#waterresources — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #waterresources, aggregated by home.social.
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Record-low water levels at Lake Velence, Hungary
#Drought #Lakes #WaterResources
▶️ 1 new picture from EU Space https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Record-low_water_levels_at_Lake_Velence%2C_Hungary_%28Copernicus_2026-08-20%29.webp
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Where The Water Once Flowed - Rivers And Lakes Dry Up As Droughts Take Toll
(Surreal images of scorched landscapes where water once flowed, as severe droughts lead to dwindling water supplies around the world.)
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https://www.reuters.com/pictures/where-water-once-flowed-rivers-lakes-dry-up-droughts-take-toll-2026-08-14/ <-- shared media article
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[damn!]
#water #hydrology #hydrography #waterresources #rivers #lakes #photojournalism #drought #climatechange #extremeweather #heatwave #temperature #watershortage #global #risk #hazard #infrastructure #watermanagement #global #impacts #watersecurity #humanimpacts #publichealth -
Tasmania inquiry to weigh costs, benefits of new AI data centres
By Lucy MacDonaldWith communities around the world grappling with the spread of AI data centres, the Tasmanian Greens have set up an inquiry to examine "what, if any, economic benefit" they will bring to the state.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/ai-data-centre-inquiry-tasmanian-greens/107050792
#DataCentres #AI #AIEthics #StateandTerritoryParliament #StateandTerritoryGovernment #WaterResources #EnergyPolicy #LucyMacDonald
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Wet winter sees River Murray roar with unexpected flows and life
By Jackson ByrneWet winter conditions across southern Australia have brought increased flows into South Australia's River Murray.
#WaterResources #WaterSupply #Rivers #MurrayDarlingBasin #EnvironmentalManagement #Environment #EnvironmentalImpacts #RegionalCommunities #ClimateChange #JacksonByrne
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Adelaide waterfalls roar to life as reservoirs receive decade-high deluge
By Malcolm SuttonIn scenes reminiscent of tropical Queensland, waterfalls in the Adelaide Hills have been whipped into raging torrents as reservoirs receive 18 billion litres of water in just 24 hours.
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Illegal dam on NSW blueberry farm attracts $130k in fines
By Samuel O'Brien and David ClaughtonThe NSW Land and Environment Court fines two Mid North Coast blueberry farmers $100,000 for building an illegal dam, but they will not have to demolish it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-06/bucca-blueberry-farmers-fined-for-illegal-dam/107003136
#WaterResources #AgriculturalandFarmingPractice #Courts #AgriculturalCrops #EnvironmentalImpacts #SamuelOBrien #DavidClaughton
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Enhancements To The USGS Landsat Level 2 Surface Temperature And Emissivity Product For Collection3 Reprocessing
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115563 <-- shared paper
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H/T @terry Sohl | USGS EROS Science Branch Chief
“HIGHLIGHTS:
• C3 advances Landsat TIR atmospheric correction, emissivity correction, and uncertainty estimates.
• C3 enables global surface temperature products, including polar regions.
• C3 retrievals improve accuracy and consistency across validation sites.
• Split window and single channel methods diverge at extreme temperature conditions.
• C3 and Landsat 10 support multi-decadal climate monitoring.
