Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

Imagine you're a hedge-fund manager who's trying to gain an edge. To maximize returns, you decide to install the latest technology that allows a computer to interpret the changing winds of the market and make thousands of orders in milliseconds. The program helps boost your fund for a while, but the initial excitement turns to dread as you watch the program go rogue and buy hundreds of millions of shares in less than an hour. Your firm scrambles to stop the trades, but they can't, and suddenly you're facing massive losses, all because of a poorly installed algorithm.Dystopian sounding, right? But this catastrophic scenario isn't some troubling hypothetical about the rising threat of artificial intelligence; it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/market-trading-issues-knight-capital-tanking-2012-8">actually happened</a> over a decade ago when a coding mistake led to losses of<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-knight-capital-2012-8#"> $440 million for Knight Capital,</a> eventually <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/knight-capital-will-sell-itself-to-getco-2013-1">leading the firm to sell itself</a> at a massive discount."Artificial intelligence" isn't "the future" — it's just a marketing term for a slightly updated version of the automation that has been ruling our lives for years. Companies have cycled through a series of names to dress up their tech — automation, algorithms, machine learning, and now AI — but ultimately, these systems all boil down to the same idea: handing over decision-making to computers to execute tasks at speeds far faster than a human could. While there's growing fear that a new breed of AI will <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-lonelier-at-work-friends-connect-with-coworkers-2023-12">infect our daily lives</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-radically-reshape-job-market-global-economy-employee-labor-innovation-2023-8">put millions of people out of work</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-is-guiding-humans-to-a-new-age-of-discovery-2024-2">generally upend society</a>, most people don't realize just how deeply computerized decision-making has wormed its way into every facet of our existence. These systems are based on datasets and the rules that human beings teach them, but whether it's making money in the markets or feeding us the news, more and more of our lives are in the hands of unaccountable digital systems.In many cases, these algorithms have proven useful for society. They've helped eliminate mundane tasks or level the playing field. But increasingly, the algorithms that undergird our digital lives are making questionable decisions that enrich the powerful and wreck the lives of average people. There's no reason to be scared of AI making decisions for you in the future — computers have already been doing so for quite some time.The early internet was a relatively human-curated experience — a disparate collection of web pages that were discoverable only if you knew the address of the site or saw a link to it on another site. That changed in June 1993, when the researcher Matthew Gray created one of the first "web robots," a primitive algorithm designed to "<a target="_blank" href="https://clutejournals.com/index.php/IJMIS/article/download/5799/5877/23158">measure the size of the web</a>." Gray's invention helped create search engines and inspired a league of successors — Jump Station, Excite, Yahoo, and so on. In 1998, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-history-in-photos-2015-10">Stanford students Sergey Brin and Larry Page</a> made the next leap in automating the internet when they published an academic paper about a "<a target="_blank" href="http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/papers/google.pdf">large-scale hypertext web search engine</a>" called Google. The paper detailed how their algorithm "PageRank" judged the importance of a web result based on a user's query, serving up the most relevant site based on how many other websites linked to it — which made a lot of sense on a much smaller and more innocent internet. Nearly three decades after the founding of Google, the internet has only gotten more automated. This has come with plenty of benefits for average people — recommendations on Spotify and Netflix help us find new art, robo-investors can help grow a nest egg at a low cost, and industrial applications like the robotics used to manufacture many modern vehicles have made our economy more efficient. Somewhere along the way, however, the tech industry tipped over from helpfully automating the jobs that slowed down our lives to distorting society by surrendering crucial decisions to computers.In many ways, the original Google paper feels like a dark warning. It argues that advertising-funded search engines would be "inherently biased" toward those advertisers. It's probably no surprise then that researchers have found that by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/search-web-email-google-streaming-online-shopping-broken-2022-4">prioritizing ad dollars</a> over useful results, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-getting-worse-spam-affiliate-links-duckduckgo-bing-2024-1">Google's algorithm is getting worse</a>, degrading a crucial source of information for over 5 billion people. And it's not just search engines. Revenue-focused algorithms behind networks like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter have learned how to feed users a steady stream of upsetting or enraging content to goose user engagement. As human control diminished, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/state-attorneys-general-investigate-tiktok-childrens-mental-health-2022-3">real-world consequences of these algorithms</a> have piled up: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-internal-report-shows-instagram-bad-for-teens-2021-9">Instagram's algorithm</a> has been linked to a mental-health crisis in teenage girls. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-says-algorithm-biased-toward-right-wing-politicians-conservatives-2021-10">Twitter admitted that its tech </a>tended to amplify tweets from right-wing politicians, influencers, and news sources, and it's only grown worse since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-x-content-moderation-polices-california-law-ab587-2023-12">Elon Musk bought the site</a>. Cambridge Analytica used an algorithm to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-facebook-data-2019-10">trawl Facebook's data to hyper-target millions of people</a> in the run-up to the UK's vote to leave the European Union and the 2016 US presidential election.Algorithms that were supposed to make work easier or employees more productive have helped tilt the economy against blue-collar workers and people of color. Companies <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-06-28/fired-by-bot-amazon-turns-to-machine-managers-and-workers-are-losing-out">like Amazon </a>are making <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/work-at-amazon-jobs-performance-reviews-hiring-firing-interviews-warehouses-delivery-drivers">hiring and firing decisions based</a> on the whims of a glorified calculator. Customers are getting the short end of the AI stick, too: <a target="_blank" href="https://themarkup.org/denied/2021/08/25/the-secret-bias-hidden-in-mortgage-approval-algorithms">A 2019 investigation by the Associated Press and The Markup</a> found that algorithms used in making loan decisions were highly biased against people of color, with lenders being 80% more likely to turn down Black applicants than similar white applicants.And these problems carry over into the public sector, poisoning government services with algorithmic biases. The UK government faced a national scandal in 2020 when administrators replaced nearly 40% of students' A-level exams — a crucial test that can determine a student's ability to go to university — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-threatens-legal-action-over-uk-school-results-algorithm-2020-8">with algorithmically chosen grades</a>. The results significantly underscored students from Britain's tuition-free state schools, instead favoring those who went to private schools in affluent areas and throwing the lives of many young people into disarray. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/dutch-scandal-serves-as-a-warning-for-europe-over-risks-of-using-algorithms/">"self-learning" algorithm used by the Dutch tax authority</a> falsely penalized tens of thousands of people for supposedly defrauding the country's childcare system, pushing people into poverty and leading to thousands of children being placed into foster care. In the US, <a target="_blank" href="https://propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing">ProPublica found in a 2016 investigation</a> that an algorithm used in multiple state court systems to judge how likely somebody was to commit a crime in the future was biased against Black Americans, leading to harsher sentences from judges.Across the public and private sectors, we've handed the keys to a spiderweb of algorithms built with little public insight into how they make their decisions. There is some pushback to this infiltration — the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ftc-warns-keep-ai-claims-in-check-over-chatgpt-hype-2023-3"> FTC is seeking to regulate</a> how businesses use algorithms, but they've yet to do so meaningfully. And more broadly, it seems that governments are resigned to allowing machines to rule our lives.Much like the proverbial frog boiling in a pot of water, the slow takeover of algorithms has mostly gone unnoticed by the general public. It's easy to miss a small tweak to Instagram's algorithm or even celebrate the tax software that simplifies your filing. But now, thanks to the new wave of "artificial intelligence," people are starting to notice just how hot the water has gotten. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/generative-ai-exaggeration-openai-nvidia-microsoft-chatgpt-jobs-investors-markets-2024-3">Investor-fueled enthusiasm</a> means that almost every major company is considering or actively integrating generative AI — most of which is mediocre at best — into their services. As this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/peakai/">AI hype cycle</a> persists, we're hurtling toward the death of the useful internet. Large language models like those behind ChatGPT and Google's Gemini are designed to scrape the publicly available internet and various search engines for information. This poses a problem since the web is increasingly full of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seo-google-search-engine-drama-2023-11">generic pages designed to game the SEO system</a> rather than provide useful information. Many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-generative-experience-ai-lady-gaga-sge-2024-3">sites are themselves AI-generated</a>, creating an ouroboros of mediocre, unreliable information. Take Quora, the question-and-answer site that was once beloved for high-quality user-generated answers. Quora now provides answers generated by OpenAI's ChatGPT, which feeds into Google's generative results and eventually tells <a target="_blank" href="https://futurism.com/google-search-ai-melt-eggs">users that they can melt eggs</a>. And as disconnected executives replace human editors with AI — <a target="_blank" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/02/tech/microsoft-ai-news/index.html">as Microsoft did with </a>MSN.com, leading to misinformation delivered to over a billion people a month — we'll enter a cycle where the generative models train themselves on the remains of an internet poisoned by generative content. Even the supposedly human domain of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-flooded-spammy-ai-content-2023-8">social media has become flooded with AI spam</a>, turning X, Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram into a constant battle against misinformation and outright scams.While generative AI is just the newest extension of the algorithm, it poses a unique threat. Before, humans controlled the inputs and set rules of engagement for the models while the computers produced the output. Now we're allowing these models to set the rules of the game for us, generating both the inputs and outputs. We're already starting to see some of the deleterious effects: In 2023, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eating-disorder-helpline-disables-tessa-chatbot-harmful-responses-2023-5">National Eating Disorders Association</a> replaced its human helpline staff with an AI chatbot, only to have to pull it shortly thereafter when it started giving harmful weight-loss advice.The wealthy and powerful will be able to opt out of this algorithmically driven future or shape it in their image by connecting directly to the humans behind companies shrouded by algorithmic processes. When you have a private banker, you don't need to worry about an anonymous, automated financial review — you've got a person with an email address and a phone number. The wealthy won't have to worry about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-chatbots-tech-doctors-medicine-healthcare-system-empathy-quality-email-2023-6">nurses or doctors being replaced</a> by AI processes, because they'll be able to afford concierge medical services. The powerful won't have to worry about their jobs being automated away because they'll be the ones choosing where and when a job is handed over to an automated process.For the rest of us, it seems as if more and more of our lives will be dictated by the black box of algorithms, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chatgpt-is-like-many-other-ai-models-rife-with-bias-2023-1">we know how that goes</a>. Automation may be useful to scale and speed up the operations of a business or government, but the tradeoff is almost always human suffering — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-reduce-employee-headcount-this-year-ceo-study-jobcuts-efficiency-2024-1">layoffs</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/17/1005396/predictive-policing-algorithms-racist-dismantled-machine-learning-bias-criminal-justice/">unfair policing</a>, financial losses, a distorted media environment. Even the world's greatest source of information — the internet — is poised to become overwhelmed with content either created to appeal to algorithms or content generated by the algorithms themselves, pushing aside the unique, interesting, and valuable human-generated material that made the internet special.AI isn't new in this sense, but it is an acceleration of the trend toward cutting people out of the machinations of the world around them. Perhaps an omnipotent superintelligence was never the thing to fear. Perhaps the real threat was the greed that would lead companies to willingly offload critical processes to the point that human control is overwhelmed by a cancerous force — simulacrums informed by simulacrums making real-world calls that erode the ability to decide for ourselves.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/ed-zitron">Ed Zitron</a> is the CEO of <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://www.ezpr.com/">EZPR</a>, a national tech and business public-relations agency. He is also the author of the tech and culture newsletter <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" href="https://ez.substack.com/">Where's Your Ed At</a> and the host of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.betteroffline.com/">the "Better Offline" podcast</a>.

