The News Review:
- Ways To Play Water
- Provinces pay price for green Olympics
- Western Washington cities expect enough water for 40-50 years
- Nature’s Helpers: Using Microorganisms To Remove TCE Pollutants…
Ways To Play Water
Forbes – Mar 1, 2008
Indeed, the fastest growing states, like California, Florida, Arizona, Texas, and Nevada, are also the driest, compounding the problem. As the world’s population grows water problems will only get worse. Unfortunately for investors, 80% of water supply and waste water are controlled by governments, limiting the investment opportunities on the supply side. But, BlackRock’s Central Strategy Group Chairman, Ewan Cameron Watt, says there are opportunities to invest in the companies which supply equipment to the water industry and its users. Watt says the agricultural industry alone spends around $500 billion of capital a year on water from pipework to sewage treatment equipment to water purification to desalination plants. With commodities prices booming–especially for crops like wheat and corn–agricultural companies are pouring a lot of money into water technology. Desalination, which removes excess salt and minerals from water, is one area where technology has improved greatly, cutting costs in half over the past decade…
Sewage treatment and waste water treatment is a $100 billion a year industry and growing, with UNESCO and the World Bank heavily involved in increasing the supply of safe water in the developing world. Veolia Environnement (nyse:.
Provinces pay price for green Olympics
Guardian Unlimited – Mar 1, 2008
Tens of thousands of people have been relocated for a 192-mile section of the water diversion project, which will open in April, redirecting 300m cubic metres of water from Hebei to the capital. In any year this would be a sacrifice. Hebei has one of China’s lowest levels of per-capita water resources. But this year’s drought is severe. This week the Hebei Daily said levels of winter rain and snow were 60% below the long-term average, leaving many reservoirs at very low levels. “The severe drought has created tense conditions for water supplies in our province, and the conflict between water supply and demand has been dramatically exacerbated,” it noted. Like many other Olympic projects, the water diversion was being planned anyway…
But this year’s drought is severe. This week the Hebei Daily said levels of winter rain and snow were 60% below the long-term average, leaving many reservoirs at very low levels. “The severe drought has created tense conditions for water supplies in our province, and the conflict between water supply and demand has been dramatically exacerbated,” it noted. Like many other Olympic projects, the water diversion was being planned anyway. Beijing needs more water because it has more flush toilets, more ornamental lakes, more building sites and more people. The population – soon expected to hit 18 million – has more than quadrupled since the 1960s. But the Olympics is an excuse to accelerate development.
Western Washington cities expect enough water for 40-50 years
Seattle Times – Mar 1, 2008
Water managers in Seattle, Tacoma and Everett all expect they can adjust their water systems to make sure there’s enough water for everyone, as long as fast-growing cities like Bellevue start to seek their own source of drinking water. “We could use water even more efficiently, and I would love to see that before we turn to new sources,” said Richard Palmer, a University of Washington engineering professor who helped build some of the computer models used for the water research. “But, at some point, if population doubles in this region, there’s not sufficient stored water right now to meet double the demand,” he told The Seattle Times. Smaller utilities or areas outside King, Snohomish and Pierce counties weren’t covered by the studies and the full impact of global warming in the region hasn’t been gauged…
“But, at some point, if population doubles in this region, there’s not sufficient stored water right now to meet double the demand,” he told The Seattle Times. Smaller utilities or areas outside King, Snohomish and Pierce counties weren’t covered by the studies and the full impact of global warming in the region hasn’t been gauged. Plus the research didn’t examine how water supply from wells could be affected. The studies found that by 2075 the three utilities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett together could lose as much as 16 percent of its water supply or 77 million gallons a day compared with today’s supplies. Seattle is more vulnerable _ expected to lose as much as 25 percent _ because it relies almost entirely on water from rivers, rather than groundwater. Those rivers won’t be able to fill reservoirs quickly while enough water volume is left flowing for fish, Palmer said. Seattle is already working to change how it operates its reservoirs to get more water out of them, said Paul Fleming, manager of climate-change initiatives for Seattle Public Utilities.
Nature’s Helpers: Using Microorganisms To Remove TCE Pollutants…
Science Daily – Science Daily (press release) – Mar 1, 2008
1, 2008) — In 2002, Bruce Rittmann, PhD, director of the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Biotechnology, received a patent for an innovative way to use nature to lend society a hand. He invented a treatment system, called the membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR), which uses naturally occurring microorganisms to remove contaminants from water. See also: Matter & EnergyAlternative FuelsNature of WaterOrganic ChemistryEarth & ClimateWaterEnvironmental IssuesPollution Reference…
The detection of TCE recently forced the shut down of the water supply for the Greater Phoenix area municipalities of Paradise Valley and Scottsdale. TCE has been widely used as a cleaning agent and solvent for many military, commercial, and industrial applications. Its widespread use, along with its improper handling, storage, and disposal, has resulted in frequent detection of TCE in the groundwater. TCE has the potential to cause liver damage, malfunctions in the central nervous system and it is considered a likely human carcinogen. Now researchers have found an effective way to remove TCE from groundwater.