pdf

Colorado River Interstate Negotiations Break Down

March 5, 2024

article

Colorado River Negotiations to Cut Demand Accelerate Ahead of '24 Presidential Elections

January 7, 2024

article

How the Southwestern US Continues to Adapt to Tight Water Supplies

January 2, 2024

article

Farmers Paying the Full Cost of Water to Promote Conservation

December 29, 2023

article

Freshwater Worth 60% of Global GDP according to WWF

December 8, 2023

article

Bitcoin Mining: Very Water Intensive

December 8, 2023

article

WAM's investment in MVIDD conserves 50 Billion gallons water in Lake Mead through 2026

November 8, 2023

article

Matt Diserio sat down with InvestmentNews anchor Gregg Greenberg

October 4, 2023

Matt Diserio, President & Co-Founder of WAM, recently sat down with InvestmentNews anchor Gregg Greenberg to name his favorite high-tech and high-yielding water stocks. Click on "Visit" to watch the 3m39s conversation.

article

How San Diego Created Long Term Water Supply Solutions

October 4, 2023

article

US Groundwater Disappearing

August 30, 2023

article

Bangladesh at the Forefront of Water Risks from Climate Change

June 25, 2023

pdf

US Water Security Report and Recommendations

June 23, 2023

article

Water Needs in Arizona Drive Demand for Diversified Supply

June 22, 2023

content

Chronic Underspending in Water Infrastructure Driving Increased Risks

March 29, 2023

article

Water Management Must Link Groundwater and Surface Water

November 21, 2022

article

Water Investments Are No Longer an Environmental Play

June 27, 2022

article

US Federal Government Delays Water Releases to Maintain Levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead

May 4, 2022

article

Colorado River Shortage and the Impact on Power Generation

April 27, 2022

article

US West's Warmer Future Has Negative Implications for Water

February 8, 2022

article

How Four Western US Cities Plan for Future Growth in Water Demand

January 4, 2022

article

Water from California Snowpack Under Threat from Climate Change

December 3, 2021

article

California’s State Water Project Forecasting No Agricultural Water Deliveries in 2022

December 2, 2021

article

Crisis on the Colorado River

November 17, 2021

article

The Deplorable State of US Water Infrastructure

November 17, 2021

article

Water's Cheap... Should It Be?

September 2, 2021

article

Water Economics: The US West is Bankrupt

September 2, 2021

article

Phoenix growth needs challenged by water

August 25, 2021

article

Water Supply and Sanitation are the Number 1 risks faced by cities globally in dealing with climate change.

August 23, 2021

article

Water a major climate change security risk.

August 23, 2021

article

First Ever Cutback Announced on the Colorado River

August 17, 2021

article

The hidden role of water infrastructure in driving a COVID-19 recovery

October 27, 2020

Water's foundational economic role and the significant needs of its infrastructure can provide a leveraged economic and social benefit as we work towards a post pandemic recovery.

article

Water wars: How conflicts over resources are set to rise amid climate change

September 9, 2020

World Economic Forum article highlights the social and economic risk posed by increased global water security shortfalls.

youtube

Explained | World's Water Crisis | FULL EPISODE | Netflix

May 1, 2020

Netflix In partnership with Vox Media Studios and Vox - This enlightening explainer series will take viewers deep inside a wide range of culturally relevant topics, questions, and ideas. Each episode will explore current events and social trends pulled from the zeitgeist, touching topics across politics, science, history and pop culture -- featuring interviews with some of the most...

article

Up to 50% of Western U.S. water is used to feed beef and dairy cattle. - How beef eaters in cities are draining rivers in the American West by By Alejandra Borunda, National Geographic

March 2, 2020

In some western river basins, over 50 percent of the water goes to cattle feed, fodder for cows that end up as burgers in major U.S. cities. To save rivers, scientists suggest paying farmers to not farm.

article

Virtually All Major US Drinking Water Sources Likely Contaminated With PFAS by BY Mike Ludwig, Truthout

January 28, 2020

New laboratory tests confirm that drinking water in dozens of cities across the United States is contaminated with toxic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels exceeding what independent experts consider safe for human consumption. The findings suggest that previous studies have dramatically underestimated the number of consumers exposed to PFAS...

article

PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water Far More Prevalent Than Previously Reported by Sydney Evans, David Andrews, Ph.D., Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., and Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG

January 22, 2020

New laboratory tests commissioned by EWG have for the first time found the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities, including major metropolitan areas. The results confirm that the number of Americans exposed to PFAS from contaminated tap water has been dramatically underestimated by previous studies, both from the Environmental Protection...

article

How New York City Found Clean Water By Jonathan Schifman SMITHSONIAN.COM

November 25, 2019

Centuries before New York City sprawled into a skyscraping, five-borough metropolis, the island of Manhattan was a swampy woodland. Ponds and creeks flowed around hills and between trees, sustaining nomadic Native Americans and wildlife. But after the Dutch established a colony in 1624, water shortages and pollution began threatening the island’s natural supply, sparking a crisis...

article

The world is getting wetter, yet water may become less available for North America and Eurasia, Dartmouth College, Science Daily

November 6, 2019

With climate change, plants of the future will consume more water than in the present day, leading to less water available for people living in North America and Eurasia, according toWith climate change, plants of the future will consume more water than in the present day, leading to less water available for people living in North America and Eurasia, according to a Dartmouth-led study in...

article

Climate Changed: The West Is Trading Water for Cash. The Water Is Running Out Desert farmers along the Colorado River are striking lucrative deals with big cities. But not everyone comes out a winner. By Luke McGrath, Bloomberg

