2008 NOV 24 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to a study from the United States, "The difference in timing between water supply and Urban water demand necessitates water storage. Existing reservoirs were designed based upon hydrologic data from a given historical period, and, given recent evidence for climatic change, may be insufficient to meet demand under future climate change scenarios."

  "The focus Of this study is to present a generally applicable methodology to assess the ability of existing storage to meet urban water demand under present and projected future climatic scenarios, and to determine the effectiveness of storage capacity expansions. Uncertainties in climatic forcing and projected demand scenarios are considered explicitly by the models. The reservoir system in San Diego, California is used as a case study. We find that the climate change scenarios will be more costly to the city than scenarios using historical hydrologic parameters," wrote J.K. Ohara and colleagues ...read more

  2008 NOV 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector account for only 4% of the total production, with wastewater management accounting for accurately 8 to 10% of this contribution. Wastewater disposal and treatment activities, mainly contributes to non-CO2 gases such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)," scientists writing in the journal Clean - Soil Air Water report.

  "Capturing or avoiding these emissions is thus both a concern and an opportunity. The clean development mechanism (CDM) offers an instrument to internalize global climate concerns into the design of wastewater treatment facilities. Properly designed facilities could improve effluent quality and optimize the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, thus ensuring additional revenues to pay for capital, operation and maintenance costs and possibly justify higher levels of wastewater treatment. This document summarizes the experience of the ''Rio Frio CDM project'' in Colombia, as an example of what is achievable through the CDM application in wastewater treatment upgrade in developing countries," wrote A. Meneses and colleagues ...read more

  2008 NOV 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "In response to worldwide increases in the burning of fossil fuels to meet energy demands for electric power generation and transportation, atmospheric CO2 concentrations are currently rising at approximately 0.5% per year and ground-level O-3 values are increasing at a rate of 0.32% per year. Some plants showed positive increases in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but are depressed when exposed to enhanced O-3 air pollution," researchers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia report ...read more