Drinking Water Features

1. Droughts Don't Just Dry Up Water — They Drain Livelihoods And Weaken Local Economies 9/15/2025

   Droughts hit utilities and agriculture hardest. Shrinking water supplies wilt crops and strain water providers. But the impact extends far beyond them.

2. Common Misconceptions Are Keeping Lakes "Sick" 9/5/2025

   Long-held misconceptions about lake management fuel the intensity and recurrence of harmful algal blooms.

3. AI Has A Hidden Water Cost — Here's How To Calculate Yours 9/3/2025

   Artificial intelligence systems are thirsty, consuming as much as 500 milliliters of water — a single-serving water bottle — for each short conversation a user has with the GPT-3 version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT system. They use roughly the same amount of water to draft a 100-word email message.

4. Megadroughts Are Here To Stay, And U.S. Water Utilities Need To Adapt 9/2/2025
   Researchers warn that California and other states affected by megadroughts — periods of drought lasting 20+ years — will have to accept this as the new normal. That means rethinking the water cycle and finding new, more sustainable water sources.
5. Colorado's Subalpine Wetlands May Be Producing A Toxic Form Of Mercury — That's A Concern For Downstream Water Supplies 8/25/2025

   The wetlands found across the Rocky Mountains of Colorado just below tree line are crucial for regulating the supply of clean water from the highlands to metropolitan regions downslope, including Denver. However, new research shows the wetlands also harbor a health risk.

6. Water Conservation And Reuse For Data Centers 8/25/2025
   Because of our own decades-long mismanagement of our collective global water resources, we are now facing a global freshwater crisis where the demand for freshwater is predicted to exceed its supply by 40% by the year 2030. Directly coinciding with the water crisis timeline is the growing need for data center construction in order to accommodate AI, cloud computing, and other Big Data and IoT processing.
7. Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Megafire Shows The Growing Wildfire Threat To Water Systems 8/22/2025

   As wildfire crews battled the Dragon Bravo Fire on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim in July 2025, the air turned toxic. A chlorine gas leak had erupted from the park’s water treatment facility as the building burned, forcing firefighters to pull back. The water treatment facility is part of a system that draws water from a fragile spring. The fire also damaged some of the area’s water pipes and equipment.

8. The Value Proposition For Rehabilitating vs. Replacing Pipelines 8/20/2025
   Utilities should consider using pipe-liner rehabilitation methods when analyzing options for pipeline improvements. Here's why.
9. As The Colorado River Slowly Dries Up, States Angle For Influence Over Future Water Rights 8/11/2025
   The Colorado River is in trouble: Not as much water flows into the river as people are entitled to take out of it. A new idea might change that, but complicated political and practical negotiations stand in the way.
10. What Are Legionella Log Books And Why Are They Important? 8/11/2025
    Implementing and managing a Legionella control regime can sometimes seem daunting and complex. Invariably, a lot of resources, time, and effort are needed to achieve the required standard and provide assurance to senior management and auditors that controls are effective and those that are not are being managed and rectified appropriately.