The Biden administration’s ambitions to crack down on “forever
chemicals” — touted as an administration priority — are facing
headwinds from key industries that say they could be unfairly
punished and held liable for contamination they did not create.
Members of the water and waste sectors are ramping up pressure
on Congress and EPA to shield them from an upcoming proposal as
the agency makes progress on addressing PFAS
contamination.
Gobs of oily tar continue to slip past containment booms and
drain into the Smith River, nearly a month after an overturned
trailer spilled 2,000 gallons of the hot asphalt binder onto
U.S. 199 between Hiouchi and Gasquet. Spokesperson Eric
Laughlin with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Office of Spill Prevention and Response confirmed with the
Outpost that the toxic goop is actively leaking into the Smith
River, and that the agency received new reports of the material
traveling downstream on Friday.
If you think about the pollution your car causes, chances are
you’re not thinking about the tires. And probably even less
about a faraway creek, where a Coho Salmon is dying. But
researchers at the University of Washington and elsewhere
… say as the rubber wears away from car tires during
everyday driving, it spreads tiny micro particles, including a
destructive chemical called 6PPD. … Now, with
information gathered in part by the [San Francisco Estuary]
Institute, the State of California is stepping in, laying the
groundwork for potential regulations to curb the toxic tire
pollution.
Navajo Nation leaders say failing septic and solid waste
systems are becoming an increasing concern in many areas of the
reservation. One tribal lawmaker has gathered nearly 170
accounts from residents of Blue Gap, Many Farms and other
chapters about deficient sanitation facilities in homes.
Officials say it’s a serious environmental contamination issue
that threatens land and water and creates significant health
risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Environmentalists advocating new state restrictions on oil and
gas drilling have seized upon confirmation last week that two
idle wells were leaking methane near a residential area in
northeast Bakersfield decades after they were improperly
abandoned. Details remained sketchy Monday, including how much
gas the wells were emitting and for how long. … Late
last month, California officials outlined plans for doing more
to cap the state’s orphan oil and gas wells using $25 million
in federal money they said will help them prioritize work in
populated areas most vulnerable to methane leaks and
groundwater contamination.
Bits of your pants, shirts, socks and fleece jackets are
polluting local waters. Cal Lutheran biology students have
discovered this disturbing fashion dilemma as part of a
scientific research project. For the past four years, CLU
biology professor Andrea Huvard, PhD, has guided dozens of
students in a long-term research project: They are studying the
presence of microfibers in the ocean, sediments and marine
animals around Southern California.
For years, plaintiffs’ lawyers suing over health and
environmental damage from so called forever chemicals, known
collectively as PFAS, focused on one set of deep pockets—E. I.
du Pont de Nemours and Co. But over the past two years, there’s
been a seismic shift in the legal landscape as awareness of
PFAS has expanded. Corporations including 3M Co., Chemguard
Inc., Kidde-Fenwal Inc., National Foam Inc., and Dynax Corp.
are now being sued at roughly the same rate as DuPont,
according to a Bloomberg Law analysis of more than 6,400
PFAS-related lawsuits filed in federal courts between July 2005
and March 2022.
In the current legislative session, lawmakers are working on a
bill designed to reduce plastic waste. If they are unable to
draft legislation by June 30, the issue will go straight to
voters as a ballot measure. The initiative, the California
Recycling and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, would require
all single-use plastic packaging and food ware used in
California to be recyclable, reusable, refillable or
compostable by 2030. … Over the last year, research has
shown the presence of these particles in human
blood, healthy lung tissue and meconium — the
first bowel movement of a newborn. They are also found in
marine organisms, ocean water, air and soil.
The City of San Diego is suing more than 20 companies over
decades-long water contamination from toxic chemical called
PFAS. The lawsuit claims manufacturers like 3M, DuPont, and
Raytheon made firefighting foam that contained PFAS and alleges
the companies concealed “knowledge about the grave
environmental and human health dangers of these compounds.”
