groundwater extraction system are 10% those of desalination." Much will depend on the quantity of the water used  for irrigated agriculture.

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_562.html
"Fossil Water" in Libya

In the 1950s, oil exploration in Libya turned up another valuable resource: water. Huge aquifers, underground deposits of sand and rock that also contain water, lurked underneath the scorching sands. The Libyan government weighed the costs of bringing water up from the aquifers against transporting water from Europe and desalination of salt water, and chose the aquifers as the most cost-effective option.

Water hiding in aquifers can actually be cleaner than water resting in above-ground reservoirs because the process of percolating through soil and rock can remove impurities. Water can rest underground in aquifers for thousands or even millions of years. When geologic changes seal the aquifer off from further "recharging," the water inside is sometimes called "fossil water." Radiocarbon dating has revealed that some of Libya's aquifer water has been there for 40,000 years, since before the end of the last ice age.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

[Tom_Mazanec]

800,000,000 at risk of losing water supply as Asia's glaciers shrink away:
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-asia-glaciers-shrinking-himalayas-science-a8934901.html?utm_source=reddit.com

[kassy]

Heatstroke kills monkeys as India suffers in searing temperatures

...

The monkeys died in Joshi Baba forest range in Madhya Pradesh state where the thermometer reached 46 Celsius (114 Fahrenheit).

District forest officer P. N. Mishra said the primates were believed to have fought with a rival troop over access to a water source.

"This is rare and strange as herbivores don't indulge in such conflicts," Mishra told NDTV network.

...

In Jharkhand state, a man stabbed six others after he was stopped from filling extra water barrels at a public tank, media reported Saturday.

On Friday, a 33-year-old man died after a similar fight in Tamil Nadu state.

https://phys.org/news/2019-06-heatstroke-monkeys-india-searing-temperatures.html

[gerontocrat]

Violence is increasing

https://packages.trust.org/running-dry/index.html
Competing for water on a thirsty planet

Around the world, fresh water is fast becoming a dangerously scarce resource, driving a surge in fights to secure supplies and fears over rising numbers of deaths in water conflicts.
In the 1990s, conflicts driven by water scarcity led to about 350 deaths, in places from Yemen to Nigeria, according to the chronology based on news reports and other sources.

But in the last five years, at least 3,000 people - and perhaps more than 10 times that many, if estimates of refugee deaths by Medicins Sans Frontieres are included - have died in clashes related to water in a huge range of countries, it noted.

"We see conflicts over water, unfortunately, almost everywhere around the world now as competition grows over the scarce resource," said Peter Gleick, co-founder of the California-based Pacific Institute.

"If you look at the number of conflicts over water in the past few decades, it's going up exponentially."

[sidd]

Different kinda war:

"virtual water exports – the molecules of H20 embedded in exported goods, alongside those rendered unusable by the production of those goods – amount to a net 95.4 billion cubic meters a year, according to data collected by the Water Footprint Network, a group that encourages thriftier usage. This makes India a bigger exporter of water than far better-endowed countries such as Brazil, Russia, the U.S. and Canada, and represents nearly four times the 25 billion cubic meters consumed by India’s households and industrial enterprises."

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-07-06/india-is-the-world-s-biggest-exporter-of-water-despite-shortages

sidd

[nanning]

Ominous article in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/aug/06/extreme-water-stress-affects-a-quarter-of-the-worlds-population-say-experts

Extreme water stress affects a quarter of the world's population, say experts

Some excerpts:

The global research organisation compared the water available to the amount withdrawn for homes, industries, irrigation and livestock.

In the 17 countries facing extremely high water stress, agriculture, industry, and municipalities were found to be using up to 80% of available surface and groundwater in an average year. When demand rivals supply, even small dry spells, which are set to increase because of the climate crisis, can produce dire consequences.

Twelve of the 17 high-risk countries were in the Middle East and North Africa.
(more in the article)

[DrTskoul]

Oil built Saudi Arabia – will a lack of water destroy it?

Perhaps not surprising for someone who makes a living selling water, Asmari professes to be untroubled about the future of Saudi Arabia’s water supply. “Studies show water in some reserves can stand consumption for another 150 years,” he says. “In Saudi Arabia, we have many reserves – we have no problems in this area.”

...His confident predictions are out of sync with the facts. One Saudi groundwater expert at King Faisal University predicted in 2016 that the kingdom only had another 13 years’ worth of groundwater reserves left....

Almarai, a major food producer, has begun buying up deserted land in the US, on plots near Los Angeles and in Arizona, and in Argentina, in order to grow water-rich alfalfa to feed its dairy cows.

