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Colorado OKs Drinking Treated Wastewater: Getting Over the ‘Ick Factor’

/in , , /by /Denver Gazette by Jero Smith

Colorado regulators, after years of study, negotiations and testing, approved a new rule that clears the way for drinking treated wastewater this week, one of only a handful of states in the country to do so.

The action came in a unanimous vote of the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission Oct. 11.

Direct potable reuse (DPR) involves sophisticated filtering and disinfection of sewage water for drinking water purposes, with no environmental buffer, such as a wetland or river, between the wastewater treatment plant and drinking water treatment plant. That water is then sent out through the city’s drinking water system.

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Shasta Lake Helped Water California; Now its Dryness is a Threat to the State

/in , , /by /Wall Street Journalby Jim Carlton Mentioned: https://www.wsj.com/articles/shasta-lake-helped-water-california-now-its-dryness-is-a-threat-to-the-state-11665864898

Few places are more critical to the water supply in California than this immense northern reservoir in the foothills of the Cascade Range.

Fed by runoff from 14,163-foot Mount Shasta and other peaks, California’s largest reservoir opened in 1945 as part of the federal Central Valley Project, an elaborate system of man-made dams, pumps and aqueducts that aims to reduce flood risks and deliver water to farms and cities in the heart of the semiarid state.

If You Don’t Already Live in a Sponge City, You Will Soon

/in , /by /Wiredby Matt Simon

Like anything else, water is great in moderation—urbanites need it to survive, but downpours can flood streets and homes. And as you might have noticed, climate change isn’t good at moderation. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, supercharging storms to dump more water quicker, which can overwhelm municipal sewer systems built for the climate of long ago. Thus you get the biblical flooding that’s been drowning cities around the world, from Zhengzhou, China, to Seoul, South Korea, to Cologne, Germany, to New York City.

In response, urban planners are increasingly thinking of cities less as rain jackets—designed to whisk water away as fast as possible before it has a chance to accumulate—and more as sponges. By deploying thirsty green spaces and digging huge dirt bowls where water can gather and percolate into underlying aquifers, “sponge cities” are making rain an asset to be exploited instead of expelled.

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Feds are Putting a Price Tag on Water in the Colorado River Basin to Spur Farmers to Conserve

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

The federal government is designating $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for drought mitigation work in the Colorado River basin.

On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior announced that total, indicating that $500 million will go to efficiency upgrades in the river’s Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Another chunk of IRA money will be set aside for direct payments to farmers and ranchers to forgo water deliveries from Lake Mead in the river’s Lower Basin, primarily in Arizona and California. Federal officials are not specifying how much money will be available for that first round of payments.

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As Drought Persists, Crucial Groundwater Supplies Dwindle

/in , , /by /Capitol Weeklyby Liam Gravvat

More than 60% of California’s groundwater wells are operating at below-normal levels, endangering much of the Golden State’s population that relies on the precious resource.

Although relatively unknown to many Californians, who see water supply in terms of rivers, streams and reservoirs, groundwater is a hugely vital source that is largely invisible.

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Amid Historic Drought, California Expected to Approve $140 Million Desalination Plant

/in , /by /Reutersby Daniel Trotta

A $140 million desalination plant is expected to be approved by California regulators on Thursday as the U.S. state contends with how to convert ocean water into drinking water amid the worst drought in 1,200 years.

Just five months ago, the Coastal Commission by an 11-0 vote rejected a privately owned plant that would have been 10 times the size of the proposed South Coast Water District’s Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Orange County, just south of Los Angeles.

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Central Valley Water Storage At Low Level

/in , , /by /Oakdale Leaderby Staff

After a third straight year of severe drought, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project begins the 2023 water year with 3.6 million acre-feet of water in storage — one of the lowest starting points in recent years. The CVP’s major reservoirs are (from north to south) Trinity, Shasta, Folsom, New Melones, Millerton, and the federal share of San Luis Reservoir. The water year begins Oct. 1 each year and ends Sept. 30.

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Marin Municipal Water District to Preview New Supply Options

/in , , /by /Marin Independent Journalby Will Houston

As part of its study of new water supplies, the Marin Municipal Water District is planning a public workshop later this month to review how it will rate and compare the various options it is considering.

The online meeting at 5 p.m. Oct. 25 will provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions of district staff and its consultants who are drafting the water supply report.

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Expect More ‘Climate Surprises’ With California’s Water Supply

/in , , /by /Agri-Pulseby Brad Hooker

Water managers are preparing for a warm winter, a worse drought and a chance of biblical floods. As California discovered last year, the weather can swing wildly from one extreme to the next each month—offering little reliability for farmers planting winter crops or planning for the next irrigation season.

Conditions are lining up for a rare third year of La Niña, which tends to bring heavier precipitation to the Pacific Northwest and drier weather to most of California. Last year two atmospheric rivers delivered the bulk of the water supply in October and December, with total precipitation adding up to 76% of average for the water year that ended last month. But the last two winters have demonstrated that an adequate snowpack can disappear in just weeks under spring heat waves.

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Sacramento RegionalSan Expands Water Recycling Capacity With New Facility

/in , , /by /CapRadioby Randol White

One of the largest public works projects in Sacramento’s history has been quietly under construction, out of sight for most people in the region.

Sacramento RegionalSan is upgrading its wastewater processing facility in Elk Grove, which processes wastewater from customers across Sacramento County, and West Sacramento in Yolo County. On an average day, 150 million gallons of wastewater is handled at the facility.

 

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