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Despite Recent Water Supply Improvement, More Cuts Expected for Colorado River, Feds Say
After Lake Mead hit an all-time low two years ago, the Colorado River’s water supply is in a much better position this summer, but it hasn’t improved enough to prevent further cuts this year.
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How the Marshall Fire Sparked a Political Transformation in Colorado
After the fire destroyed his town in 2021, a state rep took on insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and landlords — and beat them all.
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State Lawmakers Eye Promise, Pitfalls of AI Ahead of November Elections
This presidential election cycle is the first since generative AI — a form of artificial intelligence that can create new images, audio and video — became widely available. Artificial intelligence proved the ‘topic du jour’ at the largest annual meeting of state lawmakers this week in Kentucky.
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Implementing Secure Firearm Storage Program for Illinois Parents
Firearm injury and mortality are the leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. From 2013-2020, firearms contributed to a staggering cumulative loss of 1.3 million years of life for young people.
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Can Florida’s Orange Growers Survive Another Hurricane Season?
Oranges are synonymous with Florida, but a perfect storm of hurricanes, diseases, and water scarcity threatens to wipe out the state’s famed citrus industry.
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Reviving the Los Angeles River: Engineering Alongside Nature and Society
Reviving the LA River is a prime example of a large-scale infrastructure project that requires engineers to work alongside nature and society. A revived LA River can again serve as habitat for native vegetation and wildlife, improve water quality, aid water management, and contribute to cultural renewal.
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Biden Administration Gives Up on Texas Border Suit, Ordered to Finish Wall
Texas has won another lawsuit against the Biden administration, this time one that requires it to finish building the border wall. The ruling was issued May 29, with a 60-day window for appeal. Because the Biden administration didn’t appeal by July 29, the court’s order remains in full effect.
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Texas Water Board Details How It Will Spend $1 Billion for Water Infrastructure Projects
About $45 million will go to Texas towns with fewer than 1,000 residents — a boon for municipalities without a viable tax base.
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Fifth Circuit Hands Texas major Win on Rio Grande River Buoy Lawsuit
One year after Texas installed marine barriers in the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass, Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled Texas has the legal right to do so.
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As the Rio Grande Runs Dry, South Texas Cities Look to Alternatives for Water
Many of the solutions are costly, putting them out of reach for small towns. But the region’s most populous cities are getting innovative.
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Illinois DARPA Quantum Proving Ground
A new federal- and state-funded Quantum Proving Ground (QPG) promises to combine scientific rigor with industry and academic expertise to design the future of quantum computing
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Climate Change Has Forced America’s Oldest Black Town to Higher Ground
Princeville, North Carolina, is relocating with help from a new federal grant. Hurricane Matthew, which submerged the town under more than 10 feet of water, was the final straw. The town has just received millions of dollars in new funding from FEMA to build a new site on higher ground.
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Albuquerque Made Itself Drought-Proof. Then Its Dam Started Leaking.
El Vado is an odd dam: It’s one of only four in the United States that uses a steel faceplate to hold back water, rather than a mass of rock or concrete. The dam, which is located on a tributary of the Rio Grande, has been collecting irrigation water for farmers for close to a century, but decades of studies have shown that water is seeping through the faceplate and undermining the dam’s foundations. Cities across the West rely on fragile water sources — and aging infrastructure.
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In an Era of Dam Removal, California Is Building More
Earlier this year, the federal government finalized $216 million dollars in funding for a controversial dam project south of the Klamath River, adding to the $1 billion in direct grants already pledged to the project known as Sites Reservoir. This would be California’s first major new reservoir in half a century. Proponents say a new reservoir off the Sacramento River is environmentally friendly.
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More Than 100 Texas Counties Lack Plans to Curb Damage from Natural Disasters
The plans, which are required by the federal government to access certain grants after a natural disaster, are laborious to assemble — especially for rural counties.
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The long view
Will Texas Actually Run Out of Water?
You asked our AI chatbot about Texas’ water supply. We answered some of the questions that it couldn’t.