glacial water banks vs. river flows

English translation: glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes

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English term or phrase:	glacial water banks vs. river flows
Selected answer:	glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes
Entered by:	Yasutomo Kanazawa

14:33 Aug 15, 2009

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Environment & Ecology

English term or phrase: glacial water banks vs. river flows

Talking about climatic change:

Over the medium term, as glacial water banks run down, river flows are expected to diminish, severely affecting irrigated agriculture, especially around major massifs such as the Himalayas.

I'm not sure if I understand right:

- glacial water banks = glaciers?
- river flows = any other river?

If glacial water banks run down, shouldn't the river flows grow bigger and not diminish? Thanks in advance

Stéphanie Soudais KudoZ activity Questions: 1102 (none open) (95 closed without grading) Answers: 2852 France
Local time: 00:53

glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes

Explanation:
:)

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Note added at 8 mins (2009-08-15 14:41:59 GMT)
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I believe run down here means to decrease or diminish, which makes the glacial water banks to decrease; hence making the river flows diminish too.

When I first read the sentences, I thought the same thing as you did, i.e. the river glows should grow bigger. But according to the link below, run down means to reduce something.

run down something also run something down

1. to explain something I'll run down my research quickly. T. J. ran it all down for him, explaining the different costs of each option.
2. to reduce something We are going to start running down our savings if prices don't stop rising. I want to run our supplies down some more before we reorder.

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Note added at 9 mins (2009-08-15 14:42:31 GMT)
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Forgot the link :)

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/run down

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Note added at 10 mins (2009-08-15 14:43:27 GMT)
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Should be "the river FLOWS should grow bigger, not "Glows". Sorry for the typo.

Selected response from:

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 07:53

Grading comment

Thanks very much everyone.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +4

glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes

Yasutomo Kanazawa

As glacial water banks are run down, water flows will diminish

Jenni Lukac (X)

water stored in glaciers vs melt, rain and spring water

B D Finch

Summary of reference entries provided

liz askew

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 07:53
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks very much everyone.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Ok, I thought "run down" meant "melt"

6 hrs confidence:

As glacial water banks are run down, water flows will diminish

Explanation:
Explanation found in the pdf http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/hilton_presentation.... . At first there is more water, with lakes expanding and overflowing; then, everything dries up for a lack of replenishment: As glacial water banks are run down, water
flows will diminish. Seven of Asia’s great
river systems—the Brahmaputra, the
Ganges, the Huang He, the Indus, the
Mekong, the Salween and the Yangtze—
will be affected. These river systems
provide water and sustain food supplies for over 2 billion people.

Jenni Lukac (X)
Local time: 00:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

7 hrs confidence:

water stored in glaciers vs melt, rain and spring water

Explanation:
Am I imagining it, or is everyone answering something other than the question asked?

Glacial water banks would be water that is or might be available to rivers but is stored in glaciers now or seasonally. Glacial water banks would also include winter snowfall that hasn't yet got compacted into ice in a glacier but which can be predicted to become glacial. Glaciers are shrinking year on year, but they do generally grow each winter and shrink each summer.

River flows are only partially constituted of glacial melt water. The Thames for example doesn't directly rely upon glaciers at all!

B D Finch
France
Local time: 00:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 10

Reference comments

2 hrs

Reference

Reference information:
Babylon English English dictionary Download this dictionary
run down
criticize; run over, hit with a vehicle; chase and capture; become exhausted; make less valuable

ie.

are used up
become exhausted
are depleted

liz askew
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English

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English translation: glacial water run down= glacial water decreases/diminishes

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