In SC town, residents live under cloud of uncertainty during water controversy

DENMARK — The water is rotten in the city of Denmark.
Many have opted to stop drinking public water completely, looking to bottled water or a nearby spring instead.
When Moncrieft started, Wheeler said he thought not brushing with the water was “extreme.” “I used to tease her all the time,” he said, “then she was right, the whole time.” No confidence It’s unclear exactly what health effects HaloSan has when consumed in water over a long term.
“More often than not, it’s not a health issue,” Edwards said.
As Edwards has worked with Smith, Brown and other residents concerned about water quality, he eventually asked to test the drinking water wells directly, but the city denied his request.
In its responses to the two class-action suits, the city has broadly denied the claims that it is harming residents’ health and that it is overcharging residents for water.
One other option has been the water distributions organized by several groups, including Denmark Citizens for Safe Water.
Organizer Deanna Miller-Berry, who is also a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, helped run a string of distributions Thursday.
“I don’t even have to call them, when they see it, and they hear about it, they’re coming,” she said.
Jones has lived in Denmark for three years, but she said she doesn’t want her daughter to get sick, and she’s frustrated that the city government continues to charge for a utility most people have lost faith in.

Cloudy water concerns some Centerville residents

Water issues have plagued a Middle Tennessee community several times this winter, and although officials say it’s now safe to drink, some still have major concerns.
On Jan. 2, a pipe burst, shutting off water for thousands.
Because the area is rugged and rural, it took emergency management crews several hours to find the source of the break.
Fast forward to last weekend, there was no clean water again.
Water backed up from the Duck River and clogged grates.
“We were turning people away and it was our lunch hour, and it was really a lot of people having to leave,” said Subway Assistant Manager Christina Downing.
Businesses had to close their doors for two to three days.
“We made around 250 to 260 six-inch sandwiches for the community, and Centerville Police sent over officers and they picked up three boxes of food to donate to the community,” said Downing.
On Friday, a boil advisory was lifted, but some are still complaining about cloudy water.
Hickman County officials say they are working diligently to prevent a dirty water issue from happening again.

Emerging risks cloud the horizon

Emerging risks cloud the horizon.
Drought is the biggest risk to property, and cloud computing risk is the greatest exposure in liability, according to a report released Tuesday by Swiss Re Ltd.
The reinsurer’s Sonar Emerging Risk Insights Report features six emerging trend spotlights and highlights 20 more emerging risk themes identified by the company’s SONAR tool, an internal crowdsourcing platform that collects input and feedback from underwriters, client managers, risk experts and others within the insurance sector.
Increasing migration to cloud-based computing systems exposes business to new risks, Swiss Re said.
“Should an event bring down or severely impair,” cloud services from a single large provider, for example, “the financial loss could be immense,” said the report.
Water shortages and related problems also pose numerous threats.
Losses in agricultural, energy and forestry, risk of large-scale wildfires, drought-induced soil subsidence and water pollution events in the energy, mining and agricultural sectors are just some of the rising exposures related to drought, according to the report.
The report also identifies rising inflation and regulatory fragmentation as near-term risks, while tapping “underestimated infectious diseases” and “emerging artificial intelligence legislation” as longer-term threats.
“Ignoring emerging risks is just not an option.
We need to prepare for the risks of tomorrow,” Patrick Raaflaub, Swiss Re’s group chief risk officer, said in the report.

SMUD Preparing For Next Drought With Cloud-Seeding Project

SMUD wants to increase the amount of water that will flow into its reservoirs when the next California drought hits.
The utility wants to double the size of its cloud seeding operation.
”We’re in a wet period it seems right now, but every year is different so we need to be ready for whatever comes our way,” SMUD civil engineer Dudley McFadden said.
McFadden says hydropower is key to decreasing SMUD’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Cloud-seeding works when silver iodide particles are sprayed up into a saturated cloud.
They act like a nucleus, which attracts super-cooled water vapor, which freezes into ice.
Once the ice becomes heavy enough it falls and melts to become rain.
“We estimate 3 to 7 percent and I can’t be any more precise than that,” McFadden said.
There are critics.
Despite the unknowns, SMUD is seeking to expand its cloud-seeding ahead of the next drought, planning for the time any extra rain will be welcome.

Drones and rockets could be used for cloud-seeding, say experts

Drones and rockets could be used for cloud-seeding, say experts.
ABU DHABI // Drones and rockets could be used as part of a much-needed technological overhaul of how countries utilise cloud seeding, experts said on Tuesday.
New technology and more effective cloud-seeding materials should be used to tackle water scarcity, said Dr Richard Behnke, a fellow of the American meteorological society and former head of geospace research at the US national science foundation.
At present, the sole method of cloud seeding uses aircraft to release pure salt crystal, silver iodide, potassium iodide or dry ice into the atmosphere, which fosters cloud precipitation.
As such, developing innovative rain enhancement solutions with the help of technological progress was imperative, Dr Behnke said.
Dr Behnke, chair of the international reviewers committee of the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science, said the research proposals showed how beneficial new technology could be.
The scheme is managed by the UAE National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology.
The programme invites researchers and institutions across the globe to file research proposals.
"We have seen proposals about new cloud-seeding materials, which are better than the existing ones, including some innovative technology and nano-technology," Dr Behnke said.
"This is the way we need to approach cloud seeding and rain enhancement and work together globally to tackle the issue of water security."

Rainy Sunday is finally here; the drought continues

Rainy Sunday is finally here; the drought continues.
Mostly cloudy skies and some scattered showers prevail this Sunday due to a mid-level disturbance traveling mainly over southern Florida from the Gulf of Mexico.
The main bulk of the precipitation will stay focused oN southern Florida, but a few beneficial downpours will make it to parts of Central Florida.
We are not expecting a washed out Sunday, but scattered rains will be welcomed as we continue to experience a severe drought in much of the region.
It’s going to feel muggy.
A weak cold front will be traveling through Central Florida, providing a relief from the heat we had since last week.
A few very isolated showers associated with the front are possible during the early afternoon.
Otherwise, mostly sunny with highs in the low-80s and low humidity as well.
Temperatures will be warming to the upper-80s to low-90s by Thursday and Friday with a westerly flow.
Meteorologist George Waldenberger will be tracking the showers and any thunderstorms development through the afternoon and will be live on Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. Make sure to follow them on social media and get the prompt updates.

Rocky mountain haze

Rocky mountain haze.
University of Utah atmospheric scientist Gannet Hallar and colleagues find a correlation between the severity of drought in the Intermountain West and the summertime air quality, particularly the concentration of aerosol particles, in remote mountain wilderness regions.
The link between drought and haze is likely wildfire, the researchers write in Environmental Research Letters.
"If you take that into the future, we’re going to see significant hazing of the West," Hallar says.
Haze in the air is caused by small airborne particles — typically dust, soot, ash or smoke.
Aerosol particles made of organic carbon, such as soot or smoke, can absorb energy, however, warming the climate.
The team, consisting of hydrologists and atmospheric scientists, looked at climate and drought records for the West to see if they could find a connection to the summer mountain haze.
"It’s the fires," Hallar says.
"That has me concerned because climate models are predicting in the future a significant increase in organic aerosol loading."
Hallar hopes that her results highlight the importance of managing the relationship between drought, fire and haze in the West.