Water Management

Earlier this year, China announced plans to build a series of dams on the Nu River, a Unesco World Heritage site. The dams, The New York Times reported, will force tens of thousands of relocations, could potentially trigger earthquakes, and destroy endangered-fish spawning grounds. Improving Water Management Countries around the world, from Australia to South [...]

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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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In Texas, no water means no business, reporter Kate Galbraith writes in The New York Times. She charts Texas’ multi-pronged water-reform efforts as a severe drought that began in 2010 rolls on. The state Senate, House of Representatives, regulatory agencies, and even court systems are joining the effort. Scarcity by Mismanagement In many places around [...]

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Kansas Monument Rocks

When it comes to water management, Circle of Blue reporter Brett Walton thinks Kansas is a beacon on the plains.

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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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Singapore water recycle

Insufficient media coverage of the science behind water management undermines public engagement and understanding, according to a recent study.

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JGANTER_Sydney_IMG_0170

Australia’s largest urban economy wants to build a parallel water system to deliver non-potable supplies.

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Last week, the Australian government approved a plan to increase the total volume of water reserved for environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin. Over the next 10 years, Bloomberg Businessweek reported, the government will spend $AUS 1.8 billion to save 450 gigaliters more water for the environment. More than one third of Australia’s food supply [...]

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This summer’s massive drought left Mississippi River levels unusually low, threatening barge traffic. If levels at the Mississippi’s midpoint drop too low, all barge traffic would stop, which could force job cuts, raise fuel costs, and cut into U.S. food supplies. Water-Sipping Crops In the state of Karnataka, India, farmers are using a specialized paddy [...]

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As in much of the Great Plains, farmers here are adapting to new conditions.

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The world must improve land and water management in order to combat hunger, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, Bloomberg News reported. The Institute released its annual Global Hunger Index yesterday, which was topped by Burundi, Eritrea and Haiti. A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic is being mirrored by an [...]

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Oxfam has urged the World Bank to stop its support of large-scale land investments, the Guardian reported. The land purchased by international investors could grow enough food for 1 billion people, but is instead being used to grow biofuels or is left idle, according to a report Oxfam released Thursday. Researchers are hoping to gain [...]

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On September 20, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency hosted a conference to talk about the latest craze in urban development: green infrastructure. Among those participating were government officials, utility leaders, investors, businesses, and environmental organizations. Katherine Baer, director of the clean water program for American Rivers, spoke at [...]

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Days of heavy rainfall have swollen rivers in the United Kingdom, where nearly 60 flood warnings remained in force Thursday and areas of York were already underwater, the Guardian reported. South America Brazil has the potential to become the world’s breadbasket due to its water resources, argues private investor and author James Dale Davidson in [...]

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Yeager_swiftslough1000604

The drought that set upon the United States this year has tightened a three-state tug-of-war over fresh water, affecting marine life and a valuable fishing economy downstream in the Deep South’s Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, the most biodiverse river system in North America.

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Sometime this week, the House of Representatives will consider H.R. 3409, which its sponsor, an Ohio Republican, has dubbed the Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012. The bill would prevent the Interior Department from issuing regulations until December 2013 that might cut jobs in the coal sector or restrict the industry’s access to [...]

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UN-Security-Council

The time is increasingly right for high-level action, the group’s water policy advisor tells Circle of Blue.

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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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With historic drought following historic floods, the lower Mississippi River basin has seen, in consecutive years, both ends of the hydrological spectrum.

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United States CO2 emissions are the lowest they have been in 20 years, a decline attributable to a shift toward natural gas usage. Some are calling natural gas a temporary fix, however, due to the potentially detrimental effects of natural gas drilling, The Associated Press reported. Saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico has flowed into [...]

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