ABSTRACT: The Landsat program provides the longest continuous global record of thermal infrared observations of the Earth's surface, underpinning critical applications in climate monitoring, water resources, ecosystem dynamics, urban heat analysis, and natural hazard assessment. The release of a global inventory of Landsat Collection 2 Level 2 surface temperature products by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) marked a major milestone in operational provision of Landsat thermal infrared analysis-ready data. Ongoing validations and community uses of Collection 2 have identified opportunities to further improve accuracy, uncertainty characterization, and emissivity correction across diverse atmospheric and surface conditions. In preparation for the planned Landsat Collection 3 reprocessing of the Landsat data record in the late 2020s, the USGS is implementing a coordinated set of enhancements to the Level 2 surface temperature products. These include revised emissivity estimation that leverages external datasets, improved atmospheric characterization and uncertainty propagation, expanded dynamic range for high temperature targets, consideration of split window atmospheric correction algorithm for Landsat 8 and 9, and decoupling of thermal infrared processing from visible to shortwave infrared constraints to enable surface temperature retrievals under low or no solar illumination conditions. These changes are designed to improve product quality and consistency across the Landsat record. Beyond near-term performance gains, the Collection 3 design establishes a scalable processing architecture to accommodate the expanded spectral and radiometric measurement capabilities of the forthcoming Landsat 10 mission. By preserving continuity across the Landsat 4–9 record while enabling future algorithm evolution, Landsat Collection 3 will provide a foundation for long-term, multi-decadal Earth system thermal infrared observations…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #satellite #remotesening #earthobservation #Landsat #thermalinfrared #TIR #surface #temperature #emissivity #thermal #infrared #analysisreadydata #Collection2 #Collection3 #opendata #atmosphericcorrection #global #climate #monitoring #waterresources #ecosystems #dynamics #urbanheat #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #naturalhazards #updates #EROS #USGS
@USGS EROS | @USGS -
Drying rivers threaten nuclear power plants and hinder European rice cultivation
Drying river levels pose risks to nuclear power plant operations and disrupt rice farming in Europe, highlighting concerns over water resource management and its impact on energy and agriculture sectors.
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Identifying Agricultural Consumptive-Use Patterns To Support Adaptive Water Management In California’s Santa Clara Valley Via Remote Sensing And Machine Learning
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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000416 <-- shared paper
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H/T @Guillaume Wright | Executive Editor, PLOS
“💧 With drought [and high temperatures] gripping many areas of the world right now... [the H/T] wanted to highlight a new paper in PLOS Water this week with a very timely focus on hydroclimatic stresses and what can be done to mitigate this through water management practices when it comes to agriculture.
[The authors] investigate[d] adaptive water management practices in California’s Santa Clara Valley via remote sensing and machine learning techniques. They [found] good evidence for use of customized agricultural water-management plans for irrigation monitoring, conservation planning, and adaptive water management in groundwater-dependent regions such as is found in California…”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #California #SantaClara #SantaClaraValley #custom #watermanagement #practices #waterresources #agriculture #remotesensing #spatialanalysis #machinelearning #earthobservation #AI #planning #wateruse #efficiency #water #hydrology #irrigation #conservation #adaptivewatermanagement #model #modeling #drought #extremeweather #hydroclimate #stress #crop #cropland #evapotranspiration #ET #NDVI #PRISM #precipitation #rainfall #watermanagementplan #groundwater -
A National-Scale Database Of Groundwater Level Data For Switzerland
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07353-6 <-- shared paper
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H/T @RaoulCollenteur | Groundwater Hydrologist at Collenteur HydroConsult GmbH
“Looking for a ready-to-use FAIR dataset with groundwater levels, signatures, and meteorological drivers to test new models and analysis methods to learn from groundwater level data? Why not try [the authors’] new Swiss Groundwater Database with almost 1,000 piezometers in diverse climatological and hydrogeological settings within Switzerland? 💡
💧 Long groundwater level time series with frequent measurements
💧 Meteorological drivers included
💧Unique dataset in terms of hydrogeological data in an alpine setting
… [They] hope [that they] can develop the database in the future with other variables (i.e., groundwater temperature, spring discharge, etc.) and welcome additions and collaborations to make this happen. 🌊…”
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“Groundwater is a vital component of the global supply of freshwater, playing a critical role for human populations, agriculture, and ecosystems. Due to the complex interactions between groundwater, surface water, climate, and human activity, these systems are frequently studied using advanced data analysis and modeling techniques. The effectiveness of these methods is generally enhanced by the availability and quality of data. In Switzerland, the focus area of this study, groundwater data is fragmented and lacks a standardized nationwide compilation. Consequently, the process of conducting nationwide studies with substantial sample sizes is both resource-intensive and time-consuming. In this paper, [they] introduce the Swiss Groundwater Database, a comprehensive compilation of groundwater time series and associated metadata throughout Switzerland. The current database consists of groundwater level data from 985 monitoring wells, which were completed with additional static and time-varying variables. The environmental characteristics and climate indices were compiled and determined for each monitoring well. The database is designed to facilitate and support large-sample hydrological research related to groundwater in Switzerland and beyond…”
#water #hydrography #database #GIS #spatial #mapping #groundwater #Switzerland #FAIR #SwissGroundwaterDatabase #opendata #hydrogeology #meteorology #weather #climate #alpine #waterresources #agriculture #ecosystems #humanimpacts #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #dataanalysis #nationwide #metadata #monitoring #wells
@Federal Office for the Environment FOEN | @Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss -
📰 Drought Conditions Persist in NC Despite Recent Rain
💧 Recent rainfall has improved drought conditions across parts of North Carolina, especially in central and northeastern regions, but state officials say many areas remain affected by long-term dryness.
