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This Pipe Could End California’s Drought Problem

A giant, solar-powered pipe unveiled by Vancouver researchers at Land Art Generator Initiative 2016 could end California’s drought problem. California has had state-wide drought restrictions in place for years, to the point where some have asked if the Golden State will be dry until the clock finally runs out on this ball of dirt we call the Earth. This pipe is supposed to help solve those problems by filtering seawater. Unlike the filtering systems that are already used, though, it would use electromagnetic filtration to gather drinking water without having an adverse effect on the oceans themselves.

BLOG: How Water Use Has Declined With Population Growth

Until 1980, water use went up steadily as population increased, necessitating investments in infrastructure and boosts to capacity. But since then, there has been a dramatic decoupling across the United States, with water use declining even as the population and the economy continued to grow. The U.S. Geological Survey found that water consumption peaked at 440 billion gallons (1,665 billion liters) per day before dropping in 1980 and then remained steady through the 1980s and 1990s. It rose slightly in 2000, but significantly declined between 2005 and 2010, when it fell to 350 billion gallons (1,325 billion liters) per day.

Western Weather Is A Month Ahead Of The Calendar

Is it Christmas yet? The weather patterns rolling across the Pacific Northwest and Northern California seem out of sync with the calendar, an environmental science professor said. Gregory Jones, a Southern Oregon University professor who tracks weather and climate data, said the past year was seemingly off by a month in temperature — March was like April, June was like July, and so on. And now the storms and rain of October were more typical of November.

 

Lake Tahoe Weather: 50/50 Chance For Wet Winter; October Was Wettest Month

It’s been fairly rainy the past few weeks, but the month of October was probably the wettest month the Reno-Tahoe region will experience for the rest of the year. That’s according to Climatologist Dan McEvoy at the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno. Although October is known to be the first water month of the year in the West, it isn’t going to fully mend the drought. However, the rain put many positive impacts on the area, McEvoy said. “The soil is moistening in high elevation before snowfall hits,” he said.

Reservoir Expansion Could Store Water For Millions In Bay Area

Millions of Bay Area residents could get extra drought insurance against water shortages and quality problems from a proposed $800 million expansion of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir that may have up to 10 water suppliers as partners. Ten water agencies serving San Jose, Fremont, Oakland, Concord, Richmond, Antioch, San Francisco and other communities have negotiated preliminary deals to contribute a combined $1 million for feasibility studies on expanding the reservoir south of Brentwood.

 

BLOG: On The Colorado River, Climate Change Is Water Change

The Colorado river basin is undergoing one of the worst droughts ever recorded, producing those apocalyptic images of Lake Mead and Lake Powell with their gigantic “bathtub ring” shorelines caused by shrinking water supply. All the states that depend on the river – Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming – have had to scramble to conserve and add new water supplies as a result. And there’s no clear end in sight.

 

Frazier Opposes Delta Tunnels In Letter To California WaterFix

Assemblymember Jim Frazier, whose 11th Assembly District includes much of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, has called upon a state board to reject a change in water rights as proposed by proponents of the Delta twin tunnels project. “My constituents expect to be protected by the State of California,” Frazier said in a six-page letter to the State Water Resources Control Board, which is considering a petition to divert water from the Sacramento River into the tunnels that would be built by the California WaterFix Project. frazier-waterfix-letter-nov-2016

 

 

GE Water Update

While last Monday morning’s announcement that GE was exiting the water business had been long-rumored, it took many people in the water industry (including your correspondent) by surprise. In October 2008, in the same issue of WDR that Heiner Markhoff was introduced as GE Water’s new president, we reported that, “Industry rumors have already been circulating about which businesses might be sold off,” and, “GE’s Zenon UF product line has been singled out as being most likely to be first on the block.”

We Don’t Have Water Shortage

Reading about our water shortage is becoming very tiring and exasperating. California does not have a water shortage. You don’t believe me? Try driving west from downtown Ventura and see how far you can go before you discover a vast, seemingly never-ending supply of it. When arriving here in 1961, we found California to be a desert, and as far as we know, it still is. We should not rely on rain, or aqueducts from Northern California or the Colorado River, etc. The salt can be taken out of ocean water as it is done in every large ship that sails.

 

OPINION: Geo Springer: It’s Too Late To Stop Those Who Intend To Take Our Water

It is very simple. In this day and age of politics it seems anything can be said by the government or power elite as true facts … as they cover up the truth. They are taking water out of the Sacramento River and sending it south and they want to replace it with water from the Tuolumne, Merced and Stanislaus rivers. Big southern cities are taking water from the smaller less politically powerful communities. They will have meetings and committees with smoke and mirrors to prove they are right. The Sacramento pipeline is already a done deal.