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Groundwater pumping is causing land to sink at record rate in San Joaquin Valley

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Monday, November 25, 2024

For decades, a costly problem has been worsening beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley: the land has been sinking, driven by the chronic overpumping of groundwater.As agricultural wells have drained water from aquifers, underground clay layers have compacted and the ground surface has been sinking as much as 1 foot per year in some areas.New research now shows that large portions of the San Joaquin Valley have sunk at a record pace since 2006.“Never before has it been so rapid for such a long period of time,” said Matthew Lees, the study’s lead author.The study by Stanford University researchers is the first to quantify the full extent of land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the world’s major farming regions, during the last two decades. The collapsing ground has damaged canals, wells and other infrastructure, requiring repairs that in some areas are now in the hundreds of millions of dollars.Under California’s groundwater law, local agencies are tasked with combating the problem as they work toward plans to limit pumping and address overdraft by 2040.Measurements from satellites have tracked changes in the ground surface during much of the last two decades, but there is a gap in the data from 2011 to 2015. The researchers used data from GPS stations to document the declines in the land during those years, which enabled them to detail subsidence for the entire period from 2006 to 2022.Much of the sinking has occurred in two large swaths of the valley, one around the community of El Nido and the other around the city of Corcoran. The research found that the declines averaged nearly an inch per year if spread across the entire San Joaquin Valley.“With these findings, we can look at the big picture of mitigating this record-breaking subsidence,” said Rosemary Knight, the study’s senior author and a professor of geophysics at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability.The study, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, also presents ideas about how the sinking could be slowed or stopped through strategic recharging of aquifers.The findings underline California’s continuing struggle with a phenomenon that has been altering the landscape since the early 1900s, when wells and pumps began to proliferate in the valley.In a famous 1977 photo, Joseph Poland, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, stood next to a telephone pole with signs reading 1925, 1955 and 1977, marking how the ground level had fallen nearly 30 feet in the area near Mendota.In a 1999 report, USGS researchers described the land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley as “the single largest human alteration of the Earth’s surface topography.”The rates of decline slowed in the 1970s and ‘80s as newly built aqueducts brought river water to farmlands, and the sinking remained less pronounced into the early 2000s. That changed during the 2007-09 drought, which was followed by extreme droughts from 2012 to 2016 and from 2020 to 2022 — droughts that research shows have been significantly worsened by global warming.Knight and Lees said the decrease in water deliveries from canals during the droughts, combined with the prioritization of water for environmental purposes and changes in agriculture, have contributed to the sinking over the last two decades.They compared the total volume of valleywide subsidence since 2006 with measurements from 1944 to 1968 — a portion of the half-century illustrated in Poland’s photo — and found the post-2006 period has brought the same amount of sinking, but over a shorter time.“History has repeated itself,” Lees said. “We did it again, and we got there faster.”Lees, a research associate at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, worked on the study when he was a geophysics doctoral student at Stanford.The researchers said in addition to damaging aqueducts and other infrastructure, sinking land threatens to affect the route of the state’s high-speed rail, and also worsens floods hazards as the topography shifts.The problem is driven by groundwater overdraft, which occurs when the amount of water pumped out exceeds the amount of recharge. When clay layers in aquifers are drained and collapse, the loss of water-storing space is largely irreversible.According to the researchers, overdraft of the valley’s deep aquifers is causing much of the subsidence. These aquifers lie hundreds of feet underground, below shallow aquifers and clay layers, and they contain clay layers that are especially susceptible to compaction when water is extracted.Many wells have been drilled 1,000 feet deep or more to supply farms, and these wells are drawing water from aquifers where much of the subsidence is occurring. Workers drill a well on a farm near Terra Bella, Calif., in 2021. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) To slow or halt the sinking, the researchers say, it’s important to address the overdraft in the deep aquifers where clay layers are compressing. They say this could be done by reducing pumping from the aquifers or by recharging them using either natural pathways or wells that would allow for injecting water underground.“We need to stop the overdraft of compacting aquifers,” Knight and Lees wrote, suggesting that efforts be strategically “targeted to the deeper parts of the aquifer system.”Directing water to the right places to replenish these deeper spaces requires detailed information about the valley’s geologic features, including natural pathways where water can quickly travel through permeable sand, gravel and cobbles to reach aquifers. In parts of the valley, these channels can take in flows near the base of the Sierra Nevada, miles from where the land is subsiding, and funnel water to where it will help slow the sinking.California recently mapped large portions of the valley’s aquifers to reveal their webs of hydraulic connections. Using a helicopter equipped with a ground-penetrating electromagnetic imaging system, scientists have scanned up to 1,000 feet underground to map optimal areas for recharging aquifers — including channels left by ancient rivers that lie hidden beneath alluvial fans in the valley.“If we’re going to continue pumping from the lower aquifer, we need to recharge in such a way that that recharge water reaches the lower aquifer,” Knight said. “You need to stop the overdraft in the part of the aquifer that’s causing the subsidence, and that’s the deeper part.”As part of California’s efforts to curb declines in groundwater levels, one partial solution that has been promoted by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and local water agencies is managed aquifer recharge — projects to replenish groundwater that involve a range of methods, such as building infrastructure to capture runoff during wet periods and shunt water to basins where it percolates into the ground.Other methods include drilling injection wells that deliver water to aquifers or intentionally releasing floodwater on agricultural lands in areas where it can seep rapidly underground.The scientists analyzed how much water would be needed to recharge portions of aquifers that are driving the subsidence problems, and calculated it would be about 680,000 acre-feet per year on average, an amount comparable to state estimates of how much water is available for groundwater replenishment in an average year.From a practical standpoint, Lees said, it’s not feasible to dedicate all the water to addressing land subsidence.“There are a lot of other very important priorities, and there are logistical difficulties in getting that water into the compacting parts of the aquifer system,” he said. “We have to be strategic with what we do with this recharge. Where subsidence is causing the most harm, we’ve got to try and get it to those compacting aquifers.” A section of the Friant-Kern Canal that was damaged by subsidence undergoes repairs in 2022. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Targeting places where subsidence is causing costly problems, Knight said, will mean focusing on areas, for example, where collapsing ground is going to damage an aqueduct or wells that communities rely on for drinking water, or where shifting ground is worsening flood risks.“The study has made me optimistic,” Knight said. “I think it could be addressed if you strategically target the areas where you want to stop subsidence.”The findings add to a growing body of research being used by local water officials as they develop state-mandated plans for managing groundwater.Under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, adopted a decade ago, land subsidence is one of several undesirable effects that local agencies must take steps to avoid, along with “significant and unreasonable” lowering of groundwater levels and degraded water quality, among others.Another goal is preventing more household wells from drying up as water levels decline. According to state data, more than 5,000 wells have run dry in the last decade, and scientists warn that thousands more could be at risk unless stronger measures are put in place.The latest study helps inform California’s efforts to address subsidence and underscores the importance of considering the different effects pumping has in shallow aquifers and deep aquifers, said Graham Fogg, a hydrogeology emeritus professor at UC Davis who wasn’t involved in the research.More recharge of deep aquifers is needed and can be done effectively, Fogg said, but will have to be done in concert with reduced pumping.“Recharge will help solve a lot of it, probably not more than half of the problem,” Fogg said. “The other half is going to have to be pumping reductions, and that’s the painful part.”Researchers have projected that large portions of the Central Valley’s irrigated cropland will need to be permanently left dry to comply with the restrictions. Experts with the Public Policy Institute of California have estimated that by 2040, the necessary pumping cutbacks could mean fallowing more than 900,000 acres of farmland.On the positive side, valuable data to guide recharge efforts have emerged in recent years, including detailed information on the natural architecture of the aquifer system, Fogg said. During the last two decades, the record-breaking pace of subsidence has coincided with the drilling of thousands of new agricultural wells, and as parts of California have had some of the fastest-declining groundwater levels in the world.The water has been used to irrigate a wide variety of crops, including nuts, fruits, tomatoes, cotton and cattle-feed crops to supply dairies and feedlots. Growers have also planted vast orchards of almonds and pistachios.Fogg said the latest research is sobering because it shows that California is still grappling with significant undesirable effects of subsidence.“At this point, there should be no excuse for this kind of subsidence to occur in the next 10 years,” Fogg said.

