November 29, 1999
World Rivers at a Glance
Filed at 12:12 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
Major rivers with serious problems as cited by the World Commission on
Water for the 21st Century:
--The Yellow River in China, severely polluted, dry in its lower reaches
226 days out of the year in 1997.
--Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, whose flow into the Aral Sea in Asia has
been reduced by three-quarters and has caused a catastrophic regression in
sea levels -- 53 feet between 1962 and 1994.
--The Colorado River, so exploited and polluted by agriculture that the
ecosystem downstream has turned from lush green to salty and desolate
marshes.
-- The Nile River in Africa, with 90 percent of its natural flow used for
irrigation or lost through evaporation, heavily polluted when it reaches
the Mediterranean Sea.
--The Volga River in Ruissa, with only 3 percent of its basin a safe source
for drinking water, with over 42 tons of toxic waste piling up each year.
--The Ganges River in South Asia, so depleted that the unique ecosystem of
Sunderband Wetlands in Bangladesh is seriously threatened
--The Jordan River in the Mideast, with only a third of its water ever
reaching the Dead Sea, no longer meeting the needs of people in the region.
Rivers cited as healthy:
--The Amazon River in Brazil, a powerful stream with few settlements or
industries on its bank.
--The Congo River in Sub-Saharan Africa, also a strong river with few
industrial centers near its banks.
Rivers cited as being restored:
--The St. Lawrence River, with Canada and the United States successfully
working together to improve its flow, although some pollution problems
remain.
--The Rhine in Western Europe, which was considered a dead river by the
1960s, now coming back to life. People can drink treated water, it's safe
for agricultural needs, and many fish species have returned.
--Murray-Darling River Basin in Australia, cleaned of blue-green algae and
the salt level is down.
--The Lerma River in Mexico, with government and user groups starting a
major program of cleanup and control to reverse pollution and flow
reduction problems.
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