August 15, 2019

When it comes to global warming’s one-two punch of inundation and drought, the presence of too much water has had the most impact on U.S. agriculture this year, with farmers in the Midwest swamped by flooding throughout the  Mississippi Basin . But in the Southwest, it’s the increasing lack of water that’s threatening the agricultural economy, as well as...

article

A Quarter of Humanity Faces Looming Water Crises by : World Resources Institute; United Nations, New York Times

August 6, 2019

BANGALORE, India — Countries that are home to one-fourth of Earth’s population face an increasingly urgent risk: The prospect of running out of water. From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the world are currently under extremely high water stress, meaning they are using almost all the water they have, according to new World Resources Institute data...

article

Congress passes Colorado River drought plan with unanimous approval from Arizona lawmaker by Andrew Nicla, Arizona Republic, April 8, 2019

April 9, 2019

A bill that would authorize the federal government to enact a drought plan for Colorado River basin states in times of shortage has passed Congress and is on its way to the White House for the president's signature. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., fast-tracked the measure, clearing a final hurdle for the drought plan, a product of years of...

article

The World is not on track to meet water sustainability goals laid out in SDG6, the crises will only compel necessary investment by Mike Scott BusinessGreen 4/8/2019

April 8, 2019

It almost goes without saying that clean water is a basic human need. It's essential for virtually every aspect of human health, wellbeing and prosperity, from drinking, hygiene, and health to growing food and producing goods. But while it is obvious to everyone that water is crucial to life, less appreciated is its importance to business. All companies rely on plentiful,...

article

3 Water Stocks That Could Rally By Bill Alpert, Barrons, Feb. 15, 2019

February 19, 2019

Matt Diserio and his partners started Water Asset Management about a decade ago, convinced that private capital could help solve environmental problems while making good returns. So far they have. But Matt doesn’t think every “sustainable” investment will prove to be a winner. He likes water more than renewable energy, for example. Edited excerpts of our...

article

Global Groundwater Supplies at Risk - There's a Water 'Time Bomb' Lurking Beneath The Planet's Surface, Scientists Warn by David Nield JAN 23, 2019, Science Alert

January 23, 2019

As climate change alters the world around us, scientists are warning that the impacts on groundwater reserves could take a century to catch up – which means it'll be our grandchildren dealing with the fallout of the effects on their water supply. Groundwater – fresh water cached underground in soil and between rocks – takes much longer to respond to temperature...

article

Colorado River water supply on the cliff of a precipice - On the Water-Starved Colorado River, Drought Is the New Normal by Jim Robbins/Photography by Ted Wood, Jan 22, 2019

January 23, 2019

With the Southwest locked in a 19-year drought and climate change making the region increasingly drier, water managers and users along the Colorado River are facing a troubling question: Are we in a new, more arid era when there will never be enough water? In the basement of the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, the fragrant smell of pine hangs in the...

article

Scientists reveal substantial water loss in global landlocked regions, Source: Kansas State University

December 3, 2018

Along with a warming climate and intensified human activities, recent water storage in global landlocked basins has undergone a widespread decline. A new study reveals this decline has aggravated local water stress and caused potential sea level rise. The study, "Recent Global Decline in Endorheic Basin Water Storage," was carried out by a team of scientists from six...

article

Water Risk: The real liquidity crisis BY MONIKA FREYMAN, IPE Real Assets, Nov/Dec 2018

November 26, 2018

With cities like Cape Town facing ‘day zero’ crises, Monika Freyman explains why investors need to be alive to water risks Harvard’s $37bn (€32.5bn) endowment took a $1.1bn write-down last year after withering criticism about its farmland acquisitions and water-use practices in Brazil, California and other resource-sensitive regions. More mining projects in...

article

The solution to cities’ water problems has been hiding in rural areas this whole time David Sedlak By David Sedlak, Co-director of the Berkley Water Center

November 14, 2018

This story is part of What Happens Next , our complete guide to understanding the future. Read more predictions about the Future of Water . When the ancient Romans built their first aqueduct, they set into motion an enduring idea: A modern city needs to build infrastructure that pumps water over, through, and around mountain ranges. Most of today’s cities route this water...

article

India is suffering the 'worst water crisis in its history' by Anuradha Nagaraj Correspondent , Reuters - World Economic Forum

November 12, 2018

When the thousands of water lorry drivers who shore up parched Chennai's overtaxed water delivery system went on strike for three days last month, to protest a ruling restricting their access to groundwater, a water crisis ensued. Hotels and malls shut. Taps ran dry in residential districts of the city. "My phone rang incessantly," remembers Sarvanan...

article

Crisis at Lake Powell Looms Large as Long-Term Drought Reaches Upstream, by Matt Weiser, News Deeply Water Deeply

September 12, 2018

LIKE RUST SLOWLY consuming the body of a car, drought has spread upstream on the Colorado River. The river’s Upper Basin – generally north of Lake Powell – has been largely insulated from the 19-year drought afflicting the giant watershed, thanks to the region’s relatively small water demand and heavy snows that bury Colorado’s 14,000ft peaks each...

article

Lingering Colorado River Drought Could Lead to Water Shortages by By John Fialka, E&E News

September 6, 2018

The Colorado River system’s ongoing 19-year drought could trigger unprecedented water rationing among its southern states by mid-2020, a new study warns. The river, which supplies 40 million people, is going through the longest dry spell in recorded history and one of the driest in the past 1,200 years, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Over this summer, Reclamation...

article

Agency Says Lake Mead Could Drop Below Critical Threshold by Jim Carlton, WSJ, August 15, 2018

August 16, 2018

Nevada’s Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the West, is on track to fall below a critical threshold in 2020, according to a new forecast by the Bureau of Reclamation. In a prediction released Wednesday, the Bureau of Reclamation, a multistate agency that manages water and power in the West, said there is a 52% probability that water levels will fall below a threshold of 1,075...

