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Why Water Cuts Are Coming to Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Cordie Qualle

The Bureau of Reclamation, the agency charged with water resources management for the West at the federal government level, announced unprecedented Tier 1 cuts in water deliveries from Lake Mead on the Colorado River to Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico in 2022. The Tier 1 cuts will reduce water deliveries due to historic low water levels in Lake Mead.

California deliveries are not impacted by this announcement due to senior water rights, but they could be coming if water levels continue to drop. The Colorado River watershed and most western river watersheds that feed reservoirs with snowmelt are not producing as much runoff as they have historically due to the warming atmosphere affecting snow elevations and dryer and warmer soil and air temperatures.

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Hopes That Dry Year Will Prompt Action on Water Management and Storage

/in , /by /AgNet Westby Brian German

There is hope that the unfortunate conditions of California’s water supply this year will prompt decisive action on water management and storage. President and CEO of Western Growers, Dave Puglia noted that his conversations with growers have been disheartening. There is significant concern that if California gets another dry year, many farmers will not be able to recover. The dire circumstances of the current water year underscore the imperative need for an updated approach to water management.

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State Halts Diversions From the Tuolumne River. What That Means for Mid, Tid Water Users

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Ken Carlson

The Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts are among water right holders ordered by the state to stop diversions on the Tuolumne River and other streams that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta.

“All of the water that flows off the mountains has to remain in the river and can’t be diverted for storage or irrigation purposes,” said Michael Cooke, director of regulatory affairs for TID, who explained the state drought orders Tuesday to Stanislaus County supervisors.

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Could Desalination Play a Role in the Future of the Colorado River?

/in , , /by /GreenBizby Sharon Udasin

Shattering the stillness of a frigid January moonlit sky, the sunrise’s amber aura glimmers over the Tinajas Altas mountain range — giving way to a sandscape of semi-succulent shrubs.

The sun’s increasingly insistent rays animate an otherwise desolate desert corridor that links the city of Yuma, Arizona, to the San Luis Port of Entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. White school buses shuttle Mexican agricultural workers to Arizonan farm acreage, home to America’s heartland of winter leafy greens.

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How Drought Pressured California to Mandate Consolidation, Drinking Water for Tooleville

/in , , /by /The Fresno Beeby Jesse Vad

Life in Tooleville wasn’t easy before the latest drought.

Residents of this tiny, two-road farmworker community, tucked into the edge of the Sierra Nevada foothills in eastern Tulare County, have been living on bottled water since 2014 because its two wells are contaminated with hexavalent chromium.

Then in July, one of those wells started to dry up, thanks to plummeting groundwater levels. State Water Resources Control Board officials agree Tooleville’s other well will likely hit sand in a matter of months.

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Marin Water District OKs $2.2 Million For Pipeline Design: Report

/in , , /by /Patch.comby Michelle Rotuno-Johnson

The Marin Municipal Water District approved $2.2 million Monday for designs and analysis of a proposed emergency pipeline to carry water into Marin County, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

The proposed pipeline would carry water from Central Valley to Marin County over the Richmond-San Rafael bridge.

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California Moves Slowly on Water Projects Amid Drought

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Adam Beam

In 2014, in the middle of a severe drought that would test California’s complex water storage system like never before, voters told the state to borrow $7.5 billion and use part of it to build projects to stockpile more water.

Seven years later, that drought has come and gone, replaced by an even hotter and drier one that is draining the state’s reservoirs at an alarming rate. But none of the more than half-dozen water storage projects scheduled to receive that money have been built.

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Lithium Fuels Hopes for Revival on California’s Largest Lake

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Elliot Spagat

Near Southern California’s dying Salton Sea, a canopy next to a geothermal power plant covers large containers of salty water left behind after super-hot liquid is drilled from deep underground to run steam turbines. The containers connect to tubes that spit out what looks like dishwater, but it’s lithium, a critical component of rechargeable batteries and the newest hope for economic revival in the depressed region.

Demand for electric vehicles has shifted investments into high gear to extract lithium from geothermal brine, salty water that has been overlooked and pumped back underground since the region’s first geothermal plant opened in 1982. The mineral-rich byproduct may now be more valuable than the steam used to generate electricity.

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Opinion: Priced Out and Shut Off: Tackling Water Affordability

/in , , /by /The Hillby Michael Mcafee and Susana De Anda

Right now, Congress is debating needed investments in our water system decades in the making. While the Senate’s compromise bill passed earlier this month includes billions for lead pipe replacement and helping communities prepare for future drought and floods, the bill falls short of ensuring all families can turn their tap on and access safe, affordable water.

Infrastructure spending isn’t enough. We must pair new water spending with bill assistance to ensure the water flowing through our upgraded pipes serves all households in America. This is especially true as the country faces another rise in COVID-19 cases.

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‘Forever Chemicals’ Found in Groundwater Near Military Bases

/in , , /by /AP Newsby John Flesher

High levels of toxic, widely used “forever chemicals” contaminate groundwater around at least six military sites in the Great Lakes region, according to U.S. Department of Defense records that an environmental group released Tuesday.

The Environmental Working Group said PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have oozed into the Great Lakes and pose a risk to people who eat fish tainted with the chemicals.

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