Death of the world's rivers

[cal04]

Disaster warning from UN as investigation reveals half of the planet's 500 biggest rivers are seriously depleted or polluted

The world's great rivers are drying up at an alarming rate, with devastating consequences for humanity, animals and the future of the planet. The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that more than half the world's 500 mightiest rivers have been seriously depleted. Some have been reduced to a trickle in what the United Nations will this week warn is a "disaster in the making".

From the Nile to China's Yellow River, some of the world's great water systems are now under such pressure that they often fail to deposit their water in the ocean or are interrupted in the course to the sea, with grave consequences for the planet. Adding to the disaster, all of the 20 longer rivers are being disrupted by big dams. One-fifth of all freshwater fish species either face extinction or are already extinct.

The Nile and Pakistan's Indus are greatly reduced by the time they reach the sea. Some, such as the Colorado and China's Yellow River, now rarely reach the ocean at all. Others, such as the Jordan and the Rio Grande on the US-Mexico border, are dry for much of their length. Even in Britain, a quarter of the country's 160 chalk rivers and steams - such as the Kennet in Wiltshire, the Darent in Kent, and the Wylye in Wiltshire - are running out of water because too much is being abstracted for homes, industry and agriculture.

This week an influential UN report will officially warn the world's governments of an "alarming deterioration" in the planet's rivers, lakes and other freshwater systems. Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, told the IoS yesterday that the state of the world's rivers is "a disaster in the making".

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article350785.ece

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Makes me think of one of my favorite Randy Newman songs

BURN ON

There's a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's a red moon rising
On the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

There's an oil barge winding
Down the Cuyahoga River
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake

Cleveland city of light city of magic
Cleveland city of light you're calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on
Now the Lord can make you tumble
And the Lord can make you turn
And the Lord can make you overflow
But the Lord can't make you burn

Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on

[dcfirefighter]

2. My solution - pay for it

1) Within each watershed, establish through democratic means, an minimum acceptible flow at various points along the river bed. (Minimum acceptible flow may be function, not just a constant)

2) Auction extraction rights for surplus water at each extraction point (make them pay for it).

3) Take the revenue from the river and split it among all residents of the watershed, calling it a 'Water Credit' or some such thing.

Therefore, instead of just taking as much water as is possible, people will only take as much as they need. The highest price possible will be taken (auction price). Individuals will likely face higher per gallon water charges - but they'd be give a water credit with which to pay for it. Those who use less water than average would receive more in credit than they would take in water.

As for farmers, they would not be hurt. In fact farmers would then have fair access to irrigation water. On the other hand, water rights owners would be screwed - and some of these people would also be 'farmers', though their profits would be based on their privileged access to water rather than their ability and industry as a farmer. Such a scheme would cause agriculture to make more 'sense': in arid areas, it would likely not be profitable to grow crops that could be grown elsewhere, unless perhaps they were grown specifically for local fresh consumption.

[Celtic warrior]

3. NASA

Hello

I am new here, I cannot post a new message unless I reply to already listed messages, does anyone know of a thread on NASA?