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Ecosystems suffer first. Terminus lakes could benefit from a new desalination system being developed at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Terminus lakes are located in closed-basin regions where there is no outflow for the water and a high evaporation rate, leaving a high concentration of minerals and salts.
This new, low cost way to desalinate water uses a specialized low-cost solar pond and patented membrane distillation system powered by renewable energy.
Hundreds of terminus lakes worldwide such as the Great Salt Lake, the Salton Sea in California, the Aral Sea and Nevada's Walker Lake are experiencing a decline in water levels and an increase in salinity from both human and natural processes," says Francisco Suarez, a doctoral student in hydrological sciences.
Suarez is developing an artificial salt-gradient stratification process that traps solar heat at the bottom of the solar pond and uses the collected energy to power the membrane distillation system recently patented by the University. The hot brine in the lower storage zone of the pond, which can reach temperatures greater than 195 degrees Fahrenheit, may be used directly for heating, thermal desalination, or for other low-temperature thermal applications.
The process has been highly successful in the lab in a small-scale experiment using a 400-gallon tank, where dissolved solids and precise fiber-optic temperature sensing are being used to track the process as it desalinates the water. The next step for Suarez and the research group is to build a pilot-project, demonstration-scale, low-temperature desalination system in an open environment.
This desalination system is designed to help sustain the ecosystems of these closed-basin regions.
Read more about this desalination system at the University of Nevada
Stormwater runoff in urban and suburban areas is one of the leading sources of water pollution in the United States. Runoff can cause increased flooding and erosion and more pollution to surface waters.
EPA is using sustainable techniques for reducing the effects of stormwater runoff at its facilities, such as installing a 3,000 square foot green roof as well as using rain gardens and cisterns to capture and reuse stormwater.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued guidance to help federal agencies minimize the impact of federal development projects on nearby water bodies. The guidance is being issued in response to a change in law and an Executive Order signed by President Obama, which calls upon all federal agencies to lead by example to address a wide range of environmental issues, including stormwater runoff.
Peter S. Silva, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Water said, "By taking these steps to create more sustainable facilities, federal agencies can lead by example in reducing impacts in the local watershed."
EPA worked closely with other federal agencies to develop this document, which provides background information, key definitions, case studies and guidance on meeting the new requirements of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Under the new requirements, federal agencies must minimize stormwater runoff from federal development projects to protect water resources.
Federal agencies can comply using a variety of stormwater management practices often referred to as "green infrastructure" or "low impact development" practices, including reducing impervious surfaces, using vegetative practices, using porous pavements and installing green roofs.
More information on the guidance: http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/section438/
Declines in water use are partly attributable to alternative cooling methods at power plants and more efficient irrigation systems. According to the latest USGS water use report ...
- Nearly half of all water used in the United States goes to cooling thermoelectric power plants
- 31 percent is used for irrigation.
- 11 percent of water is used for public supply
- 9 percent is used for industrial, livestock, aquaculture, mining and rural domestic uses.
Fixing Leaks Can Be Elementary, My Dear Watson
Learning about water efficiency
can be as easy as 1-2-3 with WaterSense's recently released
Fix a Leak Week curriculum by EPA's WaterSense water conservation program.
Nationwide more than 1 trillion gallons of water leak from U.S. homes each year. In fact, the average home can waste 11,000 gallons of water per year, enough to fill a backyard swimming pool. But students can learn about saving water and conduct fun science experiments by sleuthing out leaks where they live and helping parents find ways to fix them. The free resources offer step-by-step instructions for teachers and include ready-made worksheets for students. Parents and water conservation outreach coordinators may also find these materials and a corresponding family pledge to save water useful. While the curriculum is designed to be taught during Fix a Leak Week (March 15-21, 2010), the concepts are timeless and worthy of teaching any time of the year. Learn more about Fix a Leak Week 2010 and the teacher's curriculum. |
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WaterSense to Label Flushing Urinals
WaterSense specifications for flushing urinals, make WaterSense labeled products available for use in commercial and institutional restrooms.
WaterSense labeled urinals have the potential to help save
businesses and institutions water and money on utility bills.
If all urinals installed before 1994 were replaced with WaterSense labeled models, it would save nearly 36 billion gallons of water annually--equal to the flow over Niagara Falls in 20 hours.
Half-gallon Flush Limits
To earn the WaterSense label, urinals must flush using no
more than half a gallon, well below the current federal standard
of 1.0 gallon per flush (gpf). Older models installed before
regulations were in place can use even more water--as
much as 5.0 gpf.
As with all WaterSense labeled products, urinals must undergo independent, third-party testing and certification before earning the WaterSense label.
Schools, restaurants, offices, and commercial buildings
Schools, restaurants, businesses, and other commercial buildings
can benefit from the financial savings of WaterSense labeled
urinals.