Groundwater pumping has been causing the land to sink at a record pace in California's San Joaquin Valley. New research suggests ways of addressing the problem.

For decades, a costly problem has been worsening beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley: the land has been sinking, driven by the chronic overpumping of groundwater.

As agricultural wells have drained water from aquifers, underground clay layers have compacted and the ground surface has been sinking as much as 1 foot per year in some areas.

New research now shows that large portions of the San Joaquin Valley have sunk at a record pace since 2006.

“Never before has it been so rapid for such a long period of time,” said Matthew Lees, the study’s lead author.

The study by Stanford University researchers is the first to quantify the full extent of land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the world’s major farming regions, during the last two decades. The collapsing ground has damaged canals, wells and other infrastructure, requiring repairs that in some areas are now in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Under California’s groundwater law, local agencies are tasked with combating the problem as they work toward plans to limit pumping and address overdraft by 2040.

Measurements from satellites have tracked changes in the ground surface during much of the last two decades, but there is a gap in the data from 2011 to 2015. The researchers used data from GPS stations to document the declines in the land during those years, which enabled them to detail subsidence for the entire period from 2006 to 2022.

Much of the sinking has occurred in two large swaths of the valley, one around the community of El Nido and the other around the city of Corcoran. The research found that the declines averaged nearly an inch per year if spread across the entire San Joaquin Valley.

“With these findings, we can look at the big picture of mitigating this record-breaking subsidence,” said Rosemary Knight, the study’s senior author and a professor of geophysics at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability.

The study, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, also presents ideas about how the sinking could be slowed or stopped through strategic recharging of aquifers.

The findings underline California’s continuing struggle with a phenomenon that has been altering the landscape since the early 1900s, when wells and pumps began to proliferate in the valley.

In a famous 1977 photo, Joseph Poland, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, stood next to a telephone pole with signs reading 1925, 1955 and 1977, marking how the ground level had fallen nearly 30 feet in the area near Mendota.

In a 1999 report, USGS researchers described the land subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley as “the single largest human alteration of the Earth’s surface topography.”

The rates of decline slowed in the 1970s and ‘80s as newly built aqueducts brought river water to farmlands, and the sinking remained less pronounced into the early 2000s. That changed during the 2007-09 drought, which was followed by extreme droughts from 2012 to 2016 and from 2020 to 2022 — droughts that research shows have been significantly worsened by global warming.

Knight and Lees said the decrease in water deliveries from canals during the droughts, combined with the prioritization of water for environmental purposes and changes in agriculture, have contributed to the sinking over the last two decades.

They compared the total volume of valleywide subsidence since 2006 with measurements from 1944 to 1968 — a portion of the half-century illustrated in Poland’s photo — and found the post-2006 period has brought the same amount of sinking, but over a shorter time.

“History has repeated itself,” Lees said. “We did it again, and we got there faster.”

Lees, a research associate at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, worked on the study when he was a geophysics doctoral student at Stanford.

The researchers said in addition to damaging aqueducts and other infrastructure, sinking land threatens to affect the route of the state’s high-speed rail, and also worsens floods hazards as the topography shifts.

The problem is driven by groundwater overdraft, which occurs when the amount of water pumped out exceeds the amount of recharge. When clay layers in aquifers are drained and collapse, the loss of water-storing space is largely irreversible.

According to the researchers, overdraft of the valley’s deep aquifers is causing much of the subsidence. These aquifers lie hundreds of feet underground, below shallow aquifers and clay layers, and they contain clay layers that are especially susceptible to compaction when water is extracted.

Many wells have been drilled 1,000 feet deep or more to supply farms, and these wells are drawing water from aquifers where much of the subsidence is occurring.

Workers drill a well on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley in 2021.

Workers drill a well on a farm near Terra Bella, Calif., in 2021.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

To slow or halt the sinking, the researchers say, it’s important to address the overdraft in the deep aquifers where clay layers are compressing. They say this could be done by reducing pumping from the aquifers or by recharging them using either natural pathways or wells that would allow for injecting water underground.

“We need to stop the overdraft of compacting aquifers,” Knight and Lees wrote, suggesting that efforts be strategically “targeted to the deeper parts of the aquifer system.”

Directing water to the right places to replenish these deeper spaces requires detailed information about the valley’s geologic features, including natural pathways where water can quickly travel through permeable sand, gravel and cobbles to reach aquifers. In parts of the valley, these channels can take in flows near the base of the Sierra Nevada, miles from where the land is subsiding, and funnel water to where it will help slow the sinking.

