Water Wars is not intended to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty; instead Intel is asking farmers, developers, environmentalists, policy makers and others who will need to address water shortages to play the game.

The goal is to educate the users about water consumption and hopes they will all work together to create water policy that benefits everyone.

In the game, when faced with water shortages a farmer, for example, can decide to grow fewer crops, collaborate with others, buy more water, or choose to steal it. But we do wonder if people will let their true nature come out in order to see how their choices have real and lasting effects on the area’s water supply.

What’s your feeling, do you think this will help form better policy? What do you think is the best way to get people with widely varying views on the subject to work collaboratively for real solutions?

More on the game over at Treehugger.

photo credit: Intel

As you may know, our company headquarters are in sunny California. A state that has plenty of problems, one of them is perpetual water shortages. The last three years have been very, very dry. This past winter, however, we’ve had well above average rainfall.

Indeed, it’s raining as we speak, which is pretty unusual for May. As of this week, the National Drought Mitigation Center, part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says that 83 percent of the Golden State has normal water levels.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought back in June 2008. Indeed, over the last few years, we’ve seen reservoirs go nearly dry and battles over water allocations for the Central Valley farms. What a difference a few months can make. Since the rainy season began in October, we’ve had ample rain leaving us with a snowpack in the Sierra of 143 percent of normal.

Where does that leave us? Some say it’s time to declare the drought over and others, such as the governor, aren’t quite so sure. Leaving politics aside for a moment, perhaps it would be good to recall that 2006 was one of the wettest years on record, but we went right into drought conditions afterwards. Plus, despite all the rain and snow, none of the reservoirs are at 100 percent capacity.

When you think about it, isn’t the time to save water is when we have lots of it and not when we’re down to the last drop?

What’s the situation where you live? Are people concerned about the quantity and quality the water supply?

photo credit: Aquafornia

Thera N. Kalmijn and R. Paul Herman have come up with the 10 R’s of Water Management and shared their plan with everyone in two parts (part 1 and part 2). You might think this is just overreacting by a couple of treehuggers, but you’d be wrong. They remind us that in 2001, hydroelectric power shortages forced the shutdown of aluminum plant smelters in the Pacific Northwest, resulting in the loss of 8,000 jobs. So, developing and executing on a water management strategy is just plan ole’ fashioned good business.

companies vague on water-scarcity risk, investors say

We know that water management is critical to avoid production interruption. So investors are keen to know the water-related risks faced by specific companies, but that doesn’t mean the information is readily available. A recent report by CERES shows that this information is often “boilerplate and vague.” A Business Week article goes into detail about the report including some of the companies CERES found to be most transparent with their water-risks.

water at the core of climate change

Alister Doyle, an environmental correspondent with Reuters, puts it quite plainly: “The main impact of climate change will be on water supplies.” Unlike many articles we read, Doyle suggests that conflict and disease can be avoided if we just learn from past successful examples of cooperation. Water shortages on the Indus River resulted in cooperation between India and Pakistan and Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia’s set up the Mekong River Commission. With up to 250 million people facing water shortages, it’s good to know that conflict is not guaranteed.

australia’s “top end” too dry to become food bowl

Imagine a place that gets billions of gallons of rain each year, but still can’t sustain agriculture. That place is northern Australia. According to Reuters, farmers and politicians had planned on converting this area into a “food bowl for the world.” However, topography, weather, and climate change mean that much of the water is for not. You see, the rain comes during a few months and the rest of the year is completely dry. During those wet months, most of the water runs quickly out to sea or evaporates quickly when the rain stops. Looks like the Aussies will have to find another way to make the most of this region.

TEDsters answer the question…

The folks with PUR are hanging out with all the big thinkers this week at TED and asking, “If water could talk, what would it say?” And to answer the question, you’ll have to check out PUR’s photo gallery. The extra cool part is you can “like” the album or Tweet it and PUR will donate 10 liters to those in need. Come on, click the link and make clean water happen for someone who would otherwise be without.

treating wastewater is bad for the environment

Yes, you read that correctly. The engineers at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago wanted to know what their carbon footprint was and to figure out how to reduce it. One of their conclusions: disinfecting wastewater increases greenhouse gas emissions.

step away from the rain barrel

If you live in Utah and capture the rainwater that falls on your property, you’re breaking the law. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, wants to change that. He’s introduced a bill to allow people to store up to 2,500 gallons for use on their property. This isn’t the first time this issue has debated. Last year it didn’t pass. But a new provision requiring people to register as a rain-gatherer (our term, not theirs) may help this bill become law.

4 billion gallons contaminated daily

Each day the natural gas industry pollutes 4 billion gallons of water a day just during the drilling process. The Environmental Leader reports that an innovative company has devised “water reclamation process that uses osmosis technology to recycle wastewater in the oil and gas industry.” We’re pleased to see, and not at all surprised, that the company has also found that it’s not only saving water, but energy and transportation costs too.

sun-powered desalination plants

One might not expect to hear that of all the countries in the world, Saudi Arabia is trying to wean itself off of oil. At least, that’s the plan when it comes to providing clean water for its people. The Kingdom gets 50 to 70 percent of its drinking water from desalination plants. And to convert all that salt water to fresh, they use 1.5 million barrels of oil each and every day. The new solar-powered desalination facilities should reduce water and energy costs by 40 percent.

our most important resource

Earlier this month Grist interviewed author Stephen Solomon to talk about how water will once again be the planet’s most important natural resource. Solomon just published a new book Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization (adding to our reading list now). The interview covers how water scarcity and climate change are inextricably linked. Even if you don’t plan on reading the book, read the interview, you’ll have a better understanding the problem and opportunities.

can australia teach us how to deal with drought?

