Dear Deeply Readers,
Welcome to the archives of Water Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on November 1, 2018, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on water resilience. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors and contributors.
We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].
Padma Nagappan is a San Diego-based health and environment reporter who writes frequently about California’s drought and water issues, and explores the ramifications of a prolonged drought from different angles. Find her on Twitter: @savvywordsmith and on muckrack.com/savvywordsmith
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Concerns about water quality and contamination have led to the decline of public water-fountain use and the rise of bottled alternatives. A few actions could help boost public confidence in drinking fountains.
Stakeholders are exploring different options to reduce the much-debated environmental impacts of desalination to make it a more attractive option for drought-hit regions.
In an effort to diversify supply, a proposed desalination plant in Mexico could soon send potable water to some areas in San Diego County, but there are environmental concerns.
Water use has not gone up as population increased in the last few years, contrary to popular opinion and expectations. How does this impact how urban water managers are planning?
An agreement by California to draw less water from the Colorado River to help boost water levels at Lake Mead could accelerate the shrinkage of the already precarious Salton Sea, endangering air quality and wildlife habitat.
An innovative program in the Pajaro Valley offers landowners incentives to collect stormwater run-off to recharge groundwater. The program could be the forerunner of potential ways to successfully replenish groundwater levels across California.
Previous estimates of groundwater in California’s drought-stricken Central Valley only looked at depths of up to 1,000ft (300m), but a new study says there’s three times as much freshwater at 1,000–3,000ft (300–900m) below ground.
Climate change will lead to hotter, drier weather in San Diego, but also more frequent floods caused by larger storms. Water supply will be diminished but demand is expected to increase.
When California searches for relief from the drought, and explores different solutions, from conserving water to desalination, one avenue that often gets overlooked is what’s under our feet – soil.
In the arid Golden State, growers and agricultural researchers have been developing techniques to conserve precious water and use it more efficiently. Here are some things they’ve learned.
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