Marshall Islands' Govt. Now Delivering Fresh Water By Ship As Drought Hits 16th Month - AFP

[hatrack]

SHIMUKAPPU, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Premier Taro Aso welcomed the leaders of a clutch of small Pacific islands Friday for a meeting expected to generate fresh aid for clean energy and coping with climate change. Aso was also expected to provide details of increased aid for "human security" projects in the region, including the provision of water-related assistance, at the fifth Pacific Leaders Meeting in northern Japan.

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Increasingly extreme droughts and sea water inundation on low islands are causing hardships for islanders across the region. In Kiribati, a 16-month drought has forced the government to deliver drinking water by ship to remote islands that depend on rain for fresh water, its President Anote Tong said at a roundtable in Tokyo this week.

The Marshall Islands' ability to provide drinking water and adequate sanitation is "constrained by lack of money, skills and transfer of technology," President Litokwa Tomeing said.

A study of Majuro, the capital, showed that 30 percent of the estimated 30,000 people in the urban centre have no direct access to fresh water or sanitation facilities.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3zvv9woVE0gyffIdX1Yf0d07anw

[XemaSab]

1. No matter how depressing things are in the US

Things are way more depressing overseas. :(

[Old and In the Way]

2. Gee, surround by water and sun...you'd think that a solar desalinization plant

would be cost effective vs. boating in their water...