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Climate Change is Hitting the Colorado River ‘Incredibly Fast and Incredibly Hard’

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Ian James

Beside a river that winds through a mountain valley, the charred trunks of pine trees lie toppled on the blackened ground, covered in a thin layer of fresh snow.

Weeks after flames ripped through this alpine forest, a smoky odor still lingers in the air.

The fire, called the East Troublesome, burned later into the fall than what once was normal. It cut across Rocky Mountain National Park, racing up and over the Continental Divide.

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California’s Water Wars Serve As a ‘Bellwether’ for Colorado River Negotiations

/in , , /by /Agri-Pulseby Brad Hooker

After three decades of water wars in Southern California, policy experts hope a new era in collaborative management will offer inspiration for the ongoing and complex negotiations over Colorado River allocations amid a historic and deepening drought.

“Those lessons need to catapult us forward,” said Patricia Mulroy, former head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, during the fall meeting for the Association of California Water Agencies in December. “These states, these constituencies, these communities cannot afford for these discussions to crater. Failure is not an option.”

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Drought is the Sleeper Weather Story You’ll Hear More About in 2021

/in , , /by /The Washington Postby Andrew Freedman and Hannah Dormido

Drought is an insidious climate threat — by the time it has a hold of a region, impacts on ecosystems and water supplies can be locked in. It may not grab extreme weather headlines like the disrupted polar vortex or record hurricane season, but drought during 2020 and heading into 2021 is a looming story likely to grow in importance.

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Desert Pipeline Tests Colorado River’s Future

/in , , /by /S&P Globalby Richard Martin

West of Lake Powell, along the Utah-Arizona border, lies a sparsely populated territory of high desert, deeply scored canyons and barren mesas. Here, Utah officials want to build a 140-mile-long pipeline to bring precious Colorado River water west to the thriving town of St. George, in the state’s far southwestern corner.

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New Discovery Could Lead to Cheaper and More Efficient Water Desalination

/in , , /by /Science Alertby David Nield

Removing salt from seawater to make it safe to drink means overcoming a number of scientific challenges, including optimizing the membrane used for the desalination process – and new research into these membranes promises to make the whole operation cheaper and more accessible in the future.

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Work On Valley Water’s Largest Reservoir Moves Forward

/in , , /by /The Silicon Valley Voiceby Jacob Bourne

The Santa Clara Valley Water District has been lowering the water level on the Anderson Dam since Oct. 1 to keep the region safe from potentially catastrophic flooding in the event of a major earthquake.

The Anderson Reservoir can hold up to 90,000 acre-feet of water and is now at three percent capacity, which is the lowest feasible level given the position of the existing outlet tunnel. At its current level, even a heavy rainy season would not pose dam failure and flooding risk; keeping some water in the reservoir helps preserve some wildlife habitat. Beyond immediate safety, one of the main reasons for lowering the water level is to allow for construction to begin on a major seismic retrofit project for the dam. The reservoir has been closed for recreational use since October and is expected to remain shuttered for the duration of the project.

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Price Tag Nearly Doubles to $2.5 Billion for Huge New Dam Project in Santa Clara County

/in , /by /The Mercury News (Bay Area)by Paul Rogers

In a major and potentially fatal setback for plans to build the largest dam in the Bay Area in more than 20 years, the price tag to construct a new reservoir in southern Santa Clara County near Pacheco Pass has nearly doubled, from $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion.

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Inside Clean Energy: The Energy Storage Boom Has Arrived

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Dan Gearino

After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida.

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California Falling Short on 2030 Recycled Wastewater Goals

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

California isn’t meeting its recycled water goals, and billions of gallons of treated wastewater are being discharged into the ocean or other water bodies each year, according to state regulators, who say drought conditions could cause future supply challenges.

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Why the American West is Fighting for Water Protection

/in , , /by /Voxby Laura Bult

Since the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, the assumption has been that all waterways are protected from pollution — meaning that rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands are, by law, shielded from industrial and agricultural waste through a strict permitting process via the federal government.

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