This section explores the nuances of global water challenges, featuring insights by our researchers, collaborative pieces with our partners, and Q&A styled dialogues with industry experts. It complements our work by providing context, commentary, and a deeper understanding of our research findings.
Blog
The Waghad System: Institutions, the Role of Mobile Technology, and Wise Water Use
August 26, 2011
The Waghad system has well developed water institutions that have contributed to it being such a major success story. One of the hardest problems to tackle in all water management is enforcement of rules.
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Notes from the Field: Community Learning Sessions in Malang
July 30, 2011
At the beginning of one of the WATER SMS Project learning sessions in Malang, Indonesia, resident Pak Suep said, “We feel that we are small people. We don’t have any right to complain.”
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Notes from the Field: A Success Story in Participatory Irrigation Management in India: The Waghad Farmer Managed Irrigation System
July 15, 2011
Last week I visited a farmer-managed irrigation system in India's Waghad Medium Irrigation Project.
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Comments on SBx7-7 Urban Technical Methodologies
October 23, 2010
Senate Bill x7-7 was enacted in November 2009, requiring all water suppliers to increase water use efficiency. Below are the highlights of this legislation, divided into two sectors, Urban Water Conservation and Agricultural Water Conservation.
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“Climate Change Question and Answer” Fact Sheet
June 15, 2010
With the threat of climate change growing worse by the day, a historic bill to tackle the issue was passed by the California Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan, 8 to 1 vote.
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Notes from the Field:Need for Water Resource Management and Adequate Sanitation
June 2, 2010
“Water is life,” says 60-year-old Mahama Azundo of Gbulung, a community 5 Km East of Savelugu in the Northern Region of Ghana.
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Bottled and Sold: What’s Really in Our Bottled Water
April 17, 2010
There are some great stories in the book: here is a little one, about what's sometimes found in our bottled water.
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Let’s Start Overcoming Obstacles: Agricultural Water Conservation and Efficiency
January 15, 2009
The Pacific Institute released a report several months ago on the potential for greater agricultural water conservation and efficiency in areas that depend on water either flowing into or being exported out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Each of the four scenarios we analyzed offers the potential to reduce agricultural water withdrawals in the region by 5 to 13 percent.
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Time to Tap into Water-Wise Farmers’ Well of Ideas
October 14, 2008
Water supply constraints have reduced the amount of water available for California this year, causing economic losses and midseason fallowing for many farmers. Independent of what we might want, it is very likely that there will continue to be serious constraints on water available to all California users, including agriculture.
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Panic Makes for Poor Policy
July 15, 2007
Ignoring a problem tends to make it worse. A worsening problem tends to lead to panic. Panic tends to make for bad public policy. Welcome to 21st century California water policy.
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Lower Colorado River: Proposed Drop 2 Storage Reservoir Project
February 10, 2007
On February 15, 2007, the Pacific Institute joined several other NGOs in submitting comments on the Bureau of Reclamation’s proposed Drop 2 Storage Reservoir Project (for more information on Reclamation’s proposed project).
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SFGate: Flushing Water and Money Down the Drain
October 12, 2006
Exciting developments in the high-efficiency toilet market may sound like an oxymoron. But installing these water-efficient fixtures throughout California could free up more water than any proposed reservoir or water-supply project ...
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Research in India: Smelling Like Petrol
February 3, 2006
While I am in Chennai working on water issues, I wear the scent of another major problem in Indian cities. I often come home from my research trips in Chennai smelling like a gallon of petrol.
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Research in India: What Would Gandhi Do?
January 25, 2006
I am always thoroughly impressed and humbled by the dedication and commitment of my NGO colleagues and concerned residents who are involved in the struggle to make Chennai more sustainable.
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Research in India: Happy Pongal!
January 23, 2006
Harvest celebrations are a commonality across cultures, a time to think about where our food comes from and give thanks.
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Research in India: Counting Toilets in the New Millennium
January 13, 2006
The United Nations attempted to answer these questions with a series of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): targets for the international community to achieve in order to improve the health and well being of all people.
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Research in India: The Holy Grail
January 11, 2006
There are passions that drive people. Finding a cure for cancer. Stopping the spread of AIDS. Improving wastewater treatment in India has always been my holy grail (It’s a strange holy grail to be sure. But what is even stranger, I’ve found a small cadre of those who are equally passionate about it).
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Research in India: Water Troubles in Chennai
December 28, 2005
December 28, 2005 - Chennai, India is a really a city that is a song about water, and a poem in contrasts. When I was here two years ago in 2003, Chennai (formerly called Madras) had gone through a 7 year drought, with the hope of a good rain on everyone’s minds and in many prayers.
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