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Another Washington Dam Removal — and 37 More Miles of Salmon Habitat Restored

/in , , /by /The Seattle Timesby Lynda V. Mapes

PILCHUCK RIVER, near Granite Falls, Snohomish County — Washington’s dam-busting summer is still rolling, with two more dams coming down on the Pilchuck River, opening 37 miles of habitat to salmon for the first time in more than a century.

The $2 million dam removal project is a collaboration between the City of Snohomish and Tulalip Tribes, and will benefit multiple species of salmon, including threatened chinook salmon, crucial food for endangered southern resident killer whales.

It’s the state’s second dam teardown project in two months. In July, the city of Bellingham blew up its Nooksack Diversion Dam on the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River, opening 16 miles of habitat for salmon, including chinook.

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Old Mines Contaminating Water, Soil at 5,000 California Sites

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

California has about 47,000 abandoned mines and roughly 5,000 of those are contaminating water, soil, vegetation, and air across the state, according to a state report issued Tuesday.

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Climate Change Could Lead to More Incidents Like the Oroville Dam Spillway Failures, Experts Warn

/in , , /by /CapRadioby Ezra David Romero

Nearly 200,000 people were evacuated when the spillways failed at Oroville Dam in 2017, an infrastructure disaster that cost around a billion dollars to repair.

Three years later scientists say events that partially led to the incident could become more frequent. It comes down to how and when snow and rain fall.

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Major Role for Wastewater Epidemiology in Tackling Covid-19

/in , , /by /Smart Water Magazine

Wastewater-based epidemiology has a significant part to play in identifying ‘silent’ Covid-19 cases in the community, research presented at the latest Water Action Platform webinar demonstrates. The regular webinars, which are open to all, are hosted by Isle chairman Dr Piers Clark and look at the new coronavirus and global pandemic through a water industry lens.

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Portfolio Outlines Actions to Address Water Problems

/in , , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has released a final California Water Resilience Portfolio, farm organizations say they will monitor progress on implementing the plan’s proposals—and on resolution of ongoing state-federal conflicts that complicate achieving some of its goals.

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Turning Air Into Water: How Native Americans are Coping With Water Shortage Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

/in , /by /The Hillby Anagha Srikanth

Washing your hands is one of the simplest preventative measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in fighting the spread of the coronavirus. But for thousands of Navajo and Hopi people, a preexisting water shortage now puts them at serious risk during the pandemic.

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Opinion: Approve Assembly Bill 1720: Two Energy Storage Projects Would Create Jobs

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Robbie Hunter

Free fall. That’s how people are describing California’s economy as the coronavirus ravages on.

Virtually overnight, one in five Californian’s became – and unfortunately remain – unemployed. In Los Angeles, the unemployment rate is tracking with the peak of the Great Depression. In other parts of the state, the jobless rate is projected to climb as high as 40%. As former Gov. Gray Davis said about today’s challenges, “There’s no playbook. There’s no precedent.”

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California Supreme Court Says No Go to Referendum Challenges to Certain State Laws

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

Once a local water board approves a rate increase, voters cannot prevent it from taking effect by circulating a referendum, though they can seek to reduce it later, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

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Clean Water Advocates Hoping to Safeguard SAFER Funding

/in , /by /SJV Water (San Joaquin Valley)by Lois Henry

Just when it looked like small drinking water systems in California were finally getting the long-term help they so desperately need, along came COVID-19. The state is peppered with failing small systems, many serving low-income communities without the resources to repair them. At least one-third of those failing systems are in the San Joaquin Valley, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

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California Sued Over Climate Change Policy – By the Nation’s Biggest Gas Utility

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Southern California Gas Co. is taking its battle with state officials over climate change policy to court, arguing in a new lawsuit that the California Energy Commission has failed to promote natural gas as required by state law.

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