The government of Sonora [Mexico] is criticizing a company
proposing the construction of a desalination plant in Rocky
Point that would send massive amounts of water to Arizona. IDE
Technologies, an Israeli desalination firm, hopes to send fresh
water north of the border. But it was criticized by the Sonoran
governor, raising questions about its future relationship with
the state. The government of Sonora took to Twitter on Tuesday
to accuse the firm of a lack of ethics. It said the company
tried to turn a courtesy meeting into a negotiation over the
purchase of water, and described the whole proposal as a shared
project of former governors Doug Ducey and Claudia Pavlovich.
Later that day, Gov. Alfonso Durazo said he would “never meet
with the company again.”
Hundreds of Los Gatos residents had their water service shut
off on Saturday afternoon, and it’s not clear when their taps
will be flowing again. The entire mountain community of
Aldercroft Heights, off of Highway 17 in Los Gatos, is impacted
by what the neighborhood’s water provider, Aldercroft Heights
County Water District, called a “facility water leak.” As many
as 400 residents were without water as of Monday afternoon, and
Eric Lacy, who works for the state Water Resources Control
Board, said looking for the leak is like finding a needle in a
haystack. The water provider isolated its entire system to
boost storage tank levels and save as much water as they could.
Curtis Creek Elementary School in Standard now has a safer,
more reliable water supply following the completion of a $2.2
million project in collaboration with Tuolumne Utilities
District and California State Water Resources Control Board.
The project, completed in November and funded by a grant
through the State Water Board, involved the construction of
more than a mile-long water pipeline to connect the school with
TUD’s public water system. Previously, the school relied on a
single groundwater well built in 1958 that lacked a backup
power source and struggled to meet state standards for capacity
and pressure.
After heavy rain storms hit Tulare County this month, a water
well that serviced over 300 homes became inaccessible due to a
destroyed road. This caused the county to reach out to
Porterville for help. After the recent deluge that caused
a Visalia well to be blocked off, the county found that
Porterville’s water system was closest in proximity to 389
affected homes. The homes sit in areas like Strathmore,
Springville and other areas within the Eastern Tule Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA). Shortly after, the Porterville
City Council unanimously approved Tulare County’s request to
provisionally use Porterville’s water. With the approval, the
Porterville water system will fill temporary household tanks
that were already in place as a part of the Self-Help
Enterprise’s (SHE) Emergency Tank Program.
At its meeting on January 17, 2023, the Porterville City
Council unanimously approved to support the County of Tulare’s
request to provisionally use City water to serve homes across
Tulare County on temporary household tanks. Due to a road
closure caused by flooding on Avenue 368 in Visalia, contract
water haulers for Self-Help Enterprises were unable to access
the Bob Wiley Detention Facility well, which provides source
water for 389 homes each week. With no other available water
resources and the inability to access the well, the City
Council agreed to the support the access to its water on an
emergency provisional basis until the road is repaired and the
well can again be accessed.
States dependent on the drought-stricken Colorado River are
increasingly looking toward desalination as a way to fix the
river’s deficit and boost water supplies across the western
U.S. The search for alternative ways to source water comes as
federal officials continue to impose mandatory water
cuts for states that draw from the Colorado River, which
supplies water and power for more than 40 million people.
Desalination (or desalinization) is a complicated process that
involves filtering out salt and bacteria content from ocean
water to produce safe drinking water to the tap. While there
are more than a dozen desalination plants in the U.S., mostly
in California, existing plants don’t have the capacity to
replace the amount of water the Colorado River is losing.
The State Water Resources Control Board on Jan. 1 issued a
“Drought & Conservation Technical Reporting Order” that
requires all water systems, including those operated by urban
water suppliers, to report monthly information on sources,
supply and demand, supply augmentation and demand reduction
actions on a quarterly frequency. The complete submittal of
monthly reports in 2023 will now satisfy the Electronic Annual
Report’s supply and demand reporting, which is collected in
2024. The report covering January, February and March will be
due April 30 and must be submitted using the new web-based
reporting tool, SAFER Clearinghouse. The order also notes that
there may be a change in reporting frequency and public water
agencies may be required to provide addition drought reporting
on a weekly or monthly basis.
