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, 2009, Janet Portman, American Apartment Owners Assocation)
Q: I’ve lived in a 40-unit apartment building for the last five years. Until now, I have paid for water, as required by my lease, based on a submetered water system.
Recently, the landlord said the meters are broken and she has decided not to fix them, claiming [...]

(April 30, 2009, Aguanomics)
I hope that Maude Barlow tells her fellow citizens THIS fact: Cheap water leads to more demand (Canadians have the highest per capita consumption of water in the world.)
Bottom Line: We cannot manage water if we don’t know how much we use or how much that use costs (economically or environmentally).
(Original Post [...]

(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 [...]

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Milton Friedman

It can be said that we don’t value what we don’t pay for. To tenants who don’t foot their units’ water bills, a running toilet may only mean a minor audible nuisance.  To a landlord or property manager, a running toilet means a higher water bill and [...]

(April 23, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)
DWP has a water conservation team whose members drive through neighborhoods in Los Angeles checking for water waste. If your sprinkler is running on a Wednesday, they can cite you for violating the conservation measures. For a first citation, you will receive a warning. Subsequent citations are subject to [...]

(April 21, 2009, The Arizona Republic)
The Colorado River provides one-third of the state’s water…
The seven states – Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico – that use river water have agreed to reduced deliveries if the lake drops to an elevation of 1,075 feet. Arizona would absorb most of the initial shortages because [...]

(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 19, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)
“We’re out there telling people to use less water, and yet a lot of the revenue we have is based on what people use,” said Gary Breaux, finance director for the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which serves 1.3 million people in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. [...]

(April 20, 2009, The International Relations and Security Network)
Much of Central Asia’s water flows from the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, leaving downstream countries Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan dependent and worried about the effects of planned hydropower plants upstream.
“There are lots of discussions about water and energy going on among the Central Asian states. [...]

(April 17, 2009, The Christian Science Monitor)
California’s third year of drought is stirring up long-standing – and usually low-simmering – tensions between farmers in northern and central California and urban consumers in the state’s dry Southland.
(Original Article Here)

(April 14, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
Our state’s broken water delivery system – originally built more than 30 years ago to accommodate a state of 18 million people – now must supply this precious resource to more than 36 million people. By 2020, California’s population is expected to reach up to 48 million. The hub [...]

(April 12, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
The San Francisco Chronicle invites you to decide by playing our online water game. As you play, you’ll hear from a water manager about how cities can use less water, from a Central Valley farmer close to losing his crops and from a conservationist on why we need adequate [...]

(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 [...]

(April 5, 2009, The Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Two years ago, while metro Atlanta’s drought burned through the record book, Karin Guzy of east Cobb turned off her in-ground sprinkler system.
It hasn’t been on since.
Instead, she waters her garden from two 250-gallon water cisterns. The large buckets easily fill from light rain collected off her roof.
Guzy doesn’t [...]

(April 3, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle)

Get ready for singed lawns, dusty cars and pricier produce.
California water officials reported Thursday that the end-of-winter snowpack remained at low levels for the third year in a row, and water agencies in the Bay Area and around the state are asking residents to conserve at levels [...]

(March 24, 2009, The Wall Street Journal)
As Don Bransford prepares for his spring planting season, he is debating which is worth more: the rice he grows on his 700-acre farm north of Sacramento, or the water he uses to cultivate it.
After three years of drought in California, water is now a potential cash crop. Last [...]

The Boston Globe recently ran an op-ed about water conservation in rental properties entitled, “Do Environmentalists Rent Property?“, which also has some fantastic comments from landlords and tenants in the greater Boston area.  The author wonders if she’s the only one who is a good tenant when it comes to not using more water than [...]

With all of the rain California has been receiving over the last few weeks, water levels are back to 80% in Sierra snowpack terms and there is “drought improvement“.  The 167-mile stretch of the Hetch-Hetchy system, which provides 85% of the Bay Area’s water, can continue to flow at four fifths capacity.  But water restrictions [...]

