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The Watershed Game challenges, informs decision-makers

photo: The Watershed Game

Photo: Angie Hong, East Metro Water Resources Education Program, facilitates the Watershed Game aboard a St. Croix riverboat.

When Angie Hong is reaching out with water education in Washington County, it doesn’t matter if she’s talking to people who are conservative- or liberal-minded. “Everybody cares about water,” says Hong, who is with the East Metro Water Resources Education Program.

Hong would know. She has spent the last 12 years teaching … [more…]

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$23 million in state grants aim to prevent sewage overflows, protect WNY waters

$23 million in state grants aim to prevent sewage overflows, protect WNY waters

Downtown is reflected in the water at the small boat harbor on Friday. (Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News)

A Wales forest will grow by a couple hundred acres to protect the Niagara River’s water quality miles downstream.

Six miles of Town of Tonawanda sewers will be lined to keep sewage from overflowing into Ellicott Creek and the Niagara River.

Mechanical and computer upgrades will help Buffalo hold back stormwater and sewage from … [more…]

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Somerville Receives $500K For Water, Sewer Improvements

photo: cash - grant money will modernize infrastructure

The project includes upgrading a 140-year-old sewer system and enable the construction of five mixed-use buildings at Boynton Yards.

SOMERVILLE, MA – The Baker-Polito administration on Friday announced a $500,000 MassWorks Infrastructure Program grant for water and sewer improvements in the Boynton Yards area. The project will modernize a failing 140-year-old sewer system and enable separated stormwater and sewer service to support the redevelopment of Boynton Yards, which will be … [more…]

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Almond Farms Keep Growing, Keep Moving on Water Conservation

photo: orchard flooded with stormwater to help recharge the aquifer. Almond Farms Keep Growing, and Keep Moving on Water Conservation

Modesto farmer Nick Blom stands in his 5-acre almond orchard intentionally flooded with stormwater as an experiment to restore the depleted aquifer in January 2016. This is one of many measures the almond industry is taking to restore and conserve water. Photo by Paul Kitagaki Jr., The Sacramento Bee

California grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, generating $11 billion annually for the state’s economy. Richard Waycott of the Almond

… [more…]
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Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants

photo: storm drain. Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants

Reclaimed storm water may provide a local source of drinking water for parched communities. (MPCA Photos, via Flickr)

UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.

Using a mineral-coated sand that reacts with and destroys organic pollutants, the researchers have … [more…]