Fresh Water
Depletion, Desertification, Privatization

Basics

Earth's water distribution - from USGS

• 3% of earth's water is fresh water, the other 97% is saline
• 69% of fresh water is in glaciers and icecaps
• 30% of fresh water is in ground water aquifers
• 0.3% of fresh water is in rivers and lakes

Depletion

2007-02-12·Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs.

Desertification

2007-06-27·UN experts prescribe global policy overhaul to avoid looming mass migrations.

Pollution and Contamination

2008-02-08·CDC blocks report on carcinogens in Great Lakes waters.

2003-06-11·EPA Permits Florida to Pollute Freshwater Aquifers.

1940's-1976·GE drops over 1.3 million pounds of PCB's in the Hudson river; remediation may begin in 2009.

Privatization

2007-08-01·Stockton, California City Council Reverses Water Privatization It Passed Over Widespread Local Opposition

2000-07-15·World Bank Forced Water Privatization On Cochabamba

Subsidence

2004-01-06·Land Subsidence From Ground-Water Pumping - USGS

2007-02-26·Giant Sinkhole Swallows Guatemala Homes · additional photos

Sinkholes can occur when underground rocks that can be dissolved by water—such as salt, gypsum, and limestone—are inundated. The removal of groundwater can also leave gaps underground that can lead to sinkholes. - National Geographic

Films

Blue Gold: World Water Wars (2008)

FLOW: For Love Of Water (2008)

Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water (2004)

Books

Blue Covenant,The Global Water Crisis and the Fight for the Right to Water, by Maude Barlow (2008)

One With Nineveh, by Paul and Anne Ehrlich (2004)

Blue Gold, The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World’s Water, by Maude Barlow (2002)

Home