Water shortages go global

Economist | Apr. 8, 2009 (Special Report)

Water shortages are a growing problem, but not for the reasons most people think

An alarming number of the world’s great rivers no longer reach the sea. They include the Indus, Rio Grande, Colorado, Murray-Darling and Yellow rivers. These are the arteries of the world’s main grain-growing areas.

Freshwater fish populations are in precipitous decline. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, fish stocks in lakes and rivers have fallen roughly 30% since 1970. This is a bigger population fall than that suffered by animals ... Full Story »

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by Naomi Isler - Apr. 10, 2009

The article seems to be factual - has a bit of contradiction in saying that humans don't use that much and then citing shifts in food consumption as a contributing factor. It also goes into how difficult any solutions will be. A lot of this has been the subject of other reports for several years; this is a good summary.

Well, I'm glad that Madagascar has abrogated the contract with South Korea - the colonialism involved in that was appalling!