In the warmth of Arizona’s winter sun, 50 residents gathered in
front of neighborhood activist Cody Reim’s house last weekend,
eager to discuss a solution to their problem. Despite living a
few miles from a river, their community has no water supply
services. … In Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated
community with no municipal government, near Scottsdale, the
fashionable, wealthy desert city adjoining the state capital of
Phoenix, none of the homes are connected to a local water
district. There is only one paved road, no street lights, storm
gutters, or pipes in the ground. Instead residents have wells –
or water tanks outside their homes, which they used to fill at
a local pipe serviced by Scottsdale.
The saga over connecting Exeter and Tooleville’s water systems
entered its most important phase to date on Jan. 24., in which
an agreement will now be sent to the state for
review. City manager Adam Ennis said that the approval of
the consolidation agreement between Exeter and Tooleville will
be one of the last steps before they can execute the project.
The agreement outlines the responsibilities of Tooleville
Mutual Non-Profit Water Association (TMNPWA) and Exeter for
making the water connection a reality. Exeter is now awaiting
approval of this agreement from the State Water Board, and if
it is approved, they will finally be allowed to break ground on
the project. This was a long time coming, as the city has spent
years working on a solution to Tooleville’s water woes.
Water is already a scarce commodity in the West, but if
Colorado keeps growing we are going to need even more. One
source could be treating reused drinking water. It’s a scenario
water providers and the state are already planning for.
… It’s not something that will likely happen soon.
Direct potable reuse water will need to be treated with
state-of-the-art technologies to make it safe to drink and that
process is expensive, but providers and the state want to be
prepared. That’s why just this month [Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment] implemented new rules to
regulate direct potable reuse water. So that way if water
providers are going to practice direct potable reuse, they are
doing it safely.
A Maricopa County judge in Arizona denied residents emergency
relief over their Scottsdale water source that has been cut off
since Jan. 1 because of drought conditions and despite repeated
city warnings to find an alternative water source. The action
for an emergency stay was brought by some residents of the
nearby unincorporated community of Rio Verde Foothills who saw
their deliveries of water run dry at the beginning of the year
due to action by the city of Scottsdale, whose leaders said
they repeatedly warned the community that continued deliveries
were unsustainable due to drought.
As of Friday morning, more than 600 colonias were without
running water in Tijuana and Rosarito, where residents say
service has been spotty since last year. Facing the possibility
of running out of water, Tijuana’s State Commission for Public
Services, CESPT, turned to the San Diego County Water Authority
for help. Agreements in place between Mexico and the United
States allow for water deliveries in times of emergency or
severe drought. So last week, the San Diego-based agency began
sending water to Tijuana. Compounding the problem is the
deterioration of Tijuana’s main aqueduct that delivers water
from the Colorado River, the city’s main source of water. So
far, repairs are taking longer than expected.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will study
whether to toughen regulation of large livestock farms that
release manure and other pollutants into waterways. EPA has not
revised its rules dealing with the nation’s largest animal
operations — which hold thousands of hogs, chickens and cattle
— since 2008. The agency said in 2021 it planned no changes but
announced Friday it had reconsidered in response to an
environmental group’s lawsuit. While not committing to stronger
requirements, EPA acknowledged needing more recent data about
the extent of the problem — and affordable methods to limit it.
Arizona needs tens of thousands of new housing units to meet
demand, but first, developers will need to find enough water.
The state’s water woes have been on full display this month as
it lost 21% of its Colorado River supply to cuts, homes outside
Scottsdale, Arizona, had their water cut off by the city, and a
recently released model found planned housing units for more
than 800,000 people west of Phoenix will have to find new water
sources. Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states and short
100,000 housing units, a state Department of Housing report
released last year found, but depending on where they’re
located, some homes will be more easily built than others.
Towering refineries and rusty pumpjacks greet visitors driving
along the highways of Kern county, California. Oil wells sit in
the middle of fields of grapevines and almond trees. The air is
heavy with dust and the scent of petroleum. The
energy fields here are some of the most productive in the US,
generating billions of barrels of oil annually and more than
two-thirds of the state’s natural gas. And in a
drought-stricken state, they’re also some of the thirstiest,
consuming vast quantities of fresh water to extract stubborn
oil. But in the industry’s shadow, nearby communities
can’t drink from the tap. One of those communities is Fuller
Acres, a largely Latino town in Kern county where residents
must drive to the nearest town to buy safe water.
