Argentina-Brazil
Iguazu Falls Thundering Again After Scary Encounter With Climate Change
Iguazu Falls: The Devil’s Throat. Photo by David Curtis
By Ada M. Alvarez
IGUAZU, Argentina —You need a poncho when you go to Iguazu Falls. At the Falls, one of the great natural wonders of the world, a fine mist sprays over the jumble of cataracts, the walkways and the lookout points. The views here, at the northeast border of Argentina with Brazil, are mesmerizing. Butterflies pirouette in the wet air and families of rainbows spring up and fade in the shifting light.
The falls, discovered by the Spanish explorer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541, are breathtaking. But they lost some of their luster…
Mexico City
Worldwide Problem of Fertilizing with Raw Sewage Endangers Health of Farmers, Ordinary Families
Vegetable fields north of Mexico City. Photo by Janet Jarman
A Multi-Media Story of Raw Sewage, Vegetable Farming and the Costly Consequences - By Janet Jarman
Around the world farmers in developing countries often fertilize their crops with raw sewage. Crops blossom. But the bacteria from human and animal waste and an awful soup of chemicals in the sewage inflict an array of sicknesses and diseases on farm workers and the unwitting families who buy the food in markets and take it home to eat.
Officials in Mexico City are trying to fix their problem with raw sewage and farming by replacing their “Aguas Negras” or “Black Waters” with cleaner, healthier water. But they are just starting work on a big treatment plant and, already, they are running into objections from farmers who do not see the full scope of the health disaster and worry that treated water will not be as good for their crops and their earnings. Janet Jarman, an American photojournalist and multi-media specialist in Mexico City, tells the story here in three parts: Great Fertilizer, The Human Cost and The Source, The Solution.
China
Chairman Mao’s Dream Water Project May Benefit Beijing At Expense Of Farmers
Stretch of just-completed canal in China’s huge project to increase Beijing’s water supply. Photo by Du BinBAODING, China — Chairman Mao had a dream. And now, nearly 60 years after he first outlined it for the Chinese people, the dream is becoming a part of the landscape. Mao’s dream was to make water plentiful in Beijing, the teeming, thirsty capital, and the rest of the dry North China Plain. China could achieve that, the chairman said, by pumping…
India:
An Enduring Plague - Part III
Disease Caused by Chemical Contamination Often Strikes Hard In Early Years of Life
Carrying clean water. Photo by Ramu Suravajjula
Part three of a three-part series
By Ramu Suravajjula
NALGONDA, India – Fluorosis, a crippling disease caused by drinking water with high levels of fluoride, often becomes evident in people early in life.
Kanchukatla Subhash , the founder of a private aid organization dedicated to helping victims of fluorosis, estimated that nearly…
Kenya
Writer’s Childhood Trek for Drinking Water Still A Daily Reality For Millions In World
A street in Kiambu, Kenya where Joyce Chimbi grew up. Photo by Meg McCarron
By Joyce Chimbi
Part Two of A Story in Two Parts
NAIROBI, Kenya—When I was seven years old, one of my family chores was to walk down to the river, half a mile from our home, and bring back jugs of water for drinking, cooking and bathing. In my town of Kiambu, a 45-minute drive from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, no one had running water.
Nearly 20 years later, many people in Kenya and in other developing countries of the world, still do not have running water. The number of people around the world without consistent access to clean water is…
India: An Enduring Plague - Part II
A Tormented Place Where Merely Drinking The Water Is Destroying Health
A woman pumping water from a contaminated well. Photo by S. V. Ramana
By Ramu Suravajjula
Part Two of A Three-Part Series
NALGONDA, India – This is a tormented place. For decades many of its people have suffered from a crippling disease called fluorosis. It deforms the body and causes persistent pain.
