WATER SCARCITY RESOURCES

• How Much Water Is In The Snow Below?

  State grant expands high-tech airborne snow surveys to help manage Colorado’s water supply.

• AMI Adoption: Challenges And Opportunities For Local Water Providers In California

  Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is particularly impactful in drought prone areas, incentivizing water conservation and alerting both service providers and consumers to possible leaks in real time. Researchers at UC Berkeley have used FirmoGraphs’ database of meeting minutes and capital improvement plans to analyze recent trends in AMI adoption among California drinking water agencies.

• U.S. Commercial Water Treatment Market Trends

  The United States commercial water treatment market was valued at over $5.0 billion in 2021 and is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of between 5.0 to 10.0 percent over the next 7 years. Key players in this market include Culligan International Co., Ecolab, Inc., Evoqua Water Technologies Corp., and Pentair Industries, Inc.

• Investing In Water Stewardship

  Scarcity of fresh, clean water will be a defining issue for the 21st century. It will be a major challenge — for many, an existential one — even if climate change is addressed effectively. As demand outstrips supply, water must be rationed. Markets for physical water and water rights must play a key role in ensuring efficient and environmentally sustainable water use.

• Cloud Seeding Might Not Be As Promising As Drought-Troubled States Hope

  Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued their U.S. spring outlook on March 17, 2022, and their top concern was worsening drought in the West and southern Plains. Several western states have experimented with cloud seeding to try to increase precipitation, but how well does that actually work? Atmospheric scientist William Cotton explains.

• The Coming Revolution In Water Stewardship, Part 3

  As discussed in Part 1 of this series, many companies include a water stewardship aspect in their environment, social and governance (ESG) programs and commitments. When companies have operations that occur in high water stress environments, the water stewardship commitments are often translated into water replenishment efforts focused on watershed level impacts. To meet these commitments, companies must find projects that are developed enough to estimate the cost and resulting water replenishment volume.

• First Solar Canal Project Is A Win For Water, Energy, Air, And Climate In California

  Mounting evidence suggests the western United States is now in its worst megadrought in at least 1,200 years. Groundwater supplies are being overpumped in many places, and the dryness, wildfires, and shrinking water supplies are making climate change personal for millions of people. As an engineer, I have been working with colleagues on a way to both protect water supplies and boost renewable energy to protect the climate. We call it the solar-canal solution, and it’s about to be tested in California.

• The Coming Revolution In Water Stewardship, Part 2

  With the increase in corporate environment, social, and governance (ESG) commitments and associated funding, there has been rapid growth in the demand for water replenishment projects. However, there continues to be limited supply of ‘shovel ready’ opportunities. In many watersheds, companies are unable to meet their commitments because they cannot find adequate shovel ready replenishment projects to meet their targets.

• The Coming Revolution In Water Stewardship

  There are several water reporting frameworks deployed across the private and public sector to support sustainability decisions and water replenishment goals. Given the increased focus on environmental and social governance reporting, the myriad of frameworks and associated metrics make common action difficult.

• Mountain Glaciers Hold Less Ice Than Previously Thought — It’s A Concern For Future Water Supplies But A Drop In The Bucket For Sea Level Rise

  Mountain glaciers are essential water sources for nearly a quarter of the global population. But figuring out just how much ice they hold — and how much water will be available as glaciers shrink in a warming world — has been notoriously difficult. In a new study, scientists mapped the speed of over 200,000 glaciers to get closer to an answer.