Energy companies should provide better data on fracking water use, and investors should push for quantifiable water targets, according to a sustainable investing advocacy group.
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Energy
Stemming the Flood The Environmental Protection Agency will allocate $US 569 million dollars to New Jersey and New York for water and sewer facilities damaged by Hurricane Sandy last October. The money, authorized by Congress, will go into the states’ revolving loan funds for water infrastructure projects. Up to 30 percent of the money can [...]
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Water and Energy Storage In a column for Reuters, market analyst Gerard Wynn discusses the potential growth of hydropower pumping stations for storing energy and balancing electrical grids. The stations can use energy from intermittent sources such as wind and solar to pump water to higher elevations, releasing it at a later time to generate [...]
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A U.S. Senate hearing on drought and energy provided some statements to ponder.
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Water-Food-Energy A drought in Vietnam has uncovered tensions between water users in the country’s energy and agricultural sectors, Radio Free Asia reported. Despite a directive from the prime minister, the operator of a hydropower dam has refused to send more water downstream to drought-hit farms. While South Africa’s mining sector receives much of the blame [...]
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The most comprehensive study of water resources ever in the United States is proceeding slowly, according to a U.S. Geological Survey progress report. A substantial amount of new data are required for the project, which will be “an ongoing and continuous activity,” the report states. The most detailed studies, of streamflow ecology, will require most [...]
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Though groundwater gets most of the attention, rivers are also affected by the rush of shale gas development across the United States, according to a new study that claims both wastewater and well development degrade water quality, but in different ways.
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Yesterday Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Senate colleague David Vitter (R-Louisiana) submitted a new Water Resources Development Act. Last session of Congress, Boxer circulated a draft version of the bill, but it was not introduced. The act is a major piece of legislation. It authorizes billions in projects for the Army Corps of Engineers and sets [...]
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There are now more than 1 million Syrians either registered as refugees or being assisted as refugees, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. The scale of the refugee crisis is putting increasing pressure on the housing, food and water resources of host countries and camps, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees described Syria [...]
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The section of pipeline that would funnel tar sands oil from the U.S.-Canada border to the Kansas-Nebraska border would cross more than 1,000 water bodies and half of its length would cut through soils classified as highly erodible, according to a State Department environmental review released Friday afternoon. The review, which stretches more than 3,600 [...]
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UNEP Highlights Energy, Climate Change, and Arctic Ice Melt Reuters reports on the UNEP Year Book 2013 which highlights the cyclical nature of Arctic ice melt and fossil fuel extraction there. “What we are seeing is that the melting of ice is prompting a rush for exactly the fossil fuel resources that fuelled the melt [...]
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Today, just after the lunch hour, NASA launches the eighth version of Landsat. The earth-observing satellite will carry two instruments that will, among other things, measure water quality and quantity. NASA will cover the launch of the satellite live online. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:02 p.m. eastern standard time. Water Themes for Congress Federal spending [...]
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Water Supply Wichita Falls, Texas is moving forward with plans to recycle its wastewater into tap water, with hopes to produce 5 million gallons per day next year to augment the city’s drought-ravaged water supply, The Texas Tribune reported. As the drought drags on, more communities in Texas are turning to potable-reuse technology; Big Spring’s [...]
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Technology Researchers at Michigan State University are developing flexible films that, when placed in sandy soil, could increase water retention efficiency by up to 20 times, Gizmag reported. The technology aims to boost crop production during droughts, and may have the added benefit of protecting groundwater from agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. Water Supply and Infrastructure [...]
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The latest issue of the UNESCO journal, A World of Science, is focused on the human face of water politics. Researchers have found that conflict is no more likely in arid nations than in humid nations, and that water conflicts, when they do arise, are not more or less frequent in a nation based on their wealth or political structure. The report is released in anticipation of the beginning of the 2013 UN International Year of Water Cooperation.
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The third U.S. National Climate Assessment gets quickly to the point. “Climate change is already affecting the American people,” the opening sentence of the draft report declares. More critically, the report states that current U.S. actions that have reduced greenhouse gas emissions – the shift from coal to natural gas, and various state, local and [...]
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Photo © NASA Quitasueño Bank, San Adrés Archipelago, Caribbean Sea, Colombia In response to an unfavorable International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling pertaining to an interboundary water dispute with Nicaragua, Reuters reported on November 28th that the nation of Colombia has withdrawn from the Bogota Pact of 1948 – and will henceforth refuse to recognize [...]
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Upgrades to the world’s agricultural export infrastructure, such as roads, waterways and ports, needs to become a priority in order to feed a growing planet, according to the CEO of global agribusiness company Bunge, Reuters reported. Low water levels and a back-up of barge traffic on the Mississippi River have put renewed focus on grain [...]
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The United States National Intelligence Council has just issued the Global Trends Report, which publishes every five years, reports The Guardian. The report finds that, “owing to an increase in the global population and the consumption patterns of a growing middle class,” the demand for water will grow by 40%, for energy by 50%, and [...]
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Shortages in water, food, and energy comprise one of four “megatrends” that U.S. government intelligence analysts said would cause radical economic and political changes in the next 18 years. The other trends, Bloomberg reported, include the United States’ fade from dominance, the rising power of individuals over the state, and a booming middle class. U.S. [...]
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