YUMA, Ariz. – Yuma is 75 miles away from the nearest sea, which makes it an unlikely spot to find a water desalinization plant.

But in 1992, the Yuma Desalting Plant went online to remove salt from agricultural runoff, and increase the supply of fresh water in the Colorado River.

Severe flooding shut down the plant a few months later and it's been mothballed for almost all of its 25-year history.

Chuck Cullom, Colorado River programs manager for the Central Arizona Project, says the plant may have a new life freshening up the state's brackish groundwater that otherwise is too salty to drink.

"We think that brackish groundwater resources can increase the reliability of existing water supplies, and provide new water supplies for the state of Arizona," he states.

It's more than a drop in the bucket. Experts have identified six major sources of brackish groundwater across the state – enough to supply fresh water for 400,000 to 600,000 homes.

But getting started is expensive. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Yuma plant, says getting it back online will cost $30 million to $50 million.

Brackish water is less salty than seawater, and can be treated with traditional technology at one-third the cost.

Then there's the question of what to do with the leftover brine.

Collum says the state is trying to figure out how to prevent the brine from contaminating other water sources.

"So we want to protect our high quality aquifers from salt, from making them too salty to use or requiring new 'desal' efforts," he states.

Collum sits on a special committee studying the future of desalinization in Arizona. It's expected to issue a report by the end of the year.





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A new report finds that climate change is affecting weather conditions in ways that increase wildfire risk, with the West seeing the greatest jump in fire weather days in spring and summer. Climate Central found that some places in Nevada now experience fire weather around twice as often as in the early 1970s.

Kaitlyn Trudeau, senior research associate in climate science with Climate Central, said fire weather refers to the meteorological conditions that kickstart the spread of fire. And with Nevada being one of the states seeing more days with persistent hotter temperatures, lower relative humidity and stronger winds, it's something that Trudeau said she wasn't terribly surprised to see.

"But I also want people to remember that fire weather isn't necessarily the same thing as fire. You might have fire weather conditions; that doesn't mean that there will be an extra month of fires. It just means that the conditions are really primed to enable these kinds of monster fires," she explained.

Trudeau contends that as we continue to see the increasing influence of human-caused climate change, humans need to rethink their impact on the environment, and hopes the report will serve as a wake-up call and help people understand risks where they live.

With summer approaching, the U.S. Fire Administration has a list of seven steps that communities can enact in an effort to be more prepared. Trudeau added that other fire adaptation strategies include increased use of land-management techniques, such as prescribed burns, that eliminate excessive fuels, but even those have become more of a challenge.

"And in order to do prescribed burning, you have to have a very specific set of weather conditions, and they're basically the opposite of fire weather conditions, because it is really dangerous to burn anything when you have really hot, dry, windy days," Trudeau said.

Trudeau added that as the number of fire weather days increases, that also decreases the ability to do things such as prescribed burning. She encourages people around the country to create defensible space around their homes as well as having toolkits and an evacuation plan in case of an emergency.


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As West Virginia leads a group of states in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency's new emissions rules for power plants, a recent analysis highlights the voting records of the state's political leaders when it comes to environmental issues.

Jim Kotcon, chair of the West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, said the group's legislative scorecard shows nine state lawmakers consistently voted against environmental protection, with one even voting against their own leadership to take anti-environment stances. But he added, a surprising number of lawmakers have a strong track record for environmental protection.

"We were able to identify 10 legislators that had voted pro environment at least 80% of the time," Kotcon reported. "We think this is important information for voters and for constituents generally."

The scorecard includes votes on key environmental bills by all incumbent Delegates and Senators for the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions. Bills were chosen based on roll call votes where a clear pro-environment position was identified, and where at least 5% of the chamber voted in opposition.

Kotcon added coal and gas bonding for mine or well reclamation continues to pose major environmental challenges to the region. Currently, companies are required to post a bond to ensure they reclaim their sites, but environmental advocates argued the bond amount, often less than $5,000, is not high enough, which can leave old gas wells and coal mine sites abandoned for years. He added state legislators have yet to address the issue.

"Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry is strong enough in West Virginia that many of these very important bills to address very pressing public interest problems never even get to a vote."

There are more than 4,000 orphaned wells scattered across the Mountain state, along with hundreds of abandoned coal mine sites.


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A central Indiana university has taken the initiative to address environmental challenges on campus and in the nearby community.

Surveys conducted by Butler University have identified plenty of opportunities for cleaner energy and less waste. The school's goal is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

Julia Angstmann, executive director of sustainability at the university, said they got a jump on it with the university president signing a Presidential Climate Leadership Commitment back in 2012.

"That really was signed with the recognition that this is important work," Angstmann emphasized. "We have a duty to be a role model, both for our students and for our community, and to really try to meet these commitments in our larger care for the world and the environment."

The Office of Sustainability is the nucleus for the school's environmental transitions. Its agenda includes reducing solid waste and single-use plastics. Another project is to replant the university's historic Holcomb Gardens using all native plant species and landscape design from the Indiana Native Plant Society.

Butler's initial assessment showed, like most buildings, lighting, space heating and water heating are the biggest opportunities for reducing emissions. Angstmann explained the largest task will be energy focused.

"As we look at our decarbonization road map, we're going to be doing a lot of work around energy efficiency, LED lighting but also looking at renewable energy on-site," Angstmann outlined. "Things like solar panels on our campus."

The campuswide greenhouse gas emissions data is monitored and reported every year through an online public reporting platform, Antsgmann added. The school's location makes its progress part of the Thrive Indianapolis plan, created in 2019 to reduce greenhouse emissions citywide by 2025.