Water Issues

BP Accuses Halliburton of Destroying Evidence of Wrongdoing in Gulf Oil Spill

BP Accuses Halliburton of Destroying Evidence of Wrongdoing in Gulf Oil Spill

It is coming to fists again over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This time, however, it isn't the people of the gulf against big oil, it is the oil companies against each other. BP

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Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to be Protected by the World’s Largest Marine Reserve

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to be Protected by the World’s Largest Marine Reserve

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is an incredibly biodiverse spot that is home to countless forms of sea life - and now the Australian government has proposed plans to protect this vital site by turning

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‘Power Showers’ Are Worse For the Environment Than Baths

‘Power Showers’ Are Worse For the Environment Than Baths

For the years, the argument for taking a shower over a bath has made sense: showers use much less water, therefore they are better for the environment as well as your utility bill. However a new study

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Fracking Ban in the Delaware River Basin Preserved After Meeting to Lift Ban is Cancelled

Fracking Ban in the Delaware River Basin Preserved After Meeting to Lift Ban is Cancelled

Thanks to a petition put together by CREDO Action, a grassroots political advocacy group, the ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas (usually referred to as fracking) in the Delaware River Basin is

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Study Says Clothing Is Among Top Culprits of High Household Water Usage

Study Says Clothing Is Among Top Culprits of High Household Water Usage

Your home may be filled with energy- and water- efficient appliances, but a new study says that no matter how much you may be saving, the harm is already done. According to a paper published in the

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Researchers Find Carbon Nanotubes Have Harmful Effects on Waterways and Algae Health

Researchers Find Carbon Nanotubes Have Harmful Effects on Waterways and Algae Health

Carbon nanotubes are becoming increasingly popular in modern electronics -- they are more electrically conductive than copper, lighter than plastic, stronger than steel, harder than a diamond and thinner

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Solar Cucumber Harvests Fresh Drinking Water From the Ocean

Solar Cucumber Harvests Fresh Drinking Water From the Ocean

The 'Solar Cucumber' is an innovative desalination plant design with the potential to help water-starved communities in coastal environments. The solar-powered desalination unit turns seawater to

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San Francisco to Turn Old Limo Terminal Into a Sea Lion-Friendly Waterfront Park

San Francisco to Turn Old Limo Terminal Into a Sea Lion-Friendly Waterfront Park

The biologically sound wetland remediation project at Pier 27 demonstrates the port's commitment to the stewardship of waterfront historic resources. The project also has the potential to be a harbinger

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Three-Eyed Fish Caught Near Argentinian Nuclear Power Plant

Three-Eyed Fish Caught Near Argentinian Nuclear Power Plant

In an episode of The Simpsons, nuclear power plant owner Mr. Burns tries to justify the existence of Blinky, a three-eyed fish caught in the local river, by saying it is the next step in evolution and

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ChonGae Sunken Stone Garden Opens Up an Underground River in Seoul

ChonGae Sunken Stone Garden Opens Up an Underground River in Seoul

For 40 years, the Cheonggyecheon stream was covered with pavement and used as a road. Only those who saw the waterbody before it was filled in and covered over even knew it was a stream until the early

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Synthetic Clothing May Be Causing “Microplastic” Pollution in Our Oceans

Synthetic Clothing May Be Causing “Microplastic” Pollution in Our Oceans

Could your washing machine be polluting the world's oceans? If your clothes are made out of synthetic fibers such as acrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, or polyester, it could be.

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Eliodomestico: Solar Terracotta Water Filter Distills 5 Liters of Water a Day

Eliodomestico: Solar Terracotta Water Filter Distills 5 Liters of Water a Day

Diamanti's solar powered water filter is designed to provide drinking water for families in developing countries. Eliodomestico is a solar still that operates a bit like an upside-down coffee maker. At

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Towering Fog Garden Harvests Water From Thin Air

Towering Fog Garden Harvests Water From Thin Air

Fog is moisture. And in some places in the world, it's the only kind of moisture. This is true in the Atacama Desert -- the world's driest desert -- which runs along the west coast of South America

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Groundbreaking Elastec Oil Skimmer Awarded $1 Million in Oil Cleanup X Challenge

Groundbreaking Elastec Oil Skimmer Awarded $1 Million in Oil Cleanup X Challenge

When BP's Deepwater Horizon well started gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, it soon became clear that neither BP nor the US government were equipped to deal with such a disaster. Next time

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Power Pipe Saves Energy by Warming Incoming Water With Waste Heat

Power Pipe Saves Energy by Warming Incoming Water With Waste Heat

Power Pipe is a brilliant, easy-to-install heat exchanger that can save a bundle on home energy costs by using hot drain water to heat incoming cold water. Statistics from the U.S. Environmental

