Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, of California, on Monday
visited the Tijuana River Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant on
the U.S. side of the border to announce that $300 million has
been budgeted to stem the flow of raw sewage from Mexico into
California. The money is part of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade
agreement, which set aside money to clean up the environment
along the southern border. During heavy storms or when
facilities in Tijuana break down, millions of gallons of raw
sewage flow downhill into the U.S. side of the border in the
Tijuana River Valley and out to sea, contaminating miles of
Southern California beaches.
There’s a huge problem looming as California moves beyond
fossil fuels: How to get its declining oil industry to plug and
remediate tens of thousands of oil and gas wells that already
sit idle or won’t be producing for much longer. And
unfortunately, it’s looking like the companies responsible for
the wells, tanks and pipelines won’t end up paying anything
close to what it will take to clean up the mess they leave
behind. All told, it could cost as much as $21.5 billion to
clean and decommission … Without swift and dramatic
changes, much of the cleanup costs will fall to taxpayers. That
would be a shameful abrogation of responsibility by an industry
that has for more than a century profited mightily from
extracting California’s underground deposits while fueling the
climate crisis, fouling the air and contaminating soil and
water.
An algae bloom prompted city officials to post caution signs at
its Lower Otay Reservoir. The City of San Diego advises the
public to not expose their skin to the water while the
cautionary alert is in effect. However, the algae bloom
does not impact the safety or quality of the City’s drinking
water, officials said. The water is treated using several
processes prior to being delivered to homes and businesses,
according to the City. Local biologists found out the
water at Lower Otay Reservoir tested positive for
Cyanobacteria, also known as “blue-green algae.”
The city of Sierra Madre has accepted a $126,000 settlement
with chemical company Monsanto Inc. in a class-action lawsuit
against the company, that alleged its products contaminated
bodies of water and stormwater systems. In 2016, several cities
and counties, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, sued
Monsanto claiming industrial chemicals it manufactured up until
1977 called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) impaired the
environment and continues to contaminate sites, including
stormwater and wastewater systems, water bodies, sediment,
natural resources, fish and other wildlife. The city’s City
Council approved the settlement at its May 23 meeting.
Standing atop a ridge in Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Mourad
Gabriel watches as the last of the morning’s fog burns off,
revealing the snow-capped Trinity Alps in the distance and a
rolling sea of evergreens below. In this slice of rural
California, about five hours north of San Francisco, narrow
two-lane roads snake between towering mountains and ancient
trees. … In the mountainous expanse below, drug
trafficking organizations have taken advantage of Northern
California’s remote wilderness to grow cannabis in deep
defiance of the state’s marijuana and environmental
regulations. They’ve poisoned soil, streams and wildlife
with banned pesticides, leveled countless acres of forest,
ignited massive wildfires, poached billions of gallons of
precious water and left nothing but death and debris in their
wake.
Locals and environmental groups are split over a plan to
respond to one of the most serious environmental problems in
Lake Tahoe with a controversial solution: poison. Similar to
using chemotherapy to kill cancer cells, authorities approved a
test of chemical herbicides to kill underwater weeds
threatening to ruin Tahoe’s shoreline if left unchecked.
Herbicides triclopyr and endothall were applied last year to
developed lagoons connected to the lake in a subdivision known
as the Tahoe Keys. The test could lead to a larger-scale
application of herbicides.
Washington and Maryland are the latest states seeking to hold
chemical manufacturers liable for soil and groundwater
contamination caused by so-called “forever chemicals.” The
suits, filed in the states’ respective court systems, accuse
3M, DuPont and other makers of concealing longstanding
information about the dangers associated with toxic per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of more than 9,000
laboratory-produced chemicals used for a wide range of
industrial, commercial and consumer product applications for
more than 80 years.
Sturgeon have been around far longer than humans—a jaw-dropping
200 million years to our comparatively short 6 million—and
survived the cataclysm that terminated the age of dinosaurs.
But can these ancient fish survive the age of people? New
insights into the secret lives of these little-known fish, as
well as into their increasing vulnerability, suggest ways of
strengthening protections for sturgeon in California. All 27
remaining species of sturgeon live in the northern hemisphere
and all are at risk. Threats include overfishing, poaching for
their caviar, and dams that block access to their spawning
grounds. Fish in the San Francisco Bay are also threatened by
harmful algal blooms called red tides, which release toxins
that can kill aquatic life.
