Kenya's persistent and bruising drought is having a serious impact on the country's wildlife, one of its main tourist attractions, obliging the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to feed hippos to keep them alive.

In Tsavo West national park, a vast expanse of shrubby savannah and majestic rocky outcrops in the south east of the country, hippos are dying in large numbers and other species have been ... read more >>

For decades the water pan in Daniel Waatho's farm at Njoro in Kenya's Rift Valley province never dried up - until drought hit the area this year.

"I normally harvest rainwater, but last year [2008] was the last time we had some proper rain, so my water pan has dried up," he said.

The drought killed his premature maize crop, while the beans shrivelled and died before reaching the podding sta ... read more >>

SUSTAINED hot weather was continuing to cause havoc in most areas of southwest China's Chongqing, the municipality's drought-control watchdog said yesterday.

The Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters in Chongqing said the previous day that 405,000 residents and 294,000 head of livestock were suffering from water shortages, up 197,500 and 165,000 from late August.

The worst-hit areas ... read more >>

Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va.

In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs, and chest where the bathwater - polluted with lead, nickel, and other heavy metals - caused painful rashes. Many of his brother’s teeth were capped to replace enamel that had been eaten away. ... read more >>

If coal ash is safe to spread under a golf course or be used in carpets, why are the residents of Kingston, Tenn., being told to stay out of a river where the material was spilled last December? 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl reports from the town, where a billion gallons of muck containing coal ash - the byproduct of burning coal for power - inundated homes and yards in a spill 100 times ... read more >>

I went swimming in the gutter run-off, sewage, etc that is known as the LA River in downtown Los Angeles in a failed attempt to get on an early season of Survivor. I was sick as a dog within 30 minutes of being in the water. ... read more >>

It sounds like a bold stroke: Solve upper Barnegat Bay's pollution problems by creating a new inlet between the bay and the sea.

The concept dates back to the 1960s, when the bay was polluted by effluent from obsolete municipal sewer plants and home septic systems. Now the idea is being kicked around again informally as anxiety increases over the bay's problems with suburban runoff pollution a ... read more >>

Sumatra quake hit on Wednesday afternoon (30/1) has devastated infrastructure in most areas of West Sumatra region. One of the destroyed installation is people access to clean water.

Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) specialist team on water service during disaster, has made assessment in West Sumatra since Friday (2/1) in the affected region, West Sumatra. The assessment resulted to set up 8 install ... read more >>

Hydroelectric power, a tiny component of North Carolina's energy grid, is getting another look in the Triangle as a state mandate to increase the use of electricity from renewable resources draws near.

A small hydroelectric plant built at Jordan Lake's dam by Hydro Matrix, a Tennessee company, is expected to begin generating power for about 1,700 homes as early as next summer.

Meanwhile, a ... read more >>

To expand on Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s expression about prospects for recovery – you can’t have “green shoots” without water. The metaphor is firmly rooted in reality, as water is essential to economic growth. Water, like energy, is a key input in a nation’s microeconomic equation. The case can be made regardless the path global recovery takes, the water industry is positioned to be ... read more >>