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On the calendar today …
- PRE-HEARING CONFERENCE: Delta Conveyance Project beginning at 9am. The State Water Resources Control Board Administrative Hearings Office will hold a Pre-Hearing Conference in the proceeding on the pending Petitions for Change of Water Right Permits for the Delta Conveyance Project. Click here for the hearing notice and remote access instructions.
In California water news today …
SAN FRANCISCO SUPREME COURT CASE
Justices’ ideologies dump EPA controls on sewage down the drain
“A review of federal wastewater regulations unleashed contentious arguments at the Supreme Court Wednesday where the justices quarreled among themselves as much as against the advocates. For nearly two hours, the justices quibbled over how the Environmental Protection Agency quantified prohibitions on dumping sewer water. “There’s a California water quality standard that says waters shall not contain floating material, and it turns out EPA says that San Francisco has left lots of toilet paper floating in Mission Creek,” Justice Elena Kagan, a Barack Obama appointee said. “I mean, that’s not a ‘we don’t know what to do’ issue. We know you’re not supposed to leave toilet paper floating in Mission Creek.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Donald Trump appointee, who appeared skeptical that the agency’s standards were clear, interjected, “That’s one example. There are plenty of others.” Kagan responded: “There might be examples where they don’t know something, although they haven’t come up with any.” … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
San Francisco takes on the EPA in a case about poop and a $10 billion fine
“The environmental fight that played out inside the Supreme Court on Wednesday was unusual in many ways: It featured poop, a whopping $10 billion fine and one of the nation’s greenest cities — San Francisco — battling the Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution rules in a case that could reverberate beyond the Bay Area. During lively oral arguments, the justices appeared divided along ideological lines over a lawsuit brought by San Francisco arguing that EPA rules regulating how much sewage the city can discharge into the Pacific Ocean are so vague it can’t abide by them. The result: The city has wracked up billions in fines and counting. “We simply want to understand our prohibition limits so we can comply with them,” Tara M. Steeley, the San Francisco deputy city attorney, told the justices. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
SEE ALSO:
- Liberal San Francisco asks conservative Supreme Court for relief from EPA rules.
- Conservative Supreme Court justices appear to side with San Francisco in water pollution case, from the San Francisco Chronicle
- San Francisco is battling with itself over a Supreme Court appeal it will likely win, from CNN
METROPOLITAN/DELTA CONVEYANCE
NOTEBOOK FEATURE: Metropolitan committee discusses Delta Conveyance Project ahead of December vote on funding planning costs
“At the October meeting of Metropolitan’s One Water and Stewardship Committee meeting, staff began the first of a series of presentations on the Delta Conveyance Project to prepare for the upcoming vote in December, when the Metropolitan Board will be asked to consider approving more funds to support the continued planning of the project. DWR has indicated that approximately $300 million of additional investment is needed from potential project participants to fund pre-construction efforts, such as the water rights hearing, Delta Plan consistency certification, geotechnical investigations, and advancement of preliminary design through 2027. By securing the last tranche of planning funding, DWR aims to complete the necessary permitting, preliminary design, and engineering work before potential participants make final decisions. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
SEE ALSO:
- Restore the Delta Calls for Reinstatement of General Manager Adel Hagekhalil Amid Disrespect Toward Delta Experts by Metropolitan Water District Board
- Boiling Point: In Southern California, the water drama never dies, from the LA Times
- Column: Something is rotten in SoCal’s Metropolitan Water District, column by Sammy Roth
PERMITTING REFORM
Testimony: Building drought resiliency for California’s water supply systems—the role of permitting reform
“PPIC Water Policy Center senior fellow Ellen Hanak testified at the Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform on October 16, 2024. Here are her prepared remarks. Madame Chair and Honorable Members of the Select Committee, Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about the important topic of reforming permitting to build drought resiliency in California. Drawing on recent and forthcoming work from the PPIC Water Policy Center, I’ll begin with some brief context on how climate change is exacerbating the current challenges facing our urban and rural water supply systems. I’ll then illustrate how permitting processes are hampering effective and timely actions to build resiliency and offer some suggestions for reform. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
Press release: Southern California Water Coalition advocates for streamlined permitting to secure California’s water future
“The Southern California Water Coalition recently joined several other key stakeholders in submitting a coalition letter to the Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform. The letter highlights the critical importance of including water supply development, treatment, and distribution in discussions surrounding permitting reform. This inclusion is essential for advancing California’s resilience against climate change and maintaining the state’s water supply infrastructure. The letter emphasizes that water is an inextricable part of California’s future. With the challenges posed by population growth and the increasing impacts of climate change, water and wastewater providers have spent decades planning and implementing solutions to secure water supplies and manage flood risks. These efforts include improving storage, conveyance, and alternative water supplies like desalination and recycled water. However, the current permitting process often creates delays that prevent the timely implementation of these vital projects. … ” Read more from the Southern California Water Coalition.
