Flooding and Wells Don’t Mix
Across the country, water is an issue perpetually on the mind of the public. Often, we have concerns about the lack of it, but lately increased rainfall has dominated the news especially in the mid-west where the region is confronting catastrophic flooding. According to Ed Clark, director of NOAA’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, “More than 200 million people are at risk for flooding in their communities.”[1] As communities struggle to recover from the personal and financial impacts of the flooding, there is also a looming health emergency that results from well contamination. Over a million private water wells […]
Pennsylvania Facing Water Personnel Shortage
In Pennsylvania, there is growing concern about the number of water-treatment plant operators approaching retirement age and the shortage in personnel that will result. This trend was predicted in 2015 in a report by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the report warning that a “scarcity of younger operators and the potential retirement of a large pool of older operators in the coming years may jeopardize the statewide pool of qualified operators.”[1] According to 2015 figures, less than three percent of drinking water and wastewater operators were under the age of 30, and the DEP report highlighted that the number […]
Duke’s New Drought Predictor
Globally, 2.5 billion people, or 30% of the world’s population, are affected by drought. Drought.gov defines drought as an insidious natural hazard with far-reaching impacts that range from economic losses to loss of agriculture and livelihood that can cause or exacerbate water, food, and national security hazards. Although many places remain in drought, others wander in and out of it as weather conditions change. What if it were possible to better predict its occurrence? Throughout the world conservation efforts are much more commonplace, especially during times of drought, but how would behaviors change if a drought could be predicted sooner? […]
California’s Conundrum: Water Tax or Water Trust?
California has a myriad of water issues. The fact that nearly 1 million residents of the state have water coming into their homes with some form of contamination is, as Governor Gavin Newson said, “a moral disgrace and a medical emergency.”[1] To address these issues that affect primarily low-income and rural districts, the democratic governor has proposed a fee that would charge between 95 cents and $10 each month to address water contamination, water system maintenance and domestic well testing. The amount to be charged would be determined by the size of the water meter, and low-income households would be […]
San Francisco Joins the Water War
In San Francisco City and County joined six irrigation districts in a lawsuit against the state of California concerning the State Water Resources Control Board’s updated Bay-Delta Plan. The plan’s objective is to fortify the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta which is a primary source of water for the state and according to the Water Education Foundation, is California’s “most crucial water and ecological resource.”[1] Over the years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has experienced deteriorating water quality and wild-life habitat conditions. The Bay-Delta plan was approved by the Control Board in December and since then those affected districts have attempted […]