Water

Read more about Trade-offs between water for food and for curbing climate change
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Risk of water wars rises with scarcity

Tue, 2012-09-04 14:35 — Maeryn Obley

aljazeera.com - Chris Arsenault - August 26th, 2012

The author Mark Twain once remarked that "whisky is for drinking; water is for fighting over" and a series of reports from intelligence agencies and research groups indicate the prospect of a water war is becoming increasingly likely.

In March, a report from the office of the US Director of National Intelligence said the risk of conflict would grow as water demand is set to outstrip sustainable current supplies by 40 per cent by 2030.

"These threats are real and they do raise serious national security concerns," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said after the report's release.

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A Simple Solar Oven Makes Salt Water Drinkable

Mon, 2012-09-03 23:36 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Bill Greenberg

fastcodesign.com

Designer Gabriele Diamanti developed a fascination with global water scarcity as a graduate student at Milan Polytechnic in 2005; he recently decided to pursue his interest again and the result is Eliodomestico, an open-source variation on a solar still.

It functions by filling the black boiler with salty sea water in the morning, then tightening the cap. As the temperature and pressure grows, steam is forced downwards through a connection pipe and collects in the lid, which acts as a condenser, turning the steam into fresh water.

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Water research thrives as discrepancy between supply and demand for water grows

Thu, 2012-08-30 00:15 — Corey Watts

submitted by Samuel Bendett

www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com - August 28, 2012

Research into water is growing faster than the average 4 percent annual growth rate for all research disciplines, claims a new report presented by Elsevier and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) during the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm. The report, The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape, analyzes the major trends in water and food-related article output at international, national, and institutional levels. An Elsevier release reports that Elsevier and SIWI worked closely together on creating the report, which is based on the analysis of Scopus citation data by Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics team.

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Wastewater Key to Addressing Growing Global Water Shortage

Sat, 2012-08-11 22:49 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Wastewater reclamation plant in Lansing, KS // Source: lansing.ks.us

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - August 10, 2012

Parched cities and regions across the globe are using sewage effluent and other wastewater in creative ways to augment drinking water, but four billion people still do not have adequate supplies, and that number will rise in coming decades

Wildlife, rivers, and ecosystems are also being decimated by the ceaseless quest for new water and disposal of waste. Changing human behavior and redoubling use of alternatives are critical to breaking that cycle.

Those are the conclusions of a sweeping review in a special 10 August issue of the journal Science.

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Water Sustainability Flows Through Complex Human-Nature Interactions

Sat, 2012-08-11 22:21 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - August 10, 2012

The fate of water in China mirrors problems across the world: water is fouled, pushed far from its natural origins, squandered, and exploited; China’s crisis is daunting, though not unique: two-thirds of China’s 669 cities have water shortages, more than 40 percent of its rivers are severely polluted, 80 percent of its lakes suffer from eutrophication — an over abundance of nutrients — and about 300 million rural residents lack access to safe drinking water

In this week’s Science journal, Jianguo “Jack” Liu, director of Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, and doctoral student Wu Yang look at lessons learned in China and management strategies that hold solutions for China — and across the world.

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Students and Scientists Gather in Singapore to Discuss Water Problem

Tue, 2012-07-10 14:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

NTU places water research in the forefront // Source: ntu.edu.sg

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - July 6, 2012

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AquaSel, A Non-Thermal Brine Concentrator (NTBC)

Mon, 2012-07-09 00:56 — Maeryn Obley

Image: NTBC 3D rendering

submitted by Albert Gomez

ge-energy.com

GE’s AquaSel system is breakthrough non-thermal desalination technology with extremely high water recovery. It originates from GE’s leading expertise in desalination and zero liquid discharge technologies plus significant research and development.

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Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath Us

Fri, 2012-06-22 20:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A class 2 brine disposal well in western Louisiana near the Texas border. The well sat by the side of the road, without restricted access. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)

propublica.org - by Abrahm Lustgarten - June 21, 2012

Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground.

No company would be allowed to pour such dangerous chemicals into the rivers or onto the soil. But until recently, scientists and environmental officials have assumed that deep layers of rock beneath the earth would safely entomb the waste for millennia.

There are growing signs they were mistaken.

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Rainwater Harvesting in the Amazon Cleans up Where Oil Left its Mark

Tue, 2012-05-29 23:37 — Corey Watts

submitted by Albert Gomez

Good Environment - www.good.is - May 29, 2012 (Photo by Mitch Anderson)

Oil companies started drilling around Ecuador’s Lago Agrio in 1972. Texaco had found oil here a few years before, in the middle of the Amazon, and for decades the oil industry harvested the oil gushing from the ground. Chevron took over when it bought Texaco, and Ecuador’s state oil company took over from Chevron. All the while, the drilling operations were pouring pollution in the area’s air and water—so much pollution that last year an Ecuadorian judge ordered Chevron to pay a total $18 billion to a group of 30,000 indigenous people, represented by a coalition of lawyers from Ecuador and North America.

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