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Startup Rorra, founded by Brian Keller and Charlie Carlisle, has released a $249 water filtration pitcher made of borosilicate glass and stainless steel, using technology from its countertop filtration system. The founders spent nearly two years developing the company before recording their first sale, and say Rorra generated eight-figure revenue in its first year.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed seven bills requiring data center operators to disclose electricity and water consumption details starting next year. The legislation also directs the California Public Utilities Commission to create separate electricity rates for data centers so their grid connection costs aren't passed on to other ratepayers, and pushes facilities toward greater renewable energy use.
Coffee industry sourcing expert Jose Lepe of Sightglass Coffee explains that high-end coffee shops often use reverse osmosis systems to strip tap water down to pure H2O, then remineralize it to a specific balance for optimal flavor. The report notes this same process can be replicated at home without expensive equipment, and contrasts tap water mineral profiles in cities like New York, Los Angeles and London to show how local water quality affects both coffee taste and machine longevity.
Cybersecurity firm SpyCloud analyzed over 66,000 public-facing systems tied to roughly 10,000 EPA-registered water and wastewater organizations and discovered that infostealer malware had already harvested login credentials from 1,787 of them. At least 250 of those organizations had exposed credentials that could grant access to operational networks controlling physical pumps and water flow. In one case, malware on a device belonging to a metering technology vendor exposed passwords for 167 utilities that relied on its services.
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement ordered the five-officer Trinidad Police Department to close by September 18 after finding it offered no meaningful public benefit and lacked basic equipment like bulletproof vests and an evidence room. The investigation followed the arrest of resident Jennifer Combs, who was jailed for a Facebook post claiming residents had gotten sick from discolored tap water; charges against her were eventually dropped. Henderson County's sheriff's office will handle policing duties until Trinidad finds a permanent replacement.
Dyson's CameraJet toothbrush, which combines a camera-guided water flossing jet with brushing, launched in US stores on September 8 but was pulled within days after buyers reported water leaking into the battery compartment. WIRED found the $499 device, unveiled with fanfare in Paris weeks earlier, is now unavailable for purchase anywhere.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency will be selective about which countries it partners with in lunar exploration, prioritizing only what he called 'good deals.' Speaking at a defense conference near Washington, he framed the race to the Moon's south pole as a contest for limited prime real estate rich in water ice and near-constant sunlight, rather than a purely symbolic contest.
Data Center Watch, a research initiative from 10a Labs, reports that 45 large-scale data center projects worth $68 billion were blocked or delayed in the second quarter due to community pushback. The group tracked 843 opposition groups across 49 states, with only Hawaii lacking any organized resistance, and noted 30 state legislatures have introduced or passed measures on data center siting, power and water use.
In Hickman, California, the Turlock Irrigation District has installed solar panels spanning sections of its irrigation canals as part of a pilot called Project Nexus. The project, inspired partly by tree-shaded canals Jordan Harris observed in France, aims to generate renewable electricity while shading the water from evaporation. UC Davis researchers project California's water supply could shrink up to 25% by 2050 due to climate-driven heat.
The European Commission has proposed requiring data centers with over 500 kW capacity to disclose their energy and water usage through a standardized rating system, similar to appliance energy labels. The rules would not cap power or water consumption but would require operators to report water use relative to local water stress and disclose whether they recycle waste heat back into local energy systems.
Amazon has launched a Colorado River Basin Collaborative, committing $20 million of its own money and aiming to raise $100 million total over two years for conservation projects along the drought-stricken river, which supplies water to 40 million people across seven US states and parts of Mexico. Part of the funding includes $2.2 million for leak detection in Orange County, California, projected to save 189 million gallons annually.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of seven bills that shield residential utility customers from bearing the costs of AI data center growth. The laws create a new rate category for data centers through the state's Public Utilities Commission, mandate disclosure of water and energy use to local governments, and require efficiency benchmarks before facilities can get streamlined approval.