Pulitzer Center Update March 16, 2010
DOWNSTREAM: Our Water, Our Lives
Summer Marion, Pulitzer Center
Image by Sean Gallagher for "Desertification in China," a Pulitzer Center project. Monday, March 22 marks World Water Day. Environmental experts, policymakers, and even those of us who typically leave the tap running while brushing our teeth will pause to join the conversation about the world's most vital resource and its role in our lives.
But what's a celebration without an after party? Here at the Pulitzer Center, we're gearing up for DOWNSTREAM: Our Water, Our Lives, a film screening and reception we're hosting on March 23 as part of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital. The details:
Tuesday, March 23 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Carnegie Institution for Science Elihu Root Auditorium 1530 P St., NW Washington, DC 20005 Nearest metro: Dupont Circle RSVP today! [email protected]
Don't wait until next week to engage in the dialogue - start now by visiting DOWNSTREAM, the Pulitzer Center's new online portal for water issues.
Check out these highlights from water coverage in the media as the big day nears:
The New York Times' Charles Duhigg examines water issues close to home this week, raising concerns about infrastructural failures evidenced by increasingly frequent pipe breakages nationwide. The front page piece spotlights DC Water and Sewer Authority General Manager George S. Hawkins and the challenges to gaining public support as he faces the daunting task of updating a service most city residents take for granted.
Did you know that the planet's drylands, home to one third of humanity, have only 8% of the world's renewable, accessible water supplies? Steven Solomon, author of the acclaimed book Water, published earlier this year, provides a list of striking facts about the world water crisis.
Today in the Washington Post, Steven Mufson explores China's water shortages and pollution, examining environmental pitfalls of a pipeline system planned to irrigate the arid northern region and complications arising from competition over the limited resource.