Earth Policy Release - Water Tables Falling and Rivers Running Dry

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At 10:15 AM 7/24/07, you wrote:

 

>***********************

>Earth Policy Institute

>Plan B 2.0 Book Byte

>For Immediate Release

>July 24, 2007

>

>WATER TABLES FALLING AND RIVERS RUNNING DRY

>

>http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch03_ss2.htm

>

>Lester R. Brown

>

>As the world's demand for water has tripled over the last half-century and

>as the demand for hydroelectric power has grown even faster, dams and

>diversions of river water have drained many rivers dry. As water tables

>fall, the springs that feed rivers go dry, reducing river flows.

>

>Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy

>their growing water needs, including each of the big three grain

>producers--China, India, and the United States. More than half the world's

>people live in countries where water tables are falling.

>

>There are two types of aquifers: replenishable and nonreplenishable (or

>fossil) aquifers. Most of the aquifers in India and the shallow aquifer

>under the North China Plain are replenishable. When these are depleted,

>the maximum rate of pumping is automatically reduced to the rate of recharge.

>

>For fossil aquifers, such as the vast U.S. Ogallala aquifer, the deep

>aquifer under the North China Plain, or the Saudi aquifer, depletion

>brings pumping to an end. Farmers who lose their irrigation water have the

>option of returning to lower-yield dryland farming if rainfall permits. In

>more arid regions, however, such as in the southwestern United States or

>the Middle East, the loss of irrigation water means the end of agriculture.

>

>The U.S. embassy in Beijing reports that Chinese wheat farmers in some

>areas are now pumping from a depth of 300 meters, or nearly 1,000 feet.

>Pumping water from this far down raises pumping costs so high that farmers

>are often forced to abandon irrigation and return to less productive

>dryland farming. A World Bank study indicates that China is overpumping

>three river basins in the north--the Hai, which flows through Beijing and

>Tianjin; the Yellow; and the Huai, the next river south of the Yellow.

>Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of grain, the

>shortfall in the Hai basin of nearly 40 billion tons of water per year (1

>ton equals 1 cubic meter) means that when the aquifer is depleted, the

>grain harvest will drop by 40 million tons--enough to feed 120 million

>Chinese.

>

>In India, water shortages are particularly serious simply because the

>margin between actual food consumption and survival is so precarious. In a

>survey of India's water situation, Fred Pearce reported in New Scientist

>that the 21 million wells drilled are lowering water tables in most of the

>country. In North Gujarat, the water table is falling by 6 meters (20

>feet) per year. In Tamil Nadu, a state with more than 62 million people in

>southern India, wells are going dry almost everywhere and falling water

>tables have dried up 95 percent of the wells owned by small farmers,

>reducing the irrigated area in the state by half over the last decade.

>

>As water tables fall, well drillers are using modified oil-drilling

>technology to reach water, going as deep as 1,000 meters in some

>locations. In communities where underground water sources have dried up

>entirely, all agriculture is rain-fed and drinking water is trucked in.

>Tushaar Shah, who heads the International Water Management Institute's

>groundwater station in Gujarat, says of India's water situation, " When the

>balloon bursts, untold anarchy will be the lot of rural India. "

>

>In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that in

>parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas--three leading grain-producing

>states--the underground water table has dropped by more than 30 meters

>(100 feet). As a result, wells have gone dry on thousands of farms in the

>southern Great Plains. Although this mining of underground water is taking

>a toll on U.S. grain production, irrigated land accounts for only one

>fifth of the U.S. grain harvest, compared with close to three fifths of

>the harvest in India and four fifths in China.

>

>Pakistan, a country with 158 million people that is growing by 3 million

>per year, is also mining its underground water. In the Pakistani part of

>the fertile Punjab plain, the drop in water tables appears to be similar

>to that in India. Observation wells near the twin cities of Islamabad and

>Rawalpindi show a fall in the water table between 1982 and 2000 that

>ranges from 1 to nearly 2 meters a year.

