By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org In this summer of drought in many places around the world, concern about water is growing.  Coping with water scarcity is a main topic at World Water Week, which is currently winding down in Stockholm, Sweden.  This is an annual gathering of leaders, experts, and perhaps a few activists to discuss
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org According to a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Pakistan is “one of the most water-stressed countries in the world, not far from being classified, ‘water-scarce’.” This has huge implications for the world’s sixth most populous country, which currently stands at 182 million people.  Projections released last month by
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org. As the U.S. west and southwest endures extremely high temperatures and record-breaking drought, the issue of providing water to still growing cities and regions should be at the top of the agenda. Tuscon has sweltered through 100 degree temperatures the entire month of June.  Las Vegas hit 117 degrees, tying its
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org With all the media focus on the NSA spying scandal, you might have missed the news that Egypt and Ethiopia – the second and third most populous countries in Africa, respectively – are coming into a war of words over a proposed dam on the Nile.  Though tensions have eased somewhat,
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Another day, another warning by scientists that human beings are pushing the planet to a tipping point. At the “Water in the Anthropocene” conference last week in Germany, 500 leading water scientists declared that water is becoming one of the most serious factors that could limit human development this century, with
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org With over 7 billion people on the planet, demand for water for household, agricultural, and industrial use is increasing even faster than population growth.  Many areas, such as the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, are already experiencing competing demands on water in a region heavily reliant on this most precious of
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Mention India and many contradictory images are often conjured up – poverty and Rajput castles, rich and exotic foods and begging mothers and children, the Himalayan mountains and Rajasthani deserts. But there is no contradiction on the importance of the Indian monsoon. Indian agriculture and much of Indian culture are intertwined
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