Tag Archive for: Climate Change

California Bans Watering ‘Non-Functional’ Grass in Some Areas, Strengthening Drought Rules

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

California water regulators adopted emergency drought rules Tuesday that increase conservation requirements for water suppliers throughout the state and prohibit the watering of grass that is purely decorative at businesses and in common areas of subdivisions and homeowners associations.

The regulations outlaw the use of drinking water for irrigating “non-functional” grass at commercial, industrial and institutional properties.

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As Bay Area Faces Prolonged Drought, Recycling and Desalination Are the Only Two Real Options

/in , , /by /San Francisco Examinerby Jessica Wolfrom Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Despite being surrounded by water, Bay Area residents are routinely told during dry years to take shorter showers, let lawns brown and slow the rush of water from their taps.

But as climate change prolongs drought and challenges local water supply, regional water managers are warning that none of those actions will be enough. Many say the time has come to invest in technically feasible, though politically and environmentally complicated alternatives like purifying wastewater and sucking salt out of seawater to bolster stores.

EXPLAINER: How Cities in the West Have Water Amid Drought

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Suman Naishadham

As drought and climate change tighten their grip on the American West, the sight of fountains, swimming pools, gardens and golf courses in cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Albuquerque can be jarring at first glance.

Western water experts, however, say they aren’t necessarily cause for concern. Over the past three decades, major Western cities — particularly in California and Nevada — have diversified their water sources, boosted local supplies through infrastructure investments and conservation, and use water more efficiently.

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Newsom Urges Aggressive Action as Historic Drought Looms Over Summer

/in , , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Natalie Hanson Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Leaders from California’s largest urban water suppliers and associations met with Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday to discuss aggressive actions to combat drought.

Per Newsom’s direction, the state’s Water Resources Control Board may vote on a statewide ban on watering “nonfunctional turf” in a meeting Tuesday.

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Tucson Votes to Give Up Some of its CAP water to Help Save Lake Mead

/in , , /by /KOLD News 13by Bud Foster

The Tucson City Council voted unanimously to give back about a third of its Central Arizona Project water allocation to help an ailing Lake Mead.

The lake, hit hard by a prolonged drought, is at 31% capacity and dropping. It provides water for 20 million people in Arizona, California and Nevada as well as large swaths of farmland.

“I feel that the city of Tucson is in a position where we can add water back to the lake, specifically Lake Mead,” said Tucson Mayor Regina Romero before the vote.

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Vast Swath of US at Risk of Summer Blackouts, Regulator Warns

/in , /by /Bloombergby Naureen S Malik and David R Baker

A vast swath of North America from the Great Lakes to the West Coast is at risk of blackouts this summer as heat, drought, shuttered power plants and supply-chain woes strain the electric grid.

Power supplies in much of the US and part of Canada will be stretched, with demand growing again after two years of pandemic disruptions, according to an annual report. It’s among the most dire assessments yet from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a regulatory body that oversees grid stability.

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Congressman Levin Introduces Bill to Fund Coastal Protection

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Deborah Sullivan Brennan

San Diego County lagoons and wetlands may get more funding for protection and restoration under the Resilient Coasts and Estuaries Act, introduced Tuesday by Reps. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, and Brian Mast, R-Fla.

The bill would authorize $60 million per year through 2026 for the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, which distributes money to preserve the “conservation, recreation, ecological, historical, and aesthetic values of estuaries,” Levin stated

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California’s Drought, Relentless and Inexorable, Takes its Toll

/in , , /by /California Weeklyby Will Shuck

With the rainy season come and gone, drought’s withered hand remained firmly fixed on California this month, as it has been, with few exceptions, for the last decade.

Woes pile up. Rain didn’t save us, the snowpack is all but gone, the Coastal Commission says no desalinating sea water, and urban-interface fires have already begun.

It’s almost summer in the Golden State.

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FERC’s Glick Says He’s ‘Bullish’ on Energy Storage, Aims to Prioritize Regulations for Hybrid Projects

/in , /by /Utility Diveby Iulia Gheorghiu

Amid other regulatory priorities, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Richard Glick would have the agency look into energy storage participation in wholesale markets via hybrid projects with wind and solar, he said on Tuesday during the CLEANPOWER 2022 conference in San Antonio, Texas.

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1 in 6 Americans Live in Areas With Significant Wildfire Risk

/in , /by /The Washington Postby John Muyskens, Andrew Ba Tran, Naema Ahmed and Anna Phillips

When a wildfire tore through drought-stricken towns near Boulder, Colo., late last year, it reminded Americans that fire risk is changing. It didn’t matter that it was winter. It didn’t matter that many of the more than 1,000 homes and other structures lost sat in suburban subdivisions, not forested enclaves. The old rules no longer applied.

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