Mismanagement of freshwater resources is still taking place around the world though previous disasters that is worthwhile to learn from. The overuse of water resources is currently a major global problem and the outcome from such overuse wouldn’t be different than what happened to Aral Sea. Water management policies should be based on appropriate “Environmental Consequence Analysis” with consideration to large-scale and long-term impacts and not on short-term economic interests only.

The story of the Aral Sea is one of such lessons. In 1950’s the water of the Aral Sea were largely untouched with two rivers replenishing the sea. The Soviet Union that managed the region at that time did major water projects with the goal of boasting the economy by converting land-use from pasture to cotton fields. Along with farming and other industries considerable amounts of water were consumed from the rivers, the water feeding the sea became so scarce and gradually evaporated away.

The vanishing of the Aral Sea and the associated transformation the landscape to huge desert and salty areas is “one of the planet’s worst environmental disasters”. The Aral sea-region once prosperous fishing industry with natural land that could otherwise be used for many other purposes has been essentially destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. Such destruction brought severe environmental degradation and heavily pollution with consequent serious public health problems. The blown up sand, dust and salt caused large-scale degradation of soil fertility. In addition to these impacts, the retreat of the sea has also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer. Local citizens can tell about the damage brought about by short-term policies without consideration to the existing population. The local population was faced with lack of future, increasing unemployment for young people and no work for decades.

The people there have already begun to reverse the drain and restore the Aral Sea “Back From The Brink” through loans from the World Bank. Dried up wells started to be replenished and life started to be better (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEd0hz4Axp4&feature=youtu.be)

Safe water and air are essential for all life forms on earth and there are “safety limits” where water and air can turn unsafe, dangerous or even toxic. Healthy water is carrier of nutrients and healthy air is carrier of oxygen and carbon dioxide (with specific composition), both of which are required for healthy life. Healthy water and healthy air are, also, fresh and free from toxic matter “clean”, under such conditions all forms of life are healthy.

Fresh water, fresh air and healthy eco-systems are related in complex web of functioning, interactions and metabolism. Nature managed to great extent to “clean” itself, to optimize and fix all life parameters in an extremely accurate and delicate balance. Evolution of life on earth struggled for millions of years to bring about perfect living environments and climate conditions. As a reslut of such long struggle earth provided humans with healthy food. What didn’t happen over-night we succeeded to change over-night. We are competing more and more to degrade the life quality on the earth and we are succeeding.

The water and air we are polluting are the raw material and the natural resources for our life. If we ignore them and don’t take care of them, i.e. make them fresh, they wouldn’t care about us and they will ignore us. If we turn them to victims, they will also turn us to victims!

file:///Users/farid/Desktop/Chemical%20pollution%20of%20European%20waters%20is%20stronger%20than%20anticipated%20%7C%20Science%20Codex.webarchive

Beyond the African Wildlife Safari, there are other extremes of veritable living textbooks on adaptation and sexual selection. A world of beauty and behavior intertwined in a spectacle not possible any other place on earth.

Unlike any creatures “The Birds-of-Pardise” are one of the most astounding phenomena ever witnessed on earth. They transform themselves to something you never seen before. They swagger, serenade; they dance, and display in the very heart of their natural environment, the forest. They are found in the nearly impenetrable mountains and valleys of the Island of New Guinea; in the greatest remaining tract of rain forest in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

An amazing research by evolutionary biologist Ed Scholes and wildlife photographer Tim Laman. A decade of photographing, analyzing and recording every move, every behavior of “The Birds-of-Paradise” in attempt to uncover and understand their secrets and in doing so revealing extreme examples of the miracle of evolution. How did that can happen, how did that come to be and why just in this part of the world and in rain-forest environments.

The role and involvement of individuals in achieving sustainable water resources is becoming an important component in water management. Understanding how to act, react and interact to protect water resources involves understanding the major components that influence water quality of the natural water resources.

