Tag archives for water conservation
Tapped Out: How Will Cities Secure Their Water Future?
Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on May 8, 2013 
Today, global demands for food, energy, and shelter are putting unprecedented pressure on the resources of the planet. Water is at the heart of this crisis. In fact, more than half of the world’s cities are already experiencing water shortages on a recurring basis – based on findings from a study that I published, along…
Posted by The Colorado River may have cut the Grand Canyon, but for much of its course the river is no longer so mighty. Most of the time, the Colorado no longer even reaches the sea. The moisture the Colorado River brings to an arid part of the United States and a piece of northern Mexico has sustained generations…
Four Water Resolutions for a New Year
Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on January 2, 2013 
Yes, it’s that time again – time to reflect on the year that has passed, and anticipate what could come of the year ahead. My head has been unusually full of water lately, to the point of distraction. Over the holidays I worked through two chapters of a new water book and set the course…
A Bolder Clean Water Act for the Next 40 Years
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on October 17, 2012 
As game-changing laws go, the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act ranks high. With images of rivers like the Cuyahoga burning and fish floating belly up in Lake Erie still fresh in the public’s mind, the Act transformed the nation’s relationship with fresh water. It forbade cities and industries from using rivers and lakes as waste…
My friend Jeffrey Davis of the blog Ecosnobbery Sucks just put together a brief video on a simple $10 product that saves about a gallon of water per toilet flush. The product is an efficient toilet fill valve, which Jeffrey says can be “dialed in” to dispense only the minium amount of water needed to fill…
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A few years ago, my wife Cathy suggested that I consider incorporating advice in my climate change lectures on the little things that we can do each day to combat global warming. Although I tend to deliver most of my doom and gloom messages with a smile, the scope of the environmental issues that we…
Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park: Baja’s Miracle Threatened
Posted by IZILWANE on June 9, 2012 Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park: Baja’s Miracle Threatened By the 1990s, decades of destructive overfishing in the waters of the Sea of Cortez left the coral reef at Cabo Pulmo severely impacted. In order to restore and recover the vitality and biological diversity of the reef’s ecosystem, the local community on the east cape…
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Much ado has been made in recent headlines about growing scarcity on the Colorado River. Water supply, as reflected by what’s left in storage in the basin’s big reservoirs, has dropped from full just over a decade ago to 64% today, and the river hasn’t run regularly to the sea since the 90’s. While…
Conservation in San Antonio is Saving More than Water
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on July 14, 2011 
Who would believe that a translucent blind salamander that dwells only in dark underground caves could force a big Texas city to not only slash its water use but make water waste illegal?
But the four-inch amphibian did pretty much just that – and that’s the crux of an unusual water story in San Antonio, where impressive conservation efforts are now being tested by one of the worst droughts in memory.
American Lifestyle Costs Nearly 2000 Gallons of Water Each Day
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on August 18, 2010 
By now, most of us probably turn off the tap while brushing our teeth. If we’ve lived through a drought maybe we’ve shaved a couple minutes off our showers, and even ripped out some thirsty turf grass and planted drought-tolerant shrubs. What more can we do to conserve water? As it turns out, quite a…
Posted by If you’re looking for ways to invest your money in 2010, you’ll get a return on companies building wastewater treatment plants, according to United Nations (UN) experts speaking to journalists gathered today at UN offices in Nairobi, Kenya. Satinder Bindra, director of communications for the UN Environment Program (UNEP), said his financial advisor told him…
