State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

water matters38

  • Reflections on Haiti

    Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to travel to Haiti to install a weather monitoring station, as well as conduct streamflow measurements and water quality assessments with Water Center employee Lior Asaf.  Traveling to Haiti gave me my first exposure to how water and climate issues are affecting poor and developing countries, as well…

  • T. Boone Pickens vs. Texas Water Conservation Board

    T Boone Pickens, well known for his strong opinions on renewable energy, is hoping that selling water to thirsty cities will be as commercially profitable as he’s found oil to be, and has been investing heavily in purchasing water rights. He opposes a public groundwater management plan that interferes with that.

  • Addressing urban water scarcity in developing countries: Chennai, India

    Ensuring an adequate water supply isn’t only an issue for large urban centers like New York or Los Angeles. It’s also a vital concern of the growing populations of cities in the developing world. Veena Srinivasan, of the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, shared her work on ‘The integrated water paradigm: a…

  • Tapped: Earth Week Water Documentary/Give Away/Town Hall at Teacher’s College

    The documentary film Tapped will be screened on Wednesday, April 21, sponsored by the Program in Social Studies and the Teacher’s College Go Green Committee. But it won’t just be a film showing – it’s a whole event designed to entertain, inspire and mobilize students and the public around drinking water. Look at your hand.…

  • The Guarani Aquifer: a little known water resource in South America gets a voice

    By Annabel Symington The Guarani Aquifer in South America is a huge underground reservoir that lies under Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, covering an area of land the size of Texas and California combined.

  • Good News from EPA – No Fooling

    Recently, the Obama administration has been getting harsh reviews from some environmentalists for its decision to open several new areas of the US to offshore drilling.  Putting this admittedly odd decision aside though,  the Thursday April 1 (April Fool’s Day) decision to roll out tough new water quality standards that could severely limit some of the most destructive…

  • New York City Water Summit (photos)

    About 150 people attended the first New York City Water Summit on April 9th, which was organized by Professors William Becker and Kartik Chandran of the Columbia University Dept. of Earth and Environmental Engineering. The morning sessions dealt with drinking water issues, while the afternoon sessions concentrated on wastewater treatment.  The event had a focus…

  • Closing the Water Gap – India

    Following up on my previous post, “Creating a Sustainable Water Future”, I will now go over a few of the steps that are being taken to better assess the current and future state of our global water resources. The tools that are being presented are based on economic analyses that aim to provide both private…

  • Rainfall forecasting key to efficient hydropower in Ethiopia

    Hydropower is a tremendous potential energy source for many developing countries, but managing water reserves to maximize energy production is a tricky business. Let too much water out of the reservoir and you may not have enough later. Let out too little, and you aren’t producing all the energy that you could. Paul Block presented…

Colorful banner with city: "MR 2025: Mobility, Adaptation, and Wellbeing in a Changing Climate."
  • Reflections on Haiti

    Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to travel to Haiti to install a weather monitoring station, as well as conduct streamflow measurements and water quality assessments with Water Center employee Lior Asaf.  Traveling to Haiti gave me my first exposure to how water and climate issues are affecting poor and developing countries, as well…

  • T. Boone Pickens vs. Texas Water Conservation Board

    T Boone Pickens, well known for his strong opinions on renewable energy, is hoping that selling water to thirsty cities will be as commercially profitable as he’s found oil to be, and has been investing heavily in purchasing water rights. He opposes a public groundwater management plan that interferes with that.

  • Addressing urban water scarcity in developing countries: Chennai, India

    Ensuring an adequate water supply isn’t only an issue for large urban centers like New York or Los Angeles. It’s also a vital concern of the growing populations of cities in the developing world. Veena Srinivasan, of the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, shared her work on ‘The integrated water paradigm: a…

  • Tapped: Earth Week Water Documentary/Give Away/Town Hall at Teacher’s College

    The documentary film Tapped will be screened on Wednesday, April 21, sponsored by the Program in Social Studies and the Teacher’s College Go Green Committee. But it won’t just be a film showing – it’s a whole event designed to entertain, inspire and mobilize students and the public around drinking water. Look at your hand.…

  • The Guarani Aquifer: a little known water resource in South America gets a voice

    By Annabel Symington The Guarani Aquifer in South America is a huge underground reservoir that lies under Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, covering an area of land the size of Texas and California combined.

  • Good News from EPA – No Fooling

    Recently, the Obama administration has been getting harsh reviews from some environmentalists for its decision to open several new areas of the US to offshore drilling.  Putting this admittedly odd decision aside though,  the Thursday April 1 (April Fool’s Day) decision to roll out tough new water quality standards that could severely limit some of the most destructive…

  • New York City Water Summit (photos)

    About 150 people attended the first New York City Water Summit on April 9th, which was organized by Professors William Becker and Kartik Chandran of the Columbia University Dept. of Earth and Environmental Engineering. The morning sessions dealt with drinking water issues, while the afternoon sessions concentrated on wastewater treatment.  The event had a focus…

  • Closing the Water Gap – India

    Following up on my previous post, “Creating a Sustainable Water Future”, I will now go over a few of the steps that are being taken to better assess the current and future state of our global water resources. The tools that are being presented are based on economic analyses that aim to provide both private…

  • Rainfall forecasting key to efficient hydropower in Ethiopia

    Hydropower is a tremendous potential energy source for many developing countries, but managing water reserves to maximize energy production is a tricky business. Let too much water out of the reservoir and you may not have enough later. Let out too little, and you aren’t producing all the energy that you could. Paul Block presented…