The illness results from consumption of high-levels of fluoride that seeps into underground pools of drinking water in parts of Asia and Africa…
India: An Enduring Plague
Generations Crippled By Chemical in Drinking Water
Tending cattle in stricken district in south India. Photo by Shreyans Bhansali
By Ramu Suravajjula
Part one of a three-part series
NALGONDA, India – Amsala Swamy is 27 years old. But he looks more like a 10- or 12-year-old boy. He has short twisted legs and rubbery arms. His growth has been stunted and his body is as delicate as glass. Utmost care is needed to carry him from one place to another lest he…
India
Farmers Threatening Long-Term Water Supply By Heavy Pumping of Underground Reservoirs
Working parched farmland in Rajasthan in northern India. Photo by Helen Ojha
From Our Worldwide Correspondent
Venkata Vemuri
NEW DELHI—India has been struggling with a drought in its northwestern regions. But a more severe, long-term threat to the country, scientists say, may be chronic over-pumping of water from underground reservoirs by farmers trying to meet the nation’s need for food.
Even before the low-rain fall this year, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States…
Inside: An author writes and an artist paints on water scarcity
Zimbabwe
Neighbors Becoming Less Neighborly As Dwindling Rain Shrinks Border River
The main street in Thandabantu, Plumtree, Zimbabwe at the border with Botswana. Photo by Thabo M. Nyathi Courtesy of Bulawayo1872.com
By Marko Phiri
PLUMTREE, Zimbabwe— For as long as anyone can remember, the little towns of Plumtree and Ramokgwebana have shared the waters of the Ramokgwebana River at the border of Zimbabwe and Botswana in southern Africa. But because of reduced rainfall the river has been shrinking and the people of the neighboring towns have begun fighting over the water.
A river that was once 100 yards wide has shrunk by half. As a result, stretches of what used to be river bottom on both sides of the river have become sandy beaches. Old demarcation lines have become…
Middle East
Turkey and Iraq, Partners in So Many Ways, Struggling Over Waters of Tigris and Euphrates
Euphrates River in Turkey en route to Iraq. Photo by Becky Lai
From Our Worldwide Correspondent
Venkata Vemuri
BAGHDAD — There’s something more precious to Iraq than oil. It’s water. Facing a drought for the fourth straight year, Iraq is at its wit’s end trying to fulfill the basic water needs of its people as it struggles to wind-down its long, American-backed war. The country’s main sources of water are the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, both largely controlled by Turkey at its northern frontier.
Iraq says Turkey is not letting enough water flow downstream for its people and crops. It is furious and the tension between Iraq and Turkey, partners in so many other areas, has leaders in neighboring countries…
Inside: More on Turkey-Iraq dispute plus world climate change
You can lend your voice to discussions taking place online about global water issues. 1H2o is partnering with helium.com in another effort to bring awareness of the global water crisis through the creation of media on the subject. Click on one of the titles below to participate and compete in the 1H2o Citizen Journalism Awards Contest.
What are the climate change dangers facing oceans?
1 of 8By Petra Newman
Oceans have inspired us, delighted us and sustained us since the beginning of time. The oceans were teaming with life. Every creature was important, from the miniscule amoebas, to the great whales. The oceans were in balance and took care of the planet.
Not only did the oceans feed us, but because of the oceans ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere it mitigated the consequences of global warming, thereby forestalling the melting of glaciers, the submergence of coastlines
Read all answers.
Question: What is causing Lake Chad and other lakes to shrink?
By Mouhcine Azizoun
"This lake has to be saved” cried Wakil Bakar from the Lake Chad Basin Commission. The lake is shared by four countries. It is a source of water to both humans and livestock. Its shrinkage represents a huge threat. Alas Lake Chad is not the only ecological catastrophe.
Read more at Helium.com...
Click here for previous winners
Author's Statement & Bio:
I am blissfully happy. At last, I am one of the winners of the Citizen Journalism contest. I must admit that it means a lot to me as a young, novice writer.
I have a consuming passion for writing and complete adoration of the precious water. Since my childhood, I have always heard about the late Hassan II, king of Morocco and his water strategies. Also, the fact that he predicted wars over water makes me really appreciate the blue gold and think twice and thrice before wasting it.
I am a young Moroccan who just graduated from Ibn Tofail University, Morocco. I have a BA in English Studies and a passion for writing. I have been writing for Helium to improve my skills and gain experience. My goal is to write my first book. This award has really urged me on. Thank you very much.
Click here for previous author's statements
University Medical Center's Todd Amphitheater
