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Much of the nation may be snow-weary, but farmers and ranchers who rely on winter snowpack in the northern Rockies for irrigation during the dry months of the growing season could face water shortages this summer unless more snow arrives soon.Wet spring and summer conditions in 2008 and 2009 helped pull the region out of a decade-long drought, but now hydrologists are once again reporting below-average mountain snowpack throughout much of the northern Rockies.As of early March, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, snowpack was at or near record-low levels in many locations from northeastern Utah northward along and near the Idaho border with Montana and Wyoming.
Source : USA TODAY
SEATTLE - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will consider ways the states can address rising acidity levels in oceans, which pose a serious threat to shellfish and other marine life.The environmental group sued the EPA last year for not requiring Washington state to list its coastal waters as impaired by rising acidity under the Clean Water Act."It's one of the most important threats to water quality right now," said Miyoko Sakashita, a senior attorney at the group's San Francisco office.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Mar. 12--On a day that found civic leaders aggressively preparing for floods that could rival the worst in the region's history, organizers of United Nations World Environment Day unveiled the theme of an event that will include six weeks of activities stretching from Earth Day in April through June 5: "Water Matters." The irony wasn't lost on those making the announcement. "Like it or not, we will focus on it this weekend," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said Thursday prior to disclosing the World Environment Day theme that planners came up with months before the region was pounded with record-setting snowfall that could trigger widespread flooding over the next few days.
Source : Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mar. 11--PROVIDENCE -- A state Supreme Court decision last week prevents the city from collecting on almost $1.5 million in back payments from the Providence Water Supply Board, the water provider that serves more than 60 percent of the state. The Supreme Court decision, written by Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, upheld a state Public Utilities Commission ruling in 2007 that prevented the water supply board from raising water rates, in part, to cover retiree health-care benefits that the city had neglected to bill to the water board. The water supply board agreed to pay the city back about $1.5 million.
Source : Providence Journal
Mar. 11--Financial fears did not stop South Florida water managers from keeping alive Gov. Charlie Crist's $536 million Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. The South Florida Water Management District board on Thursday unanimously agreed to extend a looming March 31 contract deadline with U.S. Sugar to buy 73,000 acres of farmland to help restore water flows from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades. The deal calls for the water management district to borrow the $536 million, with South Florida property taxpayers paying off the long-term debt.
Source : South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Mar. 11--ALBANY -- Power plants could face costly new requirements intended to prevent water intakes from killing massive amounts of fish and fish eggs, under a proposal announced Wednesday by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Commissioner Pete Grannis says the changes could reduce fish loss by up to 90 percent. DEC wants operators to install "closed cycle cooling" technology, in which water is taken in and reused repeatedly before being discharged into the river.
Source : Times Union
Few in Circle would have disputed that the town's water was bad. But when the Safe Drinking Water Act forced the community to do something about it, Circle's 365 bill-paying customers took a big gulp. "For us, that's a lot of money, we're a small community," said Carol Markuson, Circle town clerk.
Source : Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana
Mar. 10--DONA ANA -- A battle over a proposed wastewater treatment plant in Leasburg is heating up. State Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, handed a public ultimatum to the Dona Ana water association on Tuesday: Decide to relocate the plant or else he'll launch an opposition campaign. The plant, proposed for the west end of Hope Road, about 10 miles north of Las Cruces, has sparked anger among neighbors who contend that it would harm property values and create a stench.
Source : Las Cruces Sun-News
Mar. 9--APPLETON -- If the feds ever declare Lake Winnebago off-limits as a municipal water supply, the Fox Valley would be in big trouble -- and so, likely, would the rest of the planet. So even though a half-million Wisconsinites might be receiving Lake Winnebago water illegally, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn't likely to shut off the spigots anytime soon, said Dan Thompson, executive director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities. Lake Winnebago is among 40 federal reservoirs the corps says are used as municipal and industrial water supplies without federal approval.
Source : The Post-Crescent
Mar. 9--Lake Pueblo is storing more water than it has for the past decade. As of Monday, the lake's level was at 4,881.52 feet in elevation, meaning more than 261,200 acre-feet of water is behind Pueblo Dam -- with more coming in daily. Lake Pueblo has not been that full since March 2000, according to Bureau of Reclamation records.
Source : The Pueblo Chieftain
Mar. 9--Wisconsin is blessed with a rich supply of groundwater used by nearly 75% of state residents. But water experts have been warning for years that supplies aren't inexhaustible -- and it's that worry that is driving new groundwater protection legislation in Madison. A bill introduced Monday will give new powers to the state Department of Natural Resources and local officials to protect groundwater supplies.
Source : The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
ATHENS - City officials are asking for the public's help in solving the mystery of the leaky copper water pipes.City officials have been in contact with a water expert at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., and are asking that people donate their damaged copper pipes for analysis.The tests will be done by Paolo Scardina, who has been following the issue of leaky copper pipes in other communities for years, said Athens Mayor Matt Duncheon.
Source : State Journal Register
Mar. 9--How do you fend off a bunch of mollusks that are rapidly reproducing and threatening water intake pipes? The city explains it like this: "This simple process is comprised of two copper plates with an electrical charge which releases copper ions into the water. The level of copper is enough to inhibit eating, breeding and settling of zebra mussels."
