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Rivers of the World Polluted, Mismanaged
Author: Environment News Service
Date: Fri Dec 3rd 17:54:45 1999
More than half the world's major rivers are going dry or are polluted, the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century warned in a report released today in Washington.
Of the 500 major rivers in the world, the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in sub-Saharan Africa are the healthiest because they have few industrial centers near their banks, the Commission said. Problems arise because transboundary management of the waterways is not coordinated between nations or within a nation, between states.
Cooperation is crucial to restoring and saving the world's rivers, according to the Commission's report. Contamination of rivers and river basins displaced an estimated 25 million environmental refugees last year, a number that exceeded for the first time the world's 21 million refugees from warfare, the commission reported.
Overuse and misuse of land and water resources in river basins elsewhere has "seriously depleted and polluted" about 250 of the world's 500 rivers, the commission said.
Among the most troubled rivers mentioned in the report:
Egypt's Nile River: Only 10 percent of the Nile reaches the Mediterranean Sea and what does flow into the sea is polluted with agricultural, industrial and municipal waste.
China's Yellow River: Agricultural areas are polluted and the river dried up more than half the year in 1997.
Russia's Amu Darya and Syr Darya: The flow of these rivers into the Aral Sea in central Asia has been reduced by 75 percent for cotton irrigation. This has caused sea levels to recede 53 feet between 1962 and 1994.
The USA's Colorado River: Because it is used for irrigation of 3.7 million farm acres, little is left to protect the ecosystem downstream, which has now turned into salty, lifeless marshes. The Commision's chairman, Ismail Serageldin warns, "Unless we change our ways, we will soon be facing a very serious water crisis. Consequently, competing claims to water between users within countries and between countries will have to be managed in a cooperative rather than a confrontational fashion. The needs of the poor and of future generations must be secured and issues of quantity and quality of water must be addressed."
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