Clean Water Act

 

Maryland Legislature Guarantees CWA Citizen Enforcement. According to InsideEPA, “The Maryland General Assembly has approved legislation guaranteeing citizens the right to intervene in Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement litigation brought by the state, following a 2010 state court ruling that effectively prevented such involvement by residents. ‘Before now, Marylanders were prohibited from joining in state cases enforcing clean water laws against those dumping illegal pollution across the state,’ Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) Attorney Sylvia Lam said in an April 8 statement following passage of the bill the same day. ‘This bill ensures that individuals, communities, and other groups in Maryland have a right to intervene, to have their voices heard, and to have a chance to advocate for their interests in attaining cleaner waterways and a healthier Maryland.’ The legislation was sponsored by two Democratic state lawmakers, state Del. Sara Love in the Maryland House and state Sen. Jill Carter in the Maryland Senate. It is awaiting signature by Gov. Larry Hogan (R).” [InsideEPA, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Permits & Certifications

 

Court Urged To Restore Dakota Access Permit On NEPA Grounds. According to E&E News, “The developer of the Dakota Access pipeline is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision not to reinstate a key permit for the crude oil conduit. Energy Transfer LP called for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rehear its appeal before a full panel of active judges just days after the Biden administration announced in a lower court it had no plans to shut down the controversial pipeline for operating without the permit. ‘Rehearing is critical because the panel’s novel approach conflicts with Supreme Court precedent and the decisions of multiple circuits,’ the company wrote in its petition for rehearing en banc yesterday. In January, a three-judge panel had unanimously ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers had violated the National Environmental Policy Act and had not properly issued an easement for the pipeline to cross beneath Lake Oahe in the Dakotas (Greenwire, Jan. 26). The ruling upheld a decision from Judge James Boasberg for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who had tossed out the permit last year and ordered the agency to conduct an environmental impact statement to study the risks of oil spills from the 1,172-mile pipeline connecting the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota to Illinois. The appeals court had agreed that the project could be deemed ‘highly controversial,’ one of 10 criteria under NEPA that can trigger the need for a more extensive analysis from a federal agency.” [E&E News, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

Army Corps Suspends Minn. Mining Permit In Win For Tribes. According to E&E News, “The Biden administration has suspended a critical Clean Water Act permit for a contentious Minnesota mining project, handing a groundbreaking win to a Native American tribe fighting potential pollution from the upstream development. The Army Corps of Engineers sidelined a wetlands permit for the PolyMet mine last month after a court found the Trump EPA had failed to determine if the project ‘may affect’ the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa’s downstream waters. The decision could help other tribes assert their rights as downstream states in Clean Water Act permitting, said Nancy Schuldt, water projects coordinator for the Fond du Lac Band. ‘It’s fabulous news,’ Schuldt said. ‘There’s very little case law so this is an interesting case that has now set a precedent.’ Fond du Lac is one of 73 tribes with EPA-approved water quality standards giving them the same status as a downstream state in Clean Water Act permitting. About 70 miles from the Fond du Lac reservation in northeastern Minnesota, PolyMet Mining Corp. — majority-owned by Swiss firm Glencore PLC — has proposed a copper-nickel mine. By early 2019, Fond du Lac researchers had determined mercury could flow from the 19,000-acre, open-pit mining project to the reservation at levels exceeding the tribe’s water quality standards.” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: The Pipeline That President Biden Needs To Stop. According to an op-ed by Rep. Ilhan Omar and Tara Houska in CNN, “By the Mississippi River headwaters -- the mighty river running through the center of our country and powering much of Minnesota -- is a small, clear stream. Its bends hold marshy reeds surrounded by towering pines. It’s one of the places where traffic noise is a rarity and the forest looms large. Lately, however, the sounds of heavy equipment and excavators prepping the ground to transport tar sands oil under the riverbed echo through the wetlands. Segments of the Enbridge Line 3 replacement pipeline wait in nearby work yards, ready to redirect the dirtiest fossil fuel more than 300 miles through ‘The Land of 10,000 Lakes.’ We’re just two months into President Joe Biden’s administration. On his first day in office he revoked the permit to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, another long-fought tar sands oil project proposed out of Alberta, Canada. Climate science and racial justice are clear priorities for this administration. Science isn’t a bad word and Covid-19 is a crisis, not a hoax. Yet, here in the north woods of Minnesota, any progress feels far away. It’s hard to celebrate when your sacred places are threatened to be torn apart in front of your eyes. Tears swim in tired eyes and prayers go up for the delicate wild rice beds downstream, the generations not yet born and the pain of inequity as old as the state of Minnesota. It isn’t just a pipeline. To hear Enbridge, the fossil fuel corporation behind the Line 3 project, tell the tale, it’s a replacement pipeline to bring crude oil through the territory, most for eventual foreign export.” [CNN, 4/9/21 (+)]

