Word: waterous
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...world has a water crisis - that much is undeniable. But it's also our own doing. Although just a tiny fraction of the world's 326 quintillion gal. of water is usable by humans, we would have more than enough to go around if we took care of it. We don't. From industrial accidents like the benzene spill in northeastern China three years ago, which contaminated the drinking water of millions of people, to the lack of toilets (or proper sanitation) throughout much of the developing world, we're making good water unusable. As a result, our supplies...
That makes what's happening in Orange County, Calif., all the more important. One of the richest residential areas in the country, the Los Angeles suburb is known for swimming pools, golf courses and lush lawns - all of which need water. But like much of Southern California, Orange County is dry and getting drier, and the aquifer from which the county pumps much of its water is slowly draining. Importing water from wetter Northern California is an option, but an expensive one (at least $530 per acre-foot, or about 326,000 gal., of water). Meanwhile, population growth means that...
Orange County water officials decided to solve both problems at the same time. The result is the Groundwater Replenishment System (GRS), a glistening, $480 million facility that sits next to an older sewage-treatment plant. The GRS takes in about 70 million gal. of wastewater a day, puts it through a multistep cleaning process, then discharges the treated water into Orange County's aquifers. About half forms a barrier against seawater, which has been infiltrating groundwater sources as the county has dried up, while the other half slowly filters into the aquifers that supply drinking water for the county...
...heading up the Department of Environmental Regulation in Florida. Her greatest achievement: settling a lawsuit the government had brought against Florida for environmental damage done to Everglades National Park and launching the largest ecological restoration project ever attempted in the U.S., to purify and restore the natural flow of water to the Everglades...
...Browner led a campaign to have Congress reauthorize the Safe Drinking Water Act and spearheaded the Food Quality Protection Act, which modernized standards that govern pesticide use, one of the first environmental laws to specifically protect children's health...