Our AI future is about to make one basic resource insanely valuable

<ul class="summary-list"><li>California has spent decades battling droughts and water insecurity.</li><li>Startups like Epic Cleantec are innovating with on-site water reuse.</li></ul>Despite enduring droughts for <a target="_blank" href="https://ca.water.usgs.gov/california-drought/california-drought-runoff.html">much of the past 15 years</a>, California continues to lead the nation in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-qa-which-states-use-most-water">water consumption</a>.During these <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drought-could-impact-agriculture-tourism-wildlife-2021-6">dry periods</a>, some of the state's local governments began to look for ways to <a target="_blank" href="https://andthewest.stanford.edu/2023/in-times-of-scarcity-californias-best-new-source-of-water-reuse/">diversify their water supplies</a> away from lengthy pipelines and expensive, out-of-state sources.In 2012, San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission began developing the Onsite Water Reuse Program to investigate whether water reuse, also known as water recycling, in buildings could be a solution to California's water problem."There weren't any state or national regulations," Paula Kehoe, the director of water resources at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, told Business Insider. Kehoe and her team created a permitting program to streamline the adoption of on-site water-reuse systems developed by private businesses.As the US faces a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/09/25/more-federal-funding-needed-to-improve-drinking-water-epa-study-finds#:~:text=Water%20utilities%20throughout%20the%20United,Environmental%20Protection%20Agency%20(EPA).">$625 billion cost to address the nation's need to repair drinking- and clean-water infrastructure</a>, on-site water reuse is quickly becoming a strong alternative to the historically slow and expensive process of building large water-recycling plants.With droughts predicted to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f">reduce California's water supply by 10%</a> over the next 20 years, the success of these systems could lay the foundation for how the state sources its water over several decades.<h2 id="8b14ae19-3316-4bcf-9798-263a2b1e1e25">Silicon Valley is investing in on-site water recycling</h2>In 2015, during the height of California's drought and after three years of development, San Francisco unveiled the Onsite Water Reuse Program requiring all new buildings of 250,000 square feet or more to install an on-site water-treatment system for nonpotable uses, a cap that was lowered to 100,000 square feet in 2021.The city's tech background and proximity to Silicon Valley gave some <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gradiant-water-startup-helps-businesses-recycle-water-2023-7">startups an opportunity</a> to enter the market. In 2019, Epic Cleantec, a maker of on-site water-reuse systems, emerged to meet the necessary demand for new large buildings.Aaron Tartakovsky, Epic Cleantec's cofounder and CEO, developed the company to address the water-reuse needs of large city buildings.He told BI he took inspiration from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-careers-in-demand-workforce-shortage-2024-7">solar industry</a>, which he said had turned to local installation projects after prioritizing large-scale solar-panel farms. "Can we do the same thing for water and wastewater?" Tartakovsky said. "Can this be water's solar moment?"<div type="image" title="Aaron Tartovsky, founder of epic cleantec" height="2268" width="3024" msid="111870886" hostid="261" sizebytes="137524"></div>Epic Cleantec's on-site systems can recycle building gray water for nonpotable uses, including toilet flushing and irrigation, through their filtration and disinfection process. The company's systems also incorporate an energy-saving mechanism to limit the amount of wasted heat."We have big tanks in these buildings that are collecting all this heated wastewater," Tartakovsky said. "Rather than just sending all that heat away, we are using heat exchangers to take all of that energy from the water and then to reuse that energy within the building."Epic Cleantec has six active projects in California, including a recent system in San Francisco's Salesforce Tower that the company says is the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://epiccleantec.com/projects/salesforce">largest on-site water-reuse system in a US commercial high-rise</a>.The company has also entered the hotel sector with a recycling system in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Beverly Hills. Recycled water is being used for on-site irrigation.In a drought-conscious state, Tartakovsky said the on-site recycling systems had become more appealing to tenants looking for ways to contribute to the state's water-conservation mindset.The adoption of on-site water reuse can also be a sensible decision for developers. "They're not working with us just because it's a nice thing to do and it's good for the planet," he said. "They're doing it because it makes business sense — it saves them a lot of money to incorporate technologies like ours into these projects."<h2 id="075e558b-3852-4981-bc08-a5e2095ce6fb">Water reuse to overcome hurdles</h2>While large plants and on-site water systems in major buildings have been California's <a target="_blank" href="https://andthewest.stanford.edu/2023/in-times-of-scarcity-californias-best-new-source-of-water-reuse/">more established methods</a> of water reuse, the state's biggest hurdle is retrofitting systems for existing buildings.As part of San Francisco's water-recycling initiative, the city published a list of 30 vendors that provide on-site systems that can be installed in existing buildings and new constructions to collect different types of water, including rainwater, gray water, and black water.While most of the vendors offer reuse systems and water management for new constructions, some companies, such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bioclere.co.uk/bioclere.php">Bioclere</a>, Phoenix's <a target="_blank" href="https://dewater.com/markets/aquacell-water-recycling/">Aquacell</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://innovatreat.com/">Innovatreat</a>, make systems designed to be retrofitted into existing buildings and community infrastructure.<div type="image" title="Epic Cleantec One Water system installed" height="2626" width="1751" msid="111870887" hostid="261" sizebytes="125772"></div>Erik Porse, the director and associate cooperative extension specialist at the California Institute for Water Resources, told BI these retrofits are more difficult to install because of the limitations of size and existing water pipes. "If you have a larger facility, like more area, then you can think about on-site treatment of some sort," he said. "But if you're kind of working in an existing building, like a small building, it can be kind of tough to integrate in lots of treatments."California's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-central-valley-farms-groundwater-dought-2023-7">agriculture sector</a> also relies on water-reuse systems for nonpotable water — a key part of crop irrigation. Since the state has the highest agricultural output in the country, recycled water is important for maintaining crops, especially in times of drought. California is the leader in <a target="_blank" href="https://watereuse.org/educate/water-reuse-101/agricultural-reuse/">using reused water for agriculture</a> across the US.However, the extent to which recycled water is used in agriculture depends on a state's guidelines, many of which are underdeveloped. For example, Iowa is one of the highest producers of crops but does not have any regulations for the use of reused water in agriculture. Instead, the state is experimenting with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cals.iastate.edu/inrc/news/2024/new-report-shares-latest-research-potential-ag-drainage-water-recycling">drainage-water recycling</a>, or collecting water from farming, and local infrastructure that captures used drainage and rainfall for reuse in on-site irrigation.Nonpotable water can also help in one of the country's newest sources of water loss: data centers. States like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-ai-so-thirsty-data-centers-use-massive-amounts-water-1882374">Iowa</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://grist.org/technology/surging-demand-data-guzzling-water-ai/">Virginia</a> have seen massive strains on their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">water supplies</a> due to the increased construction of these facilities. "Those data centers use huge amounts of water to cool themselves," Tartakovsky said.Tartakovsky hopes Epic Cleantec's recent expansions to states such as Texas, Florida, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-water-crisis-climate-change/">Hawaii</a> can help in ways beyond water scarcity. "A lot of people think you only need it in the Western states, but in places like the East Coast, a lot of times what they have is wastewater-infrastructure issues," he said. "We have pipes and sewers that were put in place anywhere from 30 to 100 years ago."<h2 id="8d5654cd-d3b7-4f2e-89c8-d5d9a678cdde">Rethinking our relationship with water</h2>To help promote the safety of its recycled water, Epic Cleantec partnered with a brewery near San Francisco, Devil's Canyon Brewing Co., to make a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-moon-bay-brewery-california-recycled-wastewater-nasa-astronauts-2023-7">safe-to-drink beer</a> out of its nonpotable water. The beer could not be sold commercially since the state has not cleared nonpotable water for drinking, but Tartakovsky credits the campaign with highlighting the company's purification process.Other states could learn from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/04/14/state-expands-save-our-water-public-awareness-campaign-as-drought-intensifies/">public-awareness campaigns</a> California has promoted for several decades to help residents embrace water reuse. During times of drought, the state has encouraged water conservation and water recycling, such as the use of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-06-21/gardening-with-recycled-water">recycled water for plants</a>. "We've seen a pretty big evolution in California cities, especially in Southern California, that folks understand that water reuse is a treatment technology that we use in the state, and it's important, and it provides supply resilience," Porse said.In Texas, a fellow drought-prone state, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://takecareoftexas.org/water">Take Care of Texas </a>campaign similarly encourages community support for water conservation so the state can survive in times of water scarcity.Porse told BI that in California as public support grows, so will government regulations. In 2023, California made progress toward establishing recycled water for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2023/pr20231219-dpr-regulations-adoption.pdf">direct potable reuse</a> and allowing recycled water to be used in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drinking-toilet-water-sewage-waste-drought-climate-crisis-solution-2023-12">state's drinking-water supply</a>.For Kehoe, the key to creating stronger water infrastructure is a partnership between communities that endures beyond times of scarcity."We always talk about water conservation as a way of life," Kehoe said. "It's not just during the drought."