 

Water Pollution

 

Drinking Water

 

Poultry Processor To Pay Out $65M For Water Pollution. According to E&E News, “One of the country’s biggest poultry companies will pay $65 million to neighbors of its Delaware processing plant who said they were sickened by water the facility contaminated. The $65 million fund is the latest part of an overall $205 million settlement between Mountaire Farms and multiple plaintiffs, the final details of which were approved today in Delaware Superior Court. The case centered on a plant in Millsboro, Del., and started with the mysterious delivery of a package of bottled water to the home of Gary Cuppels, who became one of the plaintiffs. Other highlights of the settlement include $140 million — already approved in federal district court in Delaware — to bring the processing facility’s wastewater treatment plant into environmental compliance. Today’s announcement resolves all outstanding class action claims, the company said in a news release. ‘It’s probably the best outcome possible, no doubt about that,’ said Cuppels, 74, who said he and his wife have struggled with severe gastrointestinal issues they attribute to the plant exceeding federal pollution limits. ‘Whatever was in our gut was in our gut, and it was wreaking havoc.’ The case began in 2017, after Cuppels found a case of bottled water at his door on a Friday evening with a note saying it was from ‘friends of yours at Mountaire.’ ‘I didn’t have any friends at Mountaire,’ Cuppels said an online news conference today, recounting the experience. ‘You kind of struggle over the weekend, wondering what’s going on.’” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

PFAS

 

KY Advocates Say ‘Forever Chemicals' Pose Health Risk. According to Public News Service, “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is slated to receive $75 million to jumpstart toxicity studies of industrial chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under President Joe Biden’s recent budget proposal. The plan is part of a nationwide effort to clean up contamination and implement regulatory standards. Teena Halbig, co-founder and clean water chair of the Floyds Fork Environmental Association in Louisville, said Kentucky residents should be concerned about the presence of PFAS in drinking water. A 2019 study confirmed their presence in 41 of 81 water-treatment plants across the state but so far, little action has been taken. ‘I’ve been in many meetings with these kinds of things,’ Halbig recounted. ‘And I have never heard anyone speak of PFAS. I think it is a sleeping giant here, and it definitely needs some attention.’ PFAS chemicals are used in nonstick cookware, cleaning products, clothing, firefighting foam and grease-resistant food packaging, and have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease and other health problems. The EPA has issued health advisory levels on two compounds of PFAS, but environmental groups argue stricter and more comprehensive limits are needed to protect human health.” [Public News Service, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

AP | Deadline Extended For Comments On PFAS Pollution Plan. According to E&E News, “The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation has again extended the public comment period on the reclassification of groundwater as nonpotable in parts of Bennington and Shaftsbury because of PFAS pollution. The deadline to submit comments will be May 28, and another virtual public meeting will take place but has not yet been scheduled, state officials said, according to the Bennington Banner. ‘We have heard the community that they need more time and more information and we want to be responsive to those requests,’ department Commissioner Peter Walke said by email. ‘We believe this approach will give more residents the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions they may have.’ Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS, were found around two former Chemfab Corp. factories in North Bennington. The substances are used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers and have been linked to health threats ranging from cancer to decreased fertility. The main reason for reclassifying the groundwater ‘is to protect human health and safety by providing a formal notification to landowners, well drillers, and permitting agencies that groundwater is or may be contaminated by PFAS,’ according to the department.” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Coal Ash

