Sixteen cities, including four in the U.S., signed a commitment to protect vulnerable communities from severe flooding and drought through C40 Cities’ new Water Safe Cities Accelerator, launched on Nov. 22.
The upcoming COP28 climate conference has suddenly blown up in a wave of scandal, but the energy transition marches on. Exhibit A is the idea of shading irrigation canals with solar panels for a planet-saving win-win-win. The cooling effect of the water improves solar conversion efficiency, the shade prevents excess water loss from evaporation, and the use of built infrastructure preserves land from development. What’s not to like?
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Detroit residents got a break from water shut-offs.
In March 2020, just after the coronavirus made hand-washing a matter of public health, the City of Detroit announced a plan that kept water services on for residents for US$25 a month, with the first payment covered by the state.
A blanket of bright green alfalfa spreads across western Arizona’s McMullen Valley, ringed by rolling mountains and warmed by the hot desert sun.
About 3 miles east of Bombay Beach, and a half-mile back from the Salton Sea’s receding shoreline, the crunchy exposed playa gives way from a mostly empty white landscape to more and more native vegetation, and then suddenly a few shallow ponds appear, surrounded by dense vegetation.
Imperial County Board of Supervisors are expected to approve a letter expressing concerns of high water rates affecting Calipatria and Niland residents on Tuesdsay.
Tuesday’s agenda includes an item to approve a letter to be submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission regarding the high cost of water services provided by Golden State Water Company, or GSWC, in the communities of Calipatria and Niland.
Located just over an hour north of Sacramento in Glenn and Colusa counties lies 14,000 acres of grassland, streams and the main canal of the two counties’ shared irrigation district.
It’s the site of the planned Sites Reservoir, which has long been eyed as a possible place to store excess surface water from across California. The project was first proposed in the 1950s, but failed — and was re-proposed several times since then. Now, after roughly 70 years and several iterations, the off-river storage basin west of the Sacramento Valley is being streamlined and moving forward.
If you don’t already know, it will surprise you to learn that for all the attention that our state’s water supply receives in California – for all the worry and effort it takes to make sure there’s enough for our 40 million residents, 24 million acres of farmland, countless acres of natural environment, and status as the world’s fifth-largest economy (of which its agriculture and environment are huge parts) – no statewide goal exists to ensure a sustainable water supply for California’s future. What big, bold vision has ever been achieved without first setting a goal?
WATER PRICE LINE RISING: Who could forget last May, when Arizona, California and Nevada made a three-year pact to conserve water from the Colorado River? Many thought it couldn’t be done, but with Lake Mead reservoir levels at a historic low, and the federal government poised to wrest control of the process, the states agreed to conserve 10 percent of their water — nearly a billion gallons — between now and 2026.
In a pivotal move addressing California’s water conservation goals and reinforcing partnerships in the face of the ongoing Colorado River drought, the Metropolitan Water District is seeking authorization for its General Manager to establish agreements with the Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, and San Diego County Water Authority. These agreements aim to facilitate the addition of water to Lake Mead under the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program for the year 2023.
