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Liquid Assets: Tide Turns Against Privatization of City Water Systems

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There's nothing like a fiscal deficit to prompt municipal leaders to think hard about how to save money. Everything is on the table and no city service or asset is untouchable. So last November when the mayor of Carbondale, Illinois made several suggestions for bailing out the cash-strapped city, the idea of selling the municipal water and sewer system gained serious traction.

Major Nevada Pipeline Project in Limbo

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Plans for a major freshwater pipeline for the Las Vegas Valley hit a legal roadblock. A ruling from Nevada's Supreme Court last week has threatened the fate of a massive pipeline project once hailed as critical to Las Vegas’ freshwater supply

Heart of Dryness: Botswana’s Bushmen Fight for Human, Water Rights

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The fifth installment of Workman's book details the Bushmen's painful legal battle for water access against the Botswana government, which had begun to use "intentional, compulsory thirst" on the indigenous community. Left little choice, the Bushmen pursued court action to make access to water a fundamental human right.

Wisconsin City Makes Its Case for Diversion of Great Lakes Water

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City officials in Waukesha, Wisconsin spelled out why they need Great Lakes water to replace their radium-contaminated city water wells Thursday, and why tapping into the world’s largest freshwater supply makes more sense than drilling more wells.

A Reader’s Insight: Tapping Into Young Americans to Stop the Water Crisis

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Over the past two decades, the global economy has witnessed extraordinary, previously unimaginable technological advances and scientific feats. Money and complicated business propositions change hands virtually. Meanwhile medical science defies death and disease on a daily basis, as the worldwide web enables instant communication across oceans. Despite these tremendous advancements in life and technology, the greatest issue we face is our depleting water supply.

New Plan Approved to Protect Chicagoland Water

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A three-year effort to develop a landmark water plan for the greater Chicago region was unanimously approved by political and environmental stakeholders Tuesday.

Chile Considers Constitutional Reform of Freshwater Rights

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New legislation could extend government control over private freshwater resources.

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.

The Struggle for Indigenous and Freshwater Rights at Copenhagen and Beyond

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For two weeks in Copenhagen last month climate negotiators debated carbon levels, emissions, and balancing the financial burden of saving the planet among developed and developing countries. Still, even as international leaders wrestled with the complex mix of geopolitics, science, economics, and diplomacy, another important ingredient in the climate crisis was barely mentioned: the effect of the warming planet on the Earth's freshwater.

Haitian Earthquake Provides Lessons for Similarly Vulnerable Countries

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As recovery efforts in Haiti focus on supplying clean water to a region in which the water infrastructure was destroyed, a Maltese engineer thinks his earthquake-prone country, which sits just south of Sicily, could face a similar crisis

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.