Category: Rivers

The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe Calls on Seattle to Remove the Gorge Dam

7/16/2021

The Skagit River runs about 150 miles through what is now British Columbia into northwest Washington, from the Cascade Mountains to Puget Sound. Along the way, three major hydroelectric dams owned by the city of Seattle — Ross Dam, Diablo Dam and the Gorge Dam — block the river’s flow. Now, as part of a once-every-few-decades federal relicensing process, the ecological alterations caused by those dams are being re-examined by scientists and regulators. The license renewal is exposing other changes, too, including how Indigenous nations are increasingly asserting their sovereignty and rights. Looked at from one angle, this regulatory process is simply a bureaucratic hoop Seattle must jump through to keep using the Skagit River to generate power. From another, however, it’s a chance to reconsider the value of the river itself. The relicensing process has triggered many different conversations on the Skagit’s future; this is one of a pair of stories that focus on a few of them. - HCN

Severe Heat and Drought the Hallmarks of a Changing West

6/20/2021

Much of the American West , from parched Northern California through Arizona and New Mexico, is drying out at a record pace.
The onset of this severe drought was far quicker than previous ones — the result of a meager Sierra Nevada snowpack and early seasonal heat that evaporated the runoff needed to fill the reservoirs and rivers. “It’s difficult to point to one occurrence and say, ‘Hah, this is climate change,’’’ said John Yarbrough, the assistant deputy director for the State Water Project with the California Department of Water Resources. But this year, the second consecutive that the nation’s most populous state will be in drought, has been different from previous ones. Yarbrough said that only 20 percent of the expected runoff from an already well-below average snowpack arrived in reservoirs. The rest evaporated during the unseasonably warm spring. - Washington Post

Is Lake Powell Doomed?

6/9/2021

On Feb. 22, 2021, Lake Powell was 127.24 feet below 'Full Pool' or, by content, about 38% full. Based on water level elevations, these measurements do not account for years of sediment (clay, silt, and sand) accumulation—the millions of metric tons on the bottom. Geologist James L. Powell said, "The Colorado delivers enough sediment to Lake Powell to fill 1,400 ship cargo containers each day." In other words, Lake Powell is shrinking toward the middle from top and bottom. The lake is down over 30 feet from one year ago, and estimates suggest it could drop another 50 feet by 2026. - Lake Powell Chronicle

Mangroves Regrow in Iloilo City

5/25/2021

It is good to know that we can worth with nature.

Like many port cities in the Philippines, Iloilo City is susceptible to intense flooding and massive landslides each year. In 2011, the government completed the construction of an artificial waterway—the Jaro Floodway—to help divert floodwaters away from the city and mitigate the deadly events. But the new channel also brought an unexpected surprise: a resurgence of mangrove trees. - NASA Earth Observatory

Declining Lake Powell Levels Prompt Colorado River States to Form New Plan

5/25/2021

Declining levels at the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. have spurred officials in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico to search for ways to prop it up. Lake Powell on the Colorado River is dropping rapidly amid one of the southwestern watershed’s driest years on record. It’s currently forecast to be at 29% of capacity by the end of September – the lowest level since the reservoir first started filling in 1963. Its sister reservoir downstream on the Colorado River, Lake Mead, also is approaching a record low this year. - Cronkite News

Beavers Are Firefighters Who Work for Free

5/19/2021

Since Kenneth McDarment was a kid in the 1980s, he’s seen the foothills of the Sierra Nevada change. As a councilman of the Tule River Tribe, a sovereign nation of around 1,000 members living on 56,000-odd acres in the foothills of the Sierras, McDarment deals with everything water-related on the reservation. Today there’s less rain and less snow than there was even a decade ago, which means that the land in the foothills was dangerously dry during the last fire season, when wildfires were sweeping across the state. “If you don’t got water,” says McDarment, “we don’t got nothing. In 2014, McDarment began looking into getting ahold of some beavers. McDarment hoped that beaver dams would create soggy areas on tribal lands that wouldn’t dry out during heat waves. “We’re hoping that means our land will be less likely to burn during fire season,” he says. “Beavers were here originally. So why not bring them back and let them do the work they do naturally? There was just one problem—it is illegal to move beavers without a permit. And a permit to move a beaver isn't easy to come by. - Sierra

Widespread Drought in Mexico

5/5/2021

Mexico is experiencing one of its most widespread and intense droughts in decades. Nearly 85 percent of the country is facing drought conditions as of April 15, 2021. Large reservoirs across the country are standing at exceptionally low levels, straining water resources for drinking, farming, and irrigation. The mayor of Mexico City called it the worst drought in 30 years for the city, which is home to about 9 million people. This drought doesn't stop at the Arizona borders . The entire SW USA and Mexico are affected. - NASA

California Orders Nestlé to Stop Siphoning Spring Water

4/28/2021

California water officials have moved to stop Nestlé from siphoning millions of gallons of water out of California’s San Bernardino forest, which it bottles and sells as Arrowhead brand water, as drought conditions worsen across the state. The draft cease-and-desist order, which still requires approval from the California Water Resources Control Board, is the latest development in a protracted battle between the bottled water company and local environmentalists, who for years have accused Nestlé of draining water supplies at the expense of local communities and ecosystems. - HCN

