The News Review:

- Test of snow pack shows some improvement in water supply
- At Plant in Coal Ash Spill Toxic Deposits by the Ton
- City managing director joins Board of Water Supply
- Laser experiment hopes to save farm water
- regon snowstorms increase state’s water supply With most of …
- regonians foresee future water shortages

Test of snow pack shows some improvement in water supply
San Gabriel Valley Tribune CA 
Like many people Tuesday morning Frank Gehrke threw his skis in his truck and headed for the hills. He was greeted by sunshine 45-degree weather and exactly 41 inches of snow pack. Gehrke is the state’s chief snow surveyor for the Department of Water Resources. His trip to the Sierras took him to the department’s Phillips Station 90 miles east of Sacramento near South Lake Tahoe at 6800 feet. There he plunged into the snow an aluminum tube about 1. 5 inches in diameter with a sharpened steel cutter on one end. What he found by measuring and weighing the snow depth is that the snow that has so far fallen in that area is the equivalent of approximately 10 inches of water – about 83 percent of the average for this time of year.
Related from Processdes: SFCC chemistry lab gains state-of-the-art equipment

At Plant in Coal Ash Spill Toxic Deposits by the Ton
New York Times United States 
and other agencies recommending that direct contact with the ash be avoided and that pets and children should be kept away from affected areas. Residents complained that the authority had been slow to issue information about the contents of the ash and the water soil and sediment samples taken in and around the spill. “They think that the public is stupid that they can’t put two and two together” said Sandy Gupton a registered nurse who hired an independent firm to test the spring water on her family’s 300-acre farm now sullied by sludge from the spill. “It took five days for the T.

City managing director joins Board of Water Supply
Bizjournals.com NC 
Hashiro was appointed to the position effective Friday where he will be responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the Board of Water Supply. As the city’s managing director Hashiro has oversaw Honolulu’s $1 billion operating and capital improvement program supervised the heads of all executive departments and agencies and served as acting mayor during Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s absence. “We are pleased to have someone of Wayne’s caliber lead such an important organization” said Randall Y.

Laser experiment hopes to save farm water
The Associated Press 
Jan Kleissl and a handful of his students at the University of California at San Diego think technology using laser beams might lead to a better way to conserve the millions of gallons of water sprayed each year on thirsty crops. He and his team are using a large aperture scintillometer to study how much water crops lose to evaporation and the peak times that water disappears. The hope is to give farmers a more accurate up-to-date reading of how efficiently their crops are using water than current technology allows. “What’s new about our approach is the monitoring side of it” Kleissl said by phone from his office. “We’re trying to improve on that. “Some advancements in irrigation have focused on water delivery system — such as sprinklers.

regon snowstorms increase state’s water supply With most of …
The regonian – regonLive.com R 
Statewide regon’s snowpack sat at acomfortable 106 percent of average as of Tuesday largelybecause of early snow in lower elevations. ne Coast Rangesite reports a snowpack of more than 300 percent of average. Brenda Bateman regon Water Resources Departmentspokeswoman said last week’s snowstorms nudged thestate above average. “But we’re still very earlyin the snow year. ” Because of last year’s heavy snow many reservoirs arealready near full a good sign for irrigators who will drawthem down in summer. Reservoirs on the Deschutes River forexample are 80 percent full. “There’s a reason I call it white gold” saidSteve Johnson manager of the Central regon IrrigationDistrict.

regonians foresee future water shortages
The regonian – regonLive.com R 
regon is one of only two Western states — Alaska is the other — without a water-supply plan outlining how it will meet future water demands. regonians may have assumed water wasn’t a limiting factor but that’s likely to change said Brenda rtigoza Bateman senior policy coordinator at the.