Public supply water use refers to the withdrawal, treatment, distribution, and end-use of water by public or private utilities that provide potable water to multiple users, typically including residential, commercial, institutional, and light industrial sectors, as well as public services such as firefighting. In water-resources research, it is quantified in terms of withdrawals from surface water and groundwater, conveyance losses, and delivered volumes, often disaggregated by customer category and metering data. This topic encompasses system efficiency, demand patterns, infrastructure leakage, per capita use, and interactions with regulatory, hydrologic, and climatic constraints in integrated water-resource planning and management.
Water is a vital resource. Life on Earth, as we know it, is impossible without access to safe drinking water. Concerns over declining quality and consistency of municipal drinking water supplied to consumers have been increasing ...
Environment
Dec 17, 2025
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Groundwater is a critical resource in Southern California, where long-term drought and climate change place increasing pressure on local aquifers. Some regions, like the Hollywood Basin (a small region in and around the West ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 17, 2025
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Wetlands are vital ecological resources that provide several benefits in urban and peri-urban areas. They slow down flood waters, and act as a source of fishing and farming livelihoods. They also provide socio-cultural benefits ...
Environment
Nov 26, 2025
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For Las Vegas to keep its taps flowing, Rep. Susie Lee says this one drought measure must survive federal spending purges: water recycling.
Environment
Nov 22, 2025
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Aging lead-pipe drinking water systems, along with the public health measures implemented to reduce their risks, are reshaping the chemistry and health of nearby urban streams. New research from University of Pittsburgh biogeochemists, ...
Environment
Nov 13, 2025
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The water infrastructure politics of eThekwini, the municipality that includes the city of Durban, have been splashed across the digital pages of South Africa's news outlets in recent years.
Environment
Nov 6, 2025
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In a plan that will reverberate more than 300 miles north at Mono Lake, Los Angeles city leaders have decided to nearly double the wastewater that will be transformed into drinking water at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation ...
Environment
Nov 3, 2025
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Wetlands are an important part of the ecological system, providing a myriad of benefits for people, wildlife, and the environment. They also serve as "nature's kidneys," filtering out pollutants from surface water. A new ...
Environment
Oct 28, 2025
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Public water systems in the U.S. were far less likely to report suspiciously rounded lead levels after the Flint, Michigan water crisis drew national outrage and federal scrutiny, according to new research led by the University ...
Environment
Oct 7, 2025
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155
The Colorado River, which provides water across the Southwest, has lost about 20% of its flow in the last quarter-century, and its depleted reservoirs continue to decline. But negotiations aimed at addressing the water shortage ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 6, 2025
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