The management of water resources and supply is essential to the development and growth of cities.
Sustainable resource use and the provision of quality services to a growing urban population underpins
the success of future cities, enables them to act as poles of economic growth, and is at the core of social
and economic development in an urbanizing world.
The purpose ... read more >>

Major international oil companies are buying off governments, according to the world's most prominent climate scientist, Prof James Hansen. During a visit to London, he accused the Canadian government of acting as the industry's tar sands salesman and "holding a club" over the UK and European nations to accept its "dirty" oil. "Oil from tar sands makes sense only for a small number of people who ... read more >>

Some of the most extreme predictions of global warming are unlikely to materialise, new scientific research has suggested, but the world is still likely to be in for a temperature rise of double that regarded as safe. The researchers said warming was most likely to reach about 4C above pre-industrial levels if the past decade's readings were taken into account. That would still lead to catastroph ... read more >>

New York city could experience up to 22% more deaths from extreme summertime heat in the coming decade under global warming, according to a study of the impact of climate trends. The higher deaths will be partially offset by a reduction in deaths due to the milder winters predicted in Manhattan. Overall, however, the net effect of the new temperature norms under climate change would be to increas ... read more >>

Several years ago, post-tension tendons on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge were reported to have corrosion problems, according to these articles. During construction, ducts containing the tendons were left unsealed, exposing them to rain and other moisture. Caltrans investigated, and concluded that the problem was minor. However, an investigation by the Sacramento Bee found that "the agency ... read more >>

African demand and supply chains for fresh water are changing exponentially, and in opposite trajectories under different drivers. Water crises in Africa are expected to multiply as climate change unfolds, often with increasingly unpredictable stochastic events.1 Shortages in supply, uncertain changes in replenishment rates for surface water and groundwater, and deterioration of quality that redu ... read more >>

Although the great majority of sinkholes are less imposing than the monsters that make the news, addressing the problems they pose requires careful consideration and a different approach in each situation, says structural engineer Bill Bracken of Bracken Engineering in Tampa, Fla. Geologists first evaluate the underlying soil problems before the structural engineer takes over. "I don't focus on w ... read more >>

Raising crops without irrigation is far cheaper, but yields are far lower. Drought is a constant threat: the last two dry-land harvests were all but wiped out by poor rains.

A few miles west of Mr. Yost’s farm, Nathan Kells cut back on irrigation when his wells began to falter in the last decade and shifted his focus to raising dairy heifers — 9,000 on that farm, and thousands more elsewhere. ... read more >>

Lack of water has a lasting effect on Kansas and Texas. The water available of fresh water is declining sharply as competition over water resources depletes groundwater. ... read more >>

One in four London properties, collectively worth around £250bn, are at risk of flooding, according to official assessments of the dangers now facing homes in England and Wales. Ten of the top 25 most at-risk local authority areas across England and Wales are now London boroughs. The environment agency's 2013 national flood risk assessment, unpublished but seen by the Guardian, shows that London ... read more >>