Too Little Water Water scarcity is not new, but the increasing number affected is Water scarcity is not new, but the increasing number of people that are affected is new: As many as two-thirds of world’s population experience extreme water scarcity for at least one month every year, said Richard Volk of USAID.
To meet demand, “we need 70 percent more food by 2050,” said Choularton.
“You can’t have food security without water security.” Water scarcity has long-term and wide-ranging effects on food supplies, leading to poor nutrition and poor health.
“In Niger, if you’re born during a drought year, you’re 50 percent more likely to be stunted than if you’re born in a non-drought year.” Drought-driven food insecurity can have global consequences Drought-driven food insecurity can have global consequences.
How do we produce more food amid growing water scarcity?
Dams can deprive ecosystems of natural flow and downstream users of essential fresh water, but they are also a relatively low-carbon source of energy.
Sustaining Water, Sustaining Stakeholders Media and governments “pay attention to floods and droughts because it hurts.
And it also hurts because you have to re-plan about how you do it in the future,” said Dalton.
The Stockholm Environment Institute holds workshops to engage competing stakeholders in a river basin.
Event Resources Sources: 2030 Water Resources Group, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Mars Inc, Sustainable Water Partnership, Transboundary water Assessment Programme, United Nations Water, Winrock International, World Food Program, World Wildlife Fund Photo Credit: Women queue for water near Moyale in the lowlands of Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, February 2006, courtesy of Flickr user Andrew Heavens

The 10 Nile Basin countries have committed to make use of Nile water and other water resources in the Basin to meet various water demands, including in the area energy generation and trade, to spur regional economic growth.
They contend that the goals could be achieved through cooperation and partnerships.
The development follows talks involving more than 400 participants from member states and beyond who had convened for the fifth Nile Basin Development Forum in Kigali, which concluded on Wednesday.
By 2050, the population of the Nile Basin countries is projected to more than double, from around 400 million to one billion.
This issue, coupled with changes in the climate and the desired socio-economic transformation, will put even greater pressure on Nile Basin water resources, as an input for increased food and energy production as well as the growing population and economies will result in more water demand for domestic, and industrial use, according to information from Nile Basin Initiative (NBI).
Ethiopia is setting up a mega energy project — the Grand Renaissance Dam — at the Nile River, which the Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity for Ethiopia, Eng.
“If we don’t have energy, we can’t move the economy of the region,” he noted.
“We are discussing transmission lines that could generate up to 3,000 Megawatts, and connected to Egypt,” he said.
“These are real opportunities to integrate our energy systems,” he noted.
Prof. Seifeldin H. Abdalla, Chairman of Water Resources at the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity in Sudan, said that climate change and degradation, especially in the high lands of Ethiopia, floods and droughts are among the challenges that affect the Basin.

Authors: Nate Millington Topics: Cultural and Political Ecology, Urban Geography, Human-Environment Geography Keywords: Water, Urban Political Ecology, Scarcity, Brazil, Crisis, Climate Change, Environment, Urban Geography Session Type: Paper In 2014 and 2015, political intransigence combined with a severe drought to push São Paulo, Brazil, to the edge of a profound water crisis.
Three years later, in Cape Town, South Africa, a continued lack of rainfall has resulted in strict rationing and the development of emergency plans to prepare for the possibility of a citywide collapse in water stores.
As with other cities that have faced citywide water scarcity in recent years, Cape Town and São Paulo’s experiences of what have been called water crises are indicative of the difficulties of adapting existing hydrological regimes to new climatic realities.
This paper considers the relationship between water scarcity and scientific uncertainty around the effects of climate change through an analysis of how water crises were defined and responded to in São Paulo and Cape Town.
Both cities reveal the difficulties in adapting existing infrastructural systems and political configurations to new uncertain environmental dynamics, and both involve complex negotiations with climate science and the nature of scientific expertise more broadly.
I consider how scientific understandings of climate change were operationalized in particular ways by municipal and regional governments, and analyze how understandings of a shifting climate were incorporated into crisis response.
By focusing on the notion of crisis, I call attention to the political ecologies of water management in the two cities, and contribute to understandings of how the fixed infrastructures of the contemporary city intersect with scientific uncertainty and increasing climatic irregularity.

