Истощение водоносных горизонтов (аквиферов) на гигантской дуге от Марокко до Индии носит системный характер. Из-за климатического кризиса и неконтролируемого бурения регион безвозвратно теряет свои стратегические запасы пресной воды.

Главные аквиферы региона и уровень их деградации

Аквифер Сусс-Масса (Марокко)

Тип бассейна: Возобновляемый, прибрежный предгорный.Уровень деградации: Высокий (критический).Статус: Из-за массового выращивания цитрусовых на экспорт уровень грунтовых вод падает со скоростью от 1.5 до 2.5 метров в год. В прибрежных зонах падение давления привело к необратимому засолению морской водой, сделав воду из сотен колодцев непригодной для полива.

Северо-Сахарская водоносная система / NWSAS (Алжир, Тунис, Ливия)

Тип бассейна: Ископаемый (практически не возобновляемый).Уровень деградации: Умеренно-высокий.Статус: Огромный резервуар содержит «древнюю» воду. Ежегодный объем откачки превышает естественное пополнение в 3–4 раза. Основная деградация выражается в резком падении артезианского давления и естественном засолении из-за испарения воды на орошаемых полях.

Нубийский водоносный слой песчаников (Египет, Ливия, Судан, Чад)

Тип бассейна: Крупнейший в мире ископаемый аквифер.Уровень деградации: Умеренный, но стабильно ухудшающийся.Статус: В центральной пустыне запасы огромны, но в оазисах Египта (Новая Долина) и Ливии из-за проекта «Великая рукотворная река» уровень воды упал локально на 30–60 метров. Вода здесь не восстановится, так как слою более 20 тысяч лет.

Аравийская водоносная система (Саудовская Аравия, ОАЭ, Оман, Иордания)

Тип бассейна: Ископаемый, пустынный.Уровень деградации: Катастрофический (экстремальный).Статус: По данным космического мониторинга, это один из самых истощенных аквиферов на планете. Саудовская Аравия за последние 40 лет безвозвратно израсходовала более 80% своих невозобновляемых подземных запасов ради амбиций в сельском хозяйстве. Местами уровень упал более чем на 100 метров.

Центрально-Иранский и загроссские бассейны (Иран)

Тип бассейна: Смешанный (горный / межгорные равнины).Уровень деградации: Критический.Статус: Страна переживает антропогенную засуху. Из-за незаконного бурения сотен тысяч скважин аквиферы истощены настолько, что в Иране ежегодно фиксируется рекордное проседание грунта (до 30 см в год). Пустоты внутри водоносных пород схлопываются, уничтожая саму структуру аквиферов.

Индо-Гангский речной бассейн (Индия, Пакистан, Бангладеш)

Тип бассейна: Возобновляемый, аллювиальный.Уровень деградации: Катастрофический (мировой лидер по объемам потерь).Статус: Северо-запад Индии (Пенджаб, Харьяна) качает воду со скоростью, в разы превышающей муссонное пополнение. Помимо падения уровня воды на 1–2 метра в год, здесь наблюдается тяжелейшая качественная деградация — химическое загрязнение мышьяком, фтором и нитратами, концентрация которых растет по мере осушения пластов.

Суммарно пояс от Марокко до Индии ежегодно теряет около 40–50 кубических километров подземной пресной воды, которая копилась там тысячелетиями.

Прогноз климатической миграции по регионам дуги «Марокко — Индия»

Ближний Восток и Северная Африка (MENA):

Является абсолютным мировым лидером по угрозе. Ожидается, что к 2030–2040 гг. из-за высыхания оазисов и деградации почв каждый десятый житель региона (десятки миллионов человек) будет вынужден покинуть свои дома в поисках воды. В одном только Марокко к 2050 году прогнозируется до 1.9 млн внутренних беженцев.

Иран и Центральная Азия: Массовое проседание городов и пересыхание скважин из-за коллапса аквиферов сделает необитаемыми целые сельскохозяйственные провинции. Ожидается отток до 10–15 миллионов человек из восточных и центральных районов Ирана в более северные регионы или за пределы страны.

Индия и Пакистан (Южная Азия):

Худший сценарий по абсолютному числу людей. Истощение Индо-Гангского бассейна ставит под угрозу продовольственную безопасность 600 миллионов человек. По прогнозам, к 2040 году дефицит воды может согнать с земель от 40 до 60 миллионов мелких фермеров и их семей только на северо-западе Индии.

Особенность водного беженства до 2040 года

Большая часть этих людей (до 85%) на первых этапах станут внутренними мигрантами. Они будут массово переселяться из засушливых сельских районов в ближайшие крупные города. Это вызовет лавинообразную нагрузку на инфраструктуру мегаполисов, которые сами страдают от нехватки воды (например, Дели, Карачи, Тегеран), что в конечном итоге спровоцирует вторую волну миграции — уже межконтинентальную ,в сторону Европы и Северной Евразии - или до куда смогут добраться...

