Washington State University
Washington State University 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.
Improved AI process could better predict water supplies
A new computer model uses a better artificial intelligence process to measure snow and water availability more accurately across vast distances in the West, information that could someday be used to better predict water availability for farmers and others. Publishing in the Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the interdisciplinary group of Washington State University […]
Novel waste treatment efficiently converts sewage to biogas
A new method to treat sewage can efficiently convert leftover sludge to biogas, an advance that could help communities lower their waste treatment costs while helping the environment. Reporting in the journal, Waste Management, a Washington State University research team tested a pretreatment technology, adding an extra step to typical treatments and using oxygen-containing high pressure steam […]
Methane emissions from reservoirs are increasing
Over time the water collected behind dams will release greater amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas with even worse effects than carbon dioxide, according to a recent study. While previous research established reservoirs as significant sources of greenhouse gases including methane, this study, published in Nature Geoscience, is the first global-scale analysis of trends in those emissions. Researchers […]
NASA-funded project to help water utilities cope with wildfire
Data from space will be used to help keep drinking water clean in the Pacific Northwest, under a Washington State University-led project that recently received a $1 million NASA grant. The effort answers a call from coastal utilities that rely on water sources in forested watersheds, which historically have burned once every 100 to 200 years. The […]
Co-occurring droughts could threaten global food security
Droughts occurring at the same time across different regions of the planet could place an unprecedented strain on the global agricultural system and threaten the water security of millions of people, according to a new study in Nature Climate Change. A Washington State University-led research team analyzed climate, agricultural and population growth data to show continuing […]
Electron-producing microbes power sustainable wastewater treatment
WSU researchers have developed a sustainable wastewater treatment system that relies on electron-producing microbial communities to clean the water. The work could someday lead to reduced reliance on the energy-intensive processes that are used to move and treat wastewater, which accounts for as much as two percent of the total electrical energy consumption in the […]
Changes to drylands with future climate change
A research team led by Washington State University has found that while drylands around the world will expand at an accelerated rate because of future climate change, their average productivity will likely be reduced. The study, published in Nature Communications on April 3, is the first to quantify the impact of accelerated dryland expansion under future climate […]
Water splitting advance holds promise for affordable renewable energy
A breakthrough into splitting water into its parts could help make renewable energy pay off, even when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Using solar and wind power when it is available for water splitting, a process that uses electricity to split H2O into hydrogen and oxygen, offers a way to store […]
Response to fire impacts water levels 40 years into future
By Scott Weybright.