Report summary: Accelerating Restoration in the Sacramento Valley and Beyond
California’s ambitious restoration plans, which include reactivating floodplains, enhancing species habitats, and fortifying against climate change, are at a critical juncture. With a surge in restoration demands and new funding opportunities, agencies must prepare to handle a growing number of permitting processes. To fully capitalize on these opportunities, a new report from Sustainable Conservation underscores the urgent need for the state to establish efficient and effective restoration permitting processes that align with its habitat and climate goals. The white paper “Accelerating Restoration in the Sacramento Valley and Beyond” evaluates the current regulatory landscape and offers practical suggestions to enhance the use of existing expedited permitting pathways, promote coordinated permitting initiatives, broaden effective programs, and address regulatory and institutional gaps to better meet the needs of ecosystems and stakeholders in restoration efforts. … ” Click here to continue reading this report summary.
OTHER CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS
Cataloging San Joaquin Valley water projects is a huge and ever-changing task
“It seems like an impossible task, cataloging all – or at least most – of the various water projects underway and planned in the San Joaquin Valley including new recharge basins, canals, connections and more. But that’s the near Sisyphean effort two valley water organizations have been working on over the past year under a $1 million Bureau of Reclamation grant. The goal is to have a central report where water managers, as well as state and federal officials with potential funding, can see what’s ongoing and where infrastructure gaps exist. “I think it’s a good investment,” said Ashley Boren, executive director of Sustainable Conservation at the time the grant was awarded. “We’ve tried in the past to understand all the infrastructure projects in the valley and it’s really scattered and hard to understand how water is moved.” … ” Read more from SJV Water.
After 50 years of Landsat, discovery of new commercial and scientific uses is only accelerating
“The 30-acre pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has been in Brett Baker’s family since the end of the Gold Rush. After six generations, though, California’s most precious resource is no longer gold – it’s water. And most of the state’s freshwater is in the delta. Landowners there are required to report their water use, but methods for monitoring were expensive and inaccurate. Recently, however, a platform called OpenET, created by NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other partners, has introduced the ability to calculate the total amount of water transferred from the surface to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. This is a key measure of the water that’s actually being removed from a local water system. It’s calculated based on imagery from Landsat and other satellites. “It’s good public policy to start with a measure everyone can agree upon,” Baker said. … ” Read more from NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Breaking ground: River Partners pioneering innovative research for imperiled species
“After doggedly pursuing funding for long-term restoration monitoring, River Partners will soon begin to see the fruits of its labor. As part of a $40 million grant River Partners received from the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) in 2023 for restoration planning and implementation across the San Joaquin Valley, nearly $4 million of the funding is earmarked for a Before-After Control-Impact monitoring project (BACI), led by River Partners Restoration Science Ecologist Dr. Sarah Gaffney and Restoration Science Ecologist Ashley Verna. The grant runs through June 2026. The WCB is known for funding restoration projects that will produce measurable and meaningful impacts to protect California’s biodiversity, rather than esoteric research projects. The organization recognized this when it funded River Partners and our BACI project. … ” Read more from River Partners.
California wildfires and weather are changing erosion patterns
“Like many states, California is facing a growing number of climate-related extremes: The annual acreage scorched by wildfires in the state increased fivefold between 1972 and 2018, and burns are also growing more intense. In addition, excessive rain is increasing flooding, landslides, and erosion, which can devastate terrain already reeling from fire damage. Large amounts of soil are prone to eroding after a wildfire, especially if heavy rainfall occurs within a year of the burn. Dow et al. studied 196 fires that occurred between 1984 and 2021 and found that postfire sediment erosion increased statewide during this period. They used a combination of postfire hillslope erosion modeling and measurements of debris flow volume from both real and modeled events. Both Northern and Southern California have been affected by large fires, but the two regions experience differences in climate and resulting fire patterns and postfire erosion patterns. … ” Read more from EOS.