Droughts are threatening California's water supply. The state is racing to save what's left. 

The pre-monsoon season hasn’t started on a pleasant note for <keyword id="6354915" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="assam" source="Orion">Assam</keyword>. Every year, the rainy season brings destruction to the most-populated northeastern state. It brings chaos, displacing thousands of people and animals, and damaging crops and properties worth billions. However, this time, the monsoons are yet to arrive and according to the <keyword id="645470" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="assam-state-disaster-management-authority" source="Orion">Assam State Disaster Management Authority</keyword> (ASDMA), at least <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/environment/news/over-four-lakh-people-affected-as-pre-monsoon-rains-trigger-floods-in-assam/articleshow/91632004.cms">4 lakh people have been affected and 24 people</a> have lost their lives so far due to the floods which have ravaged the state. On May 24, Assam floods witnessed a surge in the death toll, as it rose to 25 and 6.5 lakh people remained affected. These <a href="https://weather.com/en-IN/india/news/news/2022-05-24-assam-floods-improve-but-rains-prevail-over-northeast-india">6,50,402</a> affected, which include 1,25,471 children, reside in 1,709 villages based in 22 of the state's 34 districts. Close to 82,503 hectares of crop areas in flood-hit areas also remain affected. <div type="image" title="Flood hazard map of Assam, where colours represent different hazard classes" msid="91820351" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Flood hazard map of Assam, where colours represent different hazard classes&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Why are floods an annual occurrence in the state of Assam? Assam is one of the most flood-prone states in India and it has almost become an annual calamity. In terms of impact on <a href="https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/07/20/assam-floods/">human lives</a>, the floods of 1988, 1998 and 2004 were the worst – the 2004 floods alone affected 12.4 million people and claimed 251 lives. According to the Assam government, the <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">flood-prone area</a> of the state is 31.05 lakh hectares, against a total area of 78.523 lakh hectares – this means nearly 40% of the state’s area is flood-prone. Overall, Assam accounts for nearly 10% of the total flood-prone area of the country. The average <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">annual loss</a> due to floods in Assam is to the tune of ₹200 crore and particularly in 1998, the loss suffered was about ₹500 crore and during the year 2004 it was about ₹771.00 crore. Apart from the natural topography and annual excessive rainfall in Assam, there are various reasons – both man-made and natural – behind the destructive floods that hit Assam every year. Assam is home to a vast network of rivers, including the Brahmaputra and Barak River, and more than 50 tributaries feeding them. Assam also receives river water from <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">neighboring states</a> like Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">In 2004 and 2014</a>, the south bank tributaries of the Brahmaputra in lower Assam experienced flash floods of high magnitude due to cloud bursts in the catchment areas in Meghalaya. A similar incident occurred in <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">Arunachal Pradesh in 2011</a>, further aggravating floods in Assam. Bank erosion caused by the river Brahmaputra is one of the major reasons why Assam gets flooded every year. It means the removal of soil, sediment, or rock fragments along the banks, which results from high water flow. Due to erosion, the width of the river increases and it changes its course. According to the Assam government, more than <a href="https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-erosion-problems#:~:text=The%20flood%20prone%20area%20of%20the%20country%20as%20a%20whole,prone%20area%20of%20the%20country.">4.27 lakh hectares</a> of land, which is 7.40 % area of the state, has been eroded by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries since 1950. The width of the river Brahmaputra has increased up to 15 kilometres at some places due to bank erosion, making it the widest river in India. It is estimated that annually nearly 8,000 hectares land is lost to erosion. The surveys carried out at different periods reflect an alarming picture regarding the widening of river Brahmaputra which is as follows: <div type="image" title="River Brahmaputra has been widening at an alarming rate" msid="91820475" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;River Brahmaputra has been widening at an alarming rate&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Floods are also caused by human intervention – like encroachment of river banks and wetlands, lack of drainage, unplanned urban growth, hill cutting and deforestation. The dams that are being built are further aggravating these disasters. Government measures to control floods in Assam In 1982, the <keyword id="905955" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="brahmaputra-board" source="Orion">Brahmaputra Board</keyword> suggested that dams and reservoirs be built to mitigate floods in Assam. While dams are meant to regulate the flow of water, they can also be beyond the capacity of the channels downstream, proving to be a double-edged sword. The <keyword id="14039836" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="water-resources-department-of-assam" source="Orion">Water Resources Department of Assam</keyword> has constructed embankments and flood walls across the state. River training, bank protection, anti-erosion and town protection are also in the works. Here’s how their plan has progressed thus far: <div type="image" title="Assam govt&amp;#39;s measures to control floods in the state" msid="91820500" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Assam govt&amp;#39;s measures to control floods in the state&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Here's a short video <div type="image" title="Why Assam gets flooded every year" msid="91820530" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Why Assam gets flooded every year&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

