water matters33
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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.
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Beat the Heat, but with Bottled Water?
As temperatures in the Northeast finally begin to ease, we can assess the first heat wave of summer 2010. Here in New York, there was remarkably little drama. Through Herculean efforts, ConEd was able to avoid any serious blackouts or brownouts, and thankfully, there were no health emergencies. Neither were there any major heat-induced public…
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Chlorine: What Are Your Kids Swimming In?
It turns out that using chlorine to purify water has an interesting and controversial history that raises many questions about the price we pay for safety and public health, because in spite of it’s apparent benefits, the widespread use of the chemical carries substantial risks as well.
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Jamaica Bay, a refuge for wildlife in New York City, gets protection
The good news is that the migratory birds and resident marine life of Jamaica Bay may be getting a reprieve. In February, Mayor Bloomberg, the State Environmental Council and the Natural Resources Defense Council announced an agreement that would improve water quality and preserve the wetlands of Jamaica Bay. The Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan…
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Zombies and Water: What’s the Connection?
Erik Assadourian of the Worldwatch Institute recently suggested that what with all the zombie books and movies coming out recently, Worldwatch’s next book should focus on zombies and sustainability, because it would draw more attention to the institute’s work than even the best written State of the World report could.
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The PlayPump: What Went Wrong?
Earlier this week, PBS’s Frontline ran a story about the PlayPump, a technology that was supposed to bring drinking water to thousands of African communities by harnessing the power of children at play. Now dozens of PlayPumps in Mozambique sit idle, and in many villages PlayPumps have been removed, and hand pumps reinstalled.
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How to Clean up the Gulf Coastline after the Oil Spill – EPA Workshop
On June 5th, Columbia Water Center collaborator Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Engineering professor at Columbia University, participated in a workshop organized by the EPA on how to best address the environmental recovery of the Gulf Coast shoreline after the disastrous oil spill. At a later date we will post a conversation with Prof. Somasundaran about the…
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Who owns the Nile?
Who owns the Nile? Nine countries want to have a say in answering that question, and they don’t agree. The great river moves through Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so they all may claim her as at least partly their own.
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Applied Climate Research: A Conversation with Stefan Sobolowski (Part 2)
In part 1 of this interview, I talked with Columbia Water Center hydroclimatologist Stefan Sobolowski about the effects of continental snowcover on climate, and the implications of his research on climate change. In part 2, we talk about the problem of uncertainty in climate prediction models, extreme weather events, the regional variation of climate change…