Groundwater depletion in the United States has accelerated over the last decade, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, contributing to both localized problems and global issues, like sea level rise.
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Texas
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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All Muddied The justices on the United States Supreme Court pondered water law last week, as Oklahoma and a Texas water district presented arguments about water allocations under the Red River Compact. The justices asked many questions about the compact’s language and the intent behind an equal rights provision. They also dipped into matters of [...]
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Looming storms are keeping communities along the Great Lakes on their toes. Even a small increase in rain will cause alarm to communities whom have been watching the rivers licking at uncomfortably high levels. Last week’s sudden downpours have caused 114 barges to break loose south of St. Louis and are blamed for at least [...]
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A water rights case to be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court this week has national implications.
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Southern farmers are making changes now to wean themselves from the Ogallala Aquifer, a water source that gave rise to industrial agriculture and modern life on its plains.
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Though corn acreage is forecasted to rise slightly over last year’s planting, the biggest jump is predicted for sorghum, which uses less water.
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Environmental Threats Natural disasters cost the world approximately $US 138 billion last year, the third consecutive year that economic losses from disasters have exceeded $US 100 billion, AlertNet reported. Floods and droughts accounted for almost 80 percent of disaster victims in 2012. Failure to address environmental threats like climate change, deforestation, air pollution, and water [...]
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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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Policy Pakistan has developed its first national policy framework for taking action on climate change, including prevention, mitigation and adaptation measures, AlertNet reported. The country has been hit in recent years by increasingly severe floods and droughts. In opposing a European Commission proposal that would allow the privatization of water supplies, the German Bundesrat, the [...]
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From the Ground The average decline in water levels across the entire Ogallala Aquifer, which spans eight plains states and is a key source of irrigation water, measured 4.3 meters (14.2 feet), from 1950 to 2011, according to new figures from the U.S. Geological Survey. Changes in the water table ranged from an increase of [...]
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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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Consecutive hot, dry years have Texas lawmakers pondering billions of dollars in water projects.
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U.S. federal regulations, set to take effect within three years, target pathogens in tap water, revising current rules to better target pathogens that can sicken people. Roughly 155,000 public water systems must comply with the Environmental Protection Agency rules, Scientific American reported, which add tests for E. coli.
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Winter Storms An Israeli security barrier built mostly in occupied areas of the West Bank is blocking the drainage of flood waters after a winter storm, Reuters reported. The wall does have drainage channels, but many are closed or clogged with debris. Conditions for Syrian refugees have further deteriorated after the eastern Mediterranean region was [...]
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Temperatures nudged higher by climate change will increase evaporation levels from plants and soil in the American west, a new Columbia University study predicted. Higher evaporation rates, the Los Angeles Times reported, will dry out land and reduce water runoff into rivers and streams by about 10 percent in California, Nevada, Colorado River headwaters and [...]
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Water Shortages A severe water shortage in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, has officials seeking $82 million to implement mid-term solutions and warning that water rationing could continue well into 2013, News Day reported. Declining rainfall and a growing population in the region have contributed to the shortage. Dry conditions in Texas are stoking tensions [...]
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As in much of the Great Plains, farmers here are adapting to new conditions.
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A sudden water shortage is the latest hardship blighting the city of Aleppo, already facing a humanitarian crisis. A main pipe burst during fighting between the Syrian military and rebel fighters, The New York Times reported. On Friday, 12 people died in clashes between cattle herders and farmers in southeastern Kenya over land and water, [...]
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