Tag archives for Water
Posted by Charles Knapp, Vice President of Conservation and Research John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois USA Last week, you learned about how Shedd Aquarium’s long-term citizen science research program is helping to save endangered iguanas in the Bahamas. This week, we’ll explore another facet of our 2013 trip: an effort to understand whether the Andros…
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This is the Yampa, one of the Colorado Basin’s, and the nation’s, last wild rivers. American Rivers named the Colorado River the #1 Most Endangered River in the country in April, and protecting the Yampa is one important puzzle piece for ensuring a healthier Colorado Basin in the long-term. The purpose of this five-day trip is to bring leaders together to explore the value of the wild Yampa and discuss the river’s future.
There are 20 of us – decision-makers, local officials, conservation advocates, scientists, and journalists. The trip was organized by Friends of the Yampa and American Rivers, and is supported by world-class outfitter OARS.
The Yampa River flows 250 miles through Northwest Colorado’s farms and ranches, and towns including Steamboat Springs, before joining the Green at Echo Park . While most rivers in the Colorado River Basin have been dammed and diverted for water supply and hydropower, the Yampa remains wild and healthy – an example of what rivers in this region were meant to be. There is a dam on the upper Yampa but it is far enough upstream that the river’s natural flows and functions are essentially intact.
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By Peyton Fleming, Ceres DENVER – Hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) has recast the U.S.’s energy future, but it’s also shining a light on fragile water supplies, which could crimp the industry’s growth. The pinch is especially strong on shale energy producers and state regulators who are scrambling to find ways to keep the water flowing…
In Her Words: Sylvia Earle on Women in Science
Posted by Jane J. Lee on June 14, 2013 National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle reflects on her scientific career and on gender obstacles she faced along the way.
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The city of Glasgow sits above old caverns filled with hot water. Could it be used to heat homes?
My Fellow Scientists: No More Chicken Little
Posted by Brian Richter of The Nature Conservancy and University of Virginia in Water Currents on June 6, 2013 
Two weeks ago, hundreds of my fellow environmental scientists gathered in Bonn, Germany, for a conference on Water in the Anthropocene. You may not yet be familiar with this term “anthropocene.” It was coined by scientists to make the case that the influence of human behavior on the Earth’s atmosphere in recent centuries is so…
Water – and Us – in the “Anthropocene”
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on June 3, 2013 
In late May, 500 scientists from around the world gathered in Bonn, Germany, to converse about the global dimensions of water in the so-called Anthropocene – the proposed name for a new geologic epoch in which humans are a dominant driver of planetary systems and processes. Without question, the scholarly evidence for massive human disruption…
By Monika Freyman, water program manager at Ceres Proposed standards that the U.S. Department of Interior announced last week for hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) on federal and Indian lands are hugely important, especially in the arid West where water is gold. Unfortunately, water protection gets short shrift in the rules that, once finalized, will apply to…
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Last week, scientists published a study in the journal PNAS that warned that deforestation in the Amazon could significantly decrease the power output of hydroelectric dams, which are a major source of energy in the region. The study noted that although removal of trees tends to increase the amount of water that runs off the land, and…
Ancient water below Canadian gold mines may offer new clues about evolution—and new life forms here on Earth.
By Kelli Barrett, Ecosystem Marketplace In East China’s Fujian Province, the booming economy has been good to the cities of Sanming and Nanping, as well as to farmers in the surrounding hills. That, however, has been bad news for the Min River and to the downstream city of Fuzhou, which gets its water from…
Posted by A new program is asking craft breweries to support the Clean Water Act by reducing their water use and recycling wastewater.
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Go behind the lens and above the ground with photographer Dave Showalter as he reveals the hidden meanings behind aerial images he made on LightHawk flights.
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Posted by Kate Voss, UCCHM Water Policy Fellow. This is the fourth in a series of posts on our Water Diplomacy trip to Israel, Jordan, and Palestine inspired by our paper on ‘Groundwater Depletion in the Middle East.’ Other posts in the series: 1) Middle East Lost a Dead Sea Amount of Water in 7…
Posted by Near the point where Turkey, Iraq, and Syria meet, two villages face each other across the Tigris River. On one side lies the Iraqi Kurdish village of Faysh Khabur, home to a Chaldean Christian community for more than fourteen centuries. On the other bank sits Khanik Village, another ancient Chaldean community — but one that lies in Syria.
Bass fishing in the American Southeast may have just gotten a little bit more complicated. According to a release filed this week, biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) would like to name a new species of black bass, the Choctaw bass, or Micropterus haiaka. In 2007, FWC scientists found an unusual DNA…
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This week on National Geographic Weekend, host Boyd Matson chats with adventurer Davey du Plessis who attempted to ride the Amazon River from source to sea but was attacked in a random ambush by gunmen; Nat Geo water fellow Sandra Postel discusses the fate of the Amazon River; and an Australian croc wrangler goes to Africa to try to track a river beast.
New Zealand’s large, slow-growing longfin eels (Anguilla dieffenbachia) are on a “slow path to extinction,” according to an April report by the parliamentary commissioner for the environment. The commissioner has now been joined by a number of scientists in calling for a ban on fishing of the eels, since their numbers have been declining in…
The northern map turtle (Graptemys geographica) is a relatively large aquatic turtle that is native to North America. It is named for the lines on its shell, which resemble the contour lines on a map. Map turtles show extreme sexual size dimorphism, which means the genders grow to different sizes. Northern male map turtles…
Water Currents’ own Sandra Postel, National Geographic’s Freshwater Fellow, will be talking live with the public today at 2 p.m. Eastern time on a special Google Hangout for Earth Week. The conversation, Clean Water For All, is being hosted by Whole World Water and is moderated by Billy Wilson. Sandra will be joined by David de…
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It rises in Ethiopia’s Shewa Highlands, and flows for 760 kms through terraced hillsides, volcanic outcrops and fertile grasslands as far as the world’s greatest desert lake, Lake Turkana, in Kenya. The lower valley of the Omo River is believed by some historians to have been a cultural crossroads for thousands of years, where a…
An iconic freshwater fish of tropical South America, the arapaima is a massive, slender beast that can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) long and weigh 440 pounds (200 kilograms). It is known as the pirarucu in Brazil and the paiche in the western Amazon, and is one of the largest freshwater fish in…
It is a river that goes by many names – Red. Grand River Red. The Canyon Maker. And today it is the Most Endangered River in the country. American Rivers released our annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers report today, listing the Colorado River at #1 because demand for water is outstripping supply. Outdated water management…
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Departing Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar shared a few thoughts at his exit ceremony about the keystone accomplishments of his four years and three months in office, and called out restoration of the Colorado River Delta as his signature achievement in water management (see our ongoing series on the delta): “The fourth keystone I spoke…
Colorado River, Meet the Sea
Posted by Sandra Postel of National Geographic's Freshwater Initiative in Water Currents on April 12, 2013 
This post is part of a series on the Colorado River Delta. Walking the mudflats of the Colorado River Delta in northwestern Mexico, my feet touch silt and sediment that originated in the U.S. Rocky Mountains, hitchhiked with floodwaters through the Grand Canyon, and then, over the millennia, settled out here as the river slowed…
