This Week in Water™ airs on community and public radio stations nationwide and is available on podcast networks. Want environmental news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.
Drought is threatening one of the biggest fruit and vegetable producing countries for all of the European Union—Spain. Nearly half of Spain’s crop exports like lettuce and strawberries have been grown in the southeastern part of the country that uses diverted water from the River Tagus to the north. The Tagus runs about 620 miles from east to west, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon, Portugal. The Spanish government completed the Tagus-Segura Water Transfer project including its canals, tunnels, aqueducts, and reservoirs in the late 1970s.
Part of one of Spain's transfer system's aqueducts in its passage through Carrascosa del Campo | Credit: Midir
The basis for life in the ocean is phytoplankton, plant-like organisms that live close to the surface and provide food for a range of marine animals. Also called microalgae, phytoplankton need nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates, and sulfur to survive, and according to new research led by Oregon State University, they obtain much of it from atmospheric dust that’s lifted from the land into the air by wind and transported vast distances.
Dust spreads from China | Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
As Kermit the Frog would tell you, it’s not easy being green. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it should be for consumers but not for imposters.
Credit: Greg Henshall/Wikimedia Commons
It might be time to show mosses some respect. The plants have lived on Earth for over 450 million years, surviving in extremes from the driest deserts to the wind-swept hills of Antarctica. Despite covering an area equal to the land mass of Canada, mosses haven’t been studied as much as their vascular plant cousins but according to a new report, we’d be lost without them.
| Credit: Dr. David Eldridge, University of New South Wales, Sydney
Wiki hii katika Maji (WIT) inaonyeshwa kwenye vituo vya redio vya umma na vya jamii kote nchini na inapatikana kwenye mitandao ya podcast. Je, unataka habari za mazingira zipelekwe kwenye sanduku lako la barua? Jisajili kwa jarida letu. Ukame unahatarisha moja ya nchi kubwa zinazozalisha matunda na mboga kwa Umoja wa Ulaya wote - Hispania. Karibu nusu ya mazao ya Hispania kama vile saladi na jordgubbar yamekua katika sehemu ya kusini mashariki ya nchi ambayo hutumia maji yaliyopitishwa kutoka Mto Tagus kaskazini. Mto Tagus unaelekea karibu kilomita 900 kutoka mashariki hadi magharibi, na unamiminika katika Bahari ya Atlantiki huko Lisbon, Ureno. Serikali ya Hispania ilikamilisha mradi wa uhamisho wa maji wa Tagus-Segura ikiwa ni pamoja na mifereji yake, mifereji, mifereji ya maji, na mabwawa mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1970. Sehemu ya mfumo wa usafirishaji wa maji wa Uhispania katika njia yake kupitia Carrascosa del Campo, Midir, Uhispania, ni sehemu ya mfumo wa usafirishaji wa maji wa Uhispania katika njia yake kupitia Carrascosa del Campo, Uhispania. Phytoplankton, ambayo pia huitwa microalgae, inahitaji virutubisho kama vile nitrati, phosphate, na sulfuri ili kuishi, na kulingana na utafiti mpya ulioongozwa na Chuo Kikuu cha Jimbo la Oregon, hupata mengi yake kutoka kwa vumbi la angahewa ambalo huinuliwa kutoka ardhini hadi hewani na kusafirishwa umbali mkubwa. Dust spreads from China: NASA Earth Observatory: Kama Kermit the Frog angekuambia, si rahisi kuwa kijani. Tume ya Biashara ya Shirikisho (FTC) inadai kuwa ni kwa watumiaji lakini sio kwa wadanganyifu. "Greg Henshall, Mkurugenzi wa Wikimedia Commons: ""Hii ni wakati wa kuonyesha heshima kwa mwani.""" Mimea hiyo imeishi duniani kwa zaidi ya miaka milioni 450, ikiishi katika hali mbaya sana, kuanzia jangwa kavu zaidi hadi vilima vya Antaktika vinavyopigwa na upepo. Ingawa hufunika eneo la ardhi kubwa kama Kanada, mwani haujahudumiwa kama vile mimea inayofanana na mimea ya mishipa, lakini kulingana na ripoti mpya, tungekuwa hatuna uwezo bila wao. "Mwanamke huyo ni David Eldridge, Mtaalamu wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Chuo Kikuu cha New South Wales, Sydney, Australia."""