The coronavirus sparked a lot of water-related questions and
issues when the pandemic moved into California in 2020.
Below are the latest articles on the topic as they appeared in
our Aquafornia news aggregate.
Federal officials, showing how rapidly the Biden administration
is overhauling climate policy after years of denial under
former President Donald J. Trump, aim to free up as much as $10
billion at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to protect
against climate disasters before they strike. The agency, best
known for responding to hurricanes, floods and wildfires [such
as those that struck California last year], wants to spend the
money to pre-emptively protect against damage by building
seawalls, elevating or relocating flood-prone homes and taking
other steps as climate change intensifies storms and other
natural disasters.
Low income communities across the San Joaquin Valley and other
regions of the state are being hit hard by rising water and
utility debt according to a recent survey released by the
California Water Board. Michael Claiborne, an attorney
with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability,
says residents are having to decide which essential service to
pay for amid a global pandemic.
In a time of record-breaking unemployment as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Californians owe an estimated $1 billion in
unpaid water utility bills. With reduced revenue, hundreds of
water utilities are at high risk of financial emergency. The
State Water Board estimates at least 1.6 million households
have an average of roughly $500 in water debt — a crisis that
could lead to a wave of families facing water shutoffs, liens
on their homes or other collection methods. … Data show
Black and Latino households are disproportionately
affected.
California is enveloped in balmy weather that’s more like
spring than mid-winter — and that’s not a good thing. We have
seen only scant rain and snow this winter, indicating that the
state may be experiencing one of its periodic droughts and
adding another layer of crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic and
economic recession. The all-important Sierra snowpack,
California’s primary source of water, is scarcely half of what
is deemed a normal depth. -Written by Dan Walters, CalMatters columnist.
Describing federal investment in Western water management as
“essential,” a coalition of more than 200 organizations has
urged the incoming Biden administration and the new Congress to
include water facilities in any future infrastructure or
economic-recovery package. The coalition, including a number of
national and regional organizations plus farm groups and water
districts from 15 states, sent separate letters last week to
President-elect Biden and the Democratic and Republican leaders
of the House and Senate. The letter included specific
recommendations for the types of water investments the
coalition said could have the greatest impact.
From the wildfires that destroyed millions of acres across
Australia and California to a record-setting hurricane season,
climate change has collided with COVID-19 to mark one of the
most difficult years in modern human history. And while two
highly effective vaccines have provided hope for the pandemic’s
end, we must not become complacent. We must act aggressively on
climate to prevent future pandemics from occurring more
frequently.
Written by Christine James, of Climate Health Now, and
Sweta Chakraborty, news commentator for CNN, FOX and BBC.
The pandemic and its economic fallout are affecting many
aspects of water management, while climate change has major
implications. And a much-needed national conversation about
racism has illuminated water equity issues—such as how we
address climate change, safe drinking water, and water
scarcity.
Tens of thousands of Bay Area residents financially impacted
during the COVID-19 crisis now face tens of millions of dollars
in unpaid water bills, prompting both long-term financial and
public health concerns. That’s the conclusion of a new a report
released Thursday by the non-profit public policy organization
SPUR, and that looming potential crisis has experts concerned
about vulnerable customers.
California Water Service (Cal Water), in partnership with the
California Association of Science Educators (CASE) and
DoGoodery, today announced the launch and expansion of the
seventh annual Cal Water H2O Challenge. The free, project-based
competition invites fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade classrooms
in Cal Water service areas to develop and implement solutions
for local water issues. … The revamped and expanded Cal Water
H2O Challenge will build on best practices gleaned from the
previous six years to engage more people in caring for water at
a range of levels.
Arizona depends heavily on the Colorado River, and it is
over-allocated, meaning, we collectively take more water from
the system than nature puts in. To make matters worse, the
Colorado River basin has been experiencing a prolonged drought
of more than 20 years. When you take the longer term view,
a lot of communities in Arizona are heavily dependent on fossil
groundwater supplies. Once you pump them out, they’re gone
forever. There are real problems looming when it comes to
groundwater management and the Colorado River.
A broad coalition of organizations is urging Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris to mandate a national moratorium on water and
other utility shutoffs on day one in the White House, in order
to curtail the spread of Covid-19 and ease the financial burden
on struggling Americans. … Only eight states –
California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Virginia,
Washington and Wisconsin – and the District of Columbia
currently have moratoriums in place, but even these don’t
include debt forgiveness programs.
Now that the calendar has flipped to January 2021, it’s time to
say goodbye to the mess of the past year, yes? … The
pandemic’s economic dislocation continues to reverberate among
those who lost work. Severe weather boosted by a warming
climate is leaving its mark in the watersheds of the Southwest
[including the Colorado River]. And President-elect Biden will
take office looking to undo much of his predecessor’s legacy of
environmental deregulation while also writing his own narrative
on issues of climate, infrastructure, and social
justice….Litigation over toxic PFAS compounds found in
rivers, lakes, and groundwater is already active. Lawsuits are
likely to continue at a brisk pace…
Sewage data analyzed in Silicon Valley wastewater treatment
plants confirms that the latest wave of coronavirus infections
is sharply worse than the ones in the spring and summer.
Officials in Santa Clara County have been routinely testing
solid waste samples in sewage to detect levels of the
coronavirus that causes COVID-19 as part of a project funded by
Stanford University.
In 2016 the City of San Jose became the first Bay Area
municipality to get credit for homeless encampment cleanups
under its stormwater permit. So far, the city has exceeded
the permit’s annual requirements, most recently removing 446
tons of rubbish—more than double its goal—from encampments
along waterways. But Covid-19 has complicated this effort.
San Diego is participating in a statewide program to monitor
its untreated wastewater for the virus that causes
COVID-19. City staff have been monitoring for severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, in untreated
wastewater at the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant this
month. Following the test run, staff will monitor for
SARS-CoV-2 three times a week from January through June 2021.
In the midst of drought yet again, and two decades into the
21st century, California continues to operate with a water
infrastructure engineered and constructed for 20th century
climate conditions and populations. That’s true not only of the
state’s physical network of dams and aqueducts, but of its
legal and financial infrastructure as well — the pricing rules
that allocate the state’s precious liquid resources among its
40 million thirsty people. The coronavirus emergency has
highlighted some of the most serious stresses in the system.
In the midst of the pandemic and recession, the cost of
delivering safe drinking water continues to rise across
California, creating a crisis of affordability for water users
and a revenue problem for water suppliers. PPIC talked
to Robert Shaver—board chair for the California Urban
Water Agencies (CUWA) and general manager of the Alameda County
Water District—about how the state’s largest public water
agencies are thinking about this issue.
The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies joined five
other water and wastewater sector organizations last week in
requesting the inclusion of targeted water sector programs in
any COVID-19 relief package that is formulated before the end
of the year.
UC San Diego says it detected traces of the novel coronavirus
in five areas of campus over the weekend after it greatly
expanded its search for the pathogen in wastewater samples
drawn from dozens of buildings.
California regulators sent a survey on Monday to 150 of the
state’s largest water providers in an attempt to shed light on
the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The State
Water Resources Control Board wants to know how economic
slowdowns related to the virus have affected utility finances
and, at a household level, how many residents have overdue
water bills.