>

>In the province of Baluchistan, water tables around the capital, Quetta,

>are falling by 3.5 meters per year. Richard Garstang, a water expert with

>the World Wildlife Fund and a participant in a study of Pakistan's water

>situation, said in 2001 that " within 15 years Quetta will run out of water

>if the current consumption rate continues. "

>

>Iran, a country of 70 million people, is overpumping its aquifers by an

>average of 5 billion tons of water per year, the water equivalent of one

>third of its annual grain harvest. Under the small but agriculturally rich

>Chenaran Plain in northeastern Iran, the water table was falling by 2.8

>meters a year in the late 1990s. New wells being drilled both for

>irrigation and to supply the nearby city of Mashad are responsible.

>Villages in eastern Iran are being abandoned as wells go dry, generating a

>flow of " water refugees. "

>

>Saudi Arabia, a country of 25 million people, is as water-poor as it is

>oil-rich. Relying heavily on subsidies, it developed an extensive

>irrigated agriculture based largely on its deep fossil aquifer. After

>several years of using oil money to support wheat prices at five times the

>world market level, the government was forced to face fiscal reality and

>cut the subsidies. Its wheat harvest dropped from a high of 4 million tons

>in 1992 to some 2 million tons in 2005. Some Saudi farmers are now pumping

>water from wells that are 1,200 meters deep (nearly four fifths of a mile).

>

>In neighboring Yemen, a nation of 21 million, the water table under most

>of the country is falling by roughly 2 meters a year as water use

>outstrips the sustainable yield of aquifers. In western Yemen's Sana'a

>Basin, the estimated annual water extraction of 224 million tons exceeds

>the annual recharge of 42 million tons by a factor of five, dropping the

>water table 6 meters per year. World Bank projections indicate the Sana'a

>Basin--site of the national capital, Sana'a, and home to 2 million

>people--will be pumped dry by 2010.

>

>In the search for water, the Yemeni government has drilled test wells in

>the basin that are 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) deep--depths normally

>associated with the oil industry--but they have failed to find water.

>Yemen must soon decide whether to bring water to Sana'a, possibly by

>pipeline from coastal desalting plants, if it can afford it, or to

>relocate the capital. Either alternative will be costly and potentially

>traumatic.

>

>Israel, even though it is a pioneer in raising irrigation water

>productivity, is depleting both of its principal aquifers--the coastal

>aquifer and the mountain aquifer that it shares with Palestinians.

>Israel's population, whose growth is fueled by both natural increase and

>immigration, is outgrowing its water supply. Conflicts between Israelis

>and Palestinians over the allocation of water in the latter area are

>ongoing. Because of severe water shortages, Israel has banned the

>irrigation of wheat.

>

>In Mexico--home to a population of 107 million that is projected to reach

>140 million by 2050--the demand for water is outstripping supply. Mexico

>City's water problems are well known. Rural areas are also suffering. For

>example, in the agricultural state of Guanajuato, the water table is

>falling by 2 meters or more a year. At the national level, 51 percent of

>all the water extracted from underground is from aquifers that are being

>overpumped.

>

>Since the overpumping of aquifers is occurring in many countries more or

>less simultaneously, the depletion of aquifers and the resulting harvest

>cutbacks could come at roughly the same time. And the accelerating

>depletion of aquifers means this day may come soon, creating potentially

>unmanageable food scarcity.

>

>While falling water tables are largely hidden, rivers that are drained dry

>before they reach the sea are highly visible. Two rivers where this

>phenomenon can be seen are the Colorado, the major river in the

>southwestern United States, and the Yellow, the largest river in northern

>China. Other large rivers that either run dry or are reduced to a mere

>trickle during the dry season are the Nile, the lifeline of Egypt; the

>Indus, which supplies most of Pakistan's irrigation water; and the Ganges

>in India's densely populated Gangetic basin. Many smaller rivers have

>disappeared entirely.

