Water News Roundup – August 24, 2010

Deseret News: Lake Powell ruled mussel free zone – The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has officially ruled Lake Powell mussel-free three years after a false positive detection.

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.

Water News Roundup – August 23, 2010

Ogden Standard Examiner:

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.

Water News Roundup – August 12, 2010

Will be visiting beautiful New Mexico next Monday.  Not sure if I’ll have internet access, but we might have a ‘New Mexico Water News’ edition.  If not, see you Tuesday!

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.

Water News Roundup – August 11, 2010

Provo Daily Herald: Pleasant Grove weighs water options – A years-long argument about how to provide water and sewer to Manilla residents continued progress at a snail’s pace on Tuesday. Pleasant Grove elected officials spent more than an hour discussing how to end a stalemate that has now outlasted several mayors.

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.

Water News Roundup – August 10, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:  Latex paint spill in City Creek under investigation – Latex paint and mortar residue contaminated City Creek after the materials were dumped into a storm drain from two homes in the Avenues, fire crews said.

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.

Water News Roundup – July 28, 2010

Deseret News: Strawberry River restoration project brings promise – Along a section of the Strawberry River, the bare earthen bank tells the story of man’s meddling gone wrong, of ripping away vegetation that once held together the soil.

Provo Daily Herald: Pleasant Grove officially joins aquifer study – Hoping that the city may someday be able to store water for future use, the Pleasant Grove City Council has agreed to join other north county cities in the North Utah County Aquifer Association.

Salt Lake Tribune: Groups challenge plans for Utah tar sands mine – A small Canadian company, in need of millions for its ambitious plans, also is facing stiff opposition from two Utah environmental groups that are trying to thwart its efforts to build one of the first commercial tar sand mines in the country.

MSNBC: Pipeline leak pollutes major Michigan river – Crews were working Tuesday to contain and clean up more than 800,000 gallons of oil that poured into a creek and flowed into the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan, coating birds and fish.

HCN: It’s getting warmer and drier – A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) offers a mixed picture of how climate change will affect Western water supplies.

Water News Roundup – July 27, 2010

KSL: Tests show no source for sheen seen in underground streams – Water managers in Salt Lake City say test results reveal no link, so far, between a sheen found on water running through several east bench properties a few blocks north of Red Butte Creek and the Chevron oil spill into that stream. Still, the source of the sheen is mystery.

Deseret News: How bad was the Red Butte spill? – Neil Vickers would like to know what made him and his wife sick the weekend a Chevron pipeline leak sent tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil down the creek that runs through his east Salt Lake City yard.

Science Daily: New water management tool may help ease effects of drought – Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall and streamflow may look like months in advance.

After reading this article, I feel slightly better about not obsessing about drinking 64 oz. of water each day.  Too much of a good thing, etc…….

Scientific American: Strange but true, drinking too much water can kill you – Liquid H₂O is the sine qua non of life. Making up about 66 percent of the human body, water runs through the blood, inhabits the cells, and lurks in the spaces between.

Water News Roundup – July 14, 2010

Provo Daily Herald: Canal project coming quickly – A major construction project will soon be having a big impact on north county cities.  The Interstate 15 rebuild? No, the other big effort getting under way in the region is the Provo Reservoir Canal Enclosure Project. Enclosing the waterway — a.k.a. the Murdock Canal — is a $15 million project that has been years in the making and involved a host of government agencies, including the U.S. Congress.

KSL: Public meetings kick off Murdock Canal project – A major construction project is about to get underway to enclose the Murdock Canal, the open waterway that carries water from Provo Canyon to the Point of the Mountain.  (Steve Cain, Facilities and Lands Manager for PRWUA, gets some serious facetime on KSL.  Usually they let you speak for about five seconds and then clip the take.  Steve manages to get in almost 30 seconds… go Steve!)

Ogden Standard Examiner: New reservoir ready to service two cities – A $3.2 million secondary water reservoir that becomes fully operational on Wednesday will save culinary water costs for two expanding north Davis cities.

