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Public Acceptance Lags As CA Facilities Turn Sewage Into Tap Water

/in , /by /Public News Serviceby Kathleen Shannon

After an Orange County resident flushes her toilet, the water flows through the Southern California community’s sewer system, meanders its way to the sanitation plant, has its solids removed, is piped to a wastewater recycling facility next door and undergoes three different purification processes until it is clean enough to drink.

“It tastes like water,” said Mehul Patel, executive director of operations for the Orange County Water District’s project, after taking a gulp from a clear plastic cup at the sampling station, as he stood outside the final purification process facility on a warm afternoon earlier this month.

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American Water Cyberattack Renews Focus On Protecting Critical Infrastructure

/in , /by /Fox 5 San Diego by Bruce Shipkowski

A cyberattack continues to affect the largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States, renewing a focus on the importance of protecting critical infrastructure sites.

New Jersey-based American Water paused billing to customers as it announced the cyberattack on Monday. It said it became aware of the unauthorized activity on Thursday and immediately took protective steps, including shutting down certain systems. Water services have been unaffected as protections remained in place Wednesday.

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Biden Sets 10-Year Deadline For US Cities To Replace Lead Pipes Nationwide

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Matthew Daly and Michael Phillis

A decade after the Flint, Michigan, water crisis raised alarms about the continuing dangers of lead in tap water, President Joe Biden on Tuesday set a 10-year deadline for cities across the nation to replace their lead pipes, finalizing an aggressive approach aimed at ensuring that drinking water is safe for all Americans.

Biden announced the final Environmental Protection Agency rule during a visit to the swing state of Wisconsin in the final month of a tight presidential campaign. The announcement highlights an issue — safe drinking water — that Kamala Harris has prioritized as vice president and during her presidential campaign. The new rule supplants a looser standard set by former President Donald Trump’s administration that did not include a universal requirement to replace lead pipes.

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Water Supplier American Water Works Says Systems Hacked

/in , /by /CBS News Moneywatchby Kate Gibson

American Water Works — a supplier of drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people — on Monday said hackers had breached its computer networks and systems, prompting it to pause billing to customers.

The Camden, New Jersey-based utility became aware of the unauthorized activity on Thursday, and took protective steps, including shutting down certain systems, American Water Works stated in a regulatory filing. The company does not believe its facilities or operations were impacted by the cybersecurity incident, but is “currently unable to predict the full impact,” it stated.

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California’s New Water Recycling Rules Turn Wastewater To Tapwater. What This Means For You

/in , /by /LAist.comby Erin Stone

Water recycling — once dubbed “toilet-to-tap” by naysayers — has officially entered a new era in California.

This month, statewide regulations for what’s technically called “direct potable reuse” went into effect. The rules allow wastewater — yes, the water that goes down the drain or is flushed down the toilet — to be treated to drinkable standards then distributed directly to homes and businesses.

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Water Supplier American Water Works Says Hackers Breached System

/in , /by /BNN Bloombergby Lynn Doan

American Water Works Co. Inc., which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people, said hackers had breached its computer networks and systems.

The New Jersey-based company has disconnected or deactivated some systems in an effort to contain the cyberattack and is investigating the nature and scope of the breach, which was discovered on Oct. 3. The company said in a regulatory filing Monday that it currently doesn’t believe water or wastewater operations have been affected, but noted that it can’t yet predict the full impact of the incident.

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The World’s Rivers Faced the Driest Year in Three Decades in 2023, the UN Weather Agency Says

/in , /by /Fox 5/KUSIby Jamey Keaten

The U.N. weather agency is reporting that 2023 was the driest year in more than three decades for the world’s rivers, as the record-hot year underpinned a drying up of water flows and contributed to prolonged droughts in some places.

The World Meteorological Organization also says glaciers that feed rivers in many countries suffered the largest loss of mass in the last five decades, warning that ice melt can threaten long-term water security for millions of people globally.

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Ten Years After ‘SGMA’ Changed California’s Water World, What’s Next?

/in , /by /Manteca Bulletinby Jesse Vad

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, (SGMA) which aims to bring severely over pumped aquifers back into balance by 2040, marked its 10th anniversary on Sept. 16.

Even with more than $1 billion already spent, two groundwater subbasins on probation and enforcement actions being challenged in court, some state officials say the hard part is just beginning.

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Western Water Managers Prepare for Dueling Threats of Flood and Drought Amid Uncertain Weather Outlook

/in , /by /The Hillby Sharon Udasin

Western water managers are preparing for an upcoming season of potential weather extremes, but they remain uncertain as to which shape these events will take.

“We are really in a state of preparing for extremes in the 2025 water year. It’s really actually been a decade of extremes,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, at a Thursday briefing.

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Biden Administration Inks Deals to Bring Major Relief to Colorado River’s Biggest Reservoir

/in , /by /The Hillby Sharon Udasin

The Biden administration and southwestern Colorado River users have partnered on a large-scale conservation effort poised to bring significant relief to the region’s key reservoir, officials announced Wednesday.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation and Southern California stakeholders signed two short-term “Bucket 1” agreements — funded by the Inflation Reduction Act — to conserve more than 717,000 acre-feet of water by 2026.

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