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.
According to American Water Works Association, 56 percent of
utilities indicate experiencing personal protective
equipment supply chain issues due to the pandemic. In the early
stages of the emergency there were expressed concerns of
interruptions to the supply chain for treatment chemicals. …
What we are experiencing isn’t a typical risk event. The scale
surpasses anything that even the savviest supply chain leaders
could have anticipated.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are
probing the extent to which EPA and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention are using wastewater to track the spread
of the coronavirus.
If California lawmakers set aside climate concerns like sea
level rise, and focus only on the pandemic, the state could be
setting itself up for an even worse economic hardship, the
nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office cautioned in a report
Monday.
The state will suffer dire long-term consequences if lawmakers
set aside concerns about rising seas to focus solely on
COVID-19, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office warned
Monday. Sea level rise will likely put at least $8 billion in
property underwater by 2050, and could affect tens of thousands
of jobs and billions in gross domestic product, according to
studies cited by the office. Sea level rise and related
flooding and erosion … also pose threats to water treatment
plants, roads, marinas, ports and railways.
Most Americans give little thought to water bills, paying them
on time and in full. But for a subset of homeowners and
renters, water debt is constant and menacing. The burden is an
extension of two notable national trends: the rising cost of
water service and the general precarity of those at the bottom
of the economic pecking order. A missed bill or faulty plumbing
can spell financial doom… Sophia Skoda, the chief
financial officer for East Bay Municipal Utility District, in
California, said that Congress needs “to step up to its
responsibility” to ensure that water and sewer service is
affordable for all people.
Following reports of large parties that violate health orders
aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, Los
Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that he will
authorize the city to shut off water and power services to
residents who hold such gatherings.
The Emergency Assistance for Rural Water Systems Act allows
USDA Rural Development to provide affordable and sustainable
financial options for rural utilities impacted by COVID-19.
Assistance includes grants, zero percent loans, one percent
loans, principal and interest reduction, loan modifications and
direct operational assistance…
Disparities across the environment, the economy, and COVID-19
are inextricably linked to race/ethnicity and disproportionally
affect communities of color. At the same time, people of color
are more likely than whites to be concerned about these
inequities. PPIC’s latest survey on environmental issues takes
a closer look at Californians’ views.
On a recent weekday morning at El Cerrito Swim Center, a
popular East Bay pool complex in Northern California that
normally has more than 550 visitors a day, the air was so still
that one could hear birds chirping and the shuffling of
flip-flops as a small group of masked patrons tentatively filed
onto the pool deck for their allotted 45-minute lap swim.
Wastewater-based epidemiology has a significant part to play in
identifying ‘silent’ COVID-19 cases in the community, research
presented at the latest Water Action Platform webinar
demonstrates.
As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, guidance
around how to control the virus’s spread has become a steady
drumbeat: Wash your hands, wipe down surfaces, and stay home.
Implicit in these recommendations is the assumption that
households have safe and clean running water and indoor
plumbing.
With COVID-19 cases rising, public health officials are
struggling to keep up with testing and monitoring. Because
wastewater carries the virus, it can provide a window into
outbreaks. We talked to Eileen White, director of wastewater at
the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, about the agency’s
role in tracking the spread of the virus.
A nonprofit that developed low-cost handwashing stations for
the homeless population in California is teaming up with
community nonprofit Red Feather to bring this potentially
life-saving infrastructure to Native American communities.
Summer energy demands driven higher as the COVID-19 pandemic
keeps more people at home could lead to more water flowing from
Glen Canyon Dam into the Colorado River. That could mean
rapidly changing conditions for rafters, anglers, hikers or
others on the river in Glen Canyon or the Grand Canyon,
officials said.
