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

Supercharged by Climate Change, ‘Megadrought’ Points to Drier Future in the West

Since 2000, the West has been stricken by a dry spell so severe that it ranks among the biggest “megadroughts” of the past 1,200 years. But scientists have found that unlike the decades-long droughts of centuries ago, this one has been supercharged by humanity’s heating of the planet.

UCLA Students Take First Place In National EPA Stormwater Treatment Design Competition

Ateam of UCLA undergraduate students has won a national competition sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency seeking innovative plans for stormwater management. The team proposed to redesign elements of a Los Angeles elementary school to improve its environmental sustainability.

Virginia Tech Team Creating a Tube Pump for Desalination Applications

In a bid to remove salt and other minerals from ocean salt water, otherwise known as desalination, without using bulky hydraulic pumps, a team from Virginia Tech has developed a simplified pump composed of a fluidic flexible matrix composite material.

Expected Spring Runoff into Colorado River Plunges After Dry April

A dry April caused the expected spring-summer runoff into Lake Powell to plunge dramatically, with the water-flow forecast down the Colorado River declining as much in one month as Tucson Water customers use in 10 years.

Water Quality Issues, Safety Concerns are Significant Drags on Water Utility Customer Satisfaction

As the Environmental Protection Agency moves closer to implementing regulations for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” in the U.S. drinking water supply, many Americans are “just saying no” to tap water. According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study released today, 25 percent of Americans say they never drink their tap water, setting the stage for a serious set of customer satisfaction challenges on the part of regional water utilities.

Americans Are Told to Wash Hands to Fight Coronavirus. But Some Don’t Trust the Tap

For the Chavez family and many others in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, bottled water is the toilet paper of their coronavirus pandemic — an everyday necessity that vanished from supermarket shelves.

California Regulator Adopts Safe Drinking Water Plan

California’s top water regulator adopted a plan Tuesday that will guide the state in identifying and helping communities that don’t have access to safe drinking water.

Opinion: How to Waste $1 Billion in Less than a Minute

Why would a public agency support an unnecessary and risky billion-dollar desalination plant and let a private utility profit hundreds of millions of dollars at the public’s expense? Here’s the story.

Coronavirus Could Worsen Death Toll of Summer Heat Waves, Health Officials Warn

As summer descends on the U.S., public health experts are warning that the coronavirus could make intense heat waves deadlier, adding to the devastating death toll the country has suffered.

Opinion: Now, More Than Ever, We Need Tribes at the Water Negotiating Table

A study recently published in the journal Science found that global warming and climate change have led to an emerging “megadrought” in the western U.S. – and that the drought we’ve been experiencing over the last 20 years is as bad or worse than any in 1,200 years.