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US Officials to Review Deal on Sharing Colorado River Water

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Ken Ritter

Federal water managers are starting to review a crucial 2007 agreement for seven Western states to share drought-diminished water supplies from the Colorado River ahead of talks about revising and renewing it beginning in 2026, U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said Friday.

Bernhardt called for a report next December, ahead of a deadline set in the older deal, which established a schedule of strict water cutbacks to states if levels keep falling at the key Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs.

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US Water Chief Praises Colorado River Deal, Sees Challenges

/in , , /by /AP by Ken Ritter

LAS VEGAS (AP) — States in the U.S. West that have agreed to begin taking less water next month from the drought-stricken Colorado River got praise and a push for more action Thursday from the nation’s top water official.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told federal, state and local water managers that abiding by the promises they made will be crucial to ensuring that more painful cuts aren’t required.

The river supplies 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming as well as a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

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America’s Dams Are Aging. Is It Time To Take Them Down?

/in , , /by /Deseret News by Sofia Jeremias

After three major dams collapsed in the 1970s, leaving a total of 175 people dead, safety precautions, inspections and regulations were put in place. But a two-year investigation by The Associated Press found that at least 1,680 dams in the country are currently a risk for the communities living below the deteriorating structures.

The news outlet reported that hundreds of dams were in “poor or unsatisfactory condition.”

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New Storm To Spread Snow, Ice, Rain Coast To Coast

/in , /by /The Weather Channel

A new storm from the West will spread snow, ice and rain through parts of the central and eastern states into early next week.

The energy from this next storm will move into the West Coast by Saturday. It will then spawn a low pressure system in the Southern Plains, which will track toward the eastern states early next week.

There will likely be snow and some ice where the moisture pulled in by the low overlaps with cold air supplied by high pressure to its north. Rain and thunderstorms are expected in the South.

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Trade Agreement Includes $300 Million For Border Pollution Cleanup, Including Tijuana River Valley

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Charles T. Clark

The new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement reached Tuesday commits the federal government to provide $300 million for the Border Water Infrastructure Program to address pollution on the U.S.-Mexico border, including the Tijuana River Valley region, where millions of gallons of raw sewage, heavy metals and other contaminants regularly flow from Tijuana to San Diego.

The funding likely represents the most significant federal commitment to the problem in decades, elected officials said.

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Threat Of Drought Wiped Off California Map After Soaking Storms

/in , /by /SF Gate by Amy Graff

What a difference a couple storms make.

The recent onslaught of soaking rains and snowy days has wiped the threat of drought off the California map.

The latest federal Drought Monitor Map, a way to measure drought that’s mainly used in agriculture, shows only 3.5 percent of the state as “abnormally dry” with a tiny sliver of yellow on the California-Oregon border. Only a week ago, 85 percent of the state was yellow.

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Opinion: Don’t Go Into The Tunnel

/in , /by /New Timesby Andrew Christie

Last month, at the urging of the SLO County State Water Subcontractors Advisory Committee, the three largest state water subcontractors in the county—Morro Bay, Pismo Beach, and the Oceano CSD—voted to “participate in preliminary efforts associated with the Delta Conveyance Project,” aka the Delta Tunnel.

Votes of support by local jurisdictions bring the project one step closer to reality. Reality is a costly giant tunnel that would divert Sacramento River water bound for the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta and transport the water directly to Central Valley farms and urban users in the Bay Area and Southern California.

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Water Cutbacks Set to Begin Under Deal Designed to ‘Buy Down Risk’ on Colorado River

/in , , /by /azcentral.by Ian James

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will start taking less water from the Colorado River in January as a hard-fought set of agreements kicks in to reduce the risk of reservoirs falling to critically low levels. The two U.S. states agreed to leave a portion of their water allotments in Lake Mead under a deal with California called the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan, or DCP, which the states’ representatives signed at Hoover Dam in May. California agreed to contribute water at a lower trigger point if reservoir levels continue to fall. And Mexico agreed under a separate accord to take steps to help prop up Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir near Las Vegas, which now sits 40% full after a nearly 20-year run of mostly dry years.

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Congress to Halt Military Use of Toxic Foam Contaminating Drinking Water

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Anna M. Phillips

Congress has reached a deal on a spending bill that would require the military to stop using firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals linked to cancer, but would abandon efforts to place stronger regulations on the chemicals. The bill, called the National Defense Authorization Act, has been the focus of intense negotiations for months. House Democrats saw it as their best chance to force President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency to increase its oversight of a class of chemicals, called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — commonly known as PFAS — that have contaminated drinking water sources across the country.

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Without Urgent Action, California’s Sea-Level Rise a Threat to Housing, Economy, Report Says

/in , , /by /Cal Mattersby Elizabeth Castillo

Despite years of urgent warnings, local governments are moving too slow to prevent the worst damage from sea-level rise caused by climate change, risking repercussions as severe as housing shortages or an injured state economy, according to a report released today by the Legislative Analyst’s office. The report suggests California would need to start building 100,000 more housing units annually in coastal cities to mitigate the problems caused by sea-level rise. Funding for public schools might be affected as well, as higher sea levels hurt property values and lower tax revenue. And it’s not just beachside housing that will be impacted.

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