State of the worlds rivers

[Gloria]

State of the rivers: Ruinous? | The Why Files

Both human water supplies and the natural world are endangered, McIntyre says. “One-quarter of the world’s vertebrate species live in fresh waters, and hundreds of thousands of plants and animals are at risk because they live in places where threats are high.” In total, biodiversity is more threatened in freshwater than it is in saltwater or on land, McIntyre says; ominous declines are being seen in fish, turtles, mussels and plants.

Lest “biodiversity” sound frivolous, estimates suggest that the value of “ecosystem services” like clean air and clean water exceeds the global economic output. The necessity of clean water is obvious, but we are also utterly reliant on plants, above and below water, to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.
And these ecosystem services are best served by stable ecosystems.

[Gloria]

So many rivers are altered and polluted by human population expansion that picking one to highlight offers up many options. Right here in the US there are plenty to choose from.The Colorado and the Mississippi can make you cry. But one river keeps me awake at night. The Ganges river , Varanasi (Benares) India.
The world bank is coughing up a few billion dollars to help with the clean-up.
India's huge population and the use of the Gange for spiritual bathing and other rituals means support for a clean river is strong but change is expensive and difficult.

It is very hard to come by statistics on good sites but any search with Ganges and pollution will get you a look at the problem.

India's Holy Ganges Gets a Cleanup - WSJ.com

Water Resources and Population Pressures in the Ganges River Basin, Haroun Er Rashid

Pollution, Indifference Taint India's Sacred River : NPR

There is an interesting river Dolphin that lives and breeds within the Ganges River and its tributaries. Pollution and dams are endangering this creature along with most other species, including the many humans in contact with this waterway. If this river can be cleaned up there is hope for us yet.

ADW: Platanista gangetica: Information

[Equilibrium]

Excellent articles!!! I caught this, "When farms, people or industry get thirsty, “Freshwater biodiversity has not tended to play role in discussions about water security,” Revenga says. “Usually there is a lot of focus on providing water that is secure and safe. Irrigation took precedence at first, and now cities take precedence, but the ecosystem hardly gets included.... As developing countries, where people struggle to find water for faucets, farms and factories, embark on the dam-building that was so crucial to European and American water supplies, saying “don’t do what we did” seems hypocritical at best and repugnant at worst.” How true how true!!! I think there's hope though. Live by example and that's what we're starting to do in the US. I don't know if you're aware of this but we've undammed almost 1000 rivers. That's a pretty darn good start at reversing some of the ecological damage.

[Gloria]

Governments may be forced to pay more attention to biodiversity in discussions about water security as more is learned about the services provided by a healthy ecosystem. How do we, as a society, get more scientists involved in political office?
Yes I am aware that many rivers have had dams removed. Do you recommend any sources of information?

[Equilibrium]

We’ve got some pretty serious “water security” issues right here right now and it’s not like our government is paying attention to them. For right now… I don't think a government that's trying to avoid "meaningful" discussions on ecosystem services can be forced to do much of anything but... it can't hurt getting down on our knees and begging them to pay attention to the sale of our water rights and.... we could beg them to close up that loophole in the Great Lakes Compact that’s taking our fresh water out of the public common, PolitiFact Ohio | Dennis Kucinich warns that loophole in the Great Lakes compact could allow exploitation of water, then…. we could toss in a request to put an end to eminent domain abuses, Eminent Domain: What It Means To You. Those 3 things would exponentially help biodiversity but…. I don’t see any of it happening anytime soon no matter how much we beg which….. is a shame. Too many big time conflicts of interest out there with everybody and their brother partnering and conferring with "stakeholders".
I think getting scientists into political office is gonna be a reeeeeeeal tough sell.
As far as where to go for information…. not TNC. They’re partnered with Nestle, Corporate Partnerships - Nestlé Waters North America and I wouldn’t go to the WWF either since they’ve partnered with Nestle on a national and international level too. I’d start with a diehard environmentalist out there named Dave Dempsey. Read anything he authors to get a good working knowledge of the issues from his perspective.... which I think you'll agree with then.... find out what a spragg bag is and what Veolia Environnement S.A. is really all about and who they’re partnered with and you’ll be in a really good position to get all the information you could want and then some.

