Tag: water

Climate-activist celebrities ‘wasting thousands of gallons of water’ amid California drought

Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and Kevin Hart are among several celebrities being accused of wasting over a million gallons of water in May and June in violation of California’s drought restrictions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Kardashians, Hart, Sylvester Stallone and former NBA star Dwyane Wade used an excess of 1.4 million gallons of water in the months of May and June and received notices from Las Virgenes Municipal Water District concerning the excess usage, according to the Times’ review of documents it acquired through the California Public Records Act. The Kardashians and Hart are among celebrities who have previously pushed to combat climate change, a phenomenon that may be exacerbating California’s drought, according to the state’s Department of Water Resources.

Two properties in the Hidden Hills neighborhood listed under a trust associated with Kim Kardashian received notices that the properties were in violation of their June water allowance by about 232,000 gallons, according to the Times. Kourtney Kardashian’s 1.86-acre property in Calabasas also allegedly exceeded its water limits by roughly 101,000 gallons.

The Kardashians have previously supported actions to stop climate change such as promoting veganism or ending the use of plastic bottles. Kim Kardashian praised Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2019, calling climate change a “serious problem,” Reuters reported.

The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District called for a 50% use reduction attempt in response to California’s drought and restricted watering lawns and plants to one day each week, according to the district’s website.

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California To Hire “Water Cops” As Residents Ignore Newsom’s Conservation Plea Amid Megadrought

California plans to hire “water cops” to monitor people and businesses wasting water as statewide usage soared in March despite Gov. Gavin Newsom declaring a drought emergency last July and parts of Southern California under water restrictions, according to The Mercury News. 

The Santa Clara Valley Water District, south of the San Francisco Bay Area, encompassing 15 cities and more than 2 million residents, is considering “water cops” to police neighborhoods and business districts for water wasters. People who are wasting water could be fined up to $500. 

Water cops may slap citations for people watering their yards for long periods of time and washing cars in the driveway. 

Aaron Baker, the COO of Valley Water, told CBS News that water cops are “needed because of the unprecedented times we’re in, and because we aren’t making enough progress on our water savings.” 

The threat of water cops snooping on people comes as California’s total water usage in March was the most since 2015 despite calls for conservation amid a megadrought. 

California Water Resources Control Board said water usage jumped 19% compared to March 2020. 

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Hacker Tried To Poison Entire Florida Town By Raising Chemical Levels In Water Supply

A town in Florida has been target of a hack which briefly altered chemicals in its water supply to “potentially damaging levels” according to local media reports. Federal and local authorities are currently investigating the computer network intrusion which happened last Friday morning, the alarming details of which are emerging Monday.

Plant operators overseeing the small city of Oldsmar’s water supply began observing strange activity on their monitors. That’s when technicians noticed that sodium hydroxide levels (or lye), which is used to treat the city’s water in small amounts in order to control acidity while removing heavy metals, was being remotely pushed higher.

Technicians noticed the chemical levels being subject of unauthorized external manipulation in real-time and immediately moved to restore the sodium hydroxide input to its safe, correct levels. The AP detailed based on local reporting: “A plant worker first noticed the unusual activity at around 8 a.m. Friday when someone briefly accessed the system.”

“At about 1:30 p.m., someone accessed it again, took control of the mouse, directed it to the software that controls water treatment and increased the amount of sodium hydroxide,“ the report continued.

The hacker or hackers have yet to be uncovered and apprehended.

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Fish are becoming easier to catch ‘because traces of anti-depressants are getting into water supply and making them more relaxed’

Sleeping pills may be disturbing river ecosystems by turning fish into greedy, risk-taking loners, say researchers.

Scientists studied the behaviour of perch exposed to a sedative which is carried into waterways through sewage.

The drug, a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety and insomnia called oxazepam, made the fish bolder and less social.

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Scientists Say Lithium Should Be Added to Drinking Water to Prevent Suicides

In a press release from BSMS, the study’s lead author Professor Anjum Memon said: “It is promising that higher levels of trace lithium in drinking water may exert an anti-suicidal effect and have the potential to improve community mental health.”

Part funded by King’s College London, the study is a meta-analysis of three decades of research in Austria, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, UK, Japan and USA.World News

It concludes that lithium’s “protective” abilities could be further tested by “randomised community trials of lithium supplementation of the water supply” in communities with high prevalence of mental health conditions and risk of suicide.

Deliberately lacing the water supply with a mind-altering chemical in some zones might seem like something out of a science fiction novel, but the authors of the report – as other scientists have said before them – think it’s an idea worth experimenting.

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