#drought

#drought

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Scientists are seeing "mega-drying" regions that are immense and expanding - one stretching from the western United States through Mexico to Central America, and another from Morocco to France, across the entire Middle East to northern China. There are two primary causes of the desiccation: rising temperatures unleashed by using oil and gas, and widespread overpumping of water that took millennia to accumulate underground.

Rising pressure on local water infrastructure, with prolonged drought, declining inflows and rapid population growth were the focus of a recent Urban Land Institute Austin panel. Speakers called attention to ongoing water policy shortfalls at the state and local levels and warned that continued development could outpace available supply unless legislative and planning reforms are adopted.

The newly discovered tombs are believed to date back to the Hellenistic or Hellenistic-Seleucid period. Archaeologists in drought-hit Iraq have discovered 40 ancient tombs after water levels in the country's largest reservoir declined, according to an antiquities official. The tombs, believed to be more than 2,300 years old, were unearthed at the edges of the Mosul Dam reservoir in the Khanke region of Duhok province in the country's north.

Researchers have now discovered that between 870 and 1100 CE, there were eight extreme drought events on the Yucatan Peninsula, one of the core areas of Mayan civilization.

South Florida is currently under a heat advisory due to feels-like temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, with peak heat index values expected to reach 105 to 110 degrees.

The first hosepipe ban of 2025 has been announced in the UK, following the country’s driest spring in over a century, with only 15cm of rainfall recorded.

Low water levels after heatwaves and drought are limiting shipping on some of Europe's biggest rivers, including the Rhine and the Danube, and pushing up transport costs.

Millions of Yorkshire households are facing a potential hosepipe ban in two weeks time to cope with the county's drought. Internal Yorkshire Water documents suggest a temporary ban for its five million customers has been pencilled in for July 14.

A sign reads, "Sorry we are closed due to the very low water" outside a business along the drought-stricken Elephant Butte Reservoir on August 16, 2022.

The region is in the grips of disaster, according to the NSW drought indicator, part of a large area lit up in orange on the map. Surrounding regions are also drying out, expected to slip into drought by mid-winter.

Magdalena Martinez expresses the distress of her community as a proposed dam threatens their homes, emphasizing the local opposition to the sacrifice for global shipping.

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