On the calendar today …
- WORKSHOP: Delta Independent Science Board Delta Subsidence beginning at 9:00am. The Delta Independent Science Board is hosting this two-day hybrid workshop as part of its subsidence review. On day 1, the focus is to provide an understanding of current projects, challenges and limitations, and the biogeochemical mechanisms that regulate greenhouse gas emissions.Click here for the full meeting notice.
- WEBINAR: Tribal Engagement in Engineering With Nature from 9:30am to 10:30am. The Network for Engineering With Nature® (EWN) invites you to the N-EWN Knowledge Series: A Continuing Education Series about Engineering with Nature—Tribal Engagement in Engineering With Nature, with Brian Zettle, Tribal Nations Center for Technical Expertise. Click here to register.
- WEBINAR: WateReuse Arizona: High-Recovery Desalination: Tradeoffs in Reuse from 11am to 12pm. High-recovery desalination processes offer the benefit of increasing water recovery, generally with increasing cost and complexity. Reverse osmosis and electrodialysis desalination processes will be reviewed and compared with respect to high-recovery water reuse applications. Click here to register.
- HYBRID EVENT: USGBC-LA Thought Leadership Series: The Cost of Water from 4pm to 6pm in Los Angeles. The use of water costs us energy, and if it costs us energy that means carbon as well. At this event, we will release the results of a study on the energy costs of moving water in and around the LA region; discuss the connections between energy, water, and carbon to better understand how we can be more efficient with our use of all three; and unpack the policy and funding landscapes around the energy intensity of water use and how it relates to water reuse, water storage, and more. Click here to register.
- IN-PERSON WORKSHOP: Proposed Draft Emergency Information Order Regulations for the Clear Lake Watershed in Lakeport. State Water Board staff will hold a public workshop to receive input and answer questions on the draft regulations. The draft regulations are available online at https://waterboards.ca.gov/clearlakehitch/. Click here for the workshop notice.
In California water news today …
Major earthquake in the Delta could be disastrous for California’s water supply
“While the earthquake that struck near Isleton Wednesday morning wasn’t strong, the location did raise questions about the possible risk to an area that is critical to the state’s water supply. The Delta region in Sacramento County relies on more than 1,000 miles of aging levees to protect local farms and communities that could be vulnerable in a more powerful quake. Nothing shattered at Isleton’s Delta Boyz Dispensary, but the aging structure it is housed in got a good shake. Cameras caught the staff jumping out of their seats just before 9:30 a.m. “Yeah. This is an old building. It’s been here for a long time. Isleton was erected I guess 120, 130 years ago,” said Vince Perdue, who works at Delta Boyz Dispensary. … ” Read more from CBS Sacramento.
4.2 magnitude quake strikes Northern California, triggering ShakeAlert
““It felt like an 18-wheeler ran into the building,” Devery Stockon, manager of the Owl Harbor Marina in Isleton, said Wednesday morning. Stockon said the earthquake shook the marina’s office for about a minute, but did not appear to cause any lasting damage to the facility, which is built on stilts near an inlet of the San Joaquin River. The area is less than a mile south of the earthquake’s epicenter, which was on Brannan Island in the maze of waterways through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to USGS. Californians reported feeling light shakes as far south as Stockton and as far north as Sacramento, according to the USGS’ crowdsourced intensity map. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SEE ALSO:
Rebates can offer solutions to California’s groundwater woes
“Many aquifers in California and around the world are being drained of their groundwater because of the combined impacts of excess pumping, shifts in land use, and climate change. However, a new study by scientists at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, published on Oct. 18 in Nature Water, may offer a solution – it describes the development and operation of a novel incentive program that uses water rebates to pay for some of the costs of getting stormwater runoff into the ground. The program is called recharge net metering (ReNeM). Although California satisfies about 40% of freshwater demand with groundwater during “normal years,” many parts of the state are highly or entirely reliant on groundwater, especially during droughts. The Central Coast hydrologic region, extending from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara, is especially dependent on groundwater, lacking significant snowpack that generates spring flows, does not have major rivers or reservoirs behind dams, and is not significantly involved in intrastate water transfers. … ” Read more from UC Santa Cruz.
