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WATER
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REPAIRING THE LOSS: UNWISE USE COSTS


source: www.panda.org/about_wwf/
what_we_do/freshwater/news/news
.cfm?uNewsID=10965

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repairing the loss

Each year billions of dollars are spent on the draining of wetlands for irrigation, agriculture, and other land uses for immediate economic benefits…

This has led to increased flooding, water contamination, and water shortages worldwide, and costs governments large amounts of time and money to later repair such damage. For example:
  • New York City found that it could avoid spending US$3-8 billion on new waste-water treatment plants by investing US$1.5 billion in buying land around the reservoirs upstate as well as instituting other protective measures to protect the watershed that will do the job of purifying the water supply for free. This constitutes a significant amount of money saved;

  • in the Rhine river basin, US$1.8 billion is being invested as part of the Room for the Rhine Project for the period 2015-2050, a project aimed at managing floods by bringing back the ecological functions of the Rhine delta (reserving retention areas and giving the river more space for natural flooding on the sides).
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