PHOTOS: 2010 a Watershed Year for Floods, Droughts?

Flooding in Pakistan
Photograph by Paula Bronstein, Getty Images
This gallery is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues.
Mohammed Nawaz was rescued by the Pakistani Navy on August 10 in Sukkur, Pakistan, as floods swept through the country. At the peak of the flooding, the worst in decades, a third of the country sat underwater.
The deluge left at least 1,500 dead, tens of millions displaced, and millions of acres of agricultural land in ruin.
(See more photos: "Pakistan Flood Pictures: Millions Flee Rising Rivers.")
Ironically, some water engineers and environmental groups point to farming as a catalyst for the disaster. Pakistan has the world's largest contiguous irrigated landscape, with riverside agriculture and human-made canals replacing natural floodplains, wetlands, and river flows that would traditionally hold more water and ease flooding. (Read more in "Pakistan Flooding Because of Farms?")
A recent study points to another reason for increased flooding: the water cycle is speeding up. Using satellite observations, NASA and university researchers have found that rivers and melting ice sheets delivered 18 percent more water to the oceans in 2006 than in 1994. The findings, which National Geographic Freshwater Fellow Sandra Postel blogged about in October, suggest that the volume of water running off the land toward the sea is expanding by the equivalent of roughly one Mississippi River each year.
Why is the water cycle speeding up? "As the atmosphere warms from the addition of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, it can hold more moisture," explains Postel. "As a result, more water evaporates from the oceans, leading to thicker clouds that then dump more rainfall over the land. That heavier-than-normal rain can then produce massive flooding as it runs back toward the sea, where the cycle begins all over again." (Read more about the relationship between climate change and flooding.)
—Tasha Eichenseher

