Could be a lousy portend of things to come:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/world/middleeast/01yemen.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

At the root of the water crisis — as with so many of the ills affecting the Middle East — is rapid population growth, experts say. The number of Yemenis has quadrupled in the last half century, and is expected to triple again in the next 40 years, to about 60 million.

Meanwhile, the water wells are running dry, and deep, ominous cracks have begun opening in the parched earth, some of them hundreds of yards long.

“They tell us it’s because the water table is sinking so fast,” said Muhammad Hamoud Amer, a worn-looking farmer who has lost two-thirds of his peach trees to drought in the past two years. “Every year we have to drill deeper and deeper to get water.”

Across Yemen, the underground water sources that sustain 24 million people are running out, and some areas could be depleted in just a few years. It is a crisis that threatens the very survival of this arid, overpopulated country, and one that could prove deadlier than the better known resurgence of Al Qaeda here.

Water scarcity afflicts much of the Middle East, but Yemen’s poverty and lawlessness make the problem more serious and harder to address, experts say. The government now supplies water once every 45 days in some urban areas, and in much of the country there is no public water supply at all. Meanwhile, the market price of water has quadrupled in the past four years, pushing more and more people to drill illegally into rapidly receding aquifers.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
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Water resources worldwide are nearing a crisis stage. You can look even at the US. A lot of drought in the West. Also, it is almost a feast or famine. Look ath the South East. A few years back, it was sever drought. Now there is to much rain and farmers can't harvest crops.
I think the Middle East is bad, and Africa worse. Also, India has its problems. I think Asia could be a hot spot on this issue. The Mega Dam China built has restricted flows to neighboring countries. This has hurt those countries and salinization of estuaries has begun. We have this problem in the US with the Colorado river, I think.
Tom

Correct. Big cracks all over the place in various parts of AZ as well. And yes, the drought is worsening slowly every year.

There's also and unintended consequence of the push for "clean" energy in the US. Increased reduction in water resources.

- Peter.

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1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
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A lot of population growth in Nevada and AZ. Pheonix and Vegas draw a lot of water from the rivers and other aquifiers. Also, I think the West has been in a drought state for at least 10 years. I remember there was a long drought in the 80's out there. This also effect Mexico.
I also wonder how much of it is due to pollution from China. There is something called the pan evaperation test. Basically, how much water evaperates from a pan of water. Pollution decreases clarity of the air. So less sunlight get through. The resulst is that less water if evaporated into the air. So less rain. Some think this caused the drought(s) in Etheopia during the 80's. Europe has cracked down on their emmisions, and supposively the droughts have subsided to an extent.
Also, Turkey has some dams that effect Syria and Iraq. Not a good political situation.
Tom

Maybe we should do something that would increase the global average temperature which would in turn melt and release some of the trillions of cubic meters of frozen fresh water at the poles, this increased water on the planet's surface would be subject to the elevated temperatures and more would be evaporated and transported through convection to the upper atmosphere where it would eventually condense and fall as rain?

Weather is the dissipation of any solar energy imbalance temporarily existing in our planetary system, might work!

Or we could follow the present politically correct insanity and impose a prohibitively increased tax on the use of water to stifle demand and spur the development of alternative wet-like technologies! A hydrogen powered energy economy emitting only H2O as a byproduct looks big! Water credit trading could be one of the new industries that will provide good, living wage, secure, employment that can advance humankind in the Obamafuturama!

Actually that's precisely what someone was pushing on NPR the other day when they were going on about the problems of future energy requirements. I think they said that water should typically cost at least 20 times what it does now on average.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

I have long stated that long before we really have issue's with limited supplies of Oil, that water would become a much more precious resource.

And it is.

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1990 500SL

I was always taught to respect my elders.
I don't have to respect too many people anymore.

Yemen, with its dark ages Religious mindset, and where birth control is non existent, spawns an out of control population boom.


Can't afford ONE baby?

No problem, have TEN.


And maybe a quarter or half will be bouncing boy baby terrorists.


It is a hotbed for them.

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1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

The water company my dad works for just did there first layoff ever...people are not buying enough water.

At least in New Haven county in CT we need people to use more water.

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The Colorado disappears into the sand somewhere in Mexico. Used to flow to the sea.

India and China both have problems with water.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Makes me wonder when we will address the fact that we are horribly overpopulated as a species. And you thought that socialized medicine was a touchy subject. There is a great book called Blue Gold about our upcoming fresh water crisis. Sure glad I have my own well!! Just remember- whiskey is for drinkin' and water is for fightin' over.

The Colorado used to flow into the Sea of Cortez, but now it's being completely sucked dry by the gigantic metropolis of Mexico City. There was a show on PBS aobut it once...

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Imagine the irony! Based on all the dire predictions it can’t be very long before all the bark and twig eating hippie sissies will find themselves voting Republican in order to bring back the Dick Cheney/Halliburton/GW Bush doesn't care about black people/Katrina Hurricane Rain Machine, just to survive!

Much of the ice on earth has already melted, and it has not resulted in more rainfall for Yeman or Arizona or Australia.
Fascist liars like Cheney and Bush don't care about rainfall as long their corporate buddies make money.