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 Post subject: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Mon February 12, 2018 9:52 pm 
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Capetown,a large, modern city has run out of fresh water.

Here's 11 more where it could happen next according to the BBC:


Sao Paulo

Brazil's financial capital and one of the 10 most populated cities in the world went through a similar ordeal to Cape Town in 2015, when the main reservoir fell below 4% capacity.

At the height of the crisis, the city of over 21.7 million inhabitants had less than 20 days of water supply and police had to escort water trucks to stop looting.

It is thought a drought that affected south-eastern Brazil between 2014 and 2017 was to blame, but a UN mission to São Paulo was critical of the state authorities "lack of proper planning and investments".

The water crisis was deemed "finished" in 2016, but in January 2017 the main reserves were 15% below expected for the period - putting the city's future water supply once again in doubt.

Bangalore

Local officials in the southern Indian city have been bamboozled by the growth of new property developments following Bangalore's rise as a technological hub and are struggling to manage the city's water and sewage systems.

To make matters worse, the city's antiquated plumbing needs an urgent upheaval; a report by the national government found that the city loses over half of its drinking water to waste.

Like China, India struggles with water pollution and Bangalore is no different: an in-depth inventory of the city's lakes found that 85% had water that could only be used for irrigation and industrial cooling.

Not a single lake had suitable water for drinking or bathing.

Beijing

The World Bank classifies water scarcity as when people in a determined location receive less than 1,000 cubic metres of fresh water per person.

In 2014, each of the more than 20 million inhabitants of Beijing had only 145 cubic metres.

China is home to almost 20% of the world's population but has only 7% of the world's fresh water.

A Columbia University study estimates that the country's reserves declined 13% between 2000 and 2009.

And there's also a pollution problem. Official figures from 2015 showed that 40% of Beijing's surface water was polluted to the point of not being useful even for agriculture or industrial use.

The Chinese authorities have tried to address the problem by creating massive water diversion projects. They have also introduced educational programmes, as well as price hikes for heavy business users.

Cairo

Once crucial to the establishment of one of the world's greatest civilisations, the River Nile is struggling in modern times.

It is the source of 97% of Egypt's water but also the destination of increasing amounts of untreated agricultural, and residential waste.

World Health Organization figures show that Egypt ranks high among lower middle-income countries in terms of the number of deaths related to water pollution.

The UN estimates critical shortages in the country by 2025.

Jakarta

Like many coastal cities, the Indonesian capital faces the threat of rising sea levels.

But in Jakarta the problem has been made worse by direct human action. Because less than half of the city's 10 million residents have access to piped water, illegal digging of wells is rife. This practice is draining the underground aquifers, almost literally deflating them.

As a consequence, about 40% of Jakarta now lies below sea level, according to World Bank estimates.

To make things worse, aquifers are not being replenished despite heavy rain because the prevalence of concrete and asphalt means that open fields cannot absorb rainfall.

Moscow

One-quarter of the world's fresh water reserves are in Russia, but the country is plagued by pollution problems caused by the industrial legacy of the Soviet era.

That is specifically worrying for Moscow, where the water supply is 70% dependent on surface water.

Official regulatory bodies admit that 35% to 60% of total drinking water reserves in Russia do not meet sanitary standards.

Istanbul

According to official Turkish government figures, the country is technically in a situation of a water stress, since the per capita supply fell below 1,700 cubic metres in 2016.

Local experts have warned that the situation could worsen to water scarcity by 2030.

In recent years, heavily populated areas like Istanbul (14 million inhabitants) have begun to experience shortages in the drier months.

The city's reservoir levels declined to less than 30 percent of capacity at the beginning of 2014.

Mexico City

Water shortages are nothing new for many of the 21 million inhabitants of the Mexican capital.

One in five get just a few hours from their taps a week and another 20% have running water for just part of the day.

The city imports as much as 40% of its water from distant sources but has no large-scale operation for recycling wastewater. Water losses because of problems in the pipe network are also estimated at 40%.

London

Of all the cities in the world, London is not the first that springs to mind when one thinks of water shortages.

The reality is very different. With an average annual rainfall of about 600mm (less than the Paris average and only about half that of New York), London draws 80% of its water from rivers (the Thames and Lea).

According to the Greater London Authority, the city is pushing close to capacity and is likely to have supply problems by 2025 and "serious shortages" by 2040.

It looks likely that hosepipe bans could become more common in the future.