SIMPLY PUT: Why Assam gets flooded every year

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shipping lanes off Yemen have seen a spike in successful Houthi attacks lately.</li><li>They've hit several commercial ships in recent weeks and even sank one of them.</li></ul>The Houthis have scored a string of successful hits in recent weeks on commercial vessels — even sinking one of them — and demonstrated their ability to effectively strike targets with drone boats, signaling that they're getting smarter with their attacks.Experts say these highly destructive achievements show that the Houthis are learning from their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-learning-battles-houthi-anti-ship-ballistic-missiles-commanders-2024-2">many months of regular attacks </a>on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and continue to receive help from Iran, their main supplier of military and financial assistance."They're learning, and they're getting more support," Archer Macy, a retired US Navy admiral, told Business Insider.<h2 id="aa8e9c53-6b28-48a5-8151-fdd712660e73">'A useful disguise' for the Houthis</h2>Between December and March, Houthi attacks damaged at least 19 commercial ships, according to a June 13 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dia.mil/Portals/110/Images/News/Military_Powers_Publications/YEM_Houthi-Attacks-Pressuring-International-Trade.pdf">report</a> published by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Nearly all of the vessels were targeted by missiles, though some were struck by one-way attack drones.The Houthis then lost a critical mission asset. An <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/suspected-iranian-spy-ship-sails-home-tehran-bracing-israeli-retaliation-2024-4">Iranian cargo ship suspected</a> of providing them with targeting information and intelligence sailed home. MV Behshad spent months lingering in waters near Yemen, but it left the area in mid-April as Tehran braced for Israel to retaliate over its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-forces-destroyed-iran-missiles-drones-massive-air-defense-battle-2024-4">unprecedented attack</a>.<div type="image" title="This image released by the US military's Central Command shows the fire aboard the bulk carrier True Confidence after a missile attack by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden on March 6, 2024." height="526" width="891" msid="111365491" hostid="261" sizebytes="20162"></div>The following weeks saw a decrease in the pace of successful Houthi attacks. In April and May, a total of three commercial vessels reported being struck by anti-ship ballistic missiles launched by the rebels, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/02/12/all-the-houthi-us-navy-incidents-in-the-middle-east-that-we-know-of/?utm_source=sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=mil-ebb">list of incidents</a> compiled by Military Times.June, however, has been another story. The Houthis started the month <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/yemen-houthi-threat-red-sea-us-uk-strike-5000-pound-bunker-buster-bomb/">vowing to escalate</a> their attacks in the wake of American and British strikes in Yemen. The rebels have since struck at least five commercial vessels, finding a level of success in their targeting similar to that of the opening months of their campaign.Some of the incidents have also revealed dangerous new tactics. Most notably, on June 12, the Houthis struck a commercial vessel in the Red Sea with an explosive-laden drone boat <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houthis-score-first-hit-red-sea-ship-drone-boat-2024-6">for the first time</a> since they began attacking merchant shipping in November.Unlike the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-made-naval-drones-deadlier-larger-warheads-general-says-2024-3">sophisticated naval drones</a> that have taken center stage in the Ukraine war, devastating the Russian Black Sea Fleet, this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houthis-struck-merchant-ship-drone-disguised-fishing-boat-red-sea-2024-6">crude-looking weapon</a> was little more than a small, slow-moving craft staffed by two dummies that appeared to resemble a common fishing vessel. As such, the vessel managed to travel over <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/UK_MTO/status/1800901402954477956">65 nautical miles</a> across shipping lanes without being stopped."There's so many small boats in that stretch of water, and that's why, actually, it's so hard to stop the smuggling of missiles and drones to the Houthis as well," Brian Carter, the Salafi-Jihadism team lead and an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project, told BI."You can't stop every small boat. So I do think it's a useful disguise for them," he said.<div type="image" title="Yemen's Houthi group released a video showing an explosive-laden drone boat target a commercial vessel earlier this month." height="1027" width="1691" msid="111365488" hostid="261" sizebytes="27158"></div>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3805237/june-12-us-central-command-update/">initial drone boat attack</a> on the commercial bulk carrier MV Tutor caused flooding and damage to the engine room. Hours later, a Houthi missile hit the ship. The double-tap strike forced the crew to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cusnc.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/3808514/us-navy-rescues-crew-from-vessel-struck-by-houthis/">abandon the vessel</a>, and it eventually sank, becoming the second ship to do so since attacks began last fall.The same week, the Houthis fired two anti-ship missiles, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3806589/houthis-strike-mv-verbena-in-gulf-of-aden-uss-philippine-sea-medically-evacuate/">hitting the MV Verbena</a> in the Gulf of Aden. Not even 24 hours later, the bulk cargo carrier <a target="_blank" href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3807023/june-13-us-central-command-update/">was struck by another missile</a>, marking the week's second double-tap strike. The ship's crew eventually <a target="_blank" href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3808503/june-15-us-central-command-update-on-mv-verbena/">abandoned the vessel</a> due to the damage sustained by the attacks.British security firm Ambrey <a target="_blank" href="https://ambrey.com/app/uploads/2024/06/AMBREY-THREAT-CIRCULAR_FIRST-CONFIRMED-IMPACT-OF-RC-WBIED-SINCE-NOVEMBER-2023.pdf">said</a> the attacks on the Tutor and Verbena, in addition to successful strikes on two other vessels in the days prior, were indicative of a "significant increase in effectiveness" of Houthi operations."Every single Houthi attack, the Houthis are probably learning something about what works and what doesn't," Carter said. "If you think about how a military organization operates, they're definitely taking away lessons from the different strike packages that they're using."<h2 id="a8c224ad-73ee-409d-bee0-48eab7a17ccd">Double taps and drone boats</h2>Beyond the recent double-tap strikes, the Houthis' ability to learn from past attacks is visible in their drone boat operations.During the first few months of this year, US forces destroyed Houthi drone boats in Yemen nearly every time the rebels tried to launch them into shipping lanes. In June, though, the rebels managed to get <a target="_blank" href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/02/12/all-the-houthi-us-navy-incidents-in-the-middle-east-that-we-know-of/?utm_source=sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=mil-ebb">well over a dozen drone boats</a> into the water — far more than they had in any previous month.And their ability to do so is what ultimately led to the catastrophic attack on the Tutor.<div type="image" title="In this photo released by the French military, the MV Tutor sinks in the Red Sea after it was struck by a Houthi drone boat." height="1143" width="2048" msid="111365489" hostid="261" sizebytes="227830"></div>Experts say the uptick in drone boat attacks points to the Houthis' ability to react to US strikes in Yemen and adjust their operations accordingly. That could mean better hiding them or picking more efficient launch sites. It also suggests that the rebels could now have a larger supply of such weapons, awarding them more opportunities to launch and thus leading to a greater chance that they'll eventually hit something."I think it's more likely they've got more of them, so they're more willing to use them," said Macy, now a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Missile Defense Project. "They're not such precious objects, and they've probably just gotten better at it."It's unclear what all the Houthi drone boats look like, but the small fishing craft that struck the Tutor is an inexpensive, readily available vessel that can be modified into a weapon.It is difficult to not only prevent the rebels from obtaining their "low-tech, low-cost" means of attack and to deter them from launching attacks, Alex Stark, an associate policy researcher who covers Middle East security at the RAND Corporation, told BI.These attacks are an "ongoing problem without an obvious or useful solution at hand," she added.<div type="image" title="Graduate students take part in a parade in support of the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen on June 9." height="2560" width="3840" msid="111365495" hostid="261" sizebytes="555478"></div>White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged this week that the Houthis have been more successful in their recent targeting, though he pointed out that a majority of their attacks have still failed.US and coalition naval forces are routinely tasked with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sailors-us-navy-gravely-destroyer-have-seconds-respond-houthi-missiles-2024-2">destroying Houthi missiles and drones</a> — both before and after launch — and many of these threats have landed in the water."They miss a whole hell of a lot more than they hit," Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.He said the US will continue to "degrade their capabilities" — which <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-aircraft-carrier-eisenhower-planes-in-air-constantly-houthis-2024-2">American forces</a> are said to be doing through the consistent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-us-navy-aircraft-carrier-tactics-shift-houthi-missiles-drones-2024-2">strikes in Yemen</a> — but cautioned that the Houthis are still getting supplied and resourced by Iran, which has been the case for years."The Houthis, who have no greater or lesser desire than they did six months ago, have been given more capability and are getting more support in doing so," Macy said.<div type="image" title="The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower sails in the Red Sea on June 12, 2024." height="4842" width="7263" msid="111365493" hostid="261" sizebytes="4112734"></div>Recent Houthi successes come amid <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-third-carrier-strike-group-react-middle-east-conflict-2024-6">changes in the American naval presence</a> in the region. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, which spent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-carrier-strike-group-fighting-houthis-fired-hundreds-munitions-2024-5">more than seven months battling</a> the rebels, recently left the Red Sea, but it will <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-carrier-strike-group-eisenhower-houthis-red-sea-2024-6">soon be replaced</a> by the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.US officials have warned that the conflict has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/houthis-keep-attacking-ships-red-sea-long-time-us-intelligence-2024-5">no signs of slowing down</a>, and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-fired-nearly-one-billion-missiles-countering-iran-houthis-2024-4">growing financial toll</a> has raised questions about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-stuck-red-sea-battle-cant-fight-houthis-forever-2024-6">long-term sustainability</a> of the counter-Houthi mission.Experts say that despite the material effects of the Houthi campaign, which has caused disruptions to a key global shipping route, the rebels are still eager to use their attacks to boost their messaging and legitimacy. The Houthis characterize their campaign as a response to the Israel-Hamas war, but they are also attempting to position themselves as a big player in Iran's proxy network."I think they have discovered that this tactic is quite successful for them and very difficult to deter," Stark said.Broader regional de-escalation might be the only way to sustainably address the problem, but that may not permanently solve it, she said. "I don't think the Houthis would be willing to cease these kinds of attacks forever."

