Water News Roundup – April 19, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Reservoir expected to spur Kanab growth – The southern Utah town of Kanab, known for its red sandstone cliffs and mesas is getting a lake.  About 200 residents and dignitaries gathered Friday at a ranch house in the city’s outskirts and broke ground on an earthen dam that will create the Jackson Flat Reservoir.

Anglers prepare for new restrictions – New laws frequently create more questions than they answer. The Recreational Use of Public Water on Private Property law, more commonly known as HB141, is no different.

“There has been a lot of misinformation flying around. Some people think they can no longer fish streams on public land and that is just not true,” said Dean Mitchell, Outreach coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR).

The Spectrum: Conserving water – The Central Iron County Water Conservancy District is evaluating suggestions for water conservation made in a study by Montgomery, Watson and Harza, a consulting company that has been conducting studies on the Lake Powell Pipeline project.

KSL: Southern Nevada water director: comments weren’t meant personally – The director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority says her comments about Salt Lake City were not meant as an attack against the citizens of Utah.  Earlier this week, Pat Mulroy told television station KCVB in Las Vegas, “They can’t spell conservation in Salt Lake City.”

Deseret News: Bountiful arsenic finding spurs water study – Bountiful city officials are funding a groundwater study after tests of water from a well near a community landfill found increased levels of arsenic.

Technorati Tags: Arsenic,Bountiful City,CICWCD,Jackson Flat Reservoir,Kanab,Lake Powell Pipeline,Pat Mulroy,SNWA,Water Conservation

Water News Roundup – April 13, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune: Culture Vulture: City Creek’s promise begins to show – The reflecting pools weren’t reflecting much on Friday, as the winds bouncing between the twinned 10-story buildings of Richards Court churned up the water into a succession of waves.  In calmer weather, these reflecting pools will look up at the promised glory of City Creek Center, the massive shopping/office/residential complex The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is building in downtown Salt Lake City.  (Sean Means comments specifically on the water features that run throughout the new City Creek Redevelopment Project.  The water features installed as part of the ‘open space, green development’ plan are not an actual daylighting of the historic southern fork of City Creek, but they do show how water can be used to augment and beautify an urban setting.  It should be quite a nice place to visit.  The food court even has a Red Iguana III! WOOT!)

KCPW: Author, photographer, document reemergence of Glen Canyon – The construction of the Glen Canyon Dam to create Lake Powell in the 1960s monumentally changed the landmark on the Utah-Arizona border as it was flooded with water from the Colorado River.

Via Water Conserve and The Guardian: Shell fights shareholders’ campaign for oil sands review – A group of institutional investors, led by campaign group FairPensions, had tabled a special resolution ahead of the Anglo-Dutch company’s annual meeting next month. They want Shell to review the commercial and environmental viability of going ahead with its new projects in Canada’s boreal forests.

Technorati Tags: City Creek,Colorado River,Glen Canyon,oil/shale development,water aesthetics,water/energy nexus

Water News Roundup – April 12, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Sides gear up for new water fight – Ranchers, county governments, conservation groups and the Goshute tribe are crafting protests against a Nevada water utility’s new applications to pump Snake Valley water to Las Vegas, a conservation group said.

Utah’s first N-plant won’t float without water rights – The former uranium boomtown of Green River sits along I-70 in eastern Utah, 100 miles from the closest city. Now it may become the Western outpost of America’s nascent nuclear renaissance. Blue Castle Holdings, a three-year-old, politically connected startup, wants to build a nuclear power plant there — Utah’s first, and the first in the West since 1987.

Salt Lake Tribune – Editorial: Wilderness bill – An act of Congress to set aside 26,000 additional acres of wilderness in the Wasatch Mountain canyons east of the Salt Lake Valley could benefit water users. It could also benefit its sponsor, Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, whose vote against health care legislation has made him unpopular with some Democratic voters in the 2nd Congressional District.

Las Vegas Sun: Las Vegas can’t handle another era of unimpeded growth – A report by the Sonoran Institute, an Arizona-based nonprofit think tank, says that if the Las Vegas Valley’s population grows to capacity using the Bureau of Land Management acreage designated for development, even the most stringent water conservation measures won’t be enough to ensure that everyone has enough H2O.