Published December 16, 2010
Pakistan Drought
Photograph by Farooq Naeem, AFP/Getty Images
Pakistani teenagers make a long trek out of a shrunken swimming hole at drought-ravaged Simli Dam, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Islamabad, in a photo taken June 22.
A lack of rain earlier this year forced Pakistan to drain its reservoirs and groundwater supplies, before floodwaters hit at the end of July. (See more images: "PHOTOS: Amid Drought, Pakistan Prays for Rain.")
As climate change tightens its grip on the world, scientists predict more extreme drought and flooding events. In 2010 several countries experienced disastrous flooding and drought back-to-back. This presents significant challenges, especially in developing countries, where capacity to store rain water and glacial melt is limited. At stake is food security, public health, and the stability of cities and towns. (Read more: "How to Stem a Global Food Crisis? Store More Water.")
(Test your H2O IQ with our quiz on climate change and water issues.)
Published December 16, 2010
Amazon Drought
Photograph by Rodrigo Baleia, LatinContent/Getty Images
Hard-hit by a months-long drought, a waterway within the Amazon Basin trickles to a halt in Manaus, Brazil (see map), on November 19.
(See more: "PHOTOS: "Alarming" Amazon Drought—River Hits New Low.")
The Negro River, a major tributary of the Amazon River, dropped to a depth of about 46 feet (14 meters)—the lowest point since record-keeping began in 1902.
(Related: "Amazon Losing 'Flying Rivers,' Ability to Curb Warming.")
About 60,000 people in the Amazon have gone hungry as falling river levels paralyzed transport and fishing. Millions of dead fish have also contaminated rivers, leading to a shortage of clean drinking water, the Reuters news agency reported.
Caused by El Niño—a cyclical warming of tropical waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean—such a severe drought usually occurs once in a century. But the 2010 disaster comes just five years after the latest Amazon "megadrought," according to Reuters.
(See more photos of floods and droughts.)
Published December 16, 2010
Sinkhole in Guatemala
Photograph by Moises Castillo, AP
A huge sinkhole in Guatemala City (map), Guatemala, crashed into being this May, reportedly swallowing a three-story building.
The sinkhole was likely weeks or even years in the making until floodwaters from tropical storm Agatha caused the sinkhole to finally collapse, scientists say.
(See more photos of the Guatemala City sinkhole, and a Texas sinkhole picture.)
Sinkholes are natural depressions that can form when water-saturated soil and other particles become too heavy and cause the roofs of existing voids in the soil to collapse. Another way sinkholes can form is if water enlarges a natural fracture in a limestone bedrock layer. As the crack gets bigger, the topsoil gently slumps, eventually leaving behind a sinkhole.
It's unclear which mechanism is behind the 2010 Guatemala sinkhole, but in either case the final collapse was sudden.
Published December 16, 2010
Hungary's Toxic Mud Spill
Photograph by Bela Szandelszky, AP
Triggered by a reservoir collapse in early October at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar alumina plant in the town of Ajka (map), Hungary, a toxic-sludge flood devastated seven towns with contaminated water, fouled fields, and wrecked ecosystems. Alumina, or synthetic aluminum oxide, is used in the smelting of aluminum.
(See more pictures: "Photos: "Huge" Toxic Sludge Flood Hits Hungary.")
Hungarian authorities reported that at least four people were killed in the wake of the fast-moving, 35-million-cubic-foot (1-million-cubic-meter) flood. Hundreds more were injured or forced to evacuate.
The reservoir failure was the latest environmental insult to Europe's Danube River. But it is not the first, nor the worst, disaster of its kind, experts say. (Read more: "Toxic Mud Spill Latest Insult to Polluted Danube River.")
(Learn more about water pollution.)
Published December 16, 2010
Hydraulic Fracturing Pollution
Photograph by Scott Goldsmith, National Geographic
The connection between energy and water resources was in the spotlight this year as hydraulic fracturing ramped up across the country, along with fears that the toxic fluid produced in the process could pollute drinking water sources.
The process, being used in a number of states from Wyoming to Pennsylvania, involves pumping large volumes of chemically treated water at high pressure into underground shale and sand formations to produce natural gas.
(Read National Geographic News' special series on hydraulic fracturing and the "Great Shale Gas Rush."
About 4 million gallons (15 million liters) of water are pumped thousands of feet underground at each well. (See National Geographic's 3-D Interactive, “Breaking Fuel From Rock.”)
The process has stirred especially great controversy in Pennsylvania, where the industry is growing rapidly since its arrival just three years ago, with 2,100 wells so far.
While natural gas companies assure local residents and environmental officials that fracking fluid is pumped right past groundwater resources through a steel and cement pipe, eliminating the threat of drinking water pollution (20 percent of Pennsylvania residents use groundwater), concerned citizens and scientists point to the fact that about 20 to 50 percent of the drilling fluid migrates back to the surface.
This “produced water,” which includes the frack chemicals, is a super-salty brine, prone to bacterial growth, and potentially contaminated with heavy metals. If not handled correctly, it could pose significant risks to water quality. In at least 130 cases documented since 2008 by Pennsylvania environmental authorities, drilling wastewater has spilled into creeks and tributaries due to holding pond overflows, pump failures, and other errors.
In late November, Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy spilled up to 13,000 gallons (49,200 liters) of "produced water" from a Pennsylvania natural gas well site into a nearby stream, according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Given the controversial nature of the fluids, the U.S. government is considering a policy that would require companies to disclose the content of their fracking fluids when they operate on public lands. (Read more: "U.S. Weighs Disclosure Rules for Natural Gas Drillers".) And New York Governor David A. Paterson issued an executive order this month banning all hydraulic fracturing in his state until next July, according to the New York Times.
Published December 16, 2010
Lake Mead Water Level Dangerously Low
Photograph by Ethan Miller, Getty Images
In August, the federal Bureau of Reclamation reported that the water level in Lake Mead, a source of drinking water for millions of people in the southwestern U.S., could reach a dangerous new low. This fall the reservoir hovered dangerously close to the line set for a redistribution and rationing of water in Colorado River states that rely on Lake Mead.

It was the first time, according to a report in the New York Times, the Bureau had warned that a critical shortage could be possible in the near future.

When the lake falls to 1,075 feet (328 meters) above sea level, rationing will go into effect in Nevada and Arizona.