Declining fish populations: dams, climate, and restoration efforts
“After ten years of rapidly intensifying drought and extreme weather, California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched the state’s first strategy to restore and protect populations of salmon for generations to come. Salmon are described as being central to religions, creation stories, the health and subsistence of California’s Native Tribes, plus a multi-million-dollar fishing industry. However, historic crashing salmon populations led to the Newsom Administration requesting a Federal Fishery Disaster to support impacted communities at the end of 2023, with Tribes having to cancel their religious and cultural harvests for the first time ever. A multitude of factors have led to a decline in salmon populations, from climate change and its impact on ocean temperatures, to drastic alteration of river habitat and flows by dams and water diversions. … ” Read more from International Water & Power.
What’s in Prop. 4, the $10B climate bond on the ballot
“The environment is on the ballot this November—and not just in the presidential race. Amidst a plethora of other measures, Californians will vote on Proposition 4, the so-called climate bond, which would authorize the state to issue $10 billion in bonds for environmental and climate projects—many of which likely won’t be funded while the state faces a massive budget shortfall. The vast majority of the bond money would go to climate resilience and adaptation—helping Californians prepare for sea-level rise, wildfires, extreme heat, droughts, floods, and all the other present and future impacts of our carbon-heavy lifestyles. … ” Read more from Bay Nature.
Don’t count on kelp to buffer the coast
“When winter storms sent 20-foot waves barreling towards Santa Cruz, California in January 2023, the sea met none of the natural storm breaks it might have encountered on the East Coast: no crests of intricately carved coral reefs, no tangled roots of mangrove forests, no conglomerations of millions of oyster shells. Waves from the open ocean encounter fewer obstacles to sap away their energy before slamming into Californian cliff sides — and in the case of the 2023 winter storms, they gained plenty of power to toss around 8 million pounds of boulders piled against one stretch of coastal road like toys in the surf. In the minutes before they break, California waves may roll over rocky reefs with submerged shale boulders and seafloor spires — and just before reaching the shore, they often pass through kelp forests. For decades, the question of how much kelp forests might soften waves like other natural “blue infrastructure” was difficult to resolve. New research suggests an answer. … ” Read more from Knee Deep Times.
Microplastic pollution is everywhere, even in the exhaled breath of dolphins – new research
“Bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay in Florida and Barataria Bay in Louisiana are exhaling microplastic fibers, according to our new research published in the journal PLOS One. Tiny plastic pieces have spread all over the planet – on land, in the air and even in clouds. An estimated 170 trillion bits of microplastic are estimated to be in the oceans alone. Across the globe, research has found people and wildlife are exposed to microplastics mainly through eating and drinking, but also through breathing. Our study found the microplastic particles exhaled by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are similar in chemical composition to those identified in human lungs. Whether dolphins are exposed to more of these pollutants than people are is not yet known. … ” Read more from The Conversation.
Water wars in the western U.S. could spread to the Midwest, Great Plains
“The western United States is known for big water struggles. States and cities have to negotiate how to reduce consumption and distribute that water. Now, with climate change and years of drought, the water wars are definitely heating up, and they also could be spreading all the way to the Midwest and Great Plains. Here’s Harvest Public Media’s Kate Grumke. … ” Read more or listen at KVPR.
In commentary today …
Would suing the bureaucracy bring us more water?
