Water

Agriculture and Water in California (Part II: Problems of groundwater depletion)

by Patricia Quintero Estades

In a previous post, I discussed some of the issues of agriculture and water use in California. Though constantly stricken with water scarcity issues, California is a large agricultural supplier, with most of its operations concentrated in the Central Valley. In talking about agriculture and water use in California, it is impossible not to touch…

5 Things to Know About Water Desalination

by Patricia Quintero Estades

Worldwide use of water desalination has been growing in the past years. Countries in the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia and Israel) have made impressive advances and significant investments in desalination technology in the last decade. Israel opened its first large-scale desalination plant in 2005. Ten years later, desalination plants produce 40% of the country’s water supply.

In the U.S., the largest desalination plant came online in Carlsbad, San Diego County this past December— along with a billion-dollar price tag. Although smaller plants have been operating since the 1970s …

The Water Knife

by Bedrosian Center

This podcast features *spoilers – so, please listen after you’ve read the book unless you are okay with hearing about major plot details and the ending of this amazing novel.

Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife looks at our use and manipulation of water and water rights in the US and brings us to an ultimate conclusion. In a Southwest decimated by climate change, with the Colorado River a trickle, local and state governments in the Southwest are employing any means necessary to secure water rights. Following several main characters in a desperate search for recently discovered senior water rights for the city of Phoenix. Is #PhoenixRising or is #PhoenixDownTheTubes? NPR, All Things Considered called the novel, “A noir-ish, cinematic thriller set in the midst of a water war between Las Vegas and Phoenix. . . . Think Chinatown meets Mad Max.” Join us as we discuss the plausibility of this near-future Phoenix and the dire straits it’s characters find themselves in.

Tackling U.S. Water Infrastructure Problems

by Patricia Quintero Estades

The water crisis in Flint Michigan has shed light on problems of water contamination and of crumbling water infrastructure facing communities all over the U.S. With presidential candidates like Trump and Sanders regularly highlighting infrastructure issues as key aspects of their platforms and the considerable national attention given to water because of Flint, it seems like an…

Learning about sustainable water management: The case of Los Angeles

by Patricia Quintero Estades

Running water in our homes is sort of magical when you think about it. It’s one of the most important technological improvements of industrialized societies, which has, without a doubt, had a major impact on our quality of life … it is hard to keep water policy in the public discourse and in the forefront of policy when we don’t really educate ourselves about how basic water management works.

The Flint Lead Poisoning Disaster: Why We Must Invest in Healthy Homes

by Raphael Bostic

About 150 years ago, people figured out that lead pipes could kill them. In 1861, fifty prisoners in King County Jail in Brooklyn started vomiting uncontrollably, until a doctor realized that the water supply was contaminated with lead. Seven years later, a New York City woman named Elizabeth Galler was accused of poisoning her husband…