Moina Spooner, The Conversation and Ina Skosana, The Conversation
Natural disasters associated with climate change put people at risk of injury and death, and alter the prevalence and distribution of illnesses and infectious diseases.
The Carlsbad Desalination Plant in Southern California is the largest such plant in the Western Hemisphere, providing 50 million gallons of desalinated seawater per day.
Reed Kaestner via Getty Images
We need a radical rethink of water resource planning. Strategies should include reusing water and moving water physically to water-scarce areas.
Portugal has seen little rain since October 2021. By the end of January, 45 per cent of the country was enduring ‘severe’ or ‘extreme’ drought conditions.
(AP Photo/Sergio Azenha)
If the world overshoots its climate targets, drought could cause dryland areas to expand by a quarter and encompass half the Earth’s land area, threatening lives and livelihoods.
Academic research can have a direct impact on people's lives. It's crucial to come together to deal with problems like climate change. If we don't, the poor and vulnerable will suffer the most.
Homes overlook a forest in the wildland-urban interface in Arizona.
Marius von Essen
Long before climate change was evident, California began planning a system of canals and reservoirs to carry water from the mountains to drier farms and cities. It’s no longer enough.
Some of North America’s groundwater is so old, it fell as rain before humans arrived here thousands of years ago.
Maria Fuchs via Getty Images
As surface water diminishes in the Western US, people are drilling deeper wells – and tapping into older groundwater that can take thousands of years to replenish naturally.
In some drought-stricken parts of the Southwest, water arrives by truck.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Cities and farmers in the Southwest are resorting to unsustainable strategies to pull in more water. Iran has tried many of these strategies and shows how they can go wrong.
New technologies that can clean salty or polluted water could help meet growing water needs.
Science Photo Library/Getty Images
Desalination can help meet growing water needs globally. But toxic wastewater and inefficiency hamper current techniques. A new approach uses custom membranes to clean water more easily.
Pipelines, dams, gadgets: does water management really need to be all about control and power? Adopting less masculine ideas and working with nature may be more prudent.
An orchard near Kettleman City in California’s San Joaquin Valley on April 2, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Debra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara and Scott Jasechko, University of California, Santa Barbara
The US has one of the highest groundwater use rates in the world. When wells run dry, households may opt to conserve water, find new sources or sell and move.
Futures won’t affect whether there’s water in the hose.
Bettmann/Getty Images
The world’s first futures market for water launched in California in December. Two commodities experts explain how it works, what the potential problems are and why there’s no reason to freak out.
This is not an imaginary future dystopia. It’s a scientific projection of Australia under 3°C of global warming – a future we must both strenuously try to avoid, but also prepare for.
Paul and Becky Rogers converted 14 acres of land in Kent County, Mich. to habitat that supports pollinators, songbirds and wildlife.
USDA/Flickr
Associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and interim Director of the Future Water research institute at the University of Cape Town, University of Cape Town
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science and African Climate and Development Initiative Research Chair, University of Cape Town