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California’s Drying Salton Sea Harms the Lungs of People Living Nearby, Say Researchers

/in , /by /The Guardianby Tom Perkins

Chemical-laden dust from southern California’s drying Salton Sea is probably harming the lungs of people around the shrinking body of water, and the effects are especially pronounced in children, new peer-reviewed research from the University of California, Irvine, shows.

A separate peer-reviewed study from the University of California, Riverside, also found the Salton Sea’s contaminated dust seemed to alter lung microbiome, which could trigger pulmonary problems that have been reported around the lake.

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OPINION: Don Wagner Calls for Common Sense in Sacramento: Ag, Water, and the Future of California

/in , /by /AgNet News Hour

The November 5 edition of the AgNet News Hour struck a chord with California farmers and voters alike as hosts Nick Papagni and Josh McGill welcomed Don Wagner, candidate for Secretary of State of California, to discuss the state’s leadership crisis, water mismanagement, and the fight to restore common sense to Sacramento.

Wagner, currently serving in Orange County and endorsed by former Secretary of State Bill Jones and former Governor Pete Wilson, said the same thing many Californians are feeling: “The problems in this state are entirely man-made.” He pointed to decades of political gridlock and poor decision-making that have crippled business, agriculture, and infrastructure. “We don’t have a resource problem,” Wagner said. “We have a government problem. It’s bad policy, not bad luck, that’s hurting California.”

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Deadline for Mexico to Pay Water Owed to Us Fast Approaching

/in , /by /Border Reportby Sandra Sanchez

The clock is ticking down on Mexico’s deadline this month to pay the United States water it owes under a 1944 international treaty. So far, Mexico has paid less than half what it owes during this five-year cycle, which ends on Oct. 25.

Former McAllen Mayor Jim Darling, chairman of the Region M Water Planning Group, says Mexico has the water due to recent rains. But it hasn’t paid the United States, and specifically South Texas.

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California Surface Water Costs Can Triple During Drought, Underlining Need for Better Management

/in , /by /Phys.orgby Amy Quinton

California often swings between climate extremes—from powerful storms to punishing droughts. As climate change drives more intense and frequent dry and wet cycles, pressure on California’s water supplies grows.

A new University of California, Davis, economic study finds that drought in California pushes the price of water from rivers, lakes and reservoirs up by $487 per acre-foot, more than triple the cost during an average wet year.

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‘Emerging Threat’: An Invasive Species Is Upending Life in the Delta, With No Help on the Way

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Rachel Becker

Spurts of goo oozed between Jeff Wingfield’s fingers as he methodically crushed a handful of golden mussels, popping the shells of the tiny invaders like bubblewrap. Last October, a couple of miles down the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel, state water managers first discovered that golden mussels had invaded North America.

“You can just push your way right through them,” said Wingfield from the dock where he stood at the Port of Stockton, looking down at the thimble-sized debris in his palm.

 

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OPINION: Erie Canal Creation Contrasts With the Glacial Pace of Public Works in California

/in , /by /Cal Mattersby Dan Walters

This week one of the nation’s earliest and most important public works projects, the 363-mile Erie Canal linking the Hudson River with Lake Erie, marked its 200th anniversary.

There was only negligible media and political notice. That’s regrettable, because the canal opening in 1825 utterly transformed the nation’s economy and ignited its expansion from a few sparsely populated former colonies on the Atlantic Coast some 3,000 miles westward to the Pacific Ocean.

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Los Angeles Will Nearly Double Recycled Water for 500,000 Residents

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

In a plan that will reverberate more than 300 miles north at Mono Lake, Los Angeles city leaders have decided to nearly double the wastewater that will be transformed into drinking water at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys.

Instead of treating 25 million gallons per day as originally planned, the L.A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners voted to purify 45 million gallons, enough water for 500,000 people.

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Drought Is Quietly Pushing American Cities Toward a Fiscal Cliff

/in , /by /Grist.orgby Tik Root

The city of Clyde sits about two hours west of Fort Worth on the plains of north Texas. It gets its water from a lake by the same name a few miles away. Starting in 2022, scorching weather caused its levels to drop farther and farther.

Within a year, officials had declared a water conservation emergency, and on August 1 of last year, they raised the warning level again. That meant residents rationing their spigot use even more tightly, especially lawn irrigation. The restrictions weren’t, however, the worst news that day: The city also missed two debt payments.

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The Water War Trump Hasn’t Blown Up

/in , /by /Politicoby Annie Snider

President Donald Trump loves a good water war — and the biggest one yet is about to land in his lap.

A quarter century of climate change and drought has driven water levels along the Colorado River and its two main reservoirs to historic lows, threatening supplies that support 40 million people and economies from Phoenix to Denver to Los Angeles.

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OPINION: Large Scale Desalination Could Transform California

/in , /by /Maven's Notebookby Edward Ring

Why is it axiomatic among California’s water agencies and policymakers that large scale desalination is inconceivable in California? That certainly isn’t the case in other arid locales. In 2024, an estimated 30 million acre feet of fresh water was produced by desalination plants worldwide.

On the coast of the Red Sea, about 60 miles south of the port city Jeddah, and only slightly further from the inland city of Mecca, the Shoaiba Desalination Complex produces nearly 900,000 acre feet of fresh water per year. Situated on approximately 1,200 acres, this one installation could, if it were located in California, supply more than 12 percent of ALL California’s urban water consumption. That’s not very much land, for an awful lot of water.

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