Posts

Peter Gleick: Water Scofflaws — Go Soak your Heads (Under a Low-flow Showerhead)

After years of inaction, blatant and willful violations of federal law, and lack of enforcement by previous administrations, the U.S. Department of Energy has just announced that they intend to pursue enforcement actions against the manufacturers of water-using appliances that violate national water and energy savings laws that have been on the books for nearly 20 years.

Peter Gleick: Turf Wars

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Climate change is expected to bring less precipitation and more extreme droughts to certain parts of the world, causing electricity shortages in hydro-reliant countries.

Reforms Could Lead to Huge Water Savings for California, Pacific Institute Says

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Replacing inefficient appliances in homes and upgrading wasteful agricultural equipment could save one million acre feet of water in California, according to a Pacific Institute report released Monday. These reforms could also save the parched state six to eight million acre feet by 2020.

Peter Gleick: Where to find one million acre-feet of water for California.

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Californians have improved their efficiency of water use over the past 25 years. The state's economy and population have grown. But total water use has not grown, and per person, each Californian uses far less today. This improvement in efficiency has saved the state's collective rear end. So far.

Relief Organizations In Haiti Prioritize Water Distribution

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Aid groups send purification and desalination systems to prevent dehydration, disease in the devastated country. Relief organizations are rushing to provide clean water to the more than two million inhabitants of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Peter Gleick: Water for Haiti, Now

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Information on the disaster in Haiti is only slowly coming out, but it is clear that the magnitude and extent of the catastrophe is vast, in a land seemingly cursed by endless environmental destruction.

Peter Gleick: Water, Climate Change, and International Security

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It would be nice if water resources fell neatly into national political boundaries. It would be nice if countries that shared water resources cooperated more. It would be nice if climate change wasn't a growing threat to the stocks and flows of water around the world.

Peter Gleick: The Real Climate Hoax

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In all of the recent news about climate change, leaked emails, complex negotiations, and watered-down agreements in Copenhagen, one fact has't received enough attention. The climate "hoax" is real.

Peter Gleick: Water and Conflict – The New Water Conflict Chronology

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In an ongoing effort to understand the connections between water resources, water systems, and international security and conflict, the Pacific Institute initiated a project in the late 1980s to track and categorize events related to water and conflict.

Peter Gleick: Prepare Now for Another Dry Year

The western United States is still in a drought. If you have any doubts, take a look at the latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Maybe we'll be lucky and the rains will start soon and be healthy. But California water agencies and users must begin planning for another dry year.

Peter Gleick: Water on the Moon

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nasaimage290In a good indication of just how important water is to us, some of the most exciting news from the Moon since the initial 1969 landing has revolved around research to determine whether or not it has water.

Peter Gleick: Giving Desalination Another Black Eye — Poseidon’s Financial Shell Game

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Last week, I wrote about the demand by the Poseidon Group to receive two major public subsidies to build a private desalination plant at Carlsbad near San Diego. After years of claiming that they needed no public support to build this plant, this claim has finally been proven false. The private profits they need will only be possible with public subsidies.