AFP - Bangladesh Govt. Posts Soldiers To Guard Public Water Pumps In Dhaka As Shortage Worsens

Soldiers are guarding water pumps in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, as the city of 7 million faces severe water shortages. While water shortages are typical during the April-May dry season, it has been especially bad this year, getting a start in March with unusually high temperatures.

The city needs 581 million gallons of water a day but can only produce 502 million, said the country's national Water Supply and Sewerage Authority. "The army will work in coordination with the water
authority to properly manage water distribution in the city," Golam Mostafa, chairman of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, told IRIN, the U.N. news agency.

For residents, that means each person is allowed to fill one jug, approximately 1 gallon, under armed guard. Family members typically wait on line together to multiply the ration. One woman told the Express about a 3-hour wait to fill her jug.

Although Dhaka has 546 water pumps designed to supply water, more than half aren't equipped with back-up generators, so they don't function during the frequent power outages in the capital, exaggerating the effects of the dry spell.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Troops_guard_water_pumps_in_Bangladesh_999.html

all around the world, including the US

There is no limit to water only cheap water. Desalination plants can provide unlimited amounts (limited only in number of plants and power consumed) of water albeit at a higher cost. Still the cost isn't impossible to bear especially for countries like the United States.

Water in US is insanely cheap. Average water rate in US is about $2.72 per 1000 gallons. That is <0.3 cents per gallon.

Desalination production costs are $3-$4 per 1000 gallons. Even if conventional water was free and the $2.72 was completely pumping, piping, delivery costs we are looking at water at roughly double current rates. Now having your water bill double is rough but in terms of survivability we are still talking about <1 penny per gallon.

American simply need to accept that CHEAP WATER like CHEAP OIL and CHEAP POWER and CHEAP GOODS is coming to an end. Eventually we (as a human race) will build thousands of desalination plants and accept that sustainable water will be moderately more expensive.

There is no water crisis in California right now, there is only a cheap water crisis.

Now the third world has it far worse. They have neither the individual incomes to support higher water prices nor the govt funds to build massive and expensive desalination plants.

guarded

Pennies are worth a penny but I didn't see an armed guard at the "take a penny tray" in 7-11 this morning. They actually let me have 2 free pennies (about 4 gallons of desalinated water).

All joking aside water is so incredibly cheap right now that it rising even 100%, 200%, 500% wouldn't materially affect purchasing power of Americans.


The sad thing is adopting to a renewable lifestyle isn't that hard we just need to accept that something we take for granted as "cheap" will get more expensive and our consumption will need to decline. That would actually be a good thing for the planet. More expensive water means less used which means less waste water (which requires electricity & chemicals to treat).