The "green gold" cactii of Milpa Alta is inspiring the locals to store their water.
The disclaimer says the video was "Paid and presented by Cosecha de lluvia, Mexico City Government".
I'm conflicted about this upvote.
In the heart of the country, Great Plains farmers and ranchers produce a quarter of all U.S. crops and 40 percent of its beef. But they rely on a resource that has been slowly drying up, water. Stephanie Sy reports from Kansas for our series on the impact of climate change, Tipping Point.
[link with Audio and Full Transcript]
NewPipe ..for peertube and for YouTube! I use it in an Android.
The United States is one step closer to withholding millions in aid dollars from Mexico as that country continues to flout a binational water sharing treaty that’s critical to the Rio Grande Valley’s water supply.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved an effort by a bipartisan, bicameral group of Rio Grande Valley lawmakers to withhold funding from Mexico until it makes good on a 1944 water sharing treaty with the United States.
The treaty obligates Mexico to deliver some 1.75 million acre-feet of water every five years from six Mexican tributaries that feed the Rio Grande. However, four years into the current cycle, Mexico has delivered only about a year’s worth of water, even as the two international reservoirs that supply the Valley and the northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon with water have fallen to historically low levels.
The scarcity of water led to the demise of the Valley’s sugarcane industry, which in February announced it was permanently ceasing operations after a 51-year legacy here.
And already, another iconic facet of Valley agriculture — the citrus industry — is also on the brink of failure as farmers uproot dozens of dead and dying trees from their orchards.
The worsening crisis has long prompted earnest entreaties from local leaders that something be done.
Earlier this year, a coalition of federal lawmakers took up the cause, calling for a first-of-its-kind financial sanction against Mexico for its continued non-compliance.
That effort was led by Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both Republicans, as well as all three of the Valley’s House representatives, and several more who represent other parts of the state.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced that their combined efforts had achieved their first legislative success.
The proposal to withhold funding from the fiscal year 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, or SFOPS, appropriations bill, had successfully passed the House Appropriations Committee, Cuellar, a senior committee member, said in a news release on Wednesday.
“Water is life, and water deliveries from Mexico are essential for South Texas communities to operate and grow,” Cuellar stated in the news release.
“As a member of Congress, it is my job to ensure communities on the border have an adequate, reliable water supply,” he further stated.
The Valley’s freshman lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, also celebrated the language’s inclusion in the House appropriations bill, which will be voted on by the full House later this year.
“This bill sends a clear message: if the Mexican government thinks it can starve us of our water and put our farmers out of business, they are sorely mistaken,” De La Cruz stated in a news release Wednesday.
“Withholding funding will highlight to everyday Mexicans their government’s failure to adhere to binding international agreements,” she further stated.
The legislative measure calls for withholding up to 15% of SFOPs funding from Mexico, though monies used to combat fentanyl trafficking are specifically excluded.
That equates to about $7.6 million, according to what U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, told The Monitor earlier this year.
However Cornyn, Texas’ senior senator, said that amount may turn out to be higher.
Mexico is one of the top receivers of American foreign aid, according to the Office of Foreign Assistance.
In 2022, the country received more than $231 million in aid, and another $149 million in 2023.
As of June, the combined American storage of water held at Amistad and Falcon international reservoirs stood at just 18.76%, according to data published by the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The IBWC is the federal agency responsible for maintaining data on the reservoirs, and enforcing the water sharing treaty with Mexico.
The 18.76% shown in the June 1 water ownership report represents the lowest volume of water since recordkeeping began. /End of article
Note: Not great that the author Dina Arévalo does not have any info on the Mexican perspective.
Data from English water firms suggests thousands more sewage spills took place on dry days, including during record 2022 heatwave.
Every major English water company has reported data suggesting they’ve discharged raw sewage when the weather is dry – a practice which is potentially illegal.
BBC News has analysed spills data from nine firms, which suggests sewage may have been discharged nearly 6,000 times when it had not been raining in 2022 - including during the country’s record heatwave. ...
The Yellowstone Club is the first in Montana to use the technique, which could become more common as climate change leads to drier winters across the American West.
... Anyone here think this is a reason to be cheerful?
Article text cont.
February 8, 2024, by Justin Franz, in reasonstobecheerful.world
The Yellowstone Club, the elite resort near Big Sky that in the past has counted Bill Gates, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel as members, has become the first ski area in Montana to turn wastewater into snow. And while skiing on what was once sewage might seem odd at first blush, resort officials and local conservation groups said it’s both safe and beneficial to the environment, especially during dry winters like this one, which has left some ski areas in the state shuttered.
In fact, Richard Chandler, vice president of environmental operations for the Yellowstone Club, said recently that the new program to turn wastewater into snow is helping the resort open more runs than it otherwise might be able to this winter.
