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[ not exactly about water but about what to do when there‘s no water. It‘s Punk, but not stellar ]

The disclaimer says the video was "Paid and presented by Cosecha de lluvia, Mexico City Government".

[link with Audio and Full Transcript]

The United States is one step closer to withholding millions in aid dollars from Mexico as that country continues to flout a binational water sharing treaty that’s critical to the Rio Grande Valley’s water supply.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee approved an effort by a bipartisan, bicameral group of Rio Grande Valley lawmakers to withhold funding from Mexico until it makes good on a 1944 water sharing treaty with the United States.

The treaty obligates Mexico to deliver some 1.75 million acre-feet of water every five years from six Mexican tributaries that feed the Rio Grande. However, four years into the current cycle, Mexico has delivered only about a year’s worth of water, even as the two international reservoirs that supply the Valley and the northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon with water have fallen to historically low levels.

The scarcity of water led to the demise of the Valley’s sugarcane industry, which in February announced it was permanently ceasing operations after a 51-year legacy here.

And already, another iconic facet of Valley agriculture — the citrus industry — is also on the brink of failure as farmers uproot dozens of dead and dying trees from their orchards.

The worsening crisis has long prompted earnest entreaties from local leaders that something be done.

Earlier this year, a coalition of federal lawmakers took up the cause, calling for a first-of-its-kind financial sanction against Mexico for its continued non-compliance.

That effort was led by Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both Republicans, as well as all three of the Valley’s House representatives, and several more who represent other parts of the state.

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, announced that their combined efforts had achieved their first legislative success.

The proposal to withhold funding from the fiscal year 2025 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, or SFOPS, appropriations bill, had successfully passed the House Appropriations Committee, Cuellar, a senior committee member, said in a news release on Wednesday.

“Water is life, and water deliveries from Mexico are essential for South Texas communities to operate and grow,” Cuellar stated in the news release.

“As a member of Congress, it is my job to ensure communities on the border have an adequate, reliable water supply,” he further stated.

The Valley’s freshman lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-McAllen, also celebrated the language’s inclusion in the House appropriations bill, which will be voted on by the full House later this year.

“This bill sends a clear message: if the Mexican government thinks it can starve us of our water and put our farmers out of business, they are sorely mistaken,” De La Cruz stated in a news release Wednesday.

“Withholding funding will highlight to everyday Mexicans their government’s failure to adhere to binding international agreements,” she further stated.

The legislative measure calls for withholding up to 15% of SFOPs funding from Mexico, though monies used to combat fentanyl trafficking are specifically excluded.

That equates to about $7.6 million, according to what U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, told The Monitor earlier this year.

However Cornyn, Texas’ senior senator, said that amount may turn out to be higher.

Mexico is one of the top receivers of American foreign aid, according to the Office of Foreign Assistance.

In 2022, the country received more than $231 million in aid, and another $149 million in 2023.

As of June, the combined American storage of water held at Amistad and Falcon international reservoirs stood at just 18.76%, according to data published by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

The IBWC is the federal agency responsible for maintaining data on the reservoirs, and enforcing the water sharing treaty with Mexico.

The 18.76% shown in the June 1 water ownership report represents the lowest volume of water since recordkeeping began. /End of article

Note: Not great that the author Dina Arévalo does not have any info on the Mexican perspective.

Every major English water company has reported data suggesting they’ve discharged raw sewage when the weather is dry – a practice which is potentially illegal.

BBC News has analysed spills data from nine firms, which suggests sewage may have been discharged nearly 6,000 times when it had not been raining in 2022 - including during the country’s record heatwave. ...

... Anyone here think this is a reason to be cheerful?

Article text cont.

February 8, 2024, by Justin Franz, in reasonstobecheerful.world

The Yellowstone Club, the elite resort near Big Sky that in the past has counted Bill Gates, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel as members, has become the first ski area in Montana to turn wastewater into snow. And while skiing on what was once sewage might seem odd at first blush, resort officials and local conservation groups said it’s both safe and beneficial to the environment, especially during dry winters like this one, which has left some ski areas in the state shuttered.

