Aquafornia

Nearly half of US prisons draw water from sources likely contaminated with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, new research finds. At least around 1m people incarcerated in the US, including 13,000 juveniles, are estimated to be housed in the prisons, and they are especially vulnerable to the dangerous chemicals because there is little they can do to protect themselves, said Nicholas Shapiro, a study co-author at the University of California in Los Angeles. 

Related article: 

• Office of Environmental Health Hazard – News release: California adopts health-protective goals for forever chemicals in drinking water

A bill that would allow graywater systems to be included in new homes throughout Colorado received rare unanimous approval from the Colorado House on Friday. Graywater is made up of water that has been used a single time from appliances like laundry machines, baths or sinks and can be used again for non-drinking purposes like toilet flushes and irrigation. Conservationists point to graywater uses as a way to cut down on water consumption as the drought in the West has deepened in recent years.  

… [C]occidioides, a fungus that causes a disease called coccidioidomycosis, better known as valley fever. If inhaled, microscopic spores from the fungus can lodge in the lungs. About a third of those infected with cocci never have any symptoms, and most of those infected clear the disease and develop immunity. But for between 1 and 5% of those who inhale it, cocci spreads through the bloodstream and wreaks havoc in the body that can sometimes be lethal. And the changing climate has allowed valley fever to spread far beyond its traditional territory of Arizona and parts of Southern California. 

After 12 years of planning, gathering funding then completing and re-doing – and re-doing again – environmental studies, the City of Bakersfield has finally gone out to bid for the northern extension of the Kern River Parkway Trail. “I’m very excited, it’s been a long time coming,” Councilman Bob Smith said of the 6-mile long addition to the nearly 40-mile-long path that runs the length of the Kern River from Gordon’s Ferry on the east all the way to the Buena Vista Lake Aquatic Recreation Area on the west. This extension will take runners, hikers and cyclists north at Coffee Road along the Friant-Kern Canal up to 7th Standard Road, about a half mile west of the Gossamer Grove development.

The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) released the final environmental review documents and draft decision for the Meeks Bay Restoration Project.  The LTBMU, in conjunction with Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, and Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, is developing a plan to restore Meeks Creek to a more natural condition, while continuing to support sustainable recreation opportunities.   In 1960, a marina with approximately 120 boat slips and a boat launch facility was dredged at the mouth of Meeks Creek, on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. The marina eliminated a unique wetland habitat for numerous bird, mammal, and amphibian species. 

Microplastics are tiny, nearly indestructible fragments shed from everyday plastic products. As we learn more about microplastics, the news keeps getting worse. Already well-documented in our oceans and soil, we’re now discovering them in the unlikeliest of places: our arteries, lungs, and even placentas. Microplastics can take anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years to break down and, in the meantime, our planet and bodies are becoming more polluted with these materials every day. Finding viable alternatives to traditional petroleum-based plastics and microplastics has never been more important. New research from scientists at the University of California San Diego and materials science company Algenesis shows that their plant-based polymers biodegrade — even at the microplastic level — in under seven months. 

 California was thrown back into winter on Thursday with a cold storm diving into the northern part of the state and delivering low-elevation snow to places that infrequently see snow in winter, let alone April. The storm system originated in the Gulf of Alaska and ushered a polar air mass into the region, pushing down temperatures to below normal levels for this time of year. The system is expected to impact Southern California Thursday night into Friday. … The storm was also impacting the Sierra Nevada. The weather service’s Sacramento office said it had received reports of snowfall at elevations as low as 1,800 feet on the western side of the northern Sierra

Related articles: 

• KQED – San Francisco: Cold storm surprises California with snow and chill
• Los Angeles Times: Coldest storm of the year hits Southern California with snow and rain
• Newsweek: Winter weather changes hit West Coast
• Porterville Recorder: Snowpack above average, water allocation up to 95 percent
• Manteca Bulletin: New Melones tops 2 million acre feet of water storage

Last month, the seven U.S. states that use Colorado River water released two divergent plans for how that water should be managed after 2026 when the current agreement expires. Their proposals centered on operations at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the country’s two largest reservoirs, the levels of which are instrumental in determining how much water each state gets. But a coalition of environmental organizations felt that those plans — and the discourse surrounding which states should have to cut their water use — drowned out a crucial consideration: the environment. So, last week, they submitted a plan of their own. “Our plan explicitly integrates environmental values and resources into the planning, while also trying to meet the needs of people,” Taylor Hawes, the Colorado River Program director for The Nature Conservancy, said.

Related articles: 

• University of Boulder: A new look at western water
• Coyote Gulch Blog: #Drought news April 4, 2024 - Based on SPIs at various time scales along with #snowpack close to average, improvements were necessary for parts of N. #Colorado and S. Wyoming

… So what kind of fire season are we in for this year? Like 2023, this year has been a wet one. … After the wet winter, vegetation in the state isn’t as parched as it would be during a drought, so wildfire activity is likely to be pretty low in the spring and early summer, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in an online briefing this week. … But the year probably won’t stay as quiet as 2023 was. This year’s wet weather hasn’t been as extreme as last year’s — some inland cities, like Fresno and South Lake Tahoe, actually received less rain than usual this year — so plants and soil are more likely to dry out over the rest of this year than they were last year. “I would be somewhat surprised if this year was not significantly more active,” Swain said.