A group of U.S. Bureau of Land Management interns trekked three
days this week across a blistering stretch of Utah desert,
recreating part of the 1846 path of the ill-fated Donner Party.
From The New York Times, in a commentary by David Bornstein:
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that public water
systems lose, on average, one-sixth of their water — mainly from
leaks in pipes. The E.P.A. asserts that 75 percent of that water
is recoverable.
After three weeks and about 400 miles, I finished my kayaking
(and walking) journey down the “most endangered” river in
America: California’s San Joaquin. This page collects the tweets
from my adventure.
Three weeks and about 400 miles ago, I started a trip down the
“most endangered” river in the United States, California’s San
Joaquin. The underloved river is born in the Sierra Nevada and
snakes across one of the most productive agricultural regions in
the world, California’s Central Valley.
Environmentalists who want to bolster endangered coho salmon
populations are hoping to launch an initiative to purchase homes
along San Geronimo Creek, make them fish-friendly, then return
them to market at affordable prices.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in a commentary by David Festa
and John Entsminger:
“Today, there is water flowing in
the Colorado River Delta — where water has not flowed regularly
for half a century — all because water managers, conservation
organizations and policymakers in both the United States and
Mexico were able to find common ground. …Someone cue music heralding the
‘new era of Western water management.’”
From the California Department of Water Resources (DWR):
“Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom brought his technology and
institutional change message to the Resources Building Auditorium
on Monday, May 12, as a guest of the DWR Enterprise Geographic
Information Systems Committee.”
From EPA Connect: The Official Blog of EPA’s Leadership, in a
post by Bob Perciasepe:
“The EnviroAtlas combines hundreds of separate data layers
developed through a collaboration between EPA researchers and
their partners from around the country, including the U.S
Geological Survey, the U.S. Forest Service, states, and a number
of non-profit organizations and universities.”
“The TID [Turlock Irrigation District] has started to fit its
canal gates – the openings that let water into fields and
orchards – with higher-tech devices that constantly measure the
flow.”
“Inventor David Malcolm always believed the low-flow showerhead
he created would do well. But even he has been surprised by the
boost in business his tiny Coarsegold company — High Sierra
Showerheads — has been getting lately.”
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, and California’s
severe drought is already inspiring a few.
“Water districts in the San Joaquin Valley are proposing a
drought tactic that’s never been tried: they want to reverse
the state’s plumbing by running the California Aqueduct
backwards.”
“They’re less slimy, and certainly less smelly, than a fish
carcass would be. But the dry, brown pellets that biologists
distributed Tuesday in a backwater channel of Dry Creek may prove
to be the vitamin that once-prolific North Coast salmon streams
need.”
“Tesla Motors should build its “gigafactory” next to the Salton
Sea so it can have easy access to lithium extracted from recycled
brine from geothermal plants.”
“The fear of scarce water is really the fear of scarce food.
“In its third year, the drought has already forced California
growers to leave 800,000 farm acres unplanted this year, says
Dave Kranz of the California Farm Bureau.”
“Construction will begin in May for a $3.5 million water
recovery testing center at Stanford University, partly funded
by a Santa Cruz couple.
“The William and Cloy Codiga Resource Recovery Center, expected
to be completed in February, will test new technologies
intended to recover clean water, energy and materials from
wastewater.”
“The snowpack atop mountain peaks in California and Colorado
has a new set of eyes watching from high above to better gauge
the amount of water that will rumble down rivers and streams
each spring as runoff.
“In a new mission, NASA fixed a lumbering twin-engine plane
with high-tech equipment to make regular snow surveys, starting
last weekend in drought-stricken California before the weather
front expected to bring snow to the Sierra this week.”