 

Tenn. Dem Floats Bill To Increase Scrutiny Of Coal Ash Dumps. According to E&E News, “Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen introduced legislation last week to bolster environmental and public health protections for communities at risk of exposure to coal ash. Coal ash is often mixed with water and stored in ponds at power plants. The Democrat from Memphis said a major breach at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant disposal site in 2008 made him acutely aware of the risks of coal ash contamination. Unlined pits are also known to leach contaminants like arsenic and mercury into groundwater. ‘The measure I am introducing strengthens protections outlined in the 2015 Coal Ash Rule and protects communities by mandating safer and faster disposal of this dangerous waste produce of electricity production,’ Cohen said in a news release. Cohen’s ‘Ensuring the Safe Disposal of Coal Ash Act,’ H.R. 2396, would fill gaps in EPA’s coal ash regulations, Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans said over the phone. The bill would require air quality monitoring at EPA-approved coal ash ponds and limit the amount of fugitive dust allowed at the sites, which can cause lung disease. Evans said these measures would improve on the current rule’s ‘inadequate’ air quality requirements. Dozens of workers who cleaned up after the Kingston disaster have died, and hundreds of others are sick (Greenwire, Jan. 15, 2019). Cohen’s wide-ranging bill also would require financial assurance to cover impoundment closure costs, prohibit continued operation of unlined pits and limit so-called beneficial uses of coal ash.” [E&E News, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

Cohen Pushes For Tighter Rules On Coal Ash Clean-Up, Including In Memphis. According to Commercial Appeal, “U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen took aim at the lingering coal ash in his district last week, targeting the pollution that is the byproduct of coal-fired power plants in Memphis and across the country.  Cohen introduced the Ensuring the Safe Disposal of Coal Ash Act this week, a move that could help strengthen provisions of the Clean Future Act, a bill introduced this year that is aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and includes measures intended to speed up coal ash clean-up and set further standards for it.  Cohen’s bill also could have ramifications for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies Memphis and all of Tennessee with its electricity. TVA, like utilities across the U.S., is now faced with dealing with the residue of the millions of tons it burned throughout the past five decades.  That residue, and the pollution from it, exists in Memphis from the Allen Fossil Plant on President’s Island, the industrialized peninsula in a slack water harbor on the Mississippi River. Arsenic has been found in groundwater wells around Allen. According to the federally owned power company’s website, the remediation of the site could take up to nine years.” [Commercial Appeal, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Groundwater

 

Justices Weigh 2 Sweeping Environmental Cases. According to E&E News, “The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard a pair of far-reaching environmental lawsuits today that could define the limits of factory farming and high-capacity well regulations and determine how far state agencies can go when interpreting state law. The justices heard oral arguments in both cases, concluding they hinge on whether a law Republicans enacted in 2011 limiting agencies’ powers trumps the Department of Natural Resources’ broad authority to protect Wisconsin’s waters. It was unclear when the court might rule. A decision that the law limits agency discretion could force departments across state government to spend years writing new rules to give themselves the authority to impose regulations on a case-by-case basis. That could set up innumerable clashes with Republican legislators, who have the final say on agency rules and already believe the executive branch oversteps its authority. Conservation group Clean Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in 2015 demanding the DNR enforce standards that an administrative law judge imposed on an expansion permit for Kinnard Farms in Kewaunee County. The judge imposed permit conditions that called for the farm to monitor its impact on off-site groundwater and limit the number of animals to reduce manure. The DNR declined to enforce the standards after then-Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel advised the agency that it lacked the authority under the 2011 law, known as Act 21, that prohibits agencies from implementing or enforcing standards that aren’t explicitly laid out in statute. Clean Wisconsin attorney Andrea Gelatt argued that other sections of state law clearly give the DNR the broad power to control pollution discharge and impose permit conditions to ensure compliance.” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Plastic Pollution

 