Two new laws aimed at protecting drinking water for small town residents
“Two bills aimed at protecting small towns mired in debt, drinking water contamination and dropping groundwater levels have become law. Senate Bill 3, authored by state Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa,) extends water shutoff protections to households in communities with less than 200 water connections. That includes a handful of towns in the San Joaquin Valley such as Fairmead, Cantua Creek, El Porvenir and Tooleville, among others. Assembly Bill 664, authored by state Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose,) requires landlords to either accept a state-funded water connection in situations where small systems are consolidated with larger ones or provide their own source of reliable drinking water. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
CalTrout and partners applaud Governor Newsom for signing AB 809 into law
“Long-term fish monitoring programs in California have often struggled to receive adequate attention and funding. However, we are thrilled to share that AB 809 was recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. This bill will establish a dedicated program to support the long-term monitoring of California’s native salmon and steelhead trout populations. AB 809 was authored by Assemblymember Bennett, and CalTrout co-sponsored this bill with our partners in the California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition, The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited. The California Monitoring Program (CMP) was created to monitor and collect comprehensive data on our endangered anadromous fish populations, including Chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead to inform future management decisions. This bill will put CMP into statute, which will allow us to ensure continuous operation of the program and eliminate data gaps. … ” Read more from Cal Trout.
Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective awards $1 million for CalTrout dam removal efforts
“In September 2023, Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective awarded California Trout $1 million over three years to support work to remove dams on the Eel River, Battle Creek, and San Francisquito Creek. This includes PG&E’s Potter Valley Project dams, PG&E’s Battle Creek Hydroelectric Project dams, and Searsville Dam on Stanford University campus. California has thousands of dams, many of which provide critical water supply, flood control, and hydroelectric power. Most of these dams were constructed between the 1930s and 1960s with little consideration for their effects on fish. Today many have outlived their functional lifespans. California Trout is focused on reconnecting habitat for native fish and removing obsolete dams for ecosystem repair. “We are thrilled to receive funding from Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective,” said Curtis Knight, CalTrout Executive Director. “This investment will significantly bolster our efforts to reconnect habitat for California’s native fish.” … ” Read more from CalTrout.
Redding city council opposes new state water regulations, argues for local resource consideration
“On Tuesday night, the Redding City Council unanimously voted to sign a letter of opposition regarding water regulations that have been approved for the state of California. City council voted to take a stand against “Making Conservation A Way Of Life” a strategy approved by the State Water Board in early 2023 and now officially in effect*. Public Works Director, Chuck Aukland, said at the meeting, “It’s essentially trying to tighten up on water conservation and since then they have been doing a lot of data collection on certain water use and different factors that will go into these water use objections.” … ” *Maven Note: The ‘Making Conservation A Way Of Life’ regulations have not been finalized and are not ‘officially in effect’. Read more from KRCR.
DWR and River Partners Work Together to protect communities from flooding and provide benefits to endangered species
“As climate extremes continue to challenge water management, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is working with partners across the state to implement floodplain restoration projects that provide flood protection to communities and benefits for endangered species and natural habitat. With DWR’s assistance, River Partners and American Rivers will begin work on the restoration of over 1,000 acres of historical floodplain on the Sacramento River that will provide flood protection, enhance and expand critical habitat for fish and wildlife, and increase climate resilience in rural communities in Yolo and Sacramento counties. The community, conservation leaders, state, federal and local officials, on October 18, joined DWR and representatives from River Partners and American Rivers to celebrate the project’s benefits and quick planning and execution. … ” Read more from DWR.
EPA seeks additional public engagement on proposal to protect U.S. Waters from incidental discharges from vessels
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a supplemental proposed rule to reduce the spread of invasive species that occurs with normal operation of large marine vessels. Following public input on EPA’s 2020 proposed rule—including meetings with states, Tribes, and other stakeholders—the agency is now issuing a Supplemental Notice to share new data and control options raised by stakeholders. This supplemental proposal will bolster the development of a final rule to stem the spread of invasive species and better protect our nation’s aquatic ecosystems. “The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that healthy aquatic ecosystems provide real benefits to communities—they help clean our waters, they support commercial fishing, and they enhance recreation opportunities,” said EPA Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Bruno Pigott. “This supplemental notice will help EPA develop a stronger final rule to protect our nation’s aquatic resources as Congress intended when it passed the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act.” … ” Read more from the EPA.
