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Opinion: It’s Time to Deliver on Human Right to Clean, Affordable Water

/in , , /by /Visalia Times Deltaby Susana De Anda and Allison Harvey Turner

Amid the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide uprisings for racial justice, California’s promise to fulfill the human right to water has never been more clear or urgent.

A year ago this month, the state legislature, led by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia and Senator Bill Monning, passed and Governor Newsom signed the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (SB 200) into law, the result of years of frontline community organizing and advocacy.

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Water Expert Discusses Slowdown in Federal Regulation of Drinking Water

/in , , /by /Phys.orgby Rob Jordan

It didn’t grab headlines, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision last month to back away from regulating a rocket fuel ingredient in drinking water points to a dramatic shift in federal oversight. The decision was followed by a proposal to slow the process for reviewing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and delayed action on hazardous perfluorochemicals, PFAS and PFOA, that have been found in various water systems.

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Colorado Water Officials Create First-Ever Regulations for ‘Forever Chemical’ PFAS

/in , /by /Colorado Public Radioby Sam Brasch

Colorado has its first policy to regulate so-called “forever chemicals.”

The state’s Water Quality Control Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to enact a policy to put new limits on per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS. The class of chemicals is a common ingredient in everything from nonstick pans to foam used to smother flames from jet fuel.

A growing body of scientific evidence has linked the chemicals to a range of health problems, including cancer and pregnancy issues. Meanwhile, federal efforts to regulate the chemicals have lagged, leaving states to take action on their own.

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House Panel Approves Major Water Infrastructure Measure

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Amena H. Saiyid

A multibillion-dollar measure that would help build, repair, and maintain a wide variety of water infrastructure projects sailed through the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Wednesday.

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Bigger, Badder Storms Coming In Years Ahead, and California Is Right In Their Path

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

California’s wild weather swings, from pounding rain to drought and from fires to floods, are widely expected to worsen as the climate warms. A new study shows just how severe things might get, and it’s not pretty.

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Extreme Atmospheric Rivers: What will California’s Strongest Storms Look Like in a Warming Climate?

/in , , /by /WeatherWestby Daniel Swain

Atmospheric rivers (ARs)—long, sinuous corridors of water vapor in motion in the lower half of Earth’s atmosphere—are a key aspect of California’s cool-season climate. ARs are in many cases pretty unremarkable when they’re out over the open ocean, visible on satellite as a narrow ribbon of cloudiness and (usually) light precipitation. But when these moisture plumes attach themselves to wintertime low pressure systems and make landfall along the California coast, the consequences can be dramatic—prolonged heavy rain and mountain snow often result, along with sometimes powerful winds.

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As If the Pandemic Weren’t Enough, 2020 Might Be the Hottest Year Ever

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Welcome back to Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in California and the American West. If this is your first edition, we’re glad to have you.

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Utah Pipeline Likely Won’t Affect Lake Mead

/in , , /by /Boulder City Reviewby Celia Shortt Goodyear

A proposed pipeline in Utah could divert approximately 86,000 acre feet of water annually from Lake Mead, but it will most likely not harm the overall water level in the reservoir.

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Future Precipitation Increase from Very High Resolution Ensemble Downscaling of Extreme Atmospheric River Storms In California

/in , /by /Science Advancesby Xingying Huang, Daniel L. Swain, and Alex D. Hall

Precipitation extremes will likely intensify under climate change. However, much uncertainty surrounds intensification of high-magnitude events that are often inadequately resolved by global climate models. In this analysis, we develop a framework involving targeted dynamical downscaling of historical and future extreme precipitation events produced by a large ensemble of a global climate model.

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We Now Know How Many Billions of Gallons of Water Colorado Will Save by Closing Coal-Fired Power Plants

/in , /by /The Colorado Sunby Mark Jaffe

By 2031 water use for coal-fired power plants in Colorado will drop to 3.7 billion gallons – a 68% reduction, according to the Energy and Policy Institute.

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