“Without [snowmaking], we’d be skiing on a lot less terrain,” Chandler said.
The new effort to use recycled water to increase the base layer of snow on Eglise Mountain follows a decade of collaboration between the resort and local environmental groups, plus a multi-year review by state regulators. It isn’t the first time the Yellowstone Club has found a new use for wastewater: For several years, it has been using recycled water to irrigate its golf course.
In 2011, the Gallatin River Task Force, Yellowstone Club and DEQ studied whether wastewater could be used to make artificial snow to ski on. The idea was that as climate change made the region’s snowpack more unpredictable, they could serve skiers and the watershed by making snow from treated water that is traditionally just put into rivers and other bodies of water. That winter they successfully turned a half-million gallons of wastewater into two acres of snow about 18 inches deep.
According to the Yellowstone Club, 12 ski areas in eight states, plus some in Canada, Switzerland and Australia, have used wastewater to make snow in the past. However, the practice hasn’t been without controversy. About a decade ago, a ski area near Flagstaff, Arizona, was sued by a local tribe over environmental concerns about turning wastewater into snow. The Hopi Tribe also alleged that the practice would desecrate a mountain it considered sacred. The tribe eventually lost in court, but during the dispute some environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, raised concerns about the impact the recycled snow might have on aquatic life in the area.
But Chandler said that using recycled water to make snow treats the wastewater even more than it normally would be before being released into a river. By shooting it through the snowmaking equipment (it’s essentially misted onto the slopes as snow) the wastewater is treated again. Then, as it . Chandler estimates that the man-made snow will increase summer runoff in area creeks by about 19 days.
“The benefits of this project are actually an enhancement to the watershed function,” said Pat Byorth, Montana water director for Trout Unlimited, in a press release. “It’s an enhancement to water supply, to water quality in the basin. So everybody from skiers to anglers will benefit from this, and downstream agriculture benefits at a time where water supply is uncertain.”
In 2020, the Yellowstone Club applied for a permit from DEQ to expand that 2011 pilot program into a permanent snowmaking operation on Eglise Mountain. The following year, the state issued a permit allowing the Yellowstone Club to turn 25 million gallons of wastewater into snow annually. Two years and $12 million later, the new system began making snow last November. Under the current plan, 80 percent of the recycled water is coming from the community of Big Sky and 20 percent is coming from the Yellowstone Club. As part of its permit, the Yellowstone Club is required to erect signage warning visitors not to consume the snow.
As winters get drier in the American West, Chandler said that turning wastewater into snow could be the key for ski areas across the region in the future. He said he hopes the club can set an example.
“We hope that we can show other ski areas in the state what is possible,” he said. “We might be the first, but I hope we aren’t the last.”
Laundry softner?! Don't use that, with the help of having soft water.
Yes, I thought that too. Been avoiding running plastic stuff in my dishwasher for 5 years ...and always using these packs.. Colour me 'not cynical enough'.
Laundry and dishwasher detergent pods made with polyvinyl alcohol, or PVA, contribute to plastics pollution in US waterways.
gift link without paywall, thanks to u/silence7
For another way, follow the Aarg way!
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a water-soluble plastic commercially used in laundry and dish detergent pods (LDPs) for which a complete understanding of its fate in the environment and subsequent consequences is lacking. The objective of this study was to ...
Estimated 17200 ± 5000 tons per year of PVA used in laundry and dish detergent pods in the US, with 10500 ± 3000 reaching wastewater treatment plants. Literature review data, and model, estimated ~61% of PVA ending up in the environment via the sludge and ~15.7% via the aqueous phase. PVA presence in the environment, regardless of its matrix, is a threat to the ecosystem due to the potential mobilization of heavy metals and other hydrophilic contaminants.
Citizens could be fined for washing cars or watering gardens.
Citizens could be fined for washing cars or watering gardens.
After months of warnings, authorities in Catalonia have declared a drought emergency.
The region is in the midst of the worst drought since records began.
From tomorrow [[Friday, Feb 2, 2024]], 80% of the Catalan population, including Barcelona, will be under strict water restrictions.
Algarve is waiting for the government to officially announce some of the toughest water-saving measures ever implemented in Portugal to tackle its near-catastrophic drought situation.
Tech aimed at battling climate change and even pumping fresh water out of thin air attracted crowds as the annual CES gadget extravaganza showed its green side.
Better for what?
Moving parts and complexity makes it more prone to failure.
Also, how much energy do you need to keep this working? It's not said on the website.
Granted, both kettle and this zori trade energy and complexity/failure-potential for convenience. Much more so the zori. How much is unknown. On the simple, less-energy end, you'd use an electrical resistance in an insulated jar.