🏞️ Reservoirs, groundwater supplies, and several lakes are still below normal levels following an extended drought period.
🚰 State leaders are urging residents and water systems to continue conservation efforts to help protect drinking water supplies and support recovery of critical water resources statewide.
#NCWx #Drought #ClimateResilience #Environment #Sustainability #WaterResources #WaterConservation
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Fifth-generation farm at a standstill due to contamination
By Emily SmithThe future of Kate Tucker’s family farm looks as murky as its waterways, which face a raft of contamination issues, but poor environmental regulation has left her with few options.
#WaterPollution #WaterResources #WaterSupply #LivestockFarming #AgriculturalandFarmingPractice #StateandTerritoryGovernment #LocalGovernment #EmilySmith
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Unraveling The Drivers Of Water Shortage Across Spatial Scales And Sectors In Colorado's West Slope River Basins
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008137 <-- shared paper
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['sorry' about your Kentucky Bluegrass, almonds, etc... /s]
H/T Sai Veena Sunkara | Postdoctoral Associate
“…Colorado’s West Slope basins provide nearly 70% of the inflows to Lake Powell and are also essential to communities, agriculture, industry, hydropower, and downstream Colorado River users.
To examine the wide range of possible futures, [they] simulated 2.1 million years, defining 20,000 plausible scenarios applying changes to streamflow, snowmelt timing, drought persistence, and agricultural, municipal, and industrial water demand.
A key finding is that there is 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀. The most influential drivers vary by basin, sector, and water user. In some areas, shortages are driven primarily by persistent low-flow conditions or changing snowmelt timing. In others, increasing municipal, industrial, or irrigation demand plays a larger role. This suggests that adaptation strategies must be tailored to specific basins and users rather than relying on a single, system-wide solution. Other major findings are
• West Slope deliveries to Lake Powell could fall more than 50% below the current median baseline
• Storage in major West Slope reservoirs could decline 40–55% below historical medians
These results underscore the need for water-planning approaches that account for deep uncertainty, persistent drought, shifting snowmelt patterns, and sector-specific demand…”
#Colorado #waterallocation #StateMod #USWest #USA #WesternSlope #waterresources #watersecurity #watershortage #drought #snowmelt #rainfall #precipitation #riverbasin #water #hydrography #hydrology #reasons #agriculture #industry #hydropower #streamflow #surfacewater #municipal #irrigation #adaptationstrategies #planning #policy #mitigation #ColoradoRiver #basins #climatechange #extremeweather #populationpressure #waterdemand #waterrights #model #modeling #HiddenMarkovModel #stochastic #projecteddemand #ColoradoRiverBasin #wateruse #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #strategy -
So, #MSM is parroting #Trump administration's accusations that #Iran was behind the #Cyberattack on water systems in #Minnesota. Sounds like a good excuse to wipe out #WaterResources in Iran as revenge! Plus, similar incidents have happened in #MN. Who has a big grudge against folks in Minnesota? Not Iran!!!