In a sophisticated chemical analysis published Tuesday in
Environmental Science & Technology, the team found that
DDT-related chemicals were seven times more abundant in coastal
condors than condors that fed farther inland. Looking at the
birds’ coastal food sources, researchers found that dolphin and
sea lion carcasses that washed ashore in Southern California
were also seven times more contaminated with DDT than the
marine mammals they analyzed along the Gulf of California in
Mexico.
A dash of ruthenium atoms on a mesh of copper nanowires could
be one step toward a revolution in the global ammonia industry
that also helps the environment. Collaborators at Rice
University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, Arizona
State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
developed the high-performance catalyst that can, with near
100% efficiency, pull ammonia and solid ammonia — aka
fertilizer — from low levels of nitrates that are widespread
in industrial wastewater and polluted groundwater.
Tuesday, a study published in the journal The Lancet expanded
on pollution concerns globally, revealing that air and water
pollution causes 1 in 6 deaths worldwide. At more than 9
million deaths per year, such pollution kills more people than
malnutrition, roadway injuries and drug and alcohol use
combined, the study found. … Though the changing climate
is often viewed as the most pressing global environmental
threat, researchers warned that on-the-ground pollution
poses ecological and humanitarian catastrophes of its
own.
A settlement has finally been reached in the seven year-lawsuit
regarding the 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill. Plains All American
Pipeline has agreed to pay $230 million to fishers, fish
processors and shoreline property residents who are members of
two classes in a class-action lawsuit filed against the
company. The lawsuit was filed after a corroded pipeline
spilled an estimated 15,000 barrels of crude oil into the
Pacific Ocean in 2015.
Even if you’ve never heard of imidacloprid, there’s a good
chance the world’s most-used neonicotinoid pesticide is lurking
somewhere in your home. Or on your dog. Or maybe even in your
groundwater or drinking-water supplies. This insecticide,
widely used for decades on fruits, vegetables and many other
crops, has triggered growing concerns over its well-documented
role in the dramatic declines of birds, bees, butterflies and
other insects across the globe. … With imidacloprid being
discovered in groundwater and drinking-water supplies across
the state, state regulators — and legislators — finally are
paying closer attention … -Written by Jonathan Evans, legal director of the
Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health
program.
Five months after 8.5 million gallons of raw sewage spilled
from a ruptured mainline in Carson, an independent engineer’s
report has pinpointed its cause and offered practical advice
for the county agency responsible. … The rupture was
primarily caused, the report said, by corrosion of both a
48-inch diameter, 1960s-era concrete pipe and a sewer cover at
the intersection of 212th Street and South Lynton Avenue.
… Another contributing factor in the failure, the report
said, was a rain event on Dec. 30.
In addition to removing 25,000 pounds (11,339 kilograms) of
underwater litter [from Lake Tahoe] since last May, divers and
volunteers have been meticulously sorting and logging the types
and GPS locations of the waste. The dozens of dives that
concluded this week were part of a first-of-its-kind effort to
learn more about the source and potential harm caused by
plastics and other pollutants in the storied alpine lake on the
California-Nevada line.
Research in Seattle-area creeks has discovered tire bits
shedding lethal amounts of a little-known, salmon-killing
chemical called 6PPD-quinone. … In December 2020, 27
coauthors published an article in the journal Science
identifying 6PPD-quinone as the coho killer. Within weeks, the
U.S Tire Manufacturers Association asked California officials
to treat tires with 6PPD as a priority under the state’s
toxic-chemical laws. Coho salmon is an endangered species in
California. The California rule, once finalized, would give
manufacturers of tires sold there 180 days to assess any known
or potential alternatives to 6PPD in tire rubber.
Nearly one year ago, a nonprofit launched an unprecedented
effort to remove trash from Lake Tahoe’s entire 72-mile-long
shoreline. On Tuesday, it completed its mission. Clean Up the
Lake ended up removing 24,797 pieces of litter weighing a
combined 25,281 pounds from the treasured alpine lake on the
California-Nevada border. Since the 72-mile cleanup effort
kicked off on May 14, 2021, Clean Up the Lake’s team of staff
and volunteers spent dozens of days pulling everything from
beer cans and beach towels to engagement rings and a cordless
house phone from the water near shore.
