Water Symposium: San Antonio

Environment: Global Water Security

2010-02-02T13:14:00.001-06:00

Environment: Global Water Security

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LA Times: Copenhagen's missing ingredient: water

2009-11-30T23:23:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-20T14:24:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-17T09:00:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-15T21:22:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-15T21:18:00.000-06:00

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'

2009-11-15T21:12:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-15T09:12:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-15T09:07:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-14T03:13:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-14T03:01:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-14T02:59:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-10T22:10:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-09T22:27:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-09T08:08:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-09T08:05:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-04T14:52:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-03T11:26:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-03T11:22:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-03T11:18:00.000-06:00

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]

Chicago Trib: Brewers worry that national water shortages will raise prices

2009-10-28T11:19:00.000-05:00

Brewers worry that national water shortages will raise prices

MILWAUKEE: Even a hint of water scarcity is enough to drive a brewer to drink.

"Simply put, beer is 92 percent water," said Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Richard Leinenkugel, who hails from one of the nation's oldest breweries, the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. [read rest of article]

Green, Inc.: Water Use by Solar Projects Intensifies

2009-10-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

Water Use by Solar Projects Intensifies

The West’s water wars are likely to intensify with Pacific Gas and Electric’s announcement Monday that the utility will buy 500 megawatts of electricity from two solar power plant projects to be built in the California desert.

The Genesis Solar Energy Project would consume an estimated 536 million gallons of water a year while the Mojave Solar Project would pump 705 million gallons annually for power plant cooling, according to applications filed with the California Energy Commission.

With 35 big solar farm projects undergoing licensing or planned for arid regions of California alone, water is emerging as a contentious issue. [read rest of article]

Clean Technology Forum

2009-10-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

This is video from the main segment of the Clean Tech Forum held in San Antonio on Sept. 16, and livecast to the Web by NOWCastSA.

The speakers were: San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro; Steve Bartley, Interim General Manager, CPS Energy; Patrick Moore, Co-Chair, Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy); Craig Severance,Author, Business Risks & Costs of New Nuclear Power and Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy & Environmental Research.

ABC NEws: From Ecological Soviet-Era Ruin, a Sea Is Reborn

2009-10-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

From Ecological Soviet-Era Ruin, a Sea Is Reborn

Standing on the shore under the relentless Central Asian sun, Badarkhan Prikeyev drew on a cigarette and squinted into the distance as one fishing boat after another returned with the day's catch.

Until recently, this spot where the fish merchant was standing, in a man-made desert at the edge of nowhere, represented one of the world's worst environmental calamities.

Now fresh water was lapping at his boots, proclaiming an environmental miracle — the return of the Aral Sea. [Read rest of article]

time4climatejustice

2009-10-24T07:33:00.000-05:00

Democracy Now!: Toxic Waters

2009-10-22T11:11:00.001-05:00

Toxic Waters: Regulatory Absence Allows Chemical, Coal and Farm Industries to Pollute US Water Supplies

Amy Goodman speaks to New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg about the latest in his investigative series “Toxic Waters,” which examines the worsening pollution in the nation’s water systems. [read transcript]

BBC: China moves 330,000 in water plan

2009-10-21T11:31:00.001-05:00

China moves 330,000 in water plan

China has begun to resettle 330,000 people to make way for a project to divert water from the south of the country to the north, state media say. [read rest of article]

NPR: How Safe Is Your Drinking Water?

2009-10-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

How Safe Is Your Drinking Water?

An estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals, parasites, bacteria or viruses, or fails to meet federal health standards. Part of the problem, says journalist Charles Duhigg, is that water-pollution laws are not being enforced. [listen to the segment on Terry Gross - Fresh Air]

Water is as good a comfort food as chocolate, says study

2009-10-15T09:57:00.000-05:00

Mother Nature Network:
Water is as good a comfort food as chocolate, says study

Like water for chocolate? Researchers now say that water may be just as effective a comfort food as chocolate, but without the calories. [read rest of article]

USA Today: More projects return America's rivers to their natural state

2009-10-14T10:07:00.000-05:00

More projects return America's rivers to their natural state

Texas. About 31 miles of the San Antonio River were channelized by the Army Corps of Engineers in a project that started in 1957, and "it absolutely does what it was designed to do: It protects our communities from flooding," says Steven Schaner, spokesman for the San Antonio River Authority. Turning the San Antonio into what Schaner describes as a "trapezoidal drainage ditch" came with major effects on the river's ecosystem.