>

>Since 1950, the number of large dams, those over 15 meters high, has

>increased from 5,000 to 45,000. Each dam deprives a river of some of its

>flow. Engineers like to say that dams built to generate electricity do not

>take water from the river, only its energy, but this is not entirely true

>since reservoirs increase evaporation. The annual loss of water from a

>reservoir in arid or semiarid regions, where evaporation rates are high,

>is typically equal to 10 percent of its storage capacity.

>

>The Colorado River now rarely makes it to the sea. With the states of

>Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and, most important, California depending

>heavily on the Colorado's water, the river is simply drained dry before it

>reaches the Gulf of California. This excessive demand for water is

>destroying the river's ecosystem, including its fisheries.

>A similar situation exists in Central Asia. The Amu Darya--which, along

>with the Syr Darya, feeds the Aral Sea--is diverted to irrigate the cotton

>fields of Central Asia. In the late 1980s, water levels dropped so low

>that the sea split in two. While recent efforts to revitalize the North

>Aral Sea have raised the water level somewhat, the South Aral Sea will

>likely never recover.

>

>China's Yellow River, which flows some 4,000 kilometers through five

>provinces before it reaches the Yellow Sea, has been under mounting

>pressure for several decades. It first ran dry in 1972. Since 1985 it has

>often failed to reach the sea, although better management and greater

>reservoir capacity have facilitated year-round flow in recent years.

>The Nile, site of another ancient civilization, now barely makes it to the

>sea. Water analyst Sandra Postel, in Pillar of Sand, notes that before the

>Aswan Dam was built, some 32 billion cubic meters of water reached the

>Mediterranean each year. After the dam was completed, however, increasing

>irrigation, evaporation, and other demands reduced its discharge to less

>than 2 billion cubic meters.

>

>Pakistan, like Egypt, is essentially a river-based civilization, heavily

>dependent on the Indus. This river, originating in the Himalayas and

>flowing westward to the Indian Ocean, not only provides surface water, it

>also recharges aquifers that supply the irrigation wells dotting the

>Pakistani countryside. In the face of growing water demand, it too is

>starting to run dry in its lower reaches. Pakistan, with a population

>projected to reach 305 million by 2050, is in trouble.

>

>In Southeast Asia, the flow of the Mekong is being reduced by the dams

>being built on its upper reaches by the Chinese. The downstream countries,

>including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Viet Nam--countries with 168

>million people--complain about the reduced flow of the Mekong, but this

>has done little to curb China's efforts to exploit the power and the water

>in the river.

>

>The same problem exists with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which

>originate in Turkey and flow through Syria and Iraq en route to the

>Persian Gulf. This river system, the site of Sumer and other early

>civilizations, is being overused. Large dams erected in Turkey and Iraq

>have reduced water flow to the once " fertile crescent, " helping to destroy

>more than 90 percent of the formerly vast wetlands that enriched the delta

>region.

>

>In the river systems just mentioned, virtually all the water in the basin

>is being used. Inevitably, if people upstream use more water, those

>downstream will get less. As demands continue to grow, balancing water

>demand and supply is imperative. Failure to do so means that water tables

>will continue to fall, more rivers will run dry, and more lakes and

>wetlands will disappear.

>

># # #

>

>Adapted from Chapter 3, " Emerging Water Shortages " in Lester R. Brown,

>Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

>(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), available free of charge on-line

>at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm

>

>The next Plan B 2.0 Book Byte will cover Reducing Urban Water Use.

>

>Additional data and information sources at www.earthpolicy.org

>

>For information contact:

>

>Media Contact:

>Reah Janise Kauffman

>Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 12

>E-mail: rjk (at) earthpolicy.org

>

>Research Contact:

>Janet Larsen

>Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 14

>E-mail: jlarsen (at) earthpolicy.org

>

>Earth Policy Institute

>1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403

>Washington, DC 20036

>Web: www.earthpolicy.org

>

>

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Pictures of the Amazon are absolutely frightening. 2nd year of drought, in a rainforest.

