Category: Rivers

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

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Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water

2/7/2021

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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

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

1/22/2021

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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

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Pebble Mine Permit Denied by Trump Administration

11/27/2020

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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.

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A Desert City Tries to Save Itself With Rain

11/25/2020

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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

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

11/16/2020

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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

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

10/19/2020

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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

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River Colors are Changing

Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water

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

Pebble Mine Permit Denied by Trump Administration

A Desert City Tries to Save Itself With Rain

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

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

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