KCPW: Lingering concerns dominate town hall meeting on oil spill – The second town hall meeting convened on the Red Butte Creek oil pipeline spill lasted more than three hours last night at Clayton Middle School in Salt Lake City.

Wall Street Journal: Water policy for NY power plants draws reliability concerns – Authorities in charge of the reliability of New York State’s power supply warn a policy to protect aquatic life could threaten the dependability of electricity supplies and increase air pollution.

Water News Roundup – July 8, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Fluoridation battle rages on – Holliday Water won’t have to fluoridate its supply — at least for now.  Under a recent decision by the Utah Supreme Court, the water company will not have to fluoridate its supply, despite a 2000 Salt Lake County ordinance that requires fluoridation. The company argued that as a private corporation, it was exempt.

Detecting oil leaks – In coordination with local, state and federal officials, Chevron has made all the right moves in responding to last month’s oil pipeline leak in Salt Lake City.  Chevron and city crews were on scene quickly, equipment materializing out of nowhere. Within hours of the discovery, the leak was stanched and the cleanup launched.

Open house on Murdock canal plan –  The Provo River Water Users Association is sponsoring an open house to discuss plans to enclose the Murdock Canal in a pipe and create a trail system over the canal right-of-way. The open house is on July 13 at 6 p.m. at Orchard Elementary School, 800 E. 1035 North [in Orem].

Provo Daily Herald:  BYU contributes to digital water policy library – Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library is one of five research libraries that helped complete a content expansion project for the Western Waters Digital Library.  Founded in 2004, the library is an online public resource that provides information about water issues in the western United States.

High Country News:  Monkey wrenchers keep on keeping on – When the news spread last year about Tim DeChristopher’s impromptu act of civil disobedience in Utah, I thought: Somebody is finally reviving the lost art of environmental monkey-wrenching.

Stories about hydro-fracking and groundwater contamination…

Wyoming Trib: Monitoring wells nearing completion – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has almost finished drilling two monitoring wells to test for pollution in a central Wyoming community where residents suspect chemicals related to gas drilling have contaminated their well water… Area residents say chemicals related to a process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” may have polluted their wells. Fracking involves pumping water, sand and chemicals underground at high pressure to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas.

AWWA:  Fracking bill may face uphill battle – Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette, Maurice Hinchey and Jared Polis introduced a bill in June to reverse a 2005 measure excluding hydraulic fracturing, used to enhance extraction of oil and gas, from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Water News Roundup – July 6, 2010

I’m back from what could possibly be described as the most awesome Fourth of July EVER!  Ahhhh…. welcome back to the water news work week.

Salt Lake Tribune has a bunch of stories that will be posted as soon as they manage to get their website up and running (doh!)

KSL: Insider details state’s issue with energy study – Utah officials spent $200,000 in federal and state funds to have the study done. But when it was finished a few months ago, they sidetracked it and refused to vouch for it — after it ran into a wall of opposition from industry.  The study blames Utah power plants for 202 premature deaths each year and for health and water costs up to $2 billion annually.

An interesting study of how irrigation method possibly contributes to or limits groundwater E. coli contamination…

Science: Keeping feces on the farm – Think dairy farm, and your mind may wander to images of cows grazing dewy green pastures, as glistening silos and red-walled farmhouses slumber in the distance. But something sinister is lurking in the grass: cow feces crawling with disease-causing Escherichia coli bacteria. A new study, however, reveals that these bacteria are much less likely to enter  groundwater and cause illness if farmers spray their fields with water rather than flooding them, as is traditional.

Light n’ Fluffy News Roundup – June 30, 2010

I’ll have to wait to watch ‘Gasland’ until it’s out on video, but Michael ‘Aquadoc’ Campana provides a synopsis for those that haven’t seen it…

AWRA Blog: Review of ‘Gasland’ – If you saw Joshua Fox’s documentary Gasland on HBO last Monday night (check to see if it is still being shown) you know that one of Fox’s most compelling visuals is a flaming tap, such as the one shown here from the review in the New York Times.

