Water notes

For anyone watching the tragic situation on the gulf coast, the critical need for clean drinking water has been made crystal clear. It reminds us that the role of technology in providing, preserving, repairing and securing water supplies is an important one, as many have recognized (example: see the Sensicore funding announced earlier this week).

While this week's events are dramatic and heartbreaking, they are not isolated. Broader global and national trends on water are just as problematic. Here are some other recent water-related headlines:

• The global area affected by drought has doubled since the 1970s.
• Las Vegas is struggling to find enough water to support its growth.
• Choked storm drains (in part, blocked up by plastic bags) are blamed by authorities for floods in western India that left more than 1,000 people dead.
• In the US, water mains break more than 200,000 times per year, and an average of 30% of all water is lost to leaks on its way to the tap. In NYC last week, a water main break left 5,000 people without water for 16 hours.
  
• Plans are in place to spend more than $20B cleaning up the Great Lakes.
• A San Francisco city audit found that not enough is being done to protect the security of the city's water supply.

Water and wastewater technology has a strong potential role to play in all of the above and many more stories, and in addressing broader water resource and usage trends...


[PS: Another reminder today, donations in support of Katrina relief can be made here.]