North America7
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In New York City, 2010 is All About the Water
Has New York City hit a critical mass that will make it truly a green city? I’m beginning to suspect so, at least in terms of water issues. There have been an increasing number of initiatives both to remediate past damage and to prevent future water quality problems, that are worth looking at together.
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Understanding the ‘Rain’ in Rainforest
There is increasing evidence that forests – and subsequently, deforestation – may have impacts on global water cycles.
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Another Superfund Site in New York City: Newtown Creek to Get a Makeover
The March designation of the Gowanus Canal in New York City as a SuperFund clean up site was an important step forward, and is now being followed by another leap: on Monday Newtown Creek, which runs between Queens and Brooklyn received the same designation.
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Fear and Thirst in Las Vegas (and Phoenix, and Los Angeles . . .)
Unless the 11-year drought that has parched the southwestern United States suddenly ends, emergency water provisions may have to be put in place to reduce water deliveries to Nevada and Arizona.
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What is the Benefit of Privatizing Water?
A recent Wall Street Journal article reports on what seems to be an accelerating trend: cities privatizing their water supplies. According to the article, the Indianapolis city-county council voted last month to sell its water and sewer utilities to a charitable trust; San Jose and Pittsburgh are considering selling their water systems as well, while…
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Privatizing Responsibility on Water Use
I would like to say congratulations to the Environmental Protection Agency for it’s recent “We’re for Water” campaign to promote responsible water use (after all, who can argue with low-flow toilets and efficient showerheads?) but I am seriously concerned about the campaign’s underlying message. “We’re for Water” features families competing with each other to see…
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DRBC Gives Tentative Go Ahead to Fracking in PA — New York Skips the Meeting
According to the Delaware River Basin Commission, over 15 million people—about five percent of the nation’s population—rely on the Delaware River Basin for “drinking, agricultural, and industrial use.” New York City alone gets half its water from reservoirs located on tributaries of the Delaware. It’s no understatement, then, to suggest that the commission—a regional body…
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Cousteau explores the Gulf oil spill
Well-known oceanographer and documentary filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and his organization, Ocean Futures Society, made 2 trips to the Gulf to study the impact that the oil spill is having on marine and terrestrial life. Cousteau is known for being an ocean explorer and documentarian, and for being the son of Jacques Cousteau. In two interviews…
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Chicago Sanitary Canals, anything but sanitary
A story by Dan Egan in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on July 6, 2010 pulls together threads of sewage, drinking water, commerce, ecosystem deterioration, politics, health, geography, and Asian carp to create a picture of how big a mess we humans are capable of making for ourselves.
