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Great Salt Lake Shrinking More than a Foot Annually

/in , , /by /E&E News

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is shrinking every year, but experts are implementing measures to slow the water loss, a new report said. The Great Salt Lake Advisory Council says the water depth has dropped about 11 feet over the past 10 years, KSTU-TV reported Sunday. “It will continue to decrease at about the same amount over the next couple of decades if more is not done to bring water to the lake,” Great Salt Lake coordinator Laura Vernon said. The lake is crucial to the region’s recreation, migratory birds and billion dollar economy.

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Nevada Officials Raise Concerns About Proposed Utah Pipeline to Tap Into More Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /The Nevada Independentby Daniel Rothberg

Nevada officials raised numerous concerns Tuesday about permitting a proposed project to pipe large quantities of Colorado River water roughly 140 miles from Lake Powell to southern Utah, a controversial plan that would place new demands on the river.

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Proposed $171 Million Central Valley Groundwater Bank Faces TCP Contamination

/in , , /by /SJV Waterby Lois Henry

A Kern County groundwater bank proposal just at the starting blocks has been hit with 1,2,3-TCP contamination. Irvine Ranch Water District and Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District had just begun the environmental review process for their joint banking project this past April when TCP reared its head.

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Nation’s Largest Solar Farm Approved for Tulare County

/in , , , /by /The Sun Gazette

Work to build the nation’s largest solar farm in Tulare County may begin by the end of this year. At its Aug. 26 meeting, the Tulare County Planning Commission unanimously approved environmental documents for the Rexford Solar Farm in southeastern Tulare County.

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Arizona Endorses a Company’s Plan to Sell Colorado River Water to Queen Creek

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James

Arizona’s top water regulator has endorsed a company’s proposal to take water from farmland near the Colorado River and sell it to the fast-growing Phoenix suburb of Queen Creek.

The plan, which still would require federal approval, has generated a heated debate about whether transferring water away from the farming community of Cibola could harm the local economy, and whether the deal would open the gates for more companies to buy land near the river with the sole aim of selling off the water for profit.

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How a Plan to Save the Power System Disappeared

/in , , /by /The Atlanticby Peter Fairley

On August 14, 2018, Joshua Novacheck, a 30-year-old research engineer for the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was presenting the most important study of his nascent career. He couldn’t have known it yet, but things were about to go very wrong.

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As California Burns, the Winds Arrive and the Lights Go Out

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Marcio Jose Sanchez and Christopher Weber

New wildfires ravaged bone-dry California during a scorching Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200 people trapped by flames and ended with the state’s largest utility turning off power to 172,000 customers to try to prevent its power lines and other equipment from sparking more fires.

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`Until the Last Drop’ Flows Nimbly through California’s Water Wars

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby Garth Stapley

Before COVID-19, before George Floyd, before all the demonstrations and even the presidential campaign, we had water wars.

The threat of losing a substantial amount of river water that our farmers depend on was so startling in the summer of 2018 that 1,500 people from Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties flocked to a well-orchestrated rally in Sacramento. Our elected officials, farmers and regular people vented anger at the proposed “water grab” while the Atwater High marching band brought an air of protest pomp.

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Opinion: Water Recycling Project Fits Needs on Monterey Peninsula Better than Proposed Desalination Plant

/in , /by /CalMattersby Bruce Delgado

Expansion of the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project is the best option for the Monterey region to meet its future water supply needs. Unfortunately, California American Water Co., a private water supplier, is discrediting the project in the hopes of instead getting approval for their much more costly, oversized and environmentally harmful groundwater desalination project to be built in, around and through the city of Marina.

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Cox Introduces $800 Million Water Bill

/in , /by /The Porterville Recorder

Rep. T.J. Cox-D, who represents a portion of Southwestern Tulare County, introduced the Western Water Storage Infrastructure Act, an $800 million bill addressing surface and groundwater storage and water delivery.

The bill is another in a series of bills addressing water infrastructure in the Central Valley that have been introduced in Congress. California representatives Jim Costa-D and John Garamendi-D are co-sponsors of the legislation.

The bill is designed to essentially replace funding authorized by the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation, WIIN, Act, which has been exhausted. The $800 million is more than double what was previously available. The bill also extends the operational and environmental authorities of the WIIN Act to provide continued water supply without adverse impacts to listed species.

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