A government assessment recently obtained by an environmental group appears to link a well the group says is used in U.S.-Mexico border wall construction to low water levels in wildlife habitats at an Arizona refuge with endangered species.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued $6,137,000 in grants to assist the California Department of Social Services with identifying sources of lead in drinking water in childcare centers.
“Testing for lead in drinking water is critical for the protection of our children,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator John Busterud. “EPA is pleased to support California in its efforts to detect and reduce lead in drinking water, thereby protecting children’s health at childcare centers and elsewhere.”
Recent conditions across California over the past 3-5 weeks have been pretty typical by mid-summer standards. It has been pretty hot across inland valleys and deserts, relatively cool (and even occasionally chilly) along the immediate coast, with a few instances of afternoon thunderstorms activity the interior mountains. There have not been any major heatwaves recently, which is likely a welcome development for many folks.
The U.S. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Loan Program was enacted in 2014 and became operational in 2017. WIFIA has now completed three solicitation rounds over the period 2017-2019, generating 90 competitively selected applications totaling $13.6 billion of loan volume, of which more than $5 billion has been closed.
In his Aug. 2 Herald commentary, Grant Leonard claimed that Cal Am’s proposed Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project would be a win-win for both Castroville, a disadvantaged community, and Carmel, which is on the other side of the economic spectrum. Some things challenge that claim.
The state will suffer dire long-term consequences if lawmakers set aside concerns about rising seas to focus solely on COVID-19, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office warned Monday.
Sea level rise will likely put at least $8 billion in property underwater by 2050, and could affect tens of thousands of jobs and billions in gross domestic product, according to studies cited by the office.
On New Year’s Day in 2018, Paul Kehmeier and his father drove up Grand Mesa until they got to the county line, 10,000 feet above sea level. Instead of the three to five feet of snow that should have been on the ground, there wasn’t enough of a dusting to even cover the grass.
A pair of water associations are teaming up to urge the EPA to use all its regulatory tools to safeguard drinking water as it decides whether to allow new chemicals into U.S. commerce.
The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), which represents state, tribal, and territorial water agency officials, recently joined the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, which represents publicly owned metropolitan drinking water suppliers, to routinely flag their concerns about new chemicals to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Hydroelectric power from dams usually provides about 15% of California’s electricity needs. But in 2015, at the zenith of the worst drought in California’s recorded history, it supplied only 6%.
It wasn’t my finest moment.
I was hiking the Owens River Gorge in mid-July. Usually that would be as smart as planting your hands on a stove burner turned to high.
Severe thunderstorms in the eastern Sierra above Bishop prompted a last minute change in plans. And given that the temperature in the Owens Valley that day was predicted to be 20 degrees cooler than the previous day’s high it was the perfect opportunity to take a hike in an area where the heat makes it a seriously insane proposition between June and September.
Before Los Angeles got is claws into Owens Valley to divert snowmelt and draw down the high desert water tables to essentially bleed Eastern California and stunt its economic growth all so the City of Angels could prosper beyond the means of its water basin, the gorge carried water tapped into by farmers and ranchers working the land.
