LeakBird

(May 21, 2009, The New York Times)
It has long been an axiom of infrastructure planning that it takes a lot of water to make electricity, and a lot of electricity to make water.
Each day, for example, the nation’s thermoelectric power plants (90 percent of all power plants in the United States), draw 136 billion gallons [...]

(May 20, 2009, The New York Times)
In seven years of overseeing every root and blade of grass on the grounds at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., Matt Shaffer has built a reputation on innovation and conservation. An early advocate of course playability over aesthetics, he long lived by the maxim “the drier, the [...]

(May 13, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)

Reporting from San Diego — A plan by a private company to build a $320-million desalination plant along the coast of northern San Diego County was unanimously approved Wednesday by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Proponents say the plan could provide more than 56,000 acre-feet of drinkable [...]

(May 13, 2009, The New York Times)
For the third year in a row, Mark Watte plans to rely on the aquifer beneath his family farm for three-quarters of the water he needs to keep his cotton, corn and alfalfa growing, his young pistachio trees healthy and his 900 dairy cows cool.
That is 50 percent more [...]

(May 14, 2009, The Dallas Observer)
As mentioned Monday, KERA-FM (90.1) is running throughout this week a series of stories about where Dallas gets its water and how we use it. Which brings us to today’s contribution from B.J. Austin concerning water consumption. Says the story, the average Dallas homeowner is billed for 100,000 gallons used [...]

(May 11, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
We all realize it’s a tough economy and restaurants are dealing the best they can. Yet sometimes they go too far, at least that’s what one reader thinks.
Here’s his e-mail to me (edited for space):

When I go to a restaurant I expect a fork, a plate, a napkin [...]

(May 11, 2009, The California Progress Report)
The San Joaquin Valley has been ground zero in the current economic recession. News outlets have run a number of stories about food banks running out of supplies and residents leaving their hometowns in search of work on the East Coast.
Water contractors have claimed that recent environmental regulations [...]

(May 5, 2009, AutoBlogGreen)
The nail in the coffin of corn-based ethanol might be made of water. The magazine Environmental Science & Technology has published an article that pegs the amount of water needed to make enough corn ethanol to move a vehicle one mile at 50 gallons. That’s pretty high.
ES&T calculated the amount of water [...]

(May 6, 2009, The San Francisco Business Times)
In an effort to drive innovation in solving global water problems, a San Francisco nonprofit has launched a business plan competition for breakthrough technologies in water efficiency.
Imagine H2O is offering $50,000 in prizes for winning business plan that includes an Incubator Program.
“The winners will also receive thousands [...]

(May 4, 2009, Marc Gunther, GreenBiz.com)
As best as I understand the issue (which is not very well), there’s little or no danger that the world as a whole will run short of water, which makes water different from other natural resources like oil, gas or precious metals. Using water wisely is important, nevertheless, because more [...]

(May 1, 2009, The Chicago Tribune)
The recent drop in Huron water levels that led the Georgian Bay Association to commission its own study resulted largely from drought and warmer temperatures, which boost evaporation rates, the report says.
“Climate is the main driver of the lake level relationships between lakes over time,” it says. “There has [...]

(May 1, 2009, Treehugger)
The EPA has decided to hand over $82 million in Recovery Act funds to Arizona for water projects that will hopefully create jobs, give a sugar shot to local economies, and update old water and wastewater infrastructure. It’s one small chunk of $6 billion dollars in funds that will go to water [...]

(April 30, 2009, WISN.com)
These are tough times for many companies and their workers. But in the midst of all the economic doom and gloom, an effort to transform the region’s economy, and create thousands of jobs, is gaining momentum.
It’s being led by a Milwaukee businessman who’s passionate, determined and very colorful. His name is Rich [...]

(May 1, 2009, Examiner)
Massachusetts is awarding more than $986 million in loans for improvements to drinking water and waste water projects.
Gov. Deval Patrick announced Friday that 127 infrastructure projects throughout the state will receive the funding…
(Original Article Here)

(April 25, 2009, The Oregonian)
They were after one thing: water.
The fact that water would trigger such an adroit use of political access underscores an issue sneaking up on most Oregonians.
In a state that boasts about webbed feet, access to water is increasingly contested. The state estimates that in the coming years, demand will grow [...]

(April 29, 2009, WJZ)
The effects of a destructive water main break in downtown Baltimore are still being felt Wednesday morning.
Mary Bubala reports many businesses were forced to close because of the rushing water Tuesday. However, Wednesday all government buildings will be open along with most local restaurants and attractions.
But many roads will remain closed. Lombard Street, the [...]