“POLLUTANTS” that influence “WATER QUALITY” have different “SOURCES” and get mobilized to  “WATER SYSTEMS” by various ways and dynamics by which water move and get transported from one place to another “HYDROLOGY”. How pollutants get mobilized is dependent on the “USES” of water and the “Practices” utilized by all involved stakeholders/consumers. In order to take part in SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS it is essential to understand how different pollutants are produced from various sources and stakeholders, their pathways and their impacts of on water quality. This allows active participation in sustainable management of water resources.

The human waste is growing faster than the increasing global population. By the end of this century, the production of waste is expected to peak at three-times today’s current generation rate. Urbanization “Cities” is supposed to be the best bet we have to meet global poverty reduction targets through feedbacks on wealth, culture, and innovation. However, there are many severe negative impacts from urbanization on environmental conditions in particular aquatic and ecological qualities as well as the global biodiversity. Urbanization is taking place and expanding so rapid that it is, at the same time, bringing with it huge shares of the world’s GHG “Green House Gas” emissions, increasing decline in biodiversity, lots and fast generation of amounts of solid waste.

If we don’t urgently invest and put huge efforts in management of our waste and mitigating their impacts on water, eco-systems and biodiversity future generations will be forced to spend their lifetime in environmental and ecological bankruptcy resulted from our “production-consumption” civilization. Most of the time for future generation, in particular in the next century, have to be spent not only for searching about food but, also, for finding non-toxic and healthy food. The priorities of the next century will shift towards fighting against increasing degradation of environment and water resources; putting more resources, energy and efforts in waste-treatment, fighting against diseases, spending much of their resources on medication and protection from pollution and waste.

http://blogs.worldbank.org//sustainablecities/peak-waste-and-poverty-powerful-paradox

Increasing consumption of water for agriculture and food production, as consequence of feeding an ever growing world population, is causing geographical expansion of “Peak Water” around the world. Lack of sufficient water for irrigation and food production is already turning vast regions of land to “virtual deserts” that gradually and eventually will develop to permanent deserts through an accelerating degradation of soil quality and erosion of top fertile soils.

Also, the increasing decoupling of “surface water – groundwater” through the action of “Peak Water” in combination with degradation in soil quality, i.e. decreasing organic content “mineralisation”, will force increasing water-consumption for irrigation with gradual development of “Virtual deserts”. Furthermore, excessive use of surface water and groundwater pumping in combination with global warming will enhance expansion of dry land.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jul/06/food-supply-threat-water-wells-dry-up

The Sahara or the Great Desert, in Arabic Al Sahra al-Kubra “الصحراءالكبرى” is one of major deserts on planet Earth, i.e. landscape that receives very little precipitation, rain or snow, less than 250 mm per year. It is as big as the USA and its sand can burry the whole world 20 cm deep. Desert land does not necessarily mean sand and sand dunes; many deserts are rocky surfaces as well. One third of the earth’s surface is desert lands that exist in polar, subtropical, cold winter and cool coastal regions. Deserts have no surface streams because of rapid evaporation, transpiration (by plants and subsequent release to atmosphere) or/and infiltration into the ground. Deserts have unique fauna and flora that are adapted to the harsh climate and environment conditions, i.e. intense sun, limited precipitation, severe temperature ranges, dry wind and low humidity. 

The Sahara Desert is located in subtropical North Africa and it is the hottest place on the planet. The mystery of what created and changed the Sahara desert has revealed a turbulent past. The African tectonic plate collided with Europe and what was a huge sea turned gradually to land, with the Mediterranean as remaining sea, many million of years ago. Finding whales in the desert is not a climatological story but rather a geological evolution. Indeed, the Sahara has the highest fossil remains in the world, almost all of them are marine animals such as those found in Wadi Al Hitan, Egypt “Whales Valley”. The reconstruction of the evolution and the history of the Sahara were made possible through the remaining fossils of sea creatures in the desert itself along with geological information from deep sediment cores. Sediment cores are excellent archives for obtaining historical, environmental and climatological information. Whale bones in the desert showed that 40 millions years ago the Sahara was a sea bed, deep ocean sediment cores containing wind blown sand revealed that sea water dried up three millions years ago. Freshwater shells buried in sand showed that 90 000 years ago the “wobbles” of the earth’s axis (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/milankovitch.html) created huge freshwater lakes and rivers and turned the Sahara green every 20 000 years. Ostrich eggshell, used by prehistoric settlements for manufacturing beads, indicated that just 7000 years ago the Sahara enjoyed its final burst of life before returning into desert.