Working with the Army Corps, the authority embarked on the $272 million restoration of 8 miles of the river south of downtown San Antonio. River meanders will be returned, as will shallow rapids important for fish. About 20,000 trees will be planted. [read rest of article]

Water shortages causes 100,000 to flee homes in Iraq: UN

2009-10-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

Water shortages causes 100,000 to flee homes in Iraq: UN

PARIS — More than 100,000 people in northern Iraq have abandoned their homes since 2005 because of water stress, after drought and over-extraction of groundwater caused the collapse of an ancient water system, UNESCO said on Tuesday. [read rest of article]

Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways

2009-10-13T04:40:00.000-05:00

Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways

Even as a growing number of coal-burning power plants around the nation have moved to reduce their air emissions, many of them are creating another problem: water pollution. Power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint manufacturing and chemical plants, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data. [read rest of article]

video: Sinkhole Recharge

2009-10-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

Sinkhole recharge

A series of caves in Stone Oak City Park are part of the recharge zone for the Edwards Aquifer. [View video; sorry, can't embed it!]

Corpus Christi: Red tide found in Packery Channel

2009-10-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

Red tide found in Packery Channel

PORT ARANSAS — Red tide was detected late Thursday and early Friday at the mouth of Packery Channel and between the Port Aransas jetties, said a biologist with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Concentrations of the toxic algae were not high enough to kill fish, but were dense enough to cause minor symptoms such as coughing, throat irritation and watery eyes in people on the beach and jetties, said Meridith Byrd, the department’s Hazardous Algae Bloom response coordinator. [read rest of article]

LA Times: Yemen water crisis builds

2009-10-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yemen water crisis builds

The resource's scarcity in rural areas sends migrants to swell the capital, which may run out by 2025. [read rest of article]

Montreal Gazette: Fight poverty - add water

2009-10-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

Fight poverty - add water

Looking up at the full moon, it's hard to imagine two more different realities: Billionaire Quebec impresario/space tourist Guy Laliberté is up there somewhere - possibly wearing a red clown's nose - floating in zero gravity on a poetic mission about water conservation, while people down here are gathered in a dirt field, waiting for actors to take to a makeshift stage.

The play, also focused on the need for clean drinking water, will be a rare break for people of San Luis, who work hard just to get by. (A third of Nicaraguans live on less than $2 a day). [read rest of article]

Circus Billionaire Hosts Space Show About Water

2009-10-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

Canadian space tourist and circus billionaire Guy Laliberte mixed star power, science lectures, music and poetry with water, hosting a TV/Internet show from the International Space Station.

SA-EN: Clean energy, clean water

2009-10-10T09:02:00.000-05:00

Clean energy, clean water
By Tom Fowler - Houston Chronicle

HOUSTON — A Texas firm plans to use power generated by the Gulf of Mexico's waves to make its salty water drinkable.

Renew Blue Inc. says its project can address two global problems — climate change and scarce drinking water — by using clean energy to turn seawater to freshwater. [read rest of article]

NASA craft smacks the moon in quest for water

2009-10-09T07:55:00.000-05:00

NASA craft smacks the moon in quest for water
By John Johnson Jr. Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

A NASA rocket plowed into a crater on the moon this morning, looking for evidence that water has been lying hidden in the lunar wasteland for billions of years. [read rest of article]

WWF: Wealthy world at risk from water woes elsewhere

2009-10-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

Wealthy world at risk from water woes elsewhere

While German households use 124 litres of water a day directly, individual Germans use 5288 litres of water a day when the water requirements of producing their food, clothes and other consumption items are included.

The report calculated Germany’s water footprint at 159.5 cubic kilometres of water annually, with only half coming from German rain and rivers. [read rest of article]

Minn Post: Noted lecturers grapple with water, 'the uncertain resource'

2009-10-07T20:29:00.000-05:00

Noted lecturers grapple with water, 'the uncertain resource'

"It's certainly no coincidence that whenever civilizations and human activity began, it is essentially because of access to water," Pachauri explained at the start of his address. "And it's also no coincidence that those societies which ran into problems in the management of their water resources — all had to encounter natural debacles that led to the depletion or vanishing of water resources — are the societies that actually failed." [read rest of article]

NYT: Regulators Plan to Study Health Risks of Atrazine

2009-10-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

Regulators Plan to Study Health Risks of Atrazine
By CHARLES DUHIGG

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to conduct a new study about the potential health risks of atrazine, a widely used weedkiller that recent research suggests may be more dangerous to humans than previously thought.

