Water supplies to some US states and Mexico will be cut to avoid “catastrophic collapse” of the Colorado River, Washington officials said Tuesday, as a historic drought bites.

More than two decades of well below average rainfall have left the river — the lifeblood of the western United States.

Despite years of warnings and a deadline imposed by Washington, states that depend on the river have not managed to agree on a plan to cut their usage, and on Tuesday, the federal government said it was stepping in.

“In order to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River System and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the Basin must be reduced,” said Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary for water and science at the US Interior Department.

Arizona’s allocation from the river will fall by 21 percent in 2023, while Nevada will get eight percent less. Mexico’s allotment will drop by seven percent.

California, the biggest user of the river’s water and the most populous of the western states, will not be affected next year.

The Colorado River rises in the Rocky Mountains and snakes its way through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, where it empties into the Gulf of California.

Factories in China’s southwest have shut down after reservoirs used to generate hydropower ran low in a worsening drought, adding to economic strains at a time when President Xi Jinping is trying to extend his position in power.

Companies in Sichuan province including makers of solar panels, cement and urea closed or reduced production after they were ordered to ration power for up to five days, according to news reports Wednesday.

That came after reservoir levels fell and power demand for air conditioning surged in scorching temperatures.

“Leave power for the people,” said an order from the provincial government dated Tuesday.

The shutdowns add to challenges for the ruling Communist Party as Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, prepares to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader at a meeting in October or November.

High on a mountain in the Himalayas, pristine drops fall from the mouth of a tiger statue installed at a stream thought to form the headwaters of the Bagmati River, long revered as having the power to purify souls.

From there it wends its way downhill past verdant forests and merges with other waterways, irrigating fields of rice, vegetables and other crops that are a livelihood for many Nepalese.

But as the Bagmati reaches the valley of Kathmandu, the capital, its color changes from clear to brown and then to black, choked with debris, its contents undrinkable and unsuitable even for cleaning.

During the dry season, an overwhelming stench pervades the area by its banks.

Tainted by garbage and raw sewage that is dumped directly into the waterway, Nepal’s holiest river has deteriorated so greatly that today it is also the country’s most polluted, dramatically altering how the city of about 3 million interacts with the Bagmati on daily, cultural and spiritual levels.

The polluted Bagmati River flows to an exit point from Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, April 26, 2022.

Tainted by garbage and raw sewage that is dumped directly into the waterway, Nepal’s holiest river has deteriorated so greatly that today it is also the country’s most polluted, dramatically altering how the city of about 3 million interacts with the Bagmati on daily, cultural and spiritual levels.

While vacationers might enjoy the Mediterranean Sea’s summer warmth, scientists are warning of dire consequences for its marine life as it burns up in a series of severe heat waves.

From Barcelona to Tel Aviv, scientists say they are witnessing exceptional temperature hikes ranging from 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) to 5 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) above the norm for this time of year.

Water temperatures have regularly exceeded 30 C (86 F) on some days.

Extreme heat in Europe and other countries around the Mediterranean has grabbed headlines this summer, but the rising sea temperature is largely out of sight and out of mind.

Marine heat waves are caused by ocean currents building up areas of warm water. Weather systems and heat in the atmosphere can also pile on degrees to the water’s temperature.

The situation is “very worrying,” says Joaquim Garrabou, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona.

The UK Environment Agency is advising people not to swim from the beach at Weston-super-Mare because of a pollution risk warning.

Nearby Sand Bay and Uphill Slipway beaches are also under the warning.

The Environment Agency, which assesses the quality of the water at bathing sites, said the increased risk of pollution is due to weather and “other predictable factors”.

The forecast is valid up to midnight on Wednesday 17 August.

The Caicos Conch Farm is the first and only commercial conch farm in the world which is located on the Providenciales Island which is part of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Owned and operated by Trade Winds Industries Limited, (TWI) a Turks & Caicos Islands Registered Company, it has been operating since 1984 which was developed with a vision of pioneering conch mariculture that would benefit the region by providing jobs, stimulating economic growth, supplying a low-cost source of protein and protecting wild conch stocks from exploitation.

The conch, which is the common name to a number of large-sized sea snails and their shells, plays a major role in the local community, as it provides not just the locals with the very needed jobs, but also it teaches the tourists with a brief biology lesson and a description of the technology and methods developed at the Caicos Conch Farm during the past 29 years for the process of cultivating the Caribbean Queen Conch.

This cultivation process entails the eggs hatching, later seen through metamorphosis and the post-larval stages of life.

The most common conch raised on the farm is the Caribbean Queen Conch, which according to the company is “The World’s Only Sea Farm that raises Caribbean Queens fit for a King”.

The company is located on the far eastern side of the Providenciales Island, looking towards the Mangrove Cay Island with an area of some 4 hectares (10 acres) of land and additional 26 hectares (65 acres) of sub-sea pasture under lease from the TCI Government for 97 more years.

The scientific name for the Queen Conch is Strombus gigas, which has been the staple of the Caribbean diet for at least a thousand years, and its meat provides a major source of protein for the region, while its shell had been used for tools, weapons, jewelry, ceremonial objects and as a construction material.

It was necessary for the farm to be opened, due to the overgrowing demand of the conch, and also must be mentioned that the wild stocks of conch has depleted, making it a commercially endangered species. Despite quotas on harvesting wild conch the remaining conch population continues to decline rapidly as over-fishing is continuing to occur.

The Caicos Conch Farm is the prime example how we should start carrying for the nature and the wildlife, which in fact is a revolutionary and state-of-the-art form of environmentally conscious commercial fish farming referred to as off-shore deep water submerged cage farming, which every visitor of the Turks and Caicos Islands should visit and learn more.