The story of the Sahara showed that it wasn’t always a barren wasteland. Life was not static, it could shift, change, evolve and it can bloom again into green terrain, i.e. in the distant future. Ground penetrating radars showed that there are huge freshwater lakes “groundwater” under the surface of the Sahara Desert. Such fossil water can be million of years old. This gives hopes for turning the desert to green land by being reclaimed for agriculture and farming. Nubian Aquifer (Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Chad) is an example of such fossil water and is already in use. Fossil water is non-renewable resource, can only be used once and is sufficient for a short period of time depending on consumption, probably can last something like 100 years. After being consumed the desert has to wait for another 15000 years before once more earth “wobbles” turns it green again.

Note. The earth wobbles in space makes it tilt around its axis on a cycle of 41 000 years with introduction of changes in the seasons. More tilt means more severe seasons, i.e. warmer summers and colder winters; less tilt means less severe seasons – colder summers and milder winters.

This new chapter of history that tells the story of the past turbulent landscape of the Sahara gives interesting information on how the earth and desert was made. 

Decisions of what type of energy resources we should invest in have long-term and large-scale impacts on the ecological quality of water and soil fertility. One issue, which is not very well searched, is the impacts of hydropower on the ecological quality of water that gives rise soil fertility. Both the ecological quality of water and soil fertility are very important for biodiversity and food production.

Hydropower is by definition a major interference in the natural hydrological cycle of surface water where erosion at up-stream high-land regions is essential process for promoting soil fertility in river catchments and river deltas in down-stream and low-land regions. In previous cases, e.g. the Aswan high-dam, the natural fertility at down-stream and delta areas was mitigated by heavy use of artificial fertilization. Artificial fertilization will not last for long-term as it is a non-renewable resource in addition to the long-term and large-scale environmental risks associated with it in terms of use and production.

In most of the energy debates the focus, so far, has been on reduction of carbon dioxide “green-house gas” so as to minimize the effect of global warming and its associated impacts. That is of course necessary but at the same time we have to consider other major impacts on the water cycle because of “Water-Energy Nexus” and in this context we have to take such aspects while we are about to implement policies for the use of “oil sand” or tar sand”. “Oil sand” or tar sand” is another case where in addition to risks for increased carbon dioxide emissions, there are clear negative impacts on water and ecological qualities.

Though the negative impacts of hydropower on ecological water quality and soil fertility may not be of the same dimensions as the benefits from hydropower, such impacts have to be taken in consideration for optimization of overall long-term and large-scale uses of “Water-Energy” resources. What we need to do is to have appropriate “Environment Assessment Analyses” and “Sustainable Actions” in place, so as to be prepared to deal with the growing degradation of water and ecological qualities.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/21-Jun-2014/world-bank-prefers-financing-hydel-projects

World Resources Institute “WRI” has recently evaluated, mapped, and scored water risks in 100 river basins of 180 nations around the world. Assessment is carried out for the first time on country-level with consideration to area and population. In this research 36 countries face “extremely high” levels of baseline water stress. This means that more than 80 percent of the water available to agricultural, domestic, and industrial users is withdrawn annually — leaving businesses, farms, and communities vulnerable to scarcity. Baseline water stress, used as an indicator, measures how much water is withdrawn every year from rivers, streams, and shallow aquifers for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses.

