$2.45 Billion in Increased Electricity Costs Attributed to CA Drought
The epic five-year drought cost Californians in many ways. Homeowners throughout the state witnessed severe water restrictions. Once flourishing fields were left fallow in response to dwindling irrigation supplies. And as a new report suggest, everyone spent more on electricity. Under normal, non-drought conditions, California produces electricity from a variety of sources, with natural gas and hydropower being at the top. With little to no rain or snow between 2012 and 2016, dams that power hundreds of hydropower stations were closed or substantially cut back production. This forced cities and utilities across the state to rely on power plants fueled […]
Florida, New Home for Drought
As the state of Florida battles a drought that has quickly overtaken the entire state, a new report has projected that water shortages throughout the state will become increasingly worse in the following years. According to a recently released joint study, the state of Florida is projected to encounter severe water shortages in the years to come as the state’s population grows from 20 million to 25 million, and with it, water consumption growing from 5 billion gallons a day to 8 billion by 2070. The report, called Water 2070, was joint-authored by the University of Florida, the Florida State […]
California Eyes Reclaimed Water as Key to Agriculture
Beginning in December 2017, the City of Modesto will begin selling highly treated wastewater to struggling farmers in an effort to curb reliance on groundwater. Once the project is up and running, it will be California’s largest wastewater-to-agriculture reuse project, marking the first time recycled water flows through a federally owned canal. According to the News Deeply, the North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program “will collect tertiary-treated sewage from the cities of Modesto, Turlock, and Ceres and transport it through new pipelines into the Delta Mendota Canal, owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.”[1] Costing over $90 million, the treated […]
State of Emergency Declared as Louisiana’s Coastline Slips Away
Earlier this month, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in response to the state’s rapidly disappearing coastline. The state of emergency coincides with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority approving a new draft of the state’s 50-year master plan to battle the quickly receding coastline. “Decades of saltwater intrusion, subsidence and rising sea levels have made the Louisiana coast the nation’s most rapidly deteriorating shoreline. It loses the equivalent of one football field of land every hour,” a recent NPR article explained.[1] According to the declaration, if no further action is taken, an additional 2,250 […]
N.J. Man Begins Cross Country Journey for Access to Clean Water
On May 17th, 23-year-old James Leitner began the first section of the 3,215-mile trek from Princeton, NJ to San Francisco, CA carrying 90 pounds of water. Through this tremendous test of strength and endurance, Leitner is hoping to raise awareness for the millions of women and children that have to walk several miles on a daily basis just to access clean water. This is not Leitner’s first attempt at raising awareness to the issue of global water availability. In a report by WRN, Leitner prepped for his cross-country march, by completing 12 marathons in 12 months all while carrying 45 […]