(April 6, 2009, The Houston Chronicle)
A joint report from the University of Texas and an environmental group urges state planners to conserve both water and energy.
The report released Monday claims that improving water conservation will cut power demand and that upgrades in energy efficiency will decrease water needs, allowing Texas to utilize “finite supplies of [...]
(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 18, 2009, ESPN)
After 39 years in the fish and wildlife management business, I have concluded that only two things really affect fish and wildlife populations: habitat and climate. Most of the contributions made by detailed harvest management practices and manipulations of fisheries by hatcheries have generally had relatively minor impact on the sustainability of [...]
(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 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 10, 2009, The Europa Research Information Centre)
Since world governments decided that improving the management of the planet’s water reserves was a major priority, the threats hanging over groundwater have suddenly become front-page news. However, inconsistencies remain…
Since ancient times, water diviners have doused for water armed only with a wooden stick (or divining rod). Most [...]
(March 10, 2009, Aguanomics)
The title of this post is my reformulation of “missing the forest for the trees,” and the subject of the post is a new report from the Pacific Institute.
In Water Scarcity and Climate Change: Growing Risks for Businesses and Investors, the PI assesses the various risks to water supplies that companies should [...]
(Feb. 26, 2009, The Guardian)
The world’s pre-eminent climate scientists produced a blunt assessment of the impact of global warming on the US yesterday, warning of droughts that could reduce the American south-west to a wasteland and heatwaves that could make life impossible even in northern cities.
In an update on the latest science on climate change, [...]
(March 7, 2009, The New York Times)
THE Earth may be two-thirds water, but only about 1 percent of that water is actually usable for human consumption and agriculture. What’s more, as the planet warms and the population shifts, even that 1 percent is at risk.
That is why demand for hydrologists has been predicted to grow [...]
(March 5, 2009, Crikey Creek)
What John Fleck refers to as “one of climate change’s most important equations”, just happens to be one of hydrology’s most important equations too – probably the most.
In the previous post I showed annual data sets of rainfall and temperature for the whole of Australia. In the last seven years, rainfall [...]
(March 1, 2009, Jared Simpson, WaterBlogged)
Apparently, the origin of water on earth—or more exactly, the relative ubiquity of water on its surface compared to other heavenly bodies—is unknown. One theory holds that volcanic eruptions spewed subterranean water up to the surface; another postulates that water was brought to us from space by water-laden meteors and [...]
(March 4, 2009, Aquadoc, WaterWired)
The current issue (2 March 2009) of the High Country News has a revealing article by Matt Jenkins, “How Low Will It Go?”. Jenkins describes the mission of Eric Kuhn, an engineer and former submariner who now runs the Colorado River Water Conservation District in western Colorado.
So what is his mission? Simple. [...]
(Feb. 11, 2009, Stephen Chu, Alternet)
Eight years of disinformation and muzzling U.S. climate scientists has left the public largely unaware of the catastrophes ahead.
Finally, we have a top administration official telling it like it is. Energy Secretary and Nobelist Stephen Chu told a Los Angeles Times reporter:
In a worst case, Chu said, up to [...]
(Feb. 16, 2009, Business-Green)
Water supplies to Las Vegas could run dry within six years thanks to receding water levels at Lake Mead, officials warned last week, bringing into question the long-term viability of the fastest growing city in the US.
Pat Mulroy, the chief executive of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said that the water level [...]
(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. 4, 2009, WorldChanging)
Oceans are the new atmosphere.
What we mean is, that concern for the state of the oceans and the potential impacts of the on-going catastrophic collapse of ocean ecosystems is reaching a pitch that we haven’t seen on any other environmental issue other than the build-up of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. We [...]
(Feb. 5, 2009, Seacoast Online)
The subject is water — locally, nationally, internationally. The issue isn’t new but it is definitely moving front and center these days.
Ecologists worldwide are now using the term “peak water” in the same way as the phrase “peak oil” came into common parlance over a decade ago. Back in the year [...]
(Feb. 2, 2009, BBC News)
If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made it through the long drought of 2005 and 2006.
Among people who study human development, it is a widely-held view that each person needs about 20 litres of water each day for the basics – [...]
(Jan. 29, 2009, BackReaction)
One of the most appealing aspects of the ocean is the colour of the water, ranging from a greyish green to deep blue.
But wait a minute: When I pour water in a glass, it is a clear, transparent liquid. So, what is the cause of the blue colour of the sea? Is [...]
(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. 24, 2009, Aquadoc)
From a media release written by David Stauth of Oregon State University:
Regional warming and drought stress are the “dominant contributors” to a rapid increase of tree mortality in old growth forests across the West during the past 50 years, a new report concludes, with the Pacific Northwest the hardest hit of all areas [...]
(Jan. 21, 2009, Gary Robbins, Science Dude)
The northern Sierra — which provides about half of Southern California’s water – is experiencing a dry year that might be made worse by La Nina, says Elissa Lynn, a senior meteorologist at the California Department of Water Resources.
“We average 9 inches of precipitation in the northern Sierra in January and have [...]
