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Drinking Water Bacteria A University of Michigan study showed that bacteria found in drinking water can be traced to treatment filters instead of the original aquifers or rivers. The researchers, who studied Ann Arbor, Michigan’s tap water, said their findings could lead to more natural, sustainable water treatment processes and assist engineers in controlling microbes [...]
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Food prices This summer’s drought in the United States will cause corn yields to drop 17 percent compared to 2011, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Consequently, the USDA expects corn prices to rise 39 percent to $8.90 per bushel. Soybean supplies and prices will face similar consequences, The Wall Street [...]
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Rains and Floods Continue in Asia Days of heavy rain caused a 36-meter (118-foot) Rain from Typhoon Haikui, meanwhile, has destroyed more than 7,500 homes and 388,000 hectares (958,000 acres) of cropland across four provinces in eastern China, Xinhua reported, citing government sources. Flooding in North Korea isman-made disaster due to poor urban planning and [...]
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Global affected 20,000 farmers and ruined about 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) of rice, according to United Press International. Bali’s environment is paying the price of a booming tourism industry, in which filed a lawsuit against Thailand’s state-run electricity company, which plans to buy nearly all of the power produced from Laos’ controversial Mekong River dam [...]
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More than 3 million Syrians will require food aid over the next year due to conflict that has caused $US 1.8 billion in losses to the country’s agriculture sector, Bloomberg News reported. The conflict, coupled with a drought, could see grain import requirements reach 5 million metric tons. A drought and heat wave could up [...]
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Droughts have struck food-producing regions in the United States, Russia, China, North Korea, and South Korea, raising the prospect of higher commodity prices and localized food shortages.
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An overview of Australia’s Hunter Valley, traditionally known for its vineyards but more recently as a hydrocarbon center.
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Wastewater America’s natural gas boom has an undesirable companion: billions of gallons of polluted wastewater. The Houston Chronicle reports on the “billion-dollar game of musical chairs” that is going on as companies try to be first in line with new treatment technologies. Meanwhile, Scientific American looks at the technical challenges confronting those companies—and the new [...]
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Surface water allocations last year were 10 percent of normal, but record levels of groundwater pumping buoyed production in the state’s top agricultural region.
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Climate change is causing the global water cycle to accelerate and intensify faster than previously thought, with the possibility that it could intensify 16-24 percent by 2100, according to a new study published in the journal Science, Nature reported. This means that dry areas of the globe will become drier, while wet regions will likely [...]
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Irrigators in Texas and New Mexico are unhappy with a decision by the International Boundary and Water Commission to release reservoir water to Mexico, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. farmers wanted to delay the annual water release in order to cope with drought later in the growing season, but Mexican farmers, who are dealing [...]
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Asia On the eve of India Water Week, The Wall Street Journal looks at India’s looming water crisis — from its rapid groundwater depletion to its chaotic water policy. In even more details, National Geographic explains how growing food demand is straining the energy and water supplies in India’s Gujarat State and globally. Crop losses [...]
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In a new report, the U.S. State Department finds a global confrontation between growing water demand and shrinking supplies, in addition to predictions for the next 30 years of water scarcity.
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New findings that indicate elevated levels of methane in water near gas drilling sites in Pennsylvania raise questions about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) earlier statement that water in the region did not pose a health risk, according to Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, EPA has also dropped its claim that an energy company contaminated drinking [...]
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NEW YORK and GENEVA — (March 2012) The World Economic Forum‘s Network of Global Agenda Councils and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called on global leaders, particularly organizers of the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled for June 2012, to integrate population in research, discussion and debate at the intersection of water, food and [...]
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Energy A bill meant to speed up approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline passed the United States House of Representatives, Bloomberg News reported. Those opposed to the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, say it could harm the environment. In this Guardian video, [...]
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Australia’s first law intended to protect prime agricultural land from mining has come into effect in Queensland, ABC reported. Though the law covers about 4 percent of the state’s land, critics say it will only apply to open-pit mining and not cover underground mining, exploration work or coal seam gas (coal-bed methane) production. Australia is [...]
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Levels of cadmium, a carcinogen, measured 20 percent higher than the official limit in China’s Longjiang River, Xinhua reported. The pollution, which may have been caused by mining, spurred a rush to buy bottled water amid fears of drinking water contamination. Weather Extremes Floods killed 6 people in Fiji and displaced 3,500 following heavy rains, [...]
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Understanding the interplay between water, food, and energy is crucial for business, policy, data, science, environment, and human welfare. In 2011, the Circle of Blue team brought you exclusive, top-of-the-line reporting from the coal mines of northern China to the deepest intrigue of the Wikileaks documents, from the Texas drought to East Africa’s famine, from [...]
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Adding pressure to already strained budgets, the price of food is expected to remain high and quite volatile on the heels of this year’s extreme floods and droughts. Though price increases are occurring globally, they are hitting hardest in the developing world.
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