Rural Community Assistance Partnership

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Reuters: World set to use much more wastewater - U.N.-backed study

Posted Mon, 2013/09/09 - 10:52am by RCAP

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle

OSLO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The world is set to use far more treated wastewater to help irrigate crops and feed a rising population as fresh water supplies dry up, a team of U.N.-backed experts said Sept. 5.

A study led by Japan's Tottori University and U.N. University's Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) forecast "a rapid increase in the use of treated wastewater for farming and other purposes worldwide".

The (UK) Guardian: A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water

Posted Mon, 2013/08/19 - 9:40am by RCAP

Excerpts from an Aug. 11 article in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper about communities in Texas:

"Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry's outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse."

"'Because when the water is gone. That's it. We're gone.'"

AP: Fracking fuels water fights in nation's dry spots

Posted Tue, 2013/06/18 - 8:38am by RCAP

A June 17 Associated Press article reports that "fracking presents new strains on water supplies in some drought-stricken areas of the U.S."

The article states:

While fracking typically consumes less water than farming or residential uses, the exploration method is increasing competition for the precious resource, driving up the price of water and burdening already depleted aquifers and rivers in certain drought-stricken stretches.