water conservation

11 Stories

'Unprecedented Measures' Brought In Amid Calif. Drought

LA residents can only water outdoors for 8 minutes a time, 2 days a week

(Newser) - California is taking tough steps to ration water amid a megadrought so severe that even ancient trees haven't experienced anything as bad before. On Wednesday, more than 6 million people in Southern California were placed under unprecedented restrictions cutting outdoor watering days to one or two a week, the...

Las Vegas Is Trying to Ban Ornamental Grass

Not the stuff in your yard, but what's along the street

(Newser) - A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on. Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants, and...

Scientists Suggest Novel Idea for More Efficient Toilets

Penn State researchers develop slippery spray that could dramatically reduce water use

(Newser) - To build a better toilet. Researchers at Penn State are making headlines for their new contribution to the idea, though it has nothing do with the design of the toilet itself. Instead, they've come up with a slippery spray that could dramatically reduce the amount of water needed for...

World Cup City's Suggestion to Locals: Take Showers Together

Due to heat and 'thousands of guests' in Russian city of Samara, there's a strain on water supply

(Newser) - Residents of the World Cup host city of Samara are being urged to take showers in pairs because the influx of fans is putting a strain on water supplies, the AP reports. The Samara Communal Systems utility company says the combination of a heat wave and "thousands of guests"...

Crisis in India: Father, Son Lost Their Lives Over Water

A new report suggests the worst is yet to come

(Newser) - An 18-year-old accused of cutting in line got into a scuffle over it. He ended up dead, as did his 60-year-old father, who suffered a heart attack after trying to calm the situation. The New York Times shares the tragedy as an example of India's rising tensions over a...

The Numbers Add Up: Peeing in the Shower Makes Sense

It all comes down to water and toilet paper conservation

(Newser) - To pee or not to pee in the shower, that is the question. Various surveys have shown that lots of people do it—one questionnaire on BuzzFeed found that more than 80% of those surveyed say they do. Now IFL Science weighs in on the issue, noting that relieving ourselves...

Here's How We Stop World War III
 Here's How We 
 Stop World War III 
OPINION
May 25, 2016 3:41 PM CDT

Here's How We Stop World War III

'Sustainable community-led water management'

(Newser) - "The third world war is at our gate, and it will be about water, if we don't do something about this crisis" of dwindling global water supplies , says Rajendra Singh, last year's recipient of "the Nobel Prize for water" for his water restoration efforts in rural...

What Drought? Still-Parched California Lifts Water Limits

The power to conserve now shifts to the hands of local communities instead of the state

(Newser) - It used to be you'd be heavily fined if you turned on your water too much or for an unapproved reason in parched California. Now many of those restrictions are about to be dismissed, with a reversal of the state mandate for a 25% drop in city water use,...

Shade Balls to the Rescue? Hardly

 Shade Balls to the 
 Rescue? Hardly 
analysis
Aug 21, 2015 3:54 PM CDT

Shade Balls to the Rescue? Hardly

If they're strictly for water conservation, they're a bad investment: Grist

(Newser) - Los Angeles' 96 million shade balls are bizarre to say the least—which is partly why the media pounced on the story of their role in conserving water, as officials had hoped, Grist included. Now, the website does a careful walk-through of just why these balls aren't so hot....

LA Fighting Drought With Millions of Black Plastic Balls

They prevent evaporation, keep water clean in reservoirs

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Reservoir has now turned black, but not from any kind of pollution. Over several months, city officials have been unleashing 96 million black plastic balls into the city's 175-acre reservoir in an effort to fight the effects of California's drought. The final 20,000 were...

Couple Could Be Fined $500 if They Water Lawn, $500 if They Don't

CA cities don't like brown lawns, despite state mandate to conserve water

(Newser) - In this week’s “Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t” file: A Southern California couple received a letter from Glendora city officials threatening to fine them $500 if they don’t get their sun-scorched brown lawn green again, reports AP . Which Laura Whitney and Michael Korte...

11 Stories
Most Read on Newser