Fracking Waste Threatens Aquifers in West Texas

Via Inside Climate News, a report on the impact that fracking waste is having upon aquifers in west Texas: A fracked well in West Texas can produce five times as much wastewater as oil. Every day, fleets of tanker trucks haul hundreds of millions of gallons of this toxic brine to loosely regulated disposal facilities that line the rural […]

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California Pilot Tests Energy Storage on Solar Canal Canopies

Via PowerEngineering International, a report on California’s efforts to pilot test energy storage on solar canal canopies which has several interesting watergy attributes such as the water in the conveyance infrastructure has the potential to cool the solar panels, increasing their efficiency, while the solar panels also provide shade and wind protection over the water, reducing evaporation and […]

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Power Crisis Triggers Water Cuts in South Africa’s Economic Hub

Via Bloomberg, a report on the watergy impact of South Africa’s power crisis: Parts of Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub, are being subjected to renewed water-supply cuts as ongoing electricity shortages disrupt pumping operations. A power failure at Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station, which supplies reservoirs in several high-lying areas of Johannesburg, resulted in critically […]

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The Water-Energy Nexus – A Toolkit For Innovation

Via The Source, a report on a new book aiming to help the water sector reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases: The global demand for energy and water is intensifying because of a growing world population, better standards of living in developing countries, and significant industrial growth in countries such as China and India. Water is […]

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Ski Resorts Can Now Make Fake Snow In 80 Degrees, But Require Significant Energy

Via The Washington Post, a look at the watergy impact of artificial snowmaking: A lack of snow and abnormally mild temperatures are threatening ski resorts in the eastern United States, Europe and Asia. As natural snow becomes scarcer and temperatures creep too high for traditional snow machines, new technology is helping a growing number of […]

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Could Floating Solar Farms Survive At Sea?

Via BBC, a look at the potential of sea-based solar farms: Indonesia is a nation of more than 10,000 islands, so supplying the whole country with electricity is a huge challenge. More than a million people are not connected to the electricity grid at all. “Those people who don’t have electricity are living on remote […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As the scarcity of water and energy continues to grow, the linkage between these two critical resources will become more defined and even more acute in the months ahead.  This blog is committed to analyzing and referencing articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between water and energy -- The Watergy Nexus -- and will endeavor to provide a central clearinghouse for insightful articles and comments for all to consider.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy.  Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation.  He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”