Analyzing water risk at the country level is important as such information is highly relevant for country’s economy, environment, and communities. Though water data is usually collected and reported at local geographic scales, water-related decisions and investments are often made at much larger scales, thus requiring country-level information.

Extremely high water stress can be successfully managed such as in the case of Singapore. The country is densely populated with no freshwater lakes or aquifers, and its demand for water far exceeds its naturally occurring supply. Singapore invests heavily in technology, international agreements, and responsible management, allowing it to meet its freshwater needs. Advanced rainwater capture systems contribute 20 percent of Singapore’s water supply, 40 percent is imported from Malaysia, grey water reuse adds 30 percent, and desalination produces the remaining 10 percent of the supply to meet the country’s total demand.

An important issue in this respect which is still lacking in many parts of the world is spatio-temporal water quality maps where pollution sources, both point and diffuse, are being identified. This is of importance for better conservation and protection of water resources as well as for building up solid monitoring programs for assessing the status of surface-/ground-water and associated eco-systems. Such programs give access to base-line data of natural levels of pollutants, provide bases for early-warning systems and facilitate rehabilitation actions

http://www.wri.org/blog/2013/12/world’s-36-most-water-stressed-countries

Nomads, 30-40 millions in 1995 around the world, roaming around and moving from one place to another for pasture or hunter-gatherer is a fast disappearing life-style. Reindeer have been herded for centuries in polar and sub-polar regions, horses remain national symbols in Mongolia and camels are still the perfect choice in the Sahara. After the industrial revolution “mechanization” and with increasing dependence on fossil-fuel, urbanization became “magnets” causing considerable drainage of people to technology and modern life, even without basic knowledge about the requirements and threats of the new life.

“There’s no place like home”, but with the advance of science and technology the definition of home becomes much different in particular in the era of globalization and the Internet. The choice between staying home and being drained to new life-styles may create conflicts between generations and communities or at least cause separation and fragmentation in families.

The weather in the polar mountains can turn in just a few minutes and at the artic circle conditions can be extreme. The ways of life, learning and even childbirth are often intense. People living in the tundra are accustomed to a nomadic life. Tents are their homes, food is basic, and the deer is king. They don’t watch TV or don’t use internet. Children do go to boarding schools, but not all parents are in favor of them. A well-known writer and teacher created her own alternative education for the children of the tundra as she believes that a good education should be based on the essential skills needed to survive in the artic far north. She explains that our constitution clearly says our indigenous children must have free education but it doesn’t say free life care. In schools everything is done for the children and later on they face life without to know how to do ordinary things, as they don’t have that knowledge when they leave schools. Children become gradually separated from their roots, loose ties with other generations and when graduated from school they have to decide between going to higher education or back to the tundra. What to choose when they already separated from home and are not able to establish roots at home?

Find out more about life and education in the tundra.

This is a lesson to be learned about how previous generations survived the extreme conditions on earth, i.e. somewhat similar to the environment of the ice ages.

Agafia Lykov born 1944 in the Siberian wilderness, she has a very unique and rare story. Today she is still remaining alone, isolated in one of the most extreme and inhospitable environment on our planet. She is surviving steadfast in her seclusion in the Sayan Mountains, 160 miles away from any other sign of civilization. Agafia’s family that escaped persecution and moved to Siberia in 1936 became famous in 1978 when Agafia was discovered by a team of Russian geologists. This event marked the end of their isolation and Agafia’s family became famous in Russia as the family of Siberian hermits who didn’t know that World War II took place!

See and follow this interesting story how a single person turn severe environments to a sustainable living home.

To understand the importance of temperature for the sustainability of life on earth we have to examine how our environment looks like in different climate zones, i.e. at different average temperatures around the year, with different ranges and extremes of temperature. These are central in climate issues and the ongoing debate on the impacts of global warming.

