Lake shrinks by third. (The sharp fall of the lake's water level will affect shipping and fishing as well as nearby residents' water supply)

China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang, has shrunk by one third over the last three days due to a reduced water supply from the Yangtze River and little rainfall.

At 8 am Wednesday, the lake's surface area was 1,490 square kilometers, a reduction of 679 square kilometers compared with 2,169 square kilometers on Monday, said the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrological Bureau on Wednesday. 

The water level at the Xingzi hydrological station was 11.99 meters at 4 pm Wednesday, 2.13 meters lower than the average level recorded in recent years. The water level is falling by 30 centimeters every day.

The two major causes for the lake shrinking were the reduced water supply from the upper Yangtze River due to the construction of dams and sparse rainfall over the past month in Jiangxi, said the bureau.

The precipitation was less than 5 millimeters since September 20 in Jiangxi Province.

The lake's flood season began on April 30 and lasted until October 18.

This year's flood period was 33 days longer than last year's.

The sharp fall of the lake's water level will affect shipping and fishing as well as nearby residents' water supply.  
Sources : Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
22- 23/10/14
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Water quality excellent at most of Europe’s bathing sites

European Commission, Press release, Brussels, 27 May 2014:

The water at Europe’s beaches, rivers and lakes was generally of high quality in 2013, with more than 95 % of these sites meeting minimum requirements. Coastal performed slightly better than inland bathing waters, the data shows.

All the bathing sites in Cyprus and Luxembourg were deemed ‘excellent’. These countries were followed by Malta (99 % excellent), Croatia (95 %) and Greece (93 %). At the other end of the scale, European Union Member States with the highest proportion of sites with a ‘poor’ status were Estonia (6 %), the Netherlands (5 %), Belgium (4 %), France (3 %), Spain (3 %) and Ireland (3 %).

 

The annual bathing water quality report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) tracks the water quality at 22 000 bathing sites across the EU, Switzerland and, for the first time, Albania. Alongside the report, the EEA has published an interactive map showing how each bathing site performed in 2013.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "It's good that the quality of European bathing waters continues to be of a high standard. But we cannot afford to be complacent with such a precious resource as water. We must continue to ensure that our bathing and drinking water as well as our aquatic ecosystems are fully protected." 

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, said: “Europe’s bathing water has improved over the last two decades – we are no longer discharging such high quantities of sewage directly into water bodies. Today’s challenge comes from short-term pollution loads during heavy rain and flooding. This can overflow sewage systems and wash faecal bacteria from farmland into the rivers and seas.”

Local authorities monitor the samples at local beaches, collecting samples in the spring and throughout the bathing season. Bathing waters are can be rated ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’ or ‘poor’. The ratings are based on levels of two types of bacteria which indicate pollution from sewage or livestock. These bacteria can cause illness (vomiting and diarrhoea) if swallowed.

Bathing water ratings do not consider litter, pollution and other aspects harming the natural environment. While most bathing sites are clean enough to protect human health, many of the ecosystems in Europe’s water bodies are in a worrying state. This is evident in Europe’s seas – a recent assessment found that Europe’s marine ecosystems are threatened by climate change, pollution, overfishing and acidification. Many of these pressures are set to increase.

Bathing water: key findings

• While more than 95 % of bathing sites met the minimum requirements, 83 % met the more stringent ‘excellent’ level. Just 2 % were poor.
• The proportion of sites passing the minimum requirements in 2013 was roughly the same as 2012. However, the proportion of ‘excellent’ sites increased from 79 % in 2012 to 83 % in 2013.
• At coastal beaches, water quality was slightly better, with 85 % of sites classified as excellent. All coastal beaches in Slovenia and Cyprus were classified as excellent.
• Inland, bathing water quality seems to have been slightly lower than the average. Luxembourg was the only country to receive ‘excellent’ for all its inland bathing sites, with Denmark close behind with 94 % excellent. Germany achieved excellent quality at 92 % of almost 2 000 inland bathing sites.
  [europa.eu]
  27/5/14
  
  

NASA rover discovers lake on Mars

Curiosity rover that was launched by NASA came up with another discovery. A lake on Mars with water that seems like drinkable was found and it might even be suitable for simple forms of life.
It was known before that Mars was a planet more like Earth once before and it didn’t look like a desert as it looks right now. Rover found the evidence to that, holes full of water that perhaps is what is left out of the lake after millions of years.

This discovery was announced on Monday by the Science journal. Scientists came up with this news before but this time, they included more details in the report such as the measurements of the rocks and other analysis.

Gale Crater (the former lake) is in an area with rocks about 4.2 billion years old, and the lake seems to have existed about 3.6 billion years ago. The fresh-water lake is a proof of a long lasting water system that was part of rivers and groundwater.

John Grotzinger, a Caltech planetary geologist who is the chief scientist of the Curiosity rover mission stated "If we put microbes from Earth and put them in this lake on Mars, would they survive? Would they survive and thrive? And the answer is yes. In March, we did know that we had a lake, but what we weren’t sure of was how big it was and how long it lasted, and also we were not sure about the broader geological context that supports the presence of lakes coming and going for a very long time."

"This is really similar to an Earth environment," he also confirmed later during one of the conferences.

Voice of Russia, washingtonpost.com
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_10/NASA-rover-discovers-lake-on-Mars-8492/
9/12/13

Northernmost Lake Resurrected Due to Warming

Kate Andries

National Geographic News

Published October 17, 2012

The world's northernmost lake, situated near the coast of Greenland (map), is coming back to life.
Populations of microscopic algae, called diatoms, have been absent from the lake Kaffeklubben Sø for over 2,000 years. But a new study has found that the diatoms are returning, thanks to global warming...........Northernmost Lake Resurrected Due to Warming