A chemical byproduct found in some treated drinking water in the U.S. that remained a mystery for more than 40 years may have finally been identified by scientists.
The authors of the study, published Thursday in the journal Science, have named the byproduct chloronitramide anion, and believe it is a decomposition byproduct of chloramine, which is used as a disinfectant in tap water.
It hasn’t been a typical fall for the northeastern United States.
Fires have burned in parks and forests around New York City. Towns and cities in a stretch from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to south of Philadelphia had their driest three months on record, according to the Applied Climate Information System. Some reservoirs in the region are near historic lows.
California’s ongoing struggle with water scarcity has spurred significant investment in reservoirs and dam expansion, but a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) highlights why these massive infrastructure projects may worsen the state’s water and environmental crises.
The report, titled “Beneath the Surface,” challenges the notion that reservoirs are a sustainable solution, arguing that their benefits are undermined by environmental and economic costs, especially as climate change intensifies.
For decades, a costly problem has been worsening beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley: the land has been sinking, driven by the chronic overpumping of groundwater.
As agricultural wells have drained water from aquifers, underground clay layers have compacted and the ground surface has been sinking as much as 1 foot per year in some areas.
The powerful board of Southern California’s largest urban water supplier will soon vote on whether to continue funding a large share of preliminary planning work for the state’s proposed water tunnel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The 38-member board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is set to consider approving $141.6 million for planning and preconstruction costs at its Dec. 10 meeting.
American Water Co., hit by hackers early this month, now is being sued by customers seeking damages for the potential theft of identity information.
At least five suits in Camden federal court say claims will exceed $5 million, the minimum required for proposed class action litigation.
The first major atmospheric river storm to hit the West Coast this season is kicking off the rainy season with a bang, as the system rapidly strengthened — to the tune of a bomb cyclone — before pummeling Northern California and southern Oregon with dangerous winds and heavy rains that could cause disruptions for several days.
Supercharged by that dramatic bombogenesis and warm Pacific temperatures, which together pumped up the system’s winds and moisture, the storm could cause life-threatening flooding and damaging high surf north of the Bay Area, with prolonged, heavy rainfall, strong winds and significant mountain snow, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
The Biden administration has announced a range of options for new rules to address chronic water shortages and low reservoir levels on the Colorado River, a vital water source for seven Western states that has dwindled during more than two decades of drought compounded by climate change.
The Interior Department released four alternatives for new long-term rules aimed at dealing with potential shortages after 2026, when the current operating rules expire. The announcement of the proposed alternatives represents one of the Biden administration’s final steps to outline potential paths toward reaching a consensus among California and the six other states, as well as the region’s 30 Native tribes.
What was expected to be one of the strongest storms in the northwest U.S. in decades arrived Tuesday evening, knocking out power and downing trees across the region.
The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks beginning Tuesday and lasting through Friday as the strongest atmospheric river — a large plume of moisture — that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season bears down on the region. The storm system is considered a “ bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly.
The report highlights ongoing concerns about the threat of attack targeting the drinking and wastewater utility industry in the U.S. A growing number of utilities have faced attacks from criminal ransomware and state-linked threat groups over the past year, including adversaries linked to Russia, China and Iran.
Just last month American Water Works, the nation’s largest regulated water utility, was targeted in a cyber intrusion and had to take certain systems offline.
