You are now in California and the U.S. Media Coverage category.

Water Plant’s Missteps Illustrate Need for Critical Infrastructure Security Controls

/in , /by /SC Mediaby Bradley Barth

A new advisory offering details on a remote hacker’s attempted sabotage of an Oldsmar, Florida city water treatment plant has revealed a disregard for certain basic cyber hygiene best practices among employees. Experts say it’s an indicator that operators of critical infrastructure could use a serious infusion of security controls. However, due to budget restrictions, these controls may first require a thorough risk assessment and prioritization exercise.

Full Story

Adaptation Can Compound Climate Change Impacts on Energy and Water

/in , /by /EOSby Kate Wheeling

In 2014, as California was in the midst of one of the worst droughts in its recorded history, Julia Szinai was working for an electric utility. The worst years of the drought were still ahead, but the impacts of the dry spell on California’s energy system were already clear to Szinai. As water levels dropped, so too did hydropower generation—an energy gap that was filled by fossil fuels.

Full Story

Rain in the Bay Area, Snow in Tahoe: Here’s When Storms are Forecast to Hit

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Nora Mishanec

A series of storms will usher in a wet holiday weekend across Northern California, threatening to put a damper on outdoor activities and cause driving delays for holiday travelers.

Full Story

Opinion: Why is Arizona Growing When Groundwater is Shrinking? We’re Finally Having This Debate

/in , /by /AZ Centralby Joanna Allhands

If our water supply is dwindling, why is Arizona still growing?

I get this question almost every time I write about groundwater. Readers say we should be doing a lot more to slow – or even cut off – the construction of new homes and farms.

That’s not likely to happen any time soon. But smart people are diving into the weeds of how we use this finite resource to fuel growth, and that makes me cautiously optimistic.

Full Story

EPA Water Pollution Permit Limits Challenged by San Francisco

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Maya Earls

San Francisco is challenging the EPA over conditions imposed in a permit that allows the city to send discharge from its combined sewer system into the Pacific Ocean, according to a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit. The city’s filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit comes after the Environmental Protection Agency refused to review three conditions in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit. The EPA approved the permit in December 2019.

 

Full Story

Local Ag Looks to Spotlight its Climate-Friendly Profile

/in , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

The Kern County Farm Bureau issued a “call to action” this week asking local growers and ranchers to participate in a series of upcoming meetings that will influence the role California’s agricultural lands will be expected to play, or continue to play, in fighting climate change. Besides asking members to speak up at a series of online meetings the state is hosting this month, the bureau is collecting data it hopes will illustrate local ag producers’ “climate-conscious nature” with an eye toward ensuring private industry will continue managing its property “on a voluntary basis,” bureau President John C. Moore III said by email.

Full Story

‘They Thought I Was So Low’: Women Say They Were Harassed, Bullied, Ignored at Powerful Water Agency

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Adam Elmahrek

Miranda Grow loves the challenge of working with her hands. She’d had experience in carpentry and construction, and fulfilled a career dream when she was accepted as a mechanic apprentice at a large water district, relishing the behind-the-scenes work to deliver clean water to faucets and shower heads across Southern California.

Full Story

Distribution of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers Over the U.S. West Coast During Water Year 2021: Quarter Year Summary

/in /by /California for Western Water and Weather Extremes
Full Story

California’s Rainfall is at Historic Lows. That Spells Trouble for Wildfires and Farms

/in , /by /The Guardian by Katharine Gammon

There’s a race on in California, and each day matters: the precipitation during winter that fuels the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and fills groundwater supplies has been slow to start, and faltering at best. Northern California remains stuck in one of the worst two-year rainfall deficits seen since the 1849 Gold Rush, increasing the risk of water restrictions and potentially setting up dangerous wildfire conditions next summer.

Full Story

Water Wars Heat Up in California

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Dustin Manduffie

Water makes the world go ‘round, and a major player in California’s breadbasket doesn’t want to part with more than they have already. The city of Bakersfield, and the Kern County Water Agency are suing nearby water districts over their plan to skim water from Kern County sources for transport to other parts of the state — water that county officials say they need for themselves.

Full Story