The 11-year drought in the Southwest could soon take its toll on energy production as well. If Lake Mead levels fall to 1,050 feet (320 meters) above sea level, the Hoover Dam, which provides Nevada, Arizona, and California with enough electricity to serve 1.3 million people, could be rendered useless as a hydroelectric facility.

A plan to funnel water down the Colorado River from Lake Powell to Lake Mead could keep water allocations in balance, and conservation programs in cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix could help ease the pain.

(See more pictures of dams.)
Published December 16, 2010
China Flooding
Photograph from Reuters
Workers watch Yangtze River floodwater jetting through the six-story-tall Three Gorges Dam on July 19.
Heavy rains this summer in Western China caused deadly flooding and mudslides, some of the worst the country has seen in decades. Flooding across 28 provinces and regions killed more than 1,000 people, according to news reports.
Three Gorges Dam, situated on the Yangtze River, is 1.4 miles (2.3 kilometers) long and 607 feet (185 meters) tall. Building the dam flooded hundreds of miles of pristine gorges, villages, and historic temples. (See "China's Three Gorges Dam, by the Numbers.")
A major justification for the dam's construction was its potential for controlling the Yangtze's notorious floods. But this summer, the swollen Yangtze placed the dam's reservoir at about 90 percent capacity, putting the hydroelectric dam to one of its most serious tests to date.

(See more photos: "Pictures: Huge Jets Shoot From Dam During China Floods.")
Some scientist argue that this year did not see extreme flooding, but the events become more and more serious as population densities grow, natural waterways become increasingly engineered and manipulated for agriculture and industry, and cities grow. (Read more: "Five Years After Katrina, An Important Lesson Goes Unlearned.")
Published December 16, 2010
China Drought
Photograph from AFP/Getty Images
A Chinese villager collects water from the last well in Qujing on March 28.
Just before floods and mud ravished China, the southwestern part of the country was plagued by drought—the worst China had seen in 50 years.
The drought dehydrated 16 million acres of farmland in more than four provinces, and left 20 million people without drinking water, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Chinese leaders point to unusually low rainfall levels as the cause of the drought, while countries that sit downstream of China wonder about the role of four dams on the Chinese section of the Mekong River, the primary source of surface water for 60 million people in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, reported the New York Times.
(How much do you know about drinking water? Test your knowledge with a quiz.)
Published December 16, 2010
Russia Drought and Wildfires
Photograph from AP
About 111 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of Moscow, locals try to extinguish a forest fire near the village of Dolginino, Russia, this summer.
Firefighters were combating more than 500 wildfires over a 670-square-mile (1,740-square-kilometer) area, according to news reports.
The fires were stoked by an ongoing drought and the worst heat wave in Russian memory. Around Moscow, choked with fire-related smog, temperatures hovered around 100ºF (38ºC) for weeks.
(See more photos: "Wildfire Pictures: Russia Burns, Moscow Chokes.")
Published December 16, 2010
Himalayan Glacial Melt
Photograph by Robert Picker, Photolibrary
Asia's "water tower"—the snow and glaciers in the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau—supplies some of the world's largest rivers. In turn, these rivers support nearly 1.5 billion people, or one-fifth of the world's population. Climate scientists have been predicting that most of these rivers would be hit hard as temperatures rise, forcing river flows to dwindle to a trickle and likely causing serious food shortages.
Despite a report published in June in the journal Science that saw a reversal of fortune for China and India, the situation could still be grim along those countries' largest rivers, reported National Geographic News in "Asian Water Shortages May Not Be as Bad as Previously Thought."
The Tibetan Plateau as a whole is still heating up twice as fast as the global average of 1.3°F over the past century—and in some places even faster, according to a March article in National Geographic magazine. (Read "the Big Melt.")

The latest data from the New Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) shows that in the past four decades, the Kolahoi glacier in Kashmir, which provides water for millions of people in both India and Pakistan, has lost between 15 and 18 percent of its total volume. The research also shows that the glacier is retreating by almost ten feet (three meters) a year. (Read more: "'Goddess' Glacier Melting in War-Torn Kashmir.")

Mt. Kolahoi (17,799 ft.) rising above the clouds on the Kolahoi Glacier Valley, Araru, Kashmire, India.
Published December 16, 2010