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Water Worries in West Force Sports Teams to Get Creative

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Erica Hunzinger

The Arizona Diamondbacks ripped out the grass at Chase Field ahead of the 2019 season, replacing it with synthetic grass. It was a business decision, but it also ended up being a water-conservation measure.

The Phoenix-based major league baseball team thought it would save 2 million gallons a year. In the first season, the savings were closer to 4.5 million gallons, which is roughly the annual water usage of 49 households in the Phoenix area, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

“This challenge has been approaching for years and has been on our radar,” said Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall, whose team has saved 16 million gallons of water since the turf was installed. “We have tremendous relationships with the state’s legislators and executives, and have had discussions about water for years.”

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Opinion: The Lower Basin Inked A Plan To Save Lake Mead In Just 4 Months. But We’re Not Done

/in , /by /Arizona Republicby Joanna Allhands

The takeaway from the “500-plus plan,” the recently inked effort to save Lake Mead, can be summed up in just three words:

We’re. Not. Done.

That doesn’t make the deal any less consequential.

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The Pain Of The West-wide Drought In 2021

/in , , /by /Deseret Newsby Amy Joi O'Donoghue

Like a sinister specter that won’t vanish, drought was already writing the playbook for water supplies in Utah and the rest of the West as early as fall of 2020.

The year 2021 may have been months ahead, but extremely dry conditions during those last few months of 2020 amplified the reality of what was to come: drought, and a nasty one.v

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Federal Drought Funding Includes $40 Million to ‘Stabilize’ Lake Mead Water

/in , , /by /8 News Now Las Vegasby Greg Haas

A federal plan to spend $210 million on water conservation programs includes $40 million for “conserving 500,000+ acre-feet of water over the next two years to stabilize the decline of Lake Mead.”

The plan also includes $10 million for efforts to suppress wildfires in the West.

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Water Authority Manager says Colorado River Out of Easy Solutions

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Blake Apgar

John Entsminger walks a fine line as Southern Nevada’s top water official.

On one side, he has to explain the seriousness of a shrinking Colorado River to climate change skeptics and people who are content with not immediately handling the West’s water woes. On the other, he has to quell concerns of crisis on a river that supplies water to 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico.

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Las Vegas Board Approves Grass Ban in New Developments

/in , , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Blake Apgar

A Southern Nevada water board approved a pair of resolutions Monday that seek to scale back future water consumption to accommodate population growth over the next several decades.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority board of directors approved one resolution to ban the installation of grass in new developments and another that supports a moratorium on the use of thirsty cooling units for new buildings.

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Danger in Droughtsville: California’s Urban Water at Risk

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Erica Yee

Droughtsville, California, is in trouble.

Its water supply is endangered as multiple crises intensify: worsening droughts, competition for scarce supplies, sea level rise, groundwater contamination, earthquakes, wildfires and extreme weather. All of these factors, and more, threaten Droughtville’s ability to provide clean water to its residents.

The city is fictional, but the threats are not.

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Opinion: Community Voices: The Central Valley Needs Real Solutions for Its Water Shortage

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby Monike Reynozo

In the San Joaquin Valley, water is becoming a commodity equal to life and death.

California is a powerhouse of food production, growing some 40 percent of the country’s fruit, vegetables and nuts. However, the agriculture industry depends on a water supply that’s increasingly fragile and unreliable as the climate warms. As a means to increase access to livable drinking water, community and elected leaders alike are rallying behind “Building More Dams.” But this is simply not a viable solution.

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The Dirty Business Of Wetlands Restoration

/in , /by /SF Gateby Tanay Gokhale

On Oct. 29, the waters of the Suisun Bay breached the levee along the northern shoreline of Martinez and flowed into the Pacheco Marsh. The breach was the culmination of a process that took 18 years, $24 million in funds, and dirt. Lots of dirt. “Dirt is cheap,” said Paul Detjens, the project manager of the Pacheco Marsh restoration project, “but moving the dirt from one place to another is expensive.”

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Controversial Lake Elsinore Hydroelectric Project Blocked by Federal Government

/in , /by /The Press-Enterpriseby Joe Nelson

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has blocked a controversial $2 billion hydroelectric plant near the Lake Elsinore shoreline after the developer failed to provide requested environmental studies and a construction plan, among other things.

Vista-based Nevada Hydro Co. has proposed building a 200-foot-high dam above the lake and a 500-megawatt, underground power plant with turbines on 845 acres of U.S. Forest Service. Water would be pumped from the lake to a man-made reservoir when demand for electricity is low, with water flowing back to the lake when demand is high. The project has been named the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage Project, or LEAPS.

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