Water trading is the buying and selling of access to water and can be an effective tool for water resource management, particularly in relation to the allocation of water among different users. A new tool that evaluates the long-term impacts of climate change on water trading has indicated that such a scheme could be effective in the future but will depend on factors including water demand and availability.

Phosphate is added to domestic drinking water to reduce lead levels in the UK, to help meet EU Drinking Water Directive standards. New research has now found that phosphate can also reduce the amount of copper in domestic sewage by more than a third. This method could help Member States meet forthcoming “safe” levels for water discharged to the environment, under forthcoming EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) proposals.

In recent years, strict legislation was introduced to control the amount of nitrate and phosphate that runs into the sea from European rivers. However, new research reveals that water quality has not improved as much as expected. Policymakers need to take into account a time lag in the system that could be up to 40 years, say the researchers.

Particles from vehicle emissions are not the only traffic-related factor that causes deterioration of air quality in cities. Suspended road dust, caused by studded tyres, road salt and sand used in winter, may be at least as important in contributing to mortality rates, according to a new study in Stockholm, which suggests that these coarse particles should be controlled separately to fine particles.

Progress towards self-sufficient urban water supply has been observed around the world in a recent study. However, projects that seek to source water locally face some tough challenges, including high levels of energy consumed in water treatment processes and an inadequate scientific understanding of the health risks associated with recycled water.

To identify the best policies to help Mediterranean communities adapt to the effects of climate change on water supply, a team of Spanish researchers have created a methodology that links science outputs to water management policy options.

A joint water and carbon cap-and-trade system could lead to a more sustainable future, a recent study suggests. Such a system could account for the important links between energy, water and climate change, while at the same time, ensuring economic growth.

Whatever form it takes, urban growth leads to reduced groundwater availability, according to a new study. The paper highlights the fact that urbanisation is not always sustainable and recommends that planners consider no-growth scenarios for economic development.

Forest management could help adaptation to climate change through its effects on water supply. A long-term US-based study has analysed the impact of forested land use changes on water flow into streams and rivers. It indicated that converting forests from deciduous to pine trees could help water storage in extreme wet conditions, but may be unsuitable in droughts. As such, it recommends tailoring management decisions to the context.

The socio-economic costs and benefits of adaptation to river flooding caused by climate change have been assessed in a new study. According to the study, adaptation measures could save €53.1 billion every year in flood-related losses across Europe by 2080.

Climate change adaptation measures could improve the security of some groups of society at the expense of others, a new study concludes. Climate change adaptation policies should be based on genuine democracy and investment must be fairly distributed, to ensure that all at-risk groups benefit equally, its authors recommend.

A tool to calculate the risk of food and waterborne diseases under current or future climate change conditions has been presented in a recent study. Free to use, the online tool can help guide climate change adaptation, such as improvements to water management, by estimating the likelihood of contracting four diseases under a range of environmental conditions.

From rising seas to fiercer and more frequent storms, climate change effects are putting increasing pressure on coastal populations and ecosystems throughout Europe. Human activities, such as farming and land-use changes, are already in conflict with ecosystems. However, linking ecosystem services with social preferences in coastal land-use management can lead to more sustainable resource planning, finds a new study. The researchers developed guidelines for a participatory climate change adaptation process, which integrates the social effects of adaptation measures with the ecosystem services that they affect.

Despite tap water being freely available and safe in many countries, bottled water is widely consumed around the world. This has negative effects on the environment, including water wastage and pollution. This study assessed beliefs about purchasing bottled water and tested three strategies to change behaviour, showing that combining persuasive information and social pressure can create the most positive intentions to reduce consumption.

Researchers have analysed the policy response to the 2013–2014 flooding of the Somerset Levels and Moors in the UK. Analysis of media coverage and interviews with stakeholders revealed how local pressure promoted dredging — a policy that had fallen out of favour with the national Environment Agency (EA). Although dredging was eventually readopted by the EA, there remain uncertainties over its long-term viability due to funding constraints and debates over its effectiveness.

Natural water-retention measures, which ‘keep the rain where it falls’, have great potential to be used as part of flood-risk management plans. But their benefits for downstream urban areas can bring costs to the upstream agricultural areas where they are installed, a recent analysis explains. The researchers behind this analysis suggest that we need new and/or improved policies and institutions to oversee the trade-offs and benefits for agriculture and flood management, and a better scientific understanding of the measures’ likely impact on urban flood risk.

This study paves the way for better projections of the impact of climate change on plants, including agricultural crops and carbon drawdown. The research shows how an equation used in climate models to represent soil moisture levels is responsible for major variations in estimates of the carbon cycle.

Belgrad, Daniel, author

Facebook on Friday unveiled a new video chat service with virtual "rooms" where people can pop in to visit friends, aiming at users turning to the popular Zoom platform during the pandemic.

