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Experts Say Drought, Wildfire Risk to Persist Across Much of US This Fall

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Travis Bubenik

As historic wildfires continue to burn across California, Oregon and other Western states, government climate experts say much of the U.S. is likely to see persistent drought conditions and fire risk alongside continued above-average temperatures through the fall.

During a briefing Thursday, forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that while wetter conditions are expected to bring some drought relief to parts of the Pacific Northwest and New England in the months ahead, drought conditions are likely to persist or even worsen in Central and Southern California and across the Southwest.

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Water Insecurity Causes Psychological Distress for Americans, Study Finds

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Nina Lakhani

Unaffordable water bills and the threat of disconnection causes significant psychological distress for Americans, according to a new study.

A Guardian investigation into 12 American cities found the price of water and sewage increased by an average of 80% between 2010 and 2018, with more than two-fifths of residents in some cities living in neighborhoods with unaffordable bills.

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War of Words Heats up Over International Efforts to Clean up Border Sewage

/in , , /by /Border Report (Nexstar Media Group)by Salvador Rivera

Baja California Gov. Jaime Bonilla is involved in a war of words with a California mayor over cleanup efforts along the Tijuana River Valley, which lies between Tijuana and the city of San Diego.

For decades, raw sewage, trash and debris have flowed from south of the border into the U.S.

Most of those materials, especially the raw sewage, end up in the Pacific Ocean, forcing the closure of beaches in cities like Imperial Beach where over the last nine months, beaches have been closed 180 days due to high bacteria levels in the ocean water.

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Suez to Improve Rainbow Tank Staircases

/in , , /by /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman

Suez Water Technologies and Solutions will install additional tank fall protection improvements at Rainbow Municipal Water District reservoirs.

Rainbow’s board voted 4-1, with Helene Brazier casting the dissenting vote, Aug. 25, to approve a change order to the 2018 contract.

“This adds some additional safety enhancements for our steel reservoirs,” Tom Kennedy, general manager of Rainbow, said.

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Water District Directors Named to Ad Hoc Committee Reviewing Proposed CALFIRE Contract

/in , , /by /Ramona Sentinelby Julie Gallant

Two members of the Ramona Municipal Water District Board of Directors were recently selected to review the next fire and emergency medical services agreement proposed by Cal Fire.

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Oceanside’s Plan to Recycle Water Gets a Boost From the EPA

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Erik Anderson

Oceanside’s major water reclamation project is getting a financial injection from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA is loaning Oceanside nearly $70 million to help finance the city’s water reuse plans. The San Diego County city currently imports most of its water from the Sacramento Bay-Delta and the Colorado River.

The federal loan for the $158 million project will ultimately help Oceanside generate three to five million gallons of drinking water a day.

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Oceanside Gets $69 Million Loan for Critically Important Recycled Water Project

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein

Oceanside received a $69 million federal loan Thursday that will pay for almost half of the city’s ambitious drinking water recycling project.

The Pure Water Oceanside project will provide 32% of the city’s water by 2022. It will be the first operating advanced water purification facility in San Diego County, beating San Diego’s considerably larger recycling project.
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Water Company Withdraws Desalination Proposal as Battle over Environmental Justice Heats Up

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia

Amid mounting controversy and concerns over environmental justice, California American Water on Wednesday withdrew its application for a desalination project in the small Monterey Bay town of Marina.

The proposal had become one of the most fraught issues to come before the California Coastal Commission, which was set to vote Thursday. The decision would have been the first major test of the commission’s new power to review not only harm to the environment when making decisions but also harm to underrepresented communities.

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CZU Complex Fire Damages Crucial Water Supply Pipes

/in , , /by /NBC Bay Areaby Robert Handa

The CZU Lightning Complex Fire that stretches from San Mateo County to Santa Cruz County devastated neighborhoods, roads and crucial water supply pipes.

Hundreds of families have been told not to drink the water, even if they boil it.

There’s a lot of cleaning up to do, especially at the water district facilities, and some of that cleanup includes removing damaged trees that stand 100-200 feet high.

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A Housing Developer and a Powerful Water Utility, are Caught in a Fight: How much Water is There?

/in , , /by /The Nevada Independentby Daniel Rothberg

Five wells punch the scorching Nevada desert.

Water in this area is locked underneath the ground. It flows silently and invisibly as part of an aquifer stretching roughly 50,000 square-miles. Much of this water collected here thousands of years ago when lakes covered most of Nevada. Now wells are summoning it for human use. The problem is there’s not enough to go around.

At the center of this tension are the five wells.

A housing developer, Coyote Springs Investment, owns four wells, planted to one day pump water for a sprawling new community in the desert, filling the highway stretch about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The remaining well belongs to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

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