(April 28, 2009, Planet Green)
According to a study by the Environmental Working Group, bottled water is just as polluted as a tap water. In fact, twenty percent of bottled water has more chlorine than California’s state regulations will allow in tap water.
(Original Post Here)

(April 26, 2009, The Oregonian)
“People think oil is something to fight about. Wait until we start running out of water,” said state Rep. Mike Schaufler, D-Happy Valley.
A handful of big farmers and their utility company engineered Oregon Oasis to get that water. They bought political access and nearly got their way.
“People who are well funded [...]

(April 23, 2009, Treehugger)
9% – The average withdrawal of fresh water by humans around the globe. This breaks down to 8.4% in North-America, 18.1% in Asia, 6.4% in Europe, 2% in Latin America, and 5.6% in Africa, according to the UN World Water Development Report from 2000.
1,664 – That’s how many cubic meters of water [...]

(April 25, 2009, Jeff Sachs, Starbroek News)
But future water stresses will be widespread, including both rich and poor countries. The US, for example, encouraged a population boom in its arid southwestern states in recent decades, despite water scarcity that climate change is likely to intensify. Australia, too, is grappling with serious droughts in the agricultural [...]

(April 21, 2009, Aguanomics)
Southern Californians use about 350 gallons of water per day per household (of 3). That’s about 110 gallons/capita/day (gcd).
People in San Francisco use about 63 gcd, and people in the Bay Area use about 97 gcd.
(Original Post Here)

(April 17, 2009, The New York Times)
There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks each year in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Aging Water Infrastructure Research Program, and some water experts fear that the problem is getting worse.
(Original Article Here)

(April 17, 2009, The New York Times)
Over the last couple of years, the idea of reporting carbon footprints for various products, as a way of allowing consumers to make informed choices about the items they buy, has gained wider acceptance. Now there are signs that other indicators — including water-use footprints — appear to be [...]

(April 15, 2009, Reuters)
Water scarcity means big growth for companies that purify, transport, and distribute the world’s most essential resource, but a global recession that has halted new projects and put off price hikes means water investors will have to wait for the boom years.
Water, cheap and indispensable, has long been prized as a stable [...]

(April 9, 2009, The New York Times)
At issue is a proposal by Easterday Ranches Inc. to build a feedlot for 30,000 head of cattle that would withdraw a shade under 1 million gallons a day from the ancient Grande Ronde Aquifer during the driest months of the year. The proposal has touched off a wave [...]

(April 10, 2009, FoxNews)

The production of bioethanol may use up to three times as much water as previously thought, a new study finds, becoming the latest work that could burst the biofuel bubble.
A gallon of ethanol may require up to more than 2,100 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump, depending on the [...]

(March 27, 2009, The Seattle Times)
In a first-ever pledge for American presidents, Barack Obama in his inaugural address included a promise to the world’s poor nations — “to work alongside you to … let clean waters flow.”
The moment is an acute one as the world faces “water bankruptcy” as threatening as today’s financial meltdown. The [...]

There’s a lot of talk comparing the oil boom to the coming water boom. Discussing whether water will be bigger and more important than oil is kind of a foolish tack, IMHO.  The point is that we can hardly do anything without water.  I think that rather than comparing the two industries, it’s more useful [...]

(March 22, 2009, Reuters)
If water is the new oil, is blue the new green?
Translation: if water is now the kind of precious commodity that oil became in the 20th century, should delivery of clean water be the same sort of powerful political force as the environmental movement in an age of climate change?
And, in another [...]

(March 22, 2009, GreenCarCongress)
Xinhua. North China’s Hebei Province, the major water supplier to Beijing, has over-extracted its groundwater, causing major subsidence according to a water conservancy official.
“Water shortage has become a big problem facing the province’s social and economic development,” Li Qinglin, director of Hebei’s water conservancy department, told a forum marking the 17th World [...]

(March 21, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)
Earthquakes and severe storms could destroy hundreds of miles of mostly earthen levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in coming decades, according to a state report that provides the most detail yet on the vulnerabilities of the hub of California’s water system.
Among the findings in the [...]

(March 21, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
A statewide drought emergency has prompted San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to propose a plan that would reduce the city’s water use by about 20 percent.
The plan announced on Friday would require residents to cut their outdoor water use by 45 percent, and their indoor water use by 5 [...]

(March 20, 2009, Michael Pollak, The New York Times)
Q. Eight ounces of Poland Spring (plus a nice plastic bottle) costs about a dollar. How much does the same amount straight from the tap cost? I mean, how much does it really cost?
A. One two-thousandth as much, according to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Both the [...]

(March 20, 2009, Ben Block, WorldChanging)
In his inauguration speech in January, U.S. President Barack Obama mentioned four words that lifted the hearts of water advocates worldwide: “Let clean water flow.”
Although Obama has proposed doubling U.S. spending on foreign aid, his new budget, released last month, offers few details on whether the additional funding will support [...]

