LeakBird

(May 11, 2009, Meaghan Daly, AlterNet)
Most of the time, when you hear about environmentalists decrying the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, their objections are in relation to localized pollution or carbon dioxide emissions. Less frequently do you hear about protests related to the vast amounts of water that are needed to keep these [...]

(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)

We had an excellent showing @ The SF Water Conservation Showcase in the final week of March, where we talked with all kinds of great folks from water utilities and districts, such as the Contra Costa Water District and the SFPUC, as well as companies like American Leak Detection and Toto.

We got a lot of [...]

(April 12, 2009, Forbes Magazine)
Environmentalists and others question why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans a formal study of a Colorado entrepreneur’s plan to build a 400-mile water pipeline from Wyoming to Colorado’s bustling Front Range without knowing who would use the water or where it will go.
Aaron Million, a Fort Collins, Colo., businessman, [...]

(March 30, 2009, BBC News)
Most meters use a positive displacement chamber which has a fixed amount of water flowing through it that turns a dial to measure water usage for a household.
Meters are usually installed in the most suitable location determined by the pipe layout, which may be in the road, garden or indoors.
You local [...]

(March 26, 2009, The Wall Street Journal)
Last month, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a utility that provides power to mostly rural areas, agreed to conduct a major study to see if it might meet growing energy needs through energy efficiency and not a big, new coal-fired power plant, as it had proposed for southeast Colorado.
One [...]

(March 25, 2009, Engadget)
On the environmental tip, Mayor Bloomberg has announced that New York City will install 826,000 wireless water meters by 2011. Under the new system, readings will be sent to a network of rooftop receivers throughout the city every six hours, enabling the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to bill property owners every [...]

(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, 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, [...]

(March 13, 2009, The New York Times)
Give I.B.M. credit for technological ambition and a willingness to tackle big problems.
I.B.M. is presenting a new bundle of services and research offerings at the World Water Forum in Istanbul on Monday. The package, grandly called Strategic Water Management Solutions, is the most recent entry in I.B.M.’s so-called smart [...]

As the growing demand for all things water escalates across the United State (hydrologists, water conservation systems, water lawyers, new sources of water, et cet.), the drought environment, such as regions in Georgia, Florida, Nevada and California, has the highest market demand water conservation technologies for three reasons:

 
Timeliness
Fast Payback
Higher Water Rates

 
Timeliness
This is perhaps the most [...]

(February 27, 2009, Gavin Newsom, CleanTechnica)
Today, San Francisco took a meaningful step toward turning the promise of renewable ocean energy into reality. We submitted a preliminary permit application to the federal government to develop a wave power project off our coast that we believe can generate between 10 to 30 megawatts of energy, with potential [...]

(March 8, 2009, SramanaMitra)
While people focus on carbon footprints and potential ways to reduce the impact man-made CO2 emissions, the world is running out of another of its key elements: fresh water.
We use fresh water much faster than it can replenish: it is increasingly scarce and has no alternative.
Water is a strategic resource for countries [...]

(March 4, 2009, BloggingStocks)
“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new position in Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC); it’s my favorite pure play on water filtration,” says Chris Mayer in Daily Wealth.
“With a $1.6 billion market cap, Nalco is a small-cap stock, but it’s actually one of the world’s largest water-treatment companies. Customers use Nalco’s products and [...]

(March 5, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
The ongoing struggles of managing California’s limited water supply to support our cities, farms and natural environment are well known. As we face what some are calling one of the worst droughts in California history, we must all learn to conserve water wherever possible. Just as the Bay Area [...]

Acoustic water leak detection has been around a long time. It predominates in the water industry when it comes to listening for leaks in underground pipes, in order to protect and secure municipal water supplies from catastrophic underground leaks.  A couple of companies that come to mind are SubSurface Leak Detection, Inc, Davis-Inotek Instruments and [...]

(March 2, 2009, The Sacramento Bee)
Californians have grown accustomed to digesting odd ideas that routinely flow out of Sacramento, many of them not so palatable.
But are they ready for this one?
Last week, amid a third year of a statewide drought, the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District adopted a strategy to sell treated sewage as drinking [...]

(Feb. 27, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)
The company has a gallery in New York’s tony SoHo district; one of it’s recent releases is named “Gwyneth”; it has near-cult status among the eco-affluent (and Google).
We’re talking about a toilet here.
Specifically, the Toto toilet – a water-efficient commode made by Japanese company founded in 1917.
The [...]

