Tag Archive for: Water Infrastructure

Farmers Propose Solutions to Drought Conditions in the Western United States

/in , , /by /AbC12by Tyler Ridgle

The Family Farm Alliance aims to protect water for Western agriculture and describes itself as a powerful advocate before the government for family farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, and allied industries in 17 Western states. The drought-stricken Klamath Basin is one area that they’ve identified as needing legislative change.

The alliance says it has this goal to ensure the availability of reliable and affordable irrigation water needed to produce the world’s food, fiber, and fuel.

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Despite a Punishing Drought, San Diego Has Water. It Wasn’t Easy

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Jill Cowan Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

In many parts of California, reminders abound that the American West is running out of water. “Bathtub rings” mark the shrinking of the state’s biggest reservoirs to some of their lowest recorded levels. Fields lie fallow, as farmers grapple with an uncertain future. A bed-and-breakfast owner spends $5 whenever a tourist showers. But not in San Diego County. In this coastal desert metropolis, life has stayed mostly the same for residents already accustomed to conserving what they have long treated as a precious resource.

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Agencies Warn of Cyber Threats to Water, Wastewater Systems

/in , , /by /The Hillby Maggie Miller

A coalition of federal agencies on Thursday warned that hackers are targeting the water and wastewater treatment sectors, strongly recommending that organizations take steps to protect themselves.

In a joint advisory, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) warned of “ongoing malicious cyber activity—by both known and unknown actors—targeting the information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks, systems, and devices of U.S. Water and Wastewater Systems (WWS) Sector facilities.”

“This activity — which includes attempts to compromise system integrity via unauthorized access — threatens the ability of WWS facilities to provide clean, potable water to, and effectively manage the wastewater of, their communities,” the agencies wrote in the advisory.

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Olivenhain Municipal Water District Logo landscape design workshops

OMWD Wraps Up Year-Long Construction Project Along El Camino Real

/in , /by

Encinitas, Calif. — Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved today the filing of a notice of completion for the El Camino Real Potable Water Pipeline Replacement and Green Bike Lane Striping Project. After over a year of collaboration with the City of Encinitas, OMWD has officially turned the project over to the city. The city will now begin the repaving and bike lane striping portion of the project.

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Colorado River Drought Conditions Spur Calls for Better Water Infrastructure

/in , , /by /Tucson Sentinelby Ariana Figueroa

Experts in government, agriculture, water management and the environment stressed during a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday the danger that droughts fueled by climate change pose in the West, including the Colorado River Basin.

During a hearing before an Energy and Natural Resources Committee panel, witnesses said long-term solutions and an investment in water infrastructure are needed to combat the effects of climate change.

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Water Is Scarce in California. But Farmers Have Found Ways to Store It Underground

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles

Aaron Fukuda admits that the 15-acre sunken field behind his office doesn’t look like much.

It’s basically a big, wide hole in the ground behind the headquarters of the Tulare Irrigation District, in the southern part of California’s fertile Central Valley. But “for a water resources nerd like myself, it’s a sexy, sexy piece of infrastructure,” says Fukuda, the district’s general manager.

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Congress Approves $80 Million for Sites Reservoir

/in , , /by /Enterprise Recordby Chico Enterprise-Record

Congress approved a government funding bill last week that threw $80 million at the Sites Reservoir in California in order to keep the project on track.

The project is meant to hold 1.5 million acre-feet of water for the state to be used during droughts for agriculture, community usage and environmental need, said a press release issued Tuesday by the organization behind the Sites Reservoir.

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Could LA Water Recycling Be a Miracle for Parched West?

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Jeremy P. Jacobs

With severe drought strangling the West, the country’s largest water provider has embarked on a multibillion-dollar project that could help them cope with increasingly frequent shortages exacerbated by climate change.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California wants to recycle Los Angeles’ wastewater, creating a new supply stream that would significantly reduce the city’s reliance on imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

It would mark a new paradigm in Western water infrastructure. Instead of the dam-building and constructing massive pipelines and aqueducts to connect far-flung rivers to cities, Metropolitan’s proposal focuses on producing “new” water locally. And it seeks to utilize what has historically been wasted; Los Angeles’ wastewater is currently treated and discharged into the Pacific Ocean.

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Major Energy Storage Project Proposed Near Lebec Along California Aqueduct

/in , , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

California’s energy future keeps pointing to Kern.

The latest 10-figure energy storage proposal in the county is a damlike “pumped hydro” project connected to the California Aqueduct that would store and release 3,500 gigawatt-hours of power per year on or near Tejon Ranch.

There’s no money yet for it or a similar proposal the same Los Angeles County engineering and development group disclosed in December that would be located next to Isabella Lake.

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Higher Water Costs on the Horizon for San Diego Region

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego County residents should expect to pay a lot more for water in the near future.

The San Diego County Water Authority, which controls most of the region’s water resources from the drought-stressed Colorado River, is predicting anywhere from a 5.5 to 10 percent increase in the cost of water beginning in 2023, with hefty hikes continuing in the years thereafter.

The agency pointed to multiple drivers, chief among them an expected drop in demand as more cities build water recycling projects and the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water Authority, which controls San Diego’s access to the Colorado River, continues raising its rates.

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