Half the World's 100 Largest Cities Are in High Water Stress Areas, Analysis Finds (theguardian.com) 32
Half the world's 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with 38 of these sitting in regions of "extremely high water stress," new analysis and mapping has shown. The Guardian: Water stress means that water withdrawals for public water supply and industry are close to exceeding available supplies, often caused by poor management of water resources exacerbated by climate breakdown. Watershed Investigations and the Guardian mapped cities on to stressed catchments revealing that Beijing, New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Delhi are among those facing extreme stress, while London, Bangkok and Jakarta are classed as being highly stressed.
Separate analysis of NASA satellite data, compiled by scientists at University College London, shows which of the largest 100 cities have been drying or getting wetter over two decades with places such as Chennai, Tehran and Zhengzhou showing strong drying trends and Tokyo, Lagos and Kampala showing strong wetting trends. All 100 cities and their trends can be viewed on a new interactive water security atlas.
Separate analysis of NASA satellite data, compiled by scientists at University College London, shows which of the largest 100 cities have been drying or getting wetter over two decades with places such as Chennai, Tehran and Zhengzhou showing strong drying trends and Tokyo, Lagos and Kampala showing strong wetting trends. All 100 cities and their trends can be viewed on a new interactive water security atlas.
Meanwhile while you've been worried about trans (Score:4, Funny)
Now would be a good time to work on critical thinking and stop getting distracted
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Yeah sounds about right (Score:1)
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Back to office mandates are the cause of urban water stress. Let people spread out where and when possible. In this day and age of high-speed internet, there is little need to be physically present in office.
What are they saying? (Score:2)
Are they saying that we should dismantle Hoover dam?
Mexico City (Score:2, Informative)
LA is looking at a medium term issue. Once the level of Lake Meade drops to the "critical" level drastic curtailment happens. Not sure exactly how long before that happens.
Another issue at least with Mexico City and Tokyo has been sinking due to underground water use. As to how much should an average urban dweller get is up for grabs. Here is a old study (pre gaza war) of what a Palestinian might get. (https://www.europarl
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According to this https://magazine.viterbi.usc.e... [usc.edu]
LA only gets 14% of its water from Colorado River (aka Lake Meade)
Most of their water is from in-state, routed from Northern California to So-Cal. Assuming California's population continues to level off, dip somewhat I think LA will be ok. Also worth mentioning the State is trying to add more reservoir capacity (https://sitesproject.org/) in a large empty field, just needs to get through the lawsuits:
“Sites will perpetuate California’s antiqu
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We have a lot of water... (Score:3)
We have a lot of water, but it's the wrong "type". Many of those major cities are near a coast, so how about building some desalination plants. What? That's too expensive? Then either stop using so much or stop complaining. (For example, maybe stop watering hay, alfalfa, etc with ground water in stressed areas and grow that stuff elsewhere that isn't so stressed; or build a large scale purification system to treat waste water and make it potable.) I know my view comes across as harsh, but we have a technical solution that will solve the problem if people really care enough.
Sure, the price of water may go up. Yes, we may have to build more nuclear plants to run them, or add commercial solar farms and run the treatment plants only during the day. Maybe we'll need to raise taxes on the rich to pay for it. Whatever, we have a way to solve the problem if we have the guts to do so. Of course, this is really a political problem and politicians rarely have the guts to fix any hard problem.
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Hmm, 10x the cost, and of course let's not forget that you have to dispose of the "brine" responsibly. Or else find a way to keep taking stuff out of the brine until you're left with only solids like salts and minerals which can be used elsewhere (probably terribly expensive). Still, it is doable if we really want more fresh water.
It still comes down to which do you want more: (1) water to drink or (2) cash in your pocket and no water to drink.
10X isn't the factor at the tap (Score:3)
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Much of the cost is energy, but that can be greatly reduced by using solar. Either photovoltaic panels, or concentrators that boil the water.
The Chinese have been developing the technology, which as a by-product also produces hydrogen.
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Map view limit reached (Score:2)
Map view limit reached
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Sure is a strange way to say (Score:2)
large cities create undue stress on the water systems...
Self-fulfilling (Score:2)
another way of saying (Score:2)
This just seems to be another way of saying that cities tend to grow until they run out of basic resources, and a common one of those is water.