ARTICLES BY KATE ZERRENNER
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12/30/2020
Never has a year felt more momentous than 2020. But while our lives turned upside down in a global pandemic, water issues continued to make headlines. In fact, access to clean water became even more important when hand washing became a primary action to prevent the spread of COVID-19. And despite the fact that most of us have been at home for most of this year, climate change and its effect on water have not slowed.
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12/10/2020
Water UK, the trade association representing major British water companies, has released a plan for achieving in net-zero carbon emissions in the water sector by 2030, 20 years before the government’s economy-wide net-zero emissions goal.
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4/23/2019
We’re past the midpoint of the Texas legislative session and the bill filing deadline is behind us. Because the legislature only meets for five months every other year, there’s a lot to accomplish in a short span.
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11/28/2018
Across the country, farmers face unrelenting pressure to conserve both water and energy. From California to Texas, recent droughts and declining groundwater levels require more pumping to provide irrigation water for crops. Pumping water takes energy, as do many other precision agriculture tasks involved in running a successful farm today. This symbiotic relationship between water and energy use — often called the energy-water nexus — is taking its toll on America’s agricultural industry.
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5/17/2018
The 2018 hurricane season is just around the corner — June 1st, in fact.
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2/28/2018
In Cape Town, South Africa, the countdown is on for Day Zero when water taps in the city of 4 million people are expected to run dry.
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2/20/2018
Texans are no stranger to the devastation of hurricanes. I still vividly remember, as a young child in Austin, being scared of Alicia in 1983 — and thankful that we lived at the top of the hill. Alicia caused nearly $2 billion in damages, a record at the time, and the category 3 storm was so destructive that its name was retired. But only a few years later, that record was broken...
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12/13/2017
As an advocate for the air, water, and economic benefits that clean energy provides, I find some of my most challenging — and maybe most rewarding — work is trying to engage climate-skeptic lawmakers at the Texas Capitol in Austin.
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7/10/2017
Desalination giveth and taketh away — at least typically, due to its drain on energy-related resources (including water itself). But there is a better, smarter way.
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6/19/2017
The 85th Texas Regular Legislative Session has drawn to a close. Now that we've had some time to digest what went down (and get some sleep), we can reflect. There is no doubt: This was a very hard Session. Emotions were high and lives were at stake.
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4/18/2017
We’re entering the home stretch of the 85th Session of the Texas Legislature.
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3/27/2017
By making strategic choices to maximize energy-water efficiencies, we can help protect our supplies in advance of our next drought. Here are three ways that work.
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11/28/2016
When you prepare the Thanksgiving meal, do you ask each person to make a dish of their choosing, with no coordination for an overall cohesive meal? Probably not. Most likely, you plan, because you want everything to fit together.
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11/1/2016
Have you ever thought about how much water your dryer needs to dry your clothes? (And no, I don’t mean your washing machine.)
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6/14/2016
It’s been an interesting time for water in Texas. Beyond the incredibly wet and cool spring we’ve been having, Memorial Day saw the second year in a row of record-breaking floods.
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3/11/2016
San Antonio and Austin just called a cease-fire on a taco war over which city invented the breakfast taco. Both make excellent tacos: from the traditional chorizo and egg taco in San Antonio to a free-range egg and organic spinach taco in Austin. But this debate was about more than just tacos — it was about the history and culture of these two neighboring cities.
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1/19/2016
2015 proved to be another weird weather year around the country, especially for Texas. 80 degrees and dry in Austin on Christmas Day, spring wildflowers in bloom, and kids playing outside in shorts — a surprise ending to a wild ride of drought followed by devastating floods followed by drought and then more floods.
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7/23/2015
Unfortunately, a good rain washes away more than the drought; it washes away much of man’s interest in providing for the next one, and it washes the supports from under those who know that another dry cycle is coming and who urge their fellows to make ready for it.
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7/6/2015
Being an environmental advocate in Texas may seem like an uphill battle, and I make no bones about the fact it most certainly is.
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5/4/2015
It’s no secret that Texas is currently in the midst of a multi-year drought – yet the vast majority of our electricity comes from sources that contribute to this prolonged drought, namely coal, nuclear, and natural gas. All of these energy sources require copious amounts of water to produce electricity.
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4/2/2015
We’ve almost made it to the midway point of the 84th Session of the Texas Legislature. As many already know, the Texas Legislature only meets from January to May every other year, so a lot has to get done in these few months.
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3/17/2015
Each year, the nation wastes an estimated two trillion gallons, or about 14 to 18 percent, of its treated water through leaks alone. That’s a lot of water – enough to fill over three million Olympic-size swimming pools.
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12/8/2014
On December 11th, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) Corporate Citizenship Center will host The Energy-Water-Food Nexus: Risks and Opportunities for the Private Sector, the second in a series of roundtables based on a report released earlier this year.
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6/20/2014
As a professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at Texas A&M University, John Nielsen-Gammon observes Texas weather patterns, monitors the state’s multi-year drought and air pollution climatology, and makes improvements to the climate data record. Kate Zerrenner recently had the chance to pick his brain over weather, climate change, and the state of affairs in Texas.