Atrazine — a herbicide often used on corn fields, golf courses and even lawns — has become one of the most common contaminants in American drinking water. [read rest of article]

Going green by growing green

2009-10-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

Going green by growing green

Note: Dr. Murray has just been confirmed as one of the presenters at the Water Symposium!

When San Antonio researcher Kyle Murray peers into the future, he sees the land of black gold turning bright green. Algae green. Murray, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, thinks the city is perfectly poised to become a research and production hotbed for literally one of the greenest fuels around, mined from the slippery marine life that thrives in the shallow ponds and warm, sunny weather that are hallmarks of this region. [read rest of article]

Africa Climate Change Threatens Life and Health of Maasai Women

2009-10-06T11:24:00.000-05:00

Africa Climate Change Threatens Life and Health of Maasai Women

Kajiado, Kenya: The Maasai are struggling with frequent water shortages which are threatening their way of life. But one women’s group is taking action. [read rest of article]

SA-EN: Big decisions on energy, water dominate mayor's agenda

2009-10-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Big decisions on energy, water dominate mayor's agenda
Scott Stroud

Mayor Julián Castro didn't set out to be “the utility mayor,” but circumstances beyond his control have led him in that direction.

Castro inherited the city's $5.2 billion nuclear decision, and while that work is anything but finished, he's already turning toward another pressing need the city faces — making sure San Antonians have enough water to slake our growing thirst. [read rest of column]

SA-EN: Rain in Brackenridge Park Video

2009-10-05T11:51:00.006-05:00

Rains ravaged the area over the weekend, resulting in flash flooding, power outages and more than a few high water rescues. [read rest of article]

Common Dreams: UN Warns of 70 Percent Desertification by 2025

2009-10-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

UN Warns of 70 Percent Desertification by 2025

BUENOS AIRES - Drought could parch close to 70 percent of the planet's soil by 2025 unless countries implement policies to slow desertification, a senior United Nations official has warned. [read rest of article]

TIME: World Water Crisis

2009-10-04T18:40:00.000-05:00

World Water Crisis

In the extraordinary new book Blue Planet Run, hundreds of photographers from all over the world track mankind's vital race to provide safe drinking water to the one billion people who lack it. Watch a slide show of water photos or download a free copy of the book in PDF format.

Book Review: 'Following the Water': a naturalist's love affair with swamps and their creatures

2009-10-04T18:14:00.000-05:00

'Following the Water': a naturalist's love affair with swamps and their creatures

"Following the Water — a Hydromancer's Notebook" by MacArthur "genius grant" award winner David M. Carroll recounts the author's lifelong obsession with the threatened wetlands of his New England home. [read rest of review in the Seattle Times]

The Nation:The Coalfield Uprising

2009-10-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

The Coalfield Uprising
By Jeff Biggers

When the Environmental Protection Agency declared this year on September 11 that all pending mountaintop removal mining permits in four Appalachian states stood in violation of the Clean Water Act and required further review, Lora Webb didn’t have time to join in any celebrations. As she and her husband, Steve, a coal miner, packed up their possessions and left his family’s ancestral property outside Lindytown, West Virginia, Lora was more concerned about finding a place to sleep that night. [read rest of article]

AP: Trampling blamed for Alaska walrus deaths

2009-10-03T00:24:00.000-05:00

Trampling blamed for Alaska walrus deaths

By Dan Joling - Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Trampling likely killed 131 mostly young walruses forced onto the northwest coast of Alaska by a loss of sea ice, according to a preliminary report released Thursday. [read rest of article]

NYT Green Blog: Solar Stirs Water Wars in the West

2009-10-03T00:15:00.000-05:00

Solar Stirs Water Wars in the West

. . . a water war is breaking out in the desert Southwest over the dozens of large-scale solar power plants planned for the region.

Depending on the technology used, some solar farms can consume more than a billion gallons of water a year in regions that receive three or four inches of rain annually. [read rest of article]

SA-EN: Hardbergers travel miles in boat called Aimless

2009-09-30T13:09:00.000-05:00

Hardbergers travel miles in boat called Aimless By Phil Hardberger Special to the Express-News

Editor's note: After Phil Hardberger ended his term as San Antonio mayor, the veteran sailor and his wife, Linda, set off on a trip through middle America, from Port Aransas to the shores of Lake Michigan, finding solitude and friends along the way as they traveled upriver in a boat named Aimless.

