Water Crisis – Law Street https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com Law and Policy for Our Generation Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:46:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8 100397344 California Drought Watch: Santa Barbara County’s Reservoir Almost Dry https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/energy-environment-blog/california-drought-watch-santa-barbara-countys-reservoir-almost-dry/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/energy-environment-blog/california-drought-watch-santa-barbara-countys-reservoir-almost-dry/#respond Mon, 14 Nov 2016 19:14:25 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=56941

What is California going to do?

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"Lake Cachuma" courtesy of Ryan Schreiber; license: (CC BY 2.0)

The water crisis in southern California is far from over. The reservoir that provides Santa Barbara County with its drinking water reached its all-time low at 7 percent capacity this summer. The Lake Cachuma reservoir is supposed to hold drinking water for half a million people. But at this rate, it will be unable to provide water as soon as January.

Lake Cachuma is 3,000 acres and provides the surrounding valley with half the amount of water that it needs to refill an underground aquifer that everyone living there uses. Households, businesses, and farms use this water. If California doesn’t get the same amount of precipitation as it did last year, the wells will go dry. The only hope for inhabitants is a winter with a lot of snow and rain, which would also extend into the spring. But if that doesn’t happen, the state needs to step in. And the country has just elected a president who doesn’t believe in climate change. “There is no drought,” Trump claimed at a rally in Fresno in May.

“There is very much a drought in California, and it’s been going on for approximately five years. It doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight,” said Emilio Huerta, a California attorney who was running for Congress, to CNBC, earlier this month. He also said there is a “fear of cancer clusters and people being exposed to dangerous toxins” in the water.

Some cities are investigating alternative water sources. In Santa Barbara there are ongoing discussions of whether to ban outdoor use of water, and plans to desalinate ocean water to make it drinkable. The area is known for its huge mansions owned by movie stars, golf courses in constant need of watering, and vineyards that attract tourists from all over the world, and none of this could exist without fresh water. A year ago, water suppliers ordered Californians to cut their water use by 35 percent, something that made many people feel unjustly treated as they let their gardens and trees die at the same time while major construction projects went on as usual.

The city of Santa Barbara released an aerial video to show how much the water level has gone down.

Santa Barbara will spend $61 million to get the desalination plant going, which could provide the city with a third of its water needs. Though it is an amazing invention that can turn seawater into drinking water at a rate of 3 million gallons per day, environmentalists say it’s harmful to the environment. It works by sucking in saltwater through tiny holes in the machine, which can harm ocean creatures, and the salty water that is later pumped back into the ocean pollutes it. The operation also demands a lot of electricity that will contribute further to the emission of carbon dioxide unless it’s generated via renewable energy.

Adam Scow from advocacy group Food & Water Watch believes that to solve the problem, California must change its whole mindset. There are a lot of things that are just not sustainable there–the golf courses, the nut trees, and the overuse of groundwater, to name just a few. “California cannot sustain this type of production with this mantra that we need to dominate all agricultural markets. We’re losing our water with that mindset,” he said to CNBC.

Emma Von Zeipel
Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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How Has the Nation Responded to Flint’s Cries for Help? https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/politics-blog/nation-responded-flints-cries-help/ https://legacy.lawstreetmedia.com/blogs/politics-blog/nation-responded-flints-cries-help/#respond Mon, 25 Jan 2016 23:02:47 +0000 http://lawstreetmedia.com/?p=50267

Even celebrities are willing to lend a hand.

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By now everyone has heard about the current water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The city’s drinking water has been contaminated with lead, making it harmful and potentially life-threatening to drink, and almost everyone is pointing fingers in an attempt to find someone to blame for this catastrophic event. All across the country, people have taken to social media to protest what they feel has been a complete failure on the part of Flint’s government. But it’s kind of hard to tell whether or not the situation is actually getting any better.

Photos of a local poster began circling the internet after being taken down by the State of Michigan due to backlash from the community. The poster–which featured two adorable babies bathing, along with messages confirming it was okay to wash your children in Flint water just as long as they didn’t accidentally drink it–is a shining example of just why everyone is so riled up. The situation is horrifying and negatively affecting some of the most helpless residents in Flint. Even the Girl Scouts of America have voiced their concerns, proving that this water crisis is an issue affecting everyone.

The government in Flint has been working to raise money and support for its city, even reaching out to President Obama in an attempt to have the Flint crisis declared a federal disaster so they can receive federal funding to try to remedy the situation. The President denied federal disaster status, but did give the city emergency funds of $5 million dollars. Unfortunately for Flint, that money boils down to almost nothing in the grand scheme of things, so Governor Rick Snyder has appealed his case to President Obama, hoping to have the status of the Flint emergency reconsidered. Some have estimated the city is going to need as much as $1 billion dollars in the upcoming year after looking at just how deep this lead-filled water problem goes.

The good news is people are stepping up to help the residents of Flint. Celebrities are reaching out and using their star power to donate money and water to the cause.

A firefighter in Chicago, who was horrified to hear about the water conditions in Flint, decided to start asking for water bottle donations, and has collected over 130 cases of water; he plans to drive them to Flint at the end of the week. Residents of Western Michigan have banded together to gather water testing kits, water filters, bottled water, and money to donate to the city in addition to sending over 200 volunteers to help hand out supplies to local Flint citizens with no access to clean drinking water. Even people outside of the Midwest have been helping out by starting dozens of GoFundMe pages to raise money for the city–and the results have been staggering.

It really is heartwarming to see how many people nation-wide are helping Flint without any reservations, which will be instrumental in sustaining the people of Flint until this crippling problem is resolved. Hopefully, with some hard work, financial support, and a new plan for handling the water supply, Flint residents will soon have the clean water they deserve. Until then, it’s time to keep the altruistic spirit of volunteerism alive and help out our friends in need.

Alexandra Simone
Alex Simone is an Editorial Senior Fellow at Law Street and a student at The George Washington University, studying Political Science. She is passionate about law and government, but also enjoys the finer things in life like watching crime dramas and enjoying a nice DC brunch. Contact Alex at ASimone@LawStreetmedia.com

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