Let's export our greed elsewhere

[vox_mundi]

Pakistan Warns Of War After India's Move To End Kashmir's Special Status
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/748957876/pakistan-warns-indias-move-to-end-kashmir-s-special-status-could-lead-to-war

Pakistan's prime minister warned that a move by India to strip Kashmir of its special status could lead to war between the two countries and the "ethnic cleansing" of Muslims in the restive Himalayan region.

Imran Khan cited a suicide attack in February that killed at least 40 Indian security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir and was followed by airstrikes and a dogfight between Indian and Pakistani pilots.

"Such incidents are bound to happen again. I can already predict this will happen," Khan said, addressing a joint session of Parliament on Tuesday.

"They will attempt to place the blame on us again," Khan said. "They may strike us again, and we will strike back. ... Who will win that war? No one will win it and it will have grievous consequences for the entire world."

... the United States is negotiating a deal with the Taliban that would allow American forces to withdraw from Afghanistan. But if conflict flares up surrounding Kashmir, those efforts could be upended, said Mosharraf Zaidi, a columnist for the Pakistani daily The News.

"It will fundamentally alter the ability of Pakistan to try and support the U.S. in its mission in Afghanistan," he said.

Meanwhile, in Kashmir, where Internet and phone service were cut off ahead of Monday's decree, some 400 local politicians have been placed under arrest by Indian security forces, according to India Today.

... Part of what spurs this desire for Kashmiri territory is the water: The Indus river system is split between India and Pakistan, and the water supply’s availability is incredibly important to both countries.

--------------------

Pakistan Downgrades Ties With India
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-asia-49267912

Pakistan has announced plans to expel India's top diplomat and suspend trade with its neighbour, deepening a row between the countries over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

------------------

How India and Pakistan are Competing Over the Mighty Indus River
https://theconversation.com/amp/how-india-and-pakistan-are-competing-over-the-mighty-indus-river-77737

[petm]

Pakistan Warns Of War After India's Move To End Kashmir's Special Status

Fantastic. /sarc
A local nuclear war that contaminates the Himalayan-sourced drinking water supply would accelerate the collapse of civilization quite substantially.

[vox_mundi]

Be careful what you wish for ...

Yes, India And Pakistan Could End The World As We Know It Through A Nuclear Exchange 
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26674/yes-india-and-pakistan-could-end-the-world-as-we-know-it-through-a-nuclear-exchange



An animated image showing the density and spread of soot following the detonations of 100 15-kiloton class nuclear weapons during a regional conflict between India and Pakistan based on the models Robcock, et al. first developed in 2007.

[DrTskoul]

Be careful what you wish for ...

Yes, India And Pakistan Could End The World As We Know It Through A Nuclear Exchange 
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26674/yes-india-and-pakistan-could-end-the-world-as-we-know-it-through-a-nuclear-exchange



An animated image showing the density and spread of soot following the detonations of 100 15-kiloton class nuclear weapons during a regional conflict between India and Pakistan based on the models Robcock, et al. first developed in 2007.

Fuel to AGW we might only to the back to the 1900s in temperature terms...

[Tom_Mazanec]

Be careful what you wish for ...

Yes, India And Pakistan Could End The World As We Know It Through A Nuclear Exchange 
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26674/yes-india-and-pakistan-could-end-the-world-as-we-know-it-through-a-nuclear-exchange



An animated image showing the density and spread of soot following the detonations of 100 15-kiloton class nuclear weapons during a regional conflict between India and Pakistan based on the models Robcock, et al. first developed in 2007.

Fuel to AGW we might only to the back to the 1900s in temperature terms...

DrT, your reply is a little garbled. Are you saying temperatures would return to 1900 levels, or to 1999 levels?

[DrTskoul]

Little ice age was supposedly a few tenths of degrees lower than the beginning of the century. If their date analysis gets us back to little ice age, starting from today's warmed up world it might only get us back to sth warmer than the little ice age. That's all...

[Tom_Mazanec]

And don’t forget the nuclear winter would be followed by a nuclear summer as all that greenhouse gas in the mushroom clouds and firestorms takes effect and as the ozone layer degrades.

[nanning]

Probably a stupid question but wouldn't that soot fall out of the sky within a month?

[vox_mundi]

Historical data on residence times of aerosols, albeit a different mixture of aerosols, in this case stratospheric sulfur aerosols and volcanic ash from megavolcano eruptions, appear to be in the one-to-two-year time scale.

Soot (black carbon) is not significantly affected by rain clouds in the stratosphere.

[nanning]

Thanks vox_mundi.
How I understand it is: It is because these aerosols go up into the stratosphere, they behave different than aerosols from coal power stations. Is the composition also different?