Camarillo’s North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter began
producing drinking water earlier this month, diminishing the
city’s reliance on imported water. The reverse-osmosis
desalter, located at 2727 Somis Road, converts unusable
brackish groundwater into 1 million gallons of high-quality
potable water per day, city staff said in a news release. The
plant will be producing about 4 million gallons per day when it
is operating at full capacity in two months. By
comparison, residents and businesses used about 6 million
gallons of water per day on average last year, city
spokesperson Michelle Glueckert D’Anna said in an email.
… Diminishing groundwater has plagued the city since the
1990s, causing the city to rely more on imported water.
While California’s drought outlook is improving, the State is
continuing to proactively prepare for a return to dry
conditions amid climate-driven extremes in weather. Today,
Department of Water Resources (DWR) is officially launching a
standing Drought Resilience Interagency and Partners (DRIP)
Collaborative, which will include members of the public.
Community members and water users are encouraged to apply.
Initiated by Senate Bill 552, the DRIP Collaborative will
foster partnerships between local governments, experts,
community representatives and state agencies to address drought
planning, emergency response, and ongoing management. Members
will help ensure support for community needs and anticipate and
mitigate drought impacts, especially for small water supplier
and rural communities who are often more vulnerable to
droughts.
Access to safe, affordable water is a necessity for human
health and well-being. But when droughts strike areas that are
already water-stressed, water providers are forced to enact
measures to curtail water usage or invest in supplies from more
expensive sources, which can increase costs for consumers.
According to a recent study from the Fletcher Lab at Stanford
University, published in Nature Water, these measures can
disproportionately affect water bills for low-income
households, making water more costly for the most vulnerable
people.
Much has been made of two drinking water pollutants recently:
PFAS and microplastics. We spoke with Jason Dadakis, executive
director of water quality and technical resources with the
Orange County Water District, to find out how worried we should
be. What are PFAS and microplastics, why are they in our water
supply, and why should we care? “PFAS” is an acronym for a
large family of manmade chemicals that all feature the
carbon-fluorine bond, one of the strongest bonds in nature.
They resist degradation in the environment, which is where they
get their nickname “forever chemicals.”
Researchers at Princeton Engineering have found a way to turn
your breakfast food into a new material that can cheaply remove
salt and microplastics from seawater. The researchers used egg
whites to create an aerogel, a lightweight and porous material
that can be used in many types of applications, including water
filtration, energy storage, and sound and thermal insulation.
Craig Arnold, the Susan Dod Brown Professor of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering and vice dean of innovation at Princeton,
works with his lab to create new materials, including aerogels,
for engineering applications.
Emergency water deliveries started last week after a
coordinated effort between the Water Authority, Otay Water
District, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California (MWD). The typical multi-month approval process was
compressed into a few days to avoid additional water supply
shortages in Tijuana. … Cross-border emergency deliveries
started more than 50 years ago and are governed by an agreement
between the United States and Mexico to provide Tijuana with a
portion of Mexico’s Colorado River supply. The Water Authority
provides emergency water deliveries to Mexico through a
cross-border connection in Otay Mesa.
The survival — or at least the basic sustenance — of hundreds
in a desert community amid the horse ranches and golf courses
outside Phoenix now rests on a 54-year-old man with a plastic
bucket of quarters. John Hornewer picked up a quarter and put
it in the slot. The lone water hose at a remote public filling
station sputtered to life and splashed 73 gallons into the
steel tank of … Some living here amid the cactus
and creosote bushes see themselves as the first domino to fall
as the Colorado River tips further into crisis. On
Jan. 1, the city of Scottsdale, which gets the majority of its
water from the Colorado River, cut off Rio Verde Foothills from
the municipal water supply that it has relied on for
decades. … [T]he federal government is now pressing
seven states to cut 2 to 4 million acre-feet more, up to 30
percent of the river’s annual average flow.
All legislation aimed at regulating toxic PFAS “forever
chemicals” died in the Democratic-controlled US Congress last
session as companies flexed their lobbying muscle and bills did
not gain enough Republican support to overcome a Senate
filibuster. … PFAS are a class of about 12,000
compounds used to make products resist water, stains and heat.
They are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not
naturally break down, and they have been linked to cancer, high
cholesterol, liver disease, kidney disease, fetal complications
and other serious health problems. The Environmental
Protection Agency this year found that virtually no level of
exposure to two types of PFAS compounds in drinking water is
safe, and public health advocates say the entire chemical class
is toxic and dangerous.
