California water budgets: a pinhole disc for the overspenders
In California's drought, the Las Virgenes Water District gave each home a water budget. Ignore five warnings and a pinhole disc cuts the supply to a trickle.
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#water.
Every story tagged #water.
Microplastics in bottled water: more particles, unclear harm
A review of 21 studies found more plastic in bottled water than tap, yet the World Health Organization says the health evidence still has gaps.
Desalination boils or filters the salt out of seawater
A desalination plant strips salt from seawater by boiling it or forcing it through a membrane, leaving drinkable water and a salty waste called brine.
Ethiopia finished its Nile dam, but Egypt still has no deal
Ethiopia launched its Nile dam in 2025 with no deal on running it. Egypt cites 1929 and 1959 treaties giving it a Nile veto, which Ethiopia never signed.
A dual-flush toilet saves water with one valve, not two
A dual-flush toilet releases four litres or six through a single drop valve rather than two tanks, and that valve is also where leaks begin.
Why AI's water use is so hard to pin down
AI uses water mostly to cool data centre chips, but how much depends on the site, the season and the cooling design. Nobody yet agrees how to count it.