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Current Water Demands Are Not Sustainable

Climate change will have a significant impact on the sustainability of water supplies in the coming decades. A new analysis, performed by consulting firm Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), examined the effects of global warming on water supply and demand in the contiguous United States. The study found that more than 1,100 counties — one-third of all counties in the lower 48 — will face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming. More than 400 of these counties will face extremely high risks of water shortages.

Water Supply Sustainability Overview for Nevada

Nevada: Without Climate Change Impacts

Nevada: With Climate Change Impacts

The report uses publicly available water use data across the United States and climate projections from a set of models used in recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) work to evaluate withdrawals related to renewable water supply.  The report finds that 14 states face an extreme or high risk to water sustainability, or are likely to see limitations on water availability as demand exceeds supply by 2050. These areas include parts of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In particular, in the Great Plains and Southwest United States, water sustainability is at extreme risk.

Read or download the document at Natural Resource Defense Council

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing changes to analysis and sampling test procedures in wastewater regulations. These changes will provide increased flexibility to the regulated community and laboratories in their selection of analytical methods (test procedures) for use in Clean Water Act programs. The changes include proposal of EPA methods and methods published by voluntary consensus standard bodies, such as ASTM International and the Standard Methods Committee and updated versions of currently approved methods. EPA is also proposing to add certain methods reviewed under the alternate test procedures program. Further, EPA is proposing changes to the current regulations to clarify the process for EPA approval for use of alternate procedures for nationwide and Regional use. In addition, EPA is proposing minimum quality control requirements to improve consistency across method versions; corrections to previously approved methods; and changes to sample collection, preservation, and holding time requirements. Finally, EPA is proposing changes to how EPA cites methods in three effluent guideline regulations. DATES: EPA must receive your comments on this proposal on or before November 22, 2010.

Read the complete proposal:

The U.S. Department of Energy has distributed the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) recently published IEA Wind Energy Annual Report 2009, which is now available for free download. The report presents the latest information on domestic and international wind generation capacity, national incentive programs, progress toward national objectives, benefits to national economies, research and development results, and issues affecting turbines, market growth, and costs of projects. The Executive Summary synthesizes the information presented from IEA’s member countries, cooperative research tasks, the European Commission, and the European Wind Energy Association. Read the Executive Summary

It’s not only P2 Week, but the 20th anniversary celebration of the Pollution Prevention Act. I hate to say it, but I’ve been in the P2 business long enough to remember when the law was created (I even had a bit of role in helping create it…but that’s another story). I remember the endless discussions on definitions, the role of P2 in regulations, the importance of P2 accounting, and even debates on whether it should be called “pollution prevention” at all.

Back in the day, P2 was an idea that received a lot of attention and a lot of discussion, but there wasn’t a heck of a lot of activity on the ground that one could point to and say “Here’s P2 in action!” In fact, when I began my environmental career by studying P2 in the chemical industry, we were hard-pressed to come up with actual examples.

It’s a sign of the success of the P2 Act and P2 programs around the country that the situation has totally reversed. P2 may not be the endless gab-fest it was two decades ago, but source reduction activities are happening all over the place, and really having an impact.

The generation of hazardous wastes, TRI wastes, and priority chemical wastes have all decreased, even as the economy has grown. Compliance and enforcement activities have driven P2 solutions, and so has EPA’s P2 grants to states. Programs like Energy Star, Design for the Environment and EPEAT increasingly find themselves using “billions” rather than “millions” to describe their impact on waste streams and cost savings.

With all that’s been accomplished, though, I can’t help feeling that we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. If companies, communities and consumers make a concerted effort at eliminating wastes at the source, then perhaps the theme of P2 Week in 2020 can be the arrival of the zero-waste society, one where greenhouse gas emissions, toxic exposures in the home and workplace, waste disposal in landfills and underground wells, and nutrient dumping in our nation’s waters are all a rapidly fading memory.

Let’s hope so.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will phase down services the agency offers under its Climate Leaders program over the coming year and encourage participating companies to transition to state or non-governmental programs. Factoring into the agency’s plans for the program are the many new developments in regulatory and voluntary programs that address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including the first-ever mandatory greenhouse gas reporting rule that took effect on January 1, 2010. In addition, several states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) now offer climate programs that are now robust enough to serve companies in the Climate Leaders program.

As EPA phases down services the agency provides under the program – including technical assistance and setting greenhouse gas reduction goals – the agency will also take steps to assist the transition of the partners into non-federal programs that will allow them to go above and beyond mandatory reporting requirements to meet their goals. The agency will work with these programs to continue to stay involved in important initiatives related to corporate greenhouse gas accounting and to support companies’ actions to reduce their GHG emissions, in particular through other EPA programs such as Energy Star and the Green Power Partnership. The agency will also seek new ways to promote, support and recognize climate leadership.

EPA is confident that this transition will allow the agency to realign resources to better assist companies in learning from the emissions data collected under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.  This data will facilitate the exchange and application of best practices and innovative technologies across a wide range of industries.  EPA’s other voluntary programs will remain in place and continue to work with partner organizations to reduce emissions and increase sustainability.

Climate Leaders was started in 2002 as a voluntary program for organizations to complete a corporate-wide greenhouse gas inventory, set a reduction goal and meet that goal. 

More information: http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/