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London could suffer drought by 2050, Christian charity warns

by Alex Collett

A Christian charity have warned that cities and urban centres, including London, are at risk of running out of fresh water.

A new report, published by Christian Aid, revealed growing populations and climate change are putting a greater strain on the planet's resources.

The charity is calling for and an international fund to pay for climate-caused loss and damage. 

Nushrat Chowdhury, Climate Justice Policy Advisor for Christian Aid told Premier Christian News: "This situation is happening in small pockets. 

"For example, a small village can run out of water, but it does not have that focus or limelight. 

"But when this happens in cities like London, New Delhi, or Sao Paulo or Beijing, these are really very big cities - cosmopolitan cities - this can pose a big problem.

"From a climate perspective, we know that warmer temperature enhances evaporation, which reduces surface water and dries out soil and vegetation.

"On top of that, these cities are have more people, so the water usage there is double or triple. So all of these factors are contributing to this dangerous scenario. 

The CEO of the Environment Agency, James Bevan, warned that within 25 years London and the South East of England could run out of water. 

Thames Water estimates the cost of a severe drought to London's economy to be £330m per day, and would have severe economic, social and environmental consequences. 

The Environment Agency has said that by 2050 some rivers will see 50%-80% less water during the summer months. 

Ms Chowdhury spoke of the solutions that would stop this crisis from happening.

She continued: "It's really necessary; we say that this is required to save the Global South, the very marginalized community, but this report shows that these deep and rapid emission cuts are necessary, even for the richest cities.

"We also need to allocate more resources for adaptation, so that people can come up with acts and processes to better respond or better suit the situation. 

"Thirdly, we need to have money to address loss and damage because drought, currently, there is no finance for loss and damage."

In addition, Ms Chowdhury said we also must integrate more blue and green infrastructures, and create  more open spaces so that the groundwater can recharge, and plant more trees. 
.

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