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Can 'water footprinting' help cut the 500 liters of H2O needed to produce a carton of OJ? Carbon trading promotes good behavior by creating a standardized currency representing a verifiable environmental benefit. Payments for watershed services do the same for cutbacks in water pollution, albeit on a smaller scale. Now, the Nature Conservancy and the Coca-Cola Company are experimenting with a new method of "water footprinting" that could do the same for total water use - a key component in the development of a market-based scheme that would promote responsible water usage.

Improvements to Federal Water Use Data Would Increase Understanding of Trends in Power Plant Water Use

A new study published in Nature reveals how biodiversity helps remove excess levels of nutrients that commonly degrade water quality in streams. As the # of species of algae in a stream increases, their greater their geographical distribution and water cleaning capacity.

"As part of the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, chemical dispersants are being utilized on the ocean surface and, for the first time, underwater. Dispersants work like dishwashing detergent - they break up oil into droplets, enabling it to mix more easily with the surrounding water. This presents a trade-off: Mitigating damage to the shoreline and surface means exposing the seafloor and water column to additional oil. This briefing brings together experts on the effects of dispersants to discuss how they work, the ongoing efforts in the Gulf, the toxicological and ecological trade-offs of their use, and the future of dispersant technologies."

Includes a map showing that nearly half of all US shale gas and oil wells are being developed in regions with high to extremely high water stress.

Videos include: - What is the Global Food System? - Land Use Change and Agriculture - Food Security - Water and Agriculture - Climate Change, Agriculture, and NASA

"We often think of rivers as following a given path for the course of its life, but really, the path changes over time as the flow cuts into the earth. The water flows through old and new and back again. In 1944, cartographer Harold Fisk mapped the current Mississippi River. It's the white trail. Then Fisk used old geological maps to display old paths. They're the old colored paths. And what you get is this long run of windy, snake-like things."

Using your zip code discover the good, bad, and ugly (environmental quality air and water) of your environment.

cool...gotta come back and revisit this!

"Use the Interactive Footprint Calculator to find your country and see how it compares to others. See what makes up the biggest components of our water footprint. Watch how the index for species populations move and change over time."

Lots of data - air, water, sediment, and waste management.

"large animals were once ubiquitous across the globe. They shaped the structure and dynamics of ecosystems. Their decline, largely caused by humans through hunting and habitat fragmentation, has far-reaching and often surprising consequences, including changes in vegetation, wildfire frequency, infectious diseases, invasive species, water quality and nutrient cycles."

I've got a pdf file of the actual article from 7/15 Science. Let me know and I'll gladly e-mail a copy to anyone interested.

This map is designed to be used as a base map by marine GIS professionals and as a reference map by anyone interested in ocean data. The base map includes bathymetry, marine water body names, undersea feature names, and derived depth values in meters. Land features include administrative boundaries, cities, inland waters, roads, overlaid on land cover and shaded relief imagery.

You are the BEST, Mike!

UC SANTA BARBARA (US) - Human land-use activity has begun to change the regional water and energy cycles of parts of the Amazon basin. A new study published in the journal Nature also shows ongoing interactions of deforestation, fire, and climate change have the potential to alter carbon storage, rainfall patterns, and river discharge on an even larger scale.

"Streamer is an online map service that lets anyone trace downstream along America's major rivers and streams simply by picking a point on a stream. Streamer will map the route the stream follows. You can also trace upstream using Streamer. Imagine that you're standing along the Mississippi River in New Orleans. You're wondering not only where the river began but also which other streams drained into the Mississippi River before it made its way to your location. With Streamer you can also: locate your area of interest by specifying stream or place names; by entering latitude and longitude coordinates, enter the identification number for a U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging station, find out the names of streams and waterbodies by clicking on them, print maps of your downstream and upstream traces, create concise or detailed reports for your upstream and downstream traces, learn about current or historic streamflow at thousands of locations along America's streams, and find out about the places your stream trace passes through with just a few mouse clicks. "