In the opinion pages of the Sidney Morning Herald earlier this week, they suggest that the Yanks can learn from Australia’s years of drought. You may not know, but the Colorado River is drying up. They’ve already been though that when the Murray Darling ran dry. While the piece has a number of good points, what we thought was interesting were the comments. Some folks don’t think there are any worthy lessons from Down Under, while others seem to think we just can’t learn. What do you think?

no rain in the americas

Here at home, California, southern Texas, and the Southwest continue to suffer from severe to extreme drought. Fortunately, we haven’t had to endure the hardships imposed on the citizens of other countries. Just this week residents of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, are having to do without water service for up to 48 hours. The dry weather started back in 2007 and the water rationing is expected to be in effect until 2010 when the rainy season begins again.

africa’s suffering worsens

Over in Africa, more severe and frequent droughts are drastically changing the way of life for millions of nomads in Kenya. While drought is no stranger to Africa, a Christian Aid study released in 2006 shows that periods of drought have quadrupled in the last 25 years. Compounding the problem is a growth in population. What does this mean for the nomads? Many of them have lost their herds and are no longer  to continue with their nomadic traditions. Worse still, others have lost family members to malnutrition.

the chinese take control of the weather

And perhaps you heard about China’s efforts to wring some water from the skies by seeding the clouds over Beijing last week. According to the Xinhua news agency, the head of the Beijing Weather Modification Office (who even knew they had one), said, “We won’t miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought.”

Where does all this leave us? The message seems pretty clear, climate change is effecting more and more people every day around the world. We’re trying to do our part in reducing the demand for water for textiles. Let’s hope the upcoming Copenhagen climate conference yields real results.

photo credits- caracas: LAHT.com / goats: Siena Anstis / snow: LikeYesterday

A new article in the Scientific American points to the alarming and growing disparity between the projected population growth and the current rate of food production. Food production needs to rise by an astonishing 70 percent by 2050 to meet population projections. The 70 percent increase is even more ominous considering that last year saw riots and resource wars in some parts of the world, due mainly to severe droughts, the rising cost of fuel, and water scarcity.

The projected shortfall was the topic of much discussion at this summer’s G8 meeting in Italy. If we are to avoid future catastrophe, the G8 insists that we must start adopting sustainability at every stage of food production.

It’s a simple equation: We have to grow and sustain larger food crops while reducing consumption of valuable resources like water and fuel.

For an even more detailed look at the environmental food crisis, read the UNEP’s Rapid Response Assessment.

photo credit: Thomas@BOD / Flickr

India’s economy heavily relies on textile production and exports—the textile industry represents a whopping 14 percent of India’s total industry. As such, textiles represent the second largest employment generator in the country: 21 percent of total employment in India and nearly 35 million jobs (far more than the 2.2 million working in India’s burgeoning technology sector).

India’s water wars are an all-too-familiar paradox in the textile industry: Many developing countries rely on textiles for economic growth, but deplete natural resources in the process. While change won’t happen overnight, adopting more efficient practices in textile production and employing new technologies—like AirDye—can move us closer to a reality in which thriving industry and thriving citizens aren’t mutually exclusive.

cause and effect

The latest United Nations World Water Report found agriculture accounts for an astounding 70 percent of water consumption in the world. More shocking yet, only about 37 percent of water used for agriculture is actually consumed—the remainder is lost in evapotranspiration (the combined total of evaporation and transpiration). Unfortunately, agricultural water consumption shows no signs of slowing: rapid population increases directly result in higher demands for food and agricultural products, like cotton, which means more water usage to meet growing needs.

In recent years climate change has entered the equation, playing a paradoxical role in agricultural water consumption. Agricultural production contributes heavily to global warming through methane and nitrous oxide emissions. It is also unusually sensitive to the effects of climate change. In effect, as agriculture increases so do emissions, which results in less rainwater and therefore fewer crops, rendering the process more and more ineffective as time progresses.

While it’s true that water is a renewable resource, there are limits to its replenishing capabilities. As population and demand increase, and water supplies plateau, each person is afforded less water for living—a devastating prospect considering one billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water today.

what we can do

Industry needs to design smarter technologies: The U.N. reports that industrial use creates more pressure on water resources through wastewater and pollution than from water used in actual production. In the Eastern European industrial market, demand for water has already fallen as their production technology evolves. As an individual, you can help ease the pressure by conserving water in your daily life, supporting green companies, and avoiding agricultural products that perpetuate wasteful practices.

What measures are you taking now, if any, to conserve?

Map Credit: deCarbonnel, Eric. “Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production.” Market Skeptics. Feb 9, 2009. http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/02/2009-global-food-catastrophe.html