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Relentless Rise of Two Caribbean Lakes Baffles Scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
National Geographic: On a recent calm day, the surface of Lake Azuéi has no waves, not even any ripples. Pillars of pastel-colored concrete break the still surface, the tops of what once were houses. They are all that's visible of the community that once thrived here.
Alberto Pierre, a skinny, wide-eyed 25-year-old, said the submerged village where he grew up wasn't even near the lake. "The water used to be many kilometers from here."
Lake Azuéi, the largest lake in Haiti, lies about 18 miles east of Port-au-Prince,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Relentless Rise of Two Caribbean Lakes Baffles ScientistsHeaviest rains, hottest temperatures in two decades batter Peru
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
Reuters: The heaviest rains and hottest temperatures in two decades have battered Peru over the past week as weather linked to El Nino caused flooding and landslides that blocked the country's central highway and forced scores from their homes. At least five people have died in weather related accidents since Monday, including four trapped in an unregulated mining pit, said Miguel Yamasaki, an official with state civil defense institute, Indeci. Peru's weather agency, Senamhi, put the country on alert for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Heaviest rains, hottest temperatures in two decades batter PeruSatellite data suggests forest loss is accelerating
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
Reuters: Satellite images suggest tropical forests from the Amazon to the Philippines are disappearing at a far more rapid pace than previously thought, a University of Maryland team of forest researchers say.
The annual rate of deforestation from 1990 to 2010 was 62 percent higher than in the previous decade, and higher than previous estimates, according to a study carried out of satellite maps covering 80 percent of the world’s tropical forests.
The new study questions the United Nations Food and...
Extreme tornado outbreaks have become more common, says study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Most death and destruction inflicted by tornadoes in North America occurs during outbreaks--large-scale weather events that can last one to three days and span huge regions. The largest ever recorded happened in 2011. It spawned 363 tornadoes across the United States and Canada, killing more than 350 people and causing $11 billion in damage.
Now, a new study shows that the average number of tornadoes in these outbreaks has risen since 1954, and that the chance of extreme outbreaks --tornado factories...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Extreme tornado outbreaks have become more common, says studyTanzania Farmers, Pastoralists Launch Forum to Resolve Water Conflicts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
Inter Press Service: At a remote village of Itunundu in Iringa, farmers and pastoralists recently met to discuss the best way to share land resources while charting out a strategy to prevent unnecessary fights among themselves. No one in the village ever imagined that this meeting would ever take place as the two groups had for long considered themselves enemies: they often clashed for water and pastures to feed their animals thus causing deaths and loss of property.
But the real story of that rare occasion was that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tanzania Farmers, Pastoralists Launch Forum to Resolve Water ConflictsEarthquakes linked to shale gas exploration cause house prices fall
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
PhysOrg: Fear of fracking can have negative effects on the UK housing market around shale gas sites, economic researchers have warned. The research team, from the University of Bristol, the London School of Economics and Duke University in North Carolina, carried out a study that found licensing and exploration had minimal impacts on house prices. However, two highly publicised minor earthquakes linked to exploratory fracking near Blackpool in 2011 caused a three to four per cent reduction in house prices...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Earthquakes linked to shale gas exploration cause house prices fallBreeding birds use alligators to protect nests from raccoons, opossums
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Breeding birds that nest above alligators for protection from mammalian predators may also provide a source of food for the alligators living in the Everglades, Florida, according to a study published March 2, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lucas Nell from the University of Florida and colleagues.
For many bird species, nest predation is the greatest threat to raising chicks. Long-legged wading birds, like herons, egrets, ibises, storks, and spoonbills may choose nesting sites above...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Breeding birds use alligators to protect nests from raccoons, opossumsGroundwater from coastal aquifers is a better source for desalination than seawater
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have determined that saline groundwater from coastal aquifers is a better alternative water source than seawater for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination due to reduced membrane fouling and pre-treatment costs. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology and conducted by researchers at the BGU Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, the BGU Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences and the Israel Geological Survey....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Groundwater from coastal aquifers is a better source for desalination than seawaterOverfishing increases fluctuations in aquatic ecosystems
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Intense fishing of primarily larger fish not only makes fish populations smaller, it changes the remaining fish. When the fish which have a chance to reproduce before being caught are smaller and have reached sexual maturity earlier, these characteristics are passed down to future generations. In many fish populations targeted by intense fishing, e.g., Atlantic cod across the west coast of North America, the sizes of fish have been observed to have decreased and the age of sexual maturity to have...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Overfishing increases fluctuations in aquatic ecosystemsInvigorating Japanese energy and environmental policy five years after Fukushima
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Japanese researchers call for increased interdisciplinarity and internationalization in Japanese energy and environment research to provide effective scientific advice and invigorate Japanese energy and environmental policy five years after Fukushima. In less than two weeks, it will be five years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami killed over 15,000 people and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. While Japan has implemented new energy and environment polices after the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Invigorating Japanese energy and environmental policy five years after Fukushima