October 7th, 2024
Via Grist, a report on the New Mexico governor’s plan to use treated water from oil and gas drilling: This year, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission held a hearing in Santa Fe to seek public input on regulating wastewater discharge from the oil and gas industry. It ended up dealing a blow to Governor […]
Read more »Grumble in the Jungle: Sinohydro’s Difficult Decade in Bolivia
October 2nd, 2024
Via Dialogue Earth, a look at how Sinohydro has struggled with its six projects in Bolivia, facing complaints over environmental harms, labour issues and quality of works In the early hours of 6 May, a jaguar was run over by a vehicle near the site of works to widen a section of the Cochabamba-Santa Cruz highway, […]
Read more »September 27th, 2024
Via the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a look at how Brazilian President Lula bet big on mega dams in the 2000s to expand clean energy. Now climate change is hurting Brazil’s green ambitions: Amazon mega dams running well below capacity as river levels low Underperformance not new but worsened by record-setting drought Brazil turns to polluting […]
Read more »How Much Energy Does Desalination Use?
September 19th, 2024
Via Sustainability by Numbers, a look at how much energy does desalinisation use? Is it “absurdly cheap”? Elon Musk has said several times recently that desalinisation is “absurdly cheap”.1 This was surprising to me. When I was younger I was taught the mantra that desalinisation “uses lots of energy and is really expensive”. And to be honest, […]
Read more »August 29th, 2024
Via Grist, a look at how one company’s pledge to conserve water at its data centers doesn’t account for the thirsty power plants that keep them running: Earlier this year, the e-commerce corporation Amazon secured approval to open two new data centers in Santiago, Chile. The $400 million venture is the company’s first foray into locating its data facilities, […]
Read more »Solar-Paneled Canopies over Canals Catching on in Southwest
August 29th, 2024
Via Water Education.org, a look at the increasing use of solar-powered canopies over canals: A solar-paneled canopy now under construction over the Casa Blanca Canal near Phoenix is on track to be the first project of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Source: Tectonicus Constructs LLC An intensifying but unseen force is stealing precious water […]
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