How cold is cold and how hot is hot is, for several reasons, important for us to know. This is not only vital for our lives and living environments but also how the technology we are dependent on in our houses, cities and villages operates. Temperature has several impacts on biological, chemical and physical reactions/behavior of everything around us. Human bodies, for example, have an optimum universal temperature of 37 degrees Celsius for healthy functioning and few degrees change in this temperature may indicate threats and even endanger lives. For other species temperature is also important, elephants wouldn’t survive in Siberia as much as beers wouldn’t exist in “Death Depression”. However, reindeers are perfectly suited for Siberia and camels can survive the harsh conditions of Sahara, deserts and even the heat of “Death Depression”. Temperature has several impacts on water, in hot arid zones you would never find fresh surface-water as is the case of “Death Depression”, and at the very low temperatures of Siberia you wouldn’t find water running on the surface either, i.e. only snow or ice. In both cases, you would have either desert or “permafrost”, i.e. permanently frozen soils, with little on no possibility for agriculture, food, controlled animal husbandry and production.

What concerns technology, there are no need for refrigerators in Siberia and no need for warming houses by fire/electricity in Kenya or Tanzania. Construction of ventilation, water piping and sanitation facilities as well as transport, communication and health-care infrastructures can be much different in very hot and very cold areas. Costs and operation of public and private services and infrastructures would be much different at extreme temperature and weather conditions. We have to take in consideration that different extreme temperatures mean different extreme weather conditions as well. In some cases, functioning and maintenance would be costly, technically complex or even unrealistic. Also, for the agriculture, i.e. food, feed, fuel and fiber production, consumption and conservation of natural resources.

We can feel heat/cold through the “sense” of our skin that has “sensors” to tell about the how hot/cold objectives around us are. But, this is in narrow limits of temperature range “hot/cold” and with cost of damaging the skin and/or the body. Thermometers or heat/cold “sensors” are much better instruments to measure the temperature, i.e. the property that describes how hot or cold things are and in terms of absolute units. Among international units to measure the temperature is degrees Celsius, however other systems of units exist, e.g. degrees Fahrenheit in the US. Anders Celsius, Swedish scientist, came with the elegant “Celsius” scale for measuring the temperature by relating it to the properties of water at sea level, i.e. where the atmospheric pressure is defined to be normal. The zero degrees Celsius is where water gets frozen and 100 degrees Celsius is when water boils.

Additional examples of life conditions at extreme temperatures and weather conditions will be given and described on other occasions.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/80809/12-incredible-photos-of-the-coldest-city-in-the-world

Global warming is something happening in the atmosphere but the earth itself is still cooling and the journey of evolution is slowly developing with new lands and oceans to be created. A paradox forcing the earth system to move in different directions, i.e. towards warmer atmosphere as forced by man and cooler earth’s interior due to natural processes. It is the very reality of our planet “Earth” where humans are struggling to survive in the middle of a paradox that they are part of it, but how long would life on earth continue to exist?

The Danakil Depression and the Rift Valley in general have secrets to tell. This so-called “Death” Depression is the hottest place on earth with an average annual temperature of 34.4 degrees centigrade “Celsius” day and night! There is already evidence of increasing volcanic activity that is happening even at a faster rate than ever known. The Danakil Depression is a junc-on of three tectonic plates with an earth crust thin enough for many processes to take place, e.g. tectonic and volcanic activities, development of new deposits, bubbling of gases, colorful acids and crystals as well as creation of salts. These are no ordinary volcano but they rather indicate active hydrothermal system near the earth’s surface with coupled interactions with the sea.