If a high school of 1,000 students replaced its inefficient urinals, for example, it could save enough to supply water for nearly 700 households.
EPA estimates that there are about 12 million urinals currently in use in the United States, and up to 65 percent of them are inefficient models that use significantly more than the federal standard. For every inefficient urinal replaced with a WaterSense labeled model, 4,600 gallons are saved annually. Learn more about the WaterSense specification for flushing urinals.
Water is undervalued in many parts of the country. In fact, about 30% of all water utilities operate at a loss or a deficit.
So where does all your money go? The money you pay toward your water bill is stretched many different ways by utilities.
Water utilities, like any business, need to pay for operating expenses such as electricity, treatment chemicals, maintenance, and employee wages. On average, about 70% of your water bill goes to your water utility's operating expenses.
As they work to collect sufficient revenue to ensure the availability
of clean and safe water, municipalities and water managers try to
keep their rates affordable. Even so, the cost of water and wastewater
varies, and the factors that ultimately set the price differ from
community to community.
Small Community Water Utilities
Many private water utilities serving smaller
communities lack commercial and industrial customers that help keep
costs to residents low. These utilities are sometimes forced to
charge residents nearly double the national average to recoup operating
expenses. In these communities, investing in water efficiency makes
twice as much sense.
Improvement Project Costs
But that only makes up part of your water utility's financial
needs. Many water utilities need money to pay for improvement projects
to upgrade infrastructure or increase capacity--meaning the
ability to provide water to an expanding number of customers--and
they might also need to pay down debt just like the rest of us.
EPA studies estimate that updating aging water and wastewater infrastructure could cost more than $500 billion over the next two decades.
While many of the pipes that deliver water to American homes are relatively new, some pipes are more than 80 years old and well overdue for replacement. And this $500 billion does not include the funds that are needed to build new infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population!
The good news is that there is something both utilities and consumers
can do to delay these major investments and save money.
WaterSense Savings with Certified Products
WaterSense makes fiscal sense, both from a utility standpoint, and to consumers' wallets. Many water utilities are promoting WaterSense labeled products to help their customers save on water bills and to delay the utilities' need for expensive projects to increase capacity.
So if you're looking for new ways to pinch pennies as a household,
consider the following.
The average household can reduce its water bills by as much as 30% by installing water-efficient plumbing fixtures such as WaterSense labeled toilets and faucets and ENERGY STAR qualified appliances.
Replacing older, inefficient toilets alone could save a family of four some $90 per year. These savings, coupled with potential rebates in your area, mean your bathroom makeover could pay for itself in no time--and pay the savings forward in your community for years to come.
New York City residents use 1.1 billion gallons of water every single day--enough to fill the Empire State Building with water five times!
That's a lot of water, and a lot of potential water savings.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) has joined EPA's WaterSense program because efficiency matters.
Leaking toilets and running faucets are among the greatest water-efficiency challenges in New York City.
The city benefits when people use WaterSense labeled toilets and lavatory sinks because they use less water and perform better. Conserving water will not only help New Yorkers save money, but it helps to conserve the supply we all depend on.
As a promotional partner, NYC DEP will help EPA educate consumers
about the value of water, water efficiency, and the WaterSense label.
Public Restrooms in Times Square
WaterSense already made its Broadway debut in 2007 and 2008 with
the Charmin
Holiday Restrooms
in Times Square.
The restrooms featured WaterSense labeled Kohler brand toilets and faucets and spelled relief for both tourists and locals in need of a public restroom during the holiday shopping season and on New Year's Eve.
Since joining the program early this year, NYC DEP has already begun spreading the news about WaterSense to its approximately 9 million customers through its Web site and at public outreach events. Thanks to this partnership and the prospect of better water efficiency, the Big Apple could earn a new nickname: the city that never leaks.
Milwaukee,
October 26, 2009
Local "craft" businesses such as breweries and specialty cheese making and local restaurants can collaborate on local celebrations of "local business". When combined around a water conservation theme, or an energy conservation theme...you can educate while providing valuable marketing opportunities for local businesses.
One such celebration is being developed in Milwaukee:
SPLASH!, a celebration of
conservation and craft brewing, presents craft beer and
cheese tastings and dinner catered by Bartolotta's at the
Discovery World Museum, Pier Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, on
Monday, October 26, 5-8 PM.
The event features representatives from leading conservation groups, artisan cheesemakers with sustainable operations, and craft brewers.
The special guest speaker is Jake Leinenkugel, president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., Chippewa Falls, WI, the Platinum sponsor of the Great Lakes Craft Brewers & Water Conservation Conference, with in-kind support from Beer Capitol Distributing, Inc.
