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Cal Am Gets Coastal Commission Desal Project Extension

/in , /by /The Monterey Herald by Jim Johnson

California American Water has received a 90-day extension of the deadline for the Coastal Commission to consider the company’s desalination project permit application, effectively allowing commission staff about four more months to complete additional analysis.

On Tuesday, Cal Am Vice President Ian Crooks sent a letter to Coastal Commission official Tom Luster requesting the 90-day extension of the time limits for considering the desal permit under the state’s Permit Streamlining Act, which requires consideration of a permit within 180 days of completion.

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Water is Colorado’s Most Critical Resource. So Why isn’t it Central to Every Local Land-Use Decision?

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sun (Denver, Colo.)by Moe Clark

In the early 1980s, the small city of Woodland Park started strategically planning how to protect its water supply for the future.

“Because we have all junior water rights and a limited water supply, we knew we must be very careful about how we grow,” said Sally Riley, planning director for Woodland Park, which is home to approximately 7,500 people in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. “We’ve pretty much mapped out exactly how our 6.5 square miles are going to grow.”

To ensure that they don’t develop beyond the limits of their water supply, Riley says the city has closely integrated its land-use decisions with local water conservation and efficiency goals that align with the Colorado Water Plan.

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Synthetic Chemicals in Soils are ‘Ticking Time Bombs’

/in , /by /Phys.orgby University of Arizona

A growing health crisis fueled by synthetic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in groundwater has garnered much attention in the last few years.

The reported levels could be “just the tip of the iceberg,” as most of the chemicals are still migrating down slowly through the soil, according to Bo Guo, University of Arizona assistant professor of hydrology and atmospheric sciences.

Nearly 3,000 synthetic chemicals belong to the PFAS class. They have been used since the 1940s in food packaging, water-resistant fabrics, non-stick products, pizza boxes, paints, firefighting foams and more, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

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How Native Tribes are Taking the Lead on Planning for Climate Change

/in , , /by /Yale Environment 360by Nicola Jones

On a hot summer’s day, marine ecologist Courtney Greiner walks the shore of a rocky Washington beach at low tide with a handful of staff and interns. They stake out the ground and hunch down, digging up the top two inches of mud, silt, and gravel looking for baby clams.

For thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the West Coast would build rock walls at the low tide line, allowing sand to pile up behind them, making the slope of the beach gentler, and expanding the area of the intertidal zone that clams like to call home.

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Newsom Proposes a New Approach to Reach Agreements With Water Agencies

/in , /by /CapRadio by Rich Ibarra

Imagine more water flowing through the Delta during dry years, and a habitat restoration for endangered species. That’s what Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing in a new approach to reach agreements with water agencies—rather than issuing rules that are often challenged in court.

Carlos Romero, president of the Stockton Chapter of the California Striped Bass Association, said he used to fish in the Stockton area but the fish are becoming harder to find.

 

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‘Framework’ Aims to Aid Water Agreements

/in , /by /Ag Alert (Sacramento) by Christine Souza

In the coming weeks and months, the Newsom administration, water users and conservation groups will continue to refine a framework for potential voluntary agreements intended to benefit salmon and other fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Gov. Gavin Newsom released the framework last week, which acts as the alternative to a state-mandated, flows-only approach that has brought opposition and lawsuits from water agencies and water users.

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People Around the World are Helping Scientists in the Fight Against Climate Change by Photographing This Year’s Incredible, Extreme High Tides

/in , /by /Business Insiderby Sophia Ankel

A few times every year, a network of volunteer photographers try to capture so-called “king tides”, which affect several coastal communities around the world.

The group’s aim is to document how high the waterline gets and where the water goes so that the images can be used by scientists, city planners, and policymakers to study and prepare for the effects of climate change.

The photos reveal where flooding can occur on specific roads as well as where it is safe to build new housing.

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A February Without Rain Could Boost Wildfire Danger in Northern California

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Michael Cabanatuan

Meteorologists say much of Northern California likely will not see a drop of rain in February, heightening concerns that summer will arrive with below-average rainfall and tinder-dry hillsides susceptible to wildfire.

It’s too early to declare the rainy season a bust, as there could be huge storms in March and April. But a bone-dry February would make it nearly impossible to catch up to seasonal expectations, meteorologists warn.

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In Wildfire’s Wake, Another Threat: Drinking Water Contamination

/in , , /by /InsideClimate Newsby Neela Banerjee

Even as bushfires push into new swaths of Australia, the communities close to and within the nearly 30 million acres that have already burned are starting to reckon with a complex, expensive aftermath: fire’s threat to their drinking water.

It’s a vexing problem that a growing number of people around the world have had to cope with over the last two decades, as climate change fuels hotter, bigger fires that destroy forested catchments and consume towns and their water systems, engineers and scientists said.

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State Agencies Present Framework for Voluntary Agreements to Improve Habitat and Flow in the Delta

/in , , /by /California Water News Daily by California Water News Daily

The California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency released a framework for potential voluntary agreements to improve river flows and habitats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta last week.

The framework, which expands on previous commitments, outlines a 15-year program that would provide substantial new flows for the environment to help recover fish populations, create 60,000 acres of new and restored habitat, and generate more than $5 billion in new funding for environmental improvements and science.

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