California recently mapped large portions of the valley’s aquifers to reveal their webs of hydraulic connections. Using a helicopter equipped with a ground-penetrating electromagnetic imaging system, scientists have scanned up to 1,000 feet underground to map optimal areas for recharging aquifers — including channels left by ancient rivers that lie hidden beneath alluvial fans in the valley.

“If we’re going to continue pumping from the lower aquifer, we need to recharge in such a way that that recharge water reaches the lower aquifer,” Knight said. “You need to stop the overdraft in the part of the aquifer that’s causing the subsidence, and that’s the deeper part.”

As part of California’s efforts to curb declines in groundwater levels, one partial solution that has been promoted by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and local water agencies is managed aquifer recharge — projects to replenish groundwater that involve a range of methods, such as building infrastructure to capture runoff during wet periods and shunt water to basins where it percolates into the ground.

Other methods include drilling injection wells that deliver water to aquifers or intentionally releasing floodwater on agricultural lands in areas where it can seep rapidly underground.

The scientists analyzed how much water would be needed to recharge portions of aquifers that are driving the subsidence problems, and calculated it would be about 680,000 acre-feet per year on average, an amount comparable to state estimates of how much water is available for groundwater replenishment in an average year.

From a practical standpoint, Lees said, it’s not feasible to dedicate all the water to addressing land subsidence.

“There are a lot of other very important priorities, and there are logistical difficulties in getting that water into the compacting parts of the aquifer system,” he said. “We have to be strategic with what we do with this recharge. Where subsidence is causing the most harm, we’ve got to try and get it to those compacting aquifers.”

A section of the Friant-Kern Canal that was damaged by subsidence undergoes repairs in 2022.

A section of the Friant-Kern Canal that was damaged by subsidence undergoes repairs in 2022.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Targeting places where subsidence is causing costly problems, Knight said, will mean focusing on areas, for example, where collapsing ground is going to damage an aqueduct or wells that communities rely on for drinking water, or where shifting ground is worsening flood risks.

“The study has made me optimistic,” Knight said. “I think it could be addressed if you strategically target the areas where you want to stop subsidence.”

The findings add to a growing body of research being used by local water officials as they develop state-mandated plans for managing groundwater.

Under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, adopted a decade ago, land subsidence is one of several undesirable effects that local agencies must take steps to avoid, along with “significant and unreasonable” lowering of groundwater levels and degraded water quality, among others.

Another goal is preventing more household wells from drying up as water levels decline. According to state data, more than 5,000 wells have run dry in the last decade, and scientists warn that thousands more could be at risk unless stronger measures are put in place.

The latest study helps inform California’s efforts to address subsidence and underscores the importance of considering the different effects pumping has in shallow aquifers and deep aquifers, said Graham Fogg, a hydrogeology emeritus professor at UC Davis who wasn’t involved in the research.

More recharge of deep aquifers is needed and can be done effectively, Fogg said, but will have to be done in concert with reduced pumping.

“Recharge will help solve a lot of it, probably not more than half of the problem,” Fogg said. “The other half is going to have to be pumping reductions, and that’s the painful part.”

Researchers have projected that large portions of the Central Valley’s irrigated cropland will need to be permanently left dry to comply with the restrictions. Experts with the Public Policy Institute of California have estimated that by 2040, the necessary pumping cutbacks could mean fallowing more than 900,000 acres of farmland.

On the positive side, valuable data to guide recharge efforts have emerged in recent years, including detailed information on the natural architecture of the aquifer system, Fogg said.

During the last two decades, the record-breaking pace of subsidence has coincided with the drilling of thousands of new agricultural wells, and as parts of California have had some of the fastest-declining groundwater levels in the world.

The water has been used to irrigate a wide variety of crops, including nuts, fruits, tomatoes, cotton and cattle-feed crops to supply dairies and feedlots. Growers have also planted vast orchards of almonds and pistachios.

Fogg said the latest research is sobering because it shows that California is still grappling with significant undesirable effects of subsidence.

