In Gaza, Palestinians are suffering from a lack of food and water. Problems around water supply in Palestinian territories are hardly new in this conflict, but the current Israel-Hamas war is making the issues worse. Experts are sounding the alarm: The threat of famine in the Gaza Strip is real. If nothing changes, famine would likely start in the northern end of the enclave by May. Half of the people still living in the area are already in dire straits, say experts from the multinational expert group that works on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative. The IPC is made up of representatives from 19 international organizations, including the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Oxfam, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, and Save the Children. The IPC defines famine, the most serious level of its "food insecurity scale," as a situation where "at least 20% of the population is affected, with about one out of three children being acutely malnourished and two people dying per day for every 10,000 inhabitants due to outright starvation or to the interaction of malnutrition and disease." The report says the current situation in Gaza will likely result in that scenario in the near future. Access to medical care, water and sanitation will also be limited. "Access to sufficient clean water is a matter of life and death, and children in Gaza have barely a drop to drink," the director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in December. "Without safe water, many more children will die." The conflict in Gaza is worsening a water problem that was already of serious and ongoing concern. The problem is partially due to Gaza's geographical location on the coast. Most of the water locals require comes from a natural groundwater reservoir, which tends to have a higher salinity level because it's so close to the sea. The groundwater reservoir is also polluted by untreated wastewater. Damage to water infrastructure from previous conflicts in Gaza also contributes to further contamination. Back in 2011, the UN had already determined that over 90% of the groundwater in the enclave was unsafe to drink without it being treated. Water and fuel blocked All this makes locals living in the Gaza Strip even more dependent on Israel for their drinking water. After the October 7 Hamas terror attacks, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people in Israel, the Israeli state cut off the water supply and stopped allowing deliveries of fuel into Gaza. The Israeli military campaign has since killed over 30,000 people.  Two out of three pipes bringing water into Gaza were reopened by Israel by the end of October. Israeli media outlet Times of Israel said that this meant that 28.5 million liters were being piped into the enclave daily. Before October 7, around 49 million liters had flowed into the enclave daily. However, the lack of fuel also impacts water supplies. Diesel is used to power electricity generators and Gaza's only powerplant. That electricity is used to run the desalination and water treatment plants. This means that lack of fuel also equals lack of clean water. Water problems in the Gaza Strip have not been addressed for years, said Tobias von Lossow, a researcher and expert on water security at the Clingendael Institute, based in the Netherlands. Among other things, larger water desalination plants were necessary. "But these have not yet been built, even though, apart from water treatment and deliveries from Israel, there are virtually no other options for supplying the population with clean drinking water," von Lossow told DW. Where water is political The water situation in the occupied West Bank is slightly less problematic. But there are water shortages here too. According to information on the platform GlobalWaters.org, which is run by the American development agency USAID, water is often lost in the West Bank due to outdated infrastructure and damaged pipes. Only 31% of Palestinians living in the West Bank have connections to a sewage network, and only between 5% and 10% of wastewater there is ever cleaned. Experts say this only further pollutes and depletes available groundwater. Palestinians carry and fill up the water bottles amid clean water and food crisis from mobile storages of charities as they have limited access to water . The interim agreement signed by Israeli and Palestinian officials in 1995 — often referred to as Oslo II — was supposed to help regulate water supplies. The agreement, which was only supposed to last for five years until there was movement towards a two-state solution, gave Israel control of 80% of the West Bank's water reserves. 'Artificial shortage' Palestinians say that Israel restricts water to their areas but sends plenty of water to Israeli settlers in the area — the settlements here are considered illegal by most of the world. Israel, which operates a world-beating desalination and water recycling system, insists that it's supplying plenty of water to the Palestinians in these areas. A May 2023 report by the Israeli rights organization B'Tselem said that Israelis in the West Bank use three times as much water as Palestinians living there do. The West Bank's water shortage "cannot be attributed to fate, a natural disaster or a regional water crisis," the group wrote. "It is the outcome of Israel's discriminatory policy to intentionally create a constant, artificial shortage among this population."  Water is very clearly a political issue in this area, and supplies in the West Bank have been reduced over the past few years. "The drop in the water levels in the Dead Sea by an average of 1 meter per year shows how much pressure on water resources has increased," von Lossow said. "The political circumstances here also make it difficult to provide better water supplies." The dispute over water is part of long-running Palestinian-Israeli disputes, he continued. "But it is only one of several major components that shape this conflict, alongside questions about territory, identity, religion and military issues."  