Photos: Sandhill cranes return to the Central Valley
“Sandhill cranes roost for the night in a flooded field at the Phil and Marilyn Isenberg Sandhill Crane Reserve off of Woodbridge Road west of Lodi and I-5. Thousands of cranes migrate from their summer homes in Alaska and Canada tin the fall to the Central Valley where they stay until the spring. The cranes stand 4 to 5 feet tall with a wingspan of about 6-feet. They are known fo their unique trumpeting calls and graceful courtship dance. The grey-bodied, red-capped birds fly into the reserve each evening then out every morning. They can also be seen on Staten Island near Walnut Grove and the Cosumnes River preserve near Thornton. The best times to observe them is near sunset and sunrise. … ” Read more and view pictures from the Stockton Record.
Rare monster-looking fish with sharp teeth washes up on California coast
“The deep-sea creature is an image horror films are made of: Dark black flesh, teeth sharp as glass and an antenna that glows to entice prey in the ocean’s depths. It’s quite fitting that the spooky-looking angler fish washed up on Friday the 13th, just weeks before Halloween. It is the second angler fish to washed up at Crystal Cove State Park in recent years. Another of the deep water fish, also dubbed the Pacific Football Fish, was found on the shore by a park visitor in 2021, making international news. The fish found last week was picked up by California Department of Fish and Wildlife for further research, according to a social media post by State Parks officials. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
Seeding climate solutions for California’s amphibian communities and iconic beaches
“They specialize in different subjects, but biologist Cheryl Briggs and geographer Ian Walker are driven by common goals: restoration and conservation. And now these UC Santa Barbara researchers have each received a major grant from the University of California to pursue their respective projects. Geography professor Walker is the primary investigator on a $1.9 million grant focused on dunes as nature-based solutions to enhance the resilience of California’s beaches to climate change; Briggs, a professor of ecology, evolution and marine biology, will lead a $1.5 million effort to enhance the richness and resilience of California’s amphibian communities. Their projects are among 38 across California that altogether were awarded more than $80 million as part of a historic partnership between the UC and the state. … ” Read more from the Current.
In commentary today …
Proposed water conservation rule exempts California’s most profligate users
“A proposed regulation supported by the State Water Resources Conservation Board (SWRCB) would impose permanent water conservation mandates on about 400 California cities and water agencies that collectively serve about 95% of the state’s residents. Newsom administration regulators claim the measure would save about 413,000 acre-feet of water annually, or enough to supply about 1.2 million households. But Max Gomberg, a water policy expert, former SWRCB member, and a senior consulting analyst for the California Water Impact Network, said the new rule does nothing to reign in the most profligate consumers of the state’s water: Central Valley agribusiness. … ” Continue reading from C-WIN.
American dams are being demolished. And nature is pushing that along
Richard Parker, author of “Lone Star Nation” and a forthcoming narrative history of the Southwest, “The Crossing,” writes, “This summer, the first of four dams on the West’s Klamath River was destroyed, unleashing a torrent of cold water that had been held back for a century. By the end of 2024, three more dams near the California-Oregon border will come down, restoring the massive runs of salmon and steelhead along some 400 miles that once defined the river basin. For more than a hundred years, dams in the American West have created vast reservoirs, sources of hydroelectric power and irrigation for farms and ranches. But after declining in their power output and providing unpredictable sources of water — not to mention their massive environmental damage to fish, Native American cultures and the land itself — they are coming down from Connecticut to California. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Column: Occupied land
Trudy Wischemann writes, ““I wish you’d write about Palestine,” said my dear friend who pre-reads these columns weekly, correcting grammar and mistakes of the heart. I invited him to try his hand at it, and you may see his words here next week on that throbbing subject. Below the warfare there, which is currently decimating lives, land and centuries of human structures built to make the occupation of that land into Home, the question lies unresolved. Who is to occupy that land, or any other, and under what conditions? Whose land is it? Whose land is Ukraine? Whose land is Cuyama Valley, or the bed of Tulare Lake? During the fight over the acreage limitation in the 1970s, the Fresno-based nonprofit National Land for People had a bumper sticker that said “La tierra pertenece al que la trabaja”—the land belongs to those who work it. … ” Read more from the Foothills Sun-Gazette.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Removal project on schedule, three remaining dams to be removed by next fall
“The dam removal project along the Klamath River is running on schedule, according to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation. It marks the largest dam removal project in world history. Copco 2 was the first of four dams to be removed. The KRRC said the three remaining dams, Copco 1, Iron Gate Dam and the J.C. Boyle Dam will be removed by November of 2024. “About a year from now, we will have re-established a free flowing condition throughout the hydroelectric reach on the Klamath River for the first time in over 100 years,” said Mark Bransom, CEO of the KRRC. … ” Read more from Fox 40.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
New project underway in the American River to benefit salmon
“The Water Forum is implementing another project in the American River to provide spawning and rearing habitat for Chinook Salmon. Work on the Upper River Bend Phase 1 Project at Ancil Hoffman Park began in August and is expected to be completed by the end of October. The project will provide almost five acres of spawning habitat for adult salmon and steelhead through the placement of 30,000 cubic yards of gravel in the river. It also includes nearly six acres of rearing habitat for young fish through the creation of a 2,000-foot-long side channel and shaping of 3.7 acres of seasonal channel margin habitat. In addition, large woody tree structures will be placed in the side channel to provide hiding and resting places for juvenile fish and three acres of riparian landscape will be developed. … ” Read more from the Northern California Water Association.