The Houthis are getting smarter with their Red Sea attacks, and the ships sailing these waters are paying the price

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The largest desalination plant in the US is in San Diego.</li><li>Experts have said the huge costs and ecological risks mean these plants might not work nationwide.</li></ul>In the early 1990s, San Diego was dying on the vine, starved of water in a series of yearslong <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-fueled-droughts-unearthing-unexpected-discoveries-2022-7">droughts</a>.The county, which relied almost entirely on imported water, had to cut back on 30% of its usage and was at risk of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-05-mn-67-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing 50%</a>. At the last minute, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-30-mn-722-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a miracle</a> saved San Diego — <a href="https://www.insider.com/California-weather-whiplash-floods-drought-getting-worse-atmospheric-rivers-2023-1">rain and snow in the desert</a> replenished aquifers, saving the city from intense cutbacks.But the water didn't extinguish the passion of San Diegans, who after finding themselves in this situation, rallied together to find a way to become more self-sufficient, Jeremy Crutchfield, the water-resources manager at the San Diego County Water Authority, told Insider.Enter the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. It would become the largest facility for turning salt water into fresh water in the United States. Now, about <a href="https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/faqs.html#:~:text=The%20Plant%20produces%2050%20million,San%20Diego%20County's%20water%20supply." target="_blank" rel="noopener">10% of the county's water</a> comes from that plant.It's not the only way that San Diegans get their water, but it's another tool in their kit to make sure drought would never threaten them again, Crutchfield said. "We've proven here in San Diego that it works," he said. But San Diego got lucky. Water access is threatened across the US, from a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-western-states-disagree-colorado-river-cuts-proposal-borrowed-water-2023-2">six-way tug-of-war</a> on the fraying rope that is the Colorado River's water supply, to engineers' <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mississippi-river-dangerously-low-second-year-in-row-army-dredging-2023-9">24/7 efforts to prevent</a> salt water from seeping up the Mississippi River.But for other cities, desalination might not be the answer.<h2>What is desalination, and how is San Diego using it?</h2><div type="image" title="Located in San Diego County, CA, at the Encina Power Station, The Claude &quot;Bud&quot; Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is the largest salt water desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere and provides 50 million gallons of desalinated seawater per day." height="2965" width="5930" msid="104779170" hostid="261" sizebytes="793966"></div>Desalination works by taking salty water and running it through a series of increasingly fine strainers to remove debris. It's then pushed through a membrane with tiny holes that capture the salt while fresh water flows through.The holes in the membrane are about<a href="https://ixwater.com/the-viability-of-desalination" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 0.1 micrometer in diameter</a> —<a href="https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/nano-size" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 1,000 times thinner</a> than a sheet of paper.Just to push the water through such a small membrane, you need "a heck of a lot of electricity," Robert Glennon, a professor emeritus at the University of Arizona and the author of "Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What to Do About It," told Insider.All that electricity <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-cars-grid-utility-bills-electricity-rates-cheaper-for-everyone-2022-12">costs a lot of money</a>.Each day, the plant generates 50 million gallons of fresh water for San Diego County, which over the course of a year amounts to between an estimated $49 million and $54 million in operations costs, a 2017 article in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324049504578545661598973132" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a> said.The water-treatment facility in Orange County, California, which purifies highly treated sewer water into drinking water and serves a similar-sized population, costs about the same — $50 million — to operate each year. Except it generates about 3 ½ times more water than Carlsbad, meeting about <a href="https://www.ocwd.com/gwrs/frequently-asked-questions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35%</a> of Orange County's water demands.Both plants cost between around $900 million to $1 billion to build.All together, desalination costs more money than most local governments are willing or able to spend on their own, Frank Ward, a professor of resource and welfare economics who studies water policy at New Mexico State University, told Insider.Ward said, "the grim specter of costs that always comes to bite us in the rear, doesn't it?"<h2>But when stars align </h2><h2><div type="image" title="A diagram explaining that desalination works by taking ocean water, running it through a filter, then using reverse osmosis to produce fresh water and waste." height="3839" width="4300" msid="104779172" hostid="261" sizebytes="182828"></div></h2>On its own, San Diego County probably wouldn't have had the funds to get the Carlsbad plant up and running, Crutchfield said.But there was enough public interest in water resources in the area at the time to get the attention of a private player — Poseidon Water LLC.In 1998, Poseidon agreed to front the funding, permitting, designing, constructing, and early operating costs, using company funds and<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/municipal-bonds"> public-activity bonds</a>. The company took on a huge amount of early risk, Michelle Peters, director of operations at Poseidon, told Insider. One of the reasons Poseidon got the plant approved was because it had found a location that made it easy to access water, which helped it sidestep backlash from local environmentalists.Normally, where a desalination plant gets its salt water from and where it dumps its wastewater is of major environmental concern. Sucking the water in means sucking any tiny or microbial life that could disrupt the ecological balance in with it.Then dumping dense, salty waste back can drastically change the ocean's salinity and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/slaking-the-worlds-thirst-with-seawater-dumps-toxic-brine-in-oceans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suffocate marine life</a>, Michael Hanemann, a professor of water economics and policy at Arizona State University, said.<div type="image" title="A diagram explaining how the Carlsbad desalination plant works." height="413" width="700" msid="104779174" hostid="261" sizebytes="24622"></div>These concerns troubled Glennon enough that when he was asked to consult on a new desalination proposal in the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-05/panel-rejects-idea-of-filling-salton-sea-with-ocean-water" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salton Sea in California</a>, he recommended against it. He remembered thinking, "What would we be doing, taking this virgin piece of beach, a functioning ecosystem, and completely degrading it?"But the Carlsbad plant was built next to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/attacks-on-us-power-grids-increase-around-elections-experts-say-2023-9">power plant</a> conveniently located on the shoreline.The power plant used ocean water to cool its machinery — so the desalination plant could use that hot saltwater waste for its main supply. One person's trash is another's treasure, as they say.Since Carlsbad was using water that was being extracted anyway, it posed no additional threat to the ecosystem — at least on the front end. But it did have to address the back end.Peters said they developed a method of diluting the brine before sending it back to the shoreline by a discharge pond. In the eight years since it began running, the plant has kept salinity levels within regulations the <a href="https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/desalination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California Ocean Plan Amendments</a> has set, so in that regard, the method worked, Peters said.Moreover, dilution can be an effective way of managing environmental impact, Glennon said. <h2>The other options for saving water</h2><div type="image" title="A photograph of the rows and rows of reverse osmosis machines at the Carlsbad plant." height="3209" width="4278" msid="104779178" hostid="261" sizebytes="1443174"></div>Because of building and operations costs, plus their potential environmental and ecological toll, desalination plants might not be the saving grace to the country's water crisis that people might think, Glennon said. But they can be a backup plan."As an economist, in principle, there is a case for desal as a form of insurance against disruption of conventional surface-water supply," Hanemann said.But there are far easier methods to consider as the first line of defense against water shortages, such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/las-vegas-turn-away-companies-not-practicing-water-conservation-2023-9">conserving water</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orange-county-purest-drinking-water-filtered-sewage-2019-10">recycling used water</a>, and manipulating the cost of water, Glennon said. When applied rigorously, these methods have been promising in the past.<div type="image" title="A photograph of a person getting water from a tap at a promotional event for the Bud Lewis desalination plant." height="2800" width="3733" msid="104779180" hostid="261" sizebytes="311284"></div>In 2019, Los Angeles <a href="https://lacitysan.org/san/faces/home/portal/s-lsh-wwd/s-lsh-wwd-cw/s-lsh-wwd-cw-rw?_afrLoop=14485714539863279&amp;_afrWindowMode=0&amp;_afrWindowId=null&amp;_adf.ctrl-state=kkeuczw2b_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed recycling water</a> from sinks, showers, toilets, appliances, and machinery into its water supply. Recycling this source would make enough drinking water a year to equal the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-glennon-water-sewage-recycling-los-angeles-20190305-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seventh-largest river</a> in the United States, the Columbia River, Glennon said. With these easier options on the table, it's even more staggering that cities such as San Diego have pushed desalination efforts through.Peters recognized that her company's success in San Diego might be a rare occurrence.When it comes to using desalination in other cities across the country, she said, "I'm sure anything could be done. But whether that's the right call is going to be very dependent on where you're looking at."Roughly <a href="https://www.apmresearchlab.org/10x-desalination" target="_blank" rel="noopener">200 desalination plants</a> are currently operating in the US and about <a href="https://www.wwdmag.com/water/article/10917779/desalination-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50 to 75</a> new projects are proposed each year in the country.

