WATER SCARCITY RESOURCES

• Managing Growth Under Water Constraints: What Utilities Can Learn From Industrial Water Users

  As communities and industries compete for finite water supplies, utilities are looking for strategies that support economic growth while reducing pressure on existing resources.
• Beyond Water-Stress Scores: Assessing Infrastructure Resilience At The Asset Level

  Water-stress screening can identify where an infrastructure asset deserves closer attention. Assessing resilience requires further steps: understanding the asset’s water profile, the reliability and security of its supply, the pressure it places on local resources, and whether adaptation can keep it operational and economically viable over time.
• Colorado River Conservation Depends On The Delivery System

  The Department of the Interior issued the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines, calling for Lower Basin deliveries to drop by 1.25 million acre-feet annually in 2027 and 2028, with a minimum of 700,000 acre-feet of additional voluntary conservation over those two years. While temporary reductions are a start, water districts and water professionals should also consider delivery upgrades and on-farm improvements in agricultural areas that prepare growers for a new reality with less water.
• Sunscreen For Lakes And Dams: Could A Thin Floating Layer Of Nanomaterial Shield Water From Evaporation?

  Water stored in dams and reservoirs for humans to use often evaporates, especially in hot regions like southern Africa. Rising temperatures speed evaporation up, leaving less water for people, farming and industry. Daniel Kwasi Kpeglo has just completed a PhD in physics. He explains his laboratory research into a new design – a thin nanomaterial floating cover that could be placed over lakes and dams like a blanket, reducing evaporation by limiting the amount of infrared heat from the sun that reaches the water. He also outlines what hurdles need to be cleared for the design to be tested in the real world.

• Many Cities Buried Urban Streams. Here's How To Bring Them Back

  As many cities developed, streams that once flowed on the surface were buried underground to make way for growing infrastructure. However, as heavier rainfall, extreme weather and aging infrastructure place growing pressure on cities, these buried streams could become part of the solution. Restoring streams to the surface — a practice known as stream daylighting — can help manage stormwater, restore habitats, and create greener, more walkable public spaces.

• Advanced Water Treatment Strategies Help Data Centers Manage Cooling Water At Industrial Scale

  Data centers are evolving into industrial-scale thermal-management facilities as artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), cloud platforms, and accelerated computing increase rack power density. Modern AI racks can exceed 50–120 kW per rack, creating substantially higher heat-rejection requirements than conventional enterprise infrastructure. ASHRAE's (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) AI Data Center Energy Performance Framework identifies liquid cooling as an important architecture for these high-density environments.
• Colorado River Water Conservation Efforts Get Only Halfway To A Solution

  In August 2026 the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both on the Colorado River, hit their lowest levels since they first began to be filled in 1936 and 1963, respectively. The federal government and the seven Colorado River basin states have been unable to reach an agreement about who should reduce water usage by how much to avoid catastrophic declines in lake levels.

• The Two-Sided Water Problem — What Process Manufacturers Are Missing On Both Ends Of The Line

  Process manufacturing represents an underexamined water-withdrawal category. Inside every one of these facilities, water is lost twice — once at the tap, and once at the drain — both losses driven by the same root cause and both solvable by the same intervention.

• Brackish Water Desalination: A Strategic Imperative For Sustainable Water Stewardship Across The American Water Landscape

  As droughts intensify, groundwater depletes, and climate extremes worsen, many water-stressed regions are increasingly turning to brackish groundwater desalination, for both potable use and industrial applications where water quality demands are less stringent. Hence, brackish water reserves are emerging fast as a strategic priority, ensuring a supplement for long-term national water security.
• Inside The Blueprint To Standardize State Water Reuse Regulations

  Water scarcity in the U.S. is increasing almost as rapidly as demand for clean drinking water. In response, more municipalities and public utilities are actively pivoting toward water reuse strategies. Yet many of these projects are running up against an archaic administrative bottleneck.