Tuesday, September 30, 2008

New report: water use and the Great Lakes

A new report has been issued by the USGS : Consumptive Water-Use Coefficients for the Great Lakes Basin and Climatically Similar Areas.

Abstract: Consumptive water use is the portion of water withdrawn(for a particular use) that is evaporated, transpired, incorporated into products or crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment. This report, which is organized by water-use categories, includes consumptive-use coefficients for the Great Lakes Basin (including Canada) and for areas climatically similar to the Great Lakes Basin. This report also contains an annotated bibliography of consumptive water-use coefficients. Selected references are listed for consumptive-use data from elsewhere in the world.

full text: from USGS

Web resource: freshwater ecosystems map

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World, (FEOW) provides a new global biogeographic regionalization of the Earth's freshwater biodiversity. Covering virtually all freshwater habitats on Earth, this first-ever ecoregion map, together with associated species data, is a useful tool for underpinning global and regional conservation planning efforts, particularly to identify outstanding and imperiled freshwater systems; for serving as a logical framework for large-scale conservation strategies; and for providing a global-scale knowledge base for increasing freshwater biogeographic literacy.

Presented by the Nature Conservancy, with several major corporate sponsors (including Coca Cola and US AID).

link: http://www.feow.org/index.php

Web resource: your local drinking water

Each year by July 1 you should receive in the mail a short report (consumer confidence report, or drinking water quality report) from your water supplier that tells where your water comes from and what's in it.

link: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html