Okay, so this number may shock you, but trust me, I didn’t make it up.  I actually did a year’s worth of research, and I haven’t heard anyone say this yet — in fact, I’d like someone to disprove it.
Here’s what I extrapolated.  I’ll preface by stating that 25% to 40% of all in-building, residential [...]

(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. 26, 2009, Ceres)
Global climate change is exacerbating water scarcity problems around the world, yet few businesses and investors are paying attention to this growing financial threat, according to a report issued today by Ceres and the Pacific Institute.
Water is crucial for the global economy – driving every industry from agriculture to electric power to [...]

(Feb. 17, 2009, Aguanomics)
Tom Graff of EDF asks:
Can we use the attention the drought has focused on water to address long-term issues, including most notably the effects of climate change, simultaneously with the focus on addressing this year’s immediate drought-related problems?…and here’s what I said:
Now is the time to introduce the radical (!) notion of [...]

(Feb. 15, 2009, Jack Rosebro, Green Car Congress)
Xinhua. Faced with widespread drought and water shortages, China’s Water Resources Minister Chen Lei has announced a national goal of reducing the country’s water use, as measured by the amount of water used per unit of GDP, to about 55% of current consumption by 2020. The target is [...]

(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. 15, 2009, Reuters)
China, faced with widespread water shortages exacerbated by its worst drought in decades, aims to cut the amount of water it uses to produce each dollar of national income by 60 percent by 2020, state media said.
The target, unveiled by Water Resources Minister Chen Lei, underlines Beijing’s growing concern over chronic water [...]

(Feb. 13, 2009, The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Atlanta water officials say they’ve discovered one reason why some recent water bills were sky high: Computer software in about 450 water meters miscalculated usage and charged homeowners much more than they should have.
Watershed Management Commissioner Rob Hunter said the department discovered the problem involving some of the 2,800 [...]

(Feb. 12, 2009, The Economist)
AS CHINA’S 15-day lunar new year holiday began, Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, was in the plush Swiss resort of Davos, hobnobbing with other global powerbrokers. Towards the end of the holiday on February 8th, he appeared in a very different setting. Sporting a pair of smart white trainers, he strode [...]

(Feb. 9, 2009, Scoop)
NZWWA CEO, Murray Gibb, is urging government to continue its reforms and rationalise water management in New Zealand.
“The question must be asked why a country of only four million people needs over seventy water utilities and twelve separate regional water regulators,” said Mr Gibb.
“With the imminent release of the Royal Commission’s report [...]

(Feb. 6, 2009, Phoenix Business Journal)

A bill in the Arizona Legislature would allow Colorado River water to be used for municipal and consumer needs in northwestern Arizona.
Current water laws state Colorado River water pumped into Mohave County may be used only for industrial applications such as mines, mills, utility plants and golf courses. The requirement [...]

(Feb. 4, 2009, Kelly Zito, San Francisco Chronicle)
With California in a critical drought, every shower, load of laundry and glass of tap water counts. But only in Bolinas could those things cost you your water connection.
The oceanside enclave in Marin County has enacted some of the state’s toughest water restrictions. Each customer – with the [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, San Francisco Business Times)

North Bay water companies are looking at rationing to cut use by 30 percent or more.
The Sonoma County Water Agency, which serves Sonoma and northern Marin counties, told cities and water districts to plan on losing 30 percent of their flow, according to North Bay news reports.
“If things don’t [...]

(Feb. 2, 2009, The Merced Sun Star)
An unprecedented shift of San Joaquin River water from farmers in the east Valley to those in the west could further complicate the scramble to save crops from drought this year.
At stake is precious San Joaquin River water, which has helped east-side farmers cultivate a multibillion-dollar economy on 1 [...]

(Feb. 3, 2009, News & Observer)
The Raleigh City Council will receive a report today that recommends creating a three-tier rate structure for residential water customers.
Under the proposal, which is preliminary and likely to be refined, customers would be charged 60 percent less than the current flat rate for the first 3,000 gallons of water. Raleigh [...]

