Water & Oceans

Dams to Tame a Swelling River May Be Outmatched by Climate Change

"Along the Missouri, John Remus controls a network of dams that dictates the fate of millions. ‘It was not designed to handle this.’"

"There were no good choices for John Remus, yet he had to choose.

Should he try to hold back the surging Missouri River but risk destroying a major dam, potentially releasing a 45-foot wall of water? Or should he relieve the pressure by opening the spillway, purposefully adding to the flooding of towns, homes and farmland for hundreds of miles.

Source: NY Times, 03/22/2019

"Miner Vale Quashed Dam Safety Audit Efforts Before Brazil Disaster"

"Executives at Vale SA, the world’s largest iron ore miner, quashed efforts by Brazilian authorities to audit one of the company’s mining dams months before it collapsed and killed over 300 people, a state prosecutor was quoted as saying by news website G1 on Wednesday."

Source: Reuters, 03/21/2019
May 3, 2019

DEADLINE: IJNR's Water Quality Institute

The Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources invites journalists on an expenses-paid learning expedition through Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, June 23-29, 2019, to use water-quality stories in the Great Lakes Basin to highlight similar water-quality issues across the United States. Apply by May 3.

Visibility: 

Western States Finalize Landmark Drought Plan For Colorado River Water

"Faced with reservoirs less than half full along the Colorado River, federal authorities and negotiators for Colorado and six other Western states on Tuesday finalized a landmark plan to share the burden of voluntarily using less water as growing cities and warming temperatures deplete the supply for 40 million people."

Source: Denver Post, 03/20/2019

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