Florida is faced with a myriad of issues, many centered around water; issues ranging from red tides and algae blooms, to marine mortality and the inability to fish or swim.  On January 21, six groups came together in the first Florida Water Policy Summit to discuss policy solutions to address the state’s compromised waters. According to John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper, “Not a single resident in Florida lives more than 20 miles from an impaired waterway.”[1]  12 million acres of water are currently served by Best Management Action Plans (BMAPs) which are plans implemented over the course of 15 years, mandated […]

At a time when concerns over the water levels of the Colorado are ever-increasing, this month saw the approval by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California of the Colorado River Drought Plan.  They join Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in approving a plan to share the necessary reductions in water take should the level of water at Lakes Mead and Powell fall below a certain level. Although a large percentage of water comes from the Colorado River, San Diego seems secure in their share of water, likely a result of Arizona vs. California (1968), which determined that […]

Across the country, homeowners struggle with the conflicting desires for a beautiful lawn and water conservation, but as water availability becomes less guaranteed, communities are using creative incentives to encourage a different mindset.  In Gainesville, Florida (Alachua County), a program was launched to decrease the amount of outdoor water use by removing irrigation systems and replacing the grass with landscaping that is indigenous to the area and more sustainable. The Alachua County Turf SWAP Rebate Program is made possible by a grant from the St. John’s River Water Management District which, according to its website, is “an environmental regulatory agency […]

There are no words to adequately express the breadth of Hurricane Florence’s impact to North Carolina and the accumulating costs. The human cost of the storm is a total of 43 lives in the Carolinas and Virginia.[1]  The financial cost of the storm is estimated to be “between $38 billion and $50 billion in damage and economic losses.”[2]  The environmental costs include beach erosion, downed trees, chemical spills, storm surge and flooding as well as the “added waste from thousands of dead hogs, millions of dead chickens, millions of gallons of wastewater, and coal ash from Duke’s now-flooded Sutton facility.”[3] […]

How is it possible to have one of the wettest summers on record and still be considered “abnormally dry”?  That is the situation currently facing Concord, New Hampshire with record levels of rainfall occurring in August making it “the wettest August since records began being kept 150 years ago.”[1]  This would make one assume that the drought is over.  However, the reality of drought is not just felt above ground.  With extended rainfall after months of dry weather, “the grass starts growing pretty quickly but it takes longer to fill up the aquifers that our wells depend on. A drought […]