News

The Australian drought, although devastating to many farmers, is bringing about a much-needed transformational change in the attitudes and general water -consciousness of many Australian city dwellers. In the past, farmers have endured the periodic onset of drought whilst urban Australians went on their merry way oblivious to the hardships in the bush.

BURKINA FASO (West Africa) is now experiencing a growing increase in arsenic poisoning in water wells. This problem is similar to that which has existed in Bangladesh for many years. With signs that people are developing diseases linked to arsenic poisoning, the Burkina Faso government said on Thursday that it had turned off pumps to 11 deep-water wells in areas in the north of the country where water is particular scarce, adding that it may still have to close down hundreds more wells.

According to a 1999 report of the Secretary General of the UN on global water resources, the world is facing a worsening series of local and regional water quantity and quality problems in the years ahead. The countries which will be worst effected are those which lack the necessary financial resources for sustainable development and management of water resources. The 2006 drought in Australia has shown that even developed countries are not immune from the economic ravages of water shortages and effective planning is required to ensure that long term supply of water is guaranteed.