“At this point, there should be no excuse for this kind of subsidence to occur in the next 10 years,” Fogg said.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Salty oceanwater is creeping up the Delaware River, the source for much of the drinking water for Philadelphia and millions of others, brought on by drought conditions and sea level rise, and prompting officials to tap reservoirs to push the unpotable tide back downstream.Officials say drinking water isn't imminently at risk yet, but they're monitoring the effects of the drought on the river and studying options for the future in case further droughts sap the area.A closer look at the crawling salt front:The salt front or salt line is where saltwater from the ocean and freshwater meet in the river. That boundary is typically somewhere around Wilmington, Delaware, but the recent drought in the Northeast has pushed it about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north, around Philadelphia International Airport.The farther the line moves upstream, the closer it gets to drinking water intakes, which officials have worked for decades to avoid. The Delaware River provides drinking water for some 14 million people, including most of Philadelphia but also New Jersey and New York. Still, the line is south of those intakes and below the level it traveled in the 1960s during record drought conditions. Desalination of saltwater, which people cannot safely drink, is costly, energy intensive and can create new issues like where to dispose of the highly concentrated salt brine pulled from the water. It's also not a feasible option, officials say. “There are alternative sources, but we don't want to be trucking in bottled water for people,” said Amy Shallcross, the water resource operations manager at the Delaware River Basin Commission. “We get nervous when it starts to get up near Philadelphia. It’s only 18 miles right now from the drinking water intakes. And sometimes it can shoot upstream really quickly.” What are officials doing about the encroaching salt? Officials control the salt line by releasing water from two reservoirs, which pushes the front downriver. The commission monitors the flow at Trenton, which is the furthest upstream point affected by the tide. The flow officials target is roughly equivalent to the amount of water in two Olympic-sized swimming pools flowing by per minute. If the rate dips below that, then more water is released. When was the last time saltwater moved this far upriver? The salt front last reached roughly where it is now in 2016 during another drought, officials said. Does this phenomenon happen elsewhere in the country? The Delaware River basin isn't alone in fending off intruding saltwater, which is exacerbated by rising sea levels and dredged riverbeds to aid navigation, Shallcross said. The Mississippi River similarly saw what officials call a “salt wedge” in 2023 resulting in heightening underwater levees and bringing in drinking water. What caused the saltwater to move upstream? A rainless start to fall brought on a drought in parts of the Northeast, including the Delaware's basin. The reduced rainwater has diminished the river's flow and allowed the denser saltwater to creep upstream. Has the recent rain helped? Yes, but it's not enough. The river needs about an inch of rain a week for a time to move the line back to its normal location, Shallcross said. How are officials planning for the future? The Basin Commission, which is a federally created agency run by Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, that manages the river's resources, is studying the impact of climate change on water resources and considering other options including additional storage, Shallcross said. Water managers are starting to consider more serious conservation measures as well. “I would say the East is not water-rich, we’re water adequate, and we need to recognize that,” she said.Peterson contributed to this report from Denver.The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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They are also key components of headphones and speakers, and they remain the most popular rare-earth magnets sold commercially. “I don’t think they will ever come up with a better magnet,” Croat says.Neodymium magnets, despite their name, are mostly iron. Such magnets contain regions “where all the electrons are lined up like soldiers on parade, all facing in the same direction,” says Andrea Sella, a professor of chemistry at University College London. In neodymium magnets and other permanent magnets—which don’t require electric currents or other external help to stay magnetic—multiple layers of these aligned electrons stack up. The result can be imagined as a pattern like three-dimensional wallpaper. Sella likens the structure to a series of unending nightmares. “Every time you move a certain distance, oh, my God, you’re back where you started,” he says. 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Or maybe it’s still out there, clamped to the belly of a delivery truck.Deep Cleaning?Once the Bureau of Engraving and Printing sends them the funds from the mutilated cash, Agostini and Kane say they want to use the money toward a down payment to move out of New York City. Agostini would like to buy a place with enough space to raise chickens, dogs and goats. She loves animals, she says, and considers magnet fishing to be an extension of this because it helps clear pollution from their habitat.“If you really talk to magnet fishers, you can tell they have a sense of pride about it—they’re cleaning up the waterways,” Demchak says. For example, he notes that magnet fishers recently helped pull hundreds of electric scooters out of a river that runs through the campus at Michigan State University. Busch says he has caught more than 140 bicycles since he began magnet fishing. And there’s plenty more trash to collect. “As much as I clean up the water,” Busch says, “I feel like there’s three times as much junk left to pull up.”If there have been comprehensive scientific reports on the environmental impact of magnet fishing, they aren’t in any mainstream databases. Only a handful of studies even reference the hobby, such as a 2024 analysis in the journal Hydrobiologia of Hungarian magnet fishers’ social media posts that evaluated how much discarded fishing gear had been recovered since 2016. Photographs and videos posted online showed that magnet fishers pulled in more than 2,000 pieces of gear, including rods, reels, hooks and other items, from Hungary’s waterways.It’s helpful when magnet fishers remove sharp bits of metal, which can be physical hazards to swimmers and wildlife, points out Timothy Hoellein, an aquatic ecologist at Loyola University Chicago, who studies trash in freshwater environments. Electronic devices and batteries also contain heavy metals, such as cadmium and mercury, plus other chemicals that are potentially toxic to “microorganisms, or invertebrates, or fish or people,” he says. Dull iron is not a particular danger to anything, though, he says; soils already contain natural iron and rust.Various objects found by magnet fishers including jewelry, coins and an old beer can.James Kane and Barbi AgostiniBut lake beds can host things worse than rust. Toxic chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, can stick to charged particles in sediments. Fine silts and clays also retain pollutants such as microplastics and particles from nuclear fallout, as well as nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorous, which can harm ecosystems if concentrations are too high. Releasing these trapped materials presents a possible downside to magnet fishing. “Any practice that could disturb the sediment at the bottom of a lake, especially an urban or periurban lake, has the potential to resuspend this sediment—and any associated pollutant—back into the water column,” says Phil Owens, an environmental sciences professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. Whether magnet fishing has a “net positive or net negative effect on lakes and ponds” could depend on the individual body of water, its surroundings and the intensity of magnet fishing activity. Hoellein hypothesizes that such disturbances are minor relative to magnet fishing’s potential benefits. “There could be some sediments with industrial chemicals or other pollutants that are released back into the water through magnet fishing, but I don’t know if it would be that different than a major storm coming through” and agitating a lake floor, he says.Plus, magnet fishing dredges up an additional perk: it gets people outdoors, where they can enjoy often-overlooked waterways. A few urban bodies of water are shunned for a good reason, though—the Environmental Protection Agency says New York City’s sludgy Gowanus Canal is one of the most contaminated water bodies in the U.S. (Kane would love to magnet fish there but says he hasn’t because the canal water is “very bad for your health if you get it in your facial area.”) But many other aquatic areas in cities are unfairly dismissed as too dangerous or unpleasant to be around, Hoellein says. Or they’re treated as junkyards. That’s a counterproductive attitude, he says, “especially in places where we also drink from that same water.” He welcomes anyone who wants to contribute, in their own style and with the time they have, to fixing the problem of environmental trash. “For some people, that’s magnet fishing,” Hoellein adds.Know before You ThrowAt the shore, the magnet fishers and the nonprofit staffer reach a détente; the discussion turns to a mutual appreciation for local history. Later, privately, Kane insists he has played by the book: he has a fishing license and a metal-detecting license, and this lake is in a public park.Magnet fishing is permitted in publicly accessible places in the U.S. But it might also be subject to local rules and regulations. Although magnet fishing is not specifically mentioned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation in its publicly listed regulations, “using magnets to retrieve sunken metal objects can have negative impacts on local wildlife and is against [Parks] rules in any bodies of water under Parks jurisdiction,” wrote a spokesperson for the department in an e-mail to Scientific American. The spokesperson added that the applicable rule is Section 1-04(b)(1)(iii), which prohibits disturbing vegetation.Demchak’s rule of thumb is that “if you could fish with a fishing pole, for the most part, you can magnet fish.” Certain historic sites, however, can be off-limits to magnet fishers. In fact, fearing the destruction of delicate submerged artifacts, South Carolina has outlawed magnet fishing under the state’s Underwater Antiquities Act. It’s the only U.S. state to have made the hobby illegal in public areas.If you ever decide to toss a magnet into a lake (where legal), Kane and Agostini offer a few pointers: Be up-to-date on your tetanus shots. Bring a first aid kit for scrapes and pokes and a large bucket for the garbage you will inevitably find. Dispose of that junk properly or sell it to a scrapyard. Wear thick, protective gloves and clothes you don’t mind getting muddy. And look out for the click—the haptic sensation that travels up a rope when a magnet has stuck to something hard and hollow, such as a safe. It’ll probably be trash, but then again, you won’t know until you pull it out of the water. “We still get excited,” Agostini says, “because it’s a mystery every time.”

Water
Animals
Energy

Unstoppable invasion: How did mussels sneak into California, despite decades of state shipping rules?

