Archive for the 'groundwater' Category

Bill seeks to clarify groundwater oversight

Published on 05/13/2012 in aquifer overdraft, groundwater and policy. 0 Comments

Retrieved from: www.reynolds-group.com

“A proposed law designed to keep water bills from skyrocketing has passed a state Senate committee, but opponents vow to fight the measure they say is a “political power grab.”

Senate Bill 1386, authored by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, would remove barriers to storing groundwater in the Central Basin and would allow for underground water reserves to protect against high rates in dry periods. Area cities and water agencies have been embroiled in legal battles over how and by whom the water should be stored.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee last week.

Supporters for Lowenthal’s bill include the cities of Lakewood, South Gate, Norwalk, Paramount and Torrance, along with the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, the Southeast Water Coalition and Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce.

The basin water rights and sales of water basin customers are managed by the Central Basin Municipal Water District.

SB 1386 would clarify state law by establishing that one entity, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, is responsible for managing groundwater in the region.”

Read more: Press-Telegram

lily victoria

MENA Changing Drastically & NASA Has The Pictures To Prove It

Published on 05/07/2012 in agriculture, aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, dams, drought, groundwater, hydrology, lakes, oil, peak water, policy, rivers, tap water, water diversions, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

“Lake shrinkage in Iran

Retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

Left: August 1985. Right: August 2010.

Iran’s Lake Oroumeih (also spelled Urmia) is the largest lake in the Middle East and the third largest saltwater lake on Earth. But dams on feeder streams, expanded use of ground water, and a decades-long drought have reduced it to 60 percent of the size it was in the 1980s. Light blue tones in the 2010 image represent shallow water and salt deposits. Increased salinity has led to an absence of fish and habitat for migratory waterfowl. At the current rate, the lake will be completely dry by the end of 2013.

Urban Growth in Morocco

Retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

Left: July 2, 1985. Right: June 24, 2011.

The Moroccan cities of Agadir, Inezgane and Tikiouine are close to the Atlantic coastline (seen in blue in the images), and stretch into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Agadir was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1960. Reconstruction has focused on tourism, turning this area into a winter destination. The 1985 image shows the area 25 years into the rebuilding. By 2011, the urban areas reach into the Sahara Desert. Growth has been influenced by the expanding fishing industry and modern commercial ports.”

Read more: Green Prophet


lily victoria

Valley water agencies look at farming contamination

Published on 05/05/2012 in agriculture, bottled water, contaminated water, groundwater and water filtering. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Retrieved from: carbon-based-ghg.blogspot.com

“California failed to protect the San Joaquin Valley from fertilizer, dairy and septic contamination now threatening drinking water from thousands of wells, says the leader of the responsible state agency.

“But Pamela Creedon, executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board, says her agency is working on ways to make up for the past.

” ‘We have more than 50% of our resources focused in groundwater programs, and we’re expanding our efforts,’ said Creedon.

“Creedon spoke in Clovis on Thursday after a University of California at Davis researcher described his study on the Valley’s vast water contamination from nitrates, which he linked mostly to farm fertilizing and dairy practices in the past.

“The study says the problem coming from millions of farming acres is getting worse. It suggests many changes, including added fertilizer fees to raise money for water cleanups in many communities. Most rural Valley towns are completely dependent on wells for tap water.

“Many people in small Tulare County towns and other places in the Valley buy bottled water, fearing the nitrate-laced water from their taps will harm their children.”

Read More: Chicago Tribune

Chippie Kislik

It’s Raining, Again: Britain Endures Damp Drought

Published on 05/04/2012 in drought, floods, groundwater and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.wtop.com

“Sodden fields. Deep puddles. Flash floods. This is what drought looks like in Britain.

Last month, water authorities banned 20 million U.K. homeowners from using hoses to water their lawns or wash their cars, saying two exceptionally dry winters had plunged much of Britain into drought.

Since then, the rain has hardly let up. Official figures show that April was both cooler than average and the wettest in a century, leaving a trail of flooded properties, canceled events and grumpy residents.

But officials insist the drought and the watering ban remain — to the bafflement of many Britons.

In eastern England, Daniel Allen noted with irony that he’s been told he can’t water the lush foliage in the grounds of his riverside pub, the Rushbrooke Arms — “which is incredible as I had a river running through it yesterday.”

The River Lark usually runs past the thatched pub in Sicklesmere village as a trickle.”

Read more: NPR

 

lily victoria

Drinking Water Under Threat: New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

Published on 05/03/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater and tap water. 0 Comments

 

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“Scientists have theorized that impermeable layers of rock would keep the fluid, which contains benzene and other dangerous chemicals, safely locked nearly a mile below water supplies. This view of the earth’s underground geology is a cornerstone of the industry’s argument that fracking poses minimal threats to the environment.

But the study, using computer modeling, concluded that natural faults and fractures in the Marcellus, exacerbated by the effects of fracking itself, could allow chemicals to reach the surface in as little as “just a few years.”

“Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said the study’s author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include the federal government and environmental groups.

“The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,” he said. “Fluids could move from most any injection process.”

The research for the study was paid for by Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Park Foundation, two upstate New York organizations that have opposed gas drilling and fracking in the Marcellus.”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria

China’s Looming Conflict Between Energy and Water

Published on 05/02/2012 in coal, contaminated water, groundwater, lakes, rivers, water shortage and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.e360.yale.edu

“Yet, in expanding coal-industry bases in west China, one crucial challenge has so far received far less attention than it deserves: Coal-based industries are massively water-intensive (in fact, coal mining, coal-based power generation, and petrochemical processing together account for more than one-fifth of China’s total water usage). And much of western China is already short on water — think Gobi desert and camels, as opposed to Pearl River Delta rice paddies. “The west of China is an environmentally fragile area,” says Professor Wang Xiujun, who conducts research on climate and precipitation jointly for the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography and the University of Maryland. “There’s not much water to spare.”

When new industry comes to town, water is secured by tapping local lakes and rivers, pumping groundwater, and constructing reservoirs to capture rainwater, which diverts its normal flow and reabsorption into the soil. All three have unintended environmental consequences, says Sun Qingwei, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace China and a former government scientist based in western Gansu province.”

Read more: Yale Environment 360

lily victoria

Energy industry works to recycle hydro-fracking waste water

Published on 05/01/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling, policy, rivers, tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.americanrecycler.com

“Energy executives fear that without addressing environmental concerns, fracking could be headed for a rapid demise. “France and Belgium have permanently banned it,” says Chris Faulkner, CEO of Breitling Oil & Gas, an independent exploration and production company located in Irving, Texas. “And it has everything to do with water.”

Two major water issues concern critics. “One is the chemicals that go down the well and the fear that they will contaminate ground water,” said Faulkner. “The other is the water that comes back up.” To address the first, companies like Breitling are trying to come up with new formulations of fracking chemicals that won’t pose the risk of harming the environment. Companies that treat water from fracking operations to make it reusable are now seeing their own boom, as energy producers try to reduce the costs and environmental impact of existing ways of handling water generated from fracking.

Recycling water from fracked wells makes sense on several levels, according to Warren Sumner, CEO of Omni Water Solutions, an Austin, Texas, company that has developed a system to recycle the water.” “Today the practice of disposing of water typically involves trucking it to a disposal well,” Sumner said. “There’s a lot of cost and collateral damage from that trucking process.”

Read more: American Recycler

 

lily victoria

ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules

Published on 04/29/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

 

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“One of the key controversies about fracking is the chemical makeup of the fluid that is pumped deep into the ground to break apart rock and release natural gas. Some companies have been reluctant to disclose what’s in their fracking fluid. Scientists and environmental advocates argue that, without knowing its precise composition, they can’t thoroughly investigate complaints of contamination.

Disclosure requirements vary considerably from state to state, asProPublica recently charted. In many cases, the rules have been limited by a “trade secrets” provision under which companies can claim that a proprietary chemical doesn’t have to be disclosed to regulators or the public.”

Read more: AlterNet

 

lily victoria

Sudans conflict leaves 37,000 desperate for water

Published on 04/27/2012 in groundwater, oil, peak water, privatization, water shortage, water wars and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“There is simply not enough ground water available to sustain the growing number of people who need it,” “said Pauline Ballaman, head of Oxfam’s operations at the camp. “Women have to queue for hours in the burning sun just to collect a fraction of the water they need, and the situation is getting more desperate by the day. The only solution is for people to be moved urgently.”

Oxfam says this large number of refugees fled to the camp since December and more are on their way.

South Sudan split from Sudan last year as part of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of war in Africa’s largest nation. The war left 2 million people dead and ended with the peace agreement that included an independence referendum for the south.”

Read more: CNN

 

lily victoria

Restrict shale gas fracking to 600m from water supplies, says study

Published on 04/25/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Retrieved from: The Guardian

“Controversial “fracking” for shale gas should only take place at least 600 metres down from aquifers used for water supplies, scientists said on Wednesday.

A new study revealed the process, which uses high-pressure liquid pumped deep underground to split shale rock and release gas, caused fractures running upwards and downwards through the ground of up to 588 metres from their source. The research, published in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, found the chance of a fracture extending more than 600 metres upwards was exceptionally low, and the probability of fractures of more than 350 metres was 1%.

Researchers said the study showed it was “incredibly unlikely” that fracking at depths of 2km to 3km below the surface would lead to the contamination of shallow aquifers which lie above the gas resources.

“The researchers from Durham University, Cardiff University and the University of Tromso, Norway, looked at thousands of natural and induced rock fractures in the US, Europe and Africa, and found none of the artificially caused ones were more than 600 metres.”

Read more: The Guardian

Sami Oueida