#AUW2017: Innovative water management in Africa requires collaboration.
Uganda’s Minister of Water and Environment Sam Cheptoris kicked off proceedings in the Water track on the first day of this year’s African Utility Week.
The first session’s focus was on water scarcity in Africa.
He described some of the water-related challenges experienced in Uganda and how various spatial and temporal variables render certain areas of the country water-stressed over long periods of time.
"The country has experienced increasing episodes of dry and hot spells over the last decades and the spread of areas affected have been increasing, where some areas have experienced water shortages, and we have had to deal with them through water rationing," he said.
Water-energy-food nexus Paul Yilla, a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, and chair of the session, delved into the water-energy-food nexus and how silo-based management in the water sector needs to be broken down and discouraged.
“When you talk about the nexus, it goes beyond just water, energy and food and could include aspects of population growth, environmental pressures and geopolitical conflicts and how these affect the trade of these resources and the security of these resources within borders,” he said.
Transboundary management of water resources Effective management of shared water resources is important for water-stressed regions in Africa.
Yilla used the example of the Ruzizi River where cooperation between Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi has seen the development and management of hydroelectric dams, all three of which share in the socioeconomic benefits.
For more info, go to www.african-utility-week.com.

A new report issued by the Center for Watershed Sciences and California Trout has found that nearly 75% of the state’s salmon and trout (salmonids) could be extinct within the next 100 years.
The good news is that the report shows that most of these fishes can continue to persist if appropriate actions are taken.
Looking at this another way, 71% of anadromous salmon and trout and 74% of inland trout in California scored as critical or high concern, indicating a high likelihood of extinction in the next 100 years.
Behavioral and life history diversity contribute to population and species resiliency under changing conditions.
Over the last century, however, the ability of most of these salmonids to adapt to changing conditions has been greatly reduced due to rapid and extreme habitat degradation and interactions of hatchery salmonids with wild salmonids.
The State of the Salmonids II report makes it clear that many native salmonids in California are on a trajectory towards extinction, if present trends continue.
The report outlines a set of solutions, termed “return to resilience,” the central tenet of which is improving behavioral and life history diversity of salmonid species.
These include the following, which are not mutually exclusive: 1) Stronghold Watersheds, or the remaining fully functioning aquatic ecosystems in California such as the Smith River, Blue Creek, and the Eel River, so that they may continue to protect and enhance salmonid diversity, 2) Source Waters such as mountain meadows, springs, and groundwater, which will be vitally important in buffering the effects of climate change and providing cold water during the late summer and drought, and 3) Productive and Diverse Habitats including floodplains, lagoons, coastal estuaries, and spring-fed rivers—these are some of the most productive aquatic systems in California which have been shown to increase salmonid growth rates, alter migration timing and life history diversity, and improve adult returns.
4) Endemic Trout Waters.
Access to historical spawning and rearing habitat may enhance population diversity and resilience to change.

Kenya’s Drought: Response Must Be Sustainable, Not Piecemeal.
Waterholes and rivers have dried up, leading to widespread crop failure and livestock depletion.
Livestock and milk production has declined, adversely affecting food consumption levels for communities, particularly women and children.
Malnutrition is widespread among children.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and partners have developed a US$30 million plan to intervene with blanket supplementary feeding in nine northern hotspots, but only 10 per cent of the required funds have been committed.
By the time the Government had declared drought a national disaster, over 2.6 million Kenyans were in urgent need of food aid.
This will bring about more frequent, intense and widespread droughts and flash floods.
The vast majority of smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa are dependent on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods and are subject to the vagaries of the weather.
UNDP has created capacities for food production in Turkana County, slowly building community resilience and food security through irrigation.
We need sustainable solutions to effectively tackle drought and its devastating impacts on Kenya’s most vulnerable communities, particularly women and children.