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Sarvajal’s Solar Powered Water ATM Franchises Provide Clean Water in India

Sarvajal’s Solar Powered Water ATM Franchises Provide Clean Water in India

Sarvajal, which is run by Piramal Water Private, was started back in 2008 and is a limited for-profit social enterprise with the mission of providing affordable, accessible and pure water for all. The

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Three Mile Oil Slick Threatens Wildlife After Ship Slams into a New Zealand Coral Reef

Three Mile Oil Slick Threatens Wildlife After Ship Slams into a New Zealand Coral Reef

Oil from a cargo ship that struck a reef off the coast of New Zealand last week has started to wash ashore on the popular Mount Maunganui beach today. The ship was going 17 knots when it crashed into a

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Amazing Osorb Chemical Sponge Removes Contaminants From Water

Amazing Osorb Chemical Sponge Removes Contaminants From Water

A miracle chemical sponge could be the answer to cleaning up contaminated water and eliminating harmful toxins from the environment. A team led by chemist Paul Edmiston discovered the Osorb material,

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Swedish Student Discovers a New Way To Purify Textile Effluent

Swedish Student Discovers a New Way To Purify Textile Effluent

Dying is one of the most environmentally destructive parts of textile production, sending hormone-disrupting chemicals into waterways in big textile-producing countries like China, India and Bangladesh.

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GIVEAWAY: Enter to Win a Sloan AQUS Grey Water Toilet System That Recycles Your Sink Water (Worth $189)!

GIVEAWAY: Enter to Win a Sloan AQUS Grey Water Toilet System That Recycles Your Sink Water (Worth $189)!

Win a Sloan AQUS Grey Water System! Saving water is one of the most important things we can do to ensure environmental and social sustainability for generations to come - but while many of us try to be

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EcoCenter: San Francisco’s First Off-Grid Commercial Building is Up and Running

EcoCenter: San Francisco’s First Off-Grid Commercial Building is Up and Running

San Francisco's EcoCenter is the first commercial building in the city to be 100 percent off the grid, and Inhabitat recently toured it as part of this year's Architecture and the City Festival. Even in

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Generous Water Fountain Gently Fills Your Bottle to the Brim

Generous Water Fountain Gently Fills Your Bottle to the Brim

We often ignore water fountains, passing them up for sweet bottled beverages packed into vending machines. So to give an old design some much needed love and attention, Poletic Studio has created the

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Sloan’s Innovative AQUS Grey Water Toilet System Recycles Your Sink Water

Sloan’s Innovative AQUS Grey Water Toilet System Recycles Your Sink Water

One of the oddest quirks in our homes is that we flush toilets with water good enough for drinking -- and toilets consume on average 40% of a household’s water use. To address this issue Sloan Valve

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The Danish Design Center Shop Showcases the Best in Eco-Friendly Scandinavian Design

The Danish Design Center Shop Showcases the Best in Eco-Friendly Scandinavian Design

Normann-Copenhagen’s Mormor tableware collection is available in white and blue, and it is made from low-water use ceramic and renewable cork. Fjällräven's classic bags are very durable and

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New Material Made From Recycled Glass Cleans Up Polluted Groundwater

New Material Made From Recycled Glass Cleans Up Polluted Groundwater

Even though you might send all your used glass containers to the recycling center, only a fraction of them actually get remade into glass. A lot of glass gets shipped to China for processing and ends up

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New Material Cleans Polluted Water by Acting Like a Toxin Magnet

New Material Cleans Polluted Water by Acting Like a Toxin Magnet

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a material that they call SLUG-26 which acts like a pollutant magnet when tossed into contaminated waterways. SLUG -- perhaps a play on the California school's

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Crazy Water Capsule Concept Could Keep Flooding Victims Dry and Comfortable

Crazy Water Capsule Concept Could Keep Flooding Victims Dry and Comfortable

Once transported to the floating capsule via a hot air dirigible, flood victims (albeit probably the most privileged of them) are instantly immersed in a futuristic setting. It's not an especially large

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The “Big Kahuna”: Another Giant Piece of Glacier Set to Break Off Rendering Researchers “Speechless”

The “Big Kahuna”: Another Giant Piece of Glacier Set to Break Off Rendering Researchers “Speechless”

Don't believe that climate change is real? This time last year, a piece of ice 4 times the size of Manhattan broke off the Petermann Glacier in Greenland, spurring a congressional hearing on climate

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Whale-Shaped Floating Garden Cleans the World’s Rivers

Whale-Shaped Floating Garden Cleans the World’s Rivers

Vincent Callebaut, visionary behind the Lilypad and Dragonfly, has created a whale-shaped floating garden designed to drift through the world's rivers while purifying their waters. The Physalia is a

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