Posts
This is in northern Sri Lanka
Sri
Lanka Faces Water, Power Cuts As Drought Intensifies
Sri
Lanka’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board is warning of
possible water cuts, and urged that people use water sparingly, as
the country continues to reel under its worst drought in recent
years.
26
April, 2012
Thirteen
districts are severely affected by drought, villagers in some areas
have even staged demonstrations demanding that the government provide
them with water.
The
entire reservoir system in the Anuradhapura district has gone dry,
with farmers claiming this represents failure by the government to
renovate the reservoir system on time. The Agrarian Services
Authorities in the area says 2,500 small and medium water reservoirs
are affected. Deep wells have also dried up, leading to severe
scarcity of drinking water.
The
water levels at the Nuwarawewa, Tissawewa, Thuruwila, Minneriya,
Parakrama Samudraya, have been dropping rapidly. About 200,000 people
use drinking water from Thuruwila, Tissawewa and Nuwarawewa
reservoirs each day, and another 350,000 consumers, including
schools, hospitals and government offices, receive pipe-borne water
from these facilities. Authorities have stopped providing water for
agricultural cultivation from them.
The
drought has destroyed nearly 142,000 hectares of food crops in the
Anuradhapura district alone.
The
government is now trying to desilt the dry reservoirs, hoping that
they will be ready to be filled to capacity when the rains arrive.
However, the national meteorological department says there may be no
significant rainfall until October in some districts.
The
North Central Province Water Supply and Drainage Board has made
arrangements to provide drinking water through bowsers to mitigate
the problem there. The national government is also collecting data
related to the drought to provide relief to those affected.
The
drought conditions have also had a major impact on hydropower
generation in the country. Now, hydropower’s contribution to the
national power grid has dropped to 11.8 percent, while thermal power
generation has increased to 88.3 percent as a result.
Officials
say power cuts are inevitable, although the Power Ministry insists
there is no immediate threat of cuts.
Meanwhile,
Wildlife Department officials say that both wildlife and livestock
are also being affected by the ongoing drought. Authorities are
trying to fill reservoirs inside nature reserves to provide water to
the animals.
Israel
Facing Blackouts as Natural Gas Shortage Looms
Israel
is likely facing rolling electricity blackouts this summer as a
heatwave and natural-gas shortage could result in energy demand
outstripping supply, the state-run Israel Electric Corp. Ltd. said
Wednesday
WSJ,
11
July, 2012
The
electricity shortage results from both a shortage in natural gas
provisions and lack of sufficient infrastructure, including power
stations, the electric company said, although any blackouts would
only likely last for one hour each day, and occur in one geographic
region at a time, the state company said.
Moreover,
economists contacted by Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday said blackouts
would not likely impact the economy, with the problem only being
short-term. Since Israel's Tamar natural gas field is scheduled to
start production next year, the country will have enough gas to be
self-sufficient for up to 30 years, according to Ayelet Nir, chief
economist at Psagot Investment House in Tel Aviv.
Other energy news -
Building
costs rise at US nuclear sites (United States)
"America's
first new nuclear plants in more than a decade are costing
billions more to build and sometimes taking longer to deliver
than planned, problems that could chill the industry's hopes for
a jumpstart to the nation's new nuclear age.".
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