Tourism ventures in a water-stressed region like southern Africa need to balance the needs of guests and staff with the needs of surrounding communities.
High resolution satellite image of the Nile River’s delta.
Shutterstock/TommoT
Despite more rainfall, devastating hot and dry spells are projected to become more frequent in the Upper Nile basin in the future.
Waters from the Herbert River, which runs toward one of northern Australia’s richest agricultural districts, could be redirected under a Bradfield scheme.
Patrick White
The ‘New Bradfield’ scheme seeks to revive a nation-building ethos supposedly stifled by bureaucratic inertia. But there are good reasons the scheme never became a reality.
Cities relied entirely on conserving and recycling water to get through the last big drought. We now have desalination plants, but getting the most out of our water reserves still makes sense.
If you want to live like a local when on holiday, you should defecate like one.
With water storages running low, residents of Cape Town get drinking water in the early morning from a mountain spring collection point.
Nic Bothma/EPA
The situation in Perth in particular has some parallels to that of Cape Town, but Australian cities responded to the last big drought by investing in much bigger water supply and storage capacity.
Cities like Melbourne are a store for such huge amounts of resources that they could be used as urban mines.
Donaldytong (own work)/Wikimedia
With an ever-increasing cost to extract dwindling raw materials, it’s time to look at cities as urban mines. We’re developing the tools to do that.
A woman takes an oral cholera vaccine in a hospital. But cholera vaccines are not always effective and never long lasting.
REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares
Many states in Nigeria are reeling from cholera outbreaks. They need better health and sanitation infrastructure to disrupt transmission of the bacteria which cause the disease.
A man sells bottled water in Lagos Nigeria, a country with abundant water resources but little to drink.
Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye
Some water researchers are ignoring the evidence offered by sampling if it doesn’t fit their preconceived notions. But science should always be honest and open.
South Africa will deal with future water constraints by importing basic foodstuffs from its neighbours.
Delpixel
Urbanisation will require massive amounts of water to sustain the livelihoods of millions expected to move into cities. This may happen at farmers’ expense.
So much water has gone into groundwater it has slowed rising seas.
Bore image from www.shutterstock.com