San Diego temporarily solved its water crisis by turning ocean water into fresh water. But desalination won't work everywhere.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The market for bonds financing water conservation projects is approaching a "tipping point."</li><li>The market is small, just about $5 billion, but it's seeing more enthusiasm than the early green bond market. </li></ul>Blue is the next green for sustainable finance. Blue bonds — debt that allows investors to finance water conservation efforts — are gaining traction."I would liken the blue bond market today to where the green bond market was 10 to 15 years ago," Matt Lawton, a portfolio manager from T Rowe Price, told Business Insider. Today, the green bond market is valued at around $2 trillion. Compared to that, the blue bond market is much smaller, just about $5 billion, but it's on the cusp of a big change, Lawton explained. He's seeing even more enthusiasm around the asset than he observed for green bonds when they were at the stage blue bonds are today.Lawton is part of the effort to launch the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-20/t-rowe-ifc-seek-investors-for-blue-emerging-market-bond-fund">first blue bond strategy</a>, and is seeking commitments from investors for a fund that will make investments in the space. "It's a very nascent market today," he explained. "So one is not able to go out and invest several billion into blue bonds because the market doesn't exist. So what we're endeavoring to do is actually build out the market ourselves."The firm has partnered with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. They've each committed to putting up to $75 million into the strategy and will be looking to raise another $350 million t0 $450 million from investors. The fund would target a return 3% to 6% over the US Treasuries yield curve."Blue is kind of at that tipping point where there's a lot more enthusiasm and engagement amongst capital market participants, investors, underwriters, issuers," Lawton said. "I think we're at this tipping point, whether it tips in '24 or '25 or '26, I have a high degree of confidence it's going to happen. I couldn't pinpoint the exact date, but it does feel like we're on the precipice," he added. <h3>The economic argument</h3>Blue bonds can finance anything from biodiversity and marine conservation to projects aimed at preventing overfishing to plastic pollution cleanup. But for all its climate and sustainability goals, there's a compelling economic reason investors would put their money into the bonds, Lawton explained."Take, for instance, water sanitation, a utility, right? Long-term contracts, high recurring cash flows, there's a pretty strong economic argument to be made for investing in those types of bonds."That's worth noting given the current backdrop for sustainable financing conversations. ESG investing has come under fire in the past year, driven by a wave of anti-woke sentiment. Climate-focused mutual funds <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/funds/climate-change-esg-investing-mutual-funds-interest-rates-anti-woke-2024-1">sales dropped by 75% in 2023.</a>But blue bonds seem to have sidestepped the vitriol, in part because it's a heavily under-invested theme (less than <a href="https://www.man.com/maninstitute/blue-bonds-sustainable-debt#:~:text=From%202018%20to%202022%2C%20there,of%20the%20sustainable%20debt%20market.">0.5% of the total sustainable debt market</a>), but also because of that financial appeal."For all the politicization of ESG, this is one of those few topics that we can all agree on," Lawton said.<h3>The origin of blue bonds</h3>One of the first blue bond programs was launched with the help of a non-profit organization called The Nature Conservancy to finance conservation efforts in Seychelles. The program used what's called a "debt-for-nature" swap, where a portion of a country's debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in conservation measures."I give The Nature Conservancy a lot of credit because they created a blue bond program a few years ago that I think really kicked up a lot of interest in the space," Preeti Bhattacharji, JPMorgan's head of sustainable investing, said.The organization is now one of the <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/an-audacious-plan-to-save-the-worlds-oceans/">best-known issuers</a> of blue bonds, Bhattacharji said.Lawton from T Rowe Price added that banks like the Asia Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea have <a href="https://www.kedglobal.com/banking-finance/newsView/ked202301060002">also issued blue bonds.</a> The funding method is actually gaining a lot of traction in the Asia-Pacific region given the region's dependence on marine resources, with issuance doubling to $1 billion since its debut in 2020, the South China Morning post <a href="https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3234882/blue-bonds-set-make-waves-new-financing-tool-ocean-friendly-projects-asia-pacific-region" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in September last year.And more institutions are jumping in. Last August, wind energy company Ørsted became <a href="https://orsted.com/en/media/news/2023/06/20230608684811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the first energy company to issue a blue bond</a>, worth 100 million euros and maturing in 2028. Mitsui O.S.K Lines, a Japanese shipping company, also announced in December <a href="https://www.ajot.com/news/mol-to-become-worlds-1st-shipping-company-to-issue-blue-bonds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a 10 billion yen ($66 million) blue bond issuance.</a>While the buy-side enthusiasm is still limited to a relatively small pool of investors, Bhattacharji from JPMorgan said the market has a lot of potential to grow as sustainability becomes a priority for future generations."As younger people come into their wealth, come into their power, enter the space, start asking these questions, the pattern that I've seen — not specific to blue bonds, but across sustainability — is there's just growing, swelling interests across these subjects," she said. "And I don't see any reason blue bonds should be an exception to that."

Blue is the next green: Bonds financing water conservation projects are approaching a 'tipping point'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>California approved a measure allowing it to convert wastewater into drinking water.</li><li>The measure comes as the region has battled<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-show-california-mega-drought-drying-up-lakes-forest-2021-7"> severe drought </a>over the past few years.</li></ul>Californians could soon have sewage waste coming out of their taps — purified, of course.California's State Water Resources Control Board recently approved regulations allowing water systems to convert wastewater, like sewage and toilet water, into purified water that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/orange-county-purest-drinking-water-filtered-sewage-2019-10">Californians can drink</a>.According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2023/pr20231219-dpr-regulations-adoption.pdf">board's</a> December 19 press release, the measure would give California the "most advanced standards in the nation" to repurpose wastewater in a way that meets drinking standards. The process, known as direct potable reuse, would allow water systems to add millions of gallons of drinking water to their supplies while reducing the amount of waste that flows into oceans."This is an exciting development in the state's ongoing efforts to find innovative solutions to the challenges of extreme weather driven by climate change," E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board, said in a statement."On top of helping us build drought-resilient water supplies, direct potable reuse offers energy savings and environmental benefits," he continued. "And most importantly, these regulations ensure that the water produced is not only safe, but purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on."<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-drought-aerial-photos-dried-lakes-reservoirs-2021-7">California has experienced the driest period in its history</a> over the past few years. While heavy rainfall this year led the US Drought Monitor to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/us/california-drought-hilary.html">declare</a> most of the state drought-free in August, the ongoing climate crisis continues to exacerbate water scarcity concerns.And while California's latest regulations are new, drinking converted wastewater isn't. Texas, for example, started employing the method in 2013, a brewery in California's Half Moon Bay <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-moon-bay-brewery-california-recycled-wastewater-nasa-astronauts-2023-7">switched to recycled wastewater</a> to combat drought over the summer, and Colorado's water board approved the process last year.California's water board wrote in its press release that once the new regulations are finalized by the Office of Administrative Law next year, water systems in the state can start submitting plans to begin purifying wastewater."We want to just use it as much as we can," Rebecca Kimitch, press office manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, <a target="_blank" href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4362918-california-toilet-to-tap-water-direct-potable-reuse-proposal-what-to-know/">told</a> The Hill. "Using it once and then sending it to the ocean — that's not being as efficient and as sustainable as we can be."

