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-- a note from kt75 The third issue of the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q03/2012 is currently under preparation. Previous releases of the Notes are available from: http://swm-group.blogspot.ch/p/kt75-mirror-downloads.html kt75 home:  http://kt-75.blogspot.ch/

-- a note from kt75 In the past a number of articles addressed the issue of water shortages especially in Mid-East [ 1 ]- [ 4 ]. Focus in this region is on the Jordan valley and in particular on the so-called Disi-Aquifer [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. Accordingly, and despite the fact that the Disi-Aquifer constitutes an almost non-renewable water resource (fossil water) the exploitation seems to have started seriously [ 5 ], [ 7 ]. This obviously also due to social pressure (refugees from Syria) [ 8 ], [ 9 ]. All this affects the water supply conditions in the Mid-East region adversely [ 10 ]-[ 12 ] and represents a huge challenge in terms of political and economic decision making [ 13 ], [ 14 ]. Most importantly is certainly the insight that fossil water resources represent non-renewable water sources. They may help facilitate safe water supply for a short time but (due to almost nonexistent replenishment) may not be considered as durable long-term water supply alternative. Further readings: [ 1 ],...

-- a note from kt75 A number of recent studies on the towing of arctic sea-ice report new all-time lows of ice coverage [ 1 ]- [ 4 ]. Similar effects have been reported previously for glaciers, e.g. in the Swiss Alps [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. The global warming (climate change) has been identified as one of the primary reasons for the reduction in ice-coverage with obvious consequences, e.g. for regional and local weather conditions. In addition to this economic implications are expected as well [ 7 ]-[ 9 ].  Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ], [ 8 ], [ 9 ] kt75 :  http://kt-75.blogspot.ch/

-- a note from kt75 A recent study provides more information about the melting of glaciers, in this case of the Swiss Alps [ 1 ]- [ 3 ] . Accordingly up to several hundred new lakes will be created in the Alps. This melt down of large volumes of (fresh) water is also be seen as potential resource to be used as 'sustainable' hydro power [ 4 ]. The question remains again what is sustainable e.g. [ 5 ], [ 6 ]? Are this the new 'blue pearls' [ 7 ]? Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ], [ 6 ], [ 7 ]

-- a note from kt75 A series of images taken in the area Lötschberg/Leuk-Bad (Swiss Alps). View a selection of the whole set here .

-- a note from kt75 As of Wed, 15th August 2012, SWM THiNKTANK has been closed an no publication channel is maintained any longer. Interested persons may still crawl through the blog ( http://swm-group.blogspot.com ). A follow-up project is currently under preparation (beta-status). You may either visit: http://kt-75.blogspot.ch/ or follow on http://www.linkedin.com/groups/kt75-4616028/about . Thank you for your interest.