Water blog posts

Metals, excess nutrients, and sediment are processed and filtered out as water moves through forests, wetlands, natural grasslands and riparian zones. It is usually easier to prevent pollution harnessing the forces of nature than to clean up the mess with costly technology.

If the UN high-level panel on sustainable development goals gets its way, the world will from 2015 be chasing a target to “reduce bribery and corruption”.

At the end of the Water in the Anthropocene conference in May the participants issued the Bonn Declaration on Global Water Security, which sets out in stark

Water productivity - the amount of a crop produced per unit water - is a much used measurement. A quick search for the phrase on Google Scholar yields nearly 18,000 citations. So it is popular, but is it of any use?

Fred Pearce, a noted writer on water, describes climate change as “the joker in the pack” for promoters of hydroelectric schemes. Different scientists in WLE play the joker at different stages in their research.

While other countries often have mixed priorities for their water, Pakistan has always been clear. The Indus is for irrigation. Hydropower is a secondary concern. And yet, Pakistan could also use more energy, because almost one in four households (24%) has electricity for less than six hours a day...

One cannot talk about water security in Asia without addressing the water energy food nexus. But if the links between water, food and energy are so strong, why are decision makers having such a difficult time addressing them together?

The water energy food nexus sounds less complicated than it is. At its heart it is the interdependence of each on the others. The five countries of Central Asia may be linked by the rivers that flow through them, but at present their governments and water management policies could scarcely be more different.

Many large river basins support both—energy production from hydropower and withdrawals for irrigated food production (in addition to many other uses, such as for households and industries, fisheries and the environment).

WLE participats in Water in the Anthropocene conference: The famous quote, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink”, may become a quote of past, at least for the coastal cities, if desalination by renewable energy takes off.

Today, the International Day for Biological Diversity, is the ideal day to spend the coffee break mulling over the relationship between water, biodiversity, and agriculture in some of the world’s most critical life raft ecosystems

This blog is part of WLE’s participation in the conference on “Water in the Anthropocene: Challenges for Science and Governance. Indicators, Thresholds and Uncertainties of the Global Water System“.