Soil organic carbon predicted to plummet over next 60 years lowering agricultural productivity Climate change could reduce the amount of carbon stored in soil in the Mediterranean region by a third over the next 60 years, according to research undertaken at the University of Cordoba.
This in turn could drive up food prices and endanger crop production in the region as soils become poorer and more and more fertiliser is needed to keep yields up.
A study of 600 soil samples from the Sierra Morena region in Spain found that local soils contain between 2 and 7% organic carbon matter.
However, when scientists modelled the relationship between the soil and 24 variables affected by climate change, such as rainfall and temperature, they found that organic carbon content could decrease by an average of 35.4% in the region’s topsoil.
The results show cause for concern on food production in the region over the next 60 years To cope with a decrease in soil organic carbon, local farmers would have to increase fertiliser use, which could exacerbate related problems, such as water pollution, says co-author Alfonso Olaya Abril.
‘In some cases, traditional crops will have to be changed for others more adjusted with the new needs.
Consumers and farmers will suffer the consequences.’ In many Mediterranean countries, food consumption already outstrips production, with only France and Spain exporting significant amounts of cereals and vegetables.
The Spanish study should be an early warning to policymakers, who need to adapt local agricultural practices to the realities of climate change, says Miriam Muñoz-Rojas, a biologist at the University of Western Australia, who has extensively researched Mediterranean soils.
‘Sustainable land use in Mediterranean areas could reduce the negative effects of predicted climate change impacts by sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil,’ she says.
‘[This] could bring additional environmental and economic benefits, such as improvement of soil quality and enhancement of crop productivity.’ However, Abril is cautious about advocating specific policies, as only 50% of the soil organic carbon content in their study can be traced to specific contributors.

Should we tow icebergs from Antarctica to combat drought?.
Drought has become an intractable problem in the United Arab Emirates, and the desert nation’s groundwater is expected to dry up in as little as 15 years.
Desalination currently supplies 98 percent of the drinking water for residents of UAE’s gluttonous cities, but desalination is expensive and ravaging to the local environment.
Meanwhile, Antarctica contains around 70 percent of the planet’s freshwater.
Towing icebergs from Antarctica might seem like an extreme idea– the idea has certainly garnered its fair share of ridicule– but an Abu Dhabi-based firm, the National Advisor Bureau Limited, is dead set on carrying it out, and they believe it can offer a real solution to their region’s water woes.
Al Shehi also believes that the out-of-place iceberg could become a significant tourist attraction, making the project more financially feasible.
That’s certainly a bit of salesmanship– an iceberg would have to be impractically huge to significantly alter the region’s rainfall– but the mammoth block of ice could absolutely generate clouds in its immediate vicinity, making it an even bigger spectacle for tourists.
The firm has released a somewhat amusing animation that visualizes the whole plan, even depicting wildlife still living on the towed iceberg.
(Specifically, it depicts penguins and polar bears– a bit of a faux pas given that polar bears only live in the Arctic.)
You can view it here: The video also misleadingly suggests that the plan will eventually transform the arid landscape of the UAE into a verdant, green paradise.

Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change.
"The things that were most effective at buffering against the different forms of yield instability were soil organic matter and water holding capacity," Davis says.
Davis suggests a number of practices to increase soil organic matter, including using cover crops, avoiding excessive soil disturbance, increasing crop rotation length, and adding composted manures.
"Cover crops are a great way for improving soil organic matter; even small amounts of cover crop biomass seem to have soil organic matter benefits," Davis explains.
The study, "Soil water holding capacity mitigates downside risk and volatility in US rainfed maize: Time to invest in soil organic matter?"
is published in the journal PLOS One.
"Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change."
ScienceDaily, 20 September 2016.
Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change.
"Soil management may help stabilize maize yield in the face of climate change."

In science news this week: Droughts and floods: California’s climate change conundrum; Sharks are dying by the hundreds in San Francisco Bay; IEP posts new edition of their Newsletter; Collaborative research project points the way to improving salmon recovery efforts on the Columbia River; Not just a game: Steelhead, science, and a race for survival; Cool new nesting boxes help save seabird colony; Mergansers: The plunging ducks; Spike in Southwest dust storms driven by ocean changes; What will El Nino look like in the future?
But for the first time since an unusual shark stranding was first reported in the East Bay a half-century ago, scientists say they’re close to an explanation.
… ” Read more from the Northwest Fisheries Center here: The Call of the Wild Fish Template: A collaborative research project points the way to improving salmon recovery efforts on the Columbia River Not just a game: Steelhead, science, and a race for survival: “If you ever wanted to follow a steelhead from the stream it was born in to the open ocean, now you have your chance.
And for a game with real fish to play out, scientists have to catch steelhead.
The smolts, as scientists call them, are trying to make it to the ocean.
… ” Read more from FishBio here: Mergansers: The plunging ducks Spike in Southwest dust storms driven by ocean changes: “People living in the American Southwest have experienced a dramatic increase in windblown dust storms in the last two decades, likely driven by large-scale changes in sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean drying the region’s soil, according to new NOAA-led research.
For answers, scientists look to the past: “Scientists are trying to predict the future behavior of El Niño — the formation of warmer-than-usual ocean waters in the equatorial Pacific — by looking back in time.
Detailed factsheets in the Urban Water Atlas for Europe present the state of water management in more than 40 European cities and regions, together with a number of overseas examples.
… ” Read more from Science Daily here: Urban Water Atlas for Europe: 360 degree view on water management in cities Maven’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week … Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!
About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included.

