The U.S. EPA has presented 47 awards to WaterSense partners for their support of WaterSense and water efficiency at the WaterSmart Innovations conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This year’s award winners made innovative water-efficient products, built homes using 30% less water than typical new construction, made WaterSense labeled products accessible to consumers, and implemented programs to promote water-saving behaviors and fixtures.
As climate change bakes the U.S. West and dries up key Colorado River reservoirs, a slew of invasive species is flourishing in warmer waters at the expense of the artery’s native inhabitants.
Among the most disruptive of this wide range of invaders is the smallmouth bass, which scientists fear could pose a possible danger to the native ecology of the Grand Canyon region should the fish continue making their way downstream.
California continues to make waves on climate. In some cases literally.
Over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed dozens of bills dealing with renewable energy, landscape conservation and water use — and vetoed many others.
In Marin County, we have limited options when we face the next, inevitable drought. Recycled water, the reuse of purified wastewater, is one of the most viable options and belongs in the water supply of every urban area of coastal California.
San Vicente Dam, completed in 1943, was designed for ‘200-year extreme rainfall’ (the heaviest rain that will fall once every 200 years). However, when the worst drought hit California in 1991, the state government and residents agreed to prepare for climate change and decided to expand.
California water regulators have released a long-awaited analysis of options for managing flows in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where fish populations have been declining and the ecosystem has been deteriorating.
The delta is the central hub of the state’s water system, drawing together rivers from a vast watershed and supplying pumps that send water flowing to cities and farms.
California’s water warriors have a new arena for their perpetual conflict over the allocation of the state’s ever-evolving supply – a nearly 6,000-page proposal from the state Water Resources Control Board.
The draft essentially calls for sharp reductions in diversions from the Sacramento River and its tributaries to allow more water to flow through the environmentally troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
October 1 marked the beginning of the new Water Year in California. Water years here run from October 1 until September 30 of the next calendar year, and are named for the calendar year of the bulk of the water year (January-October). It is a good time to reflect on the last year and make largely futile predictions of precipitation for the coming 12 months.
October isn’t just the start of our spooky season — it’s also the official start of the new water year. Historically, our wet season has stretched from mid-October to April, and water managers across the state are gearing up for what could be an even wetter year than last year, given the El Niño climate pattern, and a changing water cycle driven by human-caused climate change.
Up against an Oct. 14 deadline and with more than 700 bills on his desk heading into the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom decided the fate of bills — a lot of bills.
The governor’s office put out a big batch of nearly 150 actions on Saturday, a second one on Sunday of about 130 and a third one late Sunday night of about 190 more. That unusual volume for a weekend means he still has some 260 bills to go.
