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Foreign Hackers Impersonated Professional Licensing Board In Attack On Utilities

/in , , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Robert Walton

Security firm Proofpoint on Thursday said it uncovered an “advanced phishing campaign” that specifically targeted U.S. utility companies by impersonating an engineering licensing board. The firm said emails sent between July 19 and July 25 went to three utilities, which it declined to name. Messages purporting to be from the U.S. National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying contained a malicious attachment that utilized macros to install and run malware named “LookBack.” The attempts highlight the “continuing global risk from nation-state actors,” according to Proopoint. In June, the United States’ chief energy regulator warned the electric grid is “increasingly under attack by foreign adversaries.”

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With Water Supply Dwindling, Water District Plans Advanced Purification Project

/in , , /by /CoastalView.comby Debra Herrick

Like many communities throughout California, Carpinteria faces sustained and historic drought conditions. By 2030, the Carpinteria Valley Water District estimates that dry years will come with a water deficit that could be as high as 1,550 acre feet—approximately 505 million gallons of water—enough to fill 775 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or serve the average daily use of 6,200 local households.

In response to the shortfall, CVWD proposes a $25 million project to take wastewater that has been cleaned, purify it and then inject it into the groundwater basin to be used for various needs, including potable drinking water.

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Central Basin Is Now Charging Even Noncustomers In Southeast LA County

/in , , /by /Whittier Daily News by Mike Sprague

A regional water district on Wednesday approved the equivalent of a $2 annual fee on every household in the southeast area of Los Angeles County — including areas that don’t buy its water.

Kevin Hunt, general manager for Central Basin Municipal Water District, said his agency needs the $600,000-plus the fee will raise to balance its $10 million budget. The water wholesaler has significant money problems because of decreasing water sales.

Central Basin has long been under fire for “poor leadership, violating state law and spending money inappropriately.” as reported in a 2015 state audit.

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Alaska’s Sweltering Summer Is ‘Basically Off The Charts’

/in , , /by /The Washington Post by Matthew Cappucci , Juliet Eilperin , Andrew Freedman and Brady Dennis

Steve Perrins didn’t see the lightning, but he couldn’t miss the smoke that followed.

It was around dinnertime on July 23 at Alaska’s oldest hunting lodge, nestled in the wilderness more than 100 miles northwest of Anchorage. What began as a quiet evening at the Rainy Pass Lodge soon turned frantic as Alaska’s latest wildfire spread fast.

The Alaska National Guard soon evacuated 26 people and two dogs by helicopter from the lodge, which serves as a checkpoint for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

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California Farmers Are Planting Solar Panels As Water Supplies Dry Up

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Jon Reiter banked the four-seat Cessna aircraft hard to the right, angling to get a better look at the solar panels glinting in the afternoon sun far below. The silvery panels looked like an interloper amid a patchwork landscape of lush almond groves, barren brown dirt and saltbush scrub, framed by the blue-green strip of the California Aqueduct bringing water from the north. Reiter, a renewable energy developer and farmer, built these solar panels and is working to add a lot more to the San Joaquin Valley landscape.

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Is That Smell The Salton Sea? Humid Weather Fostering Stinky Air Around Palm Springs

/in , , /by /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Colin Atagi

There’s an unmistakable smell in the air. One that creeps into the Coachella Valley during the hot, sticky days of summer.

The sulfuric odor typically shows up when the mercury and humidity are high, and levels of hydrogen sulfide spike in the Salton Sea.

A South Coast Air Quality Management District spokeswoman on Wednesday said the agency hadn’t received any reports of smelly air, and in fact, air quality across Southern California — including Riverside County — was “moderate.” The district, located in Diamond Bar, issues alerts when air pollutants are at levels that could be harmful to humans.

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California 1st State To Require Notification Of Toxic ‘Forever’ Chemicals in Water

/in , , /by /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Janet Wilson

California on Wednesday became the first state in the nation to require water suppliers who monitor a broad class of toxic “forever chemicals” to notify customers if they’re present in drinking water. That could include sites from Los Angeles International Airport to military bases across the desert to refineries and other industry in low income neighborhoods.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 756, authored by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, late Wednesday with no fanfare.

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Scientists Cook Up New Recipes For Taking Salt Out Of Seawater

/in , , /by /PHYS.org (Los Angeles)

As populations boom and chronic droughts persist, coastal cities like Carlsbad in Southern California have increasingly turned to ocean desalination to supplement a dwindling fresh water supply. Now scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) investigating how to make desalination less expensive have hit on promising design rules for making so-called “thermally responsive” ionic liquids to separate water from salt. Ionic liquids are a liquid salt that binds to water, making them useful in forward osmosis to separate contaminants from water.

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Trump Revived The Cadiz Water Project. Now California Has Added A New Hurdle

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Phil Willion

A controversial Mojave Desert water project, which has emerged as a major environmental flashpoint between California and the Trump administration, cannot go forward without approval by the State Lands Commission under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday.

The restriction places a major obstacle to Cadiz Inc.’s long-standing plans to pump desert groundwater and sell it to urban Southern California.

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San Diego County Students Inspire Water Conservation Through Art

/in , , /by /Water News Network

Three talented fourth grade students in north San Diego County will have their winning drawings featured in the 2020 “Be Water Smart” calendar produced by the Vallecitos Water District. The students were honored by the District’s Board of Directors at its July meeting.

To develop and promote water conservation awareness from an early age, the District holds a calendar contest available to all fourth graders in its service area. The top three drawings go on to represent the District in the regional North County Water Agency calendar for the following year.

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