Category Archives: Drinking Water

Strong Climate Policy is Also Smart Water Policy for the West

This post is by Dan Grossman, EDF's Rocky Mountain Regional Director.

You turn on a tap, and water pours out.  You decide on the temperature – hot  or cold.  You decide on the speed – fast or slow.  This is not a luxury, just an activity of daily living.

In Boulder, we are studying how to keep that water flowing in the future  –  and we're paying close attention to federal clean energy and climate legislation because it can protect water in Western states.

A new report documents more evidence that clean energy and climate policy is also smart policy for water management in the West.

The link between energy, climate and water is not new, but droughts are now a daily reminder of the urgency to connect the dots with federal policy.

The report's release coincides with the U.S. Senate's return to Washington to take up energy and climate legislation this week.

Clean energy sources emit fewer greenhouse gas pollutants and save water, which means more water for Western cities, agriculture, businesses and recreation.   National climate policy will add weight to the worthy measures that westerners are already pursuing.

Repeat after me: clean energy and climate policy is smart water policy.  Now pass that message along to everyone you know.

Also posted in Climate Change Legislation, News, Policy | Comments closed

Bottles, Bottles, Everywhere…

Ramon CruzThis post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.

It's ironic. In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too – over $15 billion a year.

Worse of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming. Take a look at this video from Doug James, and then check out these surprising facts.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZbTXDkrD1o" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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Save Energy by Saving Water – and Vice Versa

This post is by Mary Kelly, Attorney and Co-Director, Land, Water, and Wildlife Program at Environmental Defense.

If you've been watching the news, you know we have a climate problem, and you may also know we have a drinking water problem in some parts of the country. What you may not realize is that these two problems are related. Yes, global warming can impact rainfall, but that's not all. The water supply sector uses large amounts of energy to transport, treat, and deliver water. On the flip side, vast quantities of water are required to generate power.

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The Drinking Water Problem

This post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense.

Yesterday's New York Times Magazine had an article aptly titled "The Future is Drying Up", about the threats that climate change and booming populations pose to precious water resources in western states. Usually when we think of water and climate change we think of rising sea levels, but climate change is also causing drops in drinking water supplies.

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Also posted in Science - General | Comments closed