Desert life depends on reliable access to water. In Namibia’s stark Namib Desert, where I spent 18 months doing research for my Ph.D., wildlife concentrates around natural springs. Increasingly, animals there also rely on man-made ponds intended for livestock.
Growing cities are generating higher volumes of wastewater and putting a strain on clean water supplies, calling for solutions that extract value from “waste” and ensure the sustainability of resources — with the added bonus, or imperative, of protecting the environment.
It's spring and the algae are in bloom, but harmful algal blooms are far from the only threats to drinking water. Fortunately, there are advanced treatment technologies to handle some of the most persistent contaminants today, including algal toxins, Cryptosporidium, and 1,4-dioxane.
Climate change is a growing concern, especially the uncertainty of how it will impact the environment. Climate conditions and temperatures vary by region and the effects of climate change will not be uniform.
Who would have thought that a reservoir of water could play a role in producing energy? Not many people would…but it’s happening elsewhere and it could soon be trending in America.
With more than one-third of its land area facing high or extremely high water stress, China is working hard to match growing demands for freshwater with the available renewable supply. The government is well aware of the threats that water stress can pose — economic stagnation, the demise of water-dependent industries, and conflicts over resources.
Since 1999, when business people at more than 150,000 companies worldwide wanted to keep better track of their customers — and be more responsive — they turned to Salesforce.com and its industry-leading customer relationship management (CRM) software. Now, companies looking for ideas on sustainability, in terms of water recycling, can turn to the new Salesforce Tower in San Francisco as a leading-edge environmental solution as well. It is estimated that the building’s water recycling system will save more than 7.5-million gallons of drinking water annually — enough to supply more than 16,000 San Francisco residents.
While natural disasters such as forest fires can cause lakes to burn and become acidic, human activities can also cause water pollution that risks or reduces the quality of waterbodies. The quality of freshwater sources, including lakes, is threatened by both population growth and industrialization.
Without leaders on the ground and in local, district, and national governments championing water services for Everyone Forever, the wells and pumps don’t mean much.
By now, just about everyone in the U.S. has heard about Flint, Michigan’s water woes. Despite the many issues raised by that incident, urban water systems are not the sole reason the 2017 Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. drinking water infrastructure an overall “D” grade. Hidden within that disheartening rating are the harsh realities faced by rural water systems.
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