51猎奇

Center for Water Policy talks about the extreme amounts of water used at data centers

Pie chart showing how much of the 228 billion gallons of water were consumed at data centers. 92.5% was indirect use (211 billion gallons). 7.5% was direct use for cooling (17 billion gallons).

In a recent article for聽The Conversation, Peyton McCauley, Water Policy Specialist, and Professor Melissa Scanlan, Director, of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee鈥檚 Center for Water Policy聽examined the growing water demands of data centers driven by artificial intelligence, and why transparency and a consistency in the tracking and reporting of water use is needed.

As demand for artificial intelligence technology boosts  of data centers around the world, those computers require not just electricity and land, but also a significant amount of water. Data centers use water directly, with  pumped through pipes in and around the computer equipment. They also use water indirectly, through the water required to produce the electricity to power the facility. The amount of water used to produce electricity  when the source is fossil fuels compared with solar or wind.

 鈥� The Conversation

New children鈥檚 book celebrates sturgeon conservation in Wisconsin

Book cover for "Saving Our Sturgeon" with an illustration of sturgeon in the water with people on the shore.

Set to be released on August 19,聽聽tells the story of how conservation efforts rescued lake sturgeon from extinction in Wisconsin. With kid-friendly illustrations, photos, and maps, the book explains how factors like overfishing and dam building threatened their survival and how people banded together to save 鈥� and continue to support 鈥� the iconic big fish.

Many different Wisconsin Sea Grant staff members were instrumental in fact checking and providing resources for writing the children’s book. One of those resources was professor emeritus Fred Binkowski’s cowritten book, “People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin鈥檚 Love Affair with an Ancient Fish.” The book, which was written for adults and published in 2009, served as a launching spot for Wojahn, who wrote 鈥淪aving our Sturgeon鈥� to be appealing and accessible to readers aged 11 and up.

How did the Harambee neighborhood escape flooding?

Maps from USGS over the city of Milwaukee showing relative elevation in Harambee.

The historic flooding that took place overnight on Saturday, August 9 affected many in the Milwaukee area and surrounding region. With some areas hit harder than others, Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard to assist local authorities. Luckily for Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood, which has been prone to flooding in the past, the majority of people and houses were spared. Why? Assistant professor Xinyi Shen explains this phenomenon having to do with the topograhy of the neighborhood.

Bootsma lab takes part in project to save Lake Michigan whitefish population

Lead researcher Harvey Bootsma points a lake Michigan buoy out to captain Adam Reitz as Bootsma prepares to dive into the clear water to research invasive quagga mussels

Associate dean and professor Harvey Bootsma and his lab are a small team that’s dedicated to a monumental task: finding a way to kill invasive quagga mussels that blanket the lake bottom and starve whitefish to death.

Whitefish face collapse in lakes Michigan and Huron unless invasive mussels that are killing the fish are controlled. While scientists look for a miracle solution, they hope to aid whitefish by clearing mussels from spawning reefs. It鈥檚 an effort powered by putty knives, tarps and a massive steel plate known as the 鈥榤ussel masher鈥�.

Great Lakes quagga mussels research starved of funds as whitefish vanish

Researchers Rachel Smith and Harvey Bootsma hold containers of algae as they study invasive quagga mussels.
  • Quagga mussels are one of the biggest threats to the Great Lakes, devouring nutrients and killing fish
  • But research into them averages less than $1 million a year, a pittance compared other invasive species funding
  • Scientists say without a breakthrough, whitefish will disappear within a few years from vast areas of Lakes Huron and Michigan

Harvey Bootsma‘s lab has been working to combat the invasive quagga mussels, despite inadequate funding for research.

Tap water taste and rising lake temperatures

Tap water samples

Lake Michigan’s rising temperatures could be changing the taste of your tap water. Water treatment officials and freshwater scientists say the changes are natural and the water remains safe to drink despite seasonal taste and odor differences.

Racine County residents have been voicing concerns about changes in their tap water’s taste and smell. After hearing these concerns, TMJ4 reached out to professor Sandra McLellan to understand what’s happening and whether there’s cause for worry.

The decline of Lake Michigan whitefish

The work of Harvey Bootsma’s lab to remove invasive mussels from Lake Michigan was referenced in a on rejuvenating the whitefish population in Lake Michigan. The commercial harvest of the fish has declined nearly 90 percent since 1999. Commercial fishers have been adapting to the population decline.

The quagga mussel removal work near Milwaukee, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Muskegon, Michigan shows early results of the mussels not returning right away.

Offshore wind from Great Lakes could power the region and beyond聽

Wind turbines in blue water

Cora Sutherland, Interim Assistant Director, and Professor Melissa Scanlan, Director, of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee鈥檚 Center for Water Policy recently explored how offshore wind in the Great Lakes could meet regional electricity needs 鈥� and why now is the time for states to lead the way 鈥� in a new article for The Conversation. 

鈥� The Conversation 

McLellan lab’s beach monitoring leads to improvements of South Shore Beach

A group of people sitting in the sand at the beach with another group wading their feet in the water.

The McLellan lab‘s work was referenced in this , chronicling the construction project of the new beach at South Shore Park.

With their decades-long monitoring of the beach, the team found that bacteria, impervious surfaces that increased runoff, and lack of water flow due to the breakwater were largely to blame for the constant closures.

The biggest change is that the beach was moved 400 feet south along the lakefront. The old sandy beach was converted into open space where the county is planting native vegetation. They’re also creating bioswales and rain gardens, which helps reduce runoff.

There is a stone wall near the new beach that helps stabilize it, as well as dry prairie grasses meant to deter birds. Previously, this contributed to the bacteria levels in the water. The sand is also a larger grain size, helping to filter out runoff before getting into the water.

Developing a faster way to detect E. coli and identify its source at public beaches

Two students looking out at Lake Michigan while doing fieldwork.

Nothing ruins a day at the lake like E. coli. At elevated levels, the bacteria 鈥� which is prevalent in the guts and feces of both humans and animals 鈥� can make people sick, forcing beach managers to post advisories or close beaches entirely. And while current testing methods provide an accurate snapshot of E. coli levels in beach water, the results aren鈥檛 always timely.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a 24-hour lag before you get those results,鈥� said Ryan Newton, a professor at the University of Wisconsin鈥揗ilwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences who studies microbes in aquatic environments. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not ideal because you have to wait 24 hours to close a beach or take some sort of action. And at that point, the conditions may not be the same as what they were when you took the sample.鈥�

That delay in getting results can mean people are swimming in unsafe waters or, alternatively, a beach is needlessly closed, which can have negative economic consequences.

That鈥檚 where Newton鈥檚 research comes in. With funding from Wisconsin Sea Grant, he and his team are developing a faster way to test for E. coli and identify its source so beach managers can make quick, informed decisions about the safety of their beaches and identify ways to prevent future pollution.