Cyberattack targets Minnesota cities' water systems
"State technology officials say more than 30 Minnesota municipal water systems were targeted in a coordinated cyberattack this week.
"In at least one case, a city’s well and treatment plant were temporarily knocked offline Monday. Other cities reported that the attack targeted communications and automated operations within their water system — forcing a move to manual workarounds.
"The attack prompted Minnesota IT Services to activate a statewide cybersecurity incident response involving local, state and federal agencies.
"Authorities did not say whether they know who is responsible for the cyberattack and did not elaborate on a possible motive.
"Officials said water in the affected cities remains safe to drink."
[...]
"The city of Braham reported that the attack targeted the computerized operating systems for its well and water treatment plant.
"Mayor Nate George told #MPR News that a water plant operator noticed a problem Monday morning: The city’s water tower needed to draw in water, but the well wasn’t working.
" 'There was power — but there was no controls, you know, telling the water where to go,' he said.
"The city alerted #BrahamMN residents to limit water use, to keep the water in the tower from running out. An investigation found that a cyberattack caused the outage.
" 'They were able to hack into the control system of the of the well and just turn the well off, basically,' George said.
"Within an hour and a half, city staff got the system back up and running. The city said the attack 'did not alter or cause any issue to the physical water plant or water quality or safety.'
"The cities of #MaplePlainMN, #PlymouthMN and South St. Paul reported issues with automated controls and communications for their water systems.
" 'The issue is limited to equipment connected via cellular communications within the system, and crews have continued operating as normal through manual procedures,' the city of Plymouth reported Monday evening.
"Michael Thompson is the public works director in Plymouth. He said Tuesday that the city has extra staff monitoring the water system while automated operations are offline.
" 'We plan for these types of events, so we just had to physically go out to lift stations or the water towers, just to ensure they were functioning and running properly,' he said.
"State officials did not say which other cities were targeted in the cyberattack.
"Other local governments around the state have been targeted by cyberattacks in recent years, including the city of #SaintPaulMN in 2025 and #WinonaCounty earlier this year. Some school districts have also been affected."
Full article:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/07/28/30-minnesota-municipal-water-systems-targeted-cyberattack -
Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
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H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal -
Impact Of Reservoir Storage On Propagation From Meteorological To Hydrological Drought
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136061 <-- shared paper
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H/T @DrAjayGupta | Post Doctoral Fellow, IIT Bombay | Ph.D. in Hydrology, IIT Roorkee | Commonwealth Split-site Fellow, University of Birmingham I M.Tech in Water Resources Engineering, NIT Silchar | B.E. in Civil Engineering, PCE Nagpur.
“🌍 Why is this important?
While reservoirs are widely recognized for mitigating drought impacts, their role in controlling how drought propagates through the hydrological cycle has remained largely unexplored. In this study, [the authors] investigate how reservoir storage influences the transition of drought from meteorological to agricultural to reservoir to streamflow drought across the semi-arid Krishna River Basin, India.
🔍 THIS STUDY ADDRESSES TWO KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
✅ How do drought propagation time (initiation, peak, and termination) change from meteorological to agricultural, reservoir, and streamflow droughts across different timescales and threshold values?
✅ How does reservoir storage influence drought propagation between upstream and downstream reservoirs using the Downstreamness concept?
📌 KEY FINDINGS
🔹 Drought propagation differs substantially across drought types because each component of the hydrological system responds at different rates.
🔹 Reservoirs significantly delay the propagation of drought by buffering water deficits, particularly between agricultural and streamflow drought.
🔹 Mild and moderate upstream reservoir droughts rarely propagate downstream, whereas severe upstream droughts consistently transmit downstream, leading to longer duration, greater severity, and delayed onset.