A New Mexico town that is intimately aware of the water supply
risks from a drying climate could receive up to $140 million to
rebuild its water system after the largest wildfire in state
history tore through its watershed last year. Besides being a
lifeline, the funds also illustrate the financial and
ecological vulnerability of small, high-poverty communities in
the face of extreme weather. In the fiscal year 2023 budget
that President Joe Biden signed just before the new year,
Congress set aside $1.45 billion for post-fire recovery in New
Mexico. That’s in addition to $2.5 billion that lawmakers had
already directed to the state, bringing the total amount of
federal aid after the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire to nearly
$4 billion.
Exposure to low levels of nitrate in drinking water may have
adverse reproductive effects. We reviewed evidence about the
association between nitrate in drinking water and adverse
reproductive outcomes published to November 2022.
… Nitrogen is very important for plant nutrition and
growth, being incorporated by plants into amino acid synthesis,
and is therefore commonly used in inorganic fertilizers.
However, because nitrate is highly water soluble, it leaches
through soils and into groundwater very easily, particularly
after heavy rainfall. … The increasing use of artificial
fertilizers, the disposal of wastes, particularly from animal
farming, and changes in land use have become significant
contributors to the progressive increase in nitrate levels in
groundwater supplies.
On September 7, California’s State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB) approved initial requirements for testing
microplastics in drinking water, becoming the first government
in the world seeking to establish health-based guidelines for
acceptable levels of microplastics in drinking water. …
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles, less than five
millimeters in length, that occur in the environment because of
plastic production from a wide range of manufactured products.
… The SWRCB’s implementation of Senate Bill 1422, will now
require select public water systems to monitor for
microplastics over a four year period—a daunting task as there
is no EPA-approved method to identify the many types of
microplastics in drinking water, and no standardized water
treatment method for removing microplastics from the public
water supply.
Philip Robert Williams, 62, of Lake Elsinore passed away on
November 20, 2022, in Temecula CA. Phil was born September 9,
1960, to Robert Golden and Marica Lynne (Strickland) Williams.
Phil married Tammy Simon on December 18, 1982. Phil was a
lifelong resident of the Lake Elsinore Valley. … Phil
was a Special District Member of Riverside LAFCO, he served on
the Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto Watersheds Authority JPA,
Bedford-Coldwater Groundwater Sustainability Agency JPA,
Countywide RDA Oversight Board, and the Association of
California Water Agencies Joint Powers Insurance Authority
JPIA.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has initiated a
statewide effort to sample over 1,200 public water systems
across the state for 29 different kinds of a hazardous chemical
known as PFAS. The goal is to produce a detailed map
showing the presence of PFAS in drinking water supplies, the
first step toward cleaning up contaminated water sources. PFAS,
short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of
manufactured chemicals that have been used since the late 1940s
in a wide variety of products and industries, and can now be
found globally in water and soil. A growing body of evidence
has shown that long-term exposure, even to low traces of these
chemicals, can cause severe health issues.
The cost of delivering safe, clean
tap water to every household and
business in a community is massive. In fact, it
may be among the most expensive of all
human undertakings. That is why only the wealthiest
countries have achieved it at high rates and
why 2 billion people on our planet still lack
it. Paying the monthly bill that
comes with good tap water service is unpleasant, but
it beats the alternatives. While it would be nice if
some benevolent entity would
bear the cost of delivering safe, clean
tap water, the reality is that communities that
rely on someone else to
pay for their water systems often
have inadequate or failing service. -Written by Kathryn Sorensen, former
director of Phoenix Water Services and
current director of research at the Kyl
Center for Water Policy, Arizona State
University; Bidtah
Becker, director of the Navajo Nation
Division of Natural Resources; and Manny
Teodoro, associate professor of public affairs
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Shortly after taking office in 2019,
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water
Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges —
unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing
climate, severely depleted groundwater aquifers and native fish
populations threatened with extinction.
Within days, he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and
veteran water communicator, as director of the Governor’s Water
Portfolio Program to help shepherd the monumental task of
compiling all the information necessary for the portfolio. The
three state agencies tasked with preparing the document delivered
the draft Water Resilience Portfolio Jan. 3. The document, which
Vogel said will help guide policy and investment decisions
related to water resilience, is nearing the end of its comment
period, which goes through Friday, Feb. 7.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
More than a decade in the making, an
ambitious plan to deal with the vexing problem of salt and
nitrates in the soils that seep into key groundwater basins of
the Central Valley is moving toward implementation. But its
authors are not who you might expect.