Edward Ring, co-founder of the California Policy Center, writes, “There isn’t a major water project in California in the last 30 years or more that hasn’t been subject to relentless litigation. Usually the litigators represent powerful environmentalist organizations, sometimes they represent social justice groups, and sometimes they represent labor. But in every case, they hit water projects from every legal angle imaginable, either completely derailing them, or delaying construction for decades. Although environmentalists, social justice activists, and labor unions all tend to file lawsuits against water projects on environmental grounds, there is no natural alliance between these three groups. For example, labor union leadership must know that the reason there aren’t more jobs on water projects, or on any big infrastructure projects, is because the regulatory burdens and the cost of litigation prevent most projects from ever getting started. And by the time projects finally do begin, half the budget has already been blown on litigation and bureaucratic compliance and finance charges during wasted decades of delay. … ” Read more from What’s Current.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Land deal in California’s far north conserves 3 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail
“A land deal announced Thursday will conserve swaths of prime mountain hiking terrain in California’s north state, including 3 scenic miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. Anticipated to be finalized by the end of the year, the deal will encompass 7,000 acres of forestland spread across about a dozen parcels in the southern Klamath Mountains between Castle Crags State Park and the Trinity Alps, according to San Francisco-based Trust For Public Land, which brokered the deal. The properties have long been owned and logged by timber company Sierra Pacific Industries. A $5.3 million purchase of half of the area by the land trust will soon be completed; the other half is being appraised and is expected to fetch about $6 million, with that money coming from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, according to Trust For Public Land. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Water Forum awarded $650,000 federal grant to enhance habitat for juvenile salmon on the Lower American River
“The Water Forum has been awarded a $650,000 federal grant for the study and design of up to 30 acres of enhanced habitat for juvenile salmonids along a 17-mile stretch of the Lower American River (LAR) as part of its ongoing Salmonid Habitat Enhancement Program (Program) activities. The grant, funded through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments in the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program, will support the development of plans to improve rearing habitats for young salmon and trout, including side channels and seasonal benches, large woody habitat, and extensive native vegetation plantings, where juvenile fish can find shelter from predators, find food, and grow prior to their long journey to the Pacific Ocean. “This project is significant because it focuses on rearing habitat for young salmon and steelhead, which is limited in the LAR and is as crucial to the survival of these native species as upstream spawning areas,” said Erica Bishop, the Water Forum’s program manager for science and habitat. … ” Read more from the Water Forum.
BAY AREA
Commissioner Lara announces pioneering project with City of Isleton to create community-based flood insurance initiative
“Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today announced a community-based flood insurance initiative for the City of Isleton — a first-of-its-kind for the state — as part of a two-year $200,000 grant. This innovative approach to insurance will provide payouts to Isleton residents if floodwaters reach a pre-determined depth. Isleton, a small city in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is prone to flooding and lies within a 100-year floodplain. The pilot project is spearheaded by the California Department of Insurance (CDI), funded by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), and implemented by the City of Isleton’s Delta Geologic Hazard Abatement District (Delta GHAD). … ” Read more Insurance News.
‘Extensive’ detour set for Bay Area motorists during weekend shutdowns of Delta bridge
“Drivers planning a fall weekend ride through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta would be wise to steer clear of the Rio Vista Bridge for three weekends, beginning Friday and reaching into November. The bridge, on Highway 12 across the Sacramento River in eastern Solano County, will be undergoing a series of 55-hour weekend closures for repair work. The first arrives at 9 p.m. Friday and continues through 5 a.m. Monday. … ” Read more from MSN News.
Valley Water is prepared for potential power outages
“As the threat of wildfires continues into October, Valley Water is prepared for the possibility of a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) should PG&E implement preemptive efforts to help reduce the potential for wildfires. … ” Read more from Valley Water News.
EASTERN SIERRA
LADWP retracts deep aquifer pumping project
“On Oct. 8. 2024, The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) agreed to retract its “Notice of Determination and Notice of Exemption – Addendum to the 1991 Environmental Impact Report . . . Pursuant to a Long-Term Groundwater Management Plan for Replacement of Wells W247 and W379” (“NOD and NOE”). The retraction followed correspondence and discussions between LADWP and concerned members of the community, including the Eastern Sierra Water Alliance (“ESWA” comprised of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, the Sierra Club, and Friends of the Inyo) regarding potential negative impacts these new wells would have on Owens Valley’s (Payahuunadü’s) ecosystems, including groundwater levels, vegetation, and future water availability in Payahuunadü. … ” Read more from the Sierra Wave.
Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority gets SGMA update as detractors question, chide board members
“Members of the public told the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority that the board lacked “face” for failing to represent it itself at community events and meetings and this was causing a negative perception of the authority. Another commenter asked the authority to stop work on a water import pipeline as “it simply costs too much for the people to bear.” A third commenter accused the authority of various deceptions about the state of the Indian Wells Valley water basin and asked for the authority to be disbanded immediately and efforts to bring water into the valley be turned over to the Indian Wells Valley Water District (IWV), which serves most of Ridgecrest, instead. Board members did not respond. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Popular stretch of San Gabriel River gets funding boost
“A popular stretch of the San Gabriel River will get a $3.5 million brush-up to improve water quality and access at a key source that provides Los Angeles County with one-third of its water supply, officials announced Tuesday. The federal funding will help the Watershed Conservation Authority, USDA Forest Service, tribes and community groups conduct trash-removal projects, create new walking trails and install additional restrooms, protecting a watershed within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, according to federal, state, tribal and local partners. … ” Read more from Pasadena Now.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
Salton Sea’s Species Conservation Habitat to expand
“Shovels hit the ground as construction on an expansion of the state’s ongoing promise to save the Salton Sea commenced, backed by a $70 million grant made possible by the Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Leaders from the California Natural Resources Agency, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and elected officials including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz and state Sen. Steve Padilla gathered at the Salton Sea on Tuesday, Oct. 15, to break ground on a 750-acre addition to CNRA’s Species Conservation Habitat project aimed at curbing toxic dust and restoring critical wildlife habitat. … ” Read more from the Calexico Chronicle.
SAN DIEGO
San Diego region well-prepared for water year 2025
“On Oct. 1, the San Diego County Water Authority announced that the region has plenty of water to meet demands in water year 2025 regardless of the weather, thanks to regional investments in water reliability and consecutive wet winters. A water year is a 12-month period that hydrologists use to track precipitation over the winter and spring with to understand how much water is available during the hot and dry summer months. Precipitation that falls during a water year indicates how much water will contribute to stream flow and groundwater. Right now, the focus is on the emerging La Niña weather pattern, which typically brings hotter and drier conditions to Southern California. “San Diego County’s water supply remains stable and reliable to support our region’s people, economy, and quality of life,” said Water Authority Board Chair Nick Serrano, whose two-year term as chair started on Oct. 1…. ” Read more from The Coast News.
Along the Colorado River …
Not running dry: UNLV Project project tackles water scarcity in rural communities
“Can you imagine a day when you turn on your faucet and no water comes out?” The hypothetical question, posed by a research team at UNLV, is called a “Day Zero” scenario. It sounds like the plot of a doomsday apocalypse series but it’s not as unimaginable – or as far-fetched – as a Hollywood screenplay might seem. “A few years ago in Cape Town, South Africa they almost reached this point, where they were about to tell their citizens that they simply had no more water to give them, even though we all know that water is necessary on a daily basis,” said Erica Marti, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. And while the severity of the Southwest water crisis hasn’t reached the “Day Zero” stage, Marti cites recent cuts to Nevada’s Lake Mead water allocation as reason enough to take the possibility seriously. She is a member of an interdisciplinary research team that is exploring innovations to keep our water supply from running dry. … ” Read more from UNLV.
It was meant to help the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River, so why isn’t anyone using it?
“It was an idea crafted by the Utah State Legislature to help ensure that water saved through conservation and other efforts could make it downstream to places like the Great Salt Lake and Colorado River. But so far, no farmer has taken the state up on it. “The truth is that we haven’t had the upswelling of support and the response for a lot of change applications. And it’s something, I think, that we are looking into, making sure that we understand why,” said Great Salt Lake Commissioner Brian Steed. … ” Read more from Fox 13.
There are toxic algae blooms in Lake Powell. Officials are monitoring Phoenix drinking water
“Federal authorities are reporting a toxic algae blooms in Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir. The algae isn’t likely to harm downstream users that depend on Lake Powell’s water supply. But retired federal water scientist David Wegner says we need to keep a close eye on smaller reservoirs that feed directly into the drinking supply. … ” Read more from KJZZ.
Windy Gap Reservoir nearly crashed an aquatic ecosystem. A $33 million water project is undoing the damage.