Lava fountains from the eruption reached 50 to 80 meters high in some areas, and the volcanic plume rose about three kilometers above the fissure in the Reykjanes peninsula. A volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland erupted Thursday for the third time since December, spewing lava streams up to 80 meters (260 feet) into the air. Video footage of the crack in the earth's surface, estimated to be three kilometers (two miles) long, showed the fissure illuminating a plume of smoke rising into the dark morning sky that could be seen 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in the capital, Reykjavik. Bright orange molten rock spewed from fissures in the ground on the Reykjanes peninsula, and lava crossed a road near the Blue Lagoon, a luxury geothermal spa, which had to be closed because of the eruption. Eruption cuts off hot water Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management declared a state of emergency after lava flowed over a pipe carrying geothermal water used to heat homes in the area, causing the pipe to burst. Rikke Pedersen, who heads the research group at the Nordic Volcanological Center in Reykjavik, said more than 20,000 people had lost access to hot water. Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport also lost access to hot water, but said it was otherwise operating as usual. The civil protection authority urged people in the affected area to use only one small electric heater per household to avoid power outages. Restoring hot water through an emergency pipeline already under construction could take days, it said. New era of seismic activity Iceland is home to 33 active volcanic systems, the highest number in Europe. It straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a crack in the ocean floor that separates the Eurasian tectonic plate from the North American tectonic plate. But until March 2021, the Reykjanes peninsula had not experienced an eruption in eight centuries. The last eruption in the area began on January 14 and lasted about two days. Lava flows reached the outskirts of the fishing town of Grindavik, where nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated and some homes were set on fire.

A national park that provides clean water to Sierra Leone's capital Freetown is under threat due to human activities, a UN report has said. Water is a scarce resorce in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, where it is not unusual to see groups of youths gathered around water taps, jostling for turns to fill their buckets and jerrycans.  The struggle for clean water is oftentimes settled with the exchange of blows. Deforestation in the West African nation could contribute to water shortages, according to the Reuters news agency, which cited a recently-released UN report. The study called for close monitoring of forest coverage to protect the city's main water sources, Reuters said.     How does deforestation affect the water supply? Freetown is built on a forested peninsula, which is mostly made up of national parkland.  The water comes from reservoirs in the mountains — but deforestation causes rain to drain off the hillsides rather than seeping through roots into the soil and streams, depleting important groundwater sources. Freetown was designed for 400,000 residents, but is home to about 1.2 million residents and, according to the World Bank, is on track to reach 2 million within the decade.   'Luxurious' morning showers  Locals often struggle to access clean drinking water, explained Brima Jabbie, who is recognized by the community as the person in charge of maintaining order at the water source. "The tap starts running around 2 p.m., but sometimes it doesn't until 4 p.m.," another resident told DW. "So we hang out there and if it doesn't run on that day, we return home or take our buckets here to fetch water from this well," Zainab Favour Mason, a nursing mother told of her struggles to buy the scarce water that has become expensive. "We suffer in this area to access water. The tap starts running and within seconds, the supply is cut. We come to the water well, but they say unless we pay," she added.   For pupils, like Fatmata Bundu taking a morning shower has become a luxury rather than a necessity. "There are constraints for those of us going to school. It's hard to even access water in the morning for bathing and domestic work," Bundu told DW Freetown correspondent Claudia Anthony. "The tap runs three days a week and sometimes it doesn't for a whole week. When we're late for school, we're punished," Bundu said, adding that her parents accuse her of not being patient enough to fetch water before she goes to school. Bundu's concerns don't differ from Zino Thorpe's, a primary school teacher and parent. "As citizens, it's heartbreaking to see us suffer to access water and as a result, many people like pupils and nursing mothers suffer. The tap doesn't run on time, when they choose, they open it at night when everyone has gone to sleep," Thorpe told DW.   What is being done to help? To address water shortages for Freetown residents, several NGOs have set up the Western Area Peninsula Water Fund (WAPWF) to secure a sustainabe water supply for future generations. The water fund will also protect the water sources in a forest and national park located west of the Freetown. Several local laws guard natural water sources in this forest. But within this green belt, homes schools, and unregulated infrastructures have been erected, further aggravating an already dire situation.   However, Sierra Leone's Minister for Water Resources Sao-Kpato Hannah Max-Kyne warned of demolitions of illegal structures in protected areas.  "Those who have violated the law will be brought to book … If you build your house in the waterway it will be brought down because if the dam bursts it would be a catastrophe," Max-Kyne emphasized. "The issue of deforestation on the Western Area peninsula is tragic, worrying, and alarming," said Sierra Leone's Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai. "Enforcing the laws and policies is a major challenge," he said.  