Lucknow, Oct 22 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today said his government was working towards resolving the water scarcity in the state’s Bundelkhand region.
He was in Hamirpur for a programme where he dedicated a number of schemes to the public and laid foundation stones for many projects.
He also distributed certificates to beneficiaries of different schemes at the event.
"Bundelkhand is a land of bravehearts.
This is the land of Pandit Parmanand, Vir Aalha-Udal, Rani Lakshmibai, Jhalkaribai and Durgabai among others.
The state government is committed to alleviate all the problems," Adityanath said.
To resolve Anna Pratha — the tradition of abandoning cattle by farmers in Bundelkhand from the onset of summer till the next crop sowing season, the chief minister said, "Gau Abhayaranyas (cow sanctuaries) will be set up and programmes to improve breeds of cows and cattle will be undertaken."
"Improving the breed will result in higher milk yield, and people will not let their cows roam on the streets.
At any cost, pilferage of food grains meant for the poor people will not be allowed.
No poor will be deprived of electricity connection," the chief minister said.

Although the event was advertised as “Salon at the Benton Art and Conversation,” the panel discussion had little to do with art.
The panelists included Professor Penny Vlahos, an associate professor in the Chemistry Department, Professor Veronica Herrera, an assistant professor of political science and Chester Arnold, a water quality educator and director of the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR).
“Water is the new oil,” Volin said to start the discussion.
“Political terms are four or five years and for politicians there’s no benefit to care about what’s going to happen in 20 years,” Professor Vlahos said.
Water problems are so persistent, Professor Herrera suggests, because politicians will only do what gets them re-elected.
The University of Connecticut is “becoming a leader in this area,” Volin said.
UConn has been hiring experts in sustainability across various disciplines including natural resources and the environment, civil and environmental engineering and intercultural resource economics.
Green infrastructure has been another key aspect in UConn’s steps towards becoming an environmentally conscious university.
In a broader sense, Professor Herrera stressed the importance of organizing and defending your right to a clean environment.
“The important thing to remember about political leaders’ decisions is that they are impacted by social and civic organizing and demands… governments do respond to citizens,” Professor Herrera said.

The City of Cape Town has kicked off its water saving campaign, ‘Save like a local’ — this time targeting tourists expected this summer.
According to the MasterCard Destination Cities Index 2017, Cape Town, popularly known as the Mother City, raked in 1.52 million visitors in 2016.
"If this year’s tourist season is similar to last year’s, we can expect a bumper season and we will need all visitors to ‘save like a local’ and follow the example of many of our water ambassadors," said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services and Energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg.
In partnership with the tourism sector, the campaign will include airport billboards in various foreign languages and branded flags in the CBD and Waterfront area.
Mobile billboards on beaches and at tourist centres will also be used to amplify the message that Cape Town is a water-scarce region, which is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history.
All tourism and related businesses have been urged to add digital adverts to their website homepages, which highlight water scarcity in the province.
Water restrictions Water rationing and restrictions are already underway for Western Cape residents.
Water guzzling residents have been reminded to stick to the 87 litres per day usage.
Dam storage levels are at 37.8%, with useable water at 27.8%.
This is 107 million litres above the consumption target of 500 million litres per day.

