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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Booming Middle-Class Diet May Stress Asia's Water Needs


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A man irrigates his field with an electric water pump at Bagh Jap village, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) east of Gauhati, India, in mid-August 2009. Excessive irrigation and the unrelenting thirst of tens of millions of people are causing groundwater levels in north India to drop dramatically, a problem that could lead to severe water shortages, according to experts.
Adding to the problem are the beefed-up diets of Asia's expanding middle class, which could also lead to chronic food shortages for the water-stressed region, scientists said at a global water conference in Sweden last week.

--Photograph by AP/Anupam Nath