(Feb. 10, 2009, Forbes Magazine)
We want oil and iPods, but we can’t live without water. That alone makes it the world’s most precious commodity. But, still, most casual investors might be hard pressed to think of ways to play H20, as it is seemingly free. There is no Exxon of water.
But maybe there should be. [...]

(March 20, 2009, Citizen News Service)
The President of the United Nations General Assembly has told delegates at the 5th World Water Forum (WWF) in Istanbul, Turkey, that, “those who are committed to the privatization of water, making it a commodity like oil, are denying people a human right as basic as the air we breathe.”
In [...]

There’s an interesting ESPN article on the coming water policy crisis in America, in the context of fish and wildlife. Wikipedia defines the word “policy” as “a deliberate plan of action to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome(s)“.  Of course, it’s rooted in the word “police” as well, which “stems from the Greek word ‘politeia’ [...]

(March 19, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)
State officials announced Wednesday they will deliver more water to Southern California this year than previously predicted but cautioned that shipments will remain well below normal.
State water resources director Lester Snow said “a series of very beneficial storms in February and early March” prompted his department to increase allocations [...]

(March 18, 2009, Jeff Conant, Alternet)
Behind the World Water Forum’s public posture as a trade expo and an educational exchange among water advocates lies a labyrinth of political intrigue and corporate cronyism. Corporate interests that make up the World Water Council are in constant contact with the World Bank and other financial institutions; each Forum [...]

(March 18, 2009, The New York Times)
Don’t expect the future to look much like the past, at least when it comes to the Earth’s fresh water supplies. That’s the message emerging from a major international meeting being held here this week.
More than 27,000 people — including government ministers from more than 120 countries — have [...]

(March 17, 2009, MSNBC)
The global desalinated water supply will grow at a CAGR of 9.5% over the next decade, reaching 54 billion m3/year (cubic meters per year) in 2020 — 54 trillion liters/year — or triple what it had been in 2008, according to a new report from Lux Research entitled “Desalination’s Future Champions.”
According to [...]

(March 17, 2009, The Associated Press)
The global economic crisis threatens to shrink investment in water infrastructure, an already underfunded sector vital to growth and public health, the World Bank said Tuesday
The first global economic contraction since World War II threatens to overshadow the scarcity of clean water in many poor regions, where inadequate sanitation is [...]

We at Leakbird Industries are proud to be part of next week’s Water Conservation Showcase, on Tuesday, March 24, from 10:00 am to 7:30 pm, at the Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco.
Lot’s of folks in the water industry are going to be there, and Aguanomics’ David Zetland is even stopping by!
There’s a short list [...]

(March 16, 2009, TerraDaily)
Tens of billions of dollars are needed annually to fix the world’s water systems, but policies to address the global financial crisis could help meet the target, the OECD says.In a report to the World Water Forum in Istanbul, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says demands for fresh water [...]

(March 16, 2009, Robert Stavins, The Huffington Post)

Throughout the United States, water management has been approached primarily as an engineering problem, rather than an economic one. Water supply managers are reluctant to use price increases as water conservation tools, instead relying on non-price demand management techniques, such as requirements for the adoption of specific technologies [...]

(March 16, 2009, NBCChicago)

Something is happening to our beloved Lake Michigan.
Scientists aren’t sure what it is, but some experts believe the symptoms point to further evidence of radical climate change and alarming drops in lake levels.
We are all too familiar with the site of a frozen lake during our long Chicago winter.  But experts say [...]

(March 17, 2009, Bloomberg)
Mexico plans to tackle a chronic shortage of clean water by building an $800 million purification plant for its sprawling capital city of 20 million inhabitants.
The facility to treat 23 cubic meters (6,076 gallons) of rain and runoff each second will be announced for bid on March 31 by Conagua, the nation’s [...]

(March 16, 2009, The Environment News Service)
Global demand for water is greater today than it has ever been and demand will increase in the future, thousands of delegates to the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul heard at their opening session today. Driving the demand for water are population growth and mobility, rising living standards, [...]

(March 16, 2009, CleanTechnica)
IBM, which has been promoting the virtues of its smart grid and smart traffic technologies, today announced it’s jumping into “smart water,” too. The technology and services giant introduced a new suite of services and products aimed at better using water resources.
At the top of the list, a new membrane that filters [...]

(March 15, 2009, Treehugger)
Visitors to Disneyland likely don’t know that when they sip from Disney water fountains that the great tasting aqua treat was once streaming through a public sewer. Not to worry though. That sewer water is actually substantially cleaner and more carefully filtered than the water consumed in the average American household. Moreover, [...]