California has pioneered some of the
toughest state environmental legislation to address environmental
issues. For example, laws focused attention on “instream uses” of
water to benefit fish and wildlife, recreation, water quality and
aesthetics. Among water-related issues, in general, are
climate change, toxic waste disposal, pollution and loss of
wildlife and habitat.
Also, the California Legislature was the first in the country to
protect rare plants and animals through passage of the California
Endangered Species Act in 1970.
The agreement was likely spurred by recent struggles to provide
assistance following hurricane events, especially Hurricane
Maria in Puerto Rico, and other infrastructure failures such as
those experienced at the Oroville Dam in 2017.
For some, like almond grower Jose Robles of Modesto, climate
change was an afterthought, if that. That’s something they talk
about in Sacramento, he says, not where he lives and works. But
in December, the ground under Robles’ almond trees was a carpet
of green, full of mustard plant and clover. … His neighbors
really don’t understand it.
The obvious question is “Why did Prop 3 fail?” Multiple
commentators have suggested answers. But exploring “Where did
Prop 3 fail?” provides additional insights. The results are
sometimes counter-intuitive…and deepen our understanding of how
voters think about water in California.
When you turn on a faucet on the Monterey Peninsula, you’re
consuming water that’s been illegally pumped from Carmel River.
Now, after more than two decades of this, scores of public
officials, utility executives and citizen advocates are working
– and sometimes fighting – to replace the region’s water supply
before state-mandated sanctions kick in. California American
Water is forging ahead with its plan: a desalination plant near
Marina.
Join us May 2 for an open house and reception at our Midtown
Sacramento offices to meet our staff and learn more about what
we do to educate and foster understanding of California’s most
precious natural resource — water. At the open house, you can
enjoy refreshments and chat with our staff about our tours,
conferences, maps, publications and training programs… You’ll
also be able to learn more about how you can support our work.
Paradise Irrigation District general manager Kevin Philips
reiterated to the board of directors on Wednesday night that
the water is clean as is the water coming from the water
treatment plant. … “What we are doing is pulling meters
because we feel meters could have been one of the leading
criteria to the contamination. Plastic meters that got heated
up.”
Timothy Quinn, a California water policy expert, joined
Stanford’s Program on Water in the West as a Landreth Visiting
Fellow this past winter. Quinn, who has been deeply involved in
California water policy for the last thirty years … took time
out for a Q&A with Water in the West on his current and
past work.
Former Interior Secretary and Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt
will be the distinguished speaker at the 2019 Anne J. Schneider
Memorial Lecture on April 3 at the Crocker Art Museum in
downtown Sacramento. Babbitt’s talk is titled “Parting the
Waters — Will It Take a Miracle?”
Bill Smallman, an elected director of the San Lorenzo Valley
Water District board, apologized Monday for calling users of an
herbicide “probably gay.” Responding to a post about glyphosate
herbicides on online platform Nextdoor, Smallman wrote Saturday
that a recent water district ban on that class of product is
“leading by example, showing that anyone who uses this crap is
both really stupid and lazy, and probably gay.”
The new House of Representatives is rolling out its game plan
and strategies for the next two years, and it’s clear which
state holds the most clout: California. … California now has
more Democrats in the lower chamber than the entire
congressional delegations of Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Washington combined. The state’s
power to shape the agenda goes beyond leadership. In the
environment and energy fields, 12 Californians are subcommittee
chairs and vice chairs.
A leader in a grassroots group pushing for interagency
transfers to solve regional water supply shortfalls has filed
an environmental lawsuit against Soquel Creek Water District.
The civil lawsuit … takes aim at the water district’s Pure
Water Soquel project, which its board of
directors approved in December. The suit points to alleged
shortcomings in Pure Water Soquel’s state-mandated
environmental impact report.
A diver in California has stumbled on an unexpected source of
plastic waste in the ocean: golf balls. As the balls degrade,
they can emit toxic chemicals. And there appear to be lots of
them in certain places underwater — right next to coastal golf
courses. … Thus began a Sisyphean task that went on for
months: She and her father would haul hundreds of pounds of
them up, and then of course more golfers would hit more into
the ocean.
Organisms that photosynthesize
but lack the formal water circulation structure of land plants
are placed in the broad
category of “algae.” These can grow in either freshwater or
saltwater environments, existing as single cells (often
congregating in colonies) or multicellular organisms such as
giant kelp.
Excess salinity poses a growing
threat to food production, drinking water quality and public
health. Salts increase the cost of urban drinking water and
wastewater treatment, which are paid for by residents and
businesses. Increasing salinity is likely the largest long-term
chronic water quality impairment to surface and groundwater in the Central Valley.
This year was supposed to be different. With Northern
California’s reservoirs finally brimming and cities liberated
from stringent conservation rules, farmers were expecting more
water for their crops. The worst of the drought seemed over. Or
maybe not.
“The tribe did not sue a government office in this case; the
tribe sued an individual — Edmund G. Brown Jr.,” Justice Ronald
Robie said in the 3-0 ruling.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
This issue of Western Water examines that process. Much
of the information is drawn from discussions that occurred at the
November 2005 Selenium Summit sponsored by the Foundation and the
California Department of Water Resources. At that summit, a
variety of experts presented findings and the latest activities
from areas where selenium is of primary interest.