As Mega-Drought Persists, Lake Mead Could Sink to Record Low Later This Year

4/19/2021

Wracked by drought, climate change and overuse, a key reservoir on the Colorado River could sink to historically low levels later this year, new US government projections show, potentially triggering significant water cutbacks in some states as early as next year. The projections released by the US Bureau of Reclamation show that Lake Mead, largest reservoir in the US and a vital water supply to millions across the Southwest, could fall later this year to its lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s. - CNN

River Colors are Changing

2/27/2021

Much like the sky, rivers are rarely painted one color. Across the world, they appear in shades of yellow, green, blue, and brown. Subtle changes in the environment can alter the color of rivers, though, shifting them away from their typical hues. New research shows the dominant color has changed in about one-third of large rivers in the continental United States over the past 35 years “Changes in river color serve as a first pass that tell us something is going on nearby,” said John Gardner, the study’s lead author and a hydrologist at the University of Pittsburgh. “There are a lot of details to parse out on what is causing those changes, though.” - NASA Earth Observatory

Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water

2/7/2021

Many Americans fill up a glass of water from their faucet without worrying whether it might be dangerous. But the crisis of lead-tainted water in Flint, Mich., showed that safe, potable tap water is not a given in this country. Now a study from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit advocacy organization, reveals a widespread problem: the drinking water of a majority of Americans likely contains “forever chemicals.” These compounds may take hundreds, or even thousands, of years to break down in the environment. They can also persist in the human body, potentially causing health problems. A handful of states have set about trying to address these contaminants, which are scientifically known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). But no federal limits have been set on the concentration of the chemicals in water, as they have for other pollutants such as benzene, uranium and arsenic. With a new presidential administration coming into office this week, experts say the federal government finally needs to remedy that oversight. “The PFAS pollution crisis is a public health emergency,” wrote Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, in a recent public statement. - Scientific American

Lakes Mead & Powell Could Drop to Lowest Ever; Drought Plan Triggered

1/22/2021

Increasingly bleak forecasts for the Colorado River have for the first time put into action elements of the 2019 Upper Basin drought contingency plan. The 24-month study released in January by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which projects two years of operations at the river’s biggest reservoirs, showed Lake Powell possibly dipping below an elevation of 3,525 feet above sea level in 2022. That elevation was designated as a critical threshold in a 2019 agreement to preserve the ability to produce hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam. - Cronkite News

Pebble Mine Permit Denied by Trump Administration

11/27/2020

The Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for a controversial gold and copper mine near the headwaters of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said application to build the Pebble Mine was denied under both the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act. The corps said the discharge plan from the Pebble Limited Partnership did not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines. The agency “concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest...” - High Country News

The Pebble Mine was proposed at the headwaters of the Bristol Bay where sockeye salmon migration can exceed 46 million fish annually.

A Desert City Tries to Save Itself With Rain

11/25/2020

In an average year, Brad Lancaster can harvest enough rain to meet 95% of his water needs. Roof runoff collected in tanks on his modest lot in Tucson, Arizona where 100 degree days are common in the summer months — provides what he needs to bathe, cook and drink. When Lancaster gets thirsty, he sips filtered rain “known as sweet water,” he says, having never picked up salt from soil. When he wants a hot shower, he places his outdoor shower’s water tank in the sun. To irrigate his fruit trees beyond the Sonoran Desert’s two rainy seasons, which bring the vast majority of Tucson’s precipitation, he uses fresh rainwater or greywater — the latter being, in his case, used rainwater leftover from the shower, sink, or washing machine. - Bloomberg

One of America’s Most Famous Lakes Is Disappearing. Utah’s Next governor Can Help.

11/16/2020

Opinion - Green lawns will soon need to become a thing of the past in Northern Utah, difficult though that may be for many who have a traditional view of the suburban family home. Also, the average new home lot will need to shrink by 14% to 24%. Without these measures, the Great Salt Lake, one of the region’s environmental, tourism and economic giants, will continue to dwindle away. Currently, it is shrinking because of drought and diversions upstream to handle growth in Utah’s largest metropolitan areas. Imagine Northern Utah without the lake. The consequences would be enormous. It serves as an ecosystem to millions of birds and other wildlife. It often creates its own localized weather patterns that provide much-needed snow to Wasatch Front mountains. Its loss could cost the state’s economy more than $2 billion a year and 6,500 jobs in the mineral, brine shrimp and tourism industries. The more the lake dries away, the greater the risks of dust storms accentuated by the dry lake bed, which could create environmental and health dangers in populated areas. Saving the lake ought to become a priority of the new administration of Utah Gov.-elect Spencer Cox. - Deseret News

Water recedes at the Great Salt Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. A new study shows water conservation could put off the need for new water development by as long as 2065 and help save the dwindling Great Salt Lake

Dutch Inventor Cleans World's Most Polluted Rivers in Effort to Save Oceans

10/19/2020

Just 10 rivers are responsible for around 90% of all the ocean's plastic, according to a 2017 study. "...If we focus on the worst rivers, we believe we can really have the fastest and most cost-effective way to close the tap and prevent more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place." Ocean Cleanup is deploying floating trash collectors or "Interceptors." These solar-powered, autonomous systems use the rivers' currents to guide the trash onto a conveyor belts that carry the waste to awaiting bins. - CNN