Ms Li said she had resorted to keeping a basin of water in the house in the hope it might act as an air purifier.

FORBES: As Coal Imports Rise, Getting Harder To Breathe In China Cities

Be it a transboundary river basin or aquifer, or a water pump built for a rural village, examples of cooperation apparently abound.

UNESCO: Open Access to Scientific Information

Many countries in the Mediterranean basin could face a future of significant food and water shortages as climate change bites and deserts spread.

CNN: Desertification: How to stop the shifting sands

Mr. DEREK SCHEER (Clean Wisconsin): Because it's such a large portion of the world's freshwater and it is a thirsty world, there is more and more concern that folks will be coming after the Great Lakes as a source of drinking water outside of the Great Lakes basin.

NPR: Governors Meet on Access to Great Lakes

Farmers in the Klamath basin use about 350, 000-400, 000 acre-feet of water a year.

ECONOMIST: Saving the fish of the Klamath river

According to Dr McMahon, a big part of the problem is that both species can survive out of the water for several days, so transporting a boat overland from one river basin to another, a common practice in North America, will not necessarily kill them.

ECONOMIST: Monitor: Reducing the barnacle bill | The

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has conducted studies of the Mohawk River basin since the 2006 flood and has been working on a program involving soil and water conservation districts and the Army Corps of Engineers.

WSJ: Homeowners sue NY over $4.6M in flood damage

Water experts applaud the new policy, saying it puts a proper emphasis on conservation: lower-basin states must now pay attention to the water they have, instead of plotting to get still more from the upper-basin states.

ECONOMIST: Water in the West: Buying a gulp of the Colorado | The