🔹 The downstreamness analysis reveals dynamic shifts in water storage between upstream and downstream reservoirs throughout drought development and recovery, providing valuable insights for reservoir operation and basin-scale drought management…”
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“HIGHLIGHTS
• Reservoir storage impact on drought propagation from meteorological-to-hydrological drought.
• Drought propagation timeframe: initiation, peak and termination are checked.
• Impact assessment using hydrological connection: upstream to downstream reservoirs.
• Severe upstream droughts propagate downstream with increased duration and severity.
• During drought periods water-storage concentration shifts from downstream to upstream..."
#Drought #DroughtPropagation #Reservoirs #WaterResources #WaterManagement #RiverBasinManagement #KrishnaRiverBasin #Downstreamness #India #climatechange #reservoir #storage #hydrology #water #hydrologiccycle #watersecurity #planning #policy #KrishnaRiver #weather #climate #metrology #agriculture #farming #streamflow #model #modeling #spatiotemporal #spatialanalysis -
#SaintMalo has just introduced a total water use in the garden ban. You can't even water your garden with your own water stored in your own water reservoir.
Farmers are still free to irrigate rural roads with tap water though...
For those not in France, Brittany is famously wet and the rest of France makes fun of how wet and rainy it is here.
#saintmalo #stmalo #climatechange #waterresources #france #brittany #bretagne
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Across England, gardeners vow to flout hosepipe bans as anger shifts to leaks, AI data centers https://www.allforgardening.com/1899377/across-england-gardeners-vow-to-flout-hosepipe-bans-as-anger-shifts-to-leaks-ai-data-centers-2/ #AffinityWater #AnglianWater #england #garden #gardener #gardening #HosepipeBan #HosepipeBans #SouthEastWater #SouthernWater #ThamesWater #WaterCompanies #WaterResources #WelshWater
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Consider signing this petition to call for a moritorium on large data centre builds in Australia. At least until we get the policy right and legal instruments are in place. Last thing we need is a dryer continent and higher energy prices. #GenAI can take the back seat on this Australian bus.
#AusPol #DataCenters #GenAISlop #WaterResources #EnegryResources #AIlegislature
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Global Performance of #RemoteSensing Based and Reanalysis-Driven Models to Estimate Open Water Evaporation
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2025WR042363
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“ABSTRACT: Evaporation plays an essential role in the water cycle, influencing local and regional climates while directly impacting water availability in lakes. However, directly measuring evaporation over water bodies remains challenging due to the high costs of installing and maintaining the required in situ instrumentation. Although several remote sensing algorithms have been providing evaporation estimates, the lack of a global validation hinders our understanding of their relative uncertainties and performances across different regions. Here, [they] analyze[d] the performance of a suite of models that leverage satellite data and meteorological reanalysis to estimate evaporation over lakes worldwide. [They] compare[d] three remote sensing-based models, one reanalysis-driven model and one ensemble approach, using in situ observations from 27 lakes representing a diverse range of geographic and climatic regions. [Their] results demonstrate that, overall, the ensemble outperformed any individual model in terms of accuracy, with a RMSE and a bias of 1.3 and 0.3 mm/day, respectively. These findings highlight the benefits of using an ensemble approach to estimate open water evaporation with satellite-based models at the global scale, leveraging the unique strengths of each model. For the individual models, differences in the representation of heat storage changes and advection effects led to lower values of RMSE and bias, depending on the location and depth of the lakes. This study sets the path for future improvement of open water evaporation algorithms globally, while remote sensing techniques are proven satisfactory to monitoring of water loss in lakes globally, an essential step toward effective large-scale water resources management.
PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Water loss through evaporation in lakes and reservoirs directly affects water availability, which highlights the need to monitor these losses. However, measuring evaporation in situ is challenging and expensive. An alternative is to estimate evaporation using remote-sensing models and compare these estimates with in-situ data to verify their accuracy. Here, [they] evaluated four models and their ensemble (the models' mean value) using measurements from 27 lakes and reservoirs worldwide. [They] found that the ensemble presented higher accuracy and consistency than any individual model because it benefits from the strengths of each model. This approach can guide future improvements in estimating open-water evaporation, which is essential for large-scale water-resource management…”
#global #mapping #earthobservation #GIS #spatial #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #water #hydrology #surfacewater #waterbody #lake #reservoir #evaporation #evapotranspiration #watercycle #weather #meteorology #usecase #waterresources #watermanagement #waterloss #regional #estimate #policy #planning #instrumentation #comparasion -
Can Himalayan Crops Help Secure The Future Of Food?
(Exploring how genomic diversity, traditional crops, and regional cooperation can strengthen climate resilience and food security across the Hindu Kush Himalaya [HKH])
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https://substack.com/home/post/p-207443153 <-- shared technical post
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https://openlibrary.substack.com/ <-- shared Substack, “Open Library on Green Economy”
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https://adaptationwithoutborders.org/knowledge-base/adaptation-without-borders/shifting-cooperation-in-the-hindu-kush-himalaya/ <-- shared technical article, “Shifting cooperation in the [HKH]”
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https://www.icimod.org/who-we-are/the-hindu-kush-himalaya/ <-- background on the HKH, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)
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https://doi.org/10.48130/cas-0026-0003 <-- shared paper
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[not at all my technical area - but fascinating, including the spatial component #alldataisspatial]
H/T @jeevan Labh
“As we navigate the intensifying impacts of the 2026 El Niño, the vulnerability of our global food systems require careful evaluation. With this year’s erratic weather patterns driving severe, prolonged droughts in some regions and unseasonal, devastating floods in others, the climate crisis is proving that it is not a distant threat; it is happening right now, in our fields and on our plates.
This crisis is more visible in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. Often called the “water tower of Asia,” this vast mountain range sustains 240 million people across eight countries and provides essential ecosystem services to nearly 2 billion people downstream. When glaciers melt at accelerated rates and monsoons become unpredictable, the narrative often focuses solely on the mountain communities. But the truth is much broader: a disrupted harvest in the high hills of Nepal or Bhutan creates a domino effect. It leads to displaced populations, reduced agricultural output flowing into the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra basins, and ultimately, skyrocketing food prices for families living in the sprawling downstream plains.
The climate crisis respects no borders and recognizes no difference between altitude and sea level. Because this problem affects us all, the solution must protect us all. Fortunately, the means to overcome this challenge are already in our hands, locked within the ancient seeds of the mountains…”
## #GreenEconomy #economy #monoculture #agriculture #farming #crop #cropland #HinduKushHimalaya #himalaya #mountain #HKH #spatial #mapping #elevation #climatechange #foodsecurity #food #extremeweather #weather #ElNiño #drought #rainfall #precipitation #snowmelt #climatecrisis #mountainrange #water #hydrology #ecosystem #glacier #moonsoons #community #harvest #Nepal #Bhutan #watersheds #watersecurity #risk #hazard #waterresources #genes #genomicdiversity #cooperation -
AI company plan to use irrigation water disappears after ABC question
By Ashleigh BarracloughData centre builder Firmus Technologies posts to its website a statement, since removed, indicating its intention to get some of its cooling water from the state-owned irrigation system, adding "but we do not want to highlight this yet, as they are yet to agree".
