Author: Julia Apland Hitz
Julia is currently with the Findhorn Foundation ecovillage in Scotland. For two years she served as Communications Manager for the Columbia Water Center, Earth Institute, Columbia University. She has also worked as a planning consultant and development officer in environment, sustainable development, social services, and health, in Central America, the UK and the USA.
On June 5th, Columbia Water Center collaborator Ponisseril Somasundaran, an Engineering professor at Columbia University, participated in a workshop organized by the EPA on how to best address the environmental recovery of the Gulf Coast shoreline after the disastrous oil spill. At a later date we will post a conversation with Prof. Somasundaran about the issue and the workshop, but for now we can share the Findings and Conclusions from the Alternative Coastal Protection and Clean-up Technology Workshop.
Category> Water
Tags> EPA, gulf oil spill, North America, Technology, water matters
Who owns the Nile?
Nine countries want to have a say in answering that question, and they don’t agree. The great river moves through Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so they all may claim her as at least partly their own.
Category> Water
Tags> Africa, Developing Countries, drought, Energy, Global Warming, Surface Water, Water Conflicts, water matters, Water Scarcity, Water Wars
While the nation and the world morns the destruction of marine habitat and the deaths of an untold number of animals, birds, fish, and tiny organisms in the Gulf of Mexico, another battle is being waged, one in which people are desperately trying to find a way to eliminate one type of fish in an attempt to save many more.
Category> Water
Tags> Africa, Great Lakes, In the News, North America, Surface Water, water matters
In a place like Iraq, our attention is on the big issues, and we might forget that life also goes on for regular people. They need to grow crops and wash dishes and make tea. For many people in the country, those mundane things can be every bit as big an issue. If you don’t have water to drink, that is an immediate crisis.
Category> Water
Tags> Developing Countries, drought, In the News, Irrigated Agriculture, Middle East, Surface Water, Water Conflicts, water matters, Water Scarcity
A CWC research team is analyzing a complicated issue in a highly conflicted part of the world, and trying to find a way forward. They are taking an in-depth look at Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan), and the environmental, political and economic crisis building there.
Category> Climate, Water
Tags> Asia, Central Asia, Developing Countries, Global Warming, Infrastructure, Irrigated Agriculture, Politics, Surface Water, Water Conflicts, water matters
Scientific American has an interesting photo piece by Gaia Vince about a place in the Himalayas that is adapting to climate change by creating its own glaciers.
Category> Climate, Water
Tags> Asia, Developing Countries, Global Warming, India, Irrigated Agriculture, Surface Water, Sustainable Development, water matters, Water Scarcity
Your old infrastructure is going to eat you alive.
Well, maybe not you, exactly, but it is eating some people alive.
I’m talking about the astounding sinkhole that formed in Guatemala City over the weekend.
Category> Water
Tags> Developing Countries, In the News, Infrastructure, New York City, North America, South America, water matters, Water Pricing
I recently came across an article in the Tehelka blog, which made me want to learn more. It was about a traditional water management system in the Uttarakhand region in northern India that has worked for years, but is being destroyed by funding meant to ‘modernize’ it.
Category> Water
Tags> Developing Countries, Groundwater, groundwater depletion, India, Infrastructure, Surface Water, Sustainable Development, water matters
The Economist has released a Special Report on Water, dated May 22nd, 2010, written by John Grimond. The 18 page report contains 9 short but substantial articles giving an overview of global water issues.
Category> Water
Tags> Climate, Developing Countries, drought, Global, Groundwater, groundwater depletion, Human Rights, India, Infrastructure, Irrigated Agriculture, poverty, Surface Water, Sustainable Development, Water Conflicts, water matters, Water Pricing, Water Quality, Water Scarcity, Water Wars
I recently posted a piece on the ‘Deep Green’ project to generate electricity from deep ocean currents. Here is another of the ocean-based generation schemes: Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer, or LIMPET.
Category> Energy, Water
Tags> Technology, water matters