Major Drink Supplier Promises Big Cuts In Virgin Plastic Use. According to E&E News, “Beverage giant Keurig Dr Pepper will cut its use of virgin plastic significantly over the next few years, becoming the latest company to show signs of bowing to growing environmental concerns. After an engagement process with shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, Keurig Dr Pepper has agreed to slice virgin plastic packaging 20% by 2025. The company is the third largest non-alcoholic packaged beverage company in North America and used 208,000 metric tons of plastic packaging in 2018, according to the World Wildlife Fund, making the commitment significant. As You Sow said in its announcement today that Keurig Dr Pepper plans to achieve its goal through ‘increased use of recycled content, elimination of unnecessary material, redesign of packaging, and exploration of reuse models.’ The company will provide more information in its next corporate responsibility report, set for publication this summer. The decision came in response to a shareholder resolution filed by As You Sow, which took similar actions with Keurig Dr Pepper and nine additional consumer goods companies in January. The other companies were Amazon.com Inc., the Kraft Heinz Co., the Kroger Co., McDonald’s Corp., Mondelez International Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Restaurant Brands International Inc., Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. (Greenwire, Jan. 15).” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Water Infrastructure

 

Snake River In U.S. Pacific Northwest Named Most Endangered By Environmental Group. According to Reuters, “The Snake River, crucial habitat for salmon and relied on by native people in the Pacific Northwest, is the most endangered river in the United States, according to an annual ranking released on Tuesday by the American Rivers environmental group. The organization, which focuses on the health and restoration of rivers and streams throughout the country, said the Snake River is threatened by four federal dams in Idaho, Washington and Oregon. It is putting its voice and clout toward efforts by local environmentalists to remove the dams and restore the river for salmon, as well as economic and cultural activity by native groups and others. ‘We’re facing a critical choice on the Snake River,’ said Tom Kiernan, president of American Rivers. ‘We can either stay with the status quo, which means failing salmon runs, more costly litigation, increasing energy insecurity and broken promises to tribes. Or we can choose to invest in salmon recovery and infrastructure solutions that create a future of abundance and prosperity for the region.’ American Rivers each year highlights 10 U.S. rivers at risk of harm. It also cited threats to the Lower Missouri River in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska due to outdated management and flooding related to climate change, and well as the scenic Boundary Waters of Minnesota, which it said was at risk because of pollution from proposed sulfide-ore copper mining.” [Reuters, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Most Endangered. According to Politico, “The Snake River, where Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson has launched an effort to build support for removing four hydropower dams that block passage for his state’s iconic salmon runs, tops the nonprofit American Rivers’ list of Most Endangered Rivers for 2021. Others on the group’s list of rivers facing the greatest threats this year include Georgia’s South River, where sewage overflows are disproportionately impacting Black communities; Oklahoma’s Tar Creek, one of the nation’s largest Superfund sites where mining pollution threatens Indigenous communities; and the Lower Missouri River, where the group is calling for the use of nature-based solutions like setting back levees to deal with the river’s worsening flood problems.” [Politico, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

AP | State Dumps Plan That Sought To Remove Kennebec River Dams. According to E&E News, “Maine is stopping a plan to remove up to four dams from the Kennebec River because of concerns that the state doesn’t have the authority to go ahead with the proposal. Brookfield Renewable Partners of Toronto owns the dams. The company sued the Maine Department of Marine Resources on March 30, the Bangor Daily News reported. The Marine Resources Department recently collected public comments on proposed state rules that would have strengthened fish passage requirements for dams on the river. Brookfield Renewable said it would be almost impossible to comply with the rules, and that would mean they would need to be removed. The company sued because it felt the state was overstepping its authority. Marine resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher told the paper that the state accidentally developed the plan under a law that doesn’t give it the authority it would need. He said the state still wants to restore fish populations and will pursue other avenues. Maine rivers are critical to the survival of the few hundreds of Atlantic salmon that still return to American rivers. Environmental groups have pushed for the removal of dams to help save the salmon.” [E&E News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Western Water

 