#AI #WaterResources #AIEthics #Utilities #StateandTerritoryGovernment #AshleighBarraclough
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Impact of River Morphology on River–Groundwater Exchange in Braided River Systems
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https://doi.org/10.1111/gwat.70092 <-- shared paper
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H/T @thomas Wöhling | Professor at TU Dresden
“Do you like braided rivers? We think they are soooo beautiful. And they are interesting to study as well. Particularly how these complex and transient systems interact with regional aquifers…”
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“Coupled models of two braided rivers with real, pre- and postflood event morphologies are studied for river–groundwater exchange changes…”
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“Braided river systems are an important source for groundwater recharge, but their complex morphology makes river–groundwater exchange fluxes difficult to estimate. Their river channel morphology changes frequently after floods, which has effects on recharge rates that have rarely been studied in the past. This work aims to isolate the effects of changes in braided river morphology on groundwater recharge for two sections of the Wairau River and Waikirikiri River in New Zealand. For each study site, two different river morphology variants of a fully coupled surface water–groundwater model utilizing high-resolution DEMs of river bathymetry before and after a major flood event were set up while keeping parameterization and boundary conditions the same. The models demonstrate that flood-induced morphology changes in braided river systems alter groundwater recharge. [They] identif[ied] features, both simulated and observed, that explain the direction of change. Features that increase groundwater recharge are a larger braidplain aquifer extent and volume, larger wetted area and, specifically, an increase of areas with high exchange rates in locations of larger gradients between braidplain aquifer and regional aquifer. These factors influence groundwater recharge independent of connection (Wairau River) or disconnection (Waikirikiri River) of the system to the regional aquifer, albeit with different magnitudes. An extension of [their] research to other braided rivers is needed to more broadly generalize [their] findings...”
#NewZealand #river #morphology #braided #Waikirikiri #Wairau #water #hydrology #hydrography #model #modeling #groundwater #aquifer #waterresources #recharge #infiltration #flood #flow #flooding #hydrogeomorphology #exchangefluxes #surfacewater #remotesensing #DEM #elevation #spatialanalysis #GIS #spatial #mapping #change #dynamic #spatiotemporal #bathymetry -
Ancient Water Wisdom - The Acequias Of Sierra Nevada, Europe’s Oldest Groundwater System ⛰️
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https://memolaproject.eu/sierra-nevada/wateruse <-- shared link to the 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗔 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 page
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https://regadiohistorico.es/ <-- shared technical page, “Collaborative map of historical irrigation systems in Granada and Almería” / “Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
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https://youtu.be/-TIUI2KflMk?si=iaSOwV99-WWMDCpV <-- shared video overview, “Participa al Mapa colaborativo de regadíos históricos de Granada y Almería”
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H/T @sofie de Volder | Co-founder TRAQUA
“[The author has] already discussed ancient water management systems, such as the qanats in Persia and other Eastern countries. In Europe, there are the acequias of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia, Spain.
The hand-dug channels date back over 1,000 years to the Moorish era. Networks of canals, aqueducts and cisterns were engineered to capture and transport snowmelt, turning this natural resource into a sustainable water supply for agriculture. The high-altitude ditches had openings, allowing water to infiltrate into fractures and faults, replenishing the aquifer, and to irrigate the lower levels of the slopes.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀?
✅ Gravity-fed irrigation that supported terraced farms and local biodiversity.
✅ Designed to distribute water slowly and equitably, even during dry summers.
✅ Stretching over thousands of kilometres, these systems fell into disuse in the 1980s but are now part of restoration efforts led by the MEMOLA Project (Universidad de Granada).
With climate change and more intense droughts, the Acequias could provide an ancient solution to the modern-day water crisis…”
#Spain #𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗮𝘀 #waterresources #historic #irrigation #mapping #watermanagement #agriculture #farming #watersecurity #HistoricalIrrigationSystems #agroecological #SierraNevada #Andalusia #Moors #engineering #constructed #channels #canals #aqueducts #cisterns #water #hydrography #snowmelt #naturalresource #sustainability #groundwater #aquifers #recharge #MEMOLA #mapping #climatechange #extremeweather #drought -
Bid to fix stubborn Murray River sand slug 'hamstrung' by competing demands
By Alice WalkerThe Murray Darling Basin Authority is finalising its study on what to do about an increasing river impediment amid a First Nations call to find common ground.
#Rivers #EnvironmentalManagement #WaterResources #Agriculture #MurrayDarlingBasin #AliceWalker
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Microsoft wants to build 3 massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres from the River Aire and release excess carbon, heat and noise. There's still time to stop the final council sign-off.