Purified toilet water could soon be flowing through Californians' taps as the state battles drought

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Biodiversity loss and human impacts are becoming a key component in climate change conversations. </li><li>Experts discuss their views on how biodiversity loss and climate change are also impacting the financial sector. </li><li>The conversation was part of Insider's event "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate," which took place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023.</li></ul>As the symptoms of climate change worsen so too do natural disasters, extreme weather events, and food and water scarcity. Wildlife experts and researchers are pressing for more attention to be paid to how the climate crisis is affecting not only humans but also the alarming loss of biodiversity. Dr. Susan Chomba, Director of Vital Landscapes at the World Resources Institute spoke with Catherine Boudreau, senior sustainability reporter at Insider, about biodiversity loss in the past decade. Chomba said, "This is hugely driven by, of course, human factors. Human beings, the way we live, the way we cultivate our food, the way we go ahead with our businesses in different dimensions of our lives."In the session Together for a Greener Tomorrow part of the "For a Better Future: Bridging Culture, Business, and Climate" Dr. Michal Nachmany, CEO and Founder of Climate Policy Radar echoed Choma's sentiments. Nachmany said, "I think between the micro and the macro, between the rhinoceros and the fungi, we need to remember that there are critical services that we don't even know how they are interconnected to each other."<h2>Biodiversity's climate change connection</h2>Chomba said that people often make policy based on a "siloed approach." In terms of climate change she said, "It's really affecting a lot of actors outside the policy environment, like the private sector actors in the energy sector, in the industrial, in the input side on the agriculture side, and of course transport."Nachmany agreed and added that humans love to think in terms of solutions. Nachmany said, "When it comes to biodiversity it is important to think of needs instead of solutions. If we think about what are human needs: humans need shelter, humansneed food, humans need a temperature range that is livable in. And all of those, the solutions that address both climate change and biodiversity conservation are the same solutions."<h2>Finance and Biodiversity</h2>Nachmany noted that the financial sector is trending towards a better understanding of sustainable investment. She said, "Without a livable planet, no investment is safe. We're seeing movement in very strange places, like large investor coalitions that all of a sudden care about nature positive investments."Chomba noted that people who can pay are the ones who are benefitting from biodiverse populations. Referring to the Congo Basin she said, "What we are seeing recently, and especially in a country like DRC, is the government last year decided to issue concessions to at least 27 concessions basically for any kind of use. Anybody who is willing to pay for the concessions gets the rights to use these lands." The Congo is home to critically endangered species and protected indigenous communities. Chomba said, "I think the case of DRC has really tested the global finance mechanisms and the global commitments to protection of biodiversity, to protection of carbon that is already in these ecosystems and to the protection of indigenous people."Catherine Boudreau:really glad that you mentioned finance because what I've been thinking about a lot is how as a society we don't really put a price on nature, even though it does have so much value to communities, to businesses, to governments. So as a result, there aren't always the best financial incentives to protect it when maybe there's more money to be made in other industries, whether it's oil or timber.Nature adds value to communities, businesses, and goverenments society doesn't necessarily put a price on nature. As an outcome governments can't find the best financial incentives to protect nature. Nachmany said, "Financial mechanisms and financial instruments are also a mechanism to ensure that polluting activities and damaging and destructive activities are capped and banned. So you asked if we can put a price on nature, and the question is, can we put a price on destroying nature?"<h2>Biodiversity and vulnerable populations</h2>Nachmany posited that the most vulnerable populations impacted by climate change are often the least likely contributors to the problem. He said, "We have vulnerable communities all over the world, but we see the people who are the strongest but also the ones impacted the most by climate change and biodiversity loss also the ones who have contributed the least towards creating it." On how to tackle biodiversity and the harm to vulnerable populations Chomba said, "The problem is, we don't have strong governance to access that that decentralized power and authority and decision making to these communities more. We still tend to have a lot of centralized regime in terms of how we manage our biodiversity, and that's a key issue."

Experts from the World Resources Institute and Climate Policy Radar discuss biodiversity and climate change.

While a significant proportion of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=EARTH&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">earth’s</a> surface is covered with <keyword id="15300" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Water">water</keyword>, only a miniscule fraction of it is available for sustenance of life; the remaining being either saline water or frozen in glaciers or the ice caps. This highlights the importance of conservation of freshwater sources such as the surface water found in rivers, lakes, and wetlands and groundwater, found underground in soil, sand and rocks. Figure 1.1 shows the distribution of water in various forms on <keyword id="6359982" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="earth">earth</keyword>. 
 
 
 The endowment of the freshwater resources varies across the world. In 2014, out of the total world internal renewable freshwater resources, Latin America and Caribbean had the highest share of 32 per cent, followed by the East Asia and Pacific (24 per cent), Europe and Central Asia (17 per cent), North America (13 per cent), Sub-Saharan Africa (9 per cent), South Asia (5 per cent) and Middle East and North Africa (1 per cent). Further, the world withdraws about 9 per cent of its freshwater annually for meeting the needs of its agriculture, industrial and domestic sectors; with agriculture sector abstracting a predominant share of 60 per cent of the freshwater, while industry’s share is 22 per cent and domestic sector’s share is 18 per cent (<keyword id="6354424" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Bank">World Bank</keyword>, 2014) 
 
Moreover, countries show differences in their sectoral shares of extraction of freshwater, for instance, the LDCs withdraw relatively more freshwater for agriculture, as compared to the developed countries which use water more for energy production and large industry. For instance lower middle income countries such as India withdraw 90 per cent of its freshwater for agriculture, while high income countries such as the US extract 46 per cent of its freshwater for industry, 14 per cent for domestic needs and only the remaining 40 percent for agriculture. (World Bank, 2014) 
 
Further, since the 1980s, freshwater withdrawals have increased globally at a rate of 1 per cent per year, primarily due to demand arising in developing countries. Growing demand and vulnerable supply of water, has led to the problem of water scarcity in these countries, with the agriculture being the most affected sector of these economies. The severity of water scarcity varies in these countries from “absolute water scarcity” to “regular water stress”, based on the per capita availability of renewable water per year. A country faces “absolute water scarcity “if per capita renewable water per year drops below 500 m3, ,while it is in “regular water stress” if per capita renewable water per year stays between 1000m3 and 1700 m3. A country is said to be in “chronic water scarcity” when water supply drops below 1000m3 per capita per year. While countries such as India, Pakistan ,Uzbekistan , Ethiopia, Somalia, and Nigeria face regular water stress, countries such as Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and UAE face absolute water scarcity (FAO-Acquastat, 2015). Water scarcity in these countries has resulted not just from climatic factors, but also has been a result of lack of proper infrastructure in place for the storage of water during the times of surplus water supply. A well developed storage infrastructure for buffering water along with good governance in ensuring water resource management is essential to overcome the ongoing <keyword id="6355836" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="water-crisis">water crisis</keyword> in these countries. Moreover, emphasis should be given on ensuring quality of water as poor quality further compounds the problem of water scarcity. Degraded water quality costs Middle Eastern and North African countries between 0.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent of annual <keyword id="35050" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="gdp">GDP</keyword> (World Bank, 2007). Further, transboundary nature of most of the river basins makes regional dialogues between the countries imperative. 
 
