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.