JALAL-ABAD, Kyrgyz Republic (Asia Water Wire) -  In late spring last year, a group of Kyrgyz farmers took a decision that could have upset the delicate relations between two Central Asian neighbours of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Villagers building canals

KARACHI (Asia Water Wire) - Ask 60-year old earthquake survivor Haji Hanif, a shopkeeper in Balakot in the Hazara division of Pakistan, if people in his town need water, clean water, to drink or to wash up or for any other purpose -- and his response will be in the negative. 

   Most will also respond in the same way. That is the least of their worries, they will tell you. 

Three villages (in Ethiopia, Ghana and Nepal) are short on water! Can you help them make the right choices so that they can have access to clean water? Try your hand at an interactive game on the Wateraid website:

DHAKA (Asia Water Wire) - India’s ambitious multi-billion dollar project to connect major rivers in South Asia to augment water supply in its southern states threatens to alter large ecosystems in neighbouring Bangladesh.

   This is in addition to criticism that the water diversion plan would displace tribal people and lacks transparency, apart from the fact that Bangladesh remembers tough lessons from negative transboundary impacts from the construction of the Farraka Barrage by India some three decades ago.

HO CHI MINH CITY (IPS/AWW )- Living amidst glistening wet paddies, marshes, lagoons and rivers, Vietnamese may be said to be leading an amphibious existence. Yet, access to safe drinking water is a concern for many citizens.

   Take Nguyen Minh Trung. Every time he turns on a tap in his Ba Thang Hai Street residence in this southern city, he wonders whether the water will leave a yellow or a black sediment.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AWW) - The lush greenery along the waterway leading to fields in the outskirts of Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore is somewhat out of place in what used to be a water-scarce area.

BROOKLIN, Canada (IPS) - The United Nations estimates that upwards of 50 million people may be on the move in five years due to environmental disasters and degradation. 

   More people are already displaced by environmental disasters than war, according to the Red Cross. 

   Sea level rise, expanding deserts and catastrophic weather-induced flooding have already contributed to large permanent migrations and could eventually displace hundreds of millions, United Nations University (UNU) experts said in statement marking the U.N. Day for Disaster Reduction on Wednesday. 

Do you have good, creative story ideas on water?

Please write us at coordinator@asiawaterwire.net with your ideas,  listing the angle you wish to cover and why it is important. We're  looking for good angles for feature pieces that look in-depth at a  particular issue of the water debate, and include a mix of sources to  show varied viewpoints and voices in a story.