Water News Roundup for May 19th 2010

Last week I posted about taking care of sick kids, but this week it’s me!  *cough cough*  Hope this roundup finds you all well.  Don’t take your health for granted!

Last week I was able to meet Michael ‘the Aquadoc’ Campana at the AWRA Utah Section Conference.  He’s posted some additional analysis about one talk in particular given by State Senator Dennis Stowell on local groundwater management.  This also follows an article in High Country News I posted a few days ago.  David Zetland at Aquanomics has also re-posted on this topic.  It’s interesting that local governance of groundwater resources would garner such attention.  Here is Michael’s most recent review:

Waterwired: Unitization in Utah – Unitization in Utah? What could that be?

Last week I posted on the great time I had at a water conference in Utah (28 Hours in Utah…).  Prior to arriving in Salt Lake City I’d read a story in the 10 May 2010 issue of the High Country News (now requires a subscription to read) about the passage of a bill to allow the residents of southwestern Utah’s Escalante Valley to manage their own groundwater. At the conference I then heard a talk (via phone) by State Sen. Dennis Stowell (R), the main sponsor of SB 20, who told the story of the bill.

And now for the rest of the news…

Provo Daily Herald: Drinking water ordinance shelved so BYU can resolve concerns – An already overdue drinking water protection effort has been delayed another two weeks because of concerns expressed by Brigham Young University.

KSL: Experts warn of swift waters in rivers and streams – Search and rescue crews are warning people to be aware of high and fast-moving water in Utah’s rivers and streams. Warm days can quickly melt mountain snow, creating dangerous conditions.

Provo Daily Herald: Provo leaders raise power, water rates – It’s going to cost a little more to live in Provo — about $100 more over the next year.  The City Council on Tuesday approved increases in power and water rates beginning in July.

Water News Roundup – May 18, 2010

Ogden Standard Examiner: Warmer Utah temps mean faster and more dangerous rivers – A spike in temperatures means Utah’s mountain-fed rivers and streams are quickly swelling — some tripling in volume in a matter of days — and raising the risk for those who recreate around them.

Brian McInerney’s April Water Supply Forecast (Waiting for May’s to be posted.)

New York Times: From Budding Poets, an Ode to Water –

Where do New York City’s budding poets find inspiration?

If you are Jeffrey Weiner, a sixth grader at Horace Mann School in the Bronx, you find it in one of the city’s sewage treatment plants handling more than 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater a day.

Treatment at wastewater plants must be quite quick,
To remove the pollutants so you don’t get sick.
In a mere seven hours, the job is complete,
Compared to weeks in nature to perform the same feat!

Water News Roundup – February 18, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Farmland conservation bill stalls – A bill to save some Utah farmland from development appears to be dead.

Utah water-sharing bill advances – A compromise bill on how to share water during emergency shortages met no resistance in a House committee Wednesday — quite a different response from when Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, sponsored a sharing bill last year.

Deseret News: ‘Priority’ water use is the target of HB231 – Water for consumption, sanitation and fire suppression during times of a governor-declared emergency would have “priority” over other uses under a measure approved Wednesday in a legislative committee.

The Spectrum: City stands pat on water bill – The Cedar City Council decided against drafting a resolution dealing with whether to support Senate Bill 20 during its special action meeting Wednesday night.

Scientific American: EPA to staunch flood of stormwater runoff polluting U.S. waterways– Across the country, stormwater runoff hammers thousands of rivers, streams and lakes. Communities are left to struggle with the consequences of too much pavement and too little oversight. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to tighten federal stormwater rules that have been criticized by environmental groups and deemed ineffective by a national panel of researchers.

Technorati Tags: farmland conservation,priority water rights,runoff,stormwater regulation,urban growth,Utah Legislature 2010,Water Quality,Water Rights,water-sharing