SPLASH! is the public portion of the Great Lakes Craft Brewers & Water Conservation Conference, which brings together water policymakers in the Great Lakes and experts in water-saving systems from Bridgeport Brewing Co. (Jeff Edgerton), New Glarus Brewing Co. (Dan Carey), Odell Brewing Co. (Doug Odell) and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (Fred Strachan). Guests at SPLASH! will be able to meet and mingle with the craft brewers attending the conference.
Artisan cheesemakers that will be present at the event include Crave Bros. Cheese Company of Waterloo, WI; Saxon Farmstead Creamery of Cleveland, WI; and the Cedar Grove Cheese Company, with a display about the biodynamic "Living Machine" wastewater treatment developed by cheesemaker Bob Wills.
Several conservation groups, such as Clean Wisconsin, Gathering Waters Conservancy, Milwaukee Riverkeepers, Shedd Aquarium's Great Lakes Conservation program Listen to Your Lakes, and the National Wildlife Federation, will showcase conservation tips and tools. The Shedd Aquarium will give away free shower timers made of 100% recycled plastic. This tool helps you shorten your morning ablutions to five minutes or fewer, to save water at home.
The event includes a buffet dinner catered by Bartolotta's Catering, with recipes from "The Best of American Beer & Food" cookbook (Brewers Association, 2007). Tickets for the event are $45 each; purchase with PayPal online, at http://www.conserve-greatlakes.com, or prepaid by check made payable to: F&B Communications LLC, and mailed to Lucy Saunders, F&B Communications LLC, 4230 N. Oakland Ave. #178, Shorewood, WI 53211.
Online registration and more conference details are available at http://www.conserve-greatlakes.com. For more information, contact lucysaunders@mac.com, or call 800-760-5998.
Federal agencies released the seven draft reports required by President Obama's executive order on the Chesapeake Bay , which contain a range of proposed strategies for accelerating cleanup of the nation's largest estuary and its vast watershed.
Focus is on increased accountability and performance
The draft reports collectively call for increased accountability and performance from pollution control, habitat protection and land conservation programs at all levels of government, including an expanded use of regulatory authorities to address pollution control and additional voluntary and market-based solutions - particularly when it comes to habitat protection and land conservation programs. Federal agencies are also proposing new ways to harness the latest innovations in science and technology. The proposed actions are in response to overwhelming scientific evidence that the health of the Chesapeake Bay remains exceptionally poor, despite the concerted restoration efforts of the past 25 years.
"We need bold new leadership, collective accountability by all contributors to the bay's problems, and dramatic changes in policies using all the tools at hand if we are to fulfill President Obama's goal for clean water throughout the region. These reports bring us a step closer to achieving the vision we all share for the future of the Chesapeake Bay ," said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, chairperson of the Federal Leadership Committee and the federal representative to the Chesapeake Executive Council.
The draft reports are the first step in the creation of a new strategy for restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and waterways in the region, as defined by the executive order.
The reports include a variety of strategies and options for addressing issues such as
- water quality,
- public access,
- landscape conservation,
- climate change,
- scientific monitoring and
- protection of living resources
The draft reports were also submitted to the Federal Leadership Committee that is coordinating work on the executive order. The draft reports are available at http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net .
Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection
On May 12, 2009 President Obama issued Executive Order 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Protection, the first-ever presidential directive on the bay and the first environmental executive order by President Obama.
Multidisciplinary Federal Leadership Committee
The order established a Federal Leadership Committee, chaired by EPA, and with senior representatives from the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation.
Over 120 days, 10 federal agencies collaborated to develop the draft reports. The recommendations in the reports were shaped by consultations with the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the District of Columbia , as well as suggestions from stakeholders and the public. Successful restoration of the Chesapeake Bay depends on the involvement of federal, state and local governments; the private sector; nonprofit organizations; and the watershed's 17 million residents. The draft reports were released to engage the public in the process outlined in the executive order.
The draft report on water quality includes some of the more significant potential changes to existing programs.
In this report, EPA proposes to develop new regulations for the Chesapeake Bay to significantly reduce runoff pollution from urban, suburban and agricultural sources.
The report also relays EPA's intention to hold the states in the watershed more accountable for controlling pollution, through increased oversight, enforcement activities and new policies.
Urban and suburban runoff pollution is the fastest growing source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay , while agricultural runoff is the largest.
The Federal Leadership Committee will evaluate the proposals in the draft reports and consult with bay jurisdictions to refine the recommendations for meeting key challenges to the Chesapeake Bay 's health. However, the agencies will be moving forward in a number of areas before the strategy becomes final.
"We have an urgent obligation to citizens of today and generations of tomorrow to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, and this executive order puts new weight behind our work," Jackson said. "We're moving quickly and transparently on a comprehensive strategy that will get real results for the bay."
More information on the executive order: http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net