AP | Tensions Rise In Water Battle Along Oregon-California Line. According to Houston Chronicle, “One of the worst droughts in memory in a massive agricultural region straddling the California-Oregon border could mean steep cuts to irrigation water for hundreds of farmers this summer to sustain endangered fish species critical to local tribes. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water allocations in the federally owned Klamath Project, is expected to announce this week how the season’s water will be divvied up after delaying the decision a month. For the first time in 20 years, it’s possible that the 1,400 irrigators who have farmed for generations on 225,000 acres (91,000 hectares) of reclaimed farmland will get no water at all — or so little that farming wouldn’t be worth it. Several tribes in Oregon and California are equally desperate for water to sustain threatened and endangered species of fish central to their heritage. A network of six wildlife refuges that make up the largest wetland complex west of the Mississippi River also depend on the project’s water, but will likely go dry this year. The competing demands over a vanishing natural resource foreshadow a difficult and tense summer in a region where farmers, conservationists and tribes have engaged in years of legal battles over who has greater rights to an ever-dwindling water supply. Two of the tribes, the Klamath and Yurok, hold treaties guaranteeing the protection of their fisheries.” [Houston Chronicle, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Meet Arizona's Water One-Percenters. According to The Guardian, “Every two weeks, Dawn Upton floods her lawn. She treks into her back yard, twists open two valves big as dinner plates, and within minutes is ankle-deep in water. ‘You have to have irrigation boots, girl,’ she says during a video tour of her property in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona. She flips her camera to reveal green grass, then tilts her phone skyward at four towering palm trees. As she walks, she pans across pecan, pomegranate, and citrus trees – lemon, orange, a grapefruit sapling. A tortoise, between 80 and 100lb, lumbers toward her, chewing. ‘There’s Simba,’ Upton says. ‘Hey buddy! What is that, Simba? You can’t eat it.’ She pats him affectionately on the head. This lush half-acre is Upton and her husband’s oasis, fed by flood irrigation in the heart of the Sonoran desert. Upton is among a handful of homeowners – by one accounting, just 1% – of metro Phoenix’s 4.4 million people to receive flood irrigation. The Salt River Project, the area’s largest supplier of such water, delivered almost 60,000 acre-feet of water to that small number of residents in 2019, or 7.5% of the water it delivered that year to all customers combined. In that same year, the Salt River Project sent 36,003 acre-feet to Phoenix-area schools, parks, golf courses and churches (and 63,500 acre-feet to farmers – another story entirely) to irrigate trees and turf. To provide scale for that type of usage: one acre-foot of water can sustain three Phoenix-area families for a year. The entire city of Chandler, Arizona, population 261,000, uses 60,000 acre-feet of water annually.” [The Guardian, 4/5/21 (=)]

 

Flooding

 

Analysis: 8 Counties Got Half Of 2020 Flood Claims. According to E&E News, “The federal flood insurance program paid $1.2 billion in claims in 2020, breaking the $1 billion threshold for a record sixth consecutive year, according to an E&E News analysis of federal records. Eight counties — in Alabama, Florida and Louisiana — accounted for half of the claims payments, which arose from a series of storms that caused major but not catastrophic damage during last year’s record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season. There were a record 30 named storms from June to December including 13 hurricanes and six major hurricanes reaching Category 3 or higher. Hurricane Sally, a Category 2 storm in September that hit the Gulf Coast in Alabama and Florida, accounted for roughly one-third of the claims paid by the National Flood Insurance Program in 2020. The high level of claims payments continues to put pressure on the program, which is supposed to be self-sustaining but owes federal taxpayers $20.5 billion because it was unable to pay all of the claims from the devastating 2017 hurricane season. The average flood insurance payment last year was $47,000, which reflects a trend of costlier claims, E&E News found in an analysis of millions of NFIP payments since the 1970s. In the past five years — from 2016 through 2020 — the average flood insurance payment was $71,900. In the five years from 1996 through 2000, the average payment was $20,400.” [E&E News, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