(Feb. 25, 2009, West Volusia Beacon)
Imagine 15 or 30 years from now, turning on your kitchen faucet. A few drops dribble into the sink, then the water stops. It’s gone.
That’s what could happen without a large-scale plan to supply water to Central Floridians, DeLand Public Services Director Keith Riger said.
A couple of years ago, the [...]

(Feb. 26, 2009, EnergyBulletin)

Off-grid living can be challenging … but wait, what grid are we talking about here? Even rural homes are connected to a number of utility and communication systems without which, well, … we would feel uncomfortable to say the least.
There are electricity, gas, telephone and cable TV connections. But the absence of [...]

(Feb. 25, 2009, CleanTech)
Leaders at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco today said the days of cheap water are over.
The developing world is still struggling to provide usable water to its residents, while water shortages in the developed world have put a new focus on expensive technologies.
“Water has never been priced properly, but [...]

 
One only need flip open their local weekly to come across countless, sometimes useful ways and means to save water, go green, reduce energy — let’s admit, thou shalt conserve is the eleventh commandment.
Often times, the toilet is mentioned once or twice, but usually in passing.  Hence, I thought it might be useful to create [...]

(Feb. 20, 2009, TimesOnline)
A carpet of snow blanketing the Forbidden City and the ancient halls and courtyards of the Lama Temple has transformed China’s capital into a fairyland. Hundreds have played truant from offices to sneak a peak of the first snowfall of the winter.
But nature has been given a helping hand. The heavy snowfalls [...]

(Feb. 19, 2009, Michael Kanelios, GreenTech Media)

HydroPoint Data Systems says it can help corporations calculate their water requirements to cut down on inefficiency.
How do large corporations and homeowners calculate their water requirements?
They guess, according to Chris Spain, chief strategy officer and co-founder of HydroPoint Data Systems. Most commercial buildings and homeowners manage their sprinklers [...]

(Feb. 16, 2009, Earth2Tech)
Water management company HydroPoint Data Systems is looking to raise between $4 million and $8 million, CEO Chris Spain told us recently, and he expects the round to close in the second quarter. HydroPoint is open to adding new investors if it brings “real strategic” additional value, he added.
The Petaluma, Calif.-based company [...]

(Feb. 15, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)

Is it time to stick a straw into the Pacific Ocean?
About 20 water agencies up and down the California coast seem to think so.
From Marin County to San Diego, small and large projects that turn seawater into tap water are gaining favor, propelled by events unprecedented in [...]

If you’re a landlord or property manager, there are certain things you shouldn’t be doing when it comes to water conservation in your buildings.  We’ve compiled the top seven “Worst Practices” here:

 
Not Monitoring Your Tenants’ Running Toilets: The toilet is the single biggest culprit when it comes to in-building water waste.  There are lots of [...]

(Feb. 11, 2009, Ben Block, WorldWatch)
In regions where pumping and distributing water requires significant electricity use, policies that lead to reduced water consumption could address climate change more efficiently than requiring businesses and households to use less energy, according to water expert Peter Gleick.
“Some of the cheapest greenhouse gas emission reductions available seem to be [...]

(Feb. 12, 2009, The Deseret News)
The House passed Wednesday a bill by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to create new research programs into how to conserve water, use it more efficiently and reuse wastewater.
“Many experts are starting to see water as ‘the new oil’ in terms of what a precious commodity it is,” Matheson said. “The [...]

(Feb. 11, 2009, Aguanomics)
On Monday, I visited DXV Water Technologies, a start-up with a new technology for desalination.
I met with Michael Motherway (president), Curt Roth (VP engineering), and Diem Vuong (inventor), and we discussed their technology, markets and other issues of supply and demand. Here’s one write up [PDF].
I HIGHLY recommend that you listen to [...]

(Feb. 8, 2009, Rapid City Journal)
BELLE FOURCHE — The project may take the rest of the year, but after 2009, every water meter in Belle Fourche will have a miniature radio station beeping out its serial number and how much water the building uses.
Most water users here have received a mailing explaining the program, but [...]

(Feb. 6, 2009, BoingBoing)

This toilet system is so environmentally ingenious that I don’t know why it hasn’t been standard for years: shower, sink and bath water is collected and pumped into the in-wall tank of the toilet to be reused for flushing. Even if no flushing occurs, the water tank automatically empties itself every twenty [...]

(Feb. 6, 2009, The Chronicle-Telegram)
NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Every household in town soon will be getting a WiFi-like hook-up, but it won’t be for surfing the Web.
This technology will allow computer software in City Hall to record the amount of water used in each home, apartment and business and to quickly issue an alert about detected [...]

