Decades ago, I became involved with a few water treatment companies. (These firms were actually venturing into water reuse and industrial water needs; they also asked us to help them with their entire business efforts.) It was an eye opener when we saw their water supply business. This was long before it was normal to see those 5 gallon jugs in our offices and home, proffering cold (and hot) drinking water for our needs.
Yesterday, I spoke about our most endangered aquifers. But, almost every one of our aquifers is in trouble- the sources of the bulk of our drinking water.
Continue reading And, this is one of our better ones?
It’s been three years since I complained that no one seems to be paying attention to our water resources. No, I don’t mean like the drought in California. That’s bad. But, worse will be the wars that are about to fought over water.
Continue reading Underwater- really, truly…
Some 40 years ago, we developed a strain of microbes that converted ammonia to nitrogenous gases. The goal was to find a way to augment a waste treatment system’s ability to purify the water. Oh, we found uses for it at many facilities. Not the least of which were seasonal facilities that handled poultry wastes. (These facilities ramped up to handle the demand for turkeys around Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the ambient temperatures were pretty low. That meant the normal capabilities of a system to biologically remove ammonia were greatly diminished.)
Way, way back. Back when we seemed to care about our infrastructure, we promised that we would have swimmable and drinkable water all over this country. A good portion of that promise relied on waste water reuse and desalination plants.
Continue reading More on that water-energy nexus. It’s really tight in CA
I remember. From when I was really little, my dad took over the left side of the house for his garden. Where he would spend hours every spring, summer, and fall growing vegetables.
Continue reading Soil. Water. Air?
Having worked with water resources and reuse for years, I recall with (feigned) affection some of the terms used. In particular, water resources in the US are measured in acre-feet. Oh, I know, that is the amount of water needed to flood an acre of land with a foot of water.
Continue reading Water, part IV
Just because our government seemingly has no clue that infrastructure is critical, does not mean that business doesn’t. And, they are getting fed up with the inaction. Because, despite the hoopla from the last election, business knows that they don’t do it alone. Their profits rely upon telephones that work, roads that let trucks move, electric power transmission lines that can’t be hacked by terrorists- or just plain crazies.
Continue reading Business knows we need infrastructure
As I’ve written before (here is but one example), I’ve been concerned that we have been rebuilding communities along the Mississippi for a long time. Because the river floods its banks, destroying those communities along the shoreline. We should consider rebuilding those cities and towns at higher elevations.
Continue reading This is just one leg of the stool
Water. Energy. Food. Lacking any one item makes existence pretty tough. The problem is compounded because all three are related. That’s why it’s called the water-energy-food nexus. A century or two ago, this was less obvious, since they were all locally sourced.