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| Jakarta,
home to more than 10 million
people, is the fastest sinking
big city in the world due to
subsidence caused by
groundwater pumping. Photo ©
J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue
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The
front-runner in Indonesia’s
presidential election
indicated that he supports
moving the center of
government out of Jakarta to
higher, less congested
ground.
One factor that cannot be
ignored is that parts of
Jakarta are rapidly sinking,
as much as 4 meters (13
feet) since the 1970s. This
land subsidence is driven by
excessive groundwater
pumping that causes soils to
compact. Movement of the
land can topple buildings,
and it has forced residents
to abandon homes that tilt
dangerously. Subsidence is
one reason that Widodo
floated the relocation idea.
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Rice
fields in the Mekong Delta,
near Can Tho, Vietnam. An
increase in groundwater
irrigation in the region
could affect groundwater
availability across national
borders. Photo © J. Carl
Ganter / Circle of Blue
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By John
Vidal, Ensia
The 2018 assessment of
global land degradation by
the Intergovernmental
Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES), tasked
with assessing the state of
the natural world, says the
salinization is one of the
major factors reducing plant
growth and productivity
worldwide, affecting around
20% of the world’s 740
million acres (300 million
hectares) of irrigated
farmland.
John Vidal was
environment editor of the
Guardian for 27 years.
Based mainly in London, he
has reported on climate
change and international
environmental issues from
over 100 countries. He is
the author of McDonald’s,
Burger Culture on Trial. twitter.com/john_vidal
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More
than 66 million Southeast
Asians had their lives
disrupted by drought in the
past three decades. Dry
conditions aggravated
poverty and inequality, and
inflamed regional conflicts.
Unless governments take
decisive action soon, the
future could be worse, a new
report warns.
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“What’s
Up With Water” condenses the
need-to-know news on the
world’s water into a snapshot
for the start of the workweek
via podcast.
This week's edition includes
coverage on nitrate pollution
in Iowa, U.S.,
where state data show rising
levels of nitrate in private
wells. Additional coverage
includes how water is a key
issue in India‘s
general election and how
weather and water are
continuing to trouble the Midwest,
impeding agricultural supplies
for the spring planting
season. Elsewhere, in Asia,
imported plastic waste is
flowing toward the countries
with the loosest regulations,
and there the waste is
illegally dumped, burned or
buried. Finally, Iraq’s
marshlands, thought to be home
to the biblical Garden of Eden
and designated as a UNESCO
world heritage site, have
diminished in recent years due
to poor rainfall and upstream
dams
You
can listen to the latest
edition of What's Up With
Water, as well as all past
editions, by downloading the
podcasts on iTunes,
following on Spotify, and
subscribing
on SoundCloud. |
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| From
Circle of Blue's Archives:
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| Jakarta,
Indonesia. Photo © J. Carl
Ganter / Circle of Blue
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Jakarta,
Indonesia, is sinking faster
than any city in the world–so
fast, in fact, that certain
coastal areas have descended
14 feet in recent years. One
cause is Illegal well-digging,
which is endemic in Jakarta
where only a third of the
city’s 10 million residents
have access to piped water.
The countless wells are
draining Jakarta’s aquifers,
causing the city to sink. At
the same time, the parched
aquifers are not being
replenished due to the
prevalence of concrete and
asphalt, which makes water
absorption nearly impossible.
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