 

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007 3:01 PM

Re: Earth Policy Release - Water Tables Falling and Rivers Running Dry

 

 

At 10:15 AM 7/24/07, you wrote:>***********************>Earth Policy Institute>Plan B 2.0 Book Byte>For Immediate Release>July 24, 2007>>WATER TABLES FALLING AND RIVERS RUNNING DRY>>http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch03_ss2.htm>>Lester R. Brown>>As the world's demand for water has tripled over the last half-century and >as the demand for hydroelectric power has grown even faster, dams and >diversions of river water have drained many rivers dry. As water tables >fall, the springs that feed rivers go dry, reducing river flows.>>Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy >their growing water needs, including each of the big three grain >producers--China, India, and the United States. More than half the world's >people live in countries where water tables are falling.>>There are two types of aquifers: replenishable and nonreplenishable (or >fossil) aquifers. Most of the aquifers in India and the shallow aquifer >under the North China Plain are replenishable. When these are depleted, >the maximum rate of pumping is automatically reduced to the rate of recharge.>>For fossil aquifers, such as the vast U.S. Ogallala aquifer, the deep >aquifer under the North China Plain, or the Saudi aquifer, depletion >brings pumping to an end. Farmers who lose their irrigation water have the >option of returning to lower-yield dryland farming if rainfall permits. In >more arid regions, however, such as in the southwestern United States or >the Middle East, the loss of irrigation water means the end of agriculture.>>The U.S. embassy in Beijing reports that Chinese wheat farmers in some >areas are now pumping from a depth of 300 meters, or nearly 1,000 feet. >Pumping water from this far down raises pumping costs so high that farmers >are often forced to abandon irrigation and return to less productive >dryland farming. A World Bank study indicates that China is overpumping >three river basins in the north--the Hai, which flows through Beijing and >Tianjin; the Yellow; and the Huai, the next river south of the Yellow. >Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of grain, the >shortfall in the Hai basin of nearly 40 billion tons of water per year (1 >ton equals 1 cubic meter) means that when the aquifer is depleted, the >grain harvest will drop by 40 million tons--enough to feed 120 million >Chinese.>>In India, water shortages are particularly serious simply because the >margin between actual food consumption and survival is so precarious. In a >survey of India's water situation, Fred Pearce reported in New Scientist >that the 21 million wells drilled are lowering water tables in most of the >country. In North Gujarat, the water table is falling by 6 meters (20 >feet) per year. In Tamil Nadu, a state with more than 62 million people in >southern India, wells are going dry almost everywhere and falling water >tables have dried up 95 percent of the wells owned by small farmers, >reducing the irrigated area in the state by half over the last decade.>>As water tables fall, well drillers are using modified oil-drilling >technology to reach water, going as deep as 1,000 meters in some >locations. In communities where underground water sources have dried up >entirely, all agriculture is rain-fed and drinking water is trucked in. >Tushaar Shah, who heads the International Water Management Institute's >groundwater station in Gujarat, says of India's water situation, "When the >balloon bursts, untold anarchy will be the lot of rural India.">>In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that in >parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas--three leading grain-producing >states--the underground water table has dropped by more than 30 meters >(100 feet). As a result, wells have gone dry on thousands of farms in the >southern Great Plains. Although this mining of underground water is taking >a toll on U.S. grain production, irrigated land accounts for only one >fifth of the U.S. grain harvest, compared with close to three fifths of >the harvest in India and four fifths in China.>>Pakistan, a country with 158 million people that is growing by 3 million >per year, is also mining its underground water. In the Pakistani part of >the fertile Punjab plain, the drop in water tables appears to be similar >to that in India. Observation wells near the twin cities of Islamabad and >Rawalpindi show a fall in the water table between 1982 and 2000 that >ranges from 1 to nearly 2 meters a year.