ENVIRONMENT: ‘Water Recklessness Worsening Drought’

India’s current dry spell, brought on by an errant annual monsoon, is rapidly turning into a full-fledged drought as a result of reckless exploitation of groundwater resources for farming, experts say.

WATER-NAMIBIA: Running A Dry River

The Omaruru River basin is one of the first in Namibia to establish a basin management committee. Its members have a difficult balancing act to perform with a water resource that’s already being utilised to its maximum.

DEVELOPMENT: New Threats Aggravate Africa's Water Crisis

The widespread water scarcity in the African continent, impacting on the lives of nearly 300 million people, may be aggravated further by several new threats, including climate change, transboundary disputes and the negative fallout from military conflicts.

EGYPT: Differences ‘Narrowing’ Over Nile Waters

Signs are emerging of some narrowing of differences over the sharing of Nile waters.

DEVELOPMENT: Political Power Dictates Transboundary Waters

A longstanding quote attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the legendary author and humourist Mark Twain has been reverberating in the conference rooms of the Swedish capital: "Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting over."

Q&A: "Safe Drinking Water for Astronauts, Not Slum Dwellers"

"We can provide astronauts with a safe supply of drinking water when they travel to the moon, but we cannot provide the same service to slum dwellers in Kibera, Nairobi or Dharavi, Mumbai," Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), told a gathering of over 2,400 participants at the annual World Water Week concluding Friday.

DEVELOPMENT: Should Water Be Legislated as a Human Right?

The growing commercialisation of water - and the widespread influence of the bottling industry worldwide - is triggering a rising demand for the legal classification of one of the basic necessities of life as a human right.

ZIMBABWE: No Water, Just a Bill

City council turns off the water. National minister in charge says turn it back on. Domestic and commercial users alike dispute their unpaid bills. The shadow of a cholera epidemic looms over it all. Must be Harare.

ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AMERICA: Mapping the Riches of the Tropical Andes

The Ecosystems Map of the Northern and Central Andes could serve as a guide for environmental conservation of this South American area covering 1.5 million square kilometres and holding the world's highest concentration of biodiversity.

MEXICO: Tequila Leaves Environmental Hangover

Tequila, part of the national identity of Mexico, is invariably present at family celebrations and national holidays. But many are unaware of the bitter taste the tequila industry leaves in the water and soil.

INDIA: Rural Communities Turn to Traditional Climate Mitigation

In Tamilnadu, southern India, and Uttar Pradesh, northern India, villagers have revived ancient systems of storing surface and groundwater that are putting them in a good position to contend with today’s changing climate.

INDIA: Fishermen Struggle As Seas Change and Fish Dwindle

At Pudumadaka beach, 60 kilometres from the coastal city of Vishakhapatnam in southeastern India, 40-year-old Ummudi Bangaraiah stares hopelessly at the day’s catch of 4 kilos of sardines, the money from which, when divided by the five other fishermen in his boat, will not pay for one meal for his family.

ENERGY-CAMEROON: Dam Project Questioned

Construction has begun on a new dam at the confluence of the Lom and Pangar rivers in Cameroon. The government is pushing the project as key to addressing an energy shortfall, allowing for economic growth; observers believe the plan may only increase the country's vulnerability to drought.

CAMEROON: Fears for Forest as Dam Construction Begins

Crouched on a low wooden stool in front of his mud hut in the village of Pangar, Alain Selembe puffs away at his clay pipe, his gaze lost in the surrounding forest, quite oblivious to the noise made by his two playing daughters. All he hears is the rumbling of bulldozers opening up a 30 kilometre road from Deng Deng village to the confluence of the Lom and Pangar rivers, where the government plans to construct a new dam.

TANZANIA: Solutions to Dar's Water Problems in the Pipeline

In the nine months since she moved to the Dar es Salaam neighbourhood of Kinondoni, Anna Christopher has only seen water running from her taps once.

WATER-TANZANIA: Who Pays the Piper?

When John Rubara* and his family moved into their new house in Dar es Salaam's Tabata Kimanga, a fast-growing middle-income neighbourhood in Temeke district, the water company disconnected their supply because the previous owner was in arrears.

BIODIVERSITY: Tight Controls Could Save Global Fisheries

The global race to catch the last fish left in the oceans has been successfully halted in a few regions and fish stocks have rebounded, a new landmark study has found.

MOROCCO: Farmers Overcome Water Scarcity

Researchers in the central Moroccan region Beni Mellal are introducing new agricultural techniques that increase production while reducing water usage.

ZIMBABWE: Water Rationing Looms in Bulawayo

Bulawayo city council is to tighten a water rationing programme relaxed last year because residents are rapidly pushing up the city's daily consumption by using municipal water supplies for non-domestic activities.

SOUTH AFRICA: Rights to the River

Millions of litres of water are being unlawfully diverted into dams set up by South Africa's major industries, big mining companies and commercial farmers - with potentially devastating consequences for management of the resource.

ENVIRONMENT: Rich Nations Vulnerable to Water Disasters

The growing shortage of water - a perennial problem in the world's poorer nations - is expected to eventually reach the rich nations in the Western world.