A novel idea to both conserve water and generate power surfaced on Capitol Hill earlier this month. Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, joined representatives with Utah-based Water Wise Solar Solutions, advocating for floating solar panels across Utah water bodies. The panels could help slow evaporation on lakes and reservoirs while also supplementing the grid with some much-needed electricity, Nguyen said. … The company seeks not just to conserve water with solar panels, which could shade waterbodies from the summer heat, but to conserve land for other economic and environmental uses other than sprawling solar farms.

Other water technology news:

• FOX5/KVVU (Las Vegas, Nev.): Can cloud seeding programs boost water supply in the West?
• Signals Arizona: Blog: Building sustainable water supplies for Arizona’s future