Water
Graphene-based sieve turns seawater into drinking water
A UK-based team of researchers has created a graphene-based sieve capable of removing salt from seawater. The sought-after development could aid the millions of people without ready access to clean drinking water. The promising graphene oxide sieve could be highly efficient at filtering salts, and Read More...
12 ways to turn water from waste to resource
The main message we should give is that proper reuse can save money and generate income, and is good for the environment. In the Netherlands, there is now a wastewater plant that actually generates energy. As a sector we need to highlight such examples, provide technical options and work with the Read More...
“Guerrilla humanitarianism” is increasing global access to clean water
Nearly 2 billion people around the world still regularly drink water teeming with fecal matter and other pathogens, and more still suffer the consequences of contaminated pipes and storage units, as well as poor and irregular water treatment practices (not to mention fraud and illegal access). More Read More...
Wood fibers make for cheap, portable water filtration
Researchers in Sweden have discovered a new way to filter water off-grid using wood fibers. The team from KTH Royal Institute of Technology hope that it can provide clean water to people in refugee camps and in remote areas. The researchers developed a new material using wood fibers and a Read More...
Clean water finally flows to transform lives of tea pickers in Bangladesh
Bina Patru is unsure of her age. She thinks she is in her mid-40s, but knows that she has spent a lifetime toiling in the tea bushes that carpet the rolling hills of the Surma valley of northern Bangladesh. A slight figure in a bright yellow sari, she has just returned from a morning pruning plants Read More...
Lake Cachuma shows that California’s drought is over
California has been recovering from 5 years of drought since the end of last year. But this giant reservoir was still struggling. It had dwindled to a weedy channel at just 7 percent of capacity and was perilously close to being written off as a regional water supply. And then came one of the Read More...
Low-cost sensors that measure vibrations are bringing water security to Africa
Groundwater is a key water source for hundreds of millions of people in Africa, but a growing demand for it means that researchers must keep track of the supply to make sure it doesn’t get depleted. To accurately estimate the future supply, the researchers fitted low-cost monitors on hand pumps Read More...
NASA's new computing facility will save 1.3 million gallons of water a year
Supercomputers, mega-computers located at national laboratory sites that can process calculations in a matter of nanoseconds, are currently processing information that may solve many of the biggest problems humanity faces. There are supercomputers running calculations regarding climate change, Read More...
University’s solar-powered still improves ancient water cleaning technology
More than two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered with water, but most of it is useless for healthy human hydration. Excluding seawater, glaciers and polar ice caps, less than 1 percent of the planet’s life-sustaining water is in lakes, rivers, streams and underground Read More...
Why dirt will be as valuable as water in a warming world
After five years of historic drought, Californians have come to view water as a valuable natural resource. But there is another resource they probably haven’t thought about that may be just as valuable: Mud. Or more specifically, sediment. Water makes sediment by the process of Read More...