Launched in 2002, a pair of identical satellites that make up NASA’s Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) are tackling the problem in an unexpected way: they are weighing Earth’s fresh water from space. Serving as a sort of “divining rod” in space that moves in response to a powerful, fundamental force of nature—gravity—the satellites respond to changes in Earth’s gravitation field that signal shifts in the movement of water across and under Earth’s surface.

FLORES, Indonesia (Asia Water Wire) - The word 'melody' has taken on a whole new meaning for the people of Manggarai regency in the western end of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara province.

Songs drive home the point at the People's Tribunal.

It's time to make a point at the Indus tribunal.

It's time to make a point at the Indus tribunal.

 

The meeting – called Sindh Sagar Sath or a people’s tribunal on the Indus – was held at Busti Allah Aali on the west bank of the Tanusa Barrage in Muzaffargarh district in early July.

The Taunsa Barrage Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project is a 123 million U.S. dollar World Bank-supported undertaking. The dam provides water for irrigating over about two million acres of land.

Public toilets in Pakistan are filthy.

As if skin infections and other diseases weren't enough, Manggarai residents also have to contend with the lack of toilets in their homes.

"Why should we have a toilet in our house if we don't have water?" said 64-year-old farmer Norbertus Lembu. "A toilet is not a necessity in Manggarai. We have a wide backyard if we want to relieve ourselves."

A standard permanent toilet costs around 7 million rupiah (763 U.S. dollars) in Manggarai and is considered a luxury in an area where the annual per capita income stands at 1.5 million rupiah (163.5 dollars).

Public toilets in Pakistan are filthy.

 

These are the results of a recent study on sanitation facilities in Pakistan, which was conducted by Pakistan's federal ministry for environment in 2005 and revised in March 2006. It found out that only 54 percent of this Pakistan's population has latrine and toilet facilities. Out of this 54 percent, 70 percent live in urban areas while 30 percent are in rural areas.

Picture courtesy of Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California, the U.S.A. - http://cns.miis.edu

NUKUS, Uzbekistan (Asia Water Wire) - Until about 15 years ago, very little was known about the Vozrozhdeniye Island on the Aral Sea.

It is hard to argue the fact that waste management has become a large problem in the world, with landfills growing to enormous sizes and recycling rates remaining dismally low. The number of plastic bottles produced by the bottled water industry and subsequently discarded by consumers has only exacerbated this problem.

According to a 2001 report of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), roughly 1.5 million tons of plastic are expended in the bottling of 89 billion liters of water each year.

Dinner at the camp, 41 kilometres into the heart of the former Aral Sea.

A tractor stuck in the sand, 70 kilometres into the Aral Sea.

German and Uzbek scientists map out to make forests grow out of the
dry Aral Sea region.

FLORES, Indonesia (Asia Water Wire) – None of Satar Lenda's 5,000 residents know who initiated the practice and when, but they say they have always gone to the Wae Aweng and Wae Ntijo rivers, which flow through the subdistrict, to catch shrimps and eels for their consumption.

German and Uzbek scientists map out to make forests grow out of the dry Aral Sea region.

 

   But the areas where the environmental damage and desertification around the shrunken Aral Sea is most evident is today also the site of attempts to ease their negative impact. Workers are busy planting shrubs that can survive in this kind of hostile setting, ease erosion and create forests of sorts that improve the climate, landscape -- and hopefully, the overall environment as well.

So many common ailments and illnesses can be prevented and possibly even cured with an increased intake of healthy water. Headaches, hypertension, back pain, arthritis, ulcers, asthma, morning sickness and fatigue can all benefit and in many cases be prevented by regulating the body’s natural fluid levels. Recently there has been a dramatic swing in medical theory and a long overdue realisation about “healing”. The best way to prevent, treat and in many cases cure illness is to give our body the right tools and let it go to work. With the proper intake of healthy water, the right minerals and nutrients our body can overcome almost anything. 

This child is one of many who end up sick because of the poor quality of water.

Karolus Hambur tending to his paddy field, which is bad need of water.

Karolus Hambur tending to his paddy field, which is bad need of water.

Karolus Hambur tending to his paddy field, which is bad need of water.

 

   This is a distressing reality for Handur and 27 other families in Bandang village. Up until the late 1990s, they supplied more than 50 percent of rice harvests to the Satar Lenda subdistrict in Manggarai regency. 

   The regency is at the western tip of Flores Island in the East Nusa Tenggara province, located some 1,300 kilometres east of the capital Jakarta.

This child is one of many who end up sick because of the poor quality of water.

 

    In May and June 2006, more than 40 people -- most of them living in major urban areas of Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Deri Gazi Khan, Guiranwala and Sheikhupura – died of dehydration and other complications resulting from gastroenteritis. 

    Worst hit was Faisalabad, the third most populated city in Pakistan located in the north-east of the country, where at least 16 people were killed during a gastroenteritis outbreak in about a week.