Most ships discharging ballast water into California waters are inspected, but state officials have tested the water of only 16 ships. Experts say invaders like mussels are inevitable under current rules and enforcement.

In summary Most ships discharging ballast water into California waters are inspected, but state officials have tested the water of only 16 ships. Experts say invaders like mussels are inevitable under current rules and enforcement. After the recent discovery of a destructive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, some experts say California officials have failed to effectively enforce laws designed to protect waterways from invaders carried in ships’ ballast water.  A state law enacted 20 years ago has required California officials to inspect 25% of incoming ships and sample their ballast water before it’s discharged into waterways. But the tests didn’t begin until two years ago — after standards for conducting them were finally set — and testing remains rare. State officials have sampled the ballast water of only 16 vessels out of the roughly 3,000 likely to have emptied their tanks nearshore.  Experts say stronger regulations are needed, as well as better enforcement.  “It’s not really a surprise that another invasive species showed up in the Delta,” said Karrigan Börk, a law professor and the interim director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. “It’s likely to continue happening.” Native to eastern Asia, the mussels — detected near the Port of Stockton, in a small San Joaquin Valley reservoir and several other Delta locations — were the first to be detected in North America. If the mollusc evades eradication efforts, it could spread over vast areas of California and beyond, crowd out native species and clog parts of the massive projects that export Delta water to cities and farms.  Invasive golden mussels, shown at a California Department of Water Resources lab, might crowd out native species in waterways and clog parts of the state’s massive water projects. Photo by Xavier Mascareñas, California Department of Water Resources Ted Lempert, a former Bay Area Assemblymember who authored a 1999 state law aimed at preventing ships from bringing invasive species into California, said state officials “apparently took their eyes off the ball.”   “We were trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m really frustrated that after all these years some of the events we were trying to prevent have come to pass,” he said.  But the prospect of an invasive species colonizing a new region frequented by ships “is a numbers game” that can happen even under the most rigorous regulations and enforcement, said Greg Ruiz, a marine ecologist with the Marine Invasions Research Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. “This is not a failure in the system,” he said. Ballast water is stored in tanks to stabilize vessels at sea. Often taken on at the port of departure and released at the port of arrival, it is a global vector of invasive species, including pathogens that cause human diseases. “We were trying to get ahead of the game, so I’m really frustrated that after all these years some of the events we were trying to prevent have come to pass.”Ted Lempert, former Bay Area Assemblymember To address the threat to ecosystems and water supplies, the State Lands Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard enforce a suite of overlapping regulations.  The goal of these state and federal rules is to reduce as much as possible the number of living organisms in discharged ballast water. Vessel operators can achieve this by exposing their ballast water to ultraviolet light, filtering it and treating it with chlorine, which is then removed before discharge.  ‘Highest standards in the world.’ But are they enforced? About 1,500 ships a year entering California waters release ballast water, according to Chris Scianni, environmental program manager of the State Lands Commission’s Marine Invasive Species Program. To check for compliance, officials board and inspect nearly all of them, plus another thousand vessels prioritized for inspection for other reasons, Scianni said. During these inspections, officers review ballast water logbooks and reporting forms, interview crew members, inspect water treatment equipment, and occasionally take water samples for testing.  “We’re the only entity in the world that’s doing this right now,” Scianni said. A 2003 state law declares that the State Lands Commission “shall take samples of ballast water, sediment, and biofouling from at least 25% of vessels” subject to invasive species regulations. But commission officials told CalMatters they interpret it to mean that 25% of ships must be inspected, with no specific requirements for sampling.  Sampling for some ships began in 2023, after the commission enacted standards for how the tests are conducted. It’s a considerable endeavor: A cubic meter of water  — which weighs a metric ton — must be collected from a ship. It can take an hour to draw, and it must be done while the vessel is actively discharging. Hours more may pass before results are ready.   Federal officials have their own ballast oversight program. It leans on a system of self-reporting by vessel operators — which critics consider a weak tool for ensuring compliance. An EPA spokesperson said the agency “can assess compliance with (the rules) either through a desk audit or an on-site inspection.” Many experts told CalMatters that the state and federal limits on how many organisms are allowed in discharged water are adequate but that enforcement is lacking.  “We had the highest (ballast water management) standards in the world, but they were never actually enforced because the state couldn’t come up with a set of technologies to implement them,” said Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney with the group SF Baykeeper.   Ted Grosholz, a professor emeritus with the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute said “the standards are very exacting…The problem we have is compliance. How many ships coming in with ballast water can we really sample and verify? Enforcement officials can’t watch everyone.” “The standards are very exacting…The problem we have is compliance. How many ships coming in with ballast water can we really sample and verify? Enforcement officials can’t watch everyone.”Ted Grosholz, UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute Smithsonian’s Ruiz said state records show that all documented ballast discharges at the Port of Stockton since 2008 have followed state regulations. Ships that discharge, however, occasionally remain uninspected as they enter a port. And some vessel operators may cheat, filling their ballast tanks with clean ocean water to pass off a faulty water treatment system as functional. Moreover, even treated ballast water can contain high levels of zooplankton.  Ruiz, who has studied California’s data on ship arrival and locations of the mussels, said it’s probable the golden mussel entered the Delta at least a year ago and even possible that it’s been there for a decade or more, adding that “it could even have happened in the pre-treatment (of ballast water) era.” Somehow, the creature slipped through the cracks and made itself a new home in what has been called one of the most invaded estuaries on the planet.  It’s an outcome that Lempert as an assemblymember tried to prevent a quarter-century ago, when he authored the Ballast Water Management for Control of Non-indigenous Species Act. The law required incoming vessels to either retain their ballast water, drain it while simultaneously refilling with new water hundreds of miles out at sea, or use an “environmentally sound” treatment system. It tasked the California State Lands Commission with monitoring vessels for compliance.  