LeakBird

Yesterday I was talking to a San Francisco plumber named Jim.
“You know the real reason water rates are going up?” he asked me.
“Because the water utilities’ revenues are down in these troubled times,” I replied.
“Yes, but it’s actually deeper than that,” he said.  “We’ve gotten more water efficient.  We’re not using as much water.”
“I find [...]

(Feb. 23, 2009, David Zetland, Aguanomics)
I’m thinking that the water managers and politicians in San Diego must be drinking something other than simple, tasty water. It seems that they are bound and determined to implement the most-stupid possible water rationing scheme, i.e.,
Even San Diegans who have torn out their lawns, planted drought-tolerant landscaping and scrimped [...]

(Feb. 11, 2009, Alternet)

Just as the economic evidence shows that we’re in a recession, the scientific evidence shows that climate change will affect our natural resources.
One logical response to the constant news of the economic recession is cutting back on discretionary purchases and developing a household budget.  That is, if we know that times are [...]

I finally got to catch David Zetland in person the other night, at the Black Rocks Arts Foundation (BRAF) on 3rd St.  The theme was “Elemental Interactions: Water” and Mr. Zetland opened with a 23-Minute talk, which I was able to film with my Flip camcorder.
I’ve broken Zetland’s talk up into three 7-minute parts:
Part 1 [...]

(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. 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 [...]

(Jan. 30, 2009, The Orlando Sentinel)
Armed with a judge’s OK, Seminole County says it will soon begin pumping millions of gallons of water per day from the St. Johns River. It’s a smart move from the County Commission’s perspective, as it will provide an abundant source of “cheap” water for future growth while generating revenue [...]

(Jan. 19, 2009, Aguanomics)
A few months back, I blasted East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) for their badly-designed water conservation scheme. Last week, I got my water bill for the past two months, and now I see that I was too kind.
EBMUD is really NOT doing a good job at handing the water shortage.
Here [...]

(Jan. 18, 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Metro Atlanta’s plan for meeting its water needs through 2035 may be most remarkable for what it doesn’t include.
There’s no high-tech proposal to turn sewage water into drinking water, nor a master plan to cut back on the region’s biggest water wasters: landscapes and septic tanks. In fact, the draft [...]

(Jan. 14, 2009, Treehugger)
We don’t normally think of malls as having a whole lot of landscape to water, and yet even their relatively tiny strips of grass and shrub beds are potential sources of water savings. WeatherTRAK, the smart water system developed by HydroPoint Data Systems, is helping malls in the Western US implement water [...]

(Nov. 28, 2008, The Mercury News)
Water consumption around Las Vegas is down nearly 4 percent through the first 10 months of this year compared to last year, according to the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Through October, the water district has sold roughly 4 billion gallons less water than it had by the same time last [...]