An unusual collaboration of agricultural interests, cities, water
agencies and environmental justice advocates collaborated for
years to find common ground to address a set of problems that
have rendered family wells undrinkable and some soil virtually
unusable for farming.
Joaquin Esquivel learned that life is
what happens when you make plans. Esquivel, who holds the public
member slot at the State Water Resources Control Board in
Sacramento, had just closed purchase on a house in Washington
D.C. with his partner when he was tapped by Gov. Jerry Brown a
year ago to fill the Board vacancy.
Esquivel, 35, had spent a decade in Washington, first in several
capacities with then Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and then as
assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California
Natural Resources Agency. As a member of the State Water Board,
he shares with four other members the difficult task of
ensuring balance to all the uses of California’s water.
A new study could help water
agencies find solutions to the vexing challenges the homeless
face in gaining access to clean water for drinking and
sanitation.
The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority (SAWPA) in Southern California has embarked on a
comprehensive and collaborative effort aimed at assessing
strengths and needs as it relates to water services for people
(including the homeless) within its 2,840 square-mile area that
extends from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Orange County
coast.
A statewide program that began under a 2015 law to help
low-income people with their water bills would cost about $600
million annually, a public policy expert told the California
State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) at a
meeting last week.
Potable water, also known as
drinking water, comes from surface and ground sources and is
treated to levels that that meet state and federal standards for
consumption.
Water from natural sources is treated for microorganisms,
bacteria, toxic chemicals, viruses and fecal matter. Drinking
raw, untreated water can cause gastrointestinal problems such as
diarrhea, vomiting or fever.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses
the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent
facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully
illustrated with color photographs.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
This 30-minute DVD explains the importance of developing a source
water assessment program (SWAP) for tribal lands and by profiling
three tribes that have created SWAPs. Funded by a grant from the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the video complements the
Foundation’s 109-page workbook, Protecting Drinking Water: A
Workbook for Tribes, which includes a step-by-step work plan for
Tribes interested in developing a protection plan for their
drinking water.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including
the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text
explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson
rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery
restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many
of these issues.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
Finding and maintaining a clean
water supply for drinking and other uses has been a constant
challenge throughout human history.
Today, significant technological developments in water treatment,
including monitoring and assessment, help ensure a drinking water
supply of high quality in California and the West.
The source of water and its initial condition prior to being
treated usually determines the water treatment process. [See also
Water Recycling.]
A tremendous amount of time and technology is expended to make
surface water safe to drink. Surface water undergoes many
processes before it reaches a consumer’s tap.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
groundwater management and the extent to which stakeholders
believe more efforts are needed to preserve and restore the
resource.
This printed issue of Western Water, based on presentations
at the November 3-4, 2010 Water Quality Conference in Ontario,
Calif., looks at constituents of emerging concerns (CECs) – what
is known, what is yet to be determined and the potential
regulatory impacts on drinking water quality.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
desalination – an issue that is marked by great optimism and
controversy – and the expected role it might play as an
alternative water supply strategy.
This printed copy of Western Water examines the challenges facing
small water systems, including drought preparedness, limited
operating expenses and the hurdles of complying with costlier
regulations. Much of the article is based on presentations at the
November 2007 Small Systems Conference sponsored by the Water
Education Foundation and the California Department of Water
Resources.
This issue of Western Water looks at some of the issues
facing drinking water providers, such as compliance with
increasingly stringent treatment requirements, the need to
improve source water quality and the mission of continually
informing consumers about the quality of water they receive.
This issue of Western Water examines PPCPs – what they are, where
they come from and whether the potential exists for them to
become a water quality problem. With the continued emphasis on
water quality and the fact that many water systems in the West
are characterized by flows dominated by effluent contributions,
PPCPs seem likely to capture interest for the foreseeable future.
This issue of Western Water examines the problem of perchlorate
contamination and its ramifications on all facets of water
delivery, from the extensive cleanup costs to the search for
alternative water supplies. In addition to discussing the threat
posed by high levels of perchlorate in drinking water, the
article presents examples of areas hard hit by contamination and
analyzes the potential impacts of forthcoming drinking water
standards for perchlorate.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