article

Falling Lake Mead Water Levels Prompt Detente in Arizona Feud by Jim Carlton, WSJ

July 7, 2018

At issue are falling water levels at the West’s biggest reservoir, Lake Mead. Having already dropped by more than 150 feet over the past two decades to 1,077 feet, the Nevada reservoir is two feet shy of falling below a federal threshold that can trigger mandatory cutbacks by U.S. officials. Nevada, California—and Mexico—have mostly agreed to a regional Drought...

article

How Pennsylvania's Failing Water System is Hurting You by Wallace McKelvey, Tapped Out

June 26, 2018

A cascade of failures mean that Pennsylvanians can no longer take clean water, a right so important it's enshrined in the state constitution, for granted. Utilities across the state struggle to maintain aging water delivery and treatment systems that need at least $16.8 billion in upgrades over the next two decades. Meanwhile, a decade of budget cuts handed down by successive...

article

Time for action' to avert Colorado River crisis, federal official says By Ian James, The Desert Sun

May 27, 2018

The Colorado River has for years been locked in a pattern of chronic overuse, with much more water doled out to cities and farmlands than what’s flowing into its reservoirs. The river basin, which stretches from Wyoming to Mexico, has been drying out during what scientists say is one of the driest 19-year periods in the past 1,200 years. Its largest reservoir, Lake Mead,...

article

Drought Returns to Huge Swaths of U.S., Fueling Fears of a Thirsty Future by By David Montgomery, The Pew Charitable Trusts

April 18, 2018

AUSTIN, Texas — Less than eight months after Hurricane Harvey pelted the Texas Gulf Coast with torrential rainfall, drought has returned to Texas and other parts of the West, Southwest and Southeast, rekindling old worries for residents who dealt with earlier waves of dry spells and once again forcing state governments to reckon with how to keep the water flowing.

article

Understanding What the ‘New Normal’ Means for Water in the West by Tara Lohan, News Deeply

April 12, 2018

The New “Normal” for Water in the West, "  After 20 years of drought conditions, some scientists are calling for better terminology to describe the impact of rising temperatures in the region.  APRIL IS OFTEN a time of abundance in the mountains of the American West, when snowpack is at or near its peak, and forecasters work to determine how much runoff...

article

Making Every Drop Count - An HLPW Outcome Report, March 14, 2018

March 14, 2018

A March 2018 UN report on water risks concludes that water needs to be properly valued, measured and managed.  The United Nations and World Bank Group convened a High Level Panel on Water (HLPW) to provide leadership in tackling one of the world’s most pressing challenges – an approaching global water crisis. As leaders of organizations, the challenge put before the...

article

Save the Snowpack, Save the Water Supply Even the way snow is falling and melting is changing by Daniel Rothberg January 18, 2018, Bloomberg

January 18, 2018

Between droughts and floods, the last decade has offered water managers in the southwest a preview of how climate change could impact a supply largely dependent on winter snow. This year’s disappointing snowpack has them worried again. "Water and climate change are joined at the hip,” said Brad Udall, a researcher at Colorado State University who published a paper...

content

Warming, Water Crisis, Then Unrest: How Iran Fits an Alarming Pattern By SOMINI SENGUPTA, JAN. 18, 2018, New York Times

January 18, 2018

UNITED NATIONS — Nigeria. Syria. Somalia. And now Iran. In each country, in different ways, a water crisis has triggered some combination of civil unrest, mass migration, insurgency or even full-scale war. In the era of climate change, their experiences hold lessons for a great many other countries. The World Resources Institute warned this month of the rise of water stress...

article

U.S. Geological Survey shows Colorado River flows decreased 7% by temperature changes.- Rising temperatures sucking water out of the Colorado River by Emily Guerin, KPCC, October 31, 2017

November 1, 2017

Rising temperatures are undermining the source of one third of Southern California’s drinking water: the Colorado River. A new study by the US Geological Survey finds the river’s flow has shrunk by about seven percent over the past 30 years. As air temperature rises due to increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, more water is sucked into the atmosphere from the snowpack...

article

Order from Chaos - Stealing Water by Vanda Felbab-Brown, Brookings, March 23, 2017

March 22, 2017

Fresh water is vital for human survival and health, the production of food and energy, industrial activity, and the functioning of the entire global economy, as well as for the survival of other animals, plants, and natural ecosystems. Water scarcity, whatever its cause–natural catastrophes, pollution, poor water management, or theft and smuggling—can have grave consequences.

article

Water Infrastructure Spending Positive for U.S. Job Creation. Report: Closing investment gap would create jobs, spur economy by by WF&M Staff, March 22, 2017

March 22, 2017

In a new report released Wednesday by the Value of Water Campaign, an economic impact analysis examines how investments in the nation’s water infrastructure affect economic growth and employment. The report, “The Economic Benefits of Investing in Water Infrastructure” was shared for the first time as part of a World Water Day briefing on Capitol Hill. Among the...

article

Water Security as a Top Global Risk—In Search of More Comprehensive Approaches by The World Bank

September 26, 2016

In the 21st century, water availability in many regions can no longer be taken for granted, and water security has emerged as a key catalyst of sustainable development. To better reflect the salience of water security and be more responsive to rapidly changing contexts, water economists and development practitioners need to identify the linkages to other sectors and issues, and...

article

Great Cities Must Watch Their Watersheds By Mark Buchanan, BloombergView

August 16, 2016

Cities need to safeguard water sources

article

Recipe For War: Remove Water and Food, Add Ethnic Strife—Then Stir By Eric Roston, Bloomberg, July 26, 2016

