<br>By Patrick Juillet Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water,

every where, Nor any drop to drink. So wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his seminal work, The Rime of the Ancient Mar iner. The irony of finding oneself completely surrounded by water unable to parta ke a drink is not lost on us, and that may be the future as rapidly increasing p opulations are expected to more than double the need for more water by 2025. Wha t really irks me is the lack of awareness from politicians and people in general : whenever I have a conversation with a friend or a client about water scarcity, I get the same vacant look, eyes roll, and shrugs ensue. I mostly get "but we h ave had water for millions of years, and surely, the rain replenishes aquifers!" Hum, no. Google aquifers and you will discover an entirely different story. Cle an, potable water is finite. The world's apparent warming climate has caused fre sh water reserves to fall across the globe. And to make matters worse a well kno wn idiot, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from Orange County, has an idea to battle global warming: "cut off the trees!" My head hurts at such asinin e pronouncing. To most it may seem obtuse to talk of a water crisis when we've had recent flood s and deluges in some countries and yet we know water scarcity already affects 4 5% of the world s population. The next twenty five years will be crucial for not o nly governments but food producers worldwide. The message is stark: less water, less food. The following linked articles and known facts are causes for concern. . Closer to you (from EPA): Growing water scarcity in many parts of the USA, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta, could result in less water. The Ogalala aquifer stretches across 8 states and accounts for 40 percent of water used in Texas. Its volume w ill fall a staggering 52 percent between 2010 and 2060. Texans are pumping the Ogallala at about six times the rate of recharge. Water conservation and regulation policy is difficult to implement because Texas views groundwater as essentially a property right. Who benefits? T. Boone Pickens business Mesa Water and other companies are snapp ing up water rights, and looking to market water to cities like Dallas. What's n ext? Air? And don't get me started on water privatization run by the IMF & World Bank brigands! Climate change in tropics poses food threat to poor: The shorter growing seasons expected with climate change over the next 40 years will imperil hundreds of millions of already impoverished people in the global t ropics, say researchers working with the world's leading agricultural organizati ons. The effects of climate change are likely to be seen across the entire tropi cal zone but many areas previously considered to be relatively food secure are l ikely to become highly vulnerable to droughts, extreme weather and higher temper atures, say the researchers with the Consultative Group on International Agricul tural Research (Cgiar). Source Trouble in Big China:

YINCHUAN, China Even along the middle reaches of the Yellow River, which irrigates 402,000 hectares (993,000 acres) of farmland north of the Ningxia Hui Autonomou s Region s provincial capital, there is still no mistaking the smell of dry earth and diesel fuel, the abiding scents of a desert province that is also among Chin a s most efficient grain producers. Source More trouble in China: The months-long drought parching middle and lower parts of the Yangtze River bas in is the latest reminder of the risks that China's limited and heavily used wat er sources pose for the world's second-biggest economy. Even before this drought , smaller lakes around Lake Honghu were disappearing, taken over for fields and fish farms. Source UN warns of food riots in developing world as drought pushes up prices: Food prices are expected to hit new highs in the coming weeks, tightening the sq ueeze on UK households and potentially triggering further unrest in developing c ountries unless there is heavy rainfall across drought-affected Europe, the Unit ed Nations has warned. The average global price of cereals jumped by 71% to a ne w record in the year to April, more than three times higher than a decade ago, a ccording to latest UN figures, prompting its Food and Agriculture Organisation t o warn that Europe faces a pivotal few weeks. Source Africa Faces More Severe Droughts: The increased frequency of drought observed in eastern Africa over the last 20 y ears is likely to continue as long as global temperatures continue to rise, acco rding to new research published in Climate Dynamics. Source Australian gov latest data on drought: Rainfall across Australia was mixed during April 2011. All states and territorie s showed some areas of below average rainfall and some areas of above average ra infall. The largest areas of above average rainfall were in the north of the cou ntry, mainly over the Kimberley and northern parts of the NT, while the largest areas of below average rainfall occurred in the centre of the continent, with sm aller areas along the southern coast and in western parts of WA. Source Population Increases Key Driver of Water Scarcity: The report, Is Physical Water Scarcity A New Phenomenon? Global Assessment of Wa ter Shortages over the Last Two Millennia, was published by the Institute of Env ironmental Studies and the VU University in the Netherlands and the Finish Water and development Research Group from Aalto University. Source (3rd on pdf) South America Does Not Escape Droughts: A 2,300-year climate record University of Pittsburgh researchers recovered from an Andes Mountains lake reveals that as temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere rise, the planet's densely populated tropical regions will most likely experienc e severe water shortages as the crucial summer monsoons become drier. The Pitt t eam found that equatorial regions of South America already are receiving less ra infall than at any point in the past millennium. Source The following quote is extracted from a major study done just a few years ago by the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. The summary of its findings can be read in that link, it's in a pdf titled "Living Beyond our Means". If you have the time to peruse it, it will shock you.

http://waterfilterhealth.info<br>