Nitrate pollution is likely to force more water-use restrictions. Iowa’s problems are uniquely severe: It has plenty of water, but bans on car washing and lawn watering underscore the state’s long struggle with high nitrate levels.
An estimated 9 million water service lines that still carry drinking water to homes and businesses are made of lead throughout the country. Yet an October deadline and a November election could delay replacement.
The water was being siphoned at the top of an old coal ash pond for reuse at the Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset, Minn., but escaped after an underground pipe broke. Experts say the risk is low to local drinking water.
In the Cuyama Valley, north of Santa Barbara, water continues to be heavily pumped to irrigate thousands of acres of farmland. A plan to prevent over-pumping has sparked a legal battle.
The lost water costs the cities millions and heightens the state’s water supply challenges.
A 2023 study found that 90 percent of the state’s beaches tested positive for unsafe levels of fecal bacteria for at least one day. Fecal contamination can come from urban runoff, sewage overflows and factory farms.
States are spending about $20 billion of the flexible funding from the American Rescue Plan Act on water infrastructure. Demand is expected to grow in coming years.
The Surfrider Foundation found that of the nation’s 10 most polluted beaches, three are in California. San Diego’s Imperial Beach held the top spot, with every water sample failing the state’s health standards.
In 2012, the city was spending five times more on sewers than it was on drinking water. In 2017, it was losing an increasing amount of water to leaky pipes. Last month’s crisis reiterated a history of jumping from crisis to crisis without fixing long-standing issues.
The new state department will be housed at Florida Atlantic University. It seeks to harness public and private research, education, technology and business applications involving fresh and salt water.
The Louisiana Department of Health found that 81 percent of the state’s population were serviced with A or B grade water systems. But 115 of the state’s systems, mostly in rural areas, were ranked with a D or F.
The Panoche Water District allegedly stole 130,000 acre feet of water and redistributed it to farmland across Fresno and Merced counties. Now the feds want retribution but not everyone in the region agrees.
Recent events highlight the fact that water systems are targets for cyber attacks. There are ways of strengthening defenses at little to no cost, but more needs to be done to implement them.
The state’s gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is expected to bring in $750 million annually, totaling $6 billion through 2030. Currently, 96 percent of the funds are committed to water-quality projects.
The state has begun scanning 2 million pages. It’s part of a $60 million project to build a database integrating a century of water rights records, geospatial mapping and up-to-date water diversion data.
The Delta Conveyance Project is a 45-mile tunnel that would run beneath the delta and move more water from Northern California to cities further south. Opponents worry about the tunnel’s impact on the delta’s fragile ecosystem.
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