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.
Fresh water is the most important resource for human life on earth. People can survive far longer without food than without water, and virtually all of our food sources require fresh water to grow or create.
The cities of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation are all situated at the western end of Lake Superior, along the St. Louis River where it flows into the lake.
If I were asked to describe the makeup of the Water Online and Water Innovations audience, I could say it’s a mix of engineers and operators focusing on clean and/or wastewater processes within municipal or industrial settings. But that wouldn’t tell the whole story, because you are much more than that — you are caretakers of our planet’s most valuable resource.
Onshore crude oil production has increased in the United States over the past few years. Oil producers, specifically the North Dakota Pipeline Authority and the Bakken Shale field producers are transporting crude oil by rail and train to both the East and West Coast oil refineries. While rail tends to be one of the safer and more efficient ways of transporting crude oil, there is still a risk of a spill. Oil spills are threats to both ground and surface waters, which can ultimately impact drinking water.
In the 1980s, the government of Malawi began providing piped water to low-income households in 50 districts, establishing community-run tap committees to collect bills and manage systems. Men made up 90 percent of committee memberships — and problems quickly became apparent.
A Q&A with Berkeley Lab hydrological science expert Bhavna Arora, who explains how unseasonably warm weather and drought can affect water quality
When it becomes necessary to expand or blend water supply sources, variety is not necessarily the spice of life. Whether new water sources are surface water or groundwater, fresh, brackish, seawater, or water recovered from aquifer storage, they can ultimately impact water treatment plant (WTP) operations and finished water quality — including compliance with the U.S. EPA Lead and Copper Rule.
EPA recently validated an innovative new technology to guide the cleanup of soils contaminated with arsenic and lead. The new laboratory method, based on a “virtual stomach” that mimics human digestion, estimates the bioavailability of arsenic and lead in soils quickly and inexpensively relative to animal models. This method will increase the accuracy of Human Health Risk Assessments, potentially reducing remediation costs.
Just when we thought the jurisdictional and regulatory issues concerning the federal Clean Water Act and the resulting implications could not get more complicated, recent developments have put that possibility to rest.
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