HOLLAND, MICH. — Fall comes early in these high latitudes. The trees are already splashed with little dabs of yellow, oranges, reds and purple. Although we are in middle America, we are at 43 degrees of latitude, as high as Boston on the map. Mornings are cold, sweaters part of our normal dress. We've come 2,481 nautical miles since leaving Port Aransas. Aimless, our 42-foot trawler, runs at 9 knots per hour (10 mph), so these distances take a while — 2 1/2 months in our case. Slow travel brings its rewards. You absorb the country, accents changing with the temperature. [read rest of article]

SA-EN: Seeing Rio Grande as uniter, not divider

2009-09-30T13:06:00.000-05:00

Seeing Rio Grande as uniter, not divider
By Colin McDonald - Express-News

GUERRERO VIEJO, Mexico — As soon as he stepped onto the mud shore below the church ruins, Eric Ellman could visualize the party.

The racers would storm across the Rio Grande, landing their kayaks and canoes to the cheers of fans lining the streets of this 200-year-old, half-sunken and abandoned town now exposed by a drought-lowered lake.
After an awards ceremony in front of the church’s cleaned-up facade, camps would be set up. A band would play. Where cows now stood, couples would dance under a star-studded sky.

The Rio Grande again would be a uniting element, not just a heavily patrolled boundary be tween two impoverished, semi-isolated populations. [read rest of article]

NYT: Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water

2009-09-30T13:03:00.000-05:00

Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water
By TODD WOODY, New York Times

AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. — In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession, a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs.

But then things got messy. The company revealed that its preferred method of cooling the power plants would consume 1.3 billion gallons of water a year, about 20 percent of this desert valley’s available water. [read rest of article]

Science News: Many U.S. schools dispense tainted water

2009-09-25T11:30:00.000-05:00

Many U.S. schools dispense tainted water
By Janet Raloff

Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech has turned up widespread lead — some of it at clearly hazardous levels — contaminating drinking water supplies in schools from a host of big cities. A major Associated Press investigation now builds on his data. It reported yesterday that although lead remains a serious problem in school drinking water, it’s far from the only one. “The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates,” AP found. [read rest of article]

Austin-A-S: Tougher water rules on way? LCRA reviewing drought plan

2009-09-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

Tougher water rules on way? LCRA reviewing drought plan

Intensity of drought may push LCRA to act on management plan sooner.

By Asher Price AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Despite rains that have raked Central Texas since the start of September, the Lower Colorado River Authority said this week that the intensity of the drought over the past two years could compel it to require its municipal and industrial customers to curtail water use earlier than called for in a state-approved drought plan. [read rest of article]

Celebs to climb Kilimanjaro for clean water

2009-09-24T22:28:00.000-05:00

Celebs to climb Kilimanjaro for clean water

NEW YORK — Actress Jessica Biel and other celebrities are joining singer and producer Kenna Zemedkun, also known as Kenna, for a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro in January as part of Summit on the Summit, an effort to raise awareness about the global clean water crisis. [read rest of article]

SA Biz Jour: EAA eases water-pumping limits due to recent rainfall

2009-09-22T21:48:00.000-05:00

EAA eases water-pumping limits due to recent rainfall

The Edwards Aquifer Authority (EAA) has lifted stage-two water restrictions in the San Antonio area bit left in place stage one restrictions, however.

Under stage two, a groundwater permit holder is required to cut its annual authorized pumping level by 30 percent. Under stage one, a permit holder is still required to reduce its pumping level by 20 percent. Permit holders — which include municipal water systems and irrigators in a seven-county region — are still required to report their pumping totals to the Edwards Aquifer Authority on a monthly basis. [read rest of article]

Seattle PI: High-tech materials may boost geothermal appeal

2009-09-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

High-tech materials may boost geothermal appeal
By ANNETTE CARY TRI-CITY HERALD

RICHLAND, Wash. -- New nanomaterials could provide the boost in efficiency needed to make heat beneath the earth's surface a practical source to generate nearly pollution-free electricity if research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory proves out.

Geothermal resources largely fell out of favor in the early '80s for power generation when few places proved to have hot enough rock close enough to the earth's surface to make geothermal power generation efficient and economical.

But Peter McGrail, a fellow at the Richland lab, thinks the nanomaterials may help make geothermal a more practical resource by allowing efficient energy production at lower temperatures.