>>In the province of Baluchistan, water tables around the capital, Quetta, >are falling by 3.5 meters per year. Richard Garstang, a water expert with >the World Wildlife Fund and a participant in a study of Pakistan's water >situation, said in 2001 that "within 15 years Quetta will run out of water >if the current consumption rate continues.">>Iran, a country of 70 million people, is overpumping its aquifers by an >average of 5 billion tons of water per year, the water equivalent of one >third of its annual grain harvest. Under the small but agriculturally rich >Chenaran Plain in northeastern Iran, the water table was falling by 2.8 >meters a year in the late 1990s. New wells being drilled both for >irrigation and to supply the nearby city of Mashad are responsible. >Villages in eastern Iran are being abandoned as wells go dry, generating a >flow of "water refugees.">>Saudi Arabia, a country of 25 million people, is as water-poor as it is >oil-rich. Relying heavily on subsidies, it developed an extensive >irrigated agriculture based largely on its deep fossil aquifer. After >several years of using oil money to support wheat prices at five times the >world market level, the government was forced to face fiscal reality and >cut the subsidies. Its wheat harvest dropped from a high of 4 million tons >in 1992 to some 2 million tons in 2005. Some Saudi farmers are now pumping >water from wells that are 1,200 meters deep (nearly four fifths of a mile).>>In neighboring Yemen, a nation of 21 million, the water table under most >of the country is falling by roughly 2 meters a year as water use >outstrips the sustainable yield of aquifers. In western Yemen's Sana'a >Basin, the estimated annual water extraction of 224 million tons exceeds >the annual recharge of 42 million tons by a factor of five, dropping the >water table 6 meters per year. World Bank projections indicate the Sana'a >Basin--site of the national capital, Sana'a, and home to 2 million >people--will be pumped dry by 2010.>>In the search for water, the Yemeni government has drilled test wells in >the basin that are 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) deep--depths normally >associated with the oil industry--but they have failed to find water. >Yemen must soon decide whether to bring water to Sana'a, possibly by >pipeline from coastal desalting plants, if it can afford it, or to >relocate the capital. Either alternative will be costly and potentially >traumatic.>>Israel, even though it is a pioneer in raising irrigation water >productivity, is depleting both of its principal aquifers--the coastal >aquifer and the mountain aquifer that it shares with Palestinians. >Israel's population, whose growth is fueled by both natural increase and >immigration, is outgrowing its water supply. Conflicts between Israelis >and Palestinians over the allocation of water in the latter area are >ongoing. Because of severe water shortages, Israel has banned the >irrigation of wheat.>>In Mexico--home to a population of 107 million that is projected to reach >140 million by 2050--the demand for water is outstripping supply. Mexico >City's water problems are well known. Rural areas are also suffering. For >example, in the agricultural state of Guanajuato, the water table is >falling by 2 meters or more a year. At the national level, 51 percent of >all the water extracted from underground is from aquifers that are being >overpumped.>>Since the overpumping of aquifers is occurring in many countries more or >less simultaneously, the depletion of aquifers and the resulting harvest >cutbacks could come at roughly the same time. And the accelerating >depletion of aquifers means this day may come soon, creating potentially >unmanageable food scarcity.>>While falling water tables are largely hidden, rivers that are drained dry >before they reach the sea are highly visible. Two rivers where this >phenomenon can be seen are the Colorado, the major river in the >southwestern United States, and the Yellow, the largest river in northern >China. Other large rivers that either run dry or are reduced to a mere >trickle during the dry season are the Nile, the lifeline of Egypt; the >Indus, which supplies most of Pakistan's irrigation water; and the Ganges >in India's densely populated Gangetic basin. Many smaller rivers have >disappeared entirely.>>Since 1950, the number of large dams, those over 15 meters high, has >increased from 5,000 to 45,000. Each dam deprives a river of some of its >flow. Engineers like to say that dams built to generate electricity do not >take water from the river, only its energy, but this is not entirely true >since reservoirs increase evaporation. The annual loss of water from a >reservoir in arid or semiarid regions, where evaporation rates are high, >is typically equal to 10 percent of its storage capacity.