California has since enacted a complex system of regulations: In 2003, the Marine Invasive Species Act expanded the scope of Lempert’s legislation. Three years later, the Legislature required the commission to set limits on organism concentrations in ballast water; these “standards of performance” were implemented in 2022. While the standards allow minute levels of organisms in the water, the goal is “zero detectable living organisms” by 2040.  Several federal laws also aim to protect U.S. waters from creatures like the golden mussel.  Penalties for breaking ballast management rules have been modest. At the state level, violations have resulted in 24 fines in the past six years, totaling just over $1 million. Federal fines are rare, with just nine penalties issued amounting to about $714,000 in the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region since 2013. Commission officials said “the frequency of noncompliant discharges … has dropped dramatically since our enforcement regulations (with penalties) were adopted in 2017.” Can ballast water be sterilized? California officials say achieving the law’s goal of zero organisms in ballast water discharged into waterways is infeasible. It would require a network of treatment plants at coastal ports, costing $1.45 billion over 30 years. The shipping industry would face another $2.17 billion in costs for installing systems capable of transferring ballast water to the floating treatment plants.  But Eichenberg said some ships already use commercially available systems that consistently, and by a wide margin, outperform industry standards. He said the state’s failure to require that vessels use the most advanced treatment systems available — technology capable of nearly sterilizing ballast water — has culminated in the golden mussel’s arrival.  “Something like this was bound to happen eventually,” he said.   State and federal performance standards — modeled after international standards — limit the concentration of living zooplankton-sized organisms, like mussel larvae, in ballast water before discharge to 10 per cubic meter. For smaller organisms, allowances are higher.  But even in ballast water that has undergone treatment in approved systems, zooplankton concentrations can be off-the-charts for reasons not always clear, according to Hugh MacIsaac, an aquatic invasive species researcher at the University of Windsor in Ontario, who has studied the spread of the golden mussel in South America and central China.  Golden mussels, measured at a state lab, have been found in several Delta locations. Photo by Xavier Mascareñas, California Department of Water Resources Treating ballast water doesn’t necessarily work. A study in Shanghai found up to 23,000 zooplankton-sized organisms per cubic meter in the ballast water of half of ships sampled, MacIsaac said.  Ruiz, at the Smithsonian research center, said the study’s sample size of 17 ships is too small to be representative and that such high concentrations are abnormal in the United States. “We sample vessels here, and that’s not what we see coming into the U.S.,” he said.  Ship operators have shifted radically in the past 20 years “from no management to a nearly complete use of open-ocean exchange to, now, an almost complete transition to ballast treatment technology,” Ruiz said. Attention turns to federal rules The federal government, not state agencies, will soon become the key player in ballast management. That’s because new EPA rules, which are likely at least 18 months away from full implementation, will preempt state regulations.The new rules — which state officials will help enforce — will keep the existing standards for organism concentrations, but prevent states from implementing their own rules that exceed federal standards. For example, California’s goal of zero detectable organisms in ballast discharge will be nixed.  Nicole Dobrosky, the State Lands Commission’s chief of environmental science, planning and management, said states can petition the federal government for changes to the rules.  Shippers welcome the shift to national rules that align with international standards, said Jacqueline Moore, Long Beach-based vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.  “An international industry by nature, the maritime community always appreciates consistent standards across the board, and across the ocean in this case,” Moore said. “It’s much easier for everyone.”   “We have the technical ability to efficiently remove or kill organisms that are trapped in a tank of water. For half a century federal law has required EPA to …protect the environment and public health — yet EPA still refuses to do so.”Environmental groups in a letter to Biden But the change of regulatory oversight concerns Marcie Keever, the oceans and vessels program director with Friends of the Earth. She said that to date the State Lands Commission has been the more active enforcer. Preempting state laws with federal standards that she says are too weak “will essentially give the shipping industry a free pass to pollute…These shipping companies are self-reporting pollution instances, and no one is doing anything about it except for the state.” In 1973, the EPA exempted ballast water from the Clean Water Act. Eventually forced by court rulings to comply with the act, the agency released its newest standards in October for limiting organism concentrations in ballast water. Keever said the EPA is not setting the bar as high as it should.  “We’re still basically at the same place we were at 20 years ago,” Keever said. “The EPA has never set what we see as the best available technology for ballast water discharges.” More than 150 environmental groups made similar claims in a 2022 letter to President Joe Biden, arguing that the technology exists now to almost entirely sterilize ballast water.  “[W]e have the technical ability to efficiently remove or kill organisms that are trapped in a tank of water,” they wrote. “For half a century federal law has required EPA to use that ability to protect the environment and public health — yet EPA still refuses to do so.” The EPA disagrees with the criticism. Joshua Alexander, press officer with the agency’s Region 9 San Francisco office, told CalMatters that “the EPA concluded that these standards (in the new rules) are the most stringent ones that the available ballast water test data can support.” Can anything stop the mussel invasion? October’s discovery of the golden mussel in California is being treated urgently by state and federal officials. The creatures have wreaked havoc on water supply and hydroelectric facilities in South America, and they are spreading rapidly through central China. In the Great Lakes, invasive zebra mussels cause $300 to $500 million in damages annually to power plants and other water infrastructure — the types of impacts officials in California hope to avoid.  Tanya Veldhuizen, the Department of Water Resources’ special projects section manager, said officials are considering the use of chemicals to remove the creatures from pumps, intakes and pipelines of the massive State Water Project, which transports water to farms and cities.   Several scientists told CalMatters that with most nonnative species, eradication is only possible early in the game — meaning management officials often have one shot at success. Biologist Andrew Chang, who works at the Smithsonian research center’s Marin County field lab, noted an old adage in invasion ecology — containing the spread of a nonnative species is like trying to put toothpaste back into a tube. “The more time that passes, the process of putting the toothpaste back in the tube gets messier and messier,” Chang said. University of Windsor’s MacIsaac thinks California may be on the cusp of an unstoppable mussel invasion.  “This is an enormous problem for your state,” he said. More about water ‘Immediate threat’: Mussel invades California’s Delta, first time in North America October 31, 2024November 5, 2024 Prop. 4 passes: Californians approve $10 billion for water, wildfire, climate projects November 5, 2024November 6, 2024

