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California May Regulate ‘Forever’ Chemicals in Water Before EPA

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

California water suppliers could face state limits on the concentration of two so-called “forever chemicals” before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets national standards. Maximum contaminant levels for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) are on track to be in place in California in 2023, Darrin Polhemus, deputy director for drinking water programs at the State Water Resources Control Board, said during a board meeting Tuesday about agency priorities for the year.

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8 States are Tweaking the Weather (and it Might Not Work)

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Chelsea Harvey

The mountaintops rumble to life unnaturally each year as snow clouds darken the sky across the West.

Open flames burst from the throats of metal chimneys, mounted on squat towers nestled among the peaks. With a low hiss, puffs of particles belch from their mouths into the air, where the wind catches them and whisks them away.

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New Threat To Humboldt County Drinking Water Prompts State Action

/in , /by /Jefferson Public Radioby Daniel Mintz

Of concern is potentially migrating dioxins from pentachlorophenol, a wood preservative that was used at the mill site before being banned in the mid-1980s. In response, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has hired an engineering firm to do a new round of testing at the site.

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PG&E Settles Lawsuit Over Century-Old Gas Plant Pollution

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Nicholas Iovino

Pacific Gas and Electric will pay to remove soil possibly tainted by century-old gas plants and investigate groundwater contamination in a San Francisco shoreline area under the terms of a deal announced Monday.

The agreement represents the third and final settlement reached in a lawsuit filed in 2014 over pollution from manufactured gas plants operated by PG&E in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

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Opinion: As Drought Alarms Sound, is California Prepared?

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Jeffrey Mount and Caitrin Chappelle

We’re facing another very dry year, which follows one of the driest on record for Northern California and one of the hottest on record statewide.

The 2012-16 drought caused unprecedented stress to California’s ecosystems and pushed many native species to the brink of extinction, disrupting water management throughout the state.  Are we ready to manage our freshwater ecosystems through another drought?

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Utah Water Legislation Concerns Colorado River Basin States

/in , , /by /KJZZ Arizonaby Ron Dungan

Drought has forced several states to rethink how they use the Colorado River, but Utah is trying to figure out how to get more water out of it. Utah’s plan to build a pipeline from Lake Powell to the St. George area has raised eyebrows from the six other Colorado River Basin states. In September, those states wrote a letter reminding Utah of their history of collaboration. It concluded by saying that the pipeline could result in litigation. Utah’s response was to create a new water board.

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All that Snow Should Help With Colorado’s Drought, but it’s Still Not Enough for Some Parts of the State

/in , , /by /CPR Newsby Sam Brasch

As Colorado digs out from the recent blizzard, each heavy shovel full of snow proves the storm brought plenty of moisture. But is it enough to free the state from its drought conditions?

Russ Schumacher, the Colorado state climatologist, said the answer largely depends on location. The brunt of the storm hit east of the Continental Divide, dumping around two feet of snow in the Foothills and Eastern Plains. Meanwhile, preliminary snowfall reports show only a few inches accumulated on the Western Slope.

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What’s in the Federal Stimulus for Californians?

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Jill Cowan

State officials estimated that California and Californians would get $150 billion. Here’s a closer look at where the money is expected to go.

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New Curriculum Approaches Water Conservation Through Indigenous Lens

/in , /by /Times-Standardby Isabella Vanderheiden

Local tribes, schools and nonprofits have developed a new high school curriculum that seeks to encourage environmental advocacy through an Indigenous lens. The advocacy and water protection curriculum meets state standards in science, social studies, health, history and language arts and seeks to bolster “culturally informed education” in the classroom.

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California’s New Drought

/in , , /by /California WaterBlog (UC Davis Water Sciences)by Jay Lund, Andrew L. Rypel, and Josue Medellin-Azuara

As March begins to drag on with little precipitation in the forecast and few weeks left in California’s traditional wet season, we are in another dry year. This is California’s second dry year in a row since the 2012-2016 drought.  Statistically, California has the most drought and flood years per average year than anywhere in the US.  This statistical fact seems to becoming increasingly extreme, as predicted by many climate change models.

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