Bioethanol uses thrice as much water as thought earlier

October 6th, 2009 Airlines ordered to test, disinfect onboard waterWASHINGTON — Federal regulators are issuing final rules requiring airlines to test and disinfect the water served to passengers and used in plane lavatories. The Environmental Protection Agency rules set out how frequently airlines must flush and disinfect the water systems on planes and test for coliform bacteria, which are associated with disease-causing germs.

September 23rd, 2009 NASA data: Greenland, Antarctic ice melt worseningWASHINGTON — New satellite information shows that ice sheets in Greenland and western Antarctica continue to shrink faster than scientists thought and in some places are already in runaway melt mode. British scientists for the first time calculated changes in the height of the vulnerable but massive ice sheets and found them especially worse at their edges.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists from Oregon State University in the US have created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth's mantle, which suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water. According to scientists, those areas of high conductivity coincide with subduction zones - where tectonic plates are being subducted beneath the Earth's crust.

August 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have determined that production of bioethanol, often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future, may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. Sangwon Suh and colleagues from Minnesota, point out in the study that annual bioethanol production in the US is currently about 9 billion gallons and note that experts expect it to increase in the near future.

April 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that the production of bioethanol may use up to three times as much water as previously thought, thus threatening water supplies. According to the study, a gallon of ethanol may require up to more than 2,100 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump, depending on the regional irrigation practice in growing corn.

April 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A Congress MP from Delhi, which is usually water starved in summer, is thinking out of the box and hoping it will translate into votes in the Lok Sabha polls. Krishna Tirath is contesting from Northwest Delhi, reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes community.

March 22nd, 2009 MUMBAI - The Indian cricket board has called an emergency meeting Sunday to take a decision on the way ahead for the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has been compelled to thrice revise its schedule due to the Lok Sabha polls. 'The working committee will be discussing the IPL schedule Sunday,' IPL commiossner Lalit Modi said.

March 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new analysis by a group of mission scientists has determined that salty, liquid water has been detected on a leg of the Mars Phoenix Lander and therefore could be present at other locations on the Red Planet. This is the first time liquid water has been detected and photographed outside the Earth.

March 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Chemists have used single oxygen atoms dancing on a metal oxide slab, to get a better understanding of how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen, which would improve their understanding of the chemistry needed to generate hydrogen fuel from water or to clean contaminated water. The scientists, from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), made the discovery while trying to determine the basics of how titanium dioxide - a compound sometimes found in sunscreen - breaks down water.

March 17th, 2009 ANKARA - At least 17 people were taken into custody in protests as the fifth World Water Forum got under way in the Turkish city of Istanbul Monday morning, the Anadolu news agency reported. Police used tear gas to try and break up a group of around 150 people who attempted to march to the congress venue of the forum on the Golden Horn, near the Bosporus Straits.

March 16th, 2009 ISTANBUL - The fifth World Water Forum kicked off Monday in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul, aimed to facilitate solutions to the world's water problems and promote cooperation. The future of vital water resources 'does not only rest on technological progress, but also and mostly on political commitments', World Water Council president Loic Fauchon said during the opening ceremony.

March 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Rahul Bose is extremely conscious about the water he drinks and even while at an upmarket hotel in the capital recently, the suave actor demanded lemonade made out of 'mineral water only'. On being asked if he wished to drink something hot or cold, Rahul said he wanted a glass of lemonade.

February 22nd, 2009 BEIJING - Carbolic acid spilled into a river from a chemical plant has forced the suspension of tap water supplies to more than one million people in China's eastern city of Yancheng, officials said Saturday. The privately owned Biaoxin Chemical Company was found illegally discharging waste water into a river in Jiangsu Province, Xue Yu, secretary-general of the city administration, said.

January 18th, 2009 MELBOURNE - India's Sania Mirza breezed into the second round of the Australian Open tennis with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska at Melbourne Park here Monday. Sania, making a comeback after recovering from a chronic wrist injury and ranked at lowly 108, broke Marta thrice in the first set to wrap it up in mere 25 minutes.

December 25th, 2008 NEW DELHI - Several areas of the capital faced water shortage Friday as two water treatment plants were closed due to high levels of pollution in the Yamuna river, officials said. Pollutants released into the river by a large number of tanneries in Haryana had increased the ammonia level in the water to the point where the Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants had to be shut down.