Water
Chemicals
Government

Record Dryness in US Northeast Should Change Water Behavior, Experts Say

The U.S. Northeast is experiencing an unusually severe and widespread drought during months that are typically the wettest

DENVER (AP) — It hasn't been a typical fall for the northeastern United States.Fires have burned in parks and forests around New York City. Towns and cities in a stretch from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to south of Philadelphia had their driest three months on record, according to the Applied Climate Information System. Some reservoirs in the region are near historic lows.Major changes need to happen to avoid critical shortages of water in the future, even if that future isn't immediate. As the climate warms, droughts will continue to intensify and communities should use this one as motivation to put in place long-term solutions, experts say. “This is the canary in the coal mine for the future,” said Tim Eustance, executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission. “People should stop watering their lawns yesterday.”Eustance wants New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to issue a drought emergency to increase people’s sense of urgency. Here are some ways to stretch water experts said could become necessary in the Northeast. Replenishing more water underground One important place water is stored is under our feet. Groundwater has dropped significantly over the years in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Groundwater makes up about half of New Jersey's drinking water. Sprawl and concrete can make it tough for rain to replenish the water underground. “New Jersey is ‘mall-landia.’ We have these giant parking lots that could be ways to reclaim water instead of having runoff,” Eustance said.In some other parts of the country there is increasing use of permeable asphalt, concrete and pavers that allow water to percolate into the ground and back into the aquifer. It would be up to municipalities to require that, he said.A faster way to replenish the aquifer is by injecting highly treated wastewater into it, something Los Angeles has been doing for years. It is dramatically adding to the city's available water. Virginia Beach, Virginia, is also pumping highly treated water back into its aquifer, and Anne Arundel County in Maryland is trying to pass legislation that would allow the same. Paying people to conserve In some places in the western U.S., getting paid to save water has long been an option. Some cities and counties pay dollars for every square foot of lawn torn out and replaced with native landscaping. Those policies are not nearly as widespread in the Northeast, said Alan Roberson, CEO of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators. “The abundance has created a different perspective,” he said. This can make it hard to get people on board with conservation.Upgraded water meters can give customers details about their water use and help them see where they can save money when drought doesn't feel as urgent, said Beth O'Connell, chief engineer for Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Reusing water could become more common The concept is simple: capture water from the sink, clothes washer, shower and toilet, treat it to a high standard and use it again for nonpotable purposes: It can be sent back through pipes to flush toilets, cool buildings, water yards or help raise water levels in a river or aquifer. “One of the crimes I think, in America, is we use drinking water to water our lawns and flush our toilet,” Eustance said. Zach Gallagher is CEO of Natural Systems Utilities, which designs, builds and operates water recycling systems. He also is the father of three kids and lives in New Jersey, so this drought hits close to home.“I feel like I'm doing something that is going to be meaningful and leave something beyond for my children, and their children,” he said.Reuse can be a tool for both drought and flood, he explained. When a building can reuse its own wastewater and discharge it directly into a body of water, it eases stress on a city's fragile sewer system, which is a common vulnerability in old coastal cities. It also reduces demand on new water.Once open this summer, the company's redesign of the old Domino Sugar Refinery on New York’s East River will be able to treat 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of wastewater a day, enough to cover a football field in nearly 15 inches (38 centimeters) of water. The cleaned water will be piped back into the new mixed-use buildings for flushing toilets, cooling and landscaping, with some of it discharged back into the river.Nonpotable reuse has a growing footprint in the eastern U.S., but scaling it to a regional level should be the next focus, O'Connell said. Planning for a future that includes extended drought can be costly. It could also require a shift in mindset from one of abundance to conservation, said Del Shannon, dam engineer and member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He has worked on water projects around the world and said many developing countries are focused on getting reliable water for crops and drinking.“We need to treat our water and guard it as gently as those countries are."The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Water
Climate
Forests

Asheville restores drinking water 53 days after Hurricane Helene - but not all are ready to sip

Residents concerned as North Carolina city lifts boil advisory and scientists detect lead in water at area schoolsWhen the western North Carolina town Swannanoa was battered by Hurricane Helene in September, two large trees crushed Stephen Knight’s home. His family of six was launched into a complicated web of survival: finding a temporary home, applying for disaster relief, filing insurance claims.The new logistics of living included the daily search for food and water. Until earlier this week, most residents of this town east of Asheville had no drinkable tap water for 52 days. After the storm damaged infrastructure around the region, water had been partly restored in mid-October. It was good for flushing toilets but not safe for consumption. In some places, sediment left the water inky like black tea. Continue reading...

