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Opinion: Sites Reservoir Needed For Reliable Water Future

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Andrew Meredith

A flexible, reliable water supply is essential to California’s economy and to the job creation and job security goals of California’s working families. Reliability and flexibility in our water supply has become elusive in drought-prone California, thanks in large part to a changing climate and an obsolete water storage system that was designed to utilize a steady and massive Sierra snowpack. It’s well past time to make critical investments in water infrastructure — particularly water storage — to sustain us through future droughts and help us adapt to our new normal, one which includes extended droughts, diminished snowpack, warmer winter storms and a need for a more flexible water storage portfolio.

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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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Judge Orders Westlands To Stop Work On Shasta Dam Raise

/in , /by / Redding Record Searchlightby Damon Arthur

A judge has ordered a Fresno-based water district to stop working on plans to raise the height of Shasta Dam.

The Westlands Water District, which provides irrigation water to farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, was working on a report assessing the environmental impacts of raising the height of the dam.

But a judge ruled that Westlands’ work violated a state law that prohibited local and state agencies from participating in any projects that would have an adverse impact on the McCloud River.

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$50 Billion Worth Of Bay Area Homes At Risk Of Rising Seas By 2050, Says Report

/in , /by /The Mercury Newsby Karen D'souza

ens of thousands of Bay Area homes worth about $50 billion are at grave risk of chronic coastal flooding by 2050, according to a new analysis by Zillow and Climate Central.

By 2100, the crisis deepens. As the ice caps continue to melt in the wake of global warming, experts project that 81,152 Bay Area homes with a current value of more than $96 billion, may be swamped. If greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked and seas continue to rise as expected, a wide swath of Bay Area real estate will be endangered. Coveted beach houses may well turn into disasters.

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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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