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Biden Aims to Remove All Lead Pipes. Will EPA Follow Suit?

/in , /by /E&E Newsby Hannah Northey

President Biden has made a push to remove the nation’s lead pipelines a cornerstone of his infrastructure agenda, but a requirement to make that happen is noticeably MIA in EPA’s current rule.

Advocates hope that changes.

“If EPA doesn’t require them to do it, our concern is that, frankly, utilities have had decades to replace their lead service lines or even to identify their lead services lines,” said Erik Olson, head of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s health program. “The ball has been in their courts for decades, and they’ve not done what’s needed.”

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As the West Bakes, Utah Forges Ahead with Water Pipeline

/in , , /by /E&E News by Jeremy P. Jacobs

As drought and climate change strangle the Colorado River, a small county in Utah nevertheless continues forging ahead with a billion-dollar pipeline to suck more water from it to sustain its growing population.

The proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, a 140-mile straw from one of the country’s largest reservoirs to Washington County in southwestern Utah, has sparked backlash from other states in the Colorado River basin and environmentalists, and now has the Biden administration in a difficult position.

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New Mexico Farmers Along Rio Grande Face Early Water Cutoff

/in , , /by /AP News

Hundreds of farmers along central New Mexico’s stretch of the Rio Grande face a second straight year of having their irrigation supplies cut off early.

The board that oversees the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District voted Friday to end deliveries for irrigation a month early because of low water availability.

The Oct. 1 shutoff means winter crops like those grown by Travis Harris just north of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge are at risk.

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Concerns Rise Over Monterey County’s Reservoir Water Levels

/in , , /by /Salinas Valley Tribuneby Sean Roney

State and county leaders recently took a tour of Nacimiento and San Antonio dams to get a first-hand look of the impacts of drought and facility conditions.

Both reservoirs have reached near record lows, with Nacimiento at 14% capacity and San Antonio at 7%. Water releases from the reservoirs have ceased as of July 28, with the visible effects in the north county being a drying of the Salinas River.

Though the 7% at San Antonio amounts to 50,000 acre-feet of water, it can’t be released.

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Signs of Drought From Space

/in , , /by /PHYS.ORGby Sofie Bates, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

As Tracy Schohr goes about her day, water is always on her mind. She’s thinking of it as she rides an all-terrain vehicle around the pasture, looks up hay prices and weather forecasts, and collects data on grazing and invasive weeds for a scientific study.

Schohr is a rancher and farmer in Gridley, California, where her family has raised beef cattle and grown rice for six generations. She also aids in scientific research to study drought and other agricultural issues with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

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Opinion: In Southern Nevada’s Endless Water Crisis, We’re Well Past the Time to be Lawn Gone

/in , /by /The Nevada Independentby John L. Smith

The front lawn came with the house we moved into a couple years ago.

The patch of Bermudagrass was smaller than an average putting green and easy to mow. The splash of deep green was cute as far as that goes, but it was out of place on a street that had largely made the transition to colored rock and water-smart landscaping.

Beyond the postcard aesthetics, it made zero sense to continue to water a lawn in the desert. Setting aside the politics of climate change and our arid land with its endless water crisis — a basic definition of “desert” — there were no children at home to play on it. And I could live with the dogs’ disappointment. In short, there was nothing to debate.

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Megadrought to Pit Fish Lives Against Human Needs in U.S. West

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Bobby Magill

Water cuts aimed at farmers amid the West’s megadrought have set the stage for bitter legal and political fights over one of the most overlooked water uses—the right of water to remain in streams to sustain fish and endangered species, lawyers say.

The drought is poised to call that right into question, pitting drinking water providers and food growers against conservationists who want to keep streams wet so that fish can survive.

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Singapore’s First Dual-Mode Desalination Plant

/in , /by /WaterWorld

Singapore is using desalination as part of the solution to provide enough clean drinking water for its ever-growing population of 5.5 million. Though surrounded by water, having enough drinking water has always been a challenge for this island state. Currently the demand for drinking water is up to 430 million gallons a day. The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant is the latest step of Singapore using advanced technology to help address their water challenge.

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Opinion: What Can Arizona Learn from California’s Drought and Mandatory Water Cuts?

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Joanna Allhands

Arizona has water issues.

But they are not nearly as deep or widespread as those pummeling northern California.

Some areas there are facing mandatory 40% cuts in use. In Redwood Valley, residents have been asked to live on 55 gallons a day – barely enough to take a bath and flush the toilet a few times.

Meanwhile, thousands of farmers and others – even those with senior water rights – have been barred from diverting water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. As have irrigators along the Klamath River near the Oregon border, which also is seeing massive numbers of fish die.

Officials for the first time shut down a major hydroelectric plant on Lake Oroville because of low water levels, a move some feared would add to rolling blackouts.

And the governor is warning that mandatory, statewide cuts could be in the offing, impacting residents in Los Angeles and San Diego, which so far have been insulated from the pain.

That has lessons for Arizona.

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Wildfires, Drought and Blackouts: California’s Climate Change Nightmare Is Already Here

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Margo Rosenbaum

After last year’s historic wildfire season, two nights of blackouts and a dry winter that raised alarm bells about another drought, California knew a difficult summer lay head.

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