A handful of state lawmakers gathered last week on the side of
the Tijuana River Estuary that’s not visibly clogged by
plastics and tires spilling from Mexico down canyon gullies or
down the river itself to ask the governor for money to, well,
stop trash from spilling over the border. Southern
California lawmakers hope Gov. Gavin Newsom will put $100
million in next year’s budget to be split equally between the
Tijuana River and the Mexicali-to-Salton-Sea-flowing New River,
both sewage-plagued water bodies.
If we’re not careful, the well-intentioned effort to restore
the Salton Sea could have serious adverse consequences: large
emissions of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate
change. A recent report by Jenny Ross, an attorney and writer
working on a long-term research project about the Salton Sea,
warns that many of the proposed long-range restoration plans
will cause large emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.
Studies of other drying lakes around the world have found these
atmosphere-warming gasses come from large deposits of
carbon-rich organic matter … -Written by Chuck Parker and Feliz Nunez, members
of the Salton Sea Coalition.
On Thursday, the Orange County Coastkeeper filed a complaint in
the Central District of California against Hixson Metal
Finishing, FPC Management, LLC and Reid Washbon alleging
violations of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and Clean
Water Act. According to the complaint, the Orange County
Coastkeeper is a California nonprofit public benefit
corporation dedicated to the preservation, protection and
defense of the environment, wildlife and natural resources of
Orange County.
California’s inability to meet its long-stated goal of cutting
solid waste by 75 percent by 2020 has prompted
environmentalists to craft a ballot initiative targeting
single-use plastic products – including a sharp limit on their
production. The initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot marks the
second time in six years that California voters have decided on
plastics use. … The latest initiative,
the California Recycling and Plastic Reduction Act, would
require all single-use plastic packaging and foodware to be
recyclable, reusable, refillable, or compostable by 2030.
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to
begin the process to phase out single-use plastics at city
facilities and city-sponsored events, as well as to take steps
toward a potential citywide ban on polystyrene products such as
Styrofoam. … Wednesday’s motion instructed the city
attorney to draft an ordinance banning single-use plastic at
city facilities and at events on city property.
Trash collected from the bottom of Lake Tahoe will be turned
into art. The Tahoe Fund is commissioning artists to create a
sculpture in Tahoe City by using some of the recovered items
found during a year-long scuba cleanup of the lake performed by
the Clean Up The Lake team.
San Diego County officials Wednesday will introduce a new
water-testing technology they will begin using the very next
day to provide same-day public warnings of poor coastal water
quality that causes illness. San Diego leaders say the
results will be more accurate and posted within hours instead
of the next day, reducing the time the public could be at risk
if water is contaminated.
In a first-of-its-kind legal action, California is
interrogating the role of fossil fuel and chemical giants in
driving the plastics pollution crisis and deceiving consumers
about recycling. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said
yesterday that the state is investigating Exxon Mobil Corp. and
other companies for “their role in causing and exacerbating”
plastics contamination. … “In California and across the
globe, we are seeing the catastrophic results of the fossil
fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of deception. Plastic
pollution is seeping into our waterways, poisoning our
environment, and blighting our landscapes,” said Bonta, a
Democrat, in a statement.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday announced a
major investigation into companies that manufacture plastics,
the first of its kind in the nation, saying that for 50 years
they have been engaged in potentially illegal business
practices by misleadingly claiming that plastics products are
recyclable, when most are not. Bonta said he issued subpoenas
to ExxonMobil, with other companies likely to follow, and said
society’s growing plastics pollution problem — particularly in
oceans, which are littered by trillions of tiny pieces of
plastic — is something they are legally liable for and should
be ordered to address.