Last Friday, nine scientists have been dismissed from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ‘s 18-person Board of Scientific Counselors—ostensibly to include more voices from regulated industries, though the scientists say their work was apolitical and did not involve regulations, as reported in The Atlantic (link is external).
Preparing response to natural Pandemics and biological terrorism are among the strategic responsibilities of the EPA scientific board, which Trump has decided to fire (at least half of them).
Behind the decision to dismiss the nine scientific counselors is Scott Pruitt, the controversial new Administrator of the EPA, appointed by Trump.
The head of the EPA has said he is not convinced carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of climate change and wants Congress to weigh in on whether CO2 should be regulated.
In the past years, Republican lawmakers have frequently criticized the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) for its recommendation that the EPA impose much stricter curbs on smog-forming ozone.
Most of the members of EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors were appointed in the second term of Obama’s mandate and expected to be kept on for another term.
However, they were not political appointees, but scientific appointees.
“Today, I was Trumped,” tweeted Robert Richardson, an ecological economist and an associate professor in Michigan State University’s Department of Community Sustainability.
By the way, on Wednesday the United States government announced that is postponing an important meeting scheduled for Tuesday to determine whether the country should or should not withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a matter that President Donald Trump promised to decide this month.
Environment

Impact of Global Warming & Climate Change.
The changing climate patterns and global warming caused by carbon emissions pose a formidable threat to the dwellers of the earth.
As appears, the acknowledged threats posed by global warming, the industrialised nations are not meeting their obligations properly and remain oblivious to imminent dangers posed by the climate change.
Environmental experts recommend two-pronged strategies to deal with the problem of global warming, i.e. adaptation to global warming and climate change mitigation.
Adaptation to global warming is a response to global warming related to minimizing the exposures of the social and biological systems to the climate changes.
Therefore, the industrialized countries that are responsible for the emanation of heat-trapping gases into the air, contributing to global warming and resultant climate changes, must not only address this issue seriously but also assist the developing nations in coping with the effects of global heating.
As estimated, the two-thirds (2/3) of the greenhouse gases are being the trapped by these vapors.
On that point, there are uncountable reports on adverse climate change due to massive Indian military activity in this area.
The prominent cities of Pakistan including Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad confront excessive noise pollution that leads to the auditory issues, sleeplessness, stress, and cardiovascular diseases.
The environmental conditions in Pakistan are getting worse.

Paper: ‘Western Water and Climate Change’.
(2015), ‘Western Water and Climate Change’ Ecological Applications, 25: 2069–2093.
Click on the graphics to enlarge them.
Projections are for continued and, likely, increased warming trends across the region, with a near certainty of continuing changes in seasonality of snowmelt and streamflows, and a strong potential for attendant increases in evaporative demands.
Projections of future precipitation are less conclusive, although likely the northern- most West will see precipitation increases while the southernmost West sees declines.
However, most of the region lies in a broad area where some climate models project precipitation increases while others project declines, so that only increases in precipitation uncertainties can be projected with any confidence.
The Colorado River is a system in which overuse and growing demands are projected to be even more challenging than climate-change-induced flow reductions.
Erratum Dettinger et al. were alerted to an error in their paper published in the December 2015 issue (M. D. Dettinger, B. Udall, and A. Georgakakos.
Western water and climate change.
9d)… In the West, about 81% of the irrigation waters are consumed by evapotranspiration and plant growth,” is an error.