A Crisil note said due to the aggressive play by the telcos, the number of subscribers has stagnated at 19 million since 2016. Till now, the lower speed 4G served the purpose for people due to affordable smartphones, it noted. "But now, subscriptions to fixed broadband, especially in the urban areas, have surged because millions are working from home...," it said.

Google blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads more than 5,000 bad ads per minute and suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations, the company announced on Thursday.

As social distancing measures become common and workers adjust to their new professional environments, even from their own living rooms, there is potential for private and working life to blur into one.

The new features will allow admins to disable the use of a Personal Meeting ID (PMI) for scheduling or starting an instant meeting. As per the company, disabling the use of PMIs reduces that risk altogether and doesn’t leave PMI security up to individual users.

Unacademy said that basic information related to 11 million learners had been compromised but no sensitive information such as financial data, location, or passwords had been leaked

"Accenture has no professional relationship with Unacademy, and any implication or assertion otherwise is erroneous. Accenture has suffered no data breach or loss of any records or client information as a result of this incident," Accenture said in a statement.

‘Safe harbour protection’ only if intermediaries facilitate and not modify such content, including ads

In a breakthrough, researchers have demonstrated a new model that shows how competing pieces of information spread in online social networks and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Facebook said advertising revenue was roughly flat in the first three weeks of April compared with the same period last year

Rajasthan to create a common data and analytics platform for all government departments across the State to collate and utilize data more effectively and efficiently, improving the delivery of citizen services with the help of Teradata solutions.

To believe that China will have a significant advantage due to its population size requires us to believe that each additional user adds as much to an informational ecosystem as the first one.

View: Data is the oil that fuels digital economy. It promotes innovation, increases democratic quotient of the society, enhances productivity & efficiency of systems and helps better understand different worlds.

Apple has finally rolled out its hardware disconnect feature to its iPad models for improved security.

Initial batches have been supplied in Chennai, while some were in the process of being scaled up towards mass production for use in hospitals and clinics across the country.

The Aarogya Setu app, which was developed by the government to track those with the disease and alert people about their proximity, has given rise to fears of surveillance by the state as well as the security of the personal data that a user needs to fill in after downloading it.

The company is planning to develop tools that will give more controls to meeting hosts and allow users to securely join a meeting.

Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for April 2020 with close to 131 million installs, a 60x growth from April 2019

It is unclear today how to draft a patent framework that allows seamless communication between IoT devices manufactured by different companies adhering to different standards

The company said the proposed manufacturing facility will cater to the growing need for GPS trackers in sand and mineral mining. Its chief executive officer Konark Chukkapally said the Andhra government has made it mandatory for all the vehicles involved in the transportation of sand to have GPS trackers.

As remote work and collaboration intensifies, cloud computing has emerged as an ally for enterprises. Is this the catalyst that technology companies longed for?

The company is planning to develop tools that will give more controls to meeting hosts and allow users to securely join a meeting.

Zoom was the most downloaded non-game app worldwide for April 2020 with close to 131 million installs, a 60x growth from April 2019

"Accenture has no professional relationship with Unacademy, and any implication or assertion otherwise is erroneous. Accenture has suffered no data breach or loss of any records or client information as a result of this incident," Accenture said in a statement.

Adani expects to invest Rs 700 billion to build data parks in India over the next two decades.

The company’s data centers are currently located in Singapore. “We don’t have a stated plan yet but we may look at opening an Indian data centre to be closer to customers in India. Some customers prefer local presence,” said Nikhil Arora, managing director, GoDaddy India.

Ravinder Pal Singh, Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Vistara is leveraging the power of multiple technologies ranging from AI, Robotics, SATCOM, Bigdata (Science) and Blockchain to enhance the airline's critical business functions.

In conversation with ETCIO, Subodh Kumar, CTO, Magicbricks, shares how data comprising 75 attributes has helped the company generate 60% more quality leads

Many species around the world are likely to become extinct as ecosystems and the diversity of life found in them are threatened by pressures, such as pollution, overexploitation, climate change, invasive species, fragmentation, degradation and loss of habitat. A recent report has examined the causes of biodiversity loss and the policies surrounding efforts to tackle this loss

Tradable permits have been proposed as a flexible instrument to integrate biodiversity conservation and economic development. New research indicates that permits are not a universal solution, but do have potential in certain economic and ecological situations.

Researchers have developed a new scientific method to estimate the time lag between the introduction of an alien species and its extensive spread. For New Zealand weed species, the study estimated that the average lag was around 20-30 years. Although this may seem to be a long time, seemingly rare but fast-spreading species could become tomorrow's harmful weeds.

Tradable permits can be used to conserve biodiversity by allowing habitat destruction only when a permit has been acquired through the restoration of another habitat. New research has indicated that the costs of conservation, amount of habitat turnover and time lags in restoration all influence the efficiency of the permit market.