LA Times: Copenhagen's missing ingredient: water

Copenhagen's missing ingredient: water

 Scientists stress water's profound link with climate change, yet delegates at next week's conference have deleted water from the working draft of a binding environmental treaty. [read rest of article]

CDP Launches Water Disclosure Project

CDP Launches Water Disclosure Project

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has launched a global water disclosure project to help businesses and institutional investors understand the risks and opportunities associated with water scarcity and other water-related issues, including greater demand for water, shrinking glaciers and changing precipitation patterns that are likely to result in drought and flooding. [Read rest of article]

E-N: Balancing water needs of aquifer's many users

Balancing water needs of aquifer's many users

Water restrictions put in place during this year's drought are nothing compared with those of the future if management of the Edwards Aquifer is not changed, scientists say in a new report.

In a worst-case scenario, pumping from the aquifer would have to be cut by as much as 97 percent during a drought to ensure the survival of endangered species dependent on flows of the Comal and San Marcos springs. [Read rest of article]

 

Warmer Means Windier on World's Biggest Lake

Warmer Means Windier on World's Biggest Lake

 ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2009) — Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren.  [Read rest of article]

Swiss device may lessen water woes

Swiss device may lessen water woes

 A person uses about 1.5 litres of water to wash his hands. This quantity can be reduced to one decilitre which is 10 times less," said Denis Crottet, the inventor of the system.
The device, which is internationally patented, produces a first flow which is a combination of water, soap and air. There is a gap before the second flow to allow cleaning of hands. The second flow contains only water for rinsing. "By controlling the mixing of soap, water and air, we avoid wastage of water," said Crottet. [Read rest of article]

Ponds 'caused Bangladesh arsenic'

Ponds 'caused Bangladesh arsenic' 

Man-made ponds may be responsible for widespread arsenic contamination of ground water affecting millions of people in Bangladesh, a new study says. [read rest of article]

Dominica signs deal to export drinking water

Dominica signs deal to export drinking water

The lush but poor Caribbean island of Dominica will allow an export company to ship billions of gallons of its river water to parched countries around the globe, officials said Saturday. [Read rest of article]

Holy water in the era of swine flu

Holy water in the era of swine flu: an electronic dispenser

Amid fears that religious ritual was eroding due to swine flu fears, an innovative Catholic from the town of Fornaci di Briosco in northern Italy has invented an electronic holy water dispenser. As Reuters first reported, inventor Luciano Marabese first developed the dispenser—which works similarly to soap dispensers, but instead spurts out holy water when parishioners wave a hand underneath—says he did so out of concern that swine flu was undermining the ritual of people dipping their hands into the font upon arrival and departure from church. [Read rest of article]

Amnesty International: Israel rations Palestinians to trickle of water

Amnesty International has accused Israel of denying Palestinians the right to access adequate water by maintaining total control over the shared water resources and pursuing discriminatory policies. [read rest of article] 

LA Times: Nuclear scars: Tainted water runs beneath Nevada desert

Nuclear scars: Tainted water runs beneath Nevada desert

 The state faces a water crisis and population boom, but radioactive waste from the Nevada Test Site has polluted aquifers. [read rest of article]

 

Chicago Trib: Water on moon: Discovery intrigues scientists over possibility of life

Water on moon: Discovery intrigues scientists over possibility of life

 Scientists have found "significant" amounts of water in a crater at the moon's south pole, a major discovery that will dramatically revise the characterization of the moon as a dead world and probably make it a more attractive destination for human space missions.

"The moon is alive," declared Anthony Colaprete, the chief scientist for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission. [read rest of article]

WILD9: Wilderness and Water Promises in the Land of the Maya

Wilderness and Water Promises in the Land of the Maya

Even without the dire spectre of climate change, "mitigation and adaptation will become fundamental if we want to have water enough for this and coming generations," said Omar Vidal, director of the World Wildlife Fund - Mexico.

Most of Mexico's watersheds have extraction rates above 40 percent and 101 major aquifers are now considered "over-exploited," he said. "Seventy percent of the Mexican population … are at great risk of water shortage." [Read entire article]

NYT: Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash

Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash 

ABOARD THE ALGUITA, 1,000 miles northeast of Hawaii — In this remote patch of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any national boundary, the detritus of human life is collecting in a swirling current so large that it defies precise measurement. [Read rest of article]

AP: Cold Ocean Water to be Turned Into A/C

Cold Ocean Water to be Turned Into A/C

HONOLULU—The plan to pump frigid waters from the ocean's depths to air condition downtown Honolulu isn't a pipe dream, and it could reduce the state's dependence on fossil fuels while slashing power bills that are the highest in the nation.

The long-studied cooling project by Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning would extend plumbing nearly 5 miles offshore, suck 45-degree water from 1,800 feet deep, circulate frosty water into buildings' existing A/C systems and then dump it back into the sea. [read rest of article]

ABC NEWS: Water Crisis at Heart of Yemen's Conflicts

Water Crisis at Heart of Yemen's Conflicts

Water Shortages Fuel Conflicts in Yemen, Already on the Brink of Failure

While domestic insurgencies chip away at the control of Yemen's central government and an Al Qaeda branch gains strength in regions beyond the government's reach, another crisis — one that affects Yemen's entire population — has the potential to contribute to the country's instability and potential trajectory toward failure. Yemen is running out of water – fast. [read rest of article]

 

 

Reuters: Israeli firms aim to plug world's water leaks

Israeli firms aim to plug world's water leaks

A World Bank study in 2006 showed water lost in the system before it reaches the customer -- known as "non-revenue water" -- costs utilities at least $14 billion worldwide every year, largely from leaky pipes and poor maintenance.

Most of the loss is in developing countries: 12 billion gallons (45 million cubic meters) of water are lost daily, enough to serve nearly 200 million people, the study said. [Read rest of Article]

 

Wired: EPA Tests Porous Pavement, Greener Gardens

EPA Tests Porous Pavement, Greener Gardens

As stormwater runoff endangers the world’s water supply, the EPA is busy planting gardens and repaving its parking lots.

Don’t worry — it’s not just an attempt to beautify the agency’s field offices in Edison, New Jersey. The renovations are being done in the name of science, with a field test of runoff-reducing pavements and installation of water-cleansing rain gardens. The Environmental Protection Agency is using the trials to see how pavement and plant choices can help filter pollutants out of rain water before it reenters the water supply. [read rest of article]

 

Reuters: San Antonio Water System Joins Energy Research Alliance of San Antonio

San Antonio Water System Joins Energy Research Alliance of San Antonio

 Dedicated to exploring new and innovative energy solutions, San Antonio Water System (SAWS) announced today it joined the Energy Research Alliance of San Antonio established in June by The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI) and CPS Energy. [read rest of article]

 

Robot Fish to Better Monitor Water Quality

Robot Fish to Better Monitor Water Quality

An ecologist and an engineer at Michigan State University are working together to create robot fish that can better monitor various factors in aquatic environments. [Read Rest of article]