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Urban Water Institute Newsletter
The Urban Water Institute, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c) (3) dedicated to providing information about Urban Water Resource and Clean Water Act issues to Professionals and Elected Officials. See www.urbanwater.com for information about the organization and its Program schedule.
The “Urban Water Alert” is issued monthly. Brief articles by members and others may be submitted to julie@urbanwater.com and are subject to editing. Opinions expressed by authors in submitted articles are their own.
Editor: Wayne A. Clark
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Quick Links
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State Water Contractors, Environmental Coalition File Lawsuits Challenging Delta Plan
The State Water Contractors (SWC) and a statewide coalition of environmental groups have filed separate lawsuits challenging the newly adopted Delta Plan, claiming the plan for the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is inadequate. Read more
Study says global warming will reduce Colorado River levels by 2050
A new study says global warming is expected to reduce Colorado River water levels over the next three decades, but the scientists have widely differing opinions over how much the river will shrink because of rising temperatures. The Colorado River supplies water to 30 million people in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico, so the study released this week by the University of Arizona is bending
Editorial: The time for climate action is now
Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, so it might seem crazy that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently announced a $20-billion proposal to construct levees and shore up hospitals to protect his city from storms and rising seas. All government leaders should be so crazy. Though the need to adopt policies that sharply curb carbon emissions remains as important as ever, there also are unmistakable signs that decades of inaction on climate change areshaping the present, not just the future.
What Australia’s “Angry Summer” May Indicate About California’s Future Climate
A new study of climate models concludes that the record-breaking Australian summer of 2012-13 could not have happened without the human disturbances-greenhouse gases, aerosols and ozone-that underlie global warming. The paper, accepted for publication by the journal Geophysical Research Letters or GRL, suggests that Australia’s experience is a leading indicator for dry continental areas like our own American West.
Jet stream blamed for weather extremes
Lately, the jet stream isn’t playing by the rules. Scientists say that big river of air high above Earth, which dictates much of the weather for the Northern Hemisphere, has been unusually erratic the past few years.
Water Issues Ripple Through Obama Climate Change Speech
President Obama’s climate change speech on Tuesday from Georgetown University was full of references to climate change impacts on water availability, flooding and drought. He dealt head on with key issues of changing water cycle intensity, and in particular, with the increasing frequency of hydrologic extremes. From the outset, the President invoked the Blue Marble view of Earth from space that has served as the inspiration for modern environmental stewardship.
Obama’s climate-change plan lags California’s
The plan President Obama outlined Tuesday to fight global warming represents a major step forward for the federal government. But by California’s standards, it’s practically old hat. And the state’s efforts to combat climate change remain more ambitious than Obama’s plan, unveiled in a speech at Georgetown University. The president wants to limit carbon dioxide emissions from both new and older power plants, which produce about 40 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas releases.
Satellites reveal depth of water depletion
Satellites peering down on California’s great Central Valley have discovered evidence that the nation’s prime food source is fast losing precious reserves of water from the valley’s underground aquifers.
Ratepayer advocate asks utilities commission to cut San Onofre rates
The ratepayer advocacy arm of the California Public Utilities Commission called on the commission Tuesday to speed up its review of the costs of the outage at the San Onofre nuclear plant and to immediately cut hundreds of millions of dollars from rates.
Opinion: Drinking Water Bill Would Hinder Public Health
In a Sacramento Bee opinion piece, Cindy Tuck — deputy executive director for government relations for the Association of California Water Agencies — and Bruce Pomer — executive director of the Health Officers Association of California — argue against a bill (AB 145), by Assembly member Henry Perea (D-Fresno), that “seeks to move the state’s entire drinking water regulatory program away from the [Department of Public Health] to the State Water Resources Control Board, which has an important mission but is not a public health agency.” They write that the bill is “well intended, but it reaches too far and would erode the drinking water program’s critical focus on public health.”