In the Death Depression where machines failed, humans succeeded and Afar camels are the perfect desert machines, as they don’t waste anything. Goats are, also, fit for these areas by being mountains and desert animals that can provide humans by milk and meat. However, the depression is unsafe and has harsh environment with fire wind, chemical minefields and no water. The unique Afar people work under such extreme desert-heat with salt mining and they are situated far away with no access to any modern services. The depression has world’s largest salt deposits by being lower than sea level, 120-170 meters below sea level,

The Hottest Place on Earth Episode 1 Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebM7G4hyFFw

The Hottest Place on Earth Episode 1Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA5ml9aTbos

The Hottest Place on Earth Episode 1 Part 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-59M2uFMA80

The Hottest Place on Earth Episode 1 Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlaZtoOXKhM

The Hottest Place on Earth Episode 1 Part 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlYVS4hscCY

The economic benefits of phosphorus fertilization on crop production are well documented, also its importance for food security but is phosphorus fertilization free from risks and threats? or is too much of a good thing can be detrimental? If so, what are the threats and risks that are associated with the excesstive use of phosphorus.

Soil degradation is a worldwide problem especially with the inceasing damming of rivers around the world due to the need for hydro-electric power. Natural erosion that brings fertile soil to the low land and deltas are being halted as eroded materials are forced to accumulate behind artifically engineered barriers, i.e. the dams. As a consequence of damming of rivers huge land-areas loose their natural fartility and artificial fertilization is required for mitigation. This is, indeed, on short-term perspective both economically and environmentally expensive, and out-come are disastrous what regards the long-term and large-scale consequences.

Excessive use of phosphorus in agriculture for food production has negative impacts on water quality of aquatic systems (rivers, lakes and marine coasts) and groundwater due to increasing levels of P in aquatic systems that cause “eutrophication”, decreasing levels of oxygen and gradual decrease in fish productivity. Degradation of water quality of groundwater is associated with increasing agricultural waste/run-off. In all cases, there are associated costs for mitigation, rehabilitation and purification of water.   http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/424/424-029/424-029_pdf.pdf

Another critical issue in securing our future food is indeed missing from the global policy agenda: we are running out of cheap and readily available phosphate fertilizer on which world agriculture is totally dependent. Supply of phosphorus from mined phosphate rock could ‘peak’ as soon as 2033, as phosphate rock is a non-renewable resource becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=eeGPQJORrkw%3D

“Sustain-earth.com” will represent an alternative and sustainable approaches for fertilization with several benefits over artificial phosphorus fertilization that can very well replace it. This alternative is WE-saving, i.e. can save both energy and water, it is environment friendly.

The fact that there are more “mobile phones” in Africa, and elsewhere in the developing countries around the world, than “toilets” provokes many thoughts. It is worth reasoning why such situation has developed very rapidly and still influencing and forcing many people to do so. What is interesting in this respect is neither the “mobile phones”, they are rather symbols of “technology and science”, nor the “toilets”, they are also symbols of “sanitation and hygiene”.

We have now to examine the connection between mobile phones and toilets. For many people in the developing countries it is more important and essential to have a mobile phone that having a toilet and this choice is not random. It is in fact a human paradox and we need to analyse its origin, i.e. the contradictory behaviour of humans as understood by some of us on the one side and at the same time the irrational but rather natural behaviour also of humans as understood by others on the other side. In this context, we have to take up very complex everyday dilemmas for humans, i.e. the so-called “Nexuses”. “Nexus technology-science” – technology is a consequence of science and both are very much related and dependent on each other like no fish can survive without water and water with poor quality cannot promote life for fish and produce healthy fish. “Nexus science-education” – science in itself a human product based on education, without education there would be no science and the quality of education is essential for survival of good science. One of the essential features of science is that it is neutral which is not the case what regards education and technology. Here comes the modern role of politicians, policy-makers, investors and the market at large on human behaviour, traditions and cultures and thereby the perception of education and technology on the one side and science the other. In the past few decades many of us realised the importance of political “transparency and accountability” for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments. However, no successful political system in the world operates well unless “transparency and accountability” exists in all society sectors and on all levels. This includes “transparency and accountability” within and between all society sectors including all stakeholders, communities and the very building blocks of the society, i.e. families and individuals. “Transparency and accountability” is the core essence of any healthy, functionable and sustainable democracy.

