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SAHRA's Global Water Newswatch

• Gulf oil platform explodes, burning off La. Coast
  published on Thu, 02 Sep 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Louisiana] Another offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning in the Gulf of Mexico off Grande Isle on the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well ruptured in April. Coast Guard Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau reported that all 13 people aboard the rig escaped. Authorities don't know yet whether -- or how much -- oil is leaking from the site. The platform was owned by Mariner Energy of Houston, Texas.
• Pakistanis begin to return to their homes
  published on Tue, 31 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Pakistan] The worst monsoon floods in Pakistan's history -- which covered one-fifth of the country, killed 1600 people, and left more than 17 million homeless -- are beginning to recede. Inhabitants of Sindh Province, Punjab Province, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (the former North West Frontier Province) are filtering back to their swamped villages, reported Jair Mohammad Kaloro, director of disaster operations in Sindh. Emergency funds are still coming in slowly because of international wariness over Pakistan's notorious corruption, but the United Nations has received $325 million of the $460 million it requested from global donors and many nations have pledged more. The Red Crescent in the United Arab Emirates, in a campaign led by UAE President Jalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, collected the equivalent of $22 million for flood victims in just four days.
• Mongolian Cabinet holds meeting in Gobi desert
  published on Sun, 29 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Mongolia] Twelve Mongolian ministers held an outdoor Cabinet meeting in the baking sands of the Gobi Desert to draw attention to climate change. The site for the meeting, Gashuunii Khooloi in Omnogovi (South Gobi) Province, was chosen because parts of it used to be arable land. Minister of Natural Environment and Tourism Gansukh Luumed pointed out that 70% of Mongolia is affected by desertification. Prime Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar called this past winter an example of how climate change is causing problems: it was so harsh that a fifth of the country's livestock died. The government blames global warming for a decrease in rainfall and says that rising temperatures have caused many rivers and springs to dry out. This isn't the first dramatic national protest against global warming. In October 2009, the Maldives Islands held a Cabinet meeting underwater to emphasize the threat of rising sea levels, and in December, Nepal held a Cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the danger of melting Himalayan glaciers.
• Water pledge for Oinofyta
  published on Sat, 28 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Greece] The day after Athens University released a study on cancer deaths among residents of Oinofyta in Greece's Voiotia Prefecture, the Ministry of the Environment, Energy, and Climate Change announced that the town's water source would be switched from the Asopos River to the Mornos Reservoir, which also supplies the national capital with drinking water. Oinofyta is the most dangerous community in Greece: because industrial pollution has left high levels of hexavalent chromium in the river, a staggering 25% of deaths registered between 1999 and 2009 were caused by cancer.
• Victory! India Scraps Large Hydropower Project on the Ganges
  published on Fri, 27 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [India] Spurred by the determination of one of India's most eminent scientists, Professor A.D. Agarwal, a group of ministers in India, led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, announced the abandonment of a large hydroelectric project on the Bhagirathi River in the state of Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal). Agarwal has carried out three hunger strikes in the last three years to protest against the construction of the Loharinag Pala Dam. Last year he nearly died. Many Hindu religious leaders have also been protesting because the Bhagirathi feeds the Ganges River, and the Ganges system is considered holy. The government created India's first dam-free zone in the area, through which the river will flow freely for 135 km, said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
• 'Dozens of children die' in Nigerian lead poisoning
  published on Fri, 27 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Nigeria] Up to 30 children have died of lead poisoning over the past week in Anka, Zamfara, Nigeria, reported visiting physicians from the international group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). Lead residues in local soil and water sources have killed at least 160 since June. The cause: illegal gold mining, which leaves behind lead that is dumped at random by the miners. Although health teams tried to decontaminate several villages in June by removing topsoil, the onset of the rainy season may have washed the remaining lead into wells and other water sources.
• 2b cubic meters of water will be transferred to Lake Urmia
  published on Thu, 26 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Iran] Mohammad-Javad Mohammadizadeh of the Iranian Environmental Protection Organization announced that 2 billion cubic meters of water will be used to recharge Lake Urmia, an endangered wetland listed by the United Nations as a site of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. The saltwater lake, which extends across East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces, is afflicted by a red algal bloom and is drying out. Last week, 20 lawmakers in Iran's Majlis, or Parliament, urged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take immediate action to save it. A special committee has been established, consisting of two vice-presidents; the Ministries of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Agriculture; and three provincial governors.
• Brazil government gives go-ahead for huge Amazon dam
  published on Thu, 26 Aug 10 01:00:00 MST
  [Brazil] After thee failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil signed a contract with the Norte Energia consortium to build the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. The proposal to build the dam - which will be the third largest in the world -- on the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon in the state of Para, has been fought tooth and nail by indigenous rainforest tribes and environmentalists around the globe for years. Critics assert that it will damage the rainforest and riparian ecosystem and force 50,000 people off their traditional lands. It has also been pointed out that because water levels are low for three or four months a year, Belo Monte will be extremely inefficient. The government, on the other hand, insists that it will create jobs and speed up the country's development.