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UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Change

UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Change

Unread postby BrianC » Wed 06 Oct 2021, 09:55:45

UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Change (apnews.com) 53
Posted by BeauHD on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @10:30PM from the water-is-the-new-oil dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Associated Press:
Much of the world is unprepared for the floods, hurricanes and droughts expected to worsen with climate change and urgently needs better warning systems to avert water-related disasters, according to a report by the United Nations' weather agency. Global water management is "fragmented and inadequate," the report published Tuesday found, with nearly 60% of 101 countries surveyed needing improved forecasting systems that can help prevent devastation from severe weather. As populations grow, the number of people with inadequate access to water is also expected to rise to more than 5 billion by 2050, up from 3.6 billion in 2018, the report said.

Among the actions recommended by the report were better warning systems for flood- and drought-prone areas that can identify, for example, when a river is expected to swell. Better financing and coordination among countries on water management is also needed, according to the report by the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, development agencies and other groups. The report found that since 2000, flood-related disasters globally rose 134% compared with the previous two decades. Most flood-related deaths and economic losses were in Asia, where extreme rainfall caused massive flooding in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and Pakistan in the past year. The frequency of drought-related disasters rose 29% over the same period. African countries recorded the most-drought related deaths. The steepest economic losses from drought were in North America, Asia and the Caribbean, the report said. Globally, the report found 25% of all cities are already experiencing regular water shortages. Over the past two decades, it said the planet's combined supplies of surface water, ground water and water found in soil, snow and ice have declined by 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) per year. Despite some progress in recent years, the report found 107 countries would not meet goals to sustainably manage water supplies and access by 2030 at current rates.https://apnews.com/article/business-uni ... 35b577f959
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby evilgenius » Thu 07 Oct 2021, 05:28:43

I'm just starting to build a position in a little company called Consolidated Water Company. They do reverse osmosis. They make fresh water from seawater.

They are still a little company right now. I bought some shares, 4, so that when I look at my stocks I won't forget about them. I don't think they are going to grow that much right now, but in 10 years I think they will come into their own. They should be able to expand globally, in the meantime. My strategy is to buy a little bit from time to time, while prices are still cheap.

There is this thing about whether the first companies that spot needs ever really meet them profitably. Every rotisserie chicken concept fails, but for different reasons. CWCO may not be the company I think they will. Another could come along. This could be buying too early. That's why lurking now, and building a relatively cheap position, seems to make sense. Use less powder to do the same thing. Have some left for the other, if they emerge.

Anyway, this isn't an advertisement. It is my response to a situation I agree is real. It is real enough to prompt me to take risk in the market. I am positioning myself on the side of humanity when I do this. I think we can address this. We can find solutions, even if they are not yet invented.
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby Pops » Thu 07 Oct 2021, 07:44:35

I read two stories in the last bit about water crisis and both were as much about long-term over-drafting of fossil water. This is to do with global warming as well as simple tragedy of the commons environmental disasters.

One story told of the farmer turned rancher in the Texas panhandle who stopped planting annual crops like corn under deep well irrigation and instead planted prairie grasses back and is grazing beef cattle. He said his grandfather could hit water with a posthole digger but it was now 400+ feet down and wouldn't flow enough to turn his pivot. That is fossil water "deposited" with sediment from the Rockies that formed the Oglala aquifer.

The other story of course was about farmers in the San Joaquin tearing out orchards. Central valley farmers have planted trees way up the sides of the foothills, above the levels reachable by canal water from the reservoirs, and drilled wells thinking they would magically last forever. As the droughts have impacted water available for irrigation lots of farmers down in the lowlands have drilled into the fossil water deposited there along with the sediment from the Sierras.

The thing about what I'm calling fossil water is that it was the runoff that washed down the sediments that filled the "big bathtub" that is the Central Valley, and built the slope of the high plains over eons. That water held the grains of sediment in a loose matrix. When that ancient water is pumped by deep wells, the matrix collapses eliminating forever the pore spaces and any hope the aquifer will ever recharge to a similar volume. This is subsidence and is measured in feet in the San Joaquin. It buckles roads, makes canals flow backward and all sorts of problems. Not that any of that will matter if the farms dry up.

Just a couple more dots of doom
.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby kublikhan » Thu 07 Oct 2021, 13:32:32

The situation is even worse in Yemen:

Yemen’s acute water scarcity poses a serious threat to the country’s stability and security. While the past six years of conflict cannot be attributed solely to water shortage, it is an important contributor.

In past years, water scarcity has forced many Yemeni families to leave their villages and move to the cities. In some instances, entire villages disappeared due to lack of water. This rural migration added stress to cities already running out of water. In the city of Taiz, for example, public networks deliver water only once every thirty to sixty days. Furthermore, due to the current conflict, reports reveal rising tensions between internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities over the sharing of limited resources – a problem that is likely to intensify.