>>The Colorado River now rarely makes it to the sea. With the states of >Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and, most important, California depending >heavily on the Colorado's water, the river is simply drained dry before it >reaches the Gulf of California. This excessive demand for water is >destroying the river's ecosystem, including its fisheries.>A similar situation exists in Central Asia. The Amu Darya--which, along >with the Syr Darya, feeds the Aral Sea--is diverted to irrigate the cotton >fields of Central Asia. In the late 1980s, water levels dropped so low >that the sea split in two. While recent efforts to revitalize the North >Aral Sea have raised the water level somewhat, the South Aral Sea will >likely never recover.>>China's Yellow River, which flows some 4,000 kilometers through five >provinces before it reaches the Yellow Sea, has been under mounting >pressure for several decades. It first ran dry in 1972. Since 1985 it has >often failed to reach the sea, although better management and greater >reservoir capacity have facilitated year-round flow in recent years.>The Nile, site of another ancient civilization, now barely makes it to the >sea. Water analyst Sandra Postel, in Pillar of Sand, notes that before the >Aswan Dam was built, some 32 billion cubic meters of water reached the >Mediterranean each year. After the dam was completed, however, increasing >irrigation, evaporation, and other demands reduced its discharge to less >than 2 billion cubic meters.>>Pakistan, like Egypt, is essentially a river-based civilization, heavily >dependent on the Indus. This river, originating in the Himalayas and >flowing westward to the Indian Ocean, not only provides surface water, it >also recharges aquifers that supply the irrigation wells dotting the >Pakistani countryside. In the face of growing water demand, it too is >starting to run dry in its lower reaches. Pakistan, with a population >projected to reach 305 million by 2050, is in trouble.>>In Southeast Asia, the flow of the Mekong is being reduced by the dams >being built on its upper reaches by the Chinese. The downstream countries, >including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Viet Nam--countries with 168 >million people--complain about the reduced flow of the Mekong, but this >has done little to curb China's efforts to exploit the power and the water >in the river.>>The same problem exists with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which >originate in Turkey and flow through Syria and Iraq en route to the >Persian Gulf. This river system, the site of Sumer and other early >civilizations, is being overused. Large dams erected in Turkey and Iraq >have reduced water flow to the once "fertile crescent," helping to destroy >more than 90 percent of the formerly vast wetlands that enriched the delta >region.>>In the river systems just mentioned, virtually all the water in the basin >is being used. Inevitably, if people upstream use more water, those >downstream will get less. As demands continue to grow, balancing water >demand and supply is imperative. Failure to do so means that water tables >will continue to fall, more rivers will run dry, and more lakes and >wetlands will disappear.>># # #>>Adapted from Chapter 3, "Emerging Water Shortages" in Lester R. Brown, >Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble >(New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006), available free of charge on-line >at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm>>The next Plan B 2.0 Book Byte will cover Reducing Urban Water Use.>>Additional data and information sources at www.earthpolicy.org>>For information contact:>>Media Contact:>Reah Janise Kauffman>Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 12>E-mail: rjk (at) earthpolicy.org>>Research Contact:>Janet Larsen>Tel: (202) 496-9290 x 14>E-mail: jlarsen (at) earthpolicy.org>>Earth Policy Institute>1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 403>Washington, DC 20036>Web: www.earthpolicy.org>>>--->>--->You are currently d to public as: thehavens (AT) highland (DOT) net>To send a blank email to >leave-public-1365209M (AT) lists (DOT) earth-policy.org>>>--->Incoming mail is certified Virus Free.>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).>Version: 6.0.859 / Virus Database: 585 - Release 2/14/05******Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentuckyhttp://www.thehavens.com/thehavens (AT) highland (DOT) net606-376-3363

 

 

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