Logo
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter



This website is authored by Lester Levy, Esq.
a founding member of JAMS.

  • About
    • About Lester Levy
  • The Basics of Environmental Mediation
    • What types of Environmental Cases can be mediated?
    • The Benefits of Environmental Mediation
    • The Environmental Mediation Process
    • Insurance Company Involvement
    • The Mediation Outcome
  • Case Studies
    • Case Study 1: Objectivity as Resolution Tool Provided Through A Neutral Expert
    • Case Study 2: Working Together
    • Case Study 3: Swift, Fair and Efficient: Awarding Compensation to Toxic Tort Victims
    • Case Study 4: Sequenced Regulatory and Insurance Negotiations
    • Case Study 5: How Communication Both Causes and Ends Conflict
  • Blog
  • In the News
  • Contact
You are here: Home / In the News / Water Is Broken. Data Can Fix It.

Water Is Broken. Data Can Fix It.

March 28, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Water Is Broken Data Can Fix It

Water Is Broken Data Can Fix It

AS a nation, we have become disciples of data. We interview 60,000 families a month to determine the unemployment rate, we monitor how much energy we use every seven days, Amazon ranks sales of every book it sells every hour.

Then there is water.

Water may be the most important item in our lives, our economy and our landscape about which we know the least. We not only don’t tabulate our water use every hour or every day, we don’t do it every month, or even every year.

The official analysis of water use in the United States is done every five years. It takes a tiny team of people four years to collect, tabulate and release the data. In November 2014, the United States Geological Survey issued its most current comprehensive analysis of United States water use — for the year 2010.

The 2010 report runs 64 pages of small type, reporting water use in each state by quality and quantity, by source, and by whether it’s used on farms, in factories or in homes.

It doesn’t take four years to get five years of data. All we get every five years is one year of data.

The data system is ridiculously primitive. It was an embarrassment even two decades ago. The vast gaps — we start out missing 80 percent of the picture — mean that from one side of the continent to the other, we’re making decisions blindly.

n just the past 27 months, there have been a string of high-profile water crises — poisoned water in Flint, Mich.; polluted water in Toledo, Ohio, andCharleston, W. Va.; the continued drying of the Colorado River basin — that have undermined confidence in our ability to manage water.

In the time it took to compile the 2010 report, Texas endured a four-year drought. California settled into what has become a five-year drought. The most authoritative water-use data from across the West couldn’t be less helpful: It’s from the year before the droughts began.

Read the entire article at the New York Times.

This article was originally published in the New York Times written by Charles Fishman.

Share this:

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Related

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: data analysis, eco-friendly, EPA, Flint, water, water summit

inter-generational-theft-Brexit-climate-change

The inter-generational theft of Brexit and climate change

In last week’s Brexit vote results, there was a tremendous divide between age groups. 73% of voters under the age of 25 voted to remain in the EU, while about 58% over the age of 45 voted to leave. This generational gap is among the many parallels … Read More...

drinking-water-regulation

Our Drinking Water Regulation Is So Weak Even Flint’s Water Got A Pass

WASHINGTON — Federal drinking water rules are so relaxed that not even the city of Flint, Michigan, has been cited for a violation, even though many Flint residents have been relying on bottled water for drinking and cooking since last year. The … Read More...

Environmental Mediation: A New Paradigm for Resolving Multi-Party Disputes

Some of you may already have seen a copy of my new ebook, in which I propose a new paradigm for resolving complex, multi-party environmental disputes. It relies on mediation -- not as it has been compromised and incorporated into standard litigation … Read More...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Tweets by @environmentadr

Environmental Mediation Newsletter

Sign up to receive my environmental mediation newsletter on a monthly basis

Tags

ADR agriculture alternative dispute resolution Apple Apple phones big data Bio diversity Brexit class actions climate change contamination data data analysis eco-friendly environment environmental clean up environmental disputes environmental mediation environmental technology EPA farmed fish Flint global water challenge green living infrastructure legal strategy litigation alternative mediation mediation process mediation vs. litigation nature negotation New Jersey pollution oceans protected areas recycling renewable energy role of mediator settlement sustainability technology toxic tort water water contamintation water summit

About Me

lester-levy

I strongly believe in the value of mediation – said another way, environmental mediation really works. I would go even further: I believe that environmental disputes are perfectly suited to the mediation process – perhaps more so than any other area of legal practice. I have formed these views after mediating environmental cases for more than 20 years, throughout the United States, and having worked with thousands of lawyers, companies, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies and courts. My … Read more

My Latest Posts

  • The inter-generational theft of Brexit and climate change
  • Our Drinking Water Regulation Is So Weak Even Flint’s Water Got A Pass
  • Environmental Mediation: A New Paradigm for Resolving Multi-Party Disputes
  • Flexibility Is Key to Success in Mediation
  • Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

Connect with Me

Lester Levy

JAMS- New York
620 Eighth Ave. (NY Times Building)
34th Floor
New York, NY 10018
P (212) 751-2700

JAMS- San Francisco
2 Embarcadero Center
Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA 94111
P (415) 982-5267

Copyright 2016-2020 Lester Levy | Site developed by Good2bSocial