In Yemen, water and land are closely associated with identity, especially in the Northern Highlands that maintain strong tribal values. Thus, competition over these resources can quickly spiral into a large pattern of conflict. In fact, a study by Sana’a University researchers found that 70-80 percent of all rural conflicts in Yemen are related to water, including tribal, sectarian, and political conflicts.

Moreover, climate change impacts have become more visible in Yemen, placing additional strains on water security. Estimates of future rainfall variability show that drought periods are likely to increase. Similarly, it is expected that a high rise in temperatures could lead to higher evapotranspiration rates. Rising sea levels have leaked into freshwater coastal aquifers, worsening the water supply of three of the country’s major cities.

The impacts of water shortage on economic growth and job creation further deepens poverty and food insecurity. More than half of the country’s workforce is employed in agriculture, a sector that uses at least 90 percent of Yemen’s water resources. Hence, resource depletion, coupled with climate change and conflict, poses a serious threat to agricultural productivity and, consequently, food security and livelihoods. For example, the fall in groundwater levels in the Sa’ada Basin forced many farmers to abandon their lands. Constraints on agricultural production pushed Yemen to import as much as 90 percent of its staple foods.
Yemen’s Water Crisis: A New Urgency to an Old Problem
The oil barrel is half-full.
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Thu 07 Oct 2021, 13:45:43

evilgenius wrote:I'm just starting to build a position in a little company called Consolidated Water Company. They do reverse osmosis. They make fresh water from seawater.

They are still a little company right now. I bought some shares, 4, so that when I look at my stocks I won't forget about them. I don't think they are going to grow that much right now, but in 10 years I think they will come into their own. They should be able to expand globally, in the meantime. My strategy is to buy a little bit from time to time, while prices are still cheap.

Another idea re water which is likely less risky but has less potential for huge growth, IMO, is buying a water ETF, like PHO, for example. If fresh water gets scarcer generally, there should be room for much higher profits over time, I'd think.

The problem with that now is it's quite expensive, having roughly doubled since the Covid-19 bottom 18 months-ish ago.

The way to buy something like that is to patiently dollar cost average when the market has been BAD and stocks are cheap. Especially for something with a 10 or 20+ year time horizon, IMO.

The way I remember such things is to make lists, and store them in an organized investment folder / subfolders, but I guess I'm old fashioned that way. (Then all I have to do is remember to look at the list, but I know to consult such lists in general when the market gets REALLY ugly for months).
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby dissident » Fri 08 Oct 2021, 13:24:08

The crisis is in the shifting agricultural zones due to precipitation changes. It is not just floods and potable water, it is about crops. I think few understand the scale of this problem. Like a lot of smug expectations about geoengineering saving the day.
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Re: UN Report Warns of Global Water Crisis Amid Climate Chan

Unread postby evilgenius » Sat 09 Oct 2021, 06:34:23

Outcast_Searcher wrote:
evilgenius wrote:I'm just starting to build a position in a little company called Consolidated Water Company. They do reverse osmosis. They make fresh water from seawater.

They are still a little company right now. I bought some shares, 4, so that when I look at my stocks I won't forget about them. I don't think they are going to grow that much right now, but in 10 years I think they will come into their own. They should be able to expand globally, in the meantime. My strategy is to buy a little bit from time to time, while prices are still cheap.

Another idea re water which is likely less risky but has less potential for huge growth, IMO, is buying a water ETF, like PHO, for example. If fresh water gets scarcer generally, there should be room for much higher profits over time, I'd think.

The problem with that now is it's quite expensive, having roughly doubled since the Covid-19 bottom 18 months-ish ago.

The way to buy something like that is to patiently dollar cost average when the market has been BAD and stocks are cheap. Especially for something with a 10 or 20+ year time horizon, IMO.

The way I remember such things is to make lists, and store them in an organized investment folder / subfolders, but I guess I'm old fashioned that way. (Then all I have to do is remember to look at the list, but I know to consult such lists in general when the market gets REALLY ugly for months).


I have lists of valve and pipe companies, but those come, these days, with too much exposure, ironically enough, to the oil industry. Water valve companies too often also make valves for wells and pipelines.

I like desalinization because it is a pure play. Pure plays are interesting. They give you an in-road. You don't always have to buy them simply because they exist. Sometimes, you can use them to find other opportunities.

I like to look at the analyst reports for pure plays. There are ideas there. Yeah, sticking this one in my portfolio just so that I won't lose it may be partly emotional, I don't really know. I did own them a few years ago. I sold them. I can be really cold about stocks I sell, neutral. But the addition to the mix of making a thing deliberately neutral can sometimes add a bias.

I don't shop with a list at the supermarket, but I have many watch lists. I am always looking at them. Rarely, do I pull something out of them, but that is because they don't hit the criteria. They are not always, however, put together in order to help me see how an individual stock is doing. The lists usually show me something about the economic environment of that group of stocks. Some stuff might be tangential, and occur in other lists too. It makes for a lot of work, but I won't see opportunity if I'm not looking, I guess. And the lists don't have to be made all at once.
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