(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, 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. 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. 27, 2009, MSNBC)
The warnings have been coming in dribs and drabs. Now they’re like a torrent — both locally and statewide.
Water is not to be wasted.
Save it.
Period.
Our water wizards say this three-year drought cycle we’re in has left California as parched as it was back in the mid- ’70s — when odd-even rationing and [...]

(Jan. 15, 2009, Consumer Reports)
The federal Energy Star program has revamped its standards for dishwashers. Machines made after mid-August 2009 must be at least 48 percent more efficient than federal energy-use standards require to qualify. What’s more, for the first time, Energy Star qualification also hinges on how much water a dishwasher can use. Qualifying [...]

(Jan. 11, 2009, The Tuscon Citizen)
A precious natural resource many Tucsonans let trickle away could mean big savings.
Harvested rainwater could be used to offset drinkable water now pumped, treated, delivered and used outdoors, said James J. Riley, associate professor of soil, water and environmental science at the University of Arizona.
An increase in rainwater harvesting could [...]

(Jan. 9, 2009, American Water Resources Association)

Those Americans even aware of Zimbabwe’s recent fight against the disruption and death caused by cholera, a highly treatable water-borne disease, carry an unfounded confidence that clean, abundant water will always be available and a similar water-borne disease epidemic could never occur here. However, many areas of our nation [...]

(Jan. 7, 2009, The Nation On Web)
With the sharp decrease in the graph of underground drinking water, City will be facing a critical water shortage in coming months. If government does not take concrete steps to cope with the situation, a water crisis is in the offing.
Sources in Wasa said that according to a State [...]

(Jan. 8, 2009, Planet Green)
As unappetizing as it may sound, grey water is useful stuff. OasisDesign.net defines it as such: “Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called grey water. Dish, shower, sink, and laundry water comprise 50-80% of residential ‘waste’ water. This may be reused for other [...]

(Jan. 7, 2009, Charlotte Observer)
The receding drought in Charlotte and the rest of Western North Carolina appears to have left a lasting gift: water conservation that’s gone mainstream.
Dry conditions still badger 28 counties west of Charlotte, a year after severe drought gripped most of the state. Despite improving rainfall, communities across the Charlotte region are [...]

(Jan. 5, 2009, PhillyBurbs)
Each day Montgomery County residents and workers use as much water as the daily flow of the Perkiomen Creek.
Seventeen large public water suppliers (10 authorities, four privately owned companies and three municipal water departments) supply 254,000 domestic, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
These customers use more than 152 million gallons of water each [...]

(Jan. 5, 2009, WaterDrop)

India has a population of 1.1 billion people, which is about 17 percent of the world’s total 6.7 billion people. India is second to China and ahead of third place United States of America. India has become the world’s second fastest growing large economy and the population growth has been soaring for [...]

(Jan. 6, 2009, Philly.com)
A gas exploration company says the drilling and treatment of wells could at times require withdrawing up to 4 million gallons of water in one day from sources in three central Pennsylvania counties.
A public notice says Texas-based Anadarko Exploration & Production Co. told the Susquehanna River Basin Commission the water from Centre, [...]

(Jan. 7, 2009, The Age)
MELBOURNE consumed slightly less water in 2008 than 2007 but still lived beyond its means in the ongoing drought.
In the first full calendar year under stage 3a water restrictions, the city consumed 368 billion litres of water, a result that ensured per-capita usage was close to 1930s levels…
But a gloomier picture [...]

(Dec. 22, 2008, Huffington Post)
I’m reminded of the farmer who was asked whether he believed in baptism. He replied, “Of course. I’ve seen it done.”
Well, as the ethanol boom has continued, I’ve seen new corn fields in Arizona and California where farmers water the fields with groundwater. Foolishness, oft repeated, does not become wisdom. Repeated [...]

(Dec. 22, 2008, Blue Planet / Green Living)
Toilets account for almost 30 percent of residential indoor water use in the United States. They’re also a major source of wasted water due to leaks and inefficiency. Unless a replacement has been installed, in a home built prior to 1993, each toilet likely uses 3 1/2 gallons [...]