Water is life. Knowledge is power.
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan’s first female architect and one of the most successful providers of disaster relief shelters in the world. She has built more than 36,000 houses for victims of floods and earthquakes in Pakistan since 2010.
Lari once built giant concrete and steel buildings for clients such as the Pakistani State Oil company. But when disaster struck in 2005, she turned to traditional techniques to design flood and … [more…]
Jordan is going through a severe drought. Groundwater reserves are being depleted at an alarming rate and around 40 percent of the water distributed to homes across the country is lost through illegal wells and faulty pipes. According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, it is estimated that by 2025 Jordan’s water needs will exceed its resources by more than 26 percent.
Empowering citizens to make responsible water usage … [more…]
New Zealand’s pristine and abundant rivers and lakes have long been central to its proud reputation as a land of breath-taking natural beauty – and fundamental to a clean, green, outdoorsy brand that attracted millions of foreign visitors every year.
But are its waterways really as sparkling and bountiful as the tourist ads suggest?
In this two-part investigation, People and Power raises troubling questions about what can happen when a … [more…]
A drought in the western United States created a battle over resources, as private landowners compete with the public over access to freshwater supplies.
In April of 2015, California’s governor, Jerry Brown, announced a series of mandatory restrictions, forcing residents to reduce their water usage by 25 percent in the coming year. But despite playing a massive role in depleting local water supplies, the state’s powerful agriculture industry has been … [more…]
In the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the nearby village of Sisokhe, social worker Rose Atieno and nurse Catherine Ondele are using rainwater-harvesting technology to bring clean water to villages.
As Atieno says, the men in rural villages make the water policies, but it is the women who feel the “pinch”: collecting water is physically difficult, time-consuming, and can make them vulnerable to rape.
In 2011, Atieno was one … [more…]