CENTRAL COAST
‘Sneaker waves,’ high surf to hit Santa Cruz coastline, posing potential danger for beachgoers
“The National Weather Service has issued a beach hazards statement and a high surf advisory for various regions of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Monterey Bay, as it anticipates “sneaker waves” to hit local coastlines already baking under a heat wave through Thursday evening. Sneaker waves are very large and often appear unexpectedly following periods of calm waters, hence the term “sneaker.” These kinds of waves typically occur within 10 or 20 minutes of each other and have the potential to sweep swimmers, beachgoers and others out into hazardous waters. According to the National Weather Service, sneaker waves have caused the deaths of more than two dozen people in California and Oregon since 2005. … ” Read more from Lookout Santa Cruz.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Merced Co. community receives $20M in flood funding
“$20 million in flood relief funding has been awarded to the community of Planada in Merced County to help impacted residents recover from the severe storm events from early 2023, officials announced on Wednesday. Officials say an item will be placed on the Oct. 24 Board of Supervisors agenda for the Board to formally accept the funding from the California State Office of Emergency Services. The funding was secured in the most recent State Budget. “On behalf of the Board of Supervisors, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the outstanding work undertaken by both Senator Caballero and Assemblywoman Soria to secure this funding,” said Scott Silveira, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. “This will help one of our most vulnerable communities better recover from the unprecedented storms of 2023.” … ” Read more from Your Central Valley.
Tulare County is No. 1 agricultural producer in the U.S., valued at $8.6B
“Tulare County is once again a top agriculture producer in the nation, surpassing $8.61 billion in 2022, according to the county’s recently released annual crop report. Tulare County’s agricultural strength is based on the diversity of the crops produced, Agricultural Commissioner Tom Tucker stated. In 2022, the county’s total agriculture production value was $8,612,450,000. This represents an increase of $522,828,700 or 6.5% above 2021’s value of $8,089,621,300. Tulare County beat out competing counties — Fresno and Kern — to become the country’s No. 1 agricultural producer in 2022. The three Central Valley counties account for 44% of California’s total ag production value. … ” Read more from the Visalia Times-Delta.
Kern River interests allowed to squeeze a little extra water into Lake Isabella this winter
“Kern River irrigators will be able to store more water than usual in Lake Isabella this winter, but not as much as they’d like. Typically, the “carry over” amount is 170,000 acre feet to allow enough room in the lake to handle a heavy winter. Isabella can hold 568,000 acre feet at full capacity. Agricultural districts and others with rights to the river, collectively known as the Kern River interests, asked to increase the carry over amount next year to 245,000 acre feet, in case it turns dry again. The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dam, settled on 211,000 acre feet, according to an Army Corps spokesman. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Cal Water gives a closer look on how they bring water to 450,000 Bakersfield residents
“The California Water Service in Bakersfield hosted their annual ‘Imagine a Day Without Water.’ The day aims to highlight the essential nature of water. Officials with Cal Water gave us a tour of their Northeast Bakersfield plant that adds around 20 million gallons of water to the city’s water supply every day. The water at this site goes through a rigorous five-step process that ensures the water they source from the Kern River is clean. … ” Read more from Bakersfield Now.