Source : The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)
Mar. 8--Farmers in the Modesto Irrigation District could get a 10 percent increase in water rates Tuesday. Because of continuing drought concerns, the proposed allotment is less than it would be during wet periods. This would entitle them to three acre-feet of Tuolumne River water under the proposed allotment.
Source : The Modesto Bee
Mar. 7--NEVADA, Mo. -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is seeking comments on a plan to reduce pollution and improve water quality in parts of the Marmaton River in Vernon County and in Little Drywood Creek, in Barton and Vernon counties. The waterways currently do not meet state water quality standards, according to the DNR. The department has included both of them on Missouri's list of "impaired" waters. "We're taking comments through March 21," said Larry Archer, a spokesman for the DNR.
Source : The Joplin Globe
Mar. 5--It takes about 40 gallons of water to fill your cup with coffee every morning. About 630 gallons of water are needed to produce one hamburger. And 530 gallons of water were needed to produce the cotton shirt that Frederik Pischke wore to speak Thursday at the luncheon meeting of the World Aff airs Council of Greater Reading at The Inn at Reading, Wyomissing.
Source : Reading Eagle
Mar. 8--The Southwestern PA Household Hazardous Waste Task Force wants your unwanted pharmaceuticals, an effort it hopes will spare rivers from contamination. The May 15 collection will be the task force's first in Allegheny County. But Michael Stepaniak, the task force's environmental program coordinator, said doing so threatens fish and wildlife that depend on the region's waterways, which are a source of drinking water for the Pittsburgh area.
Source : The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Mar. 6--Over the past decade, Australia has seen its temperatures rise, its reservoirs plummet, and its crops dry up -- the result of the country's worst drought in 100 years. The experience rings familiar to California water managers. "Australia is truly the canary in the coal mine with the most severe impacts of climate change," said Tim Brick, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District board of directors, who represents Pasadena on the board.
Source : San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Mar. 5--EL PASO -- A government watchdog agency found that more than $1 billion in taxpayer money was spent inefficiently on water and sewer projects along the border. Rep. Ciro D. Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, submitted a bill to the House Committee on Natural Resources. The bill would create a Southwest Border Region Water Task Force composed of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies to assess water needs, prioritize water projects and submit reports to Congress.
Source : El Paso Times
Mar. 7--The sounds of earth movers and the stacks of giant pipes in northwest Seminole County signal that work has begun on Central Florida's most controversial water project: drawing water from the St. Johns River for use in irrigation and, someday, for drinking. But how far the project will go beyond that is unclear. County officials who once envisioned a regional solution to water shortages don't know when drinking water from the St. Johns might start flowing from kitchen taps.
Source : The Orlando Sentinel
Mar. 4--Electioneering has begun in Novato on both sides of a voter referendum about the privatization of the Novato Sanitary District's new water treatment plant, a topic that will be on the June 8 ballot. On one side, a telephone survey has been conducted by Veolia Water to gauge support from ratepayers about the $15.6 million contract it signed in September prior to the referendum. On the other side, the anti-privatization campaign will have a public kick-off party March 12 at Novato City Hall to start fundraising and raise support to "kick out corporate control" of the new $90 million plant.
Source : Marin Independent Journal
ORANGE, Calif. - Prosecutors say a Southern California man who removed his grass to save water now has enough drought-tolerant plants to comply with an ordinance requiring 40 percent of a yard be covered with live landscaping. Orange City Attorney David DeBerry says he will ask that the case against 36-year-old Quan Ha be dropped at a March 16 hearing.Ha was in court Tuesday, pleading not guilty to three misdemeanor charges.
Source : Associated Press/AP Online
Mar. 4--The winter rains that ended Tucson's short-term drought haven't helped the river that provides most of the city's drinking water. The Colorado River that feeds the Central Arizona Project depends on heavy spring flows into Lake Powell at the Arizona-Utah border. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO RUNOFF
Source : The Arizona Daily Star
Mar. 3--WAUKESHA -- The city's bid for Lake Michigan water includes a map of a future service area that would allow Waukesha to deliver lake water miles beyond its boundaries. The city ultimately could distribute lake water throughout a 39-square-mile service area -- nearly double its current size of 21.7 square miles -- extending from I-94 south to the Vernon Marsh and the Town of Vernon, pushing east to the border with New Berlin and west to the Town of Genesee. As part of an application to divert lake water to Waukesha, a Great Lakes protection compact requires the city to show the area to be served with the water in the future, said Dan Duchniak, water utility general manager.
Source : The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mar. 3--Water in Chattanooga isn't always as clean as it could be, but water in some parts of the Caribbean is never clean, says Christine Bock. "There are places on the Tennessee River where you can't eat the fish you catch because the streams are not safe," said Ms. Bock, lead horticulturist at the Tennessee Aquarium and Tennessee River Rescue coordinator. She and other members of TenneSEA and Caribbean SEA -- the SEA stands for Student Environmental Alliance -- want to raise $20,000 to teach water testing to local students, who'll take those techniques to other parts of Tennessee and the Caribbean.
Source : Chattanooga Times/Free Press