[Gloria]

Thank you Equil, I have much reading to do.

[Gloria]

Take a look at the many river restoration projects.

Dams and Dam Removal

Here is a list and information concerning dam removal on rivers in 2011.
2011 Dam Removal Resource Guide

[Equilibrium]

Those dam removal projects are great and they're totally a step in the right direction.... now all we have to do is somehow someway find a way to KEEP our fresh water in our aquifers NOT China's aquifers so we don't end up with dry riverbeds, Nestle OK?d to turn Arkansas River springs into bottled water product | Colorado Independent and Do Not Allow Nestle to Destory Arkansas River - Sign the Petition | Change.org. BTW.... little bottles manufactured in China aren't the only place our fresh water that's being pumped is going. It's that little loophole.... follow the money.

[Equilibrium]

I should have been more upfront when posting in this thread before. I don’t watch tv so I didn’t even know there was an actual tv series out there and if I’d known…. I would have been “turned off” the minute I saw the host was Jesse Ventura but…. my girlfriend begged me to watch all of it so…. I ate my lunch in my office and watched it. I knew what Nestle was up to but…. I had no idea spragg bags were filled with OUR water and…. I’ve seen a spragg bag before and never thought to question what it was and what was in it.
Anywhooo…. try to ignore all the Jesse sensationalism and maybe jot down a few notes while you’re watching the 3 water videos which will appear one after the next and they’re all short.... only 13-15 minutes a piece and then start following the money on your own from other sources.
David Icke, Alex Jones, Jessie Ventura and George Green - The End Game - David Icke Website
Anyone watching these videos will get it real fast. I spent about an hour googling what I saw and I'll be darned.... Ventura's NOT a total whacko talking out his rear. Nestle is not only selling us back our own water…. but….. Nestle’s using that loophole and they’re literally sucking us dry while we’re distracted worrying about AGW catastrophes of Biblical proportions.
It’s hard tracking down that French multinational Veolia Environnement. Watch your spelling of the word environment or you won’t be able to do your own research on Veolia.
See this….
YouTube - Spragg BagTM Waterbag Demonstration Voyage
Did you catch they’ve got bigger bags now and did you catch the reasoning behind the use of these bags is so we could start shipping water from places where there’s too much to places where there’s not enough. So began the shipping of billions and billions of gallons of our water to the “developing” nation of China. We’re robbing our children under the guise of protecting them from AGW. Redistribution of our water to “developing” countries was one of the UN’s goals…. it’s a bandaid on the unsustainable population growth occurring in many “developing” countries. In China’s situation…. they’re depleting their fresh water primarly because of the number of coal plants they’re building to “sustain” their huddled masses. They need our water to recharge their aquifers or their agriculture and exports go under. And lookie here, World Bank Pressured over Record Fossil Fuels Lending - IPS ipsnews.net, “World Bank Pressured over Record Fossil Fuels Lending...lending for coal-based power rose 356 percent from the fiscal year 2009”. Coincidence that billions and billions and billions of gallons of our water is ending up in China and now in Africa because of “loopholes” when we haven’t built one new coal plant in the US in how many years and folk still think AGW is responsible for ALL our droughts? Is this a coincidence too when environmentalists are struggling to protect our lands, India, China buying U.S. coal mines, shale gas fields | Grist
Stripping our lands of coal and water does nothing to preserve biodiversity here in the US and little to support biodiversity overseas but does EVERYTHING to support unsustainable population growth in “developing” countries. The reality is…. our government has already “sanctioned” the theft… and I do mean theft at the price and cost to our lands that we’re selling it to them for…. one of our most precious resources…. our water and our fossil resources.
Thank you WTO for screwing the plants animals and humans on the continent of NA and I do mean on NA because the Canadians go down with us because of NAFTA. This isn’t about the environment to these “stakeholders” and hasn’t been for a long time. Anybody ever wonder what happens to Americans once they’ve taken what they want…. hate to be so blunt but…. that’s when the usefulness of our descendents will outweigh the CO2 they emit by breathing and using precious resources to survive.