Water Resources

A special state commission charged with studying the safety of public drinking water systems across West Virginia resumed work this week, eight months after completing its last report to the Legislature. ...

Scott Hamshaw is a UVM grad student who monitors and models stream bank erosion using ground-based lasers. If he and his colleagues can use a drone instead, they'll cover a wider area with fewer people. "We've seen some really good results, particularly in areas where we don't have heavy vegetative cover," Hamshaw said. Researchers hope their work will improve the public image of drones by capturing images that could make a difference.

Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, confirmed the dangers that fracking poses to air quality, water quality and human health.

If you have ever witnessed the damage done by hurricanes that result in severe flooding to regional roads and wash outs at stream crossings, you may long for a crystal ball that would help prevent future destructive scenarios. However, the University of Massachusetts and their collaborators have a much better plan: assess and develop protocols that determine which roadway stream crossings are most vulnerable to climate change conditions well in advance of a disaster. Oh, and place culverts at the top of that list.

“The longer the supply chain, the weaker the connection between the farmer’s management information and the ultimate consumer,” said Daniel Mountjoy of Sustainable Conservation, which led a recent tour of [Chris] Willoughby’s fields. Inexact water use data is more of a problem in fragmented supply chains such as Willoughby’s, where each link acts independently and contracts are subject to change. Read more

As California battles its worst drought in 1,000 years — and after massive wildfires swept across the state for two consecutive summers — a number of tribe members, scientists and U.S. Forest Service officials are working to revive traditional Native American land management practices that some believe could help contain the blazes and lessen effects of the drought. ...