As the temperature on an early April afternoon crept
above 80 degrees, Cruz Marquez, a member of the Salton Sea
Community Science Program, stood at a folding table under a
blue tent, scrubbing a small glass vial with the cloth of his
T-shirt. … Over the last 25 years, the Salton Sea has lost a
third of its water due to an over-allocated Colorado River. As
it shrinks, the sea’s salts plus pollutants from agricultural
runoff reach higher concentrations. All those extra nutrients
fuel algae blooms that then decay in the sulfate-rich sea,
resulting in a rotten-egg smell that can extend for miles. As
temperatures rise and the water retreats further, locals
suspect that the contaminated sediments in the exposed lakebed
are worsening air quality; the area’s childhood asthma rate is
one of the highest in the state.
Lexi Kilbane knew, in a vague, nonscientific way, that plastic
pollution was a growing problem, and that tiny shards of
plastics were showing up everywhere a microscope might
look. But the magnitude of the contamination finally hit
home after she dipped a water testing kit into a City Park
lake, right near her house, and filtered the sample. Fibers
from shredded tarps, jackets and carpet popped into view, in a
dystopian kaleidoscope. … Using national protocols
for detecting microplastics, Kilbane and the nonprofit advocacy
group CoPIRG sampled 16 waterways in Colorado and found the
plastics pollution in every one. They are sharing results
of their study with national sampling networks, and urging
Colorado policymakers to double down on recent efforts to slow
use of plastics that deteriorate into dangerous particles but
never biodegrade.
Toxic waste lurking in the soil under the San Francisco Bay
community of West Oakland, and places like it, is the next
environmental threat in a neighborhood already burdened by
pollution. Residents in these communities of color are calling
for climate justice as a form of reparations. The stability of
buried contamination from Oakland’s industrial past relies on
it staying in the soil. But once the rising waters of San
Francisco Bay press inland and get underneath these pockets of
pollution, a certain amount of that waste will not stay in
place. Instead, it will begin to move. More than 130 sites lie
in wait. Human-caused climate change is already forcing this
groundwater rise in West Oakland and other parts of the Bay
Area.
The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped
from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the
practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of
federal law, a judge ruled Friday. Halting the use of the red
slurry material could have resulted in greater environmental
damage from wildfires, said U.S. District Judge Dana
Christensen in Missoula, Montana. The judge agreed with U.S.
Forest Service officials who said dropping retardant into areas
with waterways was sometimes necessary to protect lives and
property.
[H]exavalent chromium—a highly hazardous substance emitted by
chrome-plating businesses—is 500 times more carcinogenic than
diesel exhaust, putting it in the cross hair of regulators for
decades. The California Air Resources Board today approved a
landmark ban on use of the substance by the chrome plating
industry. The ban requires companies, who opposed the action,
to use alternative materials. … The toxin has some
presence in popular culture. The court battle over the presence
of the chemical in drinking water in the San Bernardino County
town of Hinkley was dramatized in the movie “Erin
Brockovich.” But environmental advocates and residents of
Los Angeles’ low-income, industrial neighborhoods and cities
have long raised concerns.
“Produced water” is water that returns to the surface as
wastewater during oil and gas production. The water typically
contains hydrocarbons from the deposit as well as naturally
occurring toxic substances like arsenic and radium, salts and
chemical additives injected into the well to facilitate
extraction. These additives include carcinogens and numerous
other toxic substances that have the potential to harm human
health and contaminate the environment. … In California,
a local water board allows oil companies to sell their
wastewater to farmers for irrigation, claiming the practice is
safe. But an Inside Climate News investigation found
that the board relied on scant evidence produced by an oil
industry consultant and never reviewed long-term impacts on
plants, soil, crops and wildlife.
Instead of helping to tackle the world’s staggering plastic
waste problem, recycling may be exacerbating a concerning
environmental problem: microplastic pollution. A recent
peer-reviewed study that focused on a recycling facility in the
United Kingdom suggests that anywhere between 6 to 13 percent
of the plastic processed could end up being released into water
or the air as microplastics — ubiquitous tiny particles smaller
than five millimeters that have been found everywhere from
Antarctic snow to inside human bodies.
In the world of water utility finance, it’s widely known that
ratepayers like residents and businesses represent the primary
source of revenue for local water and sewer systems. Therefore,
when regulatory mandates come down from the federal government
with the potential to increase costs for water systems, even
with federal support, it’s generally the local ratepayer who is
left to foot the bill. This is one of the main concerns the
sector is figuring out how to navigate after a big regulatory
announcement in the spring. In March, following much
anticipation, the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
released its first-ever proposed National Primary Drinking
Water Regulation for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.”
