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