A truck driver who law enforcement believes was driving under
the influence dumped 2,000 gallons of “hot asphalt binder” in a
California forest this week. … Officials from Six Rivers
National Forest said the trailer contained 2,000 gallons
of “hot asphalt binder,” which began seeping into the Smith
River. … A quick response by forest workers, Caltrans,
Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services and other
agencies minimized the spread of the chemicals. They believe
there are no impacts to water quality.
Residents in the Cañón de la Pedrera neighborhood of Tijuana
about six miles south of the border are complaining about a
putrid odor that is so strong some days it has made a few
neighbors feel ill. … The smell has lasted for weeks and
seems to be coming from a nearby concrete channel where some
residents appear to have built their own makeshift drainage
system to dump their waste water into. … That water
flows down the river and eventually ends up in the Pacific
Ocean.
Today, the Responsible Flushing Alliance (RFA) published a new
infographic highlighting some of the strangest objects that
have been pulled out of municipal wastewater treatment catch
basins in three California areas. … Consumers are urged
to look for the “Do Not Flush” symbol on the packaging of wipes
that are not intended by the manufacturer to be flushable. This
includes baby wipes, household cleaning wipes, makeup removal
wipes, and other wipes made with plastic materials that do not
disperse in water.
Germs are hitching rides around the world’s waterways on the
tiniest of rafts — microscopic plastic fibers from human
clothing and fishing nets — and contaminate the shellfish that
consume them, according to research published Tuesday by
scientists at the University of California, Davis. These
researchers hope to see further study on how the pathogens in
these contaminated fish affect the humans and other animals
eating them.
California is home to thousands of oil and gas wells abandoned
years ago and never properly sealed — many of them
sitting near homes, schools and businesses from the coast to
the Inland Empire. With no legally responsible party to clean
them up, environmental leaders say that 5,356 abandoned and
deserted wells now sprawl across Southern California and the
state, polluting drinking water and leaking methane, a powerful
greenhouse gas. That is about to change as the state gets
millions of dollars in state and federal funding to safely seal
old wells.
Onja Davidson Raoelison, a doctoral candidate in environmental
engineering at UCLA, has been working to keep waterways safe.
Her research and studies focus on green infrastructure and how
wildfires impact water systems…. Raoelison has been looking
at how biofilters can protect water from debris and toxic
pollutants such as heavy metals.
You can’t see it, but how we live impacts it and plays a vital
role in almost everything that happens in Arizona. Groundwater
is located deep beneath the surface and stored in aquifers,
which are porous rock that contain or transport
water. About 40% of the state’s water supply is
underground, with that number likely to increase due to
reductions in available water from the Colorado River. An
ongoing concern is what would happen if the valuable resource
got contaminated.
You could say that Orange Memorial Park in South San Francisco
is about to turn deep green. … [Colma Creek is] an
historic, natural waterway that was heavily cemented for flood
control in the early days of the area’s development. For
decades, the creek has carried runoff from the surrounding
watershed straight into San Francisco Bay, along with a
significant amount of trash. But that’s about to change.
The Salton Sea, located in Southern California, is a saline
terminal lake that has had many identities over the past
century or so. Since its reincarnation in 1905 due to lower
Colorado River flooding that partially refilled the Salton
Sink, it has been California’s largest lake by surface area,
covering approximately 350 square miles…. Yet with nearly 90%
of its inflow comprised of agricultural drainage waters from
the approximately 500,000 acres of irrigated farmland in the
Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and exposure to an
extremely arid climate that results in excessive evaporation
… the Sea’s natural attractions have faded as the lake has
become more polluted and nearly twice as saline as the
ocean….
Microplastics are a pathway for pathogens on land to reach the
ocean, with likely consequences for human and wildlife health,
according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
The study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports,
is the first to connect microplastics in the ocean with
land-based pathogens. It found that microplastics can make it
easier for disease-causing pathogens to concentrate in
plastic-contaminated areas of the ocean.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality has reversed
three key Trump administration changes that govern how federal
agencies implement the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). The rule, published on April 20, 2022, finalizes what
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) called “Phase One”
of their effort to review and revise the Trump administration’s
July 2020 overhaul of the NEPA regulations, and follows a
proposed rule that CEQ issued for public comments last fall.
California prohibits farmers from growing crops with
chemical-laced wastewater from fracking. Yet the state still
allows them to use water produced by conventional oil
drilling—a chemical soup that contains many of the same toxic
compounds. When rumors spread several years ago that California
was growing some of the nation’s nuts, citrus and vegetables
with wastewater produced from hydraulic fracturing, known as
fracking, regulators said that would be illegal.
Happy Earth Day. As you probably know, April 22 is a day set
aside for appreciating the environment and demonstrating
support for laws that protect it. … But it was a massive
oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara that
ultimately served as a catalyst for Earth Day…. At the
national level, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean
Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and President Richard
M. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency.
In a California forest torched by wildfire last summer,
researcher Anne Nolin examines a handful of the season’s
remaining snow, now darkened by black specks from the burned
trees above. Spring heat waves had already melted much of
the year’s limited snowfall across California and parts of the
West when Nolin visited in early April. But she and her
colleague are studying another factor that might’ve made the
snow vanish faster in the central Sierra Nevada — the scorched
trees, which no longer provide much shade and are shedding
flecks of carbon.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the San Diego
River has long been listed as an impaired water body, but SDSU
researchers are working to fix it. … In another study,
SDSU environmental engineer Natalie Mladenov and her
team found that high levels of bacteria correlate with the
presence of caffeine and sucralose, found only in human
waste.
The large, intense wildfires that have scorched the Pacific
Northwest in recent years are altering the seasonal pattern of
air pollution and causing a surge in unhealthy air pollutants
in August — as well as undermining clean air gains and posing
potential health risks to millions across the continent, a new
study found. The research, helmed by scientists at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and published this week
in Nature Communications, pointed to a sharp increase in carbon
monoxide levels during the month of August — a time when
carbon monoxide levels have historically remained low.
This 3-mile stretch of sand and tide pools beneath a fortress
of 80-foot bluffs is a California tourism poster if there ever
was one. Nothing disturbs the pristine, sunny view, except –
once you’re aware of them – the nurdles. But you have to look
close – on-your-hands-and-knees close – to see one. And once
you do, you see another and another – so many that you may not
think of this, or any beach, the same way again. Mark
McReynolds is trying to bring into focus these tiny
preproduction plastic pellets that manufacturers melt down to
mold everything from car bumpers to toothpaste caps.
In 2004, Emeryville, an industrial suburb of San Francisco,
sent an environmental remediation crew to inject 15,000 gallons
of cottage cheese into groundwater below an abandoned factory.
The factory manufactured car bumpers from 1951 to 1967, and the
hexavalent chromium it left behind had since traveled into the
groundwater. Hexavalent chromium gives humans cancer, trivalent
chromium doesn’t, and cottage cheese converts the former to the
latter.
A leading U.S. environmental conservation group has released
its annual list of the country’s most endangered rivers. The
Colorado River tops the list, but states across the nation must
address polluted, dry, and unhealthy rivers, according to the
list and accompanying report published today by American
Rivers.
Environmentalists are concerned Caltrans isn’t doing enough to
keep trash from washing off its properties into the San
Francisco Bay. The state transportation department has been
under a cease and desist order since 2019 requiring it to
reduce trash over the next seven years. The order
covers more than 8,000 acres of its property in the Bay
Area, including the South Bay. The San Francisco Bay Regional
Water Quality Control Board issued the order following
widespread community outrage about Caltrans failing to pick up
trash polluting local waterways.
[P]iles of single-use plastics that can’t easily be recycled,
pollute roadsides and waterways and add to the garbage that
clogs landfills. In November, Californians may get a chance to
shrink that waste. An initiative designed to reduce single-use
plastics and polystyrene food containers will be on the ballot,
a move by environmentalists to bypass the Legislature, where
such measures have repeatedly failed in the face of industry
lobbying.