July 26, 2016

The question is no longer just whether climate change will kill us, but also whether climate change will make us kill each other. Almost 25 percent of armed conflicts in ethnically divided countries occur around the same time as climate-related disasters. This is the main take-away of a new study by researchers that adds crucial data to a debate...

article

California Water Drought Here to Stay - California needs to conserve water like the drought is here to stay by The Times Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times

July 1, 2016

The water level in Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, had plunged to less than a third of normal by the end of last year. Then came the El  Niño  rainfall, which by April had tripled the volume of water in the lake. The story is similar in Trinity Lake, part of the same network of federal projects in the far northern portion of the state that regulate...

article

Water supply issues for the lower Colorado getting worse despite perception that Western water drought is improving. Lake Mead hits new record low by Henry Brean, Las Vegas Review-Journal

May 19, 2016

For the next two months, the news from Lake Mead could sound like a broken record. The nation’s largest man-made reservoir slipped to a new record low sometime after 7 p.m. Wednesday, and forecasters from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expect see its surface drop another 2 feet through the end of June. The latest dip into record-low territory comes as officials in...

article

Looming infrastructure demands will require a new educated technical workface to replace the current largely retirement age workforce. Looming infrastructure demands will require a new educated technical workface to replace the current largely retirement age workforce. Infrastructure skills: Knowledge, tools, and training to increase opportunity by Joseph Kane and Adie Tomer, Brookings

May 13, 2016

As the U.S. labor market continues to gain momentum , concerns over wage stagnation and income inequality persist, especially at a regional level . In response, many public, private, and civic leaders across a variety of metropolitan areas are forging new collaborations and launching innovative strategies to support greater economic opportunity . Infrastructure investment represents a...

pdf

World Bank sees up to 6% negative GDP impact if water scarcity issues are not addressed - High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy - report by World Bank, Washington, DC.

May 11, 2016

The impacts of climate change will be channeled primarily through the water cycle, with consequences that could be large and uneven across the globe. Water-related climate risks cascade through food, energy, urban, and environmental systems. Growing populations, rising incomes, and expanding cities will converge upon a world where the demand for water rises exponentially, while supply...

article

America still woefully behind on water and waste water investment. ASCE estimates that a failure to invest in U.S. water infrastructure will cost 500,000 jobs by 2025 and 965,000 jobs by 2040. - Failure to act closing the infrastructure investment gap for America's Economic Future By Economic Development Research Group, Inc.

May 11, 2016

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) publishes The Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which grades the current state of national infrastructure categories on a scale of A through F. Since 1998, America’s infrastructure has earned persistent D averages, and the failure to close the investment gap with needed maintenance and improvements has...

article

Arizona, California and Nevada Discussing Reductions in Colorado River Water Deliveries - Big CAP cuts coming as 3-state water agreement nears by Tony Davis, Arizona Daily Star, Aril 24, 2016

April 25, 2016

Arizona, California and Nevada negotiators are moving toward a major agreement triggering cuts in Colorado River water deliveries to Southern and Central Arizona to avert much more severe cuts in the future. As state water officials now envision the agreement, it would also ultimately require California to cut its use of river water. That’s despite a 48-year-old law that says...

article

El Nino does not put a dent in Western U.S. water risks. - Is the California drought America's water wake-up call? By Jay Famiglietti, The New York Times,

April 16, 2016

The California drought is not over. The great hope for major replenishment of California's surface and groundwater supplies — the “Godzilla” El Niño — has failed thus far to live up to its super-sized hype, delivering only average amounts of rain and snow, primarily to the northern half of the state. Average, however, is welcome. Average means...

article

California Agricultural Water Use Ripe for Better Allocation Incentives - Obsolete California water system lets farmers grow hay in drought by Christopher Thornberg, San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2016

April 13, 2016

El Niño has brought much-needed rain back to California, but this doesn’t mean we should stop talking about water policy as the state can quickly veer back into drier conditions. Dealing with the problem that lies at the heart of the water crisis now will help ensure the state is able to prosper through the toughest times, because the state has plenty of water — it...

article

High risk' of severe water stresses in Asia by 2050: Study by Robert Ferris, CNBC

March 29, 2016

Some 1 billion people in Asia could be without water by 2050, according to new research. A group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says there is a "high risk of severe water stress" across large patches of Asia, home to a big chunk of the world's population. The primary driver of this water stress will not necessarily be climate change,...

article

U.S. Infrastructure Needs a New Approach To repair crumbling roads and bridges and other things, the first task is to make them more efficient by Thomas G. Dunlan, Barron's

March 25, 2016

It’s infrastructure season: Every candidate in America deplores the country’s “crumbling” highways, bridges, railroads, mass transit, electrical grid, drinking-water systems, sewage-treatment plants, waterways, and seaports. It sometimes sounds like potholes are the only growth sector in the U.S. economy. The American Society of Civil...

article

World Water Day 2016: 12 Facts And Things To Know by Alex Garofalo, IBT

March 22, 2016

Tuesday is World Water Day, an annual celebration started as part of a United Nations campaign to raise awareness about water scarcity and safety issues around the world. But while water covers almost three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, it makes up a small portion of the global conversation.

article

Solving the Twin Crises of Energy and Water Scarcity by Kevin Moss and Debora Frodl, Harvard Business Review

January 25, 2016

Few people realize the important role water plays in our daily energy use, or the energy required to heat, treat, and supply water. Powering one 60-watt bulb for 12 hours a day over the course of a year can require 3,000 to 6,000 gallons of water  — enough to fill a large tanker truck. Meanwhile, the electricity used for water treatment can be as much as one-third of a...

article

Colorado College poll finds many in west worry more about water than economy by Ryan Maye Handy, the Gazette.