EPA brandished its powers to regulate new drinking water
contaminants earlier this year, but many question whether the
agency will apply the same approach to other chemicals. While
substances linked to health risks from kidney disease to cancer
have cropped up in drinking water systems for decades, the
agency has not issued a drinking water standard for a new
contaminant on its own initiative since 1996. Other drinking
water regulations since then have been mandated by Congress.
But EPA in March took the dramatic step of escalating a
crackdown on a handful of “forever chemicals,” with a proposal
to regulate those notorious substances at very low levels.
When John Mestas’ ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years
ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they “hit paradise,”
he says. “There was so much water, they thought it would never
end,” Mestas says of the agricultural region at the headwaters
of the Rio Grande. Now decades of climate change-driven
drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making
the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the
levels of heavy metals in drinking water. … During
drought, the number of people in the contiguous U.S. exposed to
elevated arsenic from domestic wells may rise from about 2.7
million to 4.1 million, Lombard estimates, using statistical
models. Arsenic has been shown to affect health across the
human life span, beginning with sperm and eggs, James
says.
A team of chemical and environmental engineers at the
University of California, Riverside, has found a way to use
microbial degradation to break down chlorinated PFAS in
wastewater. In their paper published in the journal Nature
Water, the group describes how they tested the ability of
microbes in waste water to degrade some PFAS compounds and what
they found by doing so. Chlorinated polyfluorocarboxylic acids
(PFAS) are a group of man-made chemicals that have been widely
used in industrial processing for several decades. In recent
times they have become known as “forever chemicals” because
they break down so slowly in the environment—it has also been
found that they can build up in the bodies of animals,
including humans.
The Center for Environmental Health recently confirmed that
three Bay Area facilities have been discharging toxicants known
as “forever chemicals” into the region’s
groundwater. Metal plating companies Electro-Coatings
of California and Teikuro Corporation, along with a Recology
center in Vacaville, were sent legal notices by CEH after they
were discovered to use PFAS, a group of potentially
harmful chemicals, in their day-to-day operations. These
chemicals were directly released into designated sources of
drinking water below three facilities and now exceed the
Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed limits for
PFAS by over a hundred times, according to a
CEH press release.
Removing trash from the ocean may not be as harmless as it
seems. That’s the conclusion of new research, which finds that
marine dumps known as “garbage patches” are home to countless
delicate creatures that could perish when people scoop debris
from the sea. The oceans are home to five major garbage
patches. They form far from land where strong currents swirl
together, ferrying trash of all sizes. Some of it has been
eroded by the churn into tiny debris known as microplastics.
The largest of these marine debris fields is known as the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch. Spanning 1.6 million square kilometers
midway between Hawaii and the coast of California, it was first
observed in 1997 by Charles Moore, an oceanographer and founder
of Algalita Marine Research and Education.
For well over a century, the oil and gas industry has drilled
holes across California in search of black gold and a lucrative
payday. But with production falling steadily, the time has come
to clean up many of the nearly quarter-million wells scattered
from downtown Los Angeles to western Kern County and across the
state. The bill for that work, however, will vastly exceed all
the industry’s future profits in the state, according to a
first-of-its-kind study published Thursday and shared with
ProPublica. … Taxpayers will likely have to cover much
of the difference to ensure wells are plugged and not left to
leak brine, toxic chemicals and climate-warming methane.
Research out of Scotland suggests that the chopping, shredding
and washing of plastic in recycling facilities may turn as much
as six to 13 percent of incoming waste into microplastics—tiny,
toxic particles that are an emerging and ubiquitous
environmental health concern for the planet and people. A team
of four researchers measured and analyzed microplastics in
wastewater before and after filters were installed at an
anonymous recycling plant in the United Kingdom. The study, one
of the first of its kind, was published in the May issue of in
the peer-reviewed Journal of Hazardous Material Advances.
