Tag Archive for: environment

San Diego Launching Pure Water, Largest Infrastructure Project in City’s History

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

San Diego formally launched Friday the largest infrastructure project in city history, a sewage recycling system that will boost local water independence in the face of more severe droughts caused by climate change.

Dubbed “Pure Water,” the multibillion-dollar project is the culmination of a lengthy process featuring thorny lawsuits, complex labor deals and an aggressive public education campaign to fight the derogatory early nickname “toilet to tap.”

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‘Water Supply Alert’ Issued for Southern California in Response to Drought

/in , /by /OC Registerby Martin Wisckol

While local reservoirs have enough imported water for Southern Californians to weather the drought into next year, the severity of water shortages throughout the West on Tuesday prompted the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to declare a “water supply alert.”

The move triggers a call for a voluntary 15% reduction in water use. That reduction could help forestall further water savings moves, including restricting supplies to the 26 local water agencies served by Metropolitan and issuing fines for excessive use.

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Explainer: Western Water Projects in Infrastructure Deal

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Suman Naishadham

Included in the sweeping $1 trillion infrastructure bill approved by the Senate is funding for Western water projects that farmers, water providers and environmentalists say are badly needed across the parched region.

The Senate voted this week in favor of the legislation that seeks to rebuild U.S. roads and highways, improve broadband internet access and modernize water pipes and public works systems. The bill’s future in the House is uncertain.

The federal funding would come as the West bakes under a decadeslong drought that is straining water supplies.

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California, Oregon Braced for Another Extremist Water Rebellion. Why It’s Calm, So Far

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

Anti-government activists seemed primed for a violent clash with federal authorities this summer in the Klamath Basin along the California-Oregon border.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation had shut off water for most of the region’s 1,400 farms, denying access to the same irrigation canal in Klamath Falls, Ore., where during a drought two decades earlier, activists tried to pry open its headgates and clashed with U.S. marshals.

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California Just Recorded Its Hottest July Ever. Charts Show It’s Part of a Trend

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kellie Hwang

California just closed the books on its hottest July on record, a whopping 5.3 degrees above normal.

It was the latest in a rash of record-setting months over the past year, as the state saw its hottest July, June, October, September and August in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA data shows that the average monthly temperature in July was 80 degrees, 5.3 degrees above normal, or the average temperature from 1901 to 2000. June’s average temperature was 75 degrees, 6.8 degrees above normal.

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Ways to Save Water During the Drought — and Whether It’s Worth Doing at All

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Jessica Roy

In case you hadn’t heard, California is once again in a drought.

But don’t take our word for it. The pictures tell a chilling (or, rather, incrementally heating) story. Boat slips on dry land. “Bathtub rings” around lakes. Juvenile salmon cooked to death in warming rivers. And the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report on Monday that outlines just how much damage has been done and who’s to blame: “It is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet.”

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Water Cutbacks Coming to Arizona

/in , , /by /Arizona Public Mediaby Christopher Conover

The “bathtub ring” at Lake Mead has become a familiar sight. The water level in the lake is the lowest it has been since the Hoover Dam, which created the lake, was built in the 1930s. Those low levels have been decades in the making.

“Back in around 2000, Lake Mead was pretty close to being full, but over the last 20 years-plus now we’ve just not had good hydrologic conditions. It will take years to recover from that, years of good conditions and unfortunately the climate models and projections don’t predict us getting cooler and they don’t predict us, let’s say, getting wetter,” said Dr. Sharon Megdal, University of Arizona professor and former board member for the Central Arizona Project.

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Water Shortages and Drought Are California’s Biggest Environmental Concern, New Poll Shows

/in , , /by /The Mercury Newsby Paul Rogers

After the two driest consecutive years in much of California in nearly half a century, reservoir levels are dropping. Lawns are brown. Water restrictions are increasing. And Californians are getting worried.

Asked to name the environmental issue they are most concerned about, more California residents cited water shortages and drought than any other, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan research organization in San Francisco.

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Desalination Advances in California Despite Opponents Pushing for Alternatives

/in , , /by /Reutersby Daniel Trotta

Environmentalists say desalination decimates ocean life, costs too much money and energy, and soon will be made obsolete by water recycling. But as Western states face an epic drought, regulators appear ready to approve a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, California.

After spending 22 years and $100 million navigating a thicket of state regulations and environmentalists’ challenges, Poseidon Water is down to one major regulatory hurdle – the California Coastal Commission. The company feels confident enough to talk of breaking ground by the end of next year on the $1.4 billion plant that would produce some 50 million gallons of drinking water daily.

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Southern Arizona Starts To Recover From Exceptional Drought Thanks To Strong Monsoon Start

/in , /by /News 4 Tuscon KVOAby Daniel McFarland

Southern Arizona has been under the strongest category of drought since early last year. With a strong start to monsoon, the area should soon show a bit of recovery.

It takes more than just a handful of good rainfalls to recover from such a bad drought.

“You really want to have a saturation process. You need to replenish the aquifers. You need to replenish the water tables,” Chief Meteorologist Matt Brode said. “Heavy steady rains work and basically all kinds of frames, but it has to happen over a long period of time.”

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