All electric kettles will fail at some point. They have moving parts and are designed for obsolescence.
In my place I use a kettle that allows me to boil 1 cup of water. The filter mesh has failed long ago but the water does not have hardness. Instead I use a small improvised cap to keep the flow of vapour to the cut off thermostat (usually at the bottom of the handle).
California became the second U.S. state to allow agencies to purify wastewater and turn it into tap water as a way of adapting to drought conditions.
Sounds well intentioned. But..
I feel that there are any metrics supporting claims of environmental benefits, like saving water, treating water, removing pollutants.
Is iron oxide a pollutant? By itself I would not have though so.
What makes this different from finding a mineral resource and extracting it to sell?
EDIT: A couple of informative and interesting follow up links
small scale solar like this is quite inefficient compared to grid-scale stations.
grid-scale generation is much more effective, both in cost and generation efficiency.
Can you explain a bit better on the magnitude of these differences and why they exist? Thx
Because, as I walk through the city, it is 10x more common to find an e-scooter blocking the sidewalk than an SUV?
Or, maybe, because SUVs do not go at 25kph in walking areas?
I can absolutely agree with this..
to be clear about what’s a real problem, and what’s not. (...) Pick up trucks and monster SUVs are
-the-a problem and we need a public debate about those 3-4% biggest cars, the space they claim and the danger they pose.
EDIT: My city has specific, identified and plenty spaces for e-scooters. Either the rental e-scooters break down (too) frequently, or (some of!) the users of those are assholes that abandon them at random.
It was good advice.
The basic goal for treated wastewater is to have a low amount of easily digestible carbon source food.
Then usually the goal is about reducing the amount of other nutrients as nitrogen, then phosphorus..
All of this designed to avoid an unbalanced overgrowth of microbes in the water body that receives the wastewater stream. Were dilution, the sun and natural microbial predation are expected to further stabilize the (waste)water and allow for the death of contagious disease carrying microorganisms.
In the last couple of decades the research focus also looks at maybe reducing the amount of micropullutants these wastewaters are carrying --- like non degraded medicines or other substances that have been found to have nefarious effects on the environment and maybe humans. ---research.
When the goal is recycling the water, consideration is made to the content of disease causing microorganisms, like E. Coli, Staph., and a wide miriad of parasites that the current modern world best practices (barely) keep at bay - like tenías, giardia, etc., etc., etc.. And not much is known about wastewater and the spread of viruses (like the COVID one).
Recycled water can be improved, usually at a higher cost of treatment. And always regarding specific targets. The unknowns and unmeasurables are not considered.*
So, yes, not all recycled water is brought to the same quality.
..It was good advise.
EDIT: * nowaday, at research level there are a few million dollar plus equipments that are quite a bit thorough on measuring stuff. And the unknown unknowns can be quite more controlled. But at a legal level things are far from it.
Look for "Portugal: How much of the country’s electricity comes from renewables?" in the bottom quarter.
I'll take your word. Thanks
Except your comment and the post seem to exist in different frames of reference.
Have you made simple mistake on your original comment?
That source is about the use of dried luffa, a cucumber like vegetable.
You commented about
dried sea cucumbers
From the Wikipedia article on sea cucumbers, "they are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body ... found on the sea floor worldwide."
Thus me having asked for a source.
This somehow reminds me of the plastic industry ploy to discredit cork stoppers and thus get wine with plastic stoppers. ---- No. No, the production of cork does not require the killing of the cork oak tree.
Same content on archive.ph.
A study from Stanford says "The cleanest drinking water is recycled".
But the same study points that the engineers discovered that the compounds regulated by the EPA accounted for less than 1% of the harm to the ovary cells. [A test used to assess the overall toxicity of the water samples where] "Ideally, we picked up the effects of chemicals specifically measured by the EPA, as well as those that aren’t".
In a recent study, researchers from the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) questioned the planned development of new nuclear capacities in the energy strategies of the United States and certain Eur...
Researchers from the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) questioned the planned development of new nuclear capacities in the energy strategies of the United States and certain European countries.
The commentary-paper Why investing in new nuclear plants is bad for the climate
...this has been posted here, in this same community. Will delete ..if I can. I have tried deleting (from within Jerboa) but it didn't (obviously..)
Showerloop: Showerloop is a water filtration and purification system that recycles shower water in real time allowing you to shower with hot water for a long time but only use 10 liters of water per shower (normal shower = ~6-10l/min) and a fraction of the ener…
DIY a water filtration and purification system that recycles shower water in real time allowing you to shower with hot water for a long time but only use 10 liters of water per shower.
A lot of people point to trains efficiency as a way forward to minimize the environmental impact of the transportation sector. But are trains and railroad solarpunkable? Or is it just another "all eggs in the same basket" industry?