Posts in the 'Water' category
Natural Infrastructure: A Cost-Effective Alternative to Supply Clean Water to Bogotá
Natural Infrastructure: A Cost-Effective Alternative to Supply Clean Water to Bogotá
The Guacheneque Páramo, where the Bogotá River originates, represents the second largest source of drinking water for the city of Bogotá, Colombia. It is a key ecosystem that supplies water to approximately 25% of the city’s 7 million inhabitants. However, due to ...
India’s First Water Body Census: Connecting the Missing Links
India’s First Water Body Census: Connecting the Missing Links
A systematic, consistent, national-level dataset on India’s water bodies that could inform efforts to improve water management and increase resilience has been long awaited. The National Water Body Census 2023 is a crucial milestone in creating such a database. Undertaken ...
25 Countries, Housing One-quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
25 Countries, Housing One-quarter of the Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
New data from WRI’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas show that 25 countries — housing one-quarter of the global population — face extremely high water stress each year, regularly using up almost their entire available water supply. And at least 50% of the ...
South African Cities Show Commitment to Accelerate Water Resilience at 2023 UN Water Conference
South African Cities Show Commitment to Accelerate Water Resilience at 2023 UN Water Conference
South Africa’s cities are economic engines, drawing workers across the country and the continent. Of the country’s 58.8 million population, 68% live in urban areas. Between 2000 and 2014, urban area in South Africa expanded by 1,464 km2. Population projections ...
Water Is Key to Our Economic Future: Why Aren’t We Investing in it Like We Should?
Water Is Key to Our Economic Future: Why Aren’t We Investing in it Like We Should?
Water ripples through many sectors of the global economy. Whether companies are in the business of hygiene or hamburgers, phones or pharmaceuticals, they all have water in their supply chain. It takes 12,000 liters of water to produce a single ...
Improving Water Security Helps Reduce the Gender Gap in Mexico City
Improving Water Security Helps Reduce the Gender Gap in Mexico City
Water for human consumption is increasingly inaccessible, due to poor management, degradation of water sources, the effects of climate change and more. Marginalized groups — such as minorities, rural communities and women — are disproportionately affected by water security issues, and women often play a key ...
Forests Near or Far Can Protect Water for Cities
Forests Near or Far Can Protect Water for Cities
Water is essential to human health and well-being. In cities, leaders strive to provide secure access to clean, safe and affordable water. In rural areas, farmers hope for adequate rain and healthy rivers to produce healthy crops. The coronavirus pandemic ...
The Number of People Affected by Floods Will Double by 2030
The Number of People Affected by Floods Will Double by 2030
Flooding has already caused more than $1 trillion in losses globally since 1980, and the situation is poised to worsen: New analysis from WRI’s Aqueduct Floods finds that the number of people affected by floods will double worldwide by 2030. According to data from ...
Combating the Coronavirus Without Clean Water
Combating the Coronavirus Without Clean Water
As the coronavirus crisis spreads throughout the world, it is increasingly clear that people with the least access to essential services like water will feel the most dramatic effects. Major health organizations advise washing hands more frequently – for at least ...
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape Town and Chennai
When Cape Town, South Africa, and Chennai, India nearly ran out of water, these two cities managed to avert Day Zero with solutions that were creative and effective but far from perfect. In Cape Town, there were mile-long queues of people waiting for hours for water. ...
A Tale of Two Cities in Brazil (and the Forest that Connects Them)
A Tale of Two Cities in Brazil (and the Forest that Connects Them)
What if you could send a WhatsApp message and a colorful green van would deliver free native tree seedlings directly to you? In Salvador, Brazil, the local government does just that. Painted with a picture of a biodiverse Brazilian forest, ...
We’re Grossly Underestimating the World’s Water Access Crisis
We’re Grossly Underestimating the World’s Water Access Crisis
In Cape Town, South Africa, and Chennai, India, “Day Zero” events where cities run out of water have drawn global media attention. But while these catastrophes seem like rare, temporary crises caused by droughts or mismanagement, life without ample water ...
17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
17 Countries, Home to One-Quarter of the World’s Population, Face Extremely High Water Stress
Once-unthinkable water crises are becoming commonplace. Reservoirs in Chennai, India’s sixth-largest city, are nearly dry right now. Last year, residents of Cape Town, South Africa narrowly avoided their own “Day Zero” water shut-off. And the year before that, Rome rationed water to conserve scarce ...
PODCAST: How Chennai's Water Got to Day Zero
PODCAST: How Chennai’s Water Got to Day Zero
One of South India’s biggest cities is almost out of water. A year after Cape Town, South Africa, had its own “Day Zero” crisis, the reservoirs in Chennai are nearly dry, leaving millions in this usually-wet coastal city wondering if they ...
How Does a Flood-prone City Run Out of Water? Inside Chennai’s “Day Zero” Crisis
How Does a Flood-prone City Run Out of Water? Inside Chennai’s “Day Zero” Crisis
Chennai faced a devastating flood in 2015 that killed hundreds of people and displaced many more. Today, the southern Indian city’s four main reservoirs are virtually dry. This crisis is not only due to lack of water. Lack of proper management is ...
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