French designer Elisabeth Buecher has found a way to help remind us that long showers waste water as well as energy used by the water heater. Her concepts for a green shower curtain might seem a little pushy, but the result is a better world for all of us. This represents what Elisabeth describes as “Design for pain and for our own good.” ... read more >>

Using new data and reconstructions of the “Dust Bowl” drought in America during the 1930s, climatologists at the ETH have shown for the first time a three-dimensional picture of the atmospheric circulation that led to the drought. This will enable climate models to be evaluated and further improved. The scientists hope this work will make it possible to predict future periods of drought more accu ... read more >>

Lack of rainwater, coupled with falling river levels, is endangering more than 50 percent of grain fields in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, China's largest grain production base, said drought relief officials here on Friday.

Hou Baijun, deputy commander of the provincial drought relief headquarters, said that 6 million hectares of grain fields, or 53 percent of the province's total, ... read more >>

Water Number: Four (4). Four is the approximate energy cost in megajoules per liter (MJ/l) of manufacturing a plastic water bottle. Four is also the approximate number of liters (or gallons) of water that are consumed in making a single liter (or gallon) of bottled water. And four is the approximate energy cost in MJ/l of moving bottled water from Fiji to Los Angeles - neither the highest nor the ... read more >>

Both have their risks, but your home's water is subject to broader scrutiny. ... read more >>

Water Number: $2000 per acre-foot (AF). This is the latest estimate just released for the cost of water from a massive proposed desalination facility for the Camp Pendleton area in Southern California.

The plant, if built, would be one of the largest desalination facilities in the world. The actual estimate was that the produced water would cost $2000-$2200/AF for a plant that produces 50 mill ... read more >>

NEW YORK – When experts sketch out nightmare hurricane scenarios, a New York strike tends to be high on the list. Besides shaking skyscrapers, a major hurricane could send the Atlantic Ocean surging into the nation's largest city, flooding Wall Street, subways and densely packed neighborhoods. As a new hurricane season starts Monday, some scientists and engineers are floating an ambitious solutio ... read more >>

A bill in California's legislature seeks to take the strain off the water supply and alleviate the housing slump.

In February, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought emergency in California, citing two successive years of below-average rainfall and dangerously low runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack.

Since then, the water-supply crisis has only deepened, and now it coincides with ... read more >>

Large dams - over 15 m tall or with a capacity over 3 million m3- total roughly 50,000 worldwide, not considering millions of smaller dams and reservoirs. Few rivers remain that have been untouched by some type of dam.The World Commission on Dams – an independent, international commission comprised of leaders from all sides of the debate surrounding big dams – issued its report in 2000 with findi ... read more >>

Looking for a quick cash turnaround, the city may be about make a decision it could spend the next 99 years paying for.

Led by City Comptroller Wally Morics, the Milwaukee Common Council last fall began going down a path toward privatizing the city's drinking water. Although in pursuit of the worthy goal of balancing the city's budget, this path would ultimately cost the community both money a ... read more >>