According to a public notice published May 10th,
2023, Hat Creek Construction Company, contractor for
Caltrans, is planning to construct a “temporary” asphalt plant
directly adjacent to the Feather River in Delleker, 2000
feet south (and upwind) of the Delleker residential area, and
only 500 feet from homes in the Iron Horse community across the
river. The operation would run from April to November, from 6am
to 6pm, up to 24 hours/ day for 3 years (but probably longer)
mainly to supply Caltrans with asphalt for its Highway 70
repaving project. The project would generate at least 150
round trip truck trips per day, all crossing the railroad
at an uncontrolled crossing, risking accidents and derailments,
including possible oil spills directly into to the
river. -Written by Feather River Action.
Preparing for the threat of massive flooding during
California’s “Big Melt,” federal engineers have been releasing
more Kern River water from Lake Isabella than is flowing into
the reservoir from the snowbound peaks of the southern Sierra
Nevada. The action is needed, officials say, to prevent water
from spilling over the reservoir dam and sending floodwaters
rolling into low-lying areas that include the city of
Bakersfield, farm towns, Highway 99, and portions of Kern
County’s famed oil patch — an intrusion that would risk
significant ecological harm. Now, with temperatures rising
and river flows approaching an all-time record of 7,000 cubic
feet per second, Chevron Corporation is taking steps to avoid
an oil spill at its Kern River Oil Field in the event
of catastrophic flooding.
In 2014, Adam Nordell and his wife bought a 44-acre Songbird
Farm in Maine to grow organic produce and raise a beautiful
family. Seven years later, they found out that their farmlands
were brimmed with toxic chemicals known as PFAS, or per-and
polyfluorinated substances. PFAS are a group of chemicals used
for making fluoropolymer coatings and other products that
resist heat, stains, oil, water, and grease. Fluoropolymer
coatings are found in a range of products, including adhesives,
furniture, non-stick cooking surfaces, food packaging, and
electrical wire insulation. These chemicals are toxic even at
extremely low levels and are called ‘forever chemicals’ since
they are virtually indestructible. Moreover, they are almost
impossible to avoid as they are found practically everywhere,
not just in farmlands.
An uproar over a bill requiring residents with septic systems
to connect to municipal sewer systems is causing a major pivot
in the effort to conserve water in Southern Nevada. An
amendment is changing a requirement into an option. That’s the
latest move to accommodate residents who repeatedly told
lawmakers they just couldn’t afford to pay for the conversions
themselves. Not 50%. Not 20%. Not 15%. Assembly Bill 220
(AB220) was heard Tuesday by the Senate Natural Resources
Committee. The current language in the bill gives residents the
chance to take advantage of an offer to cover 100% of the costs
of connecting to a municipal sewer system as long as funds are
available.
Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that is increasingly being
mixed with fentanyl, heroin and other illicit drugs, has been
detected in Marin County’s wastewater. Although xylazine, also
known as “tranq,” use has been common on the East Coast for
some time, this is the first positive evidence of its presence
in Marin. Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health
officer, made the announcement in a recent update on levels of
COVID-19 infection in Marin. Since most people now rely on
at-home antigen tests to determine if they’re infected, instead
of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that must be
processed through a lab, health officials have come to rely on
wastewater testing to determine infection levels in their
communities.
Hundreds of industrial sites along California’s coastline may
face a heightened risk of coastal flooding by 2050 because of
sea level rise from human-caused global warming, a recent study
says. Why it matters: Flood and storm surge events amplified by
sea level rise against such facilities could increase the
chances of hazardous chemicals escaping from the sites and
contaminating nearby communities. The potential release of
contaminants from future extreme weather events may also have
an increased effect on people of color and low-income
communities.
Every summer, wildland firefighters across the West gear up for
a monumental task, aiming to stop fires that are burning hotter
and moving faster with climate change. They accomplish this in
two ways: on the ground and out of the sky. From above,
helicopters sling buckets of water, while airplanes dump fire
retardant — a thick red solution made mostly of
fertilizer. The United States Forest Service uses millions of
gallons of retardant each year. But there have long been
concerns about what happens when that mix of ammonium
phosphate, emulsifiers, and colorants finds its way into water.
Some environmentalists worry spraying the stuff on forests does
more harm than good.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Thursday
accusing a California regulator of approving new oil and gas
wells without conducting sufficient environmental review. The
wells in question — approved by the California Geologic Energy
Management Division (CalGEM) — are located in Los Angeles
and San Luis Obispo counties, in close proximity to homes,
beaches and important habitats, according to the
lawsuit. CalGEM’s approvals, the complainants argued, are
based on out-of-date environmental reviews that fail to
consider “climate change or the risks to human health that have
become well understood since that time.”
With the growth of chemical-intensive land management over the
last century, the world has been held captive by pesticide
companies. … During the so-called “Green Revolution” (circa
1945-1985), the world came to depend on vast amounts of
fertilizers and herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides.
… In the U.S., EPA has proposed new limits to PFAS
levels in drinking water, and not a minute too soon; PFAS
have been found in water supplies in nearly 3,000
locations in all 50 states and two territories. PFAS
chemicals have been found in human breast milk, umbilical
cord blood, deer meat, fish, and beef. They are found in
pesticides.
After a historic winter hit California with dozens of
atmospheric rivers, the last line of defense protecting the
Pacific from much of L.A.’s trash held strong. In the first
storm season of a two-year pilot project, Ballona Creek Trash
Interceptor 007 stopped nearly 155,000 pounds of garbage from
flowing out to the ocean. … The Dutch nonprofit
partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Public
Works to introduce the interceptor in October. The system
floats a few hundred yards from the outlet of Ballona Creek
into the Pacific Ocean, its twin booms extended to the
shoreline to funnel trash to a solar-powered system that lifts
objects from the water with a conveyor belt and drops them into
six dumpsters. The trash collects in the dumpsters and awaits
manual removal.
The Colorado River can be a magical line. By crossing the river
near Parker, Arizona, the waste California considers hazardous
becomes regular trash in Arizona. “Since 2018, California has
taken more than 660,000 tons of contaminated soil and dumped it
at regular landfills in Arizona,” CalMatters reporter Robert
Lewis said. The organization broke the story in January after a
months-long investigation into how California disposed of its
toxic waste. … California’s environmental standards are more
stringent compared to the federal government. Under state law,
these toxic materials are supposed to be disposed of in
landfills specifically meant to handle hazardous materials.
As temperatures reached the 80s and people flocked to the shore
for beach cleanups on Earth Day last month, an order to stay
out of the water dampened what could have been a very busy
beach weekend after months of wet weather in Long Beach. The
beach closure was prompted by the second sewage spill of 2023
that resulted in 250,000 gallons of raw sewage entering the Los
Angeles River near Downey and making its way toward Long Beach
where the river’s mouth dumps its contents into the
ocean. The spill was attributed to a temporary blockage
from maintenance crews from the Los Angeles County Sanitation
District.
This winter was one for the books. With record-breaking low
temperatures and a stream of atmospheric rivers, snow came to
parts of California that rarely see it. That added up to a huge
amount of snowfall for the Sierra Nevada mountains, where much
of the Bay Area’s drinking water comes from. Now, as all that
snow melts and makes its way downhill, flooding is a major
concern. But another concern has to do with what that snowmelt
is bringing with it. We sent KALW environment reporter Joshua
Sirotiak up to the mountains to find out what researchers are
looking for in our drinking water.
A federal court on Tuesday tossed out a decision from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to regulate a
chemical used in rocket fuel in drinking water. The Trump
administration decided in 2020 not to regulate a chemical
called perchlorate that can interfere with thyroid function and
may harm fetal brain development. The Biden administration
upheld that decision last year. But, a federal appeals
court in Washington, D.C., reversed the decision on
Tuesday. The opinion of the three-judge panel, authored by
David Sentelle — a Reagan administration appointee — argued
that the Safe Drinking Water Act did not give the EPA the
authority to reverse a 2011 decision in favor of issuing
drinking water standards for perchlorate.
On a hot, dry August day in 2002, air tankers swooped over a
small wildfire south of Bend, Oregon. The Forest Service hoped
to suppress the flames by dropping over a thousand pounds of
fire retardant on and around the fire — but the pilots missed.
Instead, the neon-red liquid cascaded into the nearby Fall
River, a tributary of the Deschutes. Soon after, at
least 22,000 trout died — virtually all the fish
living in a six-mile stretch. … In a suit filed in Montana’s
Federal District Court last October, FSEEE argued that fire
retardant is a pollutant, so the Forest Service needs
a Clean Water Act permit if it flows into waterways.
Some of the United States’ most widely used food pesticides are
contaminated with “potentially dangerous” levels of toxic PFAS
“forever chemicals”, new testing of the products finds. The
Environmental Protection Agency has previously been silent on
PFAS in food pesticides, even as it found the chemicals in
non-food crop products. The potential for millions of acres of
contaminated food cropland demands swifter and stronger
regulatory action, the paper’s authors say. … The groups
last Monday submitted the test results to the EPA and
the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, asking
them to remove these products from use until contamination can
be addressed.
The plastics industry has long hyped recycling, even
though it is well aware that it’s been a failure.
Worldwide, only 9 percent of plastic waste actually gets
recycled. In the United States, the rate is now 5 percent.
Most used plastic is landfilled, incinerated, or winds up
drifting around the environment. Now, an alarming
new study has found that even when plastic makes it to a
recycling center, it can still end up splintering into smaller
bits that contaminate the air and water. This pilot study
focused on a single new facility where plastics are sorted,
shredded, and melted down into pellets. Along the way, the
plastic is washed several times, sloughing off microplastic
particles—fragments smaller than 5 millimeters—into the plant’s
wastewater.
Widely used insecticides and pesticides in California, US,
contain high levels of chemicals that are contaminating
millions of acres of farmland, according to the Center for
Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
are used most abundantly in California’s Central Valley on
crops such as almonds, grapes, peaches and
pistachios. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because
they “do not break down in the environment” and are associated
with immune system suppression, liver damage, thyroid disease,
reduced fertility, high cholesterol, obesity and cancer,
according to the study’s authors.
California has begun the public process for a potential
regulatory proposal expanding the list of chemicals that may be
regulated under its Safer Consumer Products Program
(SCP). The California Department of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC), part of the California Environmental Protection
Agency, has proposed adding microplastics and
para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) derivatives to its Candidate
Chemicals List (CCL) in an attempt to control their impact on
human health and the environment. PPD derivatives are a family
of chemicals used in a variety of industrial
applications. The only PPD derivative currently on the CCL
is 6PPD, a substance used to prevent deterioration of
motor-vehicle tires but that has also been found to hurt
certain species of salmon when it transforms into a toxicant
known as 6PPD-quinone.
In 2022, California took a bold step to address plastic
pollution by enacting the Plastic Pollution Prevention and
Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (Senate Bill (SB) 54),
which dramatically overhauls how single-use packaging and
single-use plastic foodware will be offered for sale, sold,
distributed, and imported in the state, and tackles plastic
pollution at the source. The problem with plastic An
estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the marine
environment each year with devastating consequences for the
ocean ecosystem. Everywhere we look, we find plastic; it is in
our land, water, air, food, and even in our bodies. And the
problem is expected to get worse as the production and use of
single-use plastic has skyrocketed over the last decade.
A new study published in the journal Environmental Science &
Technology estimates that thousands of private well users in
the Central Valley could be extracting contaminated water. The
study estimates a 0.7 percent chance users of a domestic well
in the Tulare Lake hydrologic region, which includes Hanford,
would draw water above the Environmental Protection Agency’s
secondary maximum contaminant level for manganese.
According to Samantha Ying, principal investigator of the study
and assistant professor of Soil Biochemistry at the University
of California Riverside, manganese, a mineral naturally found
in groundwater, can have serious effects on health. This is
particularly true for babies and children.
California’s most-used insecticide, along with two other
pesticides, is contaminated with potentially dangerous levels
of PFAS “forever chemicals,” according to test results released
today by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Intrepid 2F is the
most widely applied insecticide product in the state of
California and the second most widely used pesticide product in
the state, behind only Roundup. In 2021, the most recent year
data are available, more than 1.7 million pounds of it were
applied to over 1.3 million cumulative acres of California
land. Use is highest in the Central Valley on crops such as
almonds, grapes, peaches and pistachios.
Few chemicals have attracted as intense public and regulatory
scrutiny as PFAS, but even as the highly toxic and ubiquitous
compounds’ dangers come into sharper focus, industry influence
has crippled congressional attempts to pass meaningful consumer
protections. Federal bills designed to address some of the most
significant sources of exposure – food packaging, cosmetics,
personal care products, clothing, textiles, cookware and
firefighting foam – have all failed in recent
sessions. However, a patchwork of state laws enacted over
the last three years is generating fresh hope by prohibiting
the use of PFAS in those and other uses.
Scientists at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi
School of Engineering (USC Viterbi) are using robotics to spot
toxic algae blooms. Students programmed aquatic robots to
track down prime locations for toxic algae. Their programming
instructs the robots to detect harmful agal blooms (HAB) in
lakes and other bodies of water from exploding and polluting
our water supply. … According to the Centers for Disease
Control in 2020, 13 states reported 227 harmful algal
blooms (HAB). 95 people have gotten sick from them and one
person died associated with paralytic shellfish poisoning.
A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel ruled Friday there isn’t enough
evidence to support a $48 million award for the city of Pomona,
California, in its lawsuit against a Chilean fertilizer
manufacturer that polluted the city’s drinking water system
decades ago. The lawsuit against brought against
SQM North America, the U.S. subsidiary of Sociedad Química y
Minera de Chile found that the company’s sodium nitrate
fertilizer used in citrus orchards around Pomona between the
1930s and 50s polluted the city’s drinking water system,
including with a contaminant called perchlorate. Perchlorate
interferes with the production of thyroid hormones, an
important part of the development and function of tissues in
the body, and can cause serious health issues, especially in
developing fetuses, kids, and pregnant women.
Ships once sailed the broad and wide Ravi. Hindu and Muslim
saints lived by the banks and people still worship at shrines
built in their honor. But the river flowing past Madhu is not
the Ravi of history. It is now a stinking, dirty ribbon flowing
between dusty banks, a dump for industry, agriculture and
sewage, one of the world’s most polluted bodies of water.
Environmentalists and activists alike say a treaty is partly to
blame for killing the Ravi: the Indus Waters Treaty between
Pakistan and India, signed in 1960….one water expert
suggested that a new river water treaty could be negotiated “in
line with emerging trends of sustainability and environmental
protection and restoration of degraded ecosystems.”
The City of Santa Barbara has received a $1.26 million grant to
research microplastic pollution prevention, with the goal of
providing clean streets, clean air and clean seas. The city’s
Sustainability & Resilience Department announced Friday that
its Creeks Restoration and Water Quality Improvement Division,
in partnership with the University of Southern California (USC)
Sea Grant Program, was awarded the grant. Microplastics are
small plastic pieces or fibers smaller than 5mm in size (about
the size of a pencil eraser). They are found on our streets, in
our creeks and ocean, the water we drink, the food we eat and
the air we breathe. Microplastics can absorb and carry
pollutants, leach harmful chemicals into water and are often
mistaken for food by wildlife.
The city of Imperial Beach is asking the U.S. Department of
State to declare a state of emergency over ongoing pollution
coming from south of the border, in particular raw sewage.
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre says the bacteria levels in
the water along are at “astronomical” levels and have led to
consistent beach closures since Dec. 2021.
Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. A federal court
case with this concern at its center is now unfolding in
Montana, one that fire officials warn has grim implications for
California’s ability to fight the massive forest blazes that
have become far more common…. At issue is the government’s
use of aerial fire retardant … The group that filed suit,
Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, says this
breaks federal clean water laws because the toxic red slurry
that’s used can foul waterways. But instead of working with
U.S. agencies to develop a plan to quickly clean up waterways
after fire retardant is used, the group seeks an injunction
blocking its use until authorities get a pollution permit —
which could take years.
A railway project in Eastern Utah is drawing significant
pushback in Colorado as elected officials voice concerns about
crude oil risks to the Colorado River, which is the West’s
primary freshwater river. The Uinta Basin Railway project
would build around 80 miles of train tracks connecting oil
production to America’s rail network. That would allow
producers to ship crude oil on trains through Colorado to
refineries elsewhere in the country. The U.S. Surface
Transportation Board and the United States Department of
Agriculture have given the project the go-ahead, prompting a
letter from U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse
criticizing the federal review of the project.
The USGS report, commissioned by the Lahontan Regional Water
Quality Control Board, showed how the valley’s geology affected
background hexavalent chromium concentrations in groundwater.
Hexavalent chromium occurs naturally in groundwater in the
Mojave Desert. Concentrations increased in Hinkley Valley
beginning in 1952 when the Pacific Gas and Electric Company
discharged it into unlined ponds. From there, hexavalent
chromium entered the aquifer. Once in the ground, a plume of
hexavalent chromium traveled with groundwater away from the
Hinkley compressor station into Hinkley Valley.
Tiny pieces of plastic waste shed
from food wrappers, grocery bags, clothing, cigarette butts,
tires and paint are invading the environment and every facet of
daily life. Researchers know the plastic particles have even made
it into municipal water supplies, but very little data exists
about the scope of microplastic contamination in drinking
water.
After years of planning, California this year is embarking on a
first-of-its-kind data-gathering mission to illuminate how
prevalent microplastics are in the state’s largest drinking water
sources and help regulators determine whether they are a public
health threat.
A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.
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.
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.
