time for stricter drinking water standards?

The quality, or lack thereof, of drinking water in America has been put front and center with media coverage such as the New York Time’s Toxic Waters series. Fortunately, the government is listening and today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it’s planning on stepping up drinking water system monitoring and action when a problem is found. The revised rule should reduce the amount of waterborne pathogens that make their way into the fresh water supply causing a variety of ailments from abdominal discomfort to kidney failure to hepatitis. There’s a 60 day pubic comment period, so if you’re concerned about the quality of your water, perhaps you should let the EPA know you support stronger regulations.

the quest for clean drinking water

Now consider for a moment, the plight of the Iraqi people. Despite fact that America has poured billions into the country, Reuter’s Aseel Kami explains that for 7.5 million Iraqis there is no safe, clean drinking water, and it’s certainly not coming out of the kitchen sink. The fact is that the infrastructure is just not there and what is there is broken or heavily damaged. The International Red Cross delivers hundreds of thousands of liters of water each day. Some neighborhoods were even built without being connected to the city’s water system. While the Baghdad government says they’ll end water scarcity in two years, many aren’t so sure.

learning from australia’s never-ending drought

It’s safe to say that Australia’s 12-year drought is one of the worst in the world right now. Lakes have dried up, rivers are always at least 40 percent lower than before, crops are failing, and the forecasts are not optimistic. Water scarcity is now a way of life for folks Down Under. Of course, it’s not like the country is going to pick up and move, so they’re finding ways to manage their water resources. In New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, they’re investing in water recycling projects. For example, they plan to increase recycled water use in agricultural irrigation. And it’s not like the Aussies aren’t well ahead of other developed nations, they already use 27 billion liters of recycled water for farming, industrial, and households. As water scarcity effects more and more regions, no doubt governments will be looking to Australia to see what’s worked.

coke’s reducing water, using recycled plastic and getting greener

Last year Coca-Cola announced it was making a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. As one of the largest multinational corporations, and one which often operates in water-scarce areas, Coke’s improvements stand to have a significant impact. This week, Coke has issued an update. Via the company’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) Report, Coke shows advances in reducing energy use, water use, increased recycling, and an overall drop in the company’s carbon footprint. Of course, we’re always looking at water management, and it now takes 1.67 liters of water to produce a single liter of soda (or any other of their products). That’s down 3.5 percent over two years ago. In addition to their own improved efficiencies, Coke invested invested $12.7 million in a global partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development to support water scarcity and quality in Africa.

keeping linens clean with less water

The Bellingham Herald shares a story of a small business in Washington state used to use 50,000 gallons of water each day to clean and sterilize hospital linens. But Sterile Surgical Systems President Greg Gicewicz wanted to save water and money. Gicewicz installed a $115,000 water treatment and recycling system the company installed in November and recently added a rainwater capture system to his roof. Now, the business only needs 15,000 gallons a day. On top of all the water he’s not paying for, the company’s sewer bills are also lower. Gicewicz expects the systems to pay for itself in only a year. Well done, Sterile Surgical Systems!

photo credits: dirty tap water Jenny Lee Silver/Flickr, dry Murray River Shovelling Son/Flickr

preparing for rising seas

The city planners in Boston are looking ahead to a future where rising ocean levels flood significant portions of the city. While Boston has benefited from the ocean, throughout its history Beantown has added to its footprint with landfill, leaving much of the city just above sea level. City leaders are considering a variety of ideas such as changing the entrances to the underground subway and newly built freeways, moving electrical equipment out of downtown basements and onto the roofs, updating zoning laws to discourage construction in high-risk areas, even building massive gates in the bay. And Boston isn’t the only city beginning to this about rising seas. Venice is building sea gates to hold back the tides already.

singapore: a model for water management

Water expert Dr. Peter Gleick takes readers to Singapore for a look at how this small country with 4.5 million people manages its water. For years Singapore has purchased about 40 percent of the water it needs from Malaysia. While the monetary cost of the water hasn’t been a burden, the political and security situation has been. To address the situation and reduce reliance on imported water, Singapore has been working for the last few years to increase conservation, eliminate waste, increase local fresh water capture, and recycle or desalinate water. The country is a model of efficiency; an average citizen of Singapore uses around 40 gallons each day. For comparison, the average Californian uses 130 gallons per day. On the supply side, they are heavily investing in wastewater treatment and recycling plants which could supply as much as 30 percent of their needs. Clearly, the U.S. and other countries could learn a lot from Singapore’s model.

