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Repeal Of Federal Water Rule Brings Comfort To Agricultural Communities

/in , /by /The Journal by Ayelet Sheffey Herald

Lawmakers, ranchers and agriculturalists are lauding last week’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to repeal the 2015 Waters of the United States rule.

The WOTUS rule defines all bodies of water that fall under U.S. federal jurisdiction, and it was established in response to concern from legislators and experts about the lack of clarity over the scope of the jurisdiction. However, the rule has received backlash from agricultural communities and lawmakers because it allows the federal government to control most bodies of water, including those already regulated by states, placing essentially no limits on the EPA’s control.

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Smart Treatment, Smart Investment: New Report Details Impact Investment Strategies In Water

/in , /by /Water Finance and Management

Our water-stressed, climate-changing world is a major resilience challenge for communities. But there’s also an upside to meeting this challenge. Building resilient water solutions can create important, and sometimes catalytic, opportunities for private investors.

That’s especially so in the wastewater treatment world. It’s not sexy, but treating dirty water is essential to a sustainable water future. A lot of money is being spent to do so, and a cutting edge new report details how those capital streams could be deployed for good.

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Climate Change: Strengthening Atmospheric Rivers

/in , /by /ABC 10 San Diegoby Megan Parry

Ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit next week, 10News is diving deeper into the affects of climate change. Climate change is leading to more dangerous and deadly wildfires and so often after fires scorch the ground in the fall, the heavy winter rains in atmospheric rivers lead to mudslides and flooding.

The scary reality is that these types of storms are going to get stronger. According to Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, “we know for certain that atmospheric rivers are going to get stronger in the future, in a warmer atmosphere more water vapor can be held so atmospheric rivers are basically plumes of very intense concentrated moisture and they just going to get wetter as they get warmer.

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Vista Irrigation District Receives National Award for Financial Reporting

/in , /by

Vista, Calif. – Vista Irrigation District has been presented with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for its comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) for fiscal year ending June 30, 2018. This certificate is the only national award for public sector financial reporting.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government agency and its management team. This marks the twelfth year the district has received recognition for excellence in financial reporting and transparency.

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How Rock Expands Near Soil Surface In Southern Sierra Nevada

/in , /by /Science Daily

A University of Wyoming researcher and his team discovered that weathering of subsurface rock in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California occurs due more to rocks expanding than from chemical decomposition, as previously thought.

Porosity, the void space in rock, was conventionally thought to be produced when water flows through the rock, thus resulting in minerals chemically dissolving. Because mountain watershed provides large reservoirs of water, the new findings are relevant to water resource management throughout the U.S.

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OPINION: How Bill Defends Against Trump Environmental Rollbacks

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Matt O'Malley

If you’re a local and have hosted a visitor to San Diego, you’ve probably felt pride as you’ve guided people to take in Coronado Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla Cove, our parks and swimming holes along Mission Bay, and perhaps the new and growing waterside paths along Chollas Creek. Our beaches, bays and waterways are central to who we are as San Diegans and to our unique way of life. But in a heavily urbanized region clean water doesn’t just happen; it takes hard work and stewardship.

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OPINION: Why Atkins Bill Would Hurt California’s Water Progress

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune by Jeffrey Kightlinger

California’s contemporary effort to modernize the water system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta officially began in 2006.

George W. Bush was president of the United States and Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California. Their administrations signed a planning agreement. And the search for a solution was on.

Thirteen years, two governors and two presidents later, we are all still at it.

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Eyes In The Sky Help Farmers On The Ground

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Lauren Smiley

The Central Valley of California doesn’t begin so much with a gradual change in the landscape as with an abrupt line. Suddenly, a barren plain that looks like an apt cue for “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” theme song is interrupted by the first row of leafy, irrigated crops.

Since the 1930s, the region has run on human control of water, carefully distributing the melting mountain snowpack through reservoirs and dams, pumping stations and irrigation pipelines, through drips, sprinklers and intentionally flooded fields.

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Demise Of Key Environment Bill Could Escalate California’s Water Wars

/in , , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Julie Cart

The smoke has (partly) cleared from the legislative battlefield, in the aftermath of a struggle pitting the leader of the California Senate against not only powerful water and agricultural interests but also Gov. Gavin Newsom. And California’s two largest water-delivery systems may soon be operating under rules that differ ever more significantly.

Newsom has said he won’t approve Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins’ bid for a legal backstop against environmental rollbacks by the Trump administration. And Washington is poised to reduce protections for endangered fish species in the state’s largest watersheds.

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A Brief History Of Pure Water’s Pure Drama

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

After years of scientific progress, regulatory wrangling, political ups and downs, and searching for the money, San Diego is getting ready to get to work on a multi-part, multibillion-dollar project that will eventually provide a third of the city’s drinking water.

San Diego water officials have looked at turning sewage into drinking water for nearly 40 years. The first stab at recycling wastewater involved a series of ponds in Mission Valley that grew hyacinths, long-rooted plants that gobble up sewage and leave relatively clean water behind.

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