Another major concern that has been faced globally is the over extraction of groundwater reserves that has been further aggravated by the water loss due to leakage. While about 38 per cent of the irrigated areas globally make use of the groundwater (Siebert et al., 2013); nearly 30 per cent of water is lost on account of leakage (Kingdom et al., 2006; Danilenko et al., 2014). This highlights the criticality of making an optimum use of the water resources worldwide. 
 
Considering the global importance of water reserves, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=UN&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">United Nation’s(UN)</a> 2030 agenda for sustainable development incorporates water at the core of its Sustainable Development Goals, and goes beyond the previously developed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (2000-2015) to now cover the entire water cycle from drinking water and basic sanitation to address broader issues such as water quality and wastewater management, water scarcity and related efficient usage of water, integrated water resource management and protection and restoration of water related ecosystems. 
 
(This article has been co-authored by Deepti Mathur, who is with the Social Progress Initiative India)

The Water Crisis and Criticality of Water Resource Management

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Erin Ranney is a 32-year-old cinematographer who spends months at a time recording wildlife.</li><li>Over the past decade, she has made an essential period pack to bring along when doing fieldwork.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Erin Ranney. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I never thought I would become a wildlife cinematographer. Growing up, I loved animals and decided to become a veterinarian. Halfway through college, I realized I didn't enjoy it and switched to wildlife ecology and natural resources.When my mom saw the wildlife <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/wildlife-photography-best-photos-animals-2019-8">photos I took in Madagascar</a>, she invited me to share them with the children at the school she worked at. After my talk, all the books on Madagascar were immediately checked out of the library. I had an aha moment, realizing how enjoyable it was to educate people about science. It led me to my master's degree in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wildlife-filmmaker-malaika-vaz-on-environmental-and-biodiversity-conservation-interview-2021-5">wildlife-documentary production</a>.<div type="image" title="A selfie photo of Erin Ranny holding a camera with the sun shining above her. Erin has blonde hair and wears a brown hoodie and grey winter coat. She smiles slightly. " height="2316" width="3088" msid="103892502" hostid="261" sizebytes="213234"></div>During fieldwork, every shoot is different. I could be staying on a sailboat, in a tent, or in a lodge for months at a time, working 12-plus hours a day.<h2>Managing my menstrual cycle as a cinematographer was a nightmare</h2>For my first fieldwork experience 10 years ago, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/solo-woman-van-life-safety-tips-from-someone-who-does-it-2021">I was camping</a> in Madagascar for four months. Before I left, I asked my doctor how to manage my periods while I was away. At the time, I was on birth control, so one option was to skip my cycle by not taking the placebo pill. It seemed like a great plan, but I packed plenty of tampons just in case.The plan worked and my period skipped the first month. Unfortunately, I then had a period for an entire month and ran out of tampons. I improvised by using a new pair of hiking socks for two weeks. Each day I would take the used one out, wash it in the river, and let it dry.While it did the job, it was really uncomfortable. I was hiking up to eight hours each day. Even though I look back and laugh now, it wasn't fun at the time.After that experience, I decided to be better prepared.<h2>Items such as menstrual cups and medication for UTIs have saved me on shoots countless times</h2>For my next trip, I packed menstrual cups, menstrual-cup wash, tampons, and ibuprofen. The menstrual cup is ideal because it means less garbage and is easier than tampons when working long days. I also don't need to worry about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/toxic-shock-syndrome-causes-symptoms">toxic-shock syndrome</a>, as long as my hands are clean when changing it.For each subsequent trip, I've continued to add to my period pack.One of my next additions was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/whats-in-pads-tampons-toxic-chemicals-not-only-alleged-in-thinx-2023-1">period underwear</a>. On my heaviest days, when working long hours, period underwear provides the perfect protection if my cup leaks.Over the years, I have had urinary-tract infections during shoots. UTIs are not only painful but also can also be dangerous if the bacterial infection gets to your kidneys or bloodstream. I used to tolerate the pain <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/guides/health/treatments/how-to-treat-a-uti-at-home">until I returned home for antibiotics</a>. Now I carry antibiotics with me. Even when I practice the best hygiene I can, there's still a chance I could get one. Carrying medication has been a good way to ensure I'm not enduring pain and a more-serious infection.Additionally, I drink a lot more water during my menstrual cycle, since this helps prevent UTIs.<h2>Soap, wet wipes, and a field bidet help with hygiene</h2>I've also upped my hygiene game and now carry soap to wash my hands, sensitive wet wipes, a travel bottle of clean water, and a field bidet to clean the menstrual cup. Just like with tampons, when you're cleaning a cup out in the field, you want your hands to be clean because any type of bacteria that gets near your urethra can cause a UTI.If I'm in a "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burning-man-leave-no-trace-clean-up-after-rain-mud-2023-9#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20principles%20of,out%20their%20camps%20before%20leaving.">leave no trace</a>" location, I pour my menstrual blood into a water bottle fully taped with red tape so I know not to drink from it. In these areas, regulations require you to pack everything and bring it out with you. This is especially important for areas where you cannot dig a hole or bury items within at least 200 feet of a water source — such as glacial environments.I carry ibuprofen for times when my back aches, which occurs often when I'm on my period. It's extra painful when carrying a heavy bag for hours. I also bring a hot water bottle that I use in the evenings.<h2>Now I'm ready for any scenario</h2>Here is my entire menstrual cycle kit, which I keep in a waterproof bag:<div type="image" title="A photo from above of menstrual items in three rows. The first row has a field bidet, period underwear, field trowel, menstrual cups, and a green bag. The second has a Ziploc bag bag with a travel bottle and another unidentifiable bottle, black antimicrobial pee cloth, Ziploc bags with pads, and another Ziplock bag with tampons. The third row has wet wipes, Ural satchels, two bottles of antibiotics, then UTI medication. " height="5464" width="8192" msid="103892504" hostid="261" sizebytes="1827748"></div><ul><li>Two or three <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/flex-cup-disability-friendly-pull-tab-removes-like-a-tampon-2020-8">menstrual cups</a>.</li><li>Menstrual-cup wash.</li><li>Sensitive wet wipes.</li><li>Tampons and pads as backups — and to help other women on the trip.</li><li>Three pairs of period underwear.</li><li>Yeast-infection medication.</li><li>UTI medication.</li><li>Ural sachets, which provide relief from UTI symptoms.</li><li>Cranberry tablets.</li><li>A field bidet.</li><li>Soap for washing hands.</li><li>Spare sandwich bags.</li><li>A Kula Cloth: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-founder-kula-cloth-reusable-toilet-paper-business-booms-coronavirus-2020-4">an antimicrobial pee cloth</a>.</li><li>A field trowel (to dig a hole for all bathroom needs).</li><li>A field medical book.</li></ul>It may seem like a lot, but I've found all the items indispensable.While I've had my period pack for nine years, it's only in the past few years that I have talked about having a period while working. So many other women have found that opening up the conversation is helpful because of the lack of information on the topic.I don't want others making the same mistakes I did because it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/can-traveling-affect-your-period-2019-1#:~:text=%22Travel%20can%20definitely%20alter%20menstrual,%2C%20accompanied%20hormonal%20changes%20entailed.%22">creates added stress</a> in an already stressful work environment. When you're in the field, you don't want to be worrying about blood leaking, toxic shock, infections, and pain. It puts you at a disadvantage because in wildlife filming, less than 5% of camerapeople are women.We want to do our best work and be comfortable while doing it. My period bag has been my solution.

You Searched For "water resource management" and got 10 results

Our AI future is about to make one basic resource insanely valuable

Ed Zitron

Droughts are threatening California's water supply. The state is racing to save what's left.

Leila Jordan

SIMPLY PUT: Why Assam gets flooded every year

The Houthis are getting smarter with their Red Sea attacks, and the ships sailing these waters are paying the price

Jake Epstein

San Diego temporarily solved its water crisis by turning ocean water into fresh water. But desalination won't work everywhere.

Maiya Focht

Blue is the next green: Bonds financing water conservation projects are approaching a 'tipping point'

Aruni Soni

Purified toilet water could soon be flowing through Californians' taps as the state battles drought

Ayelet Sheffey

Experts from the World Resources Institute and Climate Policy Radar discuss biodiversity and climate change.

Elizabeth Wood

The Water Crisis and Criticality of Water Resource Management

Amit Kapoor

I'm a wildlife photographer — here's how I manage my period when out in nature for months at a time.

Lauren Crosby Medlicott

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides