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Opinion: We Must Fix the Salton Sea. And, Yes, Water Transfer is One Hope

/in , /by /The Desert Sunby Bob Terry

In his recent Your Turn column, Alexander Schriener wrote that we need to focus on viable solutions for the ailing Salton Sea. I’d like to address some of the points made in that column.

“The Salton Sea is going through the natural evolution …,” Schriener wrote. There is nothing natural about farm chemicals. This is an intensely farmed region where the preferred means of disposing of these toxins is to use half as much water as the irrigation required simply to flush these chemicals into the sea, two or three times a year for over 100 years.

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Worst Climate Scenario Probably Won’t Happen, Scientists Say

/in , /by /E&E News by Chelsea Harvey

One of the most fundamental questions in climate research asks the following: What will the world look like when we reach a certain point of warming?

How will it change after 2 degrees? 4 degrees? Even warmer?

More than a decade ago, scientists designed a set of hypothetical scenarios to help them model the climate. Their goal was to answer these very questions.

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Program Preps Communities for Next Drought

/in , /by /The Sun-Gazette (Exeter, Calif.)

Whether or not you accept climate change as a reality, one thing is for certain – the San Joaquin Valley will have another drought. Throughout recorded history, the semi-arid Valley has had extended dry spells with little precipitation to moisten its fertile soil creating a micro climate of economic crisis. The Valley is still dealing with the effects of an overdrated groundwater basin including abandoned private wells, contamination in remaining rural wells and subsidence in its water conveyance systems.

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Opinion: Why Desalination Can Help Quench California’s Water Needs

/in , /by /CalMattersby Wendy Ridderbusch

If you’ve ever created a personal budget, you know that assigning your money to different investment strategies is a crucial component to meet your financial goals. When you stop dipping into your savings account each month, savings can begin to build.

Understanding why desalination is so critical to California’s water future is a lot like building a personal budget. With a changing climate, growing population and booming economy, we need to include desalination in the water supply equation to help make up an imported water deficit.

The California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Food and Agriculture recently released the Water Resilience Portfolio. In it, officials highlighted the importance of diversifying water supplies through the introduction of new water sources and preparing for new threats, including more extreme droughts.

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State Water Project Allocation Increased

/in , /by /Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.)

The California Department of Water Resources announced Friday an increase in 2020 State Water Project allocations to 15 percent of requested supplies, up from the year’s initial 10 percent allocation announced on Dec. 2.

Allocations are reviewed monthly based on snowpack and runoff information and are typically finalized by May, according to DWR officials.

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Proposed Settlement Reached in Regional Desal Lawsuit

/in , /by /The Monterey Herald by Jim Johnson

Eight years after the regional desalination project fell apart, the legal battle over its unraveling appears to be nearing a conclusion.

A proposed settlement has been reached among the parties involved including California American Water, Monterey County and the county Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, and RMC Water and Environment regarding the failed desal project. It was presented on Monday in the San Francisco Superior Court overseeing the long-running lawsuit.

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Opinion: California’s Water Department Must Face The Reality of Climate Change and Diverse Needs

/in , /by /The Sacramento Bee by Bill Dodd

As we enter a new decade, California faces increasing environmental challenges caused by climate change, creating an uncertain future for our water resources. We need bold leadership to address these impacts. It is time for California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) to implement water policy for the state that shores up our precious waterways and diversifies water supplies in the face of these imminent threats.

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Farmers Welcome New Federal Rule on Water Quality

/in , /by /Ag Alert (Sacramento) by Christine Souza

Farmers and ranchers expressed support for a new federal rule to protect navigable waters under the Clean Water Act, saying the rule should offer certainty, transparency and a common-sense approach about how the rule would apply on the farm.

California Farm Bureau Federation President Jamie Johansson said last week’s release of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers “promises clear guidelines to help farmers maintain and improve water quality while retaining the flexibility they need to manage their land.”

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Trump’s USDA Chief, Unlike Trump, Backed Water Efficiency

/in , /by /E&E News by Scott Waldman

If President Trump wants to understand the risk of rolling back water efficiency standards that have been in place for almost 30 years, he can turn to a member of his own Cabinet.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has signed off on regulations that treat water-efficient toilets and shower heads as effective tools to save Americans from droughts and other risks.

In 2007, when Perdue was Georgia’s governor, the state was in the grips of a historic and extreme drought, and Atlanta was months away from losing its primary water source (Greenwire, Oct. 17, 2007).

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What’s in Your Water? Researchers Identify New Toxic Byproducts of Disinfecting Drinking Water

/in , /by /PHYS.orgby Johns Hopkins University

Mixing drinking water with chlorine, the United States’ most common method of disinfecting drinking water, creates previously unidentified toxic byproducts, says Carsten Prasse from Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland.

“There’s no doubt that chlorine is beneficial; chlorination has saved millions of lives worldwide from diseases such as typhoid and cholera since its arrival in the early 20th century,” says Prasse, an assistant professor of Environmental Health and Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University and the paper’s lead author.

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