The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday nixed the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendation to relax criteria for toxic cadmium levels in fresh water, compelling the agency to revisit its guidance under the Clean Water Act. A three-judge panel — upholding a lower court order vacating the guidance — found the agency violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service before it issued new recommendations in 2016. … The panel accepted the center’s evidence that cadmium exposure at the agency’s recommended levels are harmful to numerous marine animals like salmon, sturgeon and sea turtles.

Other water quality news:

• Bay Nature (Berkeley, Calif.): A hunger for answers on California Forever’s environmental impacts
• GV Wire (Fresno, Calif.): Human composting on San Joaquin River grows a Fresno political fight
• KGPE (Fresno, Calif.): ‘Insanity’: Bredefeld says human compost is being spread along the San Joaquin River
• Stanford Law School: New Stanford study finds water quality oversight failures at California dairies and feedlots​​