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As States Replace Lead Pipes, Plastic Alternatives Could Bring New Risks
Across the country, states and cities are replacing lead pipes to address concerns over lead-contaminated drinking water, an urgent health threat. But critics say that substituting PVC for lead pipes “may well be leaping from the frying pan into the fire.”
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Feds’ Colorado River Choice: California’s Rights or Arizona’s Future?
Almost half of all the water that flows through the Colorado River each year is consumed by just two states: Arizona and California. For the Biden administration to stabilize the river, one of the two states will have to lose big.
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Texas Senate Moves to Set Aside Billions for Future Water Needs
The Texas Senate on Monday passed a bill that would create a new state fund tailored for large or long-shot water supply projects, including marine desalination. The bill will advance to the House.
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Train Cars Which Derailed in Ohio Were Labeled Non-Hazardous
Nearly two weeks after a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in rural Ohio, questions still linger about the lasting effects of the incident and the speed at which residents were returned to their homes. What we do know is that the train cars were marked as non-hazardous, and thus officials weren’t notified that the train would be crossing through the state.
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Stoking Wildfire Resilience in Oregon
Monitoring allows all the moving pieces of an emergency response to launch into action and for decision makers to have as much time as possible to assess and mitigate the threat. This is certainly true when it comes to wildfires. S&T is piloting smoke detection sensors ahead of the 2023 wildfire season.
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Science and Supercomputers Help Utilities Adapt to Climate Change
Northern Illinois traditionally enjoys four predictable seasons. But climate is changing, with big repercussions for the people who live in the region and the power grid that supports them.
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Flooding in California: What Went Wrong, and What Comes Next
Battered by storm after storm, California is facing intense flooding, with at least 19 lives lost so far and nearly 100,000 people evacuated from their homes. And there’s no sign that the storms will be letting up soon.
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California Declares Storm State of Emergency
A huge storm has hit the West Coast of the US, prompting California’s governor to declare a state of emergency. Officials said it may be “one of the most challenging and impactful” storms to hit the state in five years.
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Coughing Up Billions of Dollars to Save Florida’s Insurance Market
In the three months since Hurricane Ian struck Florida, the state’s fragile property insurance market has been teetering on the brink of collapse. The historic storm caused over $50 billion in damage, and dealt a body blow to an industry that was already struggling to stay standing: Several insurance companies had already collapsed this year even before the hurricane, and major funders are now poised to abandon those that remain.
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A Water War Is Brewing Over the Dwindling Colorado River
Diminished by climate change and overuse, the river can no longer provide the water states try to take from it.
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A Simmering Revolt Against Groundwater Cutbacks in California
In 2014, California legislators, focused on groundwater’s accelerating decline during a prolonged drought, passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. New agencies find making sustainability plans is hard, but easier than persuading growers to accept them.
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More U.S. Adults Carrying Loaded Handguns Daily: Study
The number of U.S. adult handgun owners carrying a loaded handgun on their person doubled from 2015 to 2019, according to new research. S larger proportion of handgun owners carried handguns in states with less restrictive carrying regulation, where approximately one-third of handgun owners reported carrying in the past month.
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Panic Buttons, Automatic Locks and Bulletproof Windows Top the Proposed Safety Rules after Uvalde Shooting
These proposed requirements could take effect this school year after the Texas Education Agency takes public comment into consideration.
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Unexpected Trends in Gun Violence Revealed by Statistical Analysis
Only a handful of U.S. states showed a surge in gun violence incidents in mid-2020 during civil unrest at the start of COVID-19 lockdowns and the murder of George Floyd, a new study finds.
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Texas’ Plan to Provide Water for a Growing Population Ignores Climate Change
Texas’ biggest single solution to providing enough water for its soaring population in the coming decades is using more surface water, including about two dozen new large reservoirs. But climate change has made damming rivers a riskier bet.
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The long view
Smaller Nuclear Reactors Spark Renewed Interest in a Once-Shunned Energy Source
In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans.