You are here

US - Water

Primary tabs

This working group is focused on discussions about US - Water.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about US - Water.

Members

Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald MDMcDonald_me_com Miles Marcotte scottt@stetsone...

Email address for group

us-water@m.resiliencesystem.org

Enormous Fire Threatens Water Supply for San Francisco and Parts of East Bay

                                                 (TO ENLARGE - CLICK ON MAP IMAGE BELOW)

       

Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct

eastbayexpress.com - by Robert Gammon - August 23, 2013

The massive Rim Fire is closing in on Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park and is threatening the main water supply for the City of San Francisco and numerous other Bay Area communities. As of this morning, the fast-moving blaze was about 2.5 miles from Hetch Hetchy, according to a map created by the US Forest Service. If the enormous fire reaches the tinder-dry forests surrounding the reservoir, it could pollute the freshwater with huge amounts of ash. That’s bad news for San Franciscans and other communities that depend on Hetch Hetchy because the reservoir is not equipped with a water-filtration system.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Will EPA Protect Our Families From Toxic Coal Water Pollution?

huffingtonpost.com - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Anne Hitt - August 6, 2013

In 1982, complying with a federal court order stemming from a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, finally issued regulations governing toxic pollution discharges under the 1972 Clean Water Act. Industry polluters had used political clout to delay those regulations for a decade. But even as EPA was promulgating maximum standards for every other industry that year, powerful operatives for the big utilities and King Coal were able to persuade Ronald Reagan's EPA to omit prohibitions on the worst sources of toxic water pollution in America -- the poisoned flows from waste lagoons and coal ash piles at power plants.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Farmers Fight to Get River Flowing to Save Businesses

khou.com - July 26, 2013

MATAGORDA COUNTY, Texas --Rice farmers in Matagorda County said they will no longer be able to farm much rice if they don’t get any water within the next two years.

An estimated 200 farmers just southeast of Houston face the same fate.

A canal that was once filled with water is now bone dry. Farmers said it’s the worst drought they’ve ever seen.

EPA - National Stormwater Calculator

submitted by Albert Gomez

epa.gov

EPA’s National Stormwater Calculator is a desktop application that estimates the annual amount of rainwater and frequency of runoff from a specific site anywhere in the United States (including Puerto Rico). Estimates are based on local soil conditions, land cover, and historic rainfall records.

It is designed to be used by anyone interested in reducing runoff from a property, including

Study Raises New Concern About Earthquakes and Fracking Fluids

      

Filmmaker Josh Fox (C) joins a protest against fracking in California, in Los Angeles in this file photo. Large earthquakes thousands of miles away can trigger swarms of small quakes near wastewater-injection wells like those used in oil and gas recovery, scientists reported. - Reuters

CLICK HERE FOR STUDY - Science Magazine - Injection-Induced Earthquakes

reuters.com - by Sharon Begley - July 11, 2013

(Reuters) - Powerful earthquakes thousands of miles (km) away can trigger swarms of minor quakes near wastewater-injection wells like those used in oil and gas recovery, scientists reported on Thursday, sometimes followed months later by quakes big enough to destroy buildings.

The discovery, published in the journal Science by one of the world's leading seismology labs, threatens to make hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which involves injecting fluid deep underground, even more controversial.

Methane, Ethane, and Propane Found in Water Wells Near Shale Gas Sites

                                                     (CLICK ON MAP IMAGE TO ENLARGE)  

      

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 25, 2013

STUDY - Increased stray gas abundance in a subset of drinking water wells near Marcellus shale gas extraction
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/06/19/1221635110

Homeowners living within one kilometer of shale gas wells appear to be at higher risk of having their drinking water contaminated by stray gases, according to a new Duke University-led study.

Duke scientists analyzed 141 drinking water samples from private water wells across northeastern Pennsylvania’s gas-rich Marcellus shale basin. Their study documented not only higher methane concentrations in drinking water within a kilometer of shale gas drilling — which past studies have shown — but higher ethane and propane concentrations as well.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

A Majority on Earth Will Soon Face Severe, Self-Inflicted Water Shortage: Scientists

submitted by Samuel Bendett

(SEE LINKS TO CONFERENCE AND DECLARATION BELOW)

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - May 28, 2013

A conference of 500 leading water scientists from around the world, held last week in Bonn, issued a stark warning that, without major reforms, “in the short span of one or two generations, the majority of the nine billion people on Earth will be living under the handicap of severe pressure on fresh water, an absolutely essential natural resource for which there is no substitute. This handicap will be self-inflicted and is, we believe, entirely avoidable.”

The scientists pointed to chronic underlying problems led by mismanagement, and offered a prescription to policy makers in a 1,000-word declaration issued at the end of a 4-day meeting in Bonn, Germany. The conference, Water in the Anthropocene, was organized by the Global Water System Project (GWSP).

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Getting Serious About a Texas-Size Drought

      

nytimes.com - by Kate Galbraith - April 6, 2013

 . . . “Texas does not and will not have enough water” in a bad drought, the state’s water plan warned last year. More than two dozen communities could run out of water in 180 days, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Looking ahead, the already-dry western half of the state is expected to be hit particularly hard by climate change. . .

. . . Wes Perry, an oilman who doubles as Midland’s mayor, put it this way recently: as valuable as oil and gas are, he said, “we are worthless without water.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

The Human Right to Water in Marginalized Communities in the United States

law.georgetown.edu - April 2013

Each year, Georgetown University Law Center’s Human Rights Institute conducts a human rights fact-finding mission. The 2012-2013 mission topic (chosen by a student committee the previous academic year) is “The Human Right to Water in Marginalized Communities in the United States.” The mission is designed and led by students participating in a year-long practicum course on fact-finding methodology taught by Rachel Taylor, the Institute’s Director. In January 2013, students traveled to Detroit, Michigan and Boston, Massachusetts to conduct interviews with people affected by or knowledgeable about the economic inaccessibility of water.

(VIEW WEBSITE)

(VIEW REPORT)

More Ways to Combat Water Shortages

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - September 28, 2012

Water is the one element that every breathing, living organism on Earth needs, and unlike oil, there are no viable alternatives. In many undeveloped countries, water is becoming scarce. Concerns are growing about the availability of water in developed countries as well..

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

howdy folks