Technorati Tags: groundwater management,Nevada,nuclear power,Snake Valley,Water Conservation,water/energy nexus,watershed protection,wilderness designation

Water News Roundup – April Fool’s edition (but no jokes… sorry)

Provo Daily Herald: Citizens groups propose bridgeless Utah Lake – Hunters, sailors, birders, recreation-lovers and environmentalists joined together on Wednesday to tell the state to leave Utah Lake bridge-free.

Salt Lake Tribune:

Brian Head resort for sale, but who will buy? – Taking advantage of a good snow year, the owners of Brian Head Resort have stepped up their efforts to sell the ski resort above Parowan in southwestern Utah.

Governor signs contentious stream bill – Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bitterly contested bill Wednesday that could restrict fishing and recreation access to some streams that cross private land, saying he believed it will foster negotiations in a clash over public water rights and private property.

KSL: Cache council to sponsor canal project – The Cache County Council will sponsor a multimillion dollar canal project aimed at restoring irrigation water to shareholders adversely affected by a canal breach in Logan last year.

New York Times: New efficiency standards for water heaters – The Obama administration on Thursday released new energy efficiency standards for water heaters and other appliances that it said would save consumers $10 billion over 30 years while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Technorati Tags: Brian Head,canal rehabilitation,canal safety,energy efficiency,snowpack,stream access,stream bill,Utah Lake,Utah Lake bridge,water efficiency,water/energy nexus

Water News Roundup – March 31, 2010

Ogden Standard Examiner: Court dismisses against Great Salt Lake Minerals – Utah’s Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday over plans by Great Salt Lake Minerals to expand its evaporation ponds in Great Salt Lake.  The dismissal means Great Salt Lake Minerals, based in Weber County, has one less barrier in its efforts to expand the ponds.

A collection of new ‘Smart’ design in water tech… if you’ve heard of some other recent water-related tech innovation, post a comment (see link above)!

New York Times: Smart Water Meters Take Hold in California – Smart water meters are taking off in California, according to a forthcoming report from the California Energy Commission.

Water and Wastewater Blog: Could Bloom Box turn wastewater treatment plants into power generation stations? – Bloom Energy Corp. generated lots of high-energy buzz for its fuel cell “energy servers” on “60 Minutes” last month…

Water Online: GE Smart Grid technology enabling customers in Germany to track energy and water consumption – Stadtwerke Erding, the city’s public works department, is implementing a groundbreaking pilot installation that will consolidate and report data to homeowners on energy and utility usage, including electricity, gas, water and heating.

Technorati Tags: Great Salt Lake,Great Salt Lake Minerals,wastewater biogas,Water Conservation,water metering,water/energy nexus

Water News Roundup – March 30, 2010

Salt Lake Tribune:

Storm expected to hit Utah this week – Four-wheel drive fans participating in the annual Moab Jeep Safari usually don’t let a little bad weather keep them from exploring the trails surrounding the southeastern Utah recreational hotbed.

Brian McInerny’s STORM WATCH – 60 mph winds??? Oh my!!

Company seeks first U.S. oil sands project, in Utah – An energy company with government approvals to launch the first significant U.S. oil sands project is trying to raise money to build a plant in eastern Utah that would turn out 2,000 barrels of oil a day.

AWRA Blog: Dr. Rita Colwell awarded 2010 Stockholm water prize – Dr. Rita Colwell, a professor at the University of Maryland and at the Johns Hopkins University, has been awarded the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize.

The prize, awarded by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), is sometimes referred to as water’s Nobel Prize.

New York Times:

Of Water, Electricity and the Time of Day – Water accounts for an astonishing percentage of electricity use — 19 percent in California, for example — partly because of all the energy needed to pump it.

Can people be persuaded to change the hours that they use water, and thereby reduce their water utility’s electricity costs? A pilot study conducted last summer in Palm Desert, Calif., suggests that they can.

The Battle Over Bottled Water – Published in recognition of World Water Day, a video called The Story of Bottled Water, made its debut on YouTube this week, using animation and snappy narration to convey what its makers consider to be the evils of bottled water. (It comes from the same folks who produced ”The Story of Stuff” — an eco-themed viral video sensation from last year.)

Not missing a beat, the International Bottled Water Association, declared the new video to be sensational, and quickly posted its own minifilm, highlighting the sustainability practices of its members, which include major brands like Nestlé. (Who knew there was an International Bottled Water Association?)

Technorati Tags: bottled water,oil/shale development,precipitation,Rita Colwell,Stockholm water prize,water/energy nexus