* Water shortages risk triggering conflicts

* But world can look to Indus, Mekong for cooperation

The main impact of climate change will be on water supplies and the world needs to learn from past cooperation such as over the Indus or Mekong Rivers to help avert future conflicts, experts said on Sunday.

Desertification, flash floods, melting glaciers, heatwaves, cyclones or water-borne d ... read more >>

Even as the world prepares for the grand climate meet at Copenhagen this December, a large part of South India has gone under water. And while talks have already begun on coming up with an equitable deal and the very fear that there may be none, over 300 people have already lost their lives while millions are displaced and missing in this global warming related freak weather event, predicted well ... read more >>

Changes in Israel’s water industry are having a drastic effect on the nation’s water bills. At the start of the year, Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, which provides 80% of the nation’s water, increased water rates by 25%. Additionally, rates will increase by another 16% during this summer, and at least another 2% at the start of 2011. Currently, water rates range between $1.5 and $2 per ... read more >>

Recent reports have highlighted the acute water shortage facing Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank and Bethlehem in particular - and noted that the average Israeli settler consumes six times more water than the average Palestinian. This is despite the latter's rights to the sources as the original owner of the land, albeit an owner who is denied access by the Israeli military occupat ... read more >>

As rapidly increasing water scarcity threatens to aggravate the effects of climate change on agriculture in the dry areas of the Middle East and other developing countries, scientists launched this week an ambitious seven-country project, which offers new hope for farmers in the face of acute and growing water shortages.

Gathering in Amman, Jordan, for a global conference on food security and ... read more >>

The annual precipitation including snowfall in India is of the order of 4000 bcm and the natural runoff in the rivers is computed to be about 1869 bcm. The utilisable surface water and replenishable ground water resources are of the order of 690 bcm and 433 bcm respectively. Thus, the total water resources available for various uses, on an annual basis, are of the order of 1123 bcm.

Although t ... read more >>

As delegates head to the United Kingdom for a key conference on Yemen, experts warn that Sanaa could become the first capital in the world to run out of water within a decade. “Water is one of the underlying challenges that needs to be addressed in order to secure the long term development and stability of Yemen,” Ginny Hill, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Pro ... read more >>

Pakistan is in drought. Rivers are flowing with 30% less water than what they normally do in January. For a country whose econnomy depends on agriculture and irrigation water, drought couldn’t have come at a worst time.

Officials of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) which manages water resources have said on Jan 25, 2010 that the rate of water flow in country’s four major rivers had fall ... read more >>