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Sebastopol Relents in Battle Over High Tech Water Meters

/in , , /by /Northern California Public Mediaby Marc Albert

Concerns about grave health impacts from exposure to radio waves has prompted one Sonoma County city to back off, up to a point.

The Sebastopol city council unanimously approved a measure last week allowing residential customers to keep their old water meters, if they insist.
Like other cities and towns around California, Sebastopol has been preparing to roll out new, digital water meters. Supposedly more accurate, the new ones have a big advantage for a utilities: they no longer have to pay meter readers.
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Low Lake Mead Water Levels Now Revealing Ancient Volcanic Eruptions

/in , , /by /Newsweekby Robyn White

Lake Mead’s receding water levels are now revealing ancient volcanic eruptions from millions of years ago.

Lake Mead is the biggest man-made reservoir in North America, formed by the Hoover Dam. Its water levels are rapidly evaporating due to the ongoing megadrought gripping the southwestern United States.

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Feds Will Spend Billions to Boost Drought-Stricken Colorado River System

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

As climate change tightens its grip on the Colorado River basin, the states that use its water are struggling to agree on terms that will reduce their demand. Now, the federal government is stepping in with a plan to use billions of dollars to incentivize conservation.

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Western Forests, Snowpack and Wildfires Appear Trapped in a Vicious Climate Cycle

/in , , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Bob Berwyn

When Stephanie Kampf visited one of her wildfire test plots near Colorado’s Joe Wright Reservoir in June of 2021, the charred remains of what had been a cool, shady spruce and fir forest before the Cameron Peak Fire incinerated it nearly took her breath away.

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Stockton Residents Now Required to Reduce Water Use by 20%. See Latest Water Restrictions

/in , , /by /Recordnet.comby Hannah Workman

The extreme heat seen throughout the west is causing household lawns to cry out for water.

In July, the Stockton City Council adopted a resolution declaring a Stage 2 Water Shortage Emergency in response to the ongoing drought and record-low reservoir levels in California.

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Opinion: The Colorado River at the End of Water Year 2022: A Status Report

/in , /by /Inkstainby J. Fleck

I don’t see how this ends well.

Most of the major players – the ones that matter, anyway, by which I mean Arizona, California, and the federal government – appear boxed in by constraints they can’t seem to overcome, while the water in the Colorado River’s big reservoirs is circling the drains.

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Where the Colorado River Crisis is Hitting Home

/in , , /by /NPRby Kirk Siegler

These days it can feel almost cliche to throw around the word “dystopian.” But it’s hard not to use it while standing on the narrow road crossing the Hoover Dam as tourists gawk at the hulking structure’s exposed columns that for decades were underwater.

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South Lake Tahoe Leads the Way as City Council Approves Water Bottle Ban

/in , , /by /Carson Now.orgby Jeff Munson

In 2016, the City of San Francisco was the first American municipality to ban the sales of water that comes in plastic bottles. At the time it was called a bold move that was building on a global movement to reduce the huge amount of waste from the billion-dollar plastic bottle industry.

South Lake Tahoe was an early adopter of the single-use plastic bag ban, as well as bans of single-use plastic, styrene, and straws.

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Valley Farmer Calling on State to Increase Water Source

/in , , /by /ABC30by Brittany Jacob

The devastating drought is continuing to ravage the Central Valley and is creating more of a water crisis for farmers.

Right along the edge of West Fresno County sits miles and miles of uprooted almond trees. Farmer Joe Del Bosque says he’s never seen it like this.

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Ranchers’ Rebellion: the Californians Breaking Water Rules in a Punishing Drought

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Dani Anguiano

Before Rick Lemos and the other directors of the Shasta River Water Association broke the law, they made a decision that under most circumstances might be considered unusual: they sent a letter to authorities spelling out exactly what they intended to do.

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