EASTERN SIERRA
Mono Lake’s impressive rise will be tempered by increased exports
“As Mono Lake rose nearly five vertical feet this year, visitors and residents in the Mono Basin marveled at Mono Lake’s fast-changing shoreline. Driving along Highway 395, we witnessed a peninsula become an island at Old Marina. Osprey nests built on land-locked tufa at South Tufa are again protected by watery moats. Long-dry brackish and freshwater lagoons along the north and east shores resurfaced. The surface area of the lake has increased more than four and a half square miles, shrinking the landbridge and increasing the distance between predatory coyotes and California Gull nesting grounds. The lake rise is cause for celebration and began at a time when the lake level was dangerously low. … ” Continue reading at the Mono Lake Committee.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
A fall heat wave is hitting California. How to prepare, and when it will end
“A fall heat wave peaking Wednesday and Thursday is expected to push temperatures in Southern California up to 15 degrees above normal for this time of year and potentially break heat records in Northern California. By Thursday, Southern California valleys are forecast to see highs in the 90s, with downtown Los Angeles in the low 90s, the beaches in the 80s and low deserts above 100. A heat advisory is in effect in the San Francisco Bay Area through Thursday night. Temperatures could hit 100 in some parts, and overnight lows will be in the mid 60s to lower 70s, according to the National Weather Service. The warmest temperatures will be inland, but the coast will remain warm. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
SAN DIEGO
Regional emergency managers discuss winter outlook
“There was a time when meteorologists could predict whether winter would be mild, moderate or severe. That information helped emergency managers plan ahead and get resources ready to fit the forecast and try to avoid a disaster. Now, it’s difficult to predict the weather for more than 10 days at a time, said Stephen Rea, assistant director for the San Diego County Office of Emergency Services at a regional Winter Weather Workshop for local jurisdictions Tuesday in Kearny Mesa. Rea paraphrased a statement by Eric Hysen, the chief information officer for the Department of Homeland Security, that when it comes to climate change in disaster planning, it’s no longer interpretation of weather models, data and looking at the past to make a long-range forecast. It’s more about anticipating the future. … ” Read more from the County News Center.
Along the Colorado River …
Biden-Harris administration advances long-term planning efforts to protect the Colorado River System
“The Biden-Harris administration today announced next steps in the formal process to develop future operating guidelines and strategies to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River system and strengthen water security in the West. The guidelines under development would be implemented in 2027, replacing the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which are set to expire at the end of 2026. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation published the Proposed Federal Action and a Scoping Summary Report related to Colorado River Basin operations post-2026. The Scoping Report, which was supported by a 60-day public scoping period, will inform the post-2026 operating guidelines. This planning process is separate from ongoing efforts to protect the Colorado River Basin through the end of 2026. … ” Continue reading from the Bureau of Reclamation.
New Colorado River rules will be hard to agree on. A new report shows just how tricky it could be
“States that use water from the Colorado River are drawing nearer to an important deadline for negotiating the river’s future. A new report from the federal government shows states are aiming to agree on a plan to cut back on water, but still remain divided about how to share the shrinking supply that flows to tens of millions across the Southwest. The Bureau of Reclamation, which manages reservoirs and dams across the Western U.S., released the results of its “scoping” process on Thursday. During a two-month stretch over the summer, Reclamation gathered input from states, environmental groups, tribes and others with a stake in the river’s future. The desires expressed by water users will help inform the Environmental Impact Statement, a federal document which outlines the amount of water released from major reservoirs. A draft of that document is expected by the end of 2024. … ” Read more from KUNC.
Water usage on the Colorado River is way down as the West begins planning for a future with less
“As the Biden administration kicks off a years-long negotiation process to divvy up the shrinking water supply of the Colorado River, there are finally some signs of optimism after several bleak years. A record-breaking winter snowpack last year halted a precipitous downward spiral on the river and raised water levels at the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lakes Mead and Powell. But something else is also at play this year – farmers, cities and Native tribes are simply using less. Arizona, California and Nevada’s usage of Colorado River water has hit new lows, state officials and US Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton told CNN in an interview. … ” Read more from CNN.
