The common refrain in media stories about water shortages is that they are caused by droughts. Don’t believe them. Droughts don’t cause water shortages. People do. The water shortages appearing with increasing frequency and intensity around the globe are, regretfully, poignant signs of our society’s woeful inability to govern itself within limits, or to plan...
Saving water is cool. No ice necessary. California 2013-2014 drought. It’s epic. The worst in the state’s recorded history. Everything you can think of is at a record low for this time of year: rainfall, snowpack, streamflow, reservoir storage…It’s so bad that Governor Jerry Brown has...
The western United States was settled with the help of big dams and river diversions that delivered distant water to burgeoning cities and farms, but at least one state is saying it’s time to shift gears. In a resounding voice of support for river protection, 85 percent of New Mexico residents say they want officials...
This afternoon I learned from the Alliance for Water Efficiency, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has introduced a bill that would repeal the enormously successful and crucially needed national water efficiency standards for plumbing fixtures. A vote could take place Monday. We cannot allow two decades of water conservation...
This afternoon I learned from the Alliance for Water Efficiency, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has introduced a bill that would repeal the enormously successful and crucially needed national water efficiency standards for plumbing fixtures. A vote could take place Monday. We cannot allow two decades of water conservation...
By Sharlene Leurig, water financing expert with Ceres Water utilities across the United States are planning major infrastructure investments in the coming decades. How much? The Environmental Protection Agency estimates about $300 billion will need to be spent by 2030 to keep our drinking water systems safe. When it comes to economic investment, there are few...
The history of water, especially in the western United States, is largely one of reaching further out to distant water sources as population grows and local supplies get tight. But five southern California cities that today rely heavily on water transferred hundreds of miles from the Colorado River and the San Francisco Bay-Delta are reversing...