[Michaelangelica]

An interesting, well-produced radio documentary from the BBC
I enjoyed listening to it.
it seems Australia is not alone with water problems.

*
OnePlanet: Is Atlanta running out of water? 22 Nov 2007

Atlanta, one of America's biggest cities, is in the grip of a severe drought. Some estimates say it has as little as 80 days water supply left - and a dry winter is forecast. One Planet reports on the impact this is having, and asks why precious supplies are being diverted to protect mussels in Florida.

Duration: 26mins | File Size: 12MB

Download Episode

BBC - Radio - Podcasts - One Planet

[Michaelangelica]

Yet another GW worry.

Climate change will diminish fresh water resources more than expected
Medical Science News
Published: Wednesday, 7-Nov-2007
As sea levels rise, coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their fresh water supplies than previously thought, according to a new study from Ohio State University.

Hydrologists here have simulated how saltwater will intrude into fresh water aquifers, given the sea level rise predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC has concluded that within the next 100 years, sea level could rise as much as 23 inches, flooding coasts worldwide.

Climate change will diminish fresh water resources more than expected

[Michaelangelica]

"My research has found that crumb rubber, derived from waste tires, can be used as a filter media," Xie explains. "The crumb rubber could be used for treating wastewater, ship ballast water, and storm water."

Crumb rubber is produced by chopping up and grinding up waste tires to a desired size, cleaning the rubber and removing any metal particles. It is currently being used in highway pavement, athletic track surfaces, playgrounds, landfill liners, compost bulking agents, various manufactured products, energy recovery and even as artificial reefs for aquatic life.

For traditional wastewater filtration, gravity downflow granular filters using sand or anthracite as a medium are commonly used. One major problem with these filters is that upon backwashing the particles, the larger ones settle at a greater rate than the smaller.

The Penn State researcher explains that this

Scrap Tires Can Be Used To Filter Wastewater

[Michaelangelica]

Will the World's Oceans Be Our Next Drinking Tap?

AlterNet: Environment: Will the World's Oceans Be Our Next Drinking Tap?

Newsletter Explains How to Profit from World Water Shortage

AlterNet: Blogs: Water: Newsletter Explains How to Profit from World Water Shortage

Siphoning the Globe: Water Exhibit Exposes Worldwide Crisis

AlterNet: Environment: Siphoning the Globe: Water Exhibit Exposes Worldwide Crisis

[Michaelangelica]

International law and water

It's Time for the UN to Make Water a Human Right

By Maude Barlow, Movement Vision Lab. Posted February 21, 2008.

The global water crisis is evident. We need a global solution in form of a United Nations covenant on water.

AlterNet: Water: It's Time for the UN to Make Water a Human Right

[Michaelangelica]

Water is now a $400 billion global industry, the third-largest behind electricity and oil.
An interview with international water guru Maude Barlow and clips from the new documentary Flow: For Love of Water.

Today we're going to spend the rest of the hour looking at the global water crisis. Flow: For Love of Water is a new documentary screened here in New York. The film examines how the world's water supplies are diminishing and how the privatization of water is worsening the crisis.

PETER H. GLEICK: For the longest time, people have taken water for granted. Most people don't think about where their water comes from. They just turn on the tap, and they expect it to be there. Those days are ending.

MAUDE BARLOW: This notion that we'll have water forever is wrong. California is running out. It's got 20-some years of water. New Mexico has got 10, although they're building golf courses as fast as they can, so maybe they can whittle that down to five. Arizona, Florida, even the Great Lakes now, there's huge new demand.

PETER H. GLEICK: The Nile River doesn't reach its end. The Colorado River, the Yellow River in China, they, for the most part, don't flow anymore to the sea.

MAUDE BARLOW: So this notion that somehow these problems are far away, get rid of t

AlterNet: Water: The Corporate Threat to Water and the Water Justice Movement's Fight to Protect it
On one page
AlterNet: Water: The Corporate Threat to Water and the Water Justice Movement's Fight to Protect it

[Michaelangelica]

The right to use water will soon follow in the footsteps of carbon emissions and become a commodity, like the right to pollute, that industry will have to pay for, executives have warned.
. . .
Neil Eckert, chief executive of Climate Exchange, the carbon trading system, believes a cap-and-trade system like the one Europe has established to regulate CO2 emissions could be a solution. "If there is not enough of something, you ration it. Once you ration it, you create a secondary market, and it starts to be traded," he said.
. . .
Last year, Coca-Cola made a public pledge to cut its water usage in response to harsh criticism amid a drought in Atlanta

Water Is the Next Commodified Resource | Water | AlterNet
Coca Cola is also embroiled in a court case in Gosford NSW Australia about ripping off underground water.

[InfiniteNow]

I learned of the name Brian Fagan on the Daily Show last night, who's written a book called "The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations." It appears to be a very historical view of how past droughts have caused many civilizations in human history to war with one another and ultimately fail. It sounds as if it's a great read, and not littered with the usual inherent politicization that most GW books are. Check it out.


The clip which alerted me to the book:

Brian Fagan | The Daily Show | Comedy Central


The author's site:

Brian Fagan


Amazon:

Amazon.com: The Great Warming: Climate Change and...
Amazon.com: The Great Warming: Climate Change and...

Reviews from the Amazon link:

Global warming is hardly new; in fact, the very long-term trend began about 12,000 years ago with the end of the Ice Age. Anthropologist Fagan (The Little Ice Age) focuses on the medieval warming period (ca. 800-1300), which helped Europe produce larger harvests; the surpluses helped fund the great cathedrals. But in many other parts of the world, says Fagan, changing water and air currents led to drought and malnutrition, for instance among the Native Americans of Northern California, whose key acorn harvests largely failed. Long-term drought contributed to the collapse of the Mayan civilization, and fluctuations in temperature contributed to, and inhibited, Mongol incursions into Europe. Fagan reveals how new research methods like ice borings, satellite observations and computer modeling have sharpened our understanding of meteorological trends in prehistorical times and preliterate cultures. Finally, he notes how times of intense, sustained global warming can have particularly dire consequences; for example, by 2025, an estimated 2.8 billion of us will live in areas with increasingly scarce water resources. Looking backward, Fagan presents a well-documented warning to those who choose to look forward. Illus., maps. (Mar.)

Climate has been making history for a very long time, though historians have rarely paid much attention to it. But as it turns out, a few less inches of rain, a change in temperature of just a degree or two can make all the difference in how human events unfold. The Great Warming demonstrates that although human beings make history, they very definitely do not make it under circumstances of their own choosing.

"Drought is the pink elephant in the room that nobody seems to bring up when it comes to the global warming debate."

[Zythryn]

Interesting discussion about water on NPR science Friday right now. For anyone that is interested.

[cyclonebuster]

Don't worry once they build my tunnels they will have all the water they want!!