“With the snip of a ribbon Tuesday, Colorado water managers officially opened a new waterway in Grand County that reconnects a stretch of the Colorado River for the first time in four decades to help fish and aquatic life. The milelong waterway, called the Colorado River Connectivity Channel, skirts around Windy Gap Reservoir, where a dam has broken the natural flow of the river since 1985. The $33 million project’s goal is to return a stretch of the river to its former health, a river where aquatic life thrived and fish could migrate and spawn. But getting to the dedication ceremony Tuesday took years of negotiations that turned enemies into collaborators and can serve as a model for future water projects, officials say. “It speaks to the new reality of working on water projects, which is that it doesn’t have to be an us-versus-them situation,” Northern Water spokesperson Jeff Stahla said. “People can get together and identify things that can help not only the water supply, but also help the environment.” … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
The potential for water efficiency and conservation to support utility affordability in the US
“The Pacific Institute, Corvias Infrastructure Solutions (CIS), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Luskin Center for Innovation, and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Environmental Finance Center are collaborating on The Water Research Foundation (WRF) project 5179, Feasibility and Applicability of Emerging Utility-Led Innovations in Addressing Affordability. The project aims to help utilities nationwide improve customer engagement and the reach and impact of their water and wastewater affordability programs in the United States. Water efficiency and conservation have proven successful in helping utilities and the households they serve save water and reduce utility bills.1 This blog focuses on innovative approaches utilities can take and their challenges in advancing water affordability through efficiency and conservation. … ” Read more from the Pacific Institute.
Critical infrastructure: how to protect water, power and space from cyber attacks
“Sectors that underpin modern society face rising cyber threats. Water, electricity and satellites — which support everything from GPS navigation to credit card processing — are at increasing risk. Legacy infrastructure and increased connectivity challenge water and the power grid, while the space sector struggles with safeguarding in-orbit satellites that were designed before modern cyber concerns. But many different players are offering advice and resources and working to develop tools and strategies for a more cyber-safe landscape. … ” Read more from Government Technology.
Many of the world’s cities have gotten wetter
“Buildings and vast stretches of pavement in dense cities trap and generate heat, forming urban heat islands. Similarly, urban development can boost rainfall. Around the world, these so-called urban wet islands have seen precipitation almost double on average over the past 20 years, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. “What we knew up to now has been very focused on particular cities,” said Jorge González-Cruz, an urban climatologist at the University at Albany in New York who wasn’t involved with the work. Places such as Beijing and Houston have served as case studies showing that cities can influence temperature, rainfall, and storms. But the new study shows that the phenomenon occurs at a global scale. The analysis revealed certain factors that influence the wet island effect. The researchers used daily satellite and radar observations from 2001 to 2020 to determine the difference in precipitation between cities (or the areas directly downwind) and their surrounding rural areas. … ” Read more from EOS.
Milestone report warns of urgent water crisis, offers solutions
“The Global Commission on the Economics of Water warns the world is currently in a water crisis that will only worsen if urgent steps aren’t taken to address the exacerbating factors. The global commission comprised of more than 20 people worked over the course of two years to complete a report, titled “The Economics of Water: Valuing the Hydrological Cycle as a Global Common Good,” which was released Wednesday. The project was inspired by prior reports on the economics of climate change and the economics of biodiversity. “For the first time in human history, we changed the origin of rainfall,” commission member Xavier Leflaive said in an email. “Droughts and floods are local episodes of a hydrological cycle that was pushed out of balance through a combination of climate change, land use change and mismanagement of freshwater resources. No country, economy, (or) society is shielded from the consequences.” … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
Water crises threaten the world’s ability to eat, studies show
“High food prices, meet the global water crisis. The world’s food supply is under threat because so much of what we eat is concentrated in so few countries, and many of those countries are increasingly facing a water shortage. That’s the conclusion of three independent studies published this week. One study, published by World Resources Institute, found that one quarter of the world’s crops is grown in places where the water supply is stressed, unreliable or both. A second, published by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, crunched the data slightly differently, concluding that half the world’s food production is in areas where water availability is projected to decline. The third study, published by the European Union’s environmental agency, found that even some ordinarily wet parts of the continent face a drying trend. … ” Read more from the New York Times.
SEE ALSO: One-quarter of of world’s crops threatened by water risks, from the World Resource Institute
