The boat ride down the American River began near Howe Avenue and seemed idyllic for long stretches until we got closer to the city of Sacramento. … The environmental degradation of the lower stretch of the American River is not a new issue, but there is no way to truly understand its impact and implications until you view it from an unobstructed vantage point.
The size of the Legislature — 40 members in the Senate, 80 in the Assembly — has remained unchanged since 1879. Meantime, the state they represent is now the world’s sixth-largest economy.
One year after a new distribution system began delivering safe drinking water to families in the drought-stricken community of East Porterville, 321 homes are now receiving water from the system and an additional 446 homes are expected to be connected by the end of 2017.
Sacramento County led a cascade of area governments suing the state in an effort to block the Delta tunnels, saying the $17 billion project would harm local farmers, endangered fish and low-income communities at the south end of the county.
As California water agencies prepare to vote next month on paying for the tunnels, which are supposed to improve water deliveries to the southern half of the state, the stark difference between urban and rural water users’ expected costs illustrates one of the project’s main stumbling blocks.
Even after the Flint scandal reawakened the nation to the dangers posed by lead drinking water pipes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appears to be in no rush to strengthen federal health standards.
With Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers debating billions in new spending for a variety of projects on the 2018 ballot, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said low-income housing will be the highest priority.
“Luckily, we had a really good water year this year,” [Deane] Lyon [a manager at the California Independent System Operator] says. “So we’ll have some pretty good flexibility on the hydro.” That wasn’t the case during the past few summers, when reservoirs were low due to the drought.
There are over a hundred water systems in California that have tested above the new maximum contaminant level for 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP), a man-made chemical and known carcinogen found in the state’s groundwater.
North Coast water regulators are taking another run at a comprehensive program to prevent bacterial contamination of the Russian River, one that includes provisions likely to have significant impacts for thousands of homeowners dependent on aging septic systems.
With power generation revenues exceeding the Yuba County Water Agency’s expectations this past year – by more than $20 million since taking over responsibility of the powerhouses from PG&E on May 1, 2016 – the board of directors granted its member units’ request to forgo an annual rate increase this year.
Agriculture and citrus experts told Riverside residents at a meeting Thursday night, Aug. 17, it will take a coordinated community effort to protect not only local citrus trees but the state’s $3.3 billion citrus industry from the growing threat of citrus greening disease.
[Jillian] Kelly and her mining partner have been working their federally approved mine for about seven years. Several miles outside of Forest Hill, the site once had been mined with hydraulic dredging, before the practice was made illegal in 1884 because of environment damage.
New York was once home to abundant marine life. When Henry Hudson sailed into the harbor in 1609, it contained an estimated 350 square miles of oyster reefs, which served as a natural water filter, storm barrier and commercial resource.
California’s wet winter eased the immediate water shortages that affected most of the state, giving lawmakers and water agencies a bit of a breather as they craft new policies and design new infrastructure to weather the next big drought (which, for all we know, may already be underway).
California faces serious risks from climate change. Some are already being felt, like the severe heat this summer and recent episodes of extremely low snowpack in the mountains, which the state depends on for much of its water.
To protect both water and National Parks and in response to increasing threats to the California desert’s national parks, national monuments and groundwater supplies, I [Assemblymember Laura Friedman] recently introduced Assembly Bill 1000 — the California Desert Protection Act.
