Mexico recently paid a small portion of the water it owes the United States under a 1944 international treaty. A total of 56,750 acre-feet of water was paid via “a transfer of ownership in Amistad Dam” on April 30, Frank Fisher, spokesman for U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission told Border Report on Wednesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it plans to weaken limits on some so-called forever chemicals in drinking water that were finalized last year, while maintaining standards for two common ones. The Biden administration set the first federal drinking water limits for PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, finding they increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and babies being born with low birth weight.
New Jersey’s attorney general said Tuesday chemical manufacturer 3M agreed to pay up $450 million to resolve lawsuits over natural resource contamination stemming from PFAS — commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” The settlement is subject to court approval and a public comment period, Attorney General Matt Platkin’s office said. St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M is expected to pay $285 million this year, with additional amounts payable over the next 25 years.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to fast-track a project to reroute more water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmers and cities as part of his revised budget blueprint set to be unveiled on Wednesday. “We’re done with barriers — our state needs to complete this project as soon as possible, so that we can better store and manage water to prepare for a hotter, drier future,” Newsom said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “Let’s get this built.”
Most of the water that courses through the Rio Grande to reach parched farmlands along the border gets its start here, where the Rio Grande is replenished through Mexico’s Rio Conchos. This pocket of the border is known as La Junta de los Rios, where the two rivers meet and irrigate what’s believed to be the oldest continually cultivated farmland in Texas.
California’s climate is changing faster than our infrastructure can keep up. In the past five years, we’ve seen atmospheric rivers cause catastrophic flooding, prolonged drought has devastated agricultural communities and perpetuated a lack of access to safe drinking water, and inconsistent snowpack makes it difficult for water managers to plan for the future. This is our new norm. Yet, much of California’s water infrastructure was built for a climate reality that no longer exists.
As tense negotiations about the future of the Colorado River are stuck at a standstill, the people in charge are retreating further into the shadows. A group of negotiators — one from each of the seven states that use Colorado River water — will not be speaking at a major water law conference in June. Those representatives have appeared together on a panel at the conference for the last few years, and rarely appear together in public otherwise.
As you drive through the Central Valley, it is hard to miss the iconic California Aqueduct, which moves millions of gallons of irrigation water through a large canal in the middle of the state. The canal is visible because it’s open on top — a fact that also allows a sizable percent of the water to evaporate, as the region now faces increasingly high temperatures for much of the year. A few years ago, scientists began asking: What if we covered the canal with solar panels?
A new analysis of America’s 28 largest population centers found that all but three are sinking overall, and in many cases significantly. Several of the most affected areas are in Texas, particularly around Fort Worth and Houston. But the problem is nationwide, affecting cities as scattered as Seattle, Detroit and Charlotte, N.C. The sinking of land, also called subsidence, can worsen the effects of sea-level rise, intensify flooding and strain the very foundations of urban infrastructure.
Near the southern flank of Mount Shasta, springs and snowmelt converge to form the McCloud River. This Sacramento River tributary, held sacred by the Winnemem Wintu tribe, teemed with Chinook salmon before Shasta Dam, built in the 1940s, blocked their annual migrations. “The winter run was the main sustenance source for the Winnemem Wintu throughout history,” said tribal member Gary Mulcahy.