Tokyo

The Japanese capital enjoys precipitation levels similar to that of Seattle on the US west coast, which has a reputation for rain. Rainfall, however, is concentrated during just four months of the year.

That water needs to be collected, as a drier-than-expected rainy season could lead to a drought. At least 750 private and public buildings in Tokyo have rainwater collection and utilisation systems.

Home to more than 30 million people, Tokyo has a water system that depends 70% on surface water (rivers, lakes, and melted snow).

Recent investment in the pipeline infrastructure aims also to reduce waste by leakage to only 3% in the near future.

Miami

The US state of Florida is among the five US states most hit by rain every year. However, there is a crisis brewing in its most famous city, Miami.

An early 20th Century project to drain nearby swamps had an unforeseen result; water from the Atlantic Ocean contaminated the Biscayne Aquifer, the city's main source of fresh water.

Although the problem was detected in the 1930s, seawater still leaks in, especially because the American city has experienced faster rates of sea level rise, with water breaching underground defence barriers installed in recent decades.

Neighbouring cities are already struggling. Hallandale Beach, which is just a few miles north of Miami, had to close six of its eight wells due to saltwater intrusion.

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Last edited by Bi_3 on Tue February 13, 2018 12:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be know as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 12:14 am 
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Bi_3 wrote:
Miami

The US state of Florida is among the five US states most hit by rain every year. However, there is a crisis brewing in its most famous city, Miami.

An early 20th Century project to drain nearby swamps had an unforeseen result; water from the Atlantic Ocean contaminated the Biscayne Aquifer, the city's main source of fresh water.

Although the problem was detected in the 1930s, seawater still leaks in, especially because the American city has experienced faster rates of sea level rise, with water breaching underground defence barriers installed in recent decades.

Neighbouring cities are already struggling. Hallandale Beach, which is just a few miles north of Miami, had to close six of its eight wells due to saltwater intrusion.


Maybe if Miami stopped being gay, God wouldn't punish them with a water shortage.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:11 am 
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rich people will always have access to water so there won’t be a WWIV over it

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:17 am 
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water

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:18 am 
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96583UP wrote:
rich people will always have access to water so there won’t be a WWIV over it


You may want to read up on how five of the worlds most populous countries compete for the same water supply. Three of them have nukes and have been in violent conflicts in the recent past.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:26 am 
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you might want to read up on Amazon Fresh

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:41 am 
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No problem. We can just relocate all those populations here. What could possibly go wrong

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 2:32 am 
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I’ve been stockpiling.

I shall have my people call me Emperor Dasani.

Sometimes with lemon.


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 2:54 am 
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I know the Flint Crisis here was bad, but realistically I think within the next 50 years we're going to have A LOT more of those exact situations due to our infrastructure being so old....

and water is going to become a real problem world wide.

Having said that, I have an extra room to rent here in michigan, home to 21% of the worlds fresh water.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 3:29 am 
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@SkitchP wrote:
Having said that, I have an extra room to rent here in michigan, home to 21% of the worlds fresh water.


Do I have to shovel?

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 5:50 am 
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Of course the USA wouldn’t have been on this list if not for fucking #Florida

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 7:26 am 
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Southern California would be in trouble were it not for its political clout. Water gets redirected that way that would otherwise go into the San Joaquin delta (ie, into the San Francisco Bay)


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 8:27 am 
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Water will be the new oil in the future. Already there is a struggle in India and China over where the rivers are flowing.


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:20 pm 
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Anders wrote:
Water will be the new oil in the future. Already there is a struggle in India and China over where the rivers are flowing.


This is what I alluded to above. China, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and to some extent the Mekong river nations all share the same source in the Himalayas.

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"The fatal flaw of all revolutionaries is that they know how to tear things down but don't have a f**king clue about how to build anything."


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 1:38 pm 
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maybe a focus on desalination plants should be a thing of the future?


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 4:12 pm 
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What, and plan for the future? Don't you know we only care about the here and now and funding the future is a fool's game.


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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Tue February 13, 2018 4:21 pm 
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water

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Wed February 14, 2018 5:29 pm 
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You guys, I’m telling you, birth control is the answer.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Wed February 14, 2018 5:50 pm 
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Bammer wrote:
You guys, I’m telling you, birth control is the answer.



That's much nicer than my "kill everyone below the Tropic of Cancer and ban humans from settling there" plan.

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 Post subject: Re: The Water Crisis (soon to be known as WWIV)
PostPosted: Thu February 15, 2018 12:48 am 
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Hey, what happened to WWIII?

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