Entries by Circle of Blue

Phoenix lander samples a little Martian dirt

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WASHINGTON – The Phoenix lander has begun taking samples of its icy Martian surroundings in its search for extraterrestrial water, NASA reported early Monday. The lander, which touched down last Sunday, will collected samples and analyze them over the next 90 days for the chemical signatures of life. In addition to its robotic sampling arm […]

Old toilet? No water service.

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DeKALB COUNTY, Georiga – Any house built before 1993 and sold beginning Sunday has to have “low-flow” toilets that swallow 1.6 gallons of water or less per flush. The volume is usually stamped on the underside of the lid that caps the water tank. Older toilets? No water service. Read more here. Source : Atlanta […]

New desalinization plant for seemingly water-rich New England

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BOSTON, MA – In order to keep up with demand, the city of Brockton, Massachusetts, will began piping in some 4 million gallons of freshwater each day from a new desalinization plant. The plant, situated near the delta of Taunton River, will use reverse-osmosis to turn brackish tidal waters into potable drinking water. Opening a […]

67% water-rate increase protested

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Phoenix, AZ – A 67 percent rate increase in water rates has the residents of the planned suburb Anthem, Arizona, up-in-arms, reported The Arizona Republic. The community, some 34 miles north of downtown Phoenix, has an advanced water system, whose initial costs were around $150 million. Despite the effectiveness of the system, the Arizona-American company, […]

China plans mass exodus from quake zone

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MIANYANG, China – Chinese authorities have begun evacuating an additional 40,000 people in Beichuan county in the wake of potential flooding, CNN reports. While the total number of evacuees now stands at around 200,000, the number could rise to as much as 1.3 million in the event of mass flooding from that lakes that formed […]

School runs dry in Namibia

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WINDHOEK, Namibia – Pupils from the Motsumi Primary School at Corridor 13 in the Omaheke Region will return to classes today after missing classes for a week due to a water crisis at the school. The 470 pupils missed classes because the underground water levels of the borehole at the school had dropped and thus […]

Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?

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Global demands for freshwater have nearly doubled since World War II, the Christian Science Monitor reports. China, India, and other parts of Asia, are experiencing unprecedented growth, limited by the availability of fresh, potable, water. Throughout Europe, Mediterranean port cities, like Barcelona and Cyprus, plan to ship in water from their neighbors. Global water needs […]

GE – Shining light on water

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BOSTON – Surging oil prices have captured the attention of consumers and leaders around the globe, but General Electric Co is already on to what it thinks will be the world’s next big worry — water. The company said on Wednesday it aims to cut its water usage 20 percent by 2012, a move that […]

Analyzing Israel’s water crisis

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JERUSALEM – One of the hardest things to do in a crisis is to think fast on your feet. By definition, a crisis is not amenable to advance planning. But a water crisis is not like other crises – it does not sneak up on you between one day and the next. When it comes […]

Pakistan’s water woes worsen

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ISLAMABAD – With the arrival of summer, the capital’s water crisis has assumed a new dimension leaving tanks and taps in thousands of homes in several sectors running virtually dry. Already reeling from prolonged power load shedding, the water shortage has compounded the problems of the residents who have to send in for water bowsers […]

Celine Dion and Tiger Woods among drought-stricken Florida’s top water users

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PALM BEACH, FL — Celine Dion’s estate, on the drought-stricken central Florida coast, consumes enough water to fill a 50-gallon bathtub every four minutes, according to the Palm Beach Post. Other top users of water include Tiger Woods, who uses 30 times the average each month on his Treasure Coast estate. Read more here and […]

Glacial melt releasing DDT back into water cycle

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Despite a worldwide ban on DDT use, levels of the pesticide have remained constant since the 1970’s in Adélie penguins of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. The culprit: glacial runoff. Rising temperatures due to global warming and seasonal variations are slowly release DDT — trapped in the ice from years past — back into the the […]