A #SilentSunday in the coastal marshes.

"Water generates electrical charge 10 times stronger than expected"

#Water #Energy

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/03/12/water-generates-electrical-charge-10-times-stronger-than-expected/

There's a log in the pond in the local botanical gardens that is a favorite sunning spot for turtles. Here's the first one I have seen this year.

Several years ago we prepared a comprehensive assessment for California of the risks of fracking for #water resources, concluding it wasn't the amount of water needed but the massive threat to groundwater from contamination.
Texas is proving the point. Excellent article here.

https://powering-the-planet.ghost.io/texas-flood-a-dirty-water-war-in-the-texas-desert/

#China: Current #diets have a much higher grey water #footprint than more #plant-based diets. Aquatic foods & #livestock contribute only 18% to food intake but 71% to the #water footprint. #Pork is the largest contributor at 30%, followed by #beef at 27%… (1/2) hdl.handle.net/11370/254e1c...

Environmental footprints of fo...

"‘The sewage scandal ends now’: UK water company fines to be used to clean up rivers"

#UK #UnitedKingdom #Rivers #Pollution #Water #Environment

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/09/the-sewage-scandal-ends-now-uk-water-company-fines-to-be-used-to-clean-up-rivers

"Mystery after River Ogmore turns milky blue"

#UK #UnitedKingdom #Wales #Water #Pollution

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2025-03-06/mystery-after-river-turns-milky-blue

#GolfCourses Use More Land Globally Than #Solar or #WindEnergy

Story by Mihai Andrei, February 25, 2025

"The land use of #RenewableEnergy is often criticized in public and political debates. However, a new study shows that something as frivolous as golf courses use up more land globally than solar or wind energy. Golf courses, which often serve a small number of #AffluentPeople, are also terrible for the #environment and use up a lot of #water and resources.

Competition for space

"The lush greenery you see on golf courses is a well-maintained lie. Golf courses use enormous amounts of water — sometimes in regions already facing shortages. Maintaining that flawless grass also means heavy reliance on #fertilizers and #pesticides, which seep into local waterways, harming# wildlife and #polluting #ecosystems. To make it even worse, golf courses are apparently competing with renewable energy for space.

"Every acre we allocate to one use is an acre less for another. Currently, more than 38,400 golf courses span the globe, occupying vast stretches of valuable land. Surprisingly, researchers from Germany’s Forschungszentrum Jülich found that countries (especially richer countries like the US, the UK, and Canada) dedicate far more land to golf courses than to #SolarFarms or #WindTurbines.

"Let’s put this into perspective. If you take the golf courses in just the top ten golfing countries and convert them into renewable energy, you’d get an extra 842 gigawatts (GW) of solar or 659 GW of wind capacity. And to put that into perspective, that’s more than the entire quantity of renewable energy these countries produce and are forecast to have for a few years.

Replacing golf courses with something more useful isn’t a new idea, it’s already happening in some areas. In Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, an entire golf course now hosts 260,000 solar panels, generating 125 gigawatt-hours annually. Meanwhile, in South Korea, 'screen golf,' indoor simulated golfing experiences, provide a popular, space-efficient alternative to traditional courses."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/general/golf-courses-use-more-land-globally-than-solar-or-wind-energy/ar-AA1zHvIE
#Renewables #RenewablesNow #GolfCourses #WaterIsLife #Rewilding #WindTurbines

Daily upload - Mar 6 - Water abstract, Vallejo CA 01484 (2024)

A short(ish) thread on today's SCOTUS (5-4) decision saying EPA cannot require cities to limit discharge of sewage they dump into the ocean. This decision, as noted in the dissent by the four women justices, rests on an unsubstantiated theory invented by the #SCOTUS conservative majority. The dissent says "The Court offers nothing to substantiate [their] proposition, and it is wrong as a matter of ordinary English".

But there's more. The majority, in defending their decision to take away a tool EPA can use to reduce #water pollution, offers the following justification. "If the EPA does its work, our holding should have no adverse effect on water quality." That's a hole you could drive a massive uncontrolled sewage discharge through given the Trump EPA.

In dissent, four justices say: "taking a tool away from EPA may make it harder for the Agency to issue the permits that municipalities and businesses need in order for their discharges to be lawful."

In short, this decision will make it harder for EPA to achieve the objectives of the Clean Water Act and easier for cities and industries to continue to sidestep water pollution regulations.

Here’s the decision: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-753_f2bh.pdf

Privatization is a stupid idea (and destroys economies)

https://youtu.be/o3ewDF5rkfI