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A Shift in Groundwater Perspective

/in , /by /WaterWorld by Mary Jo Wagner

When it comes to natural disasters, the sudden, swift devastation of landslides, mudslides, and sinkholes may get all the attention — but natural resource scientists can attest that it’s the slow sinking of the ground surface that is just as real a danger. “Subsidence often gets neglected because it is slow moving. You don’t recognize it until you start seeing damage,” says Michelle Sneed, a land subsidence specialist at the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

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From Droughts to Floods, Water Risk is an Urgent Business Issue

/in , , /by /Harvard Business Reviewby Jose Ignacio Galindo and Nicolas Wertheimer

When companies think about risk, most of them don’t think about water. Historically, water has been available even in areas prone to drought, and flooding followed a fairly predictable pattern. But as the climate warms, the world is beginning to see more extremes — and that often means too little or too much water.

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Lake Mead’s Dire Drought-Stricken Future Foreshadowed at Deadpool Reservoir

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Robyn White

Operations at one of Spain’s largest hydropower plants have been halted due to drought-like conditions, foreshadowing the future of the rapidly receding Lake Mead.

Electric utility company Endesa SA has shut down its facility in Mequinenza, Zaragoza, Spain after its water levels receded below 23 percent capacity, Bloomberg reported. This is below the minimum required to produce electricity. The plant first opened in 1966, and until now, has never been shut down.

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NASA Mission Will Measure All of the Earth’s Water

/in , , /by /ABC7 by Dan Ashley and Timothy Didion

With a multi-year drought bearing down on California and the West, there’s an intense focus on nearly every drop of water. But in a few weeks, we may begin to get a history making look at where that water is and where it’s going. Not just here, but around the entire planet.

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Efforts to Protect Groundwater Are Tested by Drought

/in , , /by /Ag Alertby Christine Souza

Balancing the state’s groundwater supplies for a sustainable future may not be easy due to severe drought and ongoing economic challenges facing farmers. “We’ve got the lowest prices and highest production costs and the least-reliable water supply that we’ve had since I’ve been farming,” said Bill Diedrich of Firebaugh, who farms row crops and permanent crops on the west side in Madera and Fresno counties. “We’ve had one or the other but not all three at the same time.”

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Draft Report Offers Starkest View Yet of U.S. Climate Threats

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Brad Plumer and Raymond Zhong

The effects of climate change are already “far-reaching and worsening” throughout all regions in the United States, posing profound risks to virtually every aspect of society, whether it’s drinking water supplies in the Midwest or small businesses in the Southeast, according to a draft scientific report being circulated by the federal government.

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California Funds 60 MWh Tribal Long-Duration Storage Project With Nation’s Largest Vanadium Redox Flow Battery

/in , /by /Utility Diveby Kavya Balaraman

The California Energy Commission has issued a $31 million grant to build a 60 MWh long-duration energy storage system that is expected to provide backup power to the Viejas Tribe of Kumeyaay Indians and bolster the reliability of the energy system statewide.

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L.A. Water Use Plummets During Hot Summer Amid Calls to Conserve During Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Dorany Pineda

Amid a record-breaking drought and calls to drastically reduce water use across California, Los Angeles residents saved a staggering 6 billion gallons during the hottest months of the summer, officials announced Monday. From June through September, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers used 6 billion gallons of water less than during the same period last year.

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CW3E Kicks Off the Water Year 2023 West-WRF Forecast Season

/in , , /by /Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes

The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography runs a weather prediction system called ‘West-WRF’ that has been optimized for predicting rainfall along the West Coast primarily from atmospheric rivers (AR). Forecast data from West-WRF is used by water managers to improve reservoir operations and to inform CW3E AR reconnaissance activities.

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EPA Boosts Calif. State Revolving Fund by $609M

/in , , /by /WaterWorld

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced more than $609 million in capitalization grants, through State Revolving Funds (SRFs), to California for water infrastructure improvements. The grants will supplement the state’s annual base SRF of $144 million. The capitalization grants mark the first significant distribution of water infrastructure investments to California following passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law allocates more than $50 billion toward water infrastructure.

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