In the News5
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Reclaimed Water: Safe to Drink?
People often cringe at the thought of water that was once wastewater being treated and used as drinking water. However, in Tampa, Florida, voters will be deciding next year on whether to use reclaimed water as part of the city’s drinking water. Reclaimed water, also known as recycled water, is highly treated wastewater that is…
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White House Report: Climate Change Impacts in the US
Last Tuesday (6/16), White House issued a report about how climate change will affect the United States in the next century. The 13 U.S. agencies–including NASA, the Department of State and the Department of Energy–collaborated for this report. Using the most up-to-date scientific data, The Global Climate Change Impacts in The United States report says that unprecedented changes…
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Water-Energy Dependency May Put a Damper on Water Banking in California
We’ve been following some of the issues related to the drought in California. In response to water shortages, a “water bank” has been implemented to allow users who do not use all of their water to sell it to other users. In theory, such a system allows water to be used in an efficient manner,…
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Water Sensors – Saving Water in Irrigation
One of the largest uses of fresh water withdrawals in the United States is for irrigation. The USGS estimates that 60% of the worlds fresh water withdrawals is for irrigation purposes, which calculates to 137,000 million gallons per day used for irrigation purposes. Some of this water is for irrigation of crops, while other of…
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Is Water Too Cheap in China?
The Chinese capital of Beijing will raise water prices this year as an attempt to conserve its scarce water supply. Cheng Jing, the head of Beijing’s water-resources bureau, announced on May 10th the city would raise water prices within the next two months. This price hike will be the fifth one since 2001 in a bid to promote conservation.
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“The Truth About Water Wars”
We’ve all heard about the horrors of the genocide in Darfur, followed Nicholas Kristof’s evangelical Op-Eds, and seen the benefit concerts to raise money towards the cause. Perhaps some know too of the ethnic differences tinting much of the clash, know the history of relations between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. But few…
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Green Infrastructure
Since May is American Wetlands Month, I want to highlight the use of constructed wetlands, or green infrastructure, as a way to manage or restore natural hydrologies to an ecosystem. The technologies mentioned below are not necessarily new or revolutionary. However, with the recent government emphasis on infrastructure and green projects, I think the scale…
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May is American Wetlands Month
To celebrate, take time to visit a wetland in your area and enjoy the birds and diverse plant life that populate these important ecosystems. In New York, we have Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island. You can also search the US National Wildlife Refuge System using your zipcode. For the daily dose of education, wetlands…
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NYS agencies phasing out bottled water
On March 10th Ju Young posted an extremely informative entry on bottled water, “Do you still drink bottled water?” The message to cut down on bottled water is still big in advertising, environmental groups, the media, politics, and just about everywhere else. It’s also an ongoing topic of discussion in the Water Center offices. In…