When the western North Carolina town Swannanoa was battered by Hurricane Helene in September, two large trees crushed Stephen Knight’s home. His family of six was launched into a complicated web of survival: finding a temporary home, applying for disaster relief, filing insurance claims.The new logistics of living included the daily search for food and water. Until earlier this week, most residents of this town east of Asheville had no drinkable tap water for 52 days. After the storm damaged infrastructure around the region, water had been partly restored in mid-October. It was good for flushing toilets but not safe for consumption. In some places, sediment left the water inky like black tea.Local government advised residents not to consume the water without boiling. People with illnesses or open wounds were also advised to skip showers. Parents were cautioned that children should keep their mouths closed while bathing to avoid accidental ingestion.Drinking the water, even after boiling, was the last-resort option, and bottled water became a precious commodity. In the first days after the hurricane, many hauled creek water in buckets to flush their toilets. People bathed and did laundry at public “comfort stations”. Tankers with clean water occupied vacant lots around western North Carolina. Churches, schools and fire stations became water distribution centers. Households changed their routines: Meals that required boiling in water – pasta or rice – fell off home menus. Families stockpiled clean water to mix baby formula, and washing dishes was often a matter of dipping dishes in a solution of bleach and water.As of 18 November, the city of Asheville lifted its boil advisory. That provided some relief to Knight, who works as a nonprofit communications director. Like many residents impacted by the hurricane, he “had to learn what terms like potable and turbidity meant” as they waited for repairs to the badly damaged water North Fork plant that serves much of the region. (Turbidity measures cloudiness caused by tiny particles in water and is a key indicator of water quality.) Residents constantly listened for reports about how long it would take to be able to drink, bathe and use water in their homes or workplaces again. Initial estimates suggested water restoration could have taken as long as December, and many feared their lack of water access could stretch into next year.The remnants of a waterline pile up downstream from North Fork reservoir, a main source of water for the city on 2 October 2024, after the line was destroyed during Hurricane Helene. Photograph: Jeff Roberson/APStill, some residents and institutions are not yet tapping into the newly restored city water supply, concerned that the water may still not be entirely safe. Lead was detected in water at seven area schools, a relatively common problem in American schools due to older pipes. For 19 days, the city of Asheville treated water with high amounts of chlorine in case harmful materials had seeped into the badly damaged system. But while chlorine is a decontaminant, it can also corrode pipes. Right now, no lead has been discovered in the water system’s source, but many North Carolinans are wondering: am I in harm’s way from toxic lead, which can cause serious and fatal illness, or other materials?Knight is skeptical of using city water for preparing food or washing dishes. He remarked that while the cloudiness in the North Fork reservoir’s water has dropped, it still isn’t back to pre-storm numbers. “I’m thinking, I need to order [wipes used for camping or outdoor use] because I still can’t use the water here.”According to the ABC affiliate WLOS, Mission Hospital, one of the region’s largest health systems, is currently using water from recently drilled wells and storage tanks at almost all its facilities, with the exception of a freestanding emergency room.Clear and effective communication and widespread testing will ensure there is not a second crisis in AshevilleSally A Wasileski SchmeltzerIn the immediate aftermath of the storm, Stephanie Allen, a mother of three, hung curtains outside and constructed a makeshift toilet with a five-gallon bucket. Recently, when her son had a high fever, she filled the bathtub with water to cool him down. But she recoiled at the water’s appearance and opted to give him a sponge bath instead.When asked if she would resume drinking Asheville city water in the near future, Allen was hesitant. “I’m not quite ready to drink from the faucet,” she shared. “I need more scientific studies and anecdotal evidence of its safety. More time”.In a open letter to public officials, the University of North Carolina Asheville professor Sally A Wasileski Schmeltzer urged further investigation and communication educating the general public about the risk of lead poisoning. Schmeltzer chairs the school’s chemistry department and specializes in environmental research.Among her recommendations: widespread testing for lead and copper for buildings built before 1988, when lead was commonly used. She also advocated for blood tests for people who consumed the water – even after boiling – and especially for infants, other children, and pregnant or nursing people. Free testing is available, but she noted that homeowners need to understand when and how to test their water and themselves.“ [P]otential damage to private plumbing could be much more widespread than just to those schools that were tested,” Schmeltzer wrote. “I understand that it is very important not to cause a panic. Yet clear and effective communication and widespread testing will ensure there is not a second crisis in Asheville and Buncombe county.”skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionSome residents were surprised when the Asheville water resources department spokesperson Clay Chandler said in a press briefing that water customers with pre-1988 plumbing should flush their cold water taps for 30 seconds to two minutes before consuming it “like before Helene”. Asheville is dotted with old homes and buildings; the city is known around the nation for its well-preserved, early 20th century Art Deco buildings. But many area homeowners weren’t aware of the need to flush their pipes before the storm struck. That public education will be a long-term project.Businesses will need more time, too, to recoup losses from property damage, closure and the costs of bringing in water to stay open, if they chose to do so.Meg Moore has worked for about two years at Cecilia’s, an Asheville staple selling an eclectic mix of empanadas, crepes and tamales.“To get a plumber in here and turn off piping to city water and redirect it to the water tote and make sure it gets continually filled with potable water, there is a price tag on that,” Moore said. Before water restoration, many businesses asked: “Is it worth the thousands of dollars to do all that, not knowing how long it would take for water to be restored?” Cecilia’s used bottled gallons of water as well as compostable plates and silverware, careful to conserve what little water they procured. The owners were able to keep serving customers through Cecilia’s food truck business, which requires less staff and significantly less water to operate. Now that the restaurant’s reopened, staff are eager to see people walk through the doors.“This is the first day we’ve been open since potable water,” Moore said. “I think maybe some people are hesitant to dine out.”Pennycup Coffee Co, offers its own locally roasted beans, brews and baked goods. Its locations reopened in late October, using potable water totes to fuel operations. Water “totes” are large, industrial-grade bulk containers that can hold up to 330 gallons of liquid.Alex Massey, a barista at Pennycup’s north Asheville cafe, detailed the steps taken to open the cafes’ doors: using 275-gallon water totes for coffee-making, boiling water in the coffeemaker for dishwashing and an early closing time to accommodate the extra work.Massey feels area officials could’ve done a better job communicating about the water crisis. But he feels confident in the city’s newly potable water based on information from other sources. After the boil water notice was lifted, Pennycup joined other area restaurants in making the switch back to city water. Most customers haven’t minded, but a few walked out once Massey shared the news.

Water
Food
Crisis

Suggested Viewing

The Great Divide

Twenty minutes outside of Visalia, amidst the seemingly endless rows of citrus trees, Yolanda Cuevas packs enchiladas with shredded chicken for her husband Benjamin, their adult daughters and two teenaged grandchildren in her modest single-story home. Their house is the first one off the main drag, one of 83 lining the two crumbling roads that comprise the tiny town of Tooleville. Yolanda must wash the tomatoes for the salsa first in the sink and then again with a splash of clean water from a 5-gallon jug. The process is arduous, and though she’s resigned to do it, she’s not happy about it. Along with Tooleville’s several hundred other residents, Yolanda’s family has survived on bi-weekly delivery of water to their homes for the past 12 years. It’s an annoyance for the family, and it’s expensive for the State of California, which has been paying for the replacement water since the discovery of Chromium-6 (the same chemical featured in Erin Brokovich) in the water. The simpler solution would be to consolidate the town’s water system with that of its larger, affluent neighbor to the west, Exeter. And for this purpose, Yolanda has become a reluctant activist, attending community meetings in Tooleville and lobbying for consolidation at Exeter’s city council meetings under the expert guidance of Pedro Hernandez, an organizer with the Leadership Counsel. While Exeter has resisted the consolidation since it was first proposed, organizers like Pedro feel that this could be the year Exeter finally succumbs to the growing community pressure and brings Tooleville into the fold. The decision will echo around the Central Valley and across the state, as hundreds of similar community water systems find themselves in a nearly identical predicament.

Water
Activism
Documentary

Crisis

The state of water in the world is critical, but the relationship between a man and a fish that are in story is more critical.

Animation
Water
Conservation

WindShipped

What started as one man's Quixotic dream has turned to reality. For the past three years the 65-foot"Schooner Apollonia" has been delivering goods up and down the Hudson River by sail -- sans fossil fuels -- a throwback to a day when there were 1,200 such boats on the river each day. It turns out buyers prefer the non-polluting, anti-Amazon way of making deliveries.

Water
Transportation

Waters of the U.S.

The current administration is rolling back crucial protections for streams and wetlands across the country in a direct assault on the Clean Water Act. This incredibly beautiful film tells the story of the rivers, streams, and wetlands of Alabama to illustrate the dangers of the proposed regulation. By doing so, it shows the economic benefits, ecological health, and cultural way of life that hang in the balance. The director hails from Miami, Florida, with a strong passion for environmental advocacy. With a degree in Editing, Writing & Media from Florida State University and a background in environmental journalism, he intends to make documentaries to inspire protection wildlife and our natural resources.

Government
Water
Pollution

Daaham Thirst

Water is a precious resource which humanity should use responsibly. Our relationship with Nature should always be guided by reciprocity. Nature protects us all and we in turn should protect natural resources and be sympathetic to the needs of fellow human beings.

Water
Culture
Fiction

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