January 11, 2016

For many westerners, concerns over the future of water are as important as the economy and unemployment, according to results from Colorado College's 2016 Conservation in the West poll. The sixth annual State of the Rockies Project poll of thousands of residents in seven western states shows many people fear for the future of water in the West. The sentiment might come from a...

article

California Needs More Water Storage; California Wants to Store Water for Farmers, but Struggles Over How to Do It by Justin Jiles, New York Times

December 21, 2015

FRIANT , Calif. — Californians suffering through the fourth year of a punishing drought have a new worry. With fierce storms predicted for the winter, they are bracing for floods by stockpiling sandbags and rushing to buy insurance. Yet those who need water the most, farmers , are in a poor position to take advantage of any deluge. If El Niño floods pour into the...

pdf

Why Storing Water for the Future Means Looking Underground Conventional dams and reservoirs work against nature. It’s time to work with it. by Lauran Bliss, The Atlantic CITYLAB

December 8, 2015

Whate ver the conclusion of COP21 , adapting to climate change will only become more urgent, as its impacts become harsher. These impacts are, and will be, felt primarily through water: rising sea-levels, dwindling snowpack , droughts, and floods.  As countries all over the world grapple with these challenges , there’s been a lot of talk about innovative...

article

El Niño rains forecast to reach far into Northern California, where they're most needed by Ron Lin, Matt Stevens, and Raoul Rañoa, Los Angeles Times

October 15, 2015

Few places would benefit more from a winter of El Niño-driven rainstorms than this massive, rapidly depleting reservoir in the desert 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles. On Thursday, a new federal forecast said El Niño is continuing to strengthen, with experts saying it's on track to produce potentially record rainfall. The new forecast is particularly...

article

Owens Lake - California Drought by Abby Aguirre, Vogue

October 1, 2015

The Owens lake bed lies between the Sierra Nevada to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east. Spanning 110 square miles, the bed is vast enough that, observed from a helicopter, you cannot make out its shape. (In satellite images, its form looks something like the outline of South America, if South America were melting in the desert heat.) As you fly clockwise around the...

article

Future of Water: Can California's arcane water rights system change? by Molly Peterson, KPCC

September 17, 2015

All week, we've been looking at how our relationship to water will likely change in the hotter, drier, more populous California of the year 2040. Today, we look at water rights; who can use water and how much. Much of California's arcane system of water rights stretches back to the Gold Rush. Basically, people who first claimed access to a water source have the first right to...

article

Spread of deserts costs trillions, spurs migrants: study by Alister Doyle, Reuters U.S. Edition

September 16, 2015

Land degradation, such as a spread of deserts in parts of Africa, costs the world economy trillions of dollars a year and may drive tens of millions of people from their homes, a U.N.-backed study said on Tuesday. Worldwide, about 52 percent of farmland is already damaged, according to the report by The Economics of Land Degradation ( ELD ), compiled by 30 research groups around...

article

How Much Water Does U.S. Fracking Really Use? By Tim Lucas, Duke University

September 15, 2015

Water used in fracking makes up less than 1 percent of total industrial water use nationwide, study finds Durham, NC - Energy companies used nearly 250 billion gallons of water to extract unconventional shale gas and oil from hydraulically fractured wells in the United States between 2005 and 2014, a new Duke University study finds. During the same period, the fracked...

article

Middle East Faces Water Shortages for the Next 25 Years By John Vidal, The Guardian

September 7, 2015

Water supplies across the Middle East will deteriorate over 25 years, threatening economic growth and national security and forcing more people to move to already overcrowded cities, a  new analysis suggests . As the region, which is home to over 350 million people, begins to recover from a series of deadly heatwaves which have seen temperatures rise to record levels for...

article

Losing Water, California Tries to Stay Atop Economic Wave by Adam Nagourney, New York Times

August 19, 2015

FOLSOM, Calif. — Evert W. Palmer has a vision for this city famous for its state prison: 10,200 new homes spread across the rolling hills to the south, bringing in a flood of new jobs, new business and 25,000 more people. Yes, Mr. Palmer, the city manager, is well aware that Folsom Lake, the sole source of water for this Gold Rush outpost near Sacramento, is close to...

article

Water Board Set to OK $4 Billion in Projects by Kiah Collier, Texas Tribune

July 23, 2015

The Texas Water Development Board is poised to approve nearly $4 billion in financing for dozens of projects to increase water supplies across the state, and a handful to promote conservation. But even environmental groups are praising the board for embracing every conservation project that sought state help, which they hope will   inspire...

article

IMF Warns Underpricing Water Is Fostering Shortages By Ian Tally, The Wall Street Journal

June 9, 2015

IMF Warns that water is  underpriced  globally, fostering shortages. The International Monetary Fund has already declared the world isn’t paying enough to emit greenhouse gases and energy consumption.  Now it is worried that water isn’t priced right either. Governments should be charging consumers higher prices to...

article

California drought: No rain, but 'the sky is not falling' by Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times

June 7, 2015

The Santa Ana River is a robust and beautiful sight these days. Five miles west of the Prado Dam in  Yorba  Linda, the water has cut a narrow channel in a sandy bed and courses briskly over submerged rocks and tree limbs. The water is a complicated cocktail that comes from many sources. As it flows 96 miles from its headwaters to the ocean, it provides a glimpse of the...

article

Where the River Runs Dry, The Colorado and America’s water crisis by David Owen, The New Yorker, May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015

Our pilot, David Kunkel , asked me to retrieve his oxygen bottle from under my seat, and when I handed it to him he gripped the plastic breathing tube with his teeth and opened the valve. We had taken off from Boulder that morning, and were flying over Rocky Mountain National Park, about thirty miles to the northwest. We were in a Maule M-7, a single-engine “backcountry”...