Please sign: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/prevent-construction-of-microsoft-hyperscale-datacentres-in-leeds
#Leeds #pollution #energy #waterResources -
The unanswered question in the rush for Queensland's hidden oil jackpot
By Brandon LongAn expert is warning that the push to fast-track approvals for the proposed Taroom Trough lacks crucial detail.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-17/water-concerns-grow-in-taroom-trough-oil-rush/106922224
#OilandGas #WaterResources #GovernmentandPolitics #MiningEnvironmentalIssues #BrandonLong
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WaterCorp has revamped their website and educational materials.
This is quite cool, you can input your address, and it shows you the breakdown of where your water comes from. So in Freo (and presumably most of Perth), we use 38% desal, 34% groundwater, 22% surface water from dams, and 6% from groundwater replenishment.
You can also see how this has changed over time - back in the'60s, 88% of Perth water was from dams!
https://www.watercorporation.com.au/our-water/perths-water-supply/where-your-water-comes-from
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@Ex_spurt
Look for a monumental failure of judgement… from a lackluster #AlboPM.I will expect a full throated retort from the #Left and those who know better than the #Clueless and #BoughtOff #PrimeMinister.
#Enshitification #ClimateCrisis #WaterResources #EnergyPolicy #AusPol
I’m fevently hoping to be wrong about this (the official launch of the policy will tell), but I’ve got this feeling I can’t shake off…
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GMIA-NEXT - Next-Generation Global Map of Irrigated Areas |
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https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-10085674/v1 <-- shared paper
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https://zenodo.org/records/17627111 <-- shared open data
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H/T @kyle Davis
“Irrigation plays a critical role in global food production and climate adaptation and exercises profound influence over humanity's water use. Yet despite its critical importance, there is a persistent lack of understanding of fine-scale irrigation patterns across the planet, knowledge which is essential for informing global food security and sustainability targets. Utilizing either statistical downscaling or remote sensing approaches, existing global irrigation datasets are constrained by coarse spatial resolutions, a lack of timeliness, or varying robustness and reliability. To address this gap, here [they] integrate[d] multi-source Earth observation and environmental datasets and use[d] machine learning to develop a medium-resolution (30 metre) global irrigated area dataset for the 2023/24 growing season. Within existing cropland extent, we leverage a newly compiled set of georeferenced irrigated (N=230,683) and non-irrigated (N=153,194) ground-truth points and integrate seasonal vegetation metrics derived from Landsat 8/9 imagery with agroecological-zone information and hydroclimatic and topographic variables. [They] subsequently develop and evaluate two machine-learning frameworks, a continental Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) tile-based framework and a continental-scale framework, and apply the best-performing approach for each continent. Evaluation using held-out test samples yielded a global accuracy of 80.5 ± 2.1%. The resulting maps were also validated against independent global and national irrigation datasets and statistics, demonstrating broad agreement in the spatial distribution of irrigated areas. This approach is robust and reliable because it is built on a harmonized global ground-truth database, incorporates multiple predictors, and is rigorously validated using independent datasets. All code, ground-truth, and data products are freely and publicly available [link above] and can serve as a robust, scale-neutral, and fully reproducible framework for fine-resolution irrigation mapping. These advances provide the critical and long-needed foundation for near-real-time monitoring and early warning systems, and fine-scale land and water resource management…”
#IrrigatedAreas #Mapping #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #global #irrigation #water #hydrology #hydrography #waterresources #farming #agriculture #opendata #remotesensing #earthobservation #geomorphometry #AI #machinelearning #LLM #model #modeling #WaterManagement #opendata #AgroEcologicalZone #AEZ #cropland #irrigatedareas #foodproduction #wateruse #humanimpacts #EarthObservation #remotesensing #earlywarning #monitoring #FoodandAgricultureOrganizationFAO #FAO
@FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization