A southeast San Diego elementary charter school that discovered high levels of lead and vinyl chloride in its water plans to bring in a free mobile clinic to test kids for any possible lead exposure. The contamination was discovered after a therapy dog named “Star” would not drink the water. Charter school leaders say the 2-year-old black lab went to great lengths to alert them to the potential danger in the water.
In January, California’s Jerry Brown became the first governor in the state’s history to declare a state of emergency for a drought and a flood simultaneously. On Friday, Brown lifted the drought emergency in all but four counties (Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties). But, rather than lift the burdensome water regulations implemented to cope with the drought, he announced that many of those regulations would remain intact, even though the flood emergency remains.
The city’s $3 billion plan to recycle wastewater into drinking water took another step forward Wednesday when the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a modified permit for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. City officials contend their “Pure Water” program will provide a sustainable source of potable water for a growing city with a dry climate. Backers estimate that recycling — purifying wastewater and mixing it in reservoirs with water from traditional sources — will account for one-third of the area’s supply by 2035.
Fresno’s stringent one-day-a-week watering schedule will come to an end later this month. What replaces it – and whether Fresno residents will get to start watering their lawns two days a week or three – could be decided Thursday. Thomas Esqueda, the city’s public utilities director, will present a workshop for Fresno City Council members Thursday afternoon outlining Fresno’s success in meeting state water conservation goals and offering three possible options for outdoor irrigation starting May 1.
American Rivers has labeled the lower Colorado River as America’s most endangered this year, a river which Arizona depends on. According to their study released on Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts will affect a river that provides drinking water for 30 million Americans. The lower Colorado river also irrigates fields that grow 90 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables, according to the study. The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget proposal means there could be cuts to many environmental departments.
As Gov. Brown declared an official end to the California drought emergency last week, reservoir operators continued preparations to handle runoff of a Sierra Nevada snowpack that stood at roughly 170 percent of average at the start of the week. The governor’s order maintained water-reporting requirements and prohibitions on practices such as hosing off city sidewalks and irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians. It also ordered state agencies to continue requiring agricultural and urban water suppliers to “accelerate their data collection, improve water system management and prioritize capital projects to reduce water waste.”
It’s not just the residents of Oroville, Gridley and Yuba City who are frustrated with the Department of Water Resources’ lack of transparency concerning the Oroville Dam spillways.Two California legislators who represent those living downstream from the dam are also upset that they aren’t getting answers. State Senator Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, and Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, published a statement in early April that said written communication between the federal government and the California Department of Water Resources should be made public in the interest of “full transparency.”
California Gov. Jerry Brown held his first news conference in February on the Oroville Dam emergency after the threat of lake Oroville sent nearly 200,000 people from their homes. The governor defended the state’s handling of the crisis, while asking for federal assistance for the emergency. Now, about two months after declaring a state of emergency in Oroville, Brown’s administration is blocking a public review of records relating to what happened when the spillway began eroding, how it was maintained, and the crisis aftermath.
U.S. EPA plans to repeal and replace the Clean Water Rule with two separate rulemaking processes, an EPA official told the Association of State Wetland Managers yesterday. In a talk to the association’s annual winter meeting, Mindy Eisenberg, acting director of the EPA wetlands division, said that the agency plans to first rescind the Obama administration’s contentious regulation and then work on a new definition for “waters of the United States,” according to multiple people who attended the meeting.
California’s climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow. But never before in recorded history has the state seen such an extreme drought-to-deluge swing. Experts and state water officials say California is seeing more of these intense weather swings as temperatures warm, which has profound implications for the droughts and floods the state may face in the generations to come.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
