Salt Lake Tribune: Oil shale problems – In “Oil and water” (Forum, Aug. 14), Bill Johnson, Utah’s “community representative” for the U.S. Congressional Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels, promotes oil shale development and says that there is enough water to uphold this industry because one study estimates that only about 1.7 barrels of water are needed to produce a barrel of shale oil.

Living history: Utah Lake carp provided food for the needy – Utah Lake was once a fabulous, rich fishery. George Washington Bean, a settler in Utah Valley, wrote that Ute tribes gathered at the lake “on account of the wonderful supply of fish moving up the stream from the Lake to their spawning grounds each spring.

KSL: Feds give $100,000 to help save June sucker in Utah Lake – The Federal Government has given the Central Utah Water Conservancy District $100,000 to rid Utah Lake of non-native fish.

St. George Spectrum: Water rate structure questioned – Water resources and the systems that make use of them shape the way a community develops and thrives, but Cedar City resident Doug Hall believes unless a new water rate structure is instituted by Cedar City Corporation, Festival City USA will no longer have cause for celebration.

The St. George Spectrum online edition requires a login.  I find it interesting that one of Cedar City’s water rate critics cites Washington County Water Conservancy District’s rate structure as a possible model for Cedar City.

State explores private management of state parks – The chairman of a board looking at the potential for privatizing state government functions would like to see Utah privatize a handful of state parks to see if they can be run more efficiently than they are now.

Lake Powell slobs foment revolt – Each summer I do penance at Lake Powell for the environmental sins of its visitors. This summer was no exception as I volunteered to work on a houseboat called the Trash Tracker. Our job: picking up debris in 108-degree heat along 100 miles or so of the 1,900-mile shoreline.

Ogden Standard Examiner:  Artificial catfish nests being placed in Bountiful lake – As a pelican swoops overhead and the cattail sways along the shore, Eric Stephenson lowers a love nest into the water.

Times Free Press:  Hot river forces costly cutback for TVA – The Tennessee Valley Authority has lost nearly $50 million in power generation from its biggest nuclear plant because the Tennessee River in Alabama is too hot.

Salt Lake Tribune: West can lead the new energy economy – The West, with its wealth of wind, solar, geothermal and other clean, renewable energy resources, is poised to lead the nation toward a new energy future.

The Hill: EPA unveils strategy to modernize clean water programs – The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday floated a draft strategy to improve water quality nationwide, one that bluntly recognizes that today’s pollution sources are often difficult to target with traditional Clean Water Act controls.

New York Times – Science: Levels plummet in crucial reservoir – Water levels in Lake Mead, the Colorado River reservoir, fell sharply again this summer and are nearing an elevation that would set off the first-ever official water shortage on the river, The Arizona Republic reported last week.

Indian Point nuclear plant’s toll on river stirs debate – Just beneath the wind-stippled surface of the Hudson River here, huge pipes suck enough water into the Indian Point nuclear plant every second to fill three Olympic swimming pools.

Morgan County says municipalities should handle water infrastructure – While county officials wait for the end of a water moratorium and the overdue publication of a water study, they are saying that municipalities should shoulder future responsibility for water infrastructure.

Farmington authorizes new city well – A project to drill for a new city well will move ahead, despite some second thoughts among city officials after hearing from local residents.

Salt Lake Tribune  – Editorial: Teachable moment – Eternal optimists were flummoxed by the Red Butte Creek oil spill. What good can possibly come from 33,600 gallons of crude pouring from a ruptured Chevron pipeline into the creek?

Las Vegas Sun: State reconsidering request to pump water from upstate – State Engineer Jason King has set new deadlines for handling the applications filed in 1989 to pump billions of gallons of water from rural Nevada to Las Vegas.

St. George Spectrum (requires sub.): Vegas water pipeline foes seek NV court hearing – Opponents of a proposed multibillion-dollar water pipeline from northeastern Nevada to Las Vegas are mounting a procedural challenge to a Nevada Supreme Court order sending the case to a state official for review.

Salt Lake Tribune – Editorial: Shrinking Mead – Some marinas at Lake Mead are high and dry; new roads now meander on dry ground that used to be far under water. The huge reservoir is shrinking.

New York Times:  Lake Mead’s water level plunges as 11-year drought lingers – Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir of Colorado River water that hydrates Arizona, Nevada, California and northern Mexico, is receding to a level not seen since it was first being filled in the 1930s, stoking existential fears about water supply in the parched Southwest.

