Water Scarcity20
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Central Asian Water Summit
This week five leaders of Central Asian nations are holding a summit to try and achieve a solution to their bitter dispute over water use in one of the driest regions of the world. According to Reuters, the trouble over sharing water across borders has been bubbling to new heights with its growing scarcity. Presidents…
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Shriveling Rivers
The ramifications of climate change are often discussed in terms of rising sea levels, atmospheric changes, desertification, and worsening, more frequent natural disasters. Another impact of climate change could have immediate and disastrous effects on water availability both here in the US and abroad. Recent research increasingly suggests that the world’s major rivers are essentially…
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India’s “Revolution”
Last week, NPR ran a two part story on water status in Punjab state in northern India. This is an area where the Columbia Water Center is doing a lot of work, and the article hit on several themes important to us, particularly the fact that current policies, while promoting food security, have had devastating…
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Tampa Bay Water has Bleak Outlook
Tampa Bay is probably most known in the water community for having one of the largest desalinization plants in the nation, and is looked upon by many as the model to see if desal is a feasible alternative for the future. So far, the plant has been full of issues, such as costing $40 million…
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Water Center Conference: Water Security in India
Last night (Wednesday, April 15) the Water Center kicked off its conference on Water Security in India with a lecture and reception at the Asia Society in New York. Led by a formal talk given by Alok Sikka (see here for more information about Sikka and the other panelists), the evening addressed pressing water issues…
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Renewables May Gain Momentum in Response to Water Shortages
Most of the time, when you hear about environmentalists decrying the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, their objections are in relation to localized pollution or carbon dioxide emissions. Less frequently do you hear about protests related to the vast amounts of water that are needed to keep these plants running – water that…
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California’s Water Bank – A Bank With Nothing to Lend?
California is in some serious trouble as a result of continued drought conditions and is looking to bail itself out through the creation of a water banking system. In California, this would mean buying water from owners in the northern part of the state and transferring it to water-starved areas in the south. This makes…
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Your Water Footprint
Good Magazine has a recent posting on Water Footprints – how much water an individual and the products they consume use. Water Footprints are difficult to calculate and the numbers can be argued, however I believe the directional scale is useful. Click the image for the full picture, and if you want to start conserving…
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Turkish Baths?
If you are browsing for a bit of water related humor, turn to the Reuters news on Turkey. This month, Istanbul, a cultural capital of Turkey, was part- host of the Fifth World Water Forum which connects experts from over 150 countries around the world to address impending global water crises. According to UN reports,…