River Network Blogs

In the Unites States, approximately 520 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - equivalent to 13% of the nation's total electricity consumption - are used each year to pump, heat and treat water. Cutting down water use in and around your home can help conserve water resources (also helps cuts down your water bill), conserves energy use (again saving you money) and reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with the energy used to move, heat and treat the water you use. Measure your water, energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings potential with the Alliance for Water Efficiency's great new website and tool, Home Water Works, launched last week. Click the title, image or here to view the entire post.

It is 2012, a full 40 years since Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, better known as the Clean Water Act. The bill was vetoed by then President Nixon, but overridden by a Congress tired of watching rivers catch on fire and raw sewage flushing into community waterways. Today it seems appropriate to take stock of how far we have come thanks to this landmark legislation, how far we have to go and perhaps some ideas on how to get there.

So to get this conversation going I offer, Forty Thoughts for Forty Years:

Join us on Wednesday, February 15 at Noon eastern/11 central/10 mountain/9 pacific for a River Network webinar on a fundamental tool of the Clean Water Act – water quality standards.

This week the US Environmental Protection Agency released a very cool new interactive website/tool that allows users to track the largest greenhouse gas emitters - from power plants to industrial factories - at the national and state level. The tool is based off of 2010 emissions data collected from over 6,700 facilities across the US that account for approximately 80% of National greenhouse gas emissions. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

Five Stories and Resources You Don't Want to Miss From the Last Week

Sackett v. EPA Argued at Supreme Court on Monday

The effects of climate change are vast. As are the means by which climate change adaptation can happen. Unfortunately, climate change can be a touchy, scary and even angering subject for some folks. So when communicating the issues around climate change adaptation, advocates must tailor their messaging to resonate with the specific audience they are targeting - or, "bring climate change home." One unarguably neat new resource that can help you literally bring the effects of climate change home is NRDC's new interactive Extreme Weather Event map. Click the title, image or here to view the full post.

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft document detailing new recreational water quality criteria for bacteria. Comments on the draft document are due February 21, 2012.