article

Water Pricing in Two Thirsty Cities: In One, Guzzlers Pay More, and Use Less by Nelson D. Schwartz, May 6, 2015 , New York Times

May 6, 2015

FRESNO, Calif. — When residents of this parched California city opened their water bills for April, they got what Mayor Ashley Swearengin called “a shock to the system.” The city had imposed a long-delayed, modest rate increase — less than the cost of one medium latte from Starbucks for the typical household, and still leaving the price of water in Fresno among...

pdf

Water Pricing, Not Engineering, Will Ease Looming Water Shortages By Scott Moore, WSJ, The Opinion Pages

March 31, 2015

Authorities in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, recently announced that if current drought conditions persisted, they would be forced to restrict water availability for the city of 20 million to only two days per week. The economic and social implications of such a decision are staggering. One senior water official admitted that residents might have to “get out of...

article

California has about one year of water left. Will you ration now? By Jay Famiglietti, Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2015

March 12, 2015

Given the historic low temperatures and snowfalls that pummeled the eastern U.S. this winter, it might be easy to overlook how devastating California's winter was as well. As our “wet” season draws to a close, it is clear that the paltry rain and snowfall have done almost nothing to alleviate epic drought conditions. January was the driest in California since...

article

States population growth expected to outstrip water conservation in coming years by Matt Weiser and Phillip Reesemweiser, The Sacramento Bee, February 15, 2015

February 19, 2015

California water agencies are on track to satisfy a state mandate to reduce water consumption 20 percent by 2020. But according to their own projections, that savings won’t be enough to keep up with population growth just a decade later. A 2009 state law requires urban water agencies to reduce per-capita water consumption 20 percent by 2020, compared with use at the start of the...

article

Aging water mains a $1-billion headache for DWP By Ben Poston and Matt Stevens, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 16, 2015

February 16, 2015

The water main break that flooded Nowita Place in 2013 wasn't the kind of spectacle that brought TV cameras. Water sprayed a foot in the air through a hole in the buckled asphalt, leaving residents in the Venice neighborhood without water service for hours. But the break fit an increasingly common pattern for L.A.'s aging waterworks: The pipe was more than 80 years old. It was...

article

Starved for Energy, Pakistan Braces for a Water Crisis By SALMAN MASOOD, NYTimes.com, February 12, 2015

February 13, 2015

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Energy-starved Pakistanis, their economy battered by chronic fuel and electricity shortages, may soon have to contend with a new resource crisis: major water shortages, the Pakistani government warned this week.  A combination of global climate change and local waste and mismanagement have led to an alarmingly rapid depletion of Pakistan ’s water...

article

Smart cities secure water supplies while global risks loom by Grundfos, TheGuardian.com, Dec 11, 2014

December 11, 2014

Around the world cities are creating dramatic water savings with water metres , pressure management, groundwater conservation and more. But is it enough?  From fixing leaks in Johannesburg, to topping up groundwater in Salisbury, to flushing toilets with seawater in Hong Kong, municipalities around the world are working to save water and make their distribution systems more...

article

The Threats to Our Drinking Water by David S. Beckman, New York Times, August 6, 2014

August 8, 2014

THOSE of us who live in the United States are fortunate; generally we don’t have to give a lot of thought to the safety of our tap water. This makes our collective experience with water very different from that of hundreds of millions of people across the globe who lack access to clean water.

article

A world without water by Pilita Clark, Financial Times July 14, 2014

July 15, 2014

In the first installment of a series on the threat of water scarcity, Pilita Clark describes the cost to companies.  The river Nar , a minor waterway is barely known and at first glance it is hard to understand why anyone would want to have anything to do with it.

article

Arizona Cities Could Face Cutbacks in Water From Colorado River, Officials Say by Michael Wines, New York Times, June 17, 2014

June 17, 2014

Arizona could be forced to cut water deliveries to its two largest cities unless states that tap the dwindling Colorado River find ways to reduce water consumption and deal with a crippling drought, officials of the state’s canal network said Tuesday. The warning comes as the federal Bureau of Reclamation forecasts that Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir that is the...

article

Water Lecture Series: Water Scarcity Solutions from Texas A&M School of Law Presentation

May 5, 2014

According to Professor Mike Young of Adelaide Australia. Young was the keynote speaker at a luncheon hosted at Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth April 25, sponsored by Water Asset Management, LLC . Young holds a Research Chair in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide, and for the past academic year, served as the Gough Whitlam and Malcom Fraser...

article

Boom Time in Texas: Jobs, Traffic, Water Worries by Nathan Koppel and Ana Campoy, Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2014

May 1, 2014

Americans have flocked to Texas in search of a piece of the state's booming economy as much of the rest of the country struggled.  Now, the state's largest cities are seeing crowded highways, strained water supplies and other pressures that have come with the growth. And Texas politicians—protective of the small-government, low-tax policies many of them believe are at the...

article

What is water worth? by By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large, Fortune, May 1, 2014

May 1, 2014

Farmland is parched. Companies are worried. The global demand for water will soon outstrip supply. What's the solution? Simple, say some business leaders and economists: Make people pay more for the most precious commodity on earth.  

article

American Aqueduct: The Great California Water Saga by Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic, February 24, 2014

February 24, 2014

Hood, California, is a farming town of 200 souls, crammed up against a levee that protects it from the Sacramento River. The eastern approach from I-5 and the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove is bucolic. Cows graze. An abandoned railroad track sits atop a narrow embankment. Cross it, and the town comes into view: a fire station, five streets, a tiny park. The last three utility poles on...

