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Protecting Water Utilities From Cyber Threats

/in , , /by /Water & Waste Digestby Janine Nielsen

Water utilities are just the latest industry to experience high-profile cyber incidents.

Earlier this year, a hacker breached a California water treatment plant and removed programs used to clean water. In another incident that made national headlines, a hacker gained remote access to a Florida treatment plant and increased the amount of lye in the treatment process – a change that a plant employee fortunately noticed and quickly corrected.

Going back to a time when water utilities were less connected is not an option. COVID-19 demanded connected operations so employees could work remotely.

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San Jose: New Drought Rules and Water Fees Go Into Effect — What They Mean for Your Bill

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

October storms helped this winter’s rainy season get off to a good start across Northern California. But they weren’t enough to erase the two very dry previous years: 80% of California remains in an extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly federal report.

Reservoir levels are very low and groundwater tables are depleted because the past two years had the least rainfall in Northern California of any two-year period since 1976-77.

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California, Arizona and Nevada in Talks on New Plan to Save Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Two and a half years after signing a deal aimed at averting a damaging crisis along the Colorado River, water officials from California, Arizona and Nevada are discussing plans to take even less water from the shrinking river and leave it in Lake Mead in an effort to prevent the reservoir from falling to dangerously low levels.

Representatives of water agencies from the three states said they are firming up the details of a deal that would leave an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir next year, and the same amount again in 2023 — about double the quantity of water used annually by Las Vegas and the rest of southern Nevada.

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As Drought Persists, Californians are ‘Backsliding’ in Effort to Conserve Water

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

State water regulators urged Californians to do more to save water after the latest monthly data showed conservation lagging in September, with statewide water use in cities and towns decreasing 3.9% compared with the same month a year ago.

The reduction in water use was smaller than in August, when Californians used 5% less.

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California Drought: Proposed Ballot Measure Would Fast-track Construction of Dams, Desalination Plants and Other Water Projects

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

California has not built enough new reservoirs, desalination plants and other water projects because there are too many delays, too many lawsuits and too much red tape.

That’s the message from a growing coalition of Central Valley farmers and Southern California desalination supporters who have begun collecting signatures for a statewide ballot measure that would fast-track big water projects and provide billions of dollars to fund them — potentially setting up a major political showdown with environmentalists next year shaped by the state’s ongoing drought.

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$1 Trillion Bill Brings Billions to the Valley. What Are the Projects?

/in , , /by /Greenwireby Bill McEwen

Two Fresno area Democrats who attended the signing of President Joe Biden’s $1 billion infrastructure bill into law on Monday say the package will improve the lives of Valley residents and strengthen the local economy.

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Sonoma County Backs Well Water Regulations, Favoring New Era of Groundwater Oversight

/in , /by /The Press Democratby Guy Kovner

Hailed as a complex and historic step, Sonoma County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously endorsed plans to guide use and governance of groundwater relied on by rural residents, farmers and cities.

The plans, required by a 2014 state law crafted amid California’s past drought, will eventually include well water use fees in three basins underlying the Santa Rosa Plain and Sonoma and Petaluma valleys.

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What La Niña Means for California’s Drought

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Soumya Karlamangla

For California, the arrival of winter means the beginning of our rainy season, at least relatively speaking.

However much precipitation California is going to receive in a year, the bulk of it typically falls between December and March. And given the severity of our state’s ongoing drought, the amount of rain we get this winter couldn’t be of more importance.

A Water Crisis: Colorado Agriculture Facing Changes as Drought Continues

/in , , /by /KRDOby Bart Bedsole

An estimated 40 million people rely on water that originates in the Colorado River Basin, but the river can no longer keep up with demand, and it’s raising serious questions about the future of water in the west.

Surrounded by bright orange pumpkins and empty shanks of corn outside his store east of Pueblo, Shane Milberger surveys his field.

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How One California City Cut Its Water Use in Half

/in , , /by /NPR

Despite pleas to conserve water during a historic drought, Californians have not saved much at all this year. But there are exceptions. We look at how Healdsburg dramatically cut its water use.

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