Water

Chapter 1

South Africa: bringing water from Lesotho

Johannesburg is struggling to supply itself with enough water for its growing population. The modern solution? Pipe it in from abroad in what is Africa’s biggest water-transfer project.

Chapter 2

Seattle’s stormwater problem

When it rains too much in too short a time Seattle has no choice but to dump raw sewage into its waterways – or else the entire sewer system would back up into people’s homes. But like many other cities across the US, Seattle is trying to change this and in a surprising way.

Chapter 3

‘Water’ by Mustafah Abdulaziz

It is estimated that by 2025 about 3.4 billion people across the globe will face water scarcity. With this in mind, photographer Mustafah Abdulaziz embarked on a five-year project, documenting the impact of the crisis across different cultures and countries. His latest series, which has been commissioned by the Syngenta Photography Award, looks at California during its multi-year drought. ‘Water: California’ opens at the National Geographic Museum in Washington ‪on 12 November‬.

Chapter 4

Thailand: floods protection

The ancient capital city of Ayutthaya still stands despite devastating floods in 2011 and again this October. This time Unesco got involved, with top-notch conservationists flocking to the city for an international symposium on how to protect its world heritage sites.