The Chinese coast guard assaulted three Philippine vessels with water cannon blasts Sunday and rammed one of them, causing serious engine damage off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea just a day after similar hostilities at another shoal, the Philippine coast guard said.   The latest confrontation happened near Second Thomas Shoal as two Philippine navy-operated supply boats and Philippine coast guard escort ships were enroute to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces in a long-marooned navy ship that serves as a territorial outpost, said a coast guard spokesman, Commodore Jay Tarriela. No other details were provided. Drone video footage and photographs issued by the Philippine coast guard show two Chinese coast guard ships separately blasting water cannons at close range at a Philippine coast guard patrol ship, BRP Cabra, and a smaller supply boat. There was no immediate comment from Chinese officials. China's ships, which have surrounded the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal for years, have blocked Philippine coast guard and supply boats in a years-long effort to take control of the hotly disputed atoll claimed by both nations. The hostilities, which have been particularly heated this year, have stoked fears of an armed conflict that could involve the United States, which has vowed to defend the Philippines, its treaty ally, if Filipino forces come under armed attack. In Saturday's confrontation, the Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships also trained water cannons at three Philippine fisheries vessels to prevent them from approaching Scarborough Shoal in the disputed waters off the northwestern Philippines. That assault caused "significant damage" to the communication and navigation equipment of one of the three Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources vessels, officials said. It was condemned by the Philippines, the United States and Japan. Philippine officials added that in addition to the use of water cannons Saturday, suspected militia vessels accompanying Chinese coast guard ships used a long-range acoustic device that could impair hearing, causing "severe temporary discomfort and incapacitation to some Filipino crew." "We demand that the Chinese government take immediate action to halt these aggressive activities and uphold the principles of international law and desist from actions that would infringe on Philippine sovereignty and endanger the lives and livelihood of Filipino fishermen," a Philippine government task force that deals with the territorial disputes said Saturday. The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, MaryKay Carlson, condemned China's "aggressive, illegal actions" in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "This (Chinese) behavior violates international law and endangers lives and livelihood," Carlson said. "We stand with our Philippine friends, partners, allies in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific." In other high seas clashes this year, Chinese coast guard ships used a military-grade laser that caused Filipino crewmen temporary blindness and engaged in dangerous blocking and shadowing maneuvers that caused minor collisions, Philippines officials say. More tensions loom.   A flotilla of 40 civilian fishing boats, backed by Philippine coast guard escort ships, was enroute Sunday to Second Thomas Shoal and two other Philippine-occupied areas to deliver Christmas food packs and other donated supplies to Filipino forces.   Source: The Times of India

Showers, whether hot or cold, may offer distinct advantages. While a hot shower may strengthen cardiovascular health and enhance sleep, a cold shower may assist lessen pain, swelling, and inflammation. Here are some possible advantages of taking a cold shower now that winter has officially arrived: Your body releases norepinephrine, which has anti-inflammatory properties, when exposed to cold water, which is why taking a simple cold shower can boost your immune system in multiple ways. According to one study, swimmers in cold water "had an improved adaptation to oxidative stress," while according to another, "cold water swimming can raise the body's tolerance." The simplest method to reap these wonderful benefits is to take a cold shower, which is even easier than swimming in cold water.

