Watch a short video by
our partners at Project WET to learn how to ‘home-school’ your
toddlers on water. We are the California coordinator of Project
WET, an award-winning program that facilitates and promotes
awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and stewardship of water
resources for K-12 students and others
California’s safe drinking water standards require a multistep
treatment process that includes filtration and disinfection. This
process removes and kills viruses, including coronaviruses such
as COVID-19, as well as bacteria and other pathogens.
Flushing disinfecting wipes — even so-called “flushable” wipes
– as well as paper towels and similar products down toilets
will clog sewers and cause backups and overflows at wastewater
treatment facilities. This could create an additional public
health risk in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Join the Water Education Foundation, an impartial
nonprofit, in its mission to create a better understanding
of water issues and help resolve water problems through
educational programs.
The islands of the western
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta release tons of carbon dioxide — a
greenhouse gas — into the atmosphere as the rich peat soil that
attracted generations of farmers dries out and decays.
An ambitious plan now in the works could halt the decay,
sequester the carbon and — just as important — help protect
California’s vital water conveyance system by offering farmers
and landowners an incentive to change how they use their land.
The
latest article in Western Water explores how the
plan would work, looks at the concerns of some in agriculture,
and talks with one farmer who’s willing to give it a try.
Weave through the nation’s
breadbasket and gain a better understanding of water issues
and challenges in the San Joaquin Valley on the Foundation’s
Central Valley Tour
April 22-24.
This tour visits farms and major infrastructure, such as
Friant Dam near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir, the nation’s
largest off-stream reservoir near Los Banos and a key water
facility serving both the State Water Project and the federal
Central Valley Project.
Californians won’t have their water turned off due to unpaid
bills during the coronavirus crisis, and those who already had
it turned off will have their service restored, under action
taken Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor’s directive
comes in response to calls from environmental justice
organizations for assistance to low-income residents facing
mounting financial pressures.
For precipitation, it’s a wet forecast for much of the
contiguous United States. April precipitation is favored to be
among the wettest third of Aprils from 1981-2010 across much of
the Plains, Gulf Coast, Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and West
Coast. This would be a relief along the West Coast from
northern California to Washington after a drier-than-average
March.
In California, a changing climate has made autumn feel more
like summer, with hotter, drier weather that increases the risk
of longer, more dangerous wildfire seasons, according to a new
Stanford-led study.
Arizona is sinking. The combination of groundwater pumping and
warmer temperatures is shrinking aquifers and lowering water
tables. … Today, where subsidence is worst, groundwater
pumping isn’t even monitored, and big agricultural and
anti-regulatory ideologues try to stymie any efforts to keep
tabs on how much water is being pumped.
Wetlands are among the most important ecosystems in the world.
They produce high levels of oxygen, filter toxic chemicals out of
water, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion, recharge
groundwater and provide a
diverse range of recreational opportunities from fishing and
hunting to photography. They also serve as critical habitat for
wildlife, including a large percentage of plants and animals on
California’s endangered species
list.
As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea
regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its
elevation of 237 feet below sea level.
The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when
the Colorado River broke
through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years,
creating California’s largest inland body of water. The
Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130
miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe.
Drought— an extended period of limited or no precipitation— is a
fact of life in California and the West, with water resources
following boom and-bust patterns.
No portion of the West has been immune to drought during the last
century and drought occurs with much greater frequency in the
West than in any other regions of the country.