Colorado River District: Water Education Video Page – Great collection of videos that discuss their topics clearly, intelligently and even humorously!

Water News Roundup – June 29, 2010

Deseret News:

Dreams fulfilled despite spill – When 33,000 gallons of Colorado crude oil broke loose from a Chevron pipeline two weeks ago, it swept a path of havoc and destruction from the edge of scenic Red Butte Garden miles west to the Jordan River.

Provo River dam alterations allow June sucker to spawn farther upriver – When the Fort Field Diversion dam was built on the lower Provo River in the early 1900s, it was designed to rechannel some of the water for irrigation.

Water News Roundup – June 28, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah anglers may have to buy stream access – State fisheries managers want to overcome Utah’s newly restricted stream access by charging $3 to $5 extra from participating anglers and using the money to pay private landowners for walk-in access.

Quick note for summer field crews in Utah – if its in Centerville, it might be where you’re working too.  Watch your step!

Large marijuana plot discovered in Centerville – Police destroyed a clandestine plot of more than 12,000 marijuana plants near Centerville on Sunday.

Deseret News: Health officials brace for war against ‘crypto’ – Few things could bring more welcome relief and fun to a hot Utah summer day than spending time at a community swimming pool or a local water park.

And just to prove that the ol’ adage about whiskey and water still stands… HA!!!

Missoulian: Stevensville man accused of shovel assault – An apparent fight over opening a headgate one hour early left one man with a cracked tooth and another facing a felony charge of assault with a weapon. (HT: actively moving water)

 

Water News Roundup – June 23, 2010

A perfect day for streamflow measurements in the morning!

Deseret News:

Open houses planned for Provo canal project – A series of three open houses is planned next month to explain the details of a $150 million project that will enclose the entire Provo Reservoir Canal.

Restoration project could pave the way for Jordan River Parkway Trail segment – Bikers, walkers and roller bladers may have to wait a few years, but action that could eventually pave the way for a new segment of the Jordan River Parkway Trail was launched Wednesday.

KCPW: Chevron reopens Red Butte pipeline – Chevron has reopened a 13.75 mile segment of pipeline that’s been shut down since it leaked 33,000 gallons, or about 800 barrels, of crude oil into Red Butte Creek earlier this month.

KSL:

Gasoline seeps into Emery county groundwater – For several weeks, residents in Ferron in Emery Countyhave complained of the smell of gasoline in their homes coming through their floor drains.

Lab results say pipeline effects diminishing, but still a danger – Utah water-quality officials say the toxic effects of a pipeline oil leak in a Salt Lake City creek are diminishing but still endanger aquatic life.

Water News Roundup – June 22, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:  Oil flows again as probe points to why sensors failed – Black gold began flowing Monday through a mended canyon pipeline into Chevron’s refinery — and its coffers — even as a federal petroleum engineer pointed to a power surge as the likely reason sensors failed to detect the Red Butte Canyon oil spill.

KSL: Restoration project in the works for Jordan River – Officials will restore a section of the Jordan River to a more natural condition. Rocky Mountain Power gave its approval for the project along 550 yards of the river in West Jordan.

KCPW: Chevron spill impacting life in Red Butte Creek and beyond – Oil-soaked geese were one of the most visible signs of the Red Butte Creek pipeline spill, but it also affected what lives below the surface. KCPW’s Elizabeth Ziegler focuses on wildlife, in the first of a series on the spill.

Ogden Standard Examiner: Support sought for Jordan River plan – This summer, Davis County commissioners will be asked to financially support the creation of the Jordan River Commission, an agency designed to steward river development.

New York Times: A new panorama at the Hoover Dam – Generations of photo albums are filled with images of children squinting in front of the enormous canyon here, one of the greatest engineering feats in America’s history.