Pipeline dreams: the desert city out to surpass Phoenix by importing water
“Arizona, stressed by years of drought, has declared its housebuilding boom will have to be curbed due to a lack of water but one of its fastest-growing cities is refusing to give up its relentless march into the desert – even if it requires constructing a pipeline that would bring water across the border from Mexico. The population of Buckeye, located 35 miles west of Phoenix, has doubled over the past decade to just under 120,000 and it is now priming itself to eventually become one of the largest cities in the US west. The city’s boundaries are vast – covering an area stretching out into the Sonoran Desert that would encompass two New York Cities – and so are its ambitions. Buckeye expects to one day contain as many as 1.5 million people, rivaling or even surpassing Phoenix – the sixth largest city in the US that uses roughly 2bn gallons of water a day – by sprawling out the tendrils of suburbia, with its neat lawns, snaking roads and large homes, into the baking desert. Arizona’s challenging water situation appears a major barrier to such hopes, however. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
Hobbs confident Water Policy Council will be successful despite exits
“Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is confident that the Water Policy Council will be able to develop recommendations with bipartisan support, even though the Arizona Farm Bureau and Arizona Senate Republicans exited the group last week. “Yeah, absolutely. We still have very diverse representation on the council with a variety of different interests, including Rep. Gail Griffin, who’s committed to sticking it out,” Hobbs told The Center Square on Tuesday. “There are still agricultural interests represented and rural interests, which is really critical. We’re gonna continue to move forward and bring forward ideas that help us strategically plan for our water future.” … ” Read more from the Center Square.
Colorado River task force slowly grapples with drought response solutions as deadline nears
“The halfway point is in the rear view for the Colorado River Drought Task Force. Now it’s crunch time. Task force members have until December to take their ideas on how to address Colorado’s top water issues and turn them into a written recommendation to the Colorado General Assembly. Progress, however, has been slow: Many of ideas were still loosely defined — like addressing funding barriers, evaluating issues with existing resources and fixing aging infrastructure — as of last week’s session, the sixth of 10 on the schedule. In some cases, task force members were at odds over fundamental questions, like how the state should even discuss its water plans during high-stakes negotiations over the future of the Colorado River. “There’s this fear, that I fully understand, about having too much public discussion that might show Colorado’s hand in case we end up in litigation or something like that,” said Steve Wolff, general manager of the Southwestern Water Conservation District. “So there’s a lot of moving pieces on interstate (issues) that make it a lot more difficult to address, I think.” … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
International ocean satellite monitors how El Niño is shaping up
“Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich is the latest satellite contributing to a 30-year sea level record that researchers are using to compare this year’s El Niño with those of the past. Not all El Niño events are created equal. Their impacts vary widely, and satellites like the U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich help anticipate those impacts on a global scale by tracking changes in sea surface height in the Pacific Ocean. Water expands as it warms, so sea levels tend to be higher in places with warmer water. El Niños are characterized by higher-than-normal sea levels and warmer-than-average ocean temperatures along the equatorial Pacific. … ” Read more from JPL.
The $58 trillion value of water: a conversation with Stuart Orr of WWF
“What is the value of a river? Or a healthy wetland that purifies water, impedes floods, and traps carbon? High Cost of Cheap Water, a provocative report commissioned by the conservation heavyweight WWF, attempts to answer that question in dollars. The conclusion: freshwater ecosystems have an economic use value of $58 trillion, or roughly 60 percent of global GDP. The staggering figure accounts for direct uses (the water used by households, farms, and industries) and services provided indirectly (flood protection, water storage, animal habitat), which are seven times more valuable than direct uses. Stuart Orr, freshwater practice leader for WWF, spoke with Circle of Blue about the implications of putting water in economic terms. … ” Read more from the Circle of Blue.
Paris is using a radical new method to cool its buildings in place of AC: ‘One step closer to make planet Earth safer’
“With temperatures rising worldwide, air conditioning to cool buildings is becoming more of a necessity than a luxury. But while AC provides respite from the heat and can help prevent heat-related illnesses and even death from high temperatures, it’s an energy-intensive technology that can lead to long-term problems. The power used to run the machines likely comes from dirty energy sources, which produce planet-warming pollution that results in a warmer climate — necessitating increased use of air conditioning. It’s an unfortunate and slightly ironic cycle, but Paris has devised a unique solution to cool the city’s buildings without needing so much energy. … ” Read more from Yahoo News.
