Staying productive in pandemic times

Photo: Water tanker in Madras (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India by Akshay Davis (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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Near the end of our Spring semester at the University of Virginia — after all teaching had moved online — I began checking in regularly with my students to see how they were holding up under the pandemic and stay-at-home orders. Most of them had moved back into their parents’ houses for the time being, and many were clearly disappointed to have lost exciting internships or had cancelled travel plans for the summer.

I wanted to find some way to help them. I didn’t have any big grants that I could use to hire them, but I timidly suggested that if they were getting bored and wanted something productive to do, I could use help in further building a map database of water shortages that I display through my Sustainable Waters website. Much to my surprise, nine students quickly volunteered!

Their energetic efforts have been most impressive. Each week, they have been adding more than 40 new cases of well-documented water shortage events from around the world. These water shortages have impacted urban water supplies, public health, energy production, agriculture, industrial and manufacturing operations, and the environment. Please take a look at their work at this website!

Here’s some of the more interesting cases they’ve found:

• Indonesia, 1970s-present: Excessive groundwater pumping and usage has led to massive land subsidence. The land has sunken 4 meters since the 1970s. The city of Jakarta is experiencing flooding and is at risk of sinking into the ocean, so officials are considering moving it back onto higher and safer ground.
• Morocco, 2017: Morocco is one of the world’s top exporters of watermelons, which are very water intensive to grow, especially in large quantities. Large watermelon farms depleted groundwater aquifers and therefore, drinking water supply to many rural areas. In 2017 alone, there were 11,000 documented water protests, half of which were in poverty stricken and suffering rural areas, such as the town of Zagora.
• Ireland, 2018: The 2018 summer drought left Irish crop fields dry enough to reveal the presence of an ancient henge. There was not enough water to properly hydrate the crop fields. As such, the position of where the henge used to be became visible when the crops died.
• Germany, 2018: In 2018, about 90% of Germany was in drought-like conditions. For nearly 4 months, ships were not able to pass through the Elbe River because the river depth was only about 50 cm. Due to the low water level a 108,00-square foot silt bar emerged and old WWII bombs resurfaced.
• Nepal, 2020: Years of rampant state mismanagement and booming in-migration from the countryside, particularly during the Maoist insurgency, have massively overextended [the water] pipeline network in Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu. Residents scramble to obtain water from privatized water tanker companies that overcharge for poor-quality water, threatening impoverished communities who have the most limited access to safe water.
•  Navajo Nation, 2020: With a 98% decrease in surface water sources over the 20th Century, an estimated 30% of the Navajo Nation has been forced to haul water from other areas or buy bottled water for cooking, drinking, and cleaning. A lack of proper water infrastructure has led to poor sanitation and even a spike in Type-2 diabetes as sugary drinks are more accessible than clean water. According to the EPA, unregulated drinking water sources are the greatest public health risk on the Navajo Nation. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic that requires access to water for preventative measures such as hand-washing, the Navajo Nation has become a center of the disease in the United States.
•  Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1998-2015: The First Congo War caused the country’s water infrastructure to collapse. The majority of rural Congolese do not have access to safe drinking water, and only 69% of urban areas receive water from state-run utilities. A study shows that after the First Congo War, more people in DRC die due to problems associated with a lack of water, such as malaria, diarrhea, and malnutrition.
•  Mauritania, 2014 (ongoing): Due to water shortage, people in Nouakchott have access to less than 20 litres of water daily, compared to the WHO recommendation of 50 litres per day to maintain health. A lack of water means there are few trees within the city, which means there are not buffers for advancing sand dunes. Desertification is one issue related to water scarcity. The city does not have basic water infrastructure such as pipelines, a sanitation system, or a diversion system for sewage water. This leads to issues with pollution and health.
•  Switzerland, 2018: At least 30 farmers were killed in Switzerland from January to August 2018 due to accidents (tripping, falling) related to dry soil caused by an extreme drought.
•  Sacramento Valley, CA 2008-2017: Due to groundwater extraction during the 2012-2016 drought in California, the ground level in multiple towns in Yolo County sank. Most notably, the town of Arbuckle sank 2.14 feet in 10 years, with 31 other sites around the county having sunk from a third of a foot to a foot.
• Bulgaria, 2020: Environmental minister resigns after it is found that he has deliberately mismanaged water supplies to go towards industrial use, endangering 100,000 peoples’ rights to water.
• Yemen, 2006: Yemen, like other Middle Eastern countries, is almost entirely dependent on fossil groundwater, and the agricultural industry is responsible for using 93% of the water. 40% of water use goes to growing Qat, a recreational drug. In addition to inefficient agricultural practices, pipe leakages have becoming a growing issue. In the capital city of Sana’a, an estimated 50% of water is lost from leaking pipes.
• Barcelona, 2008: The city of Barcelona faced its driest year on record in 2008, with Catalonian reservoirs at 20% of their capacity. A geopolitical hotspot for desired autonomy, Catalonians called on the central Spanish government to allocate water resources from other areas of Spain. Ultimately, the state spent US$127 million on water importation from France and other regions of Spain.

MY SINCERE THANKS to Kendall Benoit, Kate Cronin, Shannon Hunter, Carly Starobin, Sidney Stephens, Rus Thomas, Mel Throckmorton, and Abby Wilklow!