A Tour Of Waterworld

I attended a board meeting of a regional water district several weeks ago. Every board member had a copy of the April 2010 issue of National Geographic - - Water: Our Thirsty World. The section entitled Back to the Source highlights water issues in other parts of the world:

1. Tokyo - - The Japanese city's focus on the same-day repair of leaky pipes is a big water saver. Its leakage rate is an impressively low 3.6 percent.


2. Mumbai - - India's financial capital faced citywide water cutbacks in 2009 when levels in six nearby lakes and reservoirs used for storage fell low.


3. Beijing - - China's capital depends on groundwater pumped from the northern province of Hebei. But Hebei's reserves are running low.


4. Manila - - The Philippine capital uses water from the reservoir at Angat Dam - - which sits on a major geologic fault and is vulnerable to earthquakes.


5. Lagos - - Inadequate supplies of piped-in water in the Nigerian city lead many people in Lagos to dig their own wells or rely on local water sellers.


6. London - - The Thames and other rivers supply more than 85 percent of London's water. Some 1,300 miles of Victorian water mains have recently been replaced.


7. Montreal - - Montreal draws water from Canada's St. Lawrence River. Aging infrastructure causes about 40 percent to be lost to leakage before reaching consumers.


8. Johannesburg - - The South African city is one of the few big cities in the world not located near a major water source. Some of its supply is pumped from 30 miles away.


9. Nicosia - - The divided city's water supply is also divided. It's administered by the Republic of Cyprus government and the Turkish Cypriot community.


10. Buenos Aires - - Argentina's capital gets drinking water from the Rio de la Plata. Rising groundwater levels have led to poor drainage, fouling local wells.