University of Michigan
University of Michigan is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Water purification technology helps turn seawater into drinking water without tons of chemicals
Water desalination plants could replace expensive chemicals with new carbon cloth electrodes that remove boron from seawater, an important step of turning seawater into safe drinking water. A study describing the new technology has been published in Nature Water by engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University. Boron is a natural component of […]
Looking at algal blooms in Kenya’s Lake Victoria for what may come for Lake Erie
To try to understand how harmful algal blooms might evolve in Lake Erie in a warming climate, University of Michigan scientists helped conduct a survey of cyanobacteria in a gulf of Kenya’s Lake Victoria. When cyanobacteria proliferate out of control, they can form clouds of green algae called cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms, or cyanoHABs. Some […]
Traditional infrastructure design often makes extreme flooding events worse
Massive 2014 flooding event in southeast Michigan showed why systems thinking beats local thinking in flood protection.
Researchers find groundwater depletion rates in India could triple in coming decades
A new University of Michigan-led study finds that farmers in India have adapted to warming temperatures by intensifying the withdrawal of groundwater used for irrigation. If the trend continues, the rate of groundwater loss could triple by 2080, further threatening India’s food and water security. Reduced water availability in India due to groundwater depletion and […]
Smaller-than-average harmful algal bloom predicted for western Lake Erie
NOAA and its research partners, including the University of Michigan, are forecasting that western Lake Erie will experience a smaller-than-average harmful algal bloom this summer, which would make it less severe than 2022. This year’s bloom is expected to measure 3, with a potential range of 2 to 4.5 on the severity index—whereas last year’s […]
University of Michigan awarded $53 million to expand Great Lakes research
The university receives $53 million to expand the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, with the goal of helping to conserve and manage the region’s natural resources.
Lake Erie quakes triggered by shifting water levels?
In June 2019, a magnitude 4.0 earthquake occurred beneath Lake Erie just off the shoreline of Ohio, about 20 miles northeast of Cleveland. Though no damages were reported, the underwater quake was widely felt up to 60 miles away—throughout northeastern Ohio and in parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario and southeastern Michigan. The quake and numerous aftershocks […]
Scientists reconsider the meaning, implications of drought in light of a changing world
Maps of the American West have featured ever darker shades of red over the past two decades. The colors illustrate the unprecedented drought blighting the region. In some areas, conditions have blown past severe and extreme drought into exceptional drought. But rather than add more superlatives to our descriptions, one group of scientists believes it's time to […]
Addressing links between poverty, housing, water access and affordability in Detroit
In a new study of water access and affordability in Detroit, University of Michigan researchers determined that about 10% of the city’s population is “triple burdened,” meaning those residents face higher than average rates of poverty, housing cost burden, and incomplete plumbing. The researchers analyzed census tracts and mapped the overlap between various factors that affect water affordability. Image credit: From “Addressing the Links Between Poverty, Housing and Water Access and Affordability in Detroit,” University of Michigan Poverty Solutions, June 2021.