water-caused wedding woes

Wedding-venue wish lists usually include features such as: has a great view, beautiful gardens, or is eco-friendly. Rarely have our readers had to worry if the hall would have enough clean drinking water for the joyous occasion. But this is just what’s happening in some parts of India where water shortages have become all too common. Families in central India are going halls to villages miles away just to ensure there’s plenty of water. According to the Times of India, the family of the groom will specifically ask for a venue that has ample water. And you thought your family had tough requests.

the ocean needs your attention

This past Tuesday was World Oceans Day. Of course, we’re all pretty darn focused on what’s happening with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, so this year people were actually talking about the state of the oceans already. Chevy and Jayni Chase have been educating themselves and others about the perils facing the oceans for a lot longer than the 50 plus days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. This week on CNN.com, the Chases wrote an editorial spelling out the issue quite plainly: “Our lack of attention is killing the oceans.” Chevy and Jayni point out that we often don’t consider where our fish come from, what happens when trash makes its way to the open water, or the simple fact that we know more about the moon than we do about the depths of the oceans. They encourage you to take the time and give some of your attention to the oceans. After all, they oceans account for more than 71 percent of the surface of the planet.

Which stories caught your eye this week? Please share them in our comments below.

clean water from common cactus

Treehugger brought an article about how the common prickly pear cactus could give us clean, safe, and cheap drinking water. The story was originally reported in the New Scientist. The process itself if quite simple: you just boil a bit of cactus and then drop it in the contaminated water. There’s more testing to do, but we think this is pretty cool.

photo: ah zut

america’s unquenchable thirst

Minnesota Public Radio program Midday recent guest Robert Glennon believes America’s thirst for water is “Unquenchable.” While we all think of Texas, California and Arizona, but even Minnesota other mid-west states have been facing water shortages. In fact, some cities in Minnesota weren’t able to supply enough water for ethanol refineries and Lake Superior is too low to float fully-loaded cargo ships. We’ve been using so much water that our groundwater pumping is getting out of hand. America is depleting its groundwater at a faster rate than it can be naturally replenished. Just last year, Atlanta was within 90 days of running completely dry. And that’s not all due to drought, but population expansion stressing water resources.

One of the biggest water wasters, according to Glennon, is our sanitation system. Each year America flushes 6 billions gallons of water down the toilet. This water is then sent back to the treatment plant to be used again. The problem is that downstream, say in New Orleans, their drinking water has been run through this cycle many times.

Glennon was also on The Daily Show last year where Jon Stewart points out that our energy policy, even moving to some clean energy technologies, could worsen the crisis.

protests prevent vote on water bill

Columbia University’s Earth Institute just posted an article about the growing water crisis in Ecuador. At the center of the problem is who owns the rights to the country’s water. In 2008, the constitution sited water as a fundamental human right. Since then many people feel this means that water should be a public utility and not privatized. As you can guess, that’s exactly what’s been happening. Over the years the people have been staging protests which have turned violent. Despite the outrage, the legislature has wanted to begin debate on a new “Water Act” that will give even more control to private companies with few guarantees for the population for continued access to clean, affordable water. Protests by Ecuador’s major indigenous organizations, however, seem to have resulted in the session coming to an end without a vote on the bill.

burmese drought

Once again the people of Burma are suffering. This time, record high temperatures and a late monsoon season have dried up wells and other drinking water sources. Some 60 villages are reported to be under severe water shortages. The drought is taking its toll in other ways as well. The severe heat and low water levels have caused some 100,000 fish deaths at fish farms in Rangoon. One article reported that while some local water bottling companies have donated some water, the government hasn’t responded to the crisis. In a related story, the Mekong River is at a 50-year low. Downstream countries are blaming China for building too many dams, but China blames mother nature.

What water stories are you following? Share them in our comments section below.