"What we have is a new energy-producing cycle that will allow us to exploit these low-temperature geothermal sources for a more economical power production," McGrail said.

Geothermal already has several advantages. It's renewable and produces almost no pollution, including carbon dioxide. And unlike solar and wind power, it would be constantly available to provide the steady base load a power grid requires.

But in conventional geothermal use for power production, hot rock beneath the earth's surface needs to heat water driven into it to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, or more typically hotter, to make electricity production efficient. [read rest of article]

RESOURCE: Geology and Human Health

2009-09-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

Geology and Human Health

This site contains a variety of educational and supporting materials for faculty teaching in the emerging field of geology and human health. You will find links to internet resources, books, teaching activities, and a group email list, as well as posters, presentations and discussions from the spring 2004 workshop on Geology and Human Health. These resources reflect the contributions of faculty members from across the country and the collections will continue to grow as materials are developed. Lots of material on water! From Carleton College.

AP IMPACT: Gov't stands by as mercury taints water

2009-09-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Gov't stands by as mercury taints water

By JASON DEAREN (AP)

NEW IDRIA, Calif. — Abandoned mercury mines throughout central California's rugged coastal mountains are polluting the state's major waterways, rendering fish unsafe to eat and risking the health of at least 100,000 impoverished people. [read rest of article]

MSNBC: Tentative signs of water found on the moon

2009-09-17T21:00:00.001-05:00

Tentative signs of water found on the moon
New orbiter’s detector indicates shadowed regions may have ice, hydrogen
By Andrea Thompson, Senior writer

New data and images from NASA's new moon orbiter — the first in more than a decade — have revealed tentative signs of lunar water ice, the space agency announced Thursday. [read rest of article]

SA-EN: Drought-plagued marshes still feeling Ike effects

2009-09-16T09:33:00.000-05:00

Drought-plagued marshes still feeling Ike effects
By Chris Duncan - Associated Press

PORT ARTHUR — First too much water, now not enough.

The Texas Gulf Coast's recovery from Hurricane Ike — which submerged the marshes in seawater, scouring away beaches, ruining thousands of acres of vegetation and wiping out much of the wildlife — is being stymied by the state's worst drought in 50 years.

The drought has deprived the land of the cleansing rains needed to purge salty residue left from the tidal surge Ike dragged in when it slammed into the Texas coast on Sept. 13, 2008. The toxic soil and contaminated ponds have kept plants from regrowing and animals from nesting, driving off some species altogether.

"We're very far behind in our rainfall, and that's made a bad problem even worse," said Jim Sutherlin, manager of the 25,000-acre Murphree Wildlife Refuge near Port Arthur. "We've not had nearly the rains we need to reverse the damage to the landscape." [read rest of article]

NYT: The Price of Outdated Federal Flood Insurance Policies Is Measured in Wrecked Homes

2009-09-16T02:44:00.000-05:00

The Price of Outdated Federal Flood Insurance Policies Is Measured in Wrecked Homes
By EVAN LEHMANN of ClimateWire, September 15, 2009

Hundreds of homes were swept away by waves when Hurricane Ike charged onto Bolivar Peninsula in Texas last year. Eleven survived -- and perhaps not by chance.

Ten of those homes were "fortified" and built several feet above current elevation standards, according to a new analysis (pdf). Researchers see that as evidence: The federal government is underestimating the strength of storm surges as seas rise from worldwide warming, the authors say. (read rest of article]

WSJ: Utilities Face Stiffer Wastewater Rules

2009-09-15T17:14:00.000-05:00

Utilities Face Stiffer Wastewater Rules

By SIOBHAN HUGHES, Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it will start demanding utilities do more to remove heavy metals from wastewater discharged by coal-fired power plants, a decision aimed at preventing pollution of drinking water that also could compel power companies to install costly new treatment systems.

The EPA hasn't changed the rules governing wastewater from coal-fired plants since 1982. On Monday, a group of environmental organizations including the Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Integrity Project notified the EPA that they intend to take legal action. The groups say the agency's failure to limit the spread of wastewater toxins into rivers, streams and swamps could endanger drinking-water supplies and wildlife. [read rest of article]

Truthout: EPA to Take Closer Look at 79 Permits for Appalachian Surface Mines

2009-09-15T04:54:00.000-05:00

EPA to Take Closer Look at 79 Permits for Appalachian Surface Mines

Friday 11 September 2009

by: Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

Washington - The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that 79 applications for surface coal-mine permits in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee might violate the nation's Clean Water Act and require closer scrutiny.

