Everybody Lives Downstream
(Earth Report III)

Series Producer: Luke Gawin

Genre: documentary
Year: 1999
Duration: 26'
Country: China, Colombia, Egypt, The Netherlands, Syria
Language: English, Spanish
 

The United Nations celebrates World Day for Water every year on March 22nd. The theme for 1999 is 'Everybody Lives Downstream', and this Earth Report explores the implications this has for people across four continents. The programme begins in China, where forestry activity high on the Tibetan plateau has affected the flow of river water, and even played a role in the huge floods that afflicted the Chinese people last year. In the Colombian highlands, chemical-intensive industries have a profound impact on water quality for those far downstream. In the middle east, a Syrian initiative is tapping the Euphrates to supply clean water to the rural poor, and in Cairo the world's largest waste water treatment system is taking shape. Finally, in the low-lying Netherlands, rivers are being restored to their natural, meandering state, to provide wide protective flood plains and rich wildlife habitats.