If humans make collective unsustainable decisions then the mentioned nexuses are neither properly understood nor taken in consideration to run the society. At some stage the whole chain in the society contributed in shaping the society in the wrong direction, it is a slow gradual process rather easy to develop but unfortunately very difficult to revert. It is an organised manifestation of the whole society against “transparency and accountability” rules, i.e. organized “misjudgement” which indeed don’t emanate out of thin air. Collective unsustainable decisions and organized misjudgement emerges from ignoring the role of education to foster the citizens and populations to create their own knowledge capital for achieving welfare which indeed a precondition for useful science and technology. Mobile phones and toilets are both products of science and technology but the problems in the developing countries are essentially related to the blind import of knowledge “science” and random imitation of “technology” rather than understanding through education the meaning of science and technology for human welfare.

“sustain-earth.com” main colour of “earth” is green a product of “blue” for clean water and “yellow” for clean energy. Visit, join and contribute in http://sustain-earth.com

Julian Huxley (1887-1975) a zoologist, educator and writer who played a leading role in the creation of UNESCO “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization”. For twenty years Julian Huxley was the Vice-President of the International Commission for the History of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind.

Rivers, lakes and deltas, and their catchments are major freshwater resources for the world populations. However, the increasing impacts of waste, pollution and sanitation during the past century, in particular after WW-II, caused major damage and degradation in many river and lake eco-systems around the world. We give here few examples of the most polluted rivers around the world.

http://www.wunderground.com/news/worlds-most-polluted-rivers-20130627?pageno=9

Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh-water body in the world and a water resource shared by three East African countries, is an enormous water resource facing collective mis-management on several levels. Lake Victoria is under considerable pollution pressures causing softly and steadily killing of its bio-diversity in addition to a real risk for drying-up from “global warming”.

An example is Jinja town, population of 300 000 people, that is rising after so many years of decline to claim the glory it lost so many years ago. However, the time is running out not only for the town and its population but for the whole water body of Lake Victoria. There is an accelerating pollution, abuse of environment and water resources due to limited access to waste and solid-waste treatment from industry, agriculture, household, rubbish damp and sanitation. Many industrial (more than 70 factories in Jinja only with high pollution incidents) , agricultural, household activities are releasing huge amounts of waste and pollutants to Lake Victoria.

The fishing, transport of people and goods to the main land and other public services suffer from random management, fragmented policies, and lack of collective protection and management actions. Fish population is declining as consequence of the damage the food-web dynamics of the lake and the natural functioning and metabolism in the lake because of heavy loads of nutrients, pollutants and siltation. Over-fishing of  the so-called “fish-of-choice” a small fish lower down in the food-web that is destroying the natural balance of the food-web and causing the collapse of the overall fish-population dynamics.

Poor infra-structures and water drainage systems from forest, agriculture, household and sanitation along with erosion and re-suspension of sediments due to man-made and animal activities are causing excess delivery of nutrients, accelerating “eutrophication” and decreasing levels of oxygen and thereby death and increasing prices of fish. The degradation of water quality will, also, force gradual and rapid increase in the proces of clean water.

Waters around the world are facing a new era of threats with accelerating disasters, pressures and constrains due to global warming, waste and pollution. Water scarcity and degradation in water and ecological qualities are creating crises for wild habitats and human civilizations. Many seas, rivers, lakes, and underground water reserves around the world are either lost or losing their aquatic resources with serious impacts on the livelihoods of hundreds of millions people, animals, farming, lives, electricity, and threatening further environment and climate changes.

Chinas Salween River, Europe’s Danube, South America’s la Plata, North American Rio Grande, India’s Ganges, Pakistan’s Indus, Africa’s Nile and Lake Victoria, Australia’s Murray Darling, Southeast Asia’s Mekong-Lancang, China’s Yangtze due to dams, over-extraction, overfishing and climate change. In addition to the threats of global warming and human activities; waste and pollution from industry, agriculture and household further worsen the quality of waters.

Follow the stories of water resources around the globe.