Entries by Brett Walton

Book Review of “A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy”

A new book from the Pacific Institute argues that it is time to reassess the federal government’s roles and responsibilities for water management.

Federal Water Tap, August 13: Oil Dispersant Lawsuit

Environmental and public health groups are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force the EPA to issue a rule on the chemical dispersants used in oil spill recovery, WaterWorld reports. Millions of gallons of chemical dispersants were used in the Gulf of Mexico after BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, and the groups claim […]

New EPA Guidance for Combined Sewers Draws Mixed Reviews

Seattle will be the first city to test the new integrated framework. Photo © Brett Walton/Circle of Blue Elliott Bay, in downtown Seattle, is one of several bodies of water surrounding the largest city in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The city is trying to reduce the number of sewer overflows into its lakes and bays, […]

U.S. Drought Recap, August 6-10

Government reports show the U.S. is still hot and dry. Rain Nearly a quarter of the land in the Lower 48 states is in an “extreme” or “exceptional” drought—the two most severe categories—according to the August 7 update to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly collaboration between federal, state and academic scientists. Last year at […]

Federal Water Tap, August 6: Drought, Oil Spill, Infrastructure

Before adjourning for a five-week vacation, the House of Representatives passed a US$383 million drought-relief bill, the Hill reports. To pay for it, farmland conservation programs will be cut. Critics say that this is short-sighted because these programs protect, among others things, the soil’s ability to hold moisture. “If Congress is serious about assisting farmers […]

More Lakefront Property Coming to Georgia

The state doles out the first tranche of loans for reservoir construction. Other states are looking in the same direction. Lake Lanier, one of Georgia’s largest reservoirs and the primary source of drinking water for metropolitan Atlanta, shrank considerably during the 2007-08 drought. These two photos were taken from the same spot, almost a year […]

Federal Water Tap, July 30: Small Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico

The drought in the Midwest has destroyed crops and herds, but it has also led to one of the smallest “dead zones”—low-oxygen areas where marine life struggles to survive—ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The lead scientist for the study said the data confirm a positive […]

With Conservation, Indiana’s Cities Cope With Drought

Indianapolis has cut water consumption by 28 percent in the last two weeks.

Federal Water Tap, July 23: Alaska Submits Study Plan for Large Dam

The Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project envisions a dam 700 feet tall capable of producing 600 megawatts from a 39-mile-long reservoir on the Susitna River in south-central Alaska. It would generate half the electricity currently produced in the state’s most populous region, and it would be the largest dam built in the United States since the late […]

The Birth of a Drought Report: Behind the Scenes with the People Who Produce the U.S. Drought Monitor

Drought blankets much of the United States. Each week, hundreds of scientists interpret how bad it really is. Image courtesy US Drought Monitor Since 1999, the U.S. Drought Monitor has provided a weekly snapshot of dry conditions, using a numerical rating system like those for tornadoes and hurricanes. Ten authors from federal and academic research […]

This Is What Extreme Drought Looks Like, On a Graph

The Arkansas River in western Kansas is flowing at less than 1 percent of normal. Just after it crosses the Colorado border into western Kansas, the Arkansas River is barely flowing, as this streamflow graph from the U.S. Geological Survey shows. The Arkansas River barely deserves the name right now. As this graph from the […]

Federal Water Tap, July 16: Climate Change and U.S. Agriculture

Climate change will have the greatest economic effect on crops in the Midwest’s Corn Belt states, where annual loses could range from US$1.1 billion to US$4.1 billion by 2030. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service used four climate projections, a crop-growth simulation, and a model for predicting how farmers would change their crop […]