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz Sunday underlined the need for evolving an effective strategy to tackle issues like water scarcity, negative impacts of global warming and increasing environmental pollution, describing them man-made disasters.
“Over the years, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has transformed into a vibrant body as it carried out extensive reconstruction and rehabilitation work after the October 8, 2005 earthquake in affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, but now we need a strategy to tackle man-made disasters,” he said while addressing a ceremony held in connection with 12th anniversary of the earthquake-2005 here at F-9 Park.
Elaborating the ‘man-made disasters,’ Aziz said the country would be facing some of the biggest challenges in future including water scarcity due to insufficient water storage capacity, negative impacts of global warming and increasing environmental pollution.
“We must prepare ourselves for such challenges,” he said.
The Deputy Chairman Planning Commission acknowledged services of NDMA in natural calamities for rescue and relief of the affected people especially in the floods 2010 and 2011 that played havoc, claiming loss of precious lives and damaging public property and crops.
Sartaj Aziz highlighted importance of constructing more water dams and increasing the country’s water storage capacity, keeping in view the looming threats of water scarcity.
He also stressed the need for creating awareness among public about water conservation and its wastage.
Chairman NDMA Lt. Gen Umer Hayat Khan said the authority had proposed to observe October 8 as ‘National Resilience Day’ from next year and the government had accepted the suggestion.
He said the aim behind observing the day with national spirit was to pay homage to the tragedy victims and create awareness among masses about adopting safety measures in natural calamities and other emergency situations.
The chairman thanked international donors for extending generous financial support in reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure and rehabilitation of the affected people.

Budgam: The residents Ultigam and several far flung villages in Budgam are demanding clean drinking water supply and asking the government to install water aupply plants for their villages.
“We are forced to make do with unclean water,” says Abdul Rahman Bhat, resident of Utligam.
The unavailability of water plant in the area is forcing the people to get water from the bore wells or streams.
“Scarcity of clean potable water has resulted in several waterborne diseases,” she said.
“And eventually leads to the death of infected persons”.
“Villages should be provided with clean water to avoid the outbreak of diseases,” he said.
The pipelines are corroded or non-existent.
AEE Public Health Engineering Sub Division Beerwah Mushtaq Ahmad told Reader that the water supply scheme was old and unable to catering the whole area.
“We have another scheme in process namely Mulchella-Ranipora scheme.
He added that the department was short of 6 inch pipelines for which they have invited tenders.

SHOPIAN: The residents of several villages in Chitragam Kalan tehsil in Shopian district are complaining of water scarcity in the area and said that taps in the villages were running dry for more than six weeks.
They said that despite commitments from officials water supply was not restored.
“Callous attitude of PHE department has left the village without tap water from approximately two months.
Not a single drop of water is running in the taps, and no water vehicles has been sent to the village,” Muntazir Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Chitragam Kalan said.
Villagers from Pargochi, Voterpora and adjoining villages also demanded restoration of water supply to their villages.
“We have has no water for past two months.
Worse, there is no filter for the area.
Since the widening of Shopian Turkawagama road was started we are facing huge tap water crisis,” Parvaiz Ahmad Bhat, a local resident said.
Villagers added that the authorities were not sincere towards the sufferings of the people as due to the dry spell the canals were also dry, while the tap water supply has also been stopped.
The villagers have to go long distances to fetch water for drinking and cooking.

With more visitors heading to Cyprus than ever, the Mediterranean island’s waste disposal system is under pressure, despite efforts to cut landfill use and encourage recycling, waste management and tourism, experts say.
Michael said his hotel had cut landfill output per guest by half since it introduced waste separation in 2003.
"It’s a very good idea because rubbish is one of the global problems and it is solved in Ayia Napa."
Cyprus has much improved its waste management since 2005, when Green Dot was founded in response to a new European Union law demanding better sorting and recycling, he said.
"There was no sorting on the island. There was no sorting culture at all."
He was speaking at one of two Green Dot sorting warehouses in Cyprus.
Around 15 workers stood at the belt, sorting plastic bottles and drinks cans and cardboard scraps into separate bins.
Parpounas said more efforts were needed if the country was to meet the EU target of recycling half of its municipal waste by 2020.
Philippos Drousiotis, of the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative, said both hotels and guests had welcomed efforts such as cutting use of plastic bottles.