Flood Risk Workshop Draws Residents Hoping To Protect Their Homes From Rising Waters. According to Palm Beach Daily News, “Hoping to protect her garage from flooding during heavy rain, West Palm Beach resident Ann Tyler stopped by a flood risk workshop Friday morning at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach. Real estate broker Ryan Beckett and a colleague were there too, hoping to gather information on building elevations, while longtime Palm Beach residents Alec and Maureen Hicks wanted to see where their home was located on current Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps. ‘I want to know more about flooding,’ said Maureen Hicks, as she waited her turn to take a look at the FEMA maps that were posted outside the foundation’s office on Peruvian Avenue. ‘I think it’s a relevant topic, since they just said there were going to be more hurricanes.’ The Hicks, who live one block from the ocean and a block and a half from the lake, were among the more than 150 people who participated in Friday’s workshop, which was sponsored by the foundation and Resilient Enterprise Solutions, a Pittsburgh-based company that specializes in home elevation, flood-proofing and climate communication. The daylong, open-house style event, which was rescheduled from Dec. 5 because of COVID-19, provided participants with information about flood risk and how to protect their homes from rising waters.” [Palm Beach Daily News, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Rising Mississippi River To Close Wildlife Management Area. According to Associated Press, “The rising Mississippi River is about to close a wildlife management area north-northeast of New Orleans. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area closes when the gauge at Pearl River reaches 16.5 feet (5.03 meters) — and it’s expected to do so Tuesday. The 35,600-acre area is about 35 miles (57 kilometers) from New Orleans and one mile (1.6 kilometers) east of the town of Pearl River. The entrance gate on Old Highway 11 will remain locked until the river recedes below 16.5 feet (5.03 meters) and the roads have been inspected. The area includes the Pearl River-Honey Island Shooting Range, which also will be closed.” [Associated Press, 4/12/21 (=)]

 

Op-Ed: Flood Survivors Find Common Ground In A Divided Nation. According to an op-ed by Laurie Mazur in Environmental Health News, “Virginia Wasserberg is a lifelong Republican, a deeply conservative home-schooling mom from Southeast Virginia. Once a month, she logs onto Zoom to join an unlikely crew: there’s a community organizer from Austin, Texas; a grandmother from rural Missouri; and an environmental justice activist from Port Arthur, Texas. Wasserberg and her Zoom companions are members of Higher Ground, a national network of flood survivors. On paper, they don’t have much in common. They span the income spectrum from working class to relatively affluent. They are African-American, white and Latinx; Democrats and Republicans; conservatives, moderates, and progressives. But they share one important experience: they are all dealing with floods in their homes and neighborhoods. As the planet warms, those floods are becoming more severe. Stronger, wetter storms overflow the banks of Midwestern rivers, while hurricanes and sea-level rise inundate coastal communities. Antiquated infrastructure and short-sighted building practices make the problem worse. But as the waters are rising, so are flood survivors. Higher Ground, a project of the Florida-based nonprofit Anthropocene Alliance, now has 70 chapters in 22 states, plus Puerto Rico. Wasserberg’s experience is typical of the group’s members. ‘On October 7, 2016, I couldn’t have cared less about climate change,’ she said. ‘On October 8, a disaster woke me up.’ That disaster was a massive storm surge from Hurricane Matthew, which flooded her Virginia Beach home. ‘As soon as we got back in the house, I started looking around and saying, ‘How did this happen and how can we prevent it from happening again?’ she said. That inquiry led Wasserberg to a new understanding of the science—and the politics--behind flooding and climate change.” [Environmental Health News, 4/12/21 (+)]

 

Misc. Waterways

 

Calls For Water Conservation Grow As Drought Takes Hold. According to E&E News, “Massachusetts officials are urging residents to conserve water as drought conditions affect much of the state. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said Friday that significant drought has been declared in the southeast region of Massachusetts, which includes Norfolk, Plymouth and Bristol counties. A mild drought has been declared in the rest of the state, except for the islands. Officials say precipitation totals are 1.5 inches to 3 inches below normal. ‘It is important that we all take water conservation steps now to lessen its potential impacts on our environment and water supplies, and to take extra precautions when using an open flame or cooking on a grill to prevent wildfires,’ Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said in an emailed statement. Officials are encouraging residents to reduce their water use indoors and outdoors and be especially careful when using things like charcoal grills and other open flames outside because of the increased risk of brush and wildland fires.” [E&E News, 4/13/21 (=)]

 

 

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