Introduction Conflict over water has been predicted to be the next theatre of war. Note that the planet is covered with 70 per cent water, but only 2.5 per cent of this is freshwater. This is precisely why nations have begun to preserve fresh water and, in some cases, have gone beyond to become global water hegemons, as they grow and develop. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) provides the best example today, which is a water hegemon! The PRC, a water-stressed country, has made huge investments in water-based resources globally. Apart from the geo-political implications, the PRC’s water hegemony has had an adverse impact on the environment, well-being of local populations and pushed nations into debt traps due to resource intensive investments in dam/hydro-electric projects. The focus in this analysis is on the attitude of the PRC towards the lower riparian states and its impact. China and its global water ambitions China is said to have constructed a whopping 308 dams in 70 countries on various rivers (Tibet Policy Institute, September 23, 2016). Recent estimates of China’s dam construction worldwide shows that these dams generate a total of 81 GW of power. Such indiscriminate dam construction has adversely affected river courses, caused environmental degradation and resulted in floods and displacement of thousands of people living in the host nations and further downstream. China’s disregard for environmental conservation and consistent denials of the ecological fallouts of its mega projects on the Tibetan plateau have aggravated global concerns. China’s disregard in this regard was most telling in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Estimates show that between 1992 and 2008, over 1.5 million residents living in the floodplains of the Three Gorges Dam were displaced. China’s territory is the starting point for major rivers that flow into more than a dozen other countries, making it Asia’s “upstream controller” and giving it unmatched power to “weaponise water” against downstream countries. The development of overseas hydropower by China needs to be contextualised in these terms. Pertinently, six of Asia’s largest rivers, Brahmaputra, Indus, Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong, and the Yangtse, have their origins in China. These rivers flow into as many as 18 countries, making China the upstream water hegemon! As an upper riparian state, China’s domestic demand has pushed it to dam its rivers with disastrous result for downstream nations. For instance, China’s eleven dams on the Mekong have disrupted aquatic life and flow sediment and has directly contributed to the collapse of river banks. The Mekong dams have also triggered recurring droughts and caused floods in countries like Thailand and Laos. China’s South East Asia Water Hegemony A 2019 study by the Stimson Centre in the US shows that even though upstream Mekong received excess rainfall, China blocked the water in its dams, resulting in downstream countries facing unprecedented droughts. Satellite imagery showed that lack of water in the lower Mekong was mainly due to blockage by dams in China (The International Prism, 22 January 2022). The lack of real coordination amongst countries in the region for operating dams has allowed China’s eleven Mekong dams to disrupt aquatic life and flow sediment and has directly contributed to the collapse of river banks and the destruction of communities. Additionally, China has consistently refused to engage in mutually beneficial and cooperative water-sharing arrangements across borders. Despite sharing over forty transboundary water sources, China has very few water governance treaties with its fourteen neighbours. China also shies away from entering into multilateral, basin-wide transboundary water agreements, lending credence to the assertion that China sees water resources as a sovereign rather than as a shared source. In sum, the PRC’s approach to waters is governed by outright unilateralism and a maximalist approach to water sovereignty enabled by its rapid hydro-engineering prowess. This is one of the reasons for China not showing any willingness to share hydro data and sedimentary load data, with either the Mekong basin states or India, the two regions where China has asserted its upper riparian status with full gusto.   Exploitation of Tibet’s Waters China has attempted to exploit the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), which contains a major portion of the world’s fresh water. Official figures reveal that by the end of 2017, installed hydropower capacity in China had reached 341 million kilowatts, while the installed hydropower capacity in the TAR was only 1.77 million kilowatts, accounting for only 1 per cent of the technically exploitable potential. (Hongzhou Zhang and Genevieve Donnellon-May, The Diplomat, 1 September 2021). The downstream impact of such development is only too obvious. The inclusion of the Medog Dam (near the border with Arunachal Pradesh) in the 14th FYP was driven in part, by the CPC’s push towards Carbon Emission reduction. (Jagannath Panda, China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, 7 June 2021). China aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. As China shifts away from coal, which supplies nearly 70 per cent of its energy use, to clean energy sources like hydroelectricity, more dams can be expected to be built. (The Diplomat, 1 September 2021). Impact on South Asia A growing source of tension in the Himalayas is China’s plans to dam key rivers before they reach India, leaving India and Bangladesh the losers. It is not just a question of damming a river; China has also taken recourse to blocking the flow of rivers. In June 2020, satellite imagery showed that China had used bulldozers to block the flow of the River Galwan, a tributary of the Indus River in Aksai Chin, thus preventing it from flowing into India. There could be no better instance of a water hegemon than this. China’s proposed Medog Dam, close to the border with Arunachal Pradesh, will eventually have an impact on lower riparian states, particularly India and Bangladesh. Further, ongoing diversion of substantial volumes of water from the Tibetan plateau watershed by China for northern China, could strain India’s agricultural needs in the North-Eastern states; conversely, Chinese mismanagement could lead to overflows and floods in India. The threat of a water bomb being unleashed on India from the proposed Medog dam cannot be overlooked. For example, a Tibetan dam burst (2000) resulted in massive flooding in India. (Jagannath Panda, Jamestown Foundation, 7 June 2021). In March 2021, a change in flow rate, turbidity and quality of the Yarlung Tsangpo River water was observed. This was attributed to the massive landslide and glacial surge near the Great Bend Region. Landslides in the Great Bend Area of the River in Jialacun Village, Tibet have the potential to cause flooding towards India (Arunachal Pradesh). China’s Motives China’s motives in investing in hydropower overseas is clearly a ‘neo-colonial’ drive to capture resources and materials, both as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative and otherwise to fund China’s GDP growth at the cost of other nations. Chinese investment in power projects globally in the past two decades is estimated to be US$ 114 billion, 44 per cent of which went to hydropower. Further, Chinese companies reportedly hold an estimated 70 per cent of the global hydropower market. (International Institute for Environment and Development News, 17 March 2022). This gives us a sense of China’s ambitions and its desire to control resources wherever possible. Brahma Chellaney, one of India’s foremost experts on water, aptly states: “China’s territorial aggrandizement in the South China Sea and the Himalayas…. has been accompanied by stealthier efforts to appropriate water resources in transnational river basins.” There is merit in reviewing the India’s position on water security from this perspective and planning for the future. The combination of territory grabbing and water resource hegemony by China is a threat that all countries in South & South East Asia face and their respective security environments. The writer is a freelance journalist Source: dailyasianage.com

