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In consequence of the disastrous nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, intensive debates about the future of nuclear power and its probable replacement by - most likely - renewable energy alternatives have been started world-wide. Some countries have decided to back out of the nuclear energy programme. In such countries, typically possessing distinct geomorphological structural conditions (e.g. large river systems, mountains, etc.) presently, the focus seems to tend towards hydro power to replace nuclear power in the near future [1]. With regard to climate change and the depletion of non-renewable resources, e.g. natural gas, raw oil, etc., this option could be seen as a reasonable alternative [2], [3], [4]. However, where a 'Pro' there is a 'Con'. A debate is going on in how far hydro power is indeed a sustainable alternative - sustainable in terms of economic aspects and environmental aspects. Studies predict that the potential of hydro power not large enough

Tweet As of today the platform Sustainable | Water | Management - a Basel based independent online discussion platform ( http://swm-group.blogspot.com ) has exceeded the number of 1000 registered members. In total more than 1000 members are registered from more than 40 countries world-wide. Stakeholders comprise a. o. high ranking industry representatives (IBM, Siemens, BASF, Bayer, Philip Morris, Nokia, etc.) as well as governmental organisations (US EPA, Dutch EPA, Danish EPA, etc.) and research institutions (NTNU Trondheim, University of Copenhagen, etc.). More statistic details are available from http://swm-group.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html . Founded early 2010 and located in Basel the key focus of the platform is to inform interested stakeholders timely and in a condensed way about most recent developments in sustainable water management and closely related issues. Accordingly, concerned stakeholders may get informed via - the BLOG  http://swm-group.blogspo

Tweet The intelligent, efficient and transparent metering of streams of resources such as electrical power, thermal energy or water represents a major challenge when aiming at sustainable resource management. As noted smaller start-up companies but also big corporations are aware of this issue and first investments into this "emerging" market are done [ 1 ], [ 4 ]. It is expected that large technical and technological opportunities exist both in the developed regions, e.g. Europe, of the world (due to transition from outdated and static resource supply systems to more intelligent systems) as well as in developing regions: there in particular to the rapidly growing population [ 2 ], [ 3 ]. Question is if smart metering of water would represent a sustainable alternative to the common solutions applied today? References/Places to go: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ]

A new report about water shortages in the Middle-East comes to the conclusion that in the near future water rather than oil will be the main geopolitical resource. Accordingly, 5 to 7 countries are facing structural shortages and the debit of the major rivers has declined by about 50-90% since 1960 [ 1 ]. You can get the full report here [ 2 ]. References: [ 1 ], [ 2 ]

Along with growing population and raising industrial production, there exists a need for safe and continuous water supply. This is in particular true for developing countries and newly industrialising countries such as regions in Southern America and Africa. Recent market overviews indicate promising market opportunities in those regions with, from a technological point of view, a particular focus on sea water desalination ([ 1 ],[ 2 ]). A second issue is the growing gap between galloping urbanisation, as for instance happening in China, and the flagging infrastructure development [ 3 ]. The latter resulting in diseases and, in the worst case, the death of humans. Conversely, industrialised nations such as the USA [ 4 ], the UK [ 5 ] etc. are considering to lower their budgets for water infrastructure projects. Further readings: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [ 5 ]