The Colorado River is the epicenter of the nation’s water and
climate crisis, according to an annual report from
the conservation group American Rivers that ranked the waterway
the country’s most endangered. … More than 20 years of
record-breaking climate change-driven drought has
brought the river and reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead to
record lows. Last month, Lake Powell dropped below a
critical threshold of 3,525 feet for the first time — a
number the states and federal government have worked to
avoid to keep enough water in the reservoir for continued
hydropower production.
Residents who sued to block an affordable housing project are
appealing a court ruling that quashed their lawsuit.
… The group previously denied it filed the lawsuit to
delay the affordable housing project, instead claiming it was
brought because of “the very real and legitimate concern that
the city has failed” to properly environmentally evaluate the
project, including not fully considering “concerns raised by
the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
regarding the historical contamination” at the site.
Amid the sweeping backdrop of the Topatopa Mountains and a
field of colorful organic vegetables, members of the Ventura
County farming community joined advocates and water experts to
urge the passage of Measures A and B. The twin ballot measures
would close a loophole in Ventura County allowing oil and gas
companies to drill without environmental review using
antiquated permits. In most cases, these permits were granted
between 1930 and 1970. Cynthia King’s farm, where the
press conference took place, is surrounded by a CUP that was
approved in 1928.
As Clean Up The Lake nears completion of their 72-mile project,
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak joined the crew on Monday to thank
them for their progress thus far. On Monday, April 11, Sisolak
joined officials from the Nevada Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources, along with staff and volunteers from CUTL
and project sponsors Tahoe Fund and Tahoe Blue Vodka, at
Nevada’s Sand Harbor State Park to celebrate the historic
initiative to remove underwater trash and debris from nearshore
areas across the entire Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
Blasted by sun and beaten by waves,
plastic bottles and bags shed fibers and tiny flecks of
microplastic debris that litter the San Francisco Bay where they
can choke the marine life that inadvertently consumes it.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
For decades, cannabis has been grown
in California – hidden away in forested groves or surreptitiously
harvested under the glare of high-intensity indoor lamps in
suburban tract homes.
In the past 20 years, however, cannabis — known more widely as
marijuana – has been moving from being a criminal activity to
gaining legitimacy as one of the hundreds of cash crops in the
state’s $46 billion-dollar agriculture industry, first legalized
for medicinal purposes and this year for recreational use.
As we continue forging ahead in 2018
with our online version of Western Water after 40 years
as a print magazine, we turned our attention to a topic that also
got its start this year: recreational marijuana as a legal use.
State regulators, in the last few years, already had been beefing
up their workforce to tackle the glut in marijuana crops and
combat their impacts to water quality and supply for people, fish
and farming downstream. Thus, even if these impacts were perhaps
unbeknownst to the majority of Californians who approved
Proposition 64 in 2016, we thought it important to see if
anything new had evolved from a water perspective now that
marijuana was legal.
Joaquin Esquivel learned that life is
what happens when you make plans. Esquivel, who holds the public
member slot at the State Water Resources Control Board in
Sacramento, had just closed purchase on a house in Washington
D.C. with his partner when he was tapped by Gov. Jerry Brown a
year ago to fill the Board vacancy.
Esquivel, 35, had spent a decade in Washington, first in several
capacities with then Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and then as
assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California
Natural Resources Agency. As a member of the State Water Board,
he shares with four other members the difficult task of
ensuring balance to all the uses of California’s water.
A new study could help water
agencies find solutions to the vexing challenges the homeless
face in gaining access to clean water for drinking and
sanitation.
The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority (SAWPA) in Southern California has embarked on a
comprehensive and collaborative effort aimed at assessing
strengths and needs as it relates to water services for people
(including the homeless) within its 2,840 square-mile area that
extends from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Orange County
coast.