(Feb. 4, 2009, Marin Independent Journal)
The Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors unanimously approved a final environmental report Wednesday night for a plan to take water from San Rafael Bay, remove the salt and send it to Marin residents.
The vote doesn’t mean the board will now move ahead with building a desalination plant, but [...]

(Feb. 4, 2009, The Recorder And Times)

It’s going to cost the average Brockville homeowner $21.33 more this year to wash the dishes and flush the toilet.
Director of finance Donna Cyr outlined what amounts to about a four per cent increase to the combined water rate and sewage surcharge Monday night at council’s fourth of [...]

(Feb. 2, 2009, Pat Gao, The Tawain Review)
Though hindered by the artificially low price of water, Taiwan is making headway in conservation and recycling efforts.
According to a report by the Water Resources Agency (WRA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, by 2021 Taiwan’s total demand for water from conventional sources like rivers and dams will [...]

(Feb. 2, 2009, Redlands Daily Facts)
The city is teaming up with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District and the East Valley Water District to sponsor a new water conservation system.
The system will use a weather station and weather-based irrigation controllers at the city’s parks to ensure fields are only watered when it’s needed.
“Every [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, GreenTech Media)
Although many companies are paying attention to their electricity and fuel consumption, they don’t pay as much attention to their water use. Well, they should, says a panel at GreenBiz.com conference.
How much water do you use to wash your jeans?
Levi Strauss figured out that 45 percent of the water used in [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, Planetizen)
Cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are working together to save water and use reclaimed water for non-drinking purposes.
“The Arlington City Council is expected to consider joining a regional partnership next month that would use reclaimed water from the Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant at the Ditto Golf Course, J.W. Dunlop Sports [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, WaterTech Online)

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell on January 26 announced the investment of $94 million in 22 clean water projects in 20 counties.

The PENNVEST board of directors approved $75 million in low-interest loans and $19 million in grants at its quarterly meeting.

The awards range from a $125,000 loan to replace deteriorated drinking [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, The Anniston Star)
For metropolitan Atlanta, the stakes — or the lake levels — could not be higher.
First, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower-court decision that invalidated the “secret” plan to draw more water from Lake Lanier than was agreed to by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Governments in metro [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, Aguanomics)
The simple answer is that politicians want it to happen — no matter what the economists say. (The fact that some economists also support the PC is practically irrelevant; notice how Schwarzenegger is pushing for the PC without waiting for any scientific or economic justification.)
This case reminds me of when politicians ignored [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)

Reporting from Mexico City — Already-scarce water gets even scarcer this weekend for millions of Mexicans.
One of the world’s largest cities is launching a rationing plan in a drastic — and some say overdue — effort to conserve water after rampant development, mismanagement and reduced rainfall caused supplies [...]

(Jan. 29, 2009, The Washington Post)
A plan announced this week by Loudoun Water to use stone quarries to store untreated Potomac River water came after the utility spent years looking at how it could supply enough water to the eastern part of the county in the coming decades.
Under the proposal, which needs approval from regulators, [...]

(Jan. 28, 2009, Las Vegas Now)

Desalination has been called the wave of the future — an endless supply of water for the parched Southwest. But unlike neighboring water agencies, the Southern Nevada Water Authority isn’t riding the wave.
Local water officials have come up with several reasons why desalination won’t work in the immediate future.
SNWA boss [...]

(Jan. 28, 2009, E-Science News)
Scientists and engineers will face a host of obstacles over the next decade in providing clean water to millions of people caught up in a water shortage crisis, a panel of scientists and engineers said today at a briefing at the Broadcast Center of the National Press Building on the Final [...]

(Jan. 28, 2009, The Huffington Post)

California has a water crisis but, contrary to what many believe, a tiny fish is not the cause of this ongoing problem. There simply isn’t enough rain and snow in a dry year, like this one, to meet projected demands for water.
We’ve known for years that water exports from the [...]

(Jan. 28, 2009, Aguanomics)
This post is important and perhaps paradigm shifting. Let’s see if you agree…
It’s conventional wisdom that farmers “use” 70-80 percent of all developed* water supplies. But farmers do not use water in the same way as municipal and industrial (M&I) users do. When I use water to flush the toilet, that water [...]

(Jan. 28, 2009, RecordNet.com)
Water issues in San Joaquin County floated to the top of the state and federal legislative platforms approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.
Flood protection, water supply and the fate of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ranked highest on the list of issues and concerns the county wants elected officials in Sacramento [...]