Процесс водного беженства и климатического переселения народов уже идет полным ходом, начиная с середины 1990-х — начала 2000-х годов, однако долгое время он оставался скрытым из-за других факторов , более "освещаемых".Да и сейчас освещение именно "водной" составляющей - минимально , узкоспециально и до массовой аудитории не доходит - или почти не доходит ..

Источники :

https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/

https://www.nature.com/articles/srep24398

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002%2Fwrcr.20078

https://www.undp.org/water

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/09/13/climate-change-could-force-216-million-people-to-migrate-within-their-own-countries-by-2050

We recently completed NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 and NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 certification for a new line of stainless steel flanges covering AWWA C228, ASME B16.5, and ASME B16.47 configurations.

If you work with drinking water, clean water, or sanitary systems, we hope you find this information useful!

A 22-ton yellow Canadian machine called Iceberg is parked on land in California with no motor, no battery and nothing to plug into, built to sit offshore and turn 13,200 gallons of the Pacific into fresh water a day

Posting here because it was removed by TIL for being “political”

Aug 28, 2026 110 pm EDT

Continually scanning the news wires for boil water advisories (BWA's), we have tripped on a concerning trend. More often than not, water utilities are relying on social media platforms for delivery of critical public messaging about drinking water safety.

A recent BWA notice given on a popular, private social media website indicated the end of a boil order for a Georgia town. A resident from the affected area commented with grave concern, I see the rescission notice, however entirely missed the boil order in the first place. This is not the first time the BWA notice has been missed, and that should make us stop and think.

Toledo Water Crisis, 2014
In the wee hours of Saturday, Aug 2, an emergency alert was issued for half a million Americans in Ohio and Michigan. Local news outlets pushed short messages to subscribers, gave live coverage to supplement the emergency alert. Social media websites enhanced public notice, helping to spread the word that the water was not safe to touch, let alone drink, and boiling the water would only make matters worse.

A common freshwater contaminant, toxin from Lake Erie's resident bluegreen algae bloom had infiltrated the raw water intake pipe of the Toledo water treatment system, contaminating the lines, filters and pumps as it poisoned the water itself. Unlike microbiological contamination, cyanotoxins can make humans very ill and kill animals, by ingestion or absorption. The challenge in such a crisis, is to reach and warn everyone in harm's way, in time.

The missed BWA that became deadly
In May 2000, half the population of Walkerton, ON fell ill with severe gastrointestinal symptoms. An emergency room doctor made the call for tap water to be checked as a potential source of the outbreak. By the time a public safety message was released about certain microbiological contamination in the town's drinking water, it was far too late. Seven people died from drinking the contaminated water.

Judge Dennis O'Connor led the public inquiry that followed. Justice O'Connor examined the series of events leading to the fouling of the town water supply, the silence from the water treatment plant and the outbreak of illness over days and weeks following. The inquiry exposed the source of contamination, along with the role and liability of the water plant operators. The Town staff were found liable for failing to maintain water quality to the standard, failing to monitor and keep records and failing to issue public notice, the boil water advisory. The inquiry examined the role of public utilities commissioners, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and the provincial government in ensuring public advisories are delivered to all users on a timely basis.

The tragedy at Walkerton pushed Canadian provinces and territories to assess, monitor and disclose DWA's with transparency. According to the editor at WaterToday Canada, "Daily reporting by provinces gradually got better and is now punctual and comprehensive."

Any event that causes water pressure to fall below a minimum threshold can lead to microbiological contamination of the treated drinking water. Storms, power outages, leaks and line ruptures happen in all locations, at all hours, without warning, prompting the need for a pre-cautionary BWA until the water can be tested and determined safe. Not all provinces and territories report these infrastructure and operating incidents, or the precautionary BWA's that follow. In most cases, infrastructure issues prompting BWAs are the responsibility of the water plant operator or municipality, to inform the local connections impacted.

See an In-Depth Analysis of 400,000 miles of water mains in the US and Canada, Utah State University (USU) report on water infrastructure break rates, here.

When WTNY.us began reporting water advisories in New York in 2021, the vast majority of water plant operators told us they report short term, precautionary BWA's to the affected users by knocking on doors, dropping off flyers when the residents are not home. When these events are reported to County Health authorities, a time-stamped press release is sent to local news media, in a professional format with complete location and jurisdiction details, including a public contact phone number. Drinking water facilities and County Health departments are not obligated to report these short-term, infrastructure incidents to the State or federal drinking water authorities. There are no official State or federal records of BWA's available to the public in the USA.