Water delivery in the city was hampered on Monday due to a power outage at Karachi's Dhabeji pumping station, ARY News reported. The Dhabeji pumping station, which is responsible for supplying water to all of Karachi, experienced a power outage, which means that Karachi's residents may face water scarcity. According to a Water Corporation spokesperson, the 72-inch diameter line, known as line number 5, is impacted by the power outage, according to ARY News. According to the spokesperson, representatives from the water corporation are on the scene and thoroughly inspecting the affected line in an effort to pinpoint the source of the issue. Bulkwater Corporation's chief engineer confirmed that actions are being taken to repair the damaged pipe in order to mitigate any potential inconvenience for city residents caused by the water supply outage, as reported by ARY News. The city's water supply has been switched to alternative lines, according to the chief engineer, while the damaged pipe is being repaired. Pakistan, which is already reeling from a power crisis, will now face a water crisis in parts of Karachi.

Water delivery in the city was hampered on Monday due to a power outage at Karachi's Dhabeji pumping station, ARY News reported. The Dhabeji pumping station, which is responsible for supplying water to all of Karachi, experienced a power outage, which means that Karachi's residents may face water scarcity. According to a Water Corporation spokesperson, the 72-inch diameter line, known as line number 5, is impacted by the power outage, according to ARY News. According to the spokesperson, representatives from the water corporation are on the scene and thoroughly inspecting the affected line in an effort to pinpoint the source of the issue. Bulkwater Corporation's chief engineer confirmed that actions are being taken to repair the damaged pipe in order to mitigate any potential inconvenience for city residents caused by the water supply outage, as reported by ARY News. The city's water supply has been switched to alternative lines, according to the chief engineer, while the damaged pipe is being repaired. Pakistan, which is already reeling from a power crisis, will now face a water crisis in parts of Karachi.

Water level of Teesta river is flowing 20 cm above the danger limit on Monday, August 14.  The Information confirmed by Dalia Water Development Board Executive Engineer Asfauddin Daula. Local people are afraid that the areas might go again under water. Surveyor of Water Development Board, Nurul Islam said, water level of Teesta had flown under the danger level on Sunday, but it has been flowing above the danger level since the morning. Another officials of Teesta’s Dalia point, BWDB, Executive Engineer Asfauddaula said, all 44 gates of the Teesta Barrage have been opened to control the flow of water.

Due to the heavy rain in Bandarban, water level crossed the danger level in Matamuhuri and Sangu river. Already, several areas of the district town including Lama, Alikadam, Naikshyongchari, Thanchi have been flooded. It is the scenario of the morning on Monday.  Deputy Commissioner Shah Mojahid Uddin said that thousands of people lived at different hills of Bandarban. Due to the heavy rains have started for several days, there is a risk of landslides in the district.  Therefore, the administration is requesting the people to move safely and stay in shelters. A total of 193 shelters have already been opened in Bandarban district.