article

The drying of the West, Drought is forcing westerners to consider wasting less water - Lake Mead, Nevada, The Economist (print edition) February 22, 2014

February 21, 2014

THE first rule for staying alive in a desert is not to pour the contents of your water flask into the sand. Yet that, bizarrely, is what the government has encouraged farmers to do in the drought-afflicted south-west. Agriculture accounts for 80% of water consumption in California, for example, but only 2% of economic activity. Farmers flood the land to grow rice, alfalfa and other thirsty...

article

Colorado River Drought Forces a Painful Reckoning for States By Michael Wines, New York Times, January 5, 2014

January 5, 2014

LAKE MEAD, Nev. — The sinuous Colorado River and its slew of man-made reservoirs from the Rockies to southern Arizona are being sapped by 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years. The once broad and blue river has in many places dwindled to a murky brown trickle. Reservoirs have shrunk to less than half their capacities, the canyon walls around them ringed with white...

article

California Stretched by Worsening Drought by Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2014

January 2, 2014

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Record-low precipitation in 2013 has worsened California's drought, draining reservoirs, forcing farmers to keep fallow thousands of acres of fields and leaving some ski resorts high and dry during the busy holiday season.Urban and agricultural customers, including Southern California's huge Metropolitan Water District, have been told by the state to expect to...

article

Decade of Drought Threatens West by Jim Carlton, The Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2013

August 19, 2013

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation, is shrinking drastically—with consequences that could ripple across the West. More than a decade into a drought that has plagued the Southwest, federal officials for the first time plan a sharp cut in the amount of Colorado River water that flows 360 miles from Lake Powell into Lake Mead. In the year starting Oct. 1, officials at...

pdf

Bureau of Reclamation Chief sees the lowest level in the over 100-year historical record for the Colorado River - Statement of Michael L. Connor, Commissioner. Bureau of Reclamation. U.S. Department of the Interior before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water and Power, U.S. Senate, July, 2013

July 16, 2013

Chairman Udall and members of the Subcommittee, I am Michael Connor, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) at the Department of the Interior (Department). Thank you for the opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee today regarding the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study (Study). The Colorado River Basin (Basin) is one of the most critical sources of...

article

Global threat to food supply as water wells dry up, warns top environment expert by John Vidal, The Observer, July 6, 2013

July 6, 2013

Lester Brown says grain harvests are already shrinking as US, India and China come close to 'peak water' Wells are drying up and underwater tables falling so fast in the Middle East and parts of India, China and the US that food supplies are seriously threatened, one of the world's leading resource analysts has warned.

article

The Real Threat to Our Future is Peak Water by Lester Brown, The Observer, July 6, 2013

July 6, 2013

As population rises, overpumping means some nations have reached peak water, which threatens food supply, says Lester Brown Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water. We drink on average four quarts (4.5 litres) of...

article

Getting Serious About a Texas-Size Drought By Kate Galbraith, New York Times, April 7, 2013

April 5, 2013

SOMETHING odd happened here last week. It rained. But the relief, an answer to desperate prayers, is likely to be short-lived. The drought that has gripped much of Texas since the fall of 2010 shows few signs of abating soon. The latest forecasts say that parched West and South Texas will remain dry, and that the state is likely to see above-average temperatures this spring,...

pdf

Water: Emerging Risks & Opportunities, February 10, 2013

February 9, 2013

On February 8, 2013, Goldman Sachs (GS), General Electric (GE), and World Resources Institute (WRI) convened a summit on "Water: Emerging Risks & Opportunities." More than 250 representatives from private sector companies; local, state and federal agencies; investors; as well as non-governmental organizations participated to help address key questions related to the...

article

Fingers Crossed: 15th Annual Municipal Survey By Robert Carpenter, Editor Underground Construction, October, 2012

October 17, 2012

After several years of the Great Recession, America’s underground infrastructure – already stretched thin before the economic crash – is rapidly approaching crisis levels, say city respondents to the 15th Annual Underground Construction Municipal Sewer & Water Survey. However, a majority of the survey participants believe that their city’s financial woes...

article

$38bn Water Gap Pits Vines against Mines - The New Age , October 16, 2012

October 16, 2012

Concrete patches on the canals snaking through Nico Greeff’s vineyards betray constant repairs to an outmoded irrigation system that’s the lifeblood of farming in South Africa’s arid west. “The water infrastructure is about 60 years old and the lifespan of a surfaced canal is about 40 years,” Greeff, 55, said on his farm near Vredendal, north of Cape...

article

Hundred-Year Forecast: Drought - By Christopher R. Schwalm, Christopher A. Williams and Kevin Schaefer - New York Times, August 11, 2012

August 11, 2012

BY many measurements, this summer’s drought is one for the record books. But so was last year’s drought in the South Central states. And it has been only a decade since an extreme five-year drought hit the American West. Widespread annual droughts, once a rare calamity, have become more frequent and are set to become the “new normal.” Until recently, many...

article

Resource depletion: Opportunity or looming catastrophe? by By Richard Anderson - BBC News, June 12, 2012

June 12, 2012

As predicted by many the coming decades not only are we running short of resources but the warming of the globe will cause even more shortages and migrations of huge populations for survival!

article

Deloitte report sees crucial energy role for water management - Oil and Gas Journal, May 2012

May 22, 2012

Water management will play an increasingly crucial role in energy globally as well as in the US, experts at Deloitte LLP’s 2012 Washington area energy conference forecast on May 21. Their assessments came as the financial services firm released a report, "No water, no energy, No energy, no water." as the conference got under way at National Harbor outside Washington, DC.

