Despite a good winter, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service Tahoe Management Unit says the basin’s forests are still stressed and in danger from wildfires.
“We had a better snow pack this year and a better precipitation season in the Tahoe Basin,” said Brian Garrett, urban forest manager for USFS. “But the trees in the forests are still extremely stressed and one season of 100 percent precipitation does not take you out of that condition.”
Diminishing food and water security and ruinous sea level rise are the leading climate change concerns of a section of the American electorate that is aghast at the lack of discussion of global warming during the presidential debate. A Guardian US survey of its readers found that pressure on food and water supplies is considered the most important consequence of climate change. Sea level rise, which is set to inundate coastal areas currently occupied by millions of Americans, is second on the list of the most urgent issues.
Richard Brady & Associates, Inc. (BRADY) announced today that Javier Saunders, P.E. has joined the firm to further expand its recent success in the municipal water resources sector. Javier spent the last 12 years at Harris & Associates where he was instrumental in expanding their water/wastewater capabilities. Having served on the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors for over 10 years, Javier provides our clients with a broad range of knowledge of local and regional water related issues. Javier comments “I am excited to start a new challenge within BRADY and help lead its rapid expansion.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) named Poseidon Water an Energy Champion for 2016. Poseidon was selected as the Water Energy Nexus Champion for their investments in, and commitment to, sustainability and energy efficiency at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant (the Plant).
To reduce energy consumption at the Plant, Poseidon employs 144 state-of-the-art energy recovery devices that are able to save an estimated 146 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year and reduce carbon emissions by 42,000 metric tons annually – a saving roughly equivalent to removing 9,000 passenger vehicles from the roads.
A group representing powerful statewide business and water interests has filed a petition to ease Sacramento River fishing regulations for striped bass, a predator fish some blame for the demise of chinook salmon.
The California Fish and Game Commission will consider the petition, which also includes changes to black bass regulations, during its meeting next month in Folsom.
The filing is the latest in an ongoing debate over striped bass, a non-native fish some say eat enormous amounts of young salmon in the Sacramento River and in the Delta as the little fish try to make it to the ocean.
It’s easy to take water for granted. Turn on the faucet, and the water comes out.
But we live in a desert, where just 9 inches of rain fall each year and the aquifer on which we rely for drinking water is at its lowest point in 100 years. Couple that with a population surge, plans to build hundreds more homes in Twin Falls alone and a booming regional food-manufacturing industry, and cities are right to worry just how much larger we can get before there isn’t enough water to support it all.
Mayor Eric Garcetti joined City Councilman Mike Bonin and the Los Angeles Board of Public Works to break ground June 30 on a new underground water treatment facility that will conserve 108,000 gallons of potable water every day by capturing and recycling stormwater for irrigation.
The water treatment facility at Penmar Park will allow stormwater to be captured and used to irrigate the Venice area park, its golf course and Marine Park in Santa Monica.
The $23.6 million project is the second phase of the stormwater capture system. The first phase involved the construction of the tank.
Californians seem to be adopting conservation as a lifestyle, and that’s encouraging. It’s also necessary. As the state, particularly the southern portion, didn’t get the full benefit of El Nino this past winter and spring, drought conditions persist in much of California. If you’ve lived here for any length of time, you know that drought is a fairly regular occurrence in our state. We see periods of higher- and lower-than-normal precipitation, but the latter seem to be occurring more often and for longer spans.
Climate change is a threat to our quality of life and our economy. The staggering costs of deepening droughts, water shortages, wildfires and epic storms will accrue until we take action.
We know that excess greenhouse gases (GHG) cause climate change. We also know that we must aggressively cut GHG to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. There are no shortcuts.
In Palm Springs, our last GHG audit in 2010 revealed that 70 percent of our GHG emissions come from the gas and electricity used to heat, light and cool our buildings.
A proposal to divert Colorado River water to Denver recently has won the endorsement of Gov. John Hickenlooper and the approval of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
But Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir expansion project may be just as notable for its general lack of opposition west of the Continental Divide. That’s thanks to a wide-ranging agreement, effective in 2013, in which Denver Water obtained concessions including a promise that numerous Western Slope parties to the agreement wouldn’t oppose the expansion project. In return, Denver Water made a number of commitments to the Western Slope.
