LeakBird

(March 18, 2009, Jeff Conant, Alternet)
Behind the World Water Forum’s public posture as a trade expo and an educational exchange among water advocates lies a labyrinth of political intrigue and corporate cronyism. Corporate interests that make up the World Water Council are in constant contact with the World Bank and other financial institutions; each Forum [...]

(March 17, 2009, The Associated Press)
The global economic crisis threatens to shrink investment in water infrastructure, an already underfunded sector vital to growth and public health, the World Bank said Tuesday
The first global economic contraction since World War II threatens to overshadow the scarcity of clean water in many poor regions, where inadequate sanitation is [...]

(March 8, 2009, SramanaMitra)
While people focus on carbon footprints and potential ways to reduce the impact man-made CO2 emissions, the world is running out of another of its key elements: fresh water.
We use fresh water much faster than it can replenish: it is increasingly scarce and has no alternative.
Water is a strategic resource for countries [...]

(Feb. 22, 2009, News24)
African economies are especially vulnerable to water shortages, delegates to the Implementing Environmental Water Allocations (IEWA) conference heard on Monday.
“Many African economies are held hostage to hydrology,” World Bank senior water resources specialist Rafik Hirji said at the start of the four-day event in Port Elizabeth.
It has attracted more than 300 experts, [...]

(Feb. 10, 2009, ChennaiOnline)
India is expected to experience severe water stress by 2020 with the per capita availability of water projected to be less than 1,000 cubic metres.
Indian water scenario was a matter of grave concern, as 85 per cent of water was used for agriculture, 10 per cent for industry and five per [...]

(Jan. 17, 2009, ENS)
Eight water conservation and control projects along China’s longest river, the Yangtze, will be underway by 2011 to improve water use and protect the environment, a water conservation official said Tuesday.
Cai Qihua, director of the Yangtze Water Resources Commission, announced the projects during the commission’s annual work meeting in Wuhan, the [...]

(Jan. 12, 2009, China National News)
China must overhaul its water management systems to provide better legal protection and more open competition for the increasingly scare resource, the World Bank said Monday.
‘For years, water shortages, pollution, and flooding have constrained growth and affected public health and welfare in many parts of China,’ the bank said in [...]

(Jan. 7, 2009, International Herald Tribune)
The World Bank says there are growing signs of a severe public health crisis in Gaza because of a shortage of drinking water and an escalating failure of the sewage system.
The bank issued the statement Wednesday, based on data from the local water authority in Gaza.
The bank called on the Israeli government [...]