In 2021, the majority of 8400+ licensed public drinking water facilities we reached in New York State were not using social media platforms for making emergency BWA notifications. Over the last five years, we have been seeing a greater reliance on social media platforms. In Canada, BWA's are still most commonly conveyed by government officials, from the provincial and territorial health regions, delivered via local news media, with Quebec being the notable exception. Quebec has widely adopted social media for delivery of BWA's. In Mexico, there is minimal reporting of drinking water issues to the public. With recent public protests in Guadalajara, it is clear citizens are starting to clamour for disclosure on drinking water quality.

In drinking water emergencies, such as the need to boil water prior to drinking, preparing beverages and brushing teeth, the timeliness of public notice is an issue. As most youth and adults are carrying mobile phones, it is expedient for water plant operators to use social media and SMS messaging direct to their rate-payers.

Internet and social media posting do not cover all the public notification bases

As water utilities are privatized, reporting for public notification seems to be changing. Private water utility Utilities of Georgia, Inc. make their notifications on their customer-friendly website, issued and updated on a timely basis. Certain details are lacking, making it difficult for anyone other than the local users to decipher the news. Visitors to the community could easily be missed when internet or social media are exclusively relied upon for delivery of the BWA notice.

For the full article, https://wtga.us/viewarticle.asp?article=1179

Environmental regulators in Texas issued an emergency order on Tuesday evening suspending requirements for the drought-stricken city of Corpus Christi to release water from its reservoir system in support of coastal wetlands.

On the same day, Corpus Christi lifted restrictions on watering lawns that had been in place since 2024, when its reservoirs remained below critical levels until a dramatic rebound in July.

“The city has chosen lawns over the bay,” said Larry McKinney, a former senior director of aquatic resources for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who lives in Corpus Christi. “Without freshwater inflows, the bay becomes basically a giant sewage treatment pond.”

The emergency suspension of requirements for environmental flows is the latest episode in a fight over water that has consumed Corpus Christ, an industrial hub on the semi-arid South Texas coast, during years of intensifying drought.

Corpus Christi hasn’t released water into the Nueces River Delta and Nueces Bay since 2024 while its reservoirs remained below 30 percent full, the trigger point for environmental flows established in a 2001 administrative order by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Epic rainfall in July refilled the Nueces River reservoirs above 40 percent, but Corpus Christi delayed releasing water and requested a suspension of the rule.

“Without emergency relief, Applicants could be required to release as much as [11.9 billion gallons] of inflows,” the city wrote.

The TCEQ granted Corpus Christi’s request on Tuesday, suggesting that the region’s water crisis isn’t over yet.

“Although the reservoir system is above recent lows, long-term data and weather forecasts suggest a return to critical levels is foreseeable,” wrote TCEQ Executive Director Kelly Keel in the Aug. 25 emergency order. “The region is not expected to experience relief from persistent drought conditions and drought conditions are expected to worsen.”

If below-average rainfall continues, reservoirs could fall back below 30 percent in April next year, said Corpus Christi Water Chief Operating Officer Nick Winkelmann in a presentation to City Council on Tuesday.

Regardless, the city opted to lift restrictions limiting automatic sprinkler system use to once weekly, which had been in place since March 2024.

“Why do we have to let the residents suffer? They want to water their grass,” said City Council member Eric Cantu at a City Council meeting last week. “Let them water their grass.”

Lawn watering accounts for nearly half of municipal water consumption in the summertime in Texas, according to the Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M University.

Cantu suggested that restrictions on sprinkler systems were affecting city water sales.

“Let them use the water so we can get paid,” he said.

At the same time, City Council members described environmental water releases as wasteful, foolish and unlikely to provide meaningful impacts to the bay. State Rep. Denise Villalobos has pledged to permanently repeal the requirement for environmental flows.

City officials and the TCEQ have pointed out no evidence of fish kills, marine life depopulation or environmental complaints since the city halted environmental water releases in 2024.

Kirsten Stansell, executive director of the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, pushed back last week at City Hall.

“The suspension of releases has had an impact on our bay despite what is being said publicly,” Stansell told City Council on Aug. 18. “Since releases were suspended in 2024, salinities in Nueces Bay and the Nueces Delta steadily increased until spring of 2026.”

Salinity is a key factor in the ecosystems of bays and delta systems that form where freshwater rivers meet the sea. The myriad of creatures that use those habitats to lay their eggs depend on the characteristically moderate levels of salt.

Salinity in Nueces Bay is now higher than in the Gulf of Mexico, Stansell said, “far outside the historic range of one of our most important estuary habitats.”

The ecosystems are accustomed to drought cycles and can handle extended periods of low freshwater inflows, said McKinney, the former director at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He previously led a 10-year research project, commissioned by the state Legislature in the 1980s, to identify freshwater needs for every river delta on the Texas coast.

Later, he spent 17 years as senior director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico studies at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and has researched salinity in aquatic systems around the world.

“The bay can hang on for a while,” he said. But sooner or later, irreversible damage will occur.

“I’ve seen it many times, and unfortunately we’re going to repeat it here,” he said.

Low amount, but then worsened by the record heat in early spring.