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WATER AND WASTEWATER NEWS
News Courtesy of U.S. Water News Online
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| Calif. cuts water deliveries to cities, farms
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The State of California said it would cut water deliveries to their second lowest level ever, prompting warnings of water rationing for cities and less planting by farmers.
The Department of Water Resources announced it will deliver just 15 percent of the amount that local water agencies throughout California request every year. That marks the second lowest projection since the first State Water Project deliveries were made in 1962.
Farmers in the Central Valley say they'll be forced to fallow fields, while cities from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego might have to impose mandatory water rationing.
Mike Young, a fourth generation farmer in Kern County, called the water projections disastrous.
“For the amount of acres we've got, we're not going to have enough water to farm,” he said.
The state's reservoirs are low after two years of dry weather and court-ordered restrictions on water pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This year, water agencies received just 35 percent of the water they requested.
Lake Oroville, California's second largest reservoir is usually half full this time of year but is at just 30 percent capacity.
In Southern California, the Metropolitan Water District — the agency that supplies water to about half the state's population — has depleted more than a third of its water reserves. The agency's general manager, Jeff Kightlinger, said Californians must immediately reduce their water use to stretch what little water is available.
“We are preparing for the very real possibility of water shortages and rationing throughout the region in 2009,” Kightlinger said in a statement.
The State Water Project delivers water to more than 25 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland.
In 2006, water agencies received their full allotment, in part because of heavy rains and a thick Sierra snow pack that year. But last year, a federal court limited water pumping out of the delta to protect the threatened delta smelt.
Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said the bleak outlook underscores the governor's call to retool California's massive water storage and delivery system.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger favors building more dams and designing a new way to funnel water through or around the environmentally fragile delta. The proposals have failed to gain traction in the Legislature.
“The governor has sounded the wake-up call, and the clock is ticking,” Snow said in a statement.
Even with the dire projection, a wet winter could mean cities and farms ultimately get more water, said Ted Thomas, a spokesman for the state water department.
That was the situation in 1993, when the state promised contractors just 10 percent of their requests, the lowest initial projection on record. That later was revised to 100 percent after the state received heavy precipitation.
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| Chesapeake Bay Foundation plans to sue EPA |
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, other environmental, commercial and recreational groups and people from Maryland, Virginia and Washington intend to sue the Environmental Protection agency to force pollution reduction in the bay.
The foundation planned to file the required notice of intent to sue with the Department of Justice. Sixty days notice is required before filing suit against the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act.
“People are pretty outraged that 25 years into the bay program, substantial progress to reduce pollution has not been made,” said William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The 21-page notice claims the EPA has failed to obey the terms of the Clean Water Act and Chesapeake Bay agreements.
“We would like court to impose a legally binding requirement to enforce terms of the Clean Water Act and bring water quality of the Chesapeake Bay to the level that it will be removed from federal impaired waters list,” Baker said.
Benjamin Grumbles, EPA's assistant administrator for water, said in an e-mailed statement: “The restoration of the Chesapeake Bay requires action from everyone. EPA will continue to work with its partners for results and strategies involving all levels of government. To further progress, EPA will complete a pollution reduction budget for nutrients and sediments on the bay watershed by 2010 to expedite the restoration.”
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| Mexico City's 'water monster' nears extinction |
Beneath the tourist gondolas in the remains of a great Aztec lake lives a creature that resembles a monster — and a Muppet — with its slimy tail, plumage-like gills and mouth that curls into an odd smile.
The axolotl, also known as the “water monster” and the “Mexican walking fish,” was a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived until now amid Mexico City's urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco, now a Venice-style destination for revelers poled along by Mexican gondoliers, or trajineros, in brightly painted party boats.
But scientists are racing to save the foot-long salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch — and its babies.
The long-standing International Union for Conservation of Nature includes the axolotl on its annual Red List of threatened species, while researchers say it could disappear in just five years. Some are pushing for a series of axolotl sanctuaries in canals cleared of invasive species, while others are considering repopulating Xochimilco with axolotls bred in captivity.
“If the axolotl disappears, it would not only be a great loss to biodiversity but to Mexican culture, and would reflect the degeneration of a once-great lake system,” says Luis Zambrano, a biologist at the Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM
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| Feds hopes bacteria will kill invasive mussels |
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is beginning tests to see if a common bacteria can kill an invasive mussel threatening to spread across the West's waterways and damage systems that deliver water to millions of people in the region.
Reclamation scientist Fred Nibling said a preliminary test was done this summer at Davis Dam, on the Colorado River at Laughlin, Nev. Quagga mussels were exposed to a dead form of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria, a non-infectious microbe that occurs commonly in food, soil and water.
Reclamation decided to test the bacteria after a report by a researcher at the New York State Museum showed that both zebra and quagga mussels died after ingesting it.
“We are always looking for new, more effective techniques for managing mussels, and this one looks very safe and very promising,” Nibling said.
Quagga mussels were first found west of the Rockies in Lake Mead in January 2007. Since then, they've been spotted in canals in Phoenix and prompted boat inspections at lakes in California, Nevada and Utah to prevent their spread. They've become well established along the Colorado River's reservoirs and been found in California and Arizona.
The freshwater mollusks and their close cousins, zebra mussels, were accidentally introduced to the Great Lakes in the ballast of ships from Eastern Europe and the Ukraine. They are prolific reproducers and can plug pipes up to 12 inches in diameter and restrict flow in larger pipes. Their colonies can also cause corrosion in pipes and other underwater structures. Such as marinas and docks.
This summer's initial test involved exposing mussels to the bacteria in jars. Nibling said the next test would be conducted in a 10- to 20-gallon aquarium under conditions that simulate water flowing through the dam. The water used is disposed of through the dam's evaporation pond and never enters the river.
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| Bottled water getting the boot in Providence |
Providence Mayor David Cicilline says he's signing an executive order prohibiting city departments from spending taxpayer money on bottled water.
The ban on single-serving bottles would take effect Jan. 1 and is intended to reduce environmental waste and promote confidence in the city's water supply.
Cicilline's move follows a vote by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in June to encourage its 1,100 members to phase out use of bottled water in their own governments. That vote was a blow to the beverage industry, which called the idea “sound-bite environmentalism.”
Cicilline announced the coming bottle ban at a press conference to recognize five Rhode Island restaurants that have also stopped selling bottled water as part of a national “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign.
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News Courtesy of U.S. Water News Online
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