In fact, Richard Chandler, vice president of environmental operations for the Yellowstone Club, said recently that the new program to turn wastewater into snow is helping the resort open more runs than it otherwise might be able to this winter.

“Without [snowmaking], we’d be skiing on a lot less terrain,” Chandler said.

The new effort to use recycled water to increase the base layer of snow on Eglise Mountain follows a decade of collaboration between the resort and local environmental groups, plus a multi-year review by state regulators. It isn’t the first time the Yellowstone Club has found a new use for wastewater: For several years, it has been using recycled water to irrigate its golf course.

In 2011, the Gallatin River Task Force, Yellowstone Club and DEQ studied whether wastewater could be used to make artificial snow to ski on. The idea was that as climate change made the region’s snowpack more unpredictable, they could serve skiers and the watershed by making snow from treated water that is traditionally just put into rivers and other bodies of water. That winter they successfully turned a half-million gallons of wastewater into two acres of snow about 18 inches deep.

According to the Yellowstone Club, 12 ski areas in eight states, plus some in Canada, Switzerland and Australia, have used wastewater to make snow in the past. However, the practice hasn’t been without controversy. About a decade ago, a ski area near Flagstaff, Arizona, was sued by a local tribe over environmental concerns about turning wastewater into snow. The Hopi Tribe also alleged that the practice would desecrate a mountain it considered sacred. The tribe eventually lost in court, but during the dispute some environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity, raised concerns about the impact the recycled snow might have on aquatic life in the area.

But Chandler said that using recycled water to make snow treats the wastewater even more than it normally would be before being released into a river. By shooting it through the snowmaking equipment (it’s essentially misted onto the slopes as snow) the wastewater is treated again. Then, as it . Chandler estimates that the man-made snow will increase summer runoff in area creeks by about 19 days.

“The benefits of this project are actually an enhancement to the watershed function,” said Pat Byorth, Montana water director for Trout Unlimited, in a press release. “It’s an enhancement to water supply, to water quality in the basin. So everybody from skiers to anglers will benefit from this, and downstream agriculture benefits at a time where water supply is uncertain.”

In 2020, the Yellowstone Club applied for a permit from DEQ to expand that 2011 pilot program into a permanent snowmaking operation on Eglise Mountain. The following year, the state issued a permit allowing the Yellowstone Club to turn 25 million gallons of wastewater into snow annually. Two years and $12 million later, the new system began making snow last November. Under the current plan, 80 percent of the recycled water is coming from the community of Big Sky and 20 percent is coming from the Yellowstone Club. As part of its permit, the Yellowstone Club is required to erect signage warning visitors not to consume the snow.

As winters get drier in the American West, Chandler said that turning wastewater into snow could be the key for ski areas across the region in the future. He said he hopes the club can set an example.

“We hope that we can show other ski areas in the state what is possible,” he said. “We might be the first, but I hope we aren’t the last.”

gift link without paywall, thanks to u/silence7

For another way, follow the Aarg way!

Estimated 17200 ± 5000 tons per year of PVA used in laundry and dish detergent pods in the US, with 10500 ± 3000 reaching wastewater treatment plants. Literature review data, and model, estimated ~61% of PVA ending up in the environment via the sludge and ~15.7% via the aqueous phase. PVA presence in the environment, regardless of its matrix, is a threat to the ecosystem due to the potential mobilization of heavy metals and other hydrophilic contaminants.

Citizens could be fined for washing cars or watering gardens.

After months of warnings, authorities in Catalonia have declared a drought emergency.

The region is in the midst of the worst drought since records began.

From tomorrow [[Friday, Feb 2, 2024]], 80% of the Catalan population, including Barcelona, will be under strict water restrictions.

Algarve is waiting for the government to officially announce some of the toughest water-saving measures ever implemented in Portugal to tackle its near-catastrophic drought situation.