The Watchers.com - 3/13/13, CHILLYMANJARO
A large portion of the Middle East lost freshwater reserves rapidly during the past decade. New data revealed already an arid region of Tigris-Euphrates Basin, which grows even drier due to human consumption of water for drinking and agriculture.
The research team observed the Tigris and Euphrates river basins – including parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and found that 144 cubic kilometers (117 million acre feet) of fresh water was lost from 2003 to 2009 – the roughly equivalent to the volume of the Dead Sea. About 60% of the loss was attributed to the pumping of groundwater from underground reservoirs. When a drought shrinks the available surface water supply, irrigators and others turn to groundwater.
For more info on this story click: Water Reserves