City Brights w/ Peter Gleick: Water and energy: obey the law on cooling systems – The connections between energy and water are significant and complex. We use vast amounts of energy to collect, move, treat, use, and clean water. And we use vast amounts of water to produce energy, including for mining, drilling, and processing fossil and nuclear fuels, and especially for cooling power plants.

Salt Lake Tribune: Public allowed access to Jordan River again – The Salt Lake Valley Health Department has lifted a health order limiting public access to parts of the Jordan River following a June oil leak.

Logan Canal fix might leave out some water users – Cache County residents are wondering how they are going to get irrigation water 13 months after a mudslide along the Logan Northern Canal breached the waterway and claimed the lives of three people.

Wall Street Journal: Cash flows in water deals – Indianapolis is selling its water and sewer systems to a public trust to get money for crumbling streets and bridges. San Jose, Calif., fresh from cutting 49 firefighters, might take its water utility private. “Excess” tap water in Sacramento, Calif., is helping supply a Nestlé SA bottling plant.

Via Gayle Leonard at Thirsty in Suburbia: 1971 Mad Magazine reveals the future – Sad that the thing they got wrong was the newspaper.

Salt Lake Tribune: Who dumped paint into City Creek? – The Salt Lake Valley Health Department is trying to determine who dumped latex paint and mortar residue into a storm drain leading into City Creek.

Wall Street Journal: California puts off vote on huge water-upgrade effort – California lawmakers have voted to delay putting an $11.1 billion water bond to voters, extending a battle to rework the biggest effort in decades to upgrade the state’s water system.

Chevron letters rile oil spill victims  – Annie Payne and her family spent two nights in a hotel after 33,600 gallons of crude oil from a leaky pipeline poured into the stream near their Yalecrest home two months ago and made them all sick.  And, like many of her east Salt Lake City neighbors and others driven away by the petrochemical fumes, she took up Chevron on its invitation to submit a claim for spill-related costs.

Deseret News: Pipeline construction moves to Provo – “One day a road will be open, but when you drive there the next day, it will be closed. It’s been very hard to get around here.”  …. It’s been pretty much the same story all summer for everyone who lives on or near 400 East, where workers have laid five miles of 60-inch diameter pipe as part of the Spanish Fork Provo Reservoir Canal Pipeline project.

KSL: No swimming in Salem pond – A swimming advisory was issued for Salem Pond after testing of the water indicates it is unsafe for swimming, deep wading, and ingesting due to bacterial contamination.

Agencies discuss safety plans for the Jordan River – Several agencies met to discuss safety plans for a trouble spot along the Jordan River after couple died last weekend while kayaking.

Logan canal project could be delayed by study – Work to restore the full flow of irrigation water to thousands of acres of northern Utah farmland could be delayed now that a more in-depth environmental study on a canal project is planned.

Pleasant Grove sets water restrictions – Pleasant Grove has issued a citywide conservation plan for watering.  Residents in odd-numbered houses can water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The days for even-numbered homes are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

KCPW: Local officials sign agreement to create Jordan River Commission – Representatives from Salt Lake, Davis and Utah Counties signed an agreement this afternoon to coordinate efforts to restore and revive the Jordan River. And they’re calling the plan “historic.” KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports.

Deseret News: State forestry division plans open houses to craft Great Salt Lake Management Plan – With the wind rustling in the cattails and birds bobbing on the water of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, members of the new Great Salt Lake Advisory Council convened their second meeting — a get-acquainted session on topics related to the unique body of water.

Those meetings are:

Aug. 10, Weber County.

Aug. 17, Salt Lake and Davis counties.

Aug. 24, Tooele County.

Aug. 31, Box Elder County.

More information can be found at www.ffsl.utah.gov/sovlands/gsl.php.

Flash floods set off mudslides and close access to roads in Utah, Duchesne counties – Flash flooding triggered mudslides and closed off access to U.S. 89 near Bird’s Eye Sunday evening but forecasters predict the weather will clear up by Monday.

KSL: Storm floods parts of Utah County – A quick-moving rain storm caused major problems in Utah County Saturday evening.

Salt Lake Tribune: Storms cause flooding in S. Utah – Residents spent Saturday filling sandbags and clearing thick red mud from Kanab streets and basements, caused by floodwaters from torrential rains that swept into town.

Provo Daily Herald: New water restrictions for Pleasant Grove – Residents are using much more water this summer than last year and it is causing a concern about the city’s secondary water supply.

AWRA Blog: Western Governor’s Association DC Workshop: Drought, Climate and Water– The Western Governors’ Association and the Western States Water Council will sponsor a two-day workshop in DC, 14-15 September 2010, on: Drought, Climate and Water: Using Today’s Information and Designing Tomorrow’s Services.