Microplastics – plastic debris
measuring less than 5 millimeters – are an
increasing water quality concern. Entering the water as
industrial microbeads or as larger plastic litter that degrade
into small pellets, microplastics come from a variety of
consumer products.
Contaminants exist in water supplies from both natural and
manmade sources. Even those chemicals present without human
intervention can be mobilized from introduction of certain
pollutants from both
point and nonpoint sources.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
Point sources release pollutants from discrete conveyances, such
as a discharge pipe, and are regulated by federal and state
agencies. The main point source dischargers are factories and
sewage treatment plants, which release treated
wastewater.
Problems with polluted stormwater and steps that can be taken to
prevent such pollution and turn what is often viewed as
“nuisance” runoff into a water resource is the focus of this
publication, Stormwater Management: Turning Runoff into a
Resource. The 16-page booklet, funded by a grant from the State
Water Resources Control Board, includes color photos and
graphics, text explaining common stormwater pollutants and
efforts to prevent stormwater runoff through land use/
planning/development – as well as tips for homeowners to reduce
their impacts on stormwater pollution.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Salt. In a small amount, it’s a gift from nature. But any doctor
will tell you, if you take in too much salt, you’ll start to have
health problems. The same negative effect is happening to land in
the Central Valley. The problem scientists call “salinity” poses
a growing threat to our food supply, our drinking water quality
and our way of life. The problem of salt buildup and potential –
but costly – solutions are highlighted in this 2008 public
television documentary narrated by comedian Paul Rodriguez.
A 20-minute version of the 2008 public television documentary
Salt of the Earth: Salinity in California’s Central Valley. This
DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking
engagements to help the public understand the complex issues
surrounding the problem of salt build up in the Central Valley
potential – but costly – solutions. Narrated by comedian Paul
Rodriquez.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, displays
the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas
and Indian reservations within the Klamath River Watershed. The
map text explains the many issues facing this vast,
15,000-square-mile watershed, including fish restoration;
agricultural water use; and wetlands. Also included are
descriptions of the separate, but linked, Klamath Basin
Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Agreement,
and the next steps associated with those agreements. Development
of the map was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to California
Wastewater is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the history of wastewater
treatment and how wastewater is collected, conveyed, treated and
disposed of today. The guide also offers case studies of
different treatment plants and their treatment processes.
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.
This printed issue of Western Water, based on presentations
at the November 3-4, 2010 Water Quality Conference in Ontario,
Calif., looks at constituents of emerging concerns (CECs) – what
is known, what is yet to be determined and the potential
regulatory impacts on drinking water quality.
This issue of Western Water looks at some of the issues
facing drinking water providers, such as compliance with
increasingly stringent treatment requirements, the need to
improve source water quality and the mission of continually
informing consumers about the quality of water they receive.
This issue of Western Water examines PPCPs – what they are, where
they come from and whether the potential exists for them to
become a water quality problem. With the continued emphasis on
water quality and the fact that many water systems in the West
are characterized by flows dominated by effluent contributions,
PPCPs seem likely to capture interest for the foreseeable future.
This issue of Western Water examines the presence of mercury in
the environment and the challenge of limiting the threat posed to
human health and wildlife. In addition to outlining the extent of
the problem and its resistance to conventional pollution
remedies, the article presents a glimpse of some possible courses
of action for what promises to be a long-term problem.
This issue of Western Water examines the problem of perchlorate
contamination and its ramifications on all facets of water
delivery, from the extensive cleanup costs to the search for
alternative water supplies. In addition to discussing the threat
posed by high levels of perchlorate in drinking water, the
article presents examples of areas hard hit by contamination and
analyzes the potential impacts of forthcoming drinking water
standards for perchlorate.
2002 marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most significant
environmental laws in American history, the Clean Water Act
(CWA). The CWA has had remarkable success, reversing years of
neglect and outright abuse of the nation’s waters. But challenges
remain as attention turns to the thorny issue of cleaning up
nonpoint sources of pollution.