article

The Other Arab Spring - New York Times, April 8, 2012

May 3, 2012

Isn’t it interesting that the Arab awakening began in Tunisia with a fruit vendor who was harassed by police for not having a permit to sell food — just at the moment when world food prices hit record highs? And that it began in Syria with farmers in the southern village of  Dara’a , who were demanding the right to buy and sell land near the border, without...

pdf

Vegas asking state for rights to more rural water - Associated Press, March 1, 2012

March 1, 2012

With a crucial water rights decision already pending, the Southern Nevada Water Authority is asking the state to let it increase by almost 80 percent the amount of groundwater it can draw from rural areas north of Las Vegas.

article

Wasting the Wastewater - NY Times, January 24, 2012

January 25, 2012

The reuse of municipal wastewater will be important to meeting future demand for freshwater in the United States, a new report from the National Academy of Sciences says.

article

Water Wars Split Western States - Scientific American, January, 2012

January 11, 2012

Dependable water remains a mirage. The facts of the dispute are not comforting.

article

Storehouses for Solar Energy Can Step In When the Sun Goes Down - NY Times, January 3, 2012

January 3, 2012

If solar energy is eventually going to matter — that is, generate a significant portion of the nation’s electricity — the industry must overcome a major stumbling block, experts say: finding a way to store it for use when the sun isn’t shining. That challenge seems to be creating an opening for a different form of power, solar thermal, which makes electricity...

article

Billions needed for Texas Water Projects - NY Times, December 16, 2011

December 20, 2011

Jeff Sterba, President and CEO of American Water (NYSE: AWK), the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater company, cited the American Society of Civil Engineers' newest report, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure as further evidence that public and private sectors must come together to address water...

article

City Inaugurates Costly Plan to Replace Aged Water Mains - NY Times, December 18, 2011

December 20, 2011

Chicago Mayor Emanuel launches 10-year effort to replace 900 miles of century-old water pipe, a water-main-modernization that he promised would be the largest public-works initiative by any city in the country.

article

Melting Glaciers Lead to Trouble for Water Supplies - National Geographic, December, 11, 2011

December 20, 2011

This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues. Glaciers like those on Vulture Peak in Montana's Glacier National Park are receding around the world, putting critical water supplies at risk.

article

American Water CEO Says National Report Highlights Critical Need to Invest in Water Systems - American Water Press Release, December 15, 2011

December 19, 2011

Jeff Sterba, President and CEO of American Water (NYSE: AWK), the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater company, cited the American Society of Civil Engineers' newest report, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure as further evidence that public and private sectors must come together to address water...

article

Water and Wastewater Construction: Continued Gloom or Future Boom? - WaterWorld, December, 2011

December 19, 2011

The state of water and wastewater infrastructure in the United States is a much discussed and lamented topic these days. With funding needs estimated in the ballpark of $600 billion over the next 20 years, coupled with the economic downturn and reduced federal funding, the task of repairing our aging infrastructure seems daunting if not insurmountable.

article

Levi Strauss Tries to Minimize Water Use - Forbes, November 2, 2011

November 7, 2011

From the cotton field in rural India to the local rag bin, a typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its life cycle, Levi Strauss & Company says, or enough to fill about 15 spa-size bathtubs. It fears that water shortages caused by climate change may jeopardize the company’s very existence in the coming decades by making cotton too expensive or...

article

Water for Life - September 2011 - Alumni Bulletin - Harvard Business School , September, 2011

October 26, 2011

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (Harvard MBA ’87) helped to transform Manila’s rundown metropolitan water system from an inefficient public utility into a model public-private partnership

article

Empty Fields Fill Urban Basins and Farmers Pockets - NY Times, October 24, 2011

October 26, 2011

California farmers share water - the challenges and benefits. Three generations of Al Kalin’s family have worked their 2,000 acres of carrots and sugar beets, wheat and alfalfa for almost a century in the Imperial Valley, a scorching swath of Southern California desert that was unfit for farming until water from the Colorado River...

article

China Takes a Loss to Get Ahead in the Business of Fresh Water - NY Times, October 26, 2011

October 25, 2011

The Chinese government hopes to become a force in yet another environment-related industry: supplying the world with desalinated water. There are large-scale desalination projects centralized all up and down the east coast of China,” ERI’s chief executive officer, Thomas S. Rooney Jr., said in an interview. “Our company has the most advanced technology in the entire...

article

Water Works: Rebuilding Infrastructure, Creating Jobs, Greening the Environment - Green for All, October 7, 2011

October 7, 2011

This report estimates the economic and job creation impact of a major investment in water infrastructure in the U.S. An investment of $188.4 billion --is the amount necessary, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency, to manage stormwater and preserve water quality. The $188.4 billion investment, spread equally over the next five years, would generate $265.6 billion in economic...

article

Charting Our Water Future -McKinsey Water Report , September, 2011

September 19, 2011

The report analyzes the nature and scale of the global water challenge and proposes solutions to close the demand/supply gap. It ranks the solutions on the basis of cost, and produces a "water cost curve," that can be used by policy makers as well as investors, to arrive at low-cost solutions to water security.  In-depth studies were conducted in...

article

Water vs. Energy - IEEE Spectrum, September, 2011

September 19, 2011

Special Report.   This paper discusses the impact of water resources in every type of power plant and describes the different aspects of the water-energy nexus.

article

Can Jeremy Grantham Profit From Ecological Mayhem? - NY Times Magazine August, 2011

August 18, 2011

The 72 year-old, financial analyst  Jeremy Grantham, has been noticed for what some call economic doomsday predictions, typically in open letters to investors.  He argues that the late-18th-century doomsayer Thomas Malthus was pretty much right but just had bad timing with his predictions...