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.

water is too cheap

In Davos last week police used water cannons to disperse a small crowd of protesters. That’s one use for water, we suppose. But more on topic at the high-profile meeting, was water conservation and real pricing of this commodity. In this week’s Wall Street Journal review how population growth and climate change mean that smart market-based solutions and a new regulatory system are needed to ensure stability and access.

rising water costs

A perfect example of how water is under priced is India. According to DNA India, water is heavily subsidized – by as much as 60 percent for middle-class neighborhoods. Residents of Mumbai are facing possible rate hikes for their water. The rate increase is designed to bring the costs closer to reality and discourage waste. But can you imagine what that would do to your household budget?

a dry town, and we’re not just talking liquor

News about Yemen is on the rise, and given the many challenges for the impoverished country, we’re likely to hear a lot more about it. We already know there are growing concerns about militants and Al-Qaeda support. What you may not be aware of is the fact that the country is running out of both water and oil. Some experts the capital, Sanaa, could be bone dry in ten years. Talk about a source of instability!

growing concerns about energy and climate change

Above we can see how on a local level climate change and energy resources could turn into security nightmare, and that fact is not lost on the U.S. military. This week the Pentagon released its Quadrennial Defense Review. We’ll cut to the chase for you, the study concludes:

Assessments conducted by the intelligence community indicate that climate change could have significant geopolitical impacts around the world, contributing to poverty, environmental degradation, and the further weakening of fragile governments. Climate change will contribute to food and water scarcity, will increase the spread of disease and may spur or exacerbate mass migration.

Now, if it’s so clear that this is likely to be a problem, we wonder when climate change will register with the American people.

water scarcity gets its own conference

Later this month, some of the nation’s biggest companies, and many smaller ones too, will gather in San Francisco to discuss water scarcity risks and water footprints in the supply chain. Some of the speakers include representatives from Procter & Gamble, Nike, Intel, and many others. You know we’ll be watching what happens; think they’ll have a Twitter hashtag?

water conservation pays big

Dow Chemical’s production site in Freeport, Texas has a new feature: 80 water cooling towers made by Nalco Company. The new system is saving over 1 billion gallons of water and $4 million per year. We’re still information on how much the system cost, but something tells us that it’s a pretty good ROI.

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?

crisis in haiti

Of course, we’ve all been glued to the T.V. and computer monitors following  developments in Haiti. We know that even before the 7.0 earthquake, the island nation’s infrastructure was less than ideal. And since 10 days ago, there simply isn’t any infrastructure at all. Water, food, and shelter are continuing to flow in from around the world. According to Yobie Benjamin’s article yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle’s online edition, water tanks are being installed around the city and hundreds of thousands of liters of water have been distributed, but it’s just not enough, nor is it sustainable. Benjamin is looking for the public to help pressure the U.S. government to get a large-scale solar powered water filtration system delivered. If you’ve got connections, the author asks you to reach out to Bobbie Dunphy or tweet him at @yobie.

hazards of growth

Water quality problems are not new for China. This week J. Carl Ganter published a well-documented piece in Circle of Blue called Tracing Kunming, China’s Freshwater Hazards. Ganter examines one of China’s newest projects, the Kunming International Airport. The airport is supposed to be a model for green development. Unfortunately, the construction is wreaking havoc with the local freshwater supply, which is already stressed. Even if you don’t have time to read the entire article, you have to take a look at the photos.

making money from water scarcity

Over at Seeking Alpha, an online community and resource for investors, David Rupprecht wrote an article Electricity and Water: Scarcity Will Drive Prices Upwards. He lays out a suggestion that with both energy and water supplies dwindling, there’s an opportunity to make money by investing in utilities. Do you agree?

water shortages leave crops and patience short

This week Pakistan is reporting that drought and water diversion by India will cause a 40 percent decline in this year’s wheat crop. According to a treaty between the two countries, India is supposed to release 16,000 cubic feet of water per second from the Chenab River. Instead, they have only been releasing less than one-third of that amount which has resulted in the closing of a number of canals and exacerbated the drought. One farmer told The Nation that he thinks future wars will be fought over water.

water-wise baseball

The Minnesota Twins new 40,000-seat Target Field will truly be the greenest ballpark in the country. The new facility has a number of eco-friendly design elements; most important to us is what they are doing about water conservation. The park has an integrated rainwater-recycling system that will collect, filter and disinfect up to 2 million gallons of water each year. You can read more about the Twin’s new home at Treehugger.

Know of another water story we should have posted? Share your link in the comments.