[Tom_Mazanec]

Canadian 2017 wildfire supports Nuclear Winter scenario.
nanning, aerosols from fires are dark light carbon, not pale heavy silicate like volcanoes, as I understand it.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/cloud-wildfires-how-nuclear-winter-works/

[sidd]

Flint cant catch a break:

" city dumped an estimated 2 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Flint River Sunday, Aug. 18, just months after officials warned wastewater infrastructure was fast approaching a “critical point.”"

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/08/months-after-dire-warnings-flint-spills-2-million-gallons-of-raw-sewage-into-river.html

Now right b4 then, they asked for a waiver to stop testing for contamination:

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2019/08/flint-sought-waiver-to-end-testing-public-notice-after-sewage-spills.html

Sacrifice zone of late stage capitalism.

sidd

[Tor Bejnar]

Flint cant catch a break:
…
Sacrifice zone of late stage capitalism.
sidd

I think we are nearly all in one powerbroker's 'zone' or another.  A Venn Diagram of abuse, neglect and aversion.  Flint is one place that has it bad 'early on'. 

[sidd]

Water in the America west:

"You just can't use more than comes in."

"farmers and their water districts long ago realized that, unless they inked deals with the big cities, the federal government would eventually step in."

"For a price, cities can divert Colorado River water intended for crops via aqueduct to kitchen taps in Santa Monica and La Jolla. The water marketing model has been so successful that agricultural land use in the region is projected to decrease as conversion to urban use accelerates"

https://phys.org/news/2019-08-west-cash.html

sidd

[bligh8]

Declare state of emergency over Newark water crisis, lawmaker begs Murphy

"State Assemblyman Jamel Holley, D-Union, sent a letter to Murphy and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday, pleading that the state issue an emergency declaration to take over management of Newark’s water system and to dispatch the National Guard to handle the distribution of bottled water, among other requests, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NJ Advance Media."

"Newark’s lead levels spiked in 2017 but last week the city began handing out more than 70,000 cases of bottled water “out of an abundance of caution” after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the city to do so. The agency was troubled by new testing that questioned the effectiveness of more than 39,000 PUR water filters handed out by the city. Two of three tested homes with those filters did not remove enough lead from the water, the surprising tests showed."

I've some personal experience with PUR water product's and frankly ..  I was not impressed with their performance.

"The filters were part of the city’s short-term plan to address spiked lead levels in the water as the city fixed the water treatment. A longer-term plan to replace the lead service lines causing the issue will take years, and $75 million."

https://www.nj.com/news/2019/08/declare-state-of-emergency-over-newark-water-crisis-lawmaker-begs-murphy.html

bligh

[vox_mundi]

China Brings a Water War to Asia
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mekong-river/chinese-dams-held-back-mekong-waters-during-drought-study-finds-idUSKCN21V0U7

There are record-low levels of water in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. And new research from American climatologists shows that Chinese engineers are to blame, the New York Times and Reuters reported Monday.

How this conclusion was reached: “The study used satellite data taken with Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMI/S) technology to detect water on the surface from rain and snowmelt in China’s portion of the Mekong River Basin from 1992 to late 2019,” Reuters reports. “It then compared that data with river-level readings by the Mekong River Commission at Thailand’s Chiang Saen Hydrological Station, the closest station to China, to create a predictive model of ‘natural’ levels for the river given a certain amount of upstream rainfall and snowmelt. In the early years of the data, from 1992, the predictive model and the river measurements tracked generally closely.”

2012 seems to have been when things changed. That’s when “the larger of China’s upper Mekong hydropower dams came online, the model and the river level readings started to diverge most years, coinciding with periods of the Chinese dams’ reservoirs filling up during rainy seasons and releasing water during the dry season. The difference was especially pronounced in 2019.”

The research comes from a group called Eyes on Earth Inc., and China’s foreign ministry called the group’s findings “unreasonable” in a statement to Reuters.

... “If the Chinese are stating that they were not contributing to the drought, the data does not support that position,” said Alan Basist, a meteorologist and president of Eyes on Earth, which conducted the study with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Lower Mekong Initiative.

Instead, satellite measurements of “surface wetness” in China’s Yunnan province, through which the Upper Mekong flows, suggest the region in 2019 actually had slightly above-average combined rainfall and snowmelt during the May to October wet season.

But water levels measured downstream from China along the Thai-Lao border were at times up to 3 metres (10 feet) lower than they should have been, the group said in the study.

That suggests China is “not letting the water out during the wet season, even when the restriction of water from China has a severe impact of the drought experienced downstream”, Basist said.

