California is entering the fourth month of what is typically the rainy season, but in the Southland, the landscape is beginning to show signs of drought.
The last time Los Angeles recorded rainfall over a tenth of an inch — the threshold that officials typically consider helpful for thirsty plants and the reduction of wildfire risk — was May 5, when downtown received just 0.13 inches of rain.
California’s first monthly snowpack survey comes on Thursday. It’s likely to be reasonably good for this early part of the rain and snow season.
As the new year begins, it’s good to take a look back and see what’s happened with California’s fire and water; essential elements, but also something that can lead to real problems. The Golden State had some big fires last year, but not in swarms.
The highway that winds along the coast of Marin County offers some of California’s most magnificent vistas, with the deep blue Pacific Ocean glittering through veils of fog. But for a handful of travelers, the views aren’t the prize.
At one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pullout is a natural spring that draws people from across the San Francisco Bay Area, some of whom drive hours through traffic to get there. Many of them reject water from any other source and drink only what they say is “liquid gold” that gushes from the copper pipes of Red Rock Spring.
In December, associations representing the municipal water and wastewater sector submitted a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, urging his administration to prioritize water infrastructure in his second term.
The letter was endorsed by the American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and WateReuse. The groups said they welcome the opportunity to meet with the President-elect’s transition team to discuss collaboration efforts and presented a list of policy priorities based around what they see as some of the top water-related issues in the United States.
Utility companies and the environmental protection agency are notifying millions of U.S. residents that their tap water lines are contaminated with lead.
In an effort to increase the city’s usable water supply, the long-awaited nearly $100-million brackish desalination plant in Antioch is expected to start operating within the next few months.
Acting Public Works Director Scott Buenting said the project, which started around 2021, is now nearing completion.
California strived to maintain its environmental leadership in 2024, with voters approving a $10 billion environmental bond and the state advancing its renewable energy goals — all while navigating a major budget deficit.
The Legislature approved only a few new major environmental policies as the deficit left environmental groups and renewable energy advocates clamoring for increased spending. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature scaled back their “California Climate Commitment” spending package to $44.6 billion from $54.3 billion.
Last week, the Biden administration approved its overarching plan for how to run California’s systems of pumps, canals and reservoirs that serves millions of people and much of the state’s farmland.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s decision Friday ended a four-year effort to overturn the Trump administration’s previous 2019 rules for the Central Valley Project, which environmentalists and the state of California claimed did not adequately protect endangered fish.
Over the past few decades, California has prided itself on being a national leader in setting ambitious environmental goals and policies, from reducing carbon emissions to strengthening recycling and furthering the circular economy. Yet, when it comes to one of the state’s most pressing challenges—water quality and safety—California’s track record is less than successful.
Given the Golden State’s long standing water quality issues, it is all the more troubling that Governor Gavin Newsom recently vetoed SB 366, also known as the California Water Plan: Long-Term Supply Targets, legislation that sought to address this inequity. As California law states, clean water is a fundamental human right, and lawmakers cannot continue to ignore the glaring challenges facing the state’s water systems and the communities they serve.
The Biden administration has adopted new rules for operating California’s main water delivery systems in the Central Valley, endorsing a plan backed by state officials that aims to strike a balance between ensuring protections for imperiled fish species and providing a reliable water supply for farms and cities.
Federal and state officials said the new operating rules for the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project that were developed over the last three years will bring greater stability to the state’s supplies in the face of worsening droughts intensified by climate change.
