When Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, was asked to ponder the future of the world before an audience of powerful businessmen and politicians, at a meeting in Switzerland earlier this year, he could have chosen any topic he liked. What he focused on was both a hoary old favourite, and a newly popular preoccupation, of debates on world affairs: the rising risk of wars over fresh water, as populations increase and the world gets drier.

J&K needs to move beyond the stage of rhetoric

Twice as much autumn rain and early winter ice helped Lake Superior, the biggest of North America's Great Lakes, bounce back from record low water levels reached last year. The deep, cold lake on the Canada-US border -- the largest freshwater body of water in the world by surface area -- rose about 31 cm (1 foot) in seven months, with half of that in April alone as the spring thaw melted heavy winter snowfall that arrived late in the season.

The World Bank will provide technical assistance of $5 million for Project Management and Future Studies under "Water Sector Capacity Building and Advisory Services Project (WCAP), which will support the Pakistan Government, in particular the Ministry of Water and Power (MoWP) with project management.

Get wiser: Rain has to be stored or recharged judiciously. While in the countryside rain is a joyful event, in a city it is met with grumbles because it disrupts plans for an evening out or causes floods on the streets or causes power breakdowns. Interestingly, city centres and slightly downwind areas receive up to 15 per cent more rain than the suburbs. It rains more in the city because of the heat island effect

The Chennai Corporation has bought six catamarans to be used to clear weeds and garbage floating on the city's waterways. The new equipment would be used to remove the floating masses and spray larvicide to control mosquito breeding, Mayor M. Subramanian said on Friday. The catamarans were deployed on a stretch of the Adyar river along the Madras Boat Club.

Punjab will set up an appropriate regulatory authority to control, manage and regulate water resources for its judicious and equitable utilisation. The state government will also formulate a new comprehensive and unified legislation on the management and administration of canals and drains in the state. These proposals are part of the State Water Policy-2008, the draft of which was approved today by the State Water Resources Committee, headed by chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh.

Climate change and reckless construction have dried up the "Water Bank' of the country

Operators of waterway transports have urged the government to take immediate steps for dredging of rivers the navigability of which, they said, have declined drastically on major routes blocking movement of vessels. Due to insignificant dredging, navigability of river channels across the country has shrunk to only 3,800 kilometers in the current dry-season, against 28,000 kilometers in 1971, they said.

Shipbuilders', Launch Owners' and Cargo Vessel Owners' Association yesterday urged the government to take immediate steps for dredging rivers to save the waterway transportation. The three water sector organisations that represent about 2,000 inland and coasting ships also demanded the government for zero tax facility in importing heavy capital machinery to let the ship making industry flourished. They warned that plying of water vehicles would be stopped if the government does take urgent steps to dredge riverbeds.