[TerryM]

^^
It seems unlikely that Putin's 'bot' armies were not somehow involved.
Terry

[kassy]

^^
It seems unlikely that Putin's 'bot' armies were not somehow involved.
Terry

The study used satellite data taken with Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMI/S) technology to detect water on the surface from rain and snowmelt in China’s portion of the Mekong River Basin from 1992 to late 2019,”

Why do you think that? They took over the satellites?

All these water projects always have huge repercussions downstream.

These are also compounded by local issues. In Places becoming less liveable there is a post about some farmers on this river or one with a similar problem who managed the dropping water level until someone stole the sand from the river a little upstream (because peak sand is also a thing) and their land eroded away the next months.

[TerryM]

I should have used the SARK delineator.


My Bad
Terry

[longwalks1]

Probe International had some good articles back in the days on another problem with China's dams (and other places) that could happen.  Specifically 2 items; 1. the cyclical rise and fall of water impounded can influence or cause earthquakes, 2. the possibility of a cascade failure.   They have changed more to more postings of economical and political critiques of China in the last few years and much less focus on dams and writings of dissident Chinese geologists.   

But searching for Dams on their site brings up numerous posts, many via geologists. 

One of their best was a repost from Yale360.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/chinas_great_dam_boom_an_assault_on_its_river_systems

The government is now engaged in a new expansion of dams in great staircases, reservoir upon reservoir — some 130 in all across China’s Southwest. By 2020, China aims to generate 120,000 megawatts of renewable energy, most of it from hydroelectric power. The government declares that such dams are safe, avoid pollution, address future climate change, control floods and droughts, and enhance human life.

These assertions are largely untrue. Instead, China’s mega-dams block the flow of rivers, increase the chances of earthquakes, destroy precious environments and shatter the lives of millions of people. Rather than benefiting populations with non-polluting power, China’s dam builders are making a Faustian bargain with nature, selling their country’s soul in their drive for economic growth.

Worth the read. 

For a quick look at what they printed in the past on Probe Intl. 

https://journal.probeinternational.org/category/three-gorges-probe/dams-and-earthquakes/

The wrong earthquake at the wrong time of impoundment could make the failure of the Mississippi dam at the Atchafalaya River look like child play if it coursed down the Mekong.  An accident of that magnitude would be an act of war. 

[sidd]

Mexico owes water to the USA: pbs

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/mexico-struggles-with-u-s-water-debt-suggests-u-n-audit

"Oct. 24 deadline"

"a burning political issue in northern Mexico"

"Under the 1944 treaty, Mexico owes the United States almost 345,600 acre-feet (426 million cubic meters) this year that must be paid by Oct. 24. Payment is made by releasing water from dams in Mexico. Mexico has fallen badly behind in payments from previous years and now has to quickly catch up on water transfers."

"In the past, Mexico has delayed payments, hoping that periodic tropical storms from the Gulf would create occasional windfalls of water. "

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/mexico-struggles-with-u-s-water-debt-suggests-u-n-audit

sidd

[sidd]

Kitroeff at nytimes on US-Mexico water disputes: this is a war

"The Mexican government was sending water — their water — to Texas, leaving them next to nothing for their thirsty crops, the farmers said. So they took over the dam and have refused to allow any of the water to flow to the United States for more than a month."

"water rights are governed by a decades-old treaty that compels the United States and Mexico to share the flows of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers, with each side sending water to the other. Mexico has fallen far behind on its obligations to the United States and is now facing a deadline to deliver the water this month."

"this has been one of the driest years in the last three decades for Chihuahua, the Mexican border state responsible for sending the bulk of the water Mexico owes. Its farmers have rebelled, worried that losing any more water will rob them of a chance for a healthy harvest next year."

"activists in Chihuahua have burned government buildings, destroyed cars and briefly held a group of politicians hostage. For weeks, they’ve blocked a major railroad used to ferry industrial goods between Mexico and the United States."

"he never saw himself as the type of person who would lead hundreds over a hill to overwhelm a group of soldiers protecting a cache of automatic weapons. "

“What happened at the Boquilla dam was impressive, because we took off our farmer clothes and put on the uniform of guerrilla fighters.”

" Mexico has fallen far behind on its water shipments to the United States. It now has to send more than 50 percent of its average annual water payment in a matter of weeks. The Mexican government insists it will still comply, despite the takeover of the dam"

"the United States sends Mexico about four times as much water as it receives from its neighbor."

"Mexico’s need for water has grown since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s, as more people settled in the country’s dry border region and agricultural production ramped up to satisfy American consumers."

"The National Guard shot Ms. Silva several times in the back "

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/world/americas/mexico-water-boquilla-dam.html

sidd