Many of the 79 applications would remove mountaintops and dump debris in valley streams.[read rest of article]

Austin A-S: Water speculators fishing for profit amid drought scare

2009-09-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

Water speculators fishing for profit amid drought scare

By Asher Price AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, September 14, 2009

LEXINGTON — In a scorching cow pasture silent save the lowing of cattle, Terry Gilmore picks up a stick and draws in the sand a simple map: divots in the ground for a handful of water wells, then a long scratch for a pipeline to deliver water to Austin's eastern flank.

About 2,000 feet below him sits an underground reservoir, known as the Simsboro formation, that he and others hope will fuel development everywhere from Georgetown to San Antonio.

Gilmore, 60, the chief investor in a water development company called Sustainable Water Resources, has spent millions of dollars to try to make his lines in the sand a brick-and-mortar reality.

Besides Gilmore, a handful of competitive water speculators are banking that the water beneath the largely rural area in Lee and surrounding counties is their crystal-clear gold. As anxieties about water supplies rise among the public and politicians, private speculators see an opportunity to tie up water rights and sell their goods to cities. But they have struggled to land big buyers. [read rest of article]

AP: Space tourist uses $35M trip to back water issues

2009-09-13T11:41:00.001-05:00

Space tourist uses $35M trip to back water issues
By MANSUR MIROVALEV (AP) – September 10, 2009

STAR CITY, Russia — The next paying traveler to the international space station wants to use his $35 million trip to highlight concerns about the world's water supply.

Guy Laliberte, the Canadian billionaire founder of the Cirque du Soleil, said Thursday that he aims to read a statement to the world about the planet's water problems after taking a Russian rocket to the space station. [read rest of article]

SF GATE: Environmentalists blast Mideast water projects

2009-09-13T11:37:00.001-05:00

Environmentalists blast Mideast water projects
Howard Schneider, Washington Post Sunday, September 13, 2009

An acute water shortage has prompted Jordan and Israel to embark on audacious water-supply projects that supporters say will prevent an impending regional crisis but environmentalists have criticized as ill-advised attempts to rewire nature. [read rest of article]

Boston Globe: Amid drought, water shortage is crisis in Mexico

2009-09-13T11:33:00.001-05:00

Amid drought, water shortage is crisis in Mexico
By Ken Ellingwood Los Angeles Times / September 13, 2009

MEXICO CITY - In the parched Mexican countryside, the corn is wilting, the wheat stunted. And here in this vast and thirsty capital, officials are rationing water and threatening worse cuts as Mexico endures one of the driest spells in more than half a century.

A monthslong drought has affected broad swaths of the country, from the US border to the Yucatan Peninsula, leaving crop fields parched and many reservoirs low. The need for rain is so dire that water officials have been rooting openly for a hurricane or two to provide a good drenching. [read rest of article]

SAEN: Water helps fuel debate on the STP

2009-09-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

Water helps fuel debate on the STP

By Anton Caputo, Express-News - and Asher Price, Austin American-Statesman

During the intense Southeast drought of 2007, when the region desperately needed to power its air conditioners, the Browns Ferry nuclear complex in Alabama had to shut down one of its reactors for more than a day and significantly reduce power from two more.

In the deadly European heat wave of 2003, many of the French nuclear plants were in a similar bind and were forced to power down as thousands were overcome by heat-related illnesses.

The culprit in both cases was a lack of water in the rivers used to operate and cool the reactors.

Situations like these have many questioning if there possibly can be enough water in fast-growing, drought-prone South Texas to meet the needs of two more nuclear reactors being proposed at the South Texas Project plant outside Bay City. [read the rest of the article]

Korea Times: Pyongyang May Weaponize Water

2009-09-12T20:20:00.001-05:00

North Korea Can Flood or Drain South
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

South Korea learned a bitter lesson from its northern neighbor's release of 40 million tons of water from a dam without prior notice last weekend. Water can be used as a weapon. [read rest of article]

SAEN: Top Corporate Water Users in San Antonio

2009-09-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

Interactive database in the San Antonio Express-News of top corporate water users for May, June and July, 2009.

NYT: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost to Health

2009-09-12T18:36:00.002-05:00

Toxic Waters

Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost to Health

By CHARLES DUHIGG

Published: September 13, 2009

In the past five years, companies and workplaces have violated pollution laws more than 500,000 times. But the vast majority of polluters have escaped punishment. [read in the New York Times]