Environmental Consequences

Team of Researchers Has Found Evidence of Chemical Changes to Underground Well Water Prior to Two Different Earthquakes that Occurred in 2012 and 2013 in Iceland

In their paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers acknowledge that their findings do not suggest that they have found a reliable earthquake precursor, but they do believe they may be on to something. S.E. Ingebritsen with the U.S. Geological Survey and M.

The dramatic increase in earthquakes in central Oklahoma since 2009 is likely attributable to subsurface wastewater injection at just a handful of disposal wells, finds a new study to be published in the journal Science on July 3, 2014.

The research team was led by Katie Keranen, professor of geophysics at Cornell University, who says Oklahoma earthquakes constitute nearly half of all central and eastern U.S. seismicity from 2008 to 2013, many occurring in areas of high-rate water disposal.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is due to cooperate with Iran in setting up a water research center in the Southern province of Fars.

"The UNESCO will cooperate in the establishment of a water research institute in Fars," Governor General of Fars province Seyed Mohammad Ahmadi said after a meeting with Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova in Shiraz city on Sunday night.

Swiss watercourses contain a whole cocktail of pesticides. Of the 300 or so permitted and detectable active substances, over 100 have been discovered in water samples taken during an extensive screening process. Each sample contained, on average, 40 different substances, and in 78% of the samples, the combined pesticide concentration was over 1µg per litre. The threshold values dictated by the Swiss Water Protection Ordinance were found to have been exceeded for 31 substances.

Morgan Stanley has decided to get into sustainable investments in a big way, announcing the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing.

The goal is to advance market-based solutions to economic, social and environmental challenges by bringing sustainable investments to significant scale.

"Our clients are increasingly turning their attention to what it takes to secure the lasting and safe supplies of food, energy, water and shelter necessary for sustainable prosperity," says James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley.