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California Taps Clean Air Money To Pay For Drinking Water

/in , , /by /AP News

California legislative leaders agreed Sunday to spend $130 million a year to improve water systems in communities where people can’t drink from their taps, something Democratic leaders say amounts to a crisis in one of the nation’s wealthiest states. To pay for it, the state would tap a fund dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a move that alarmed some environmental activists who say its set up an unfair choice between clean air and water. “What kind of choice is that?” said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California. “People shouldn’t have to choose between clean water and clean air.”

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Moccasin Dam, Which Came Close To Failure Last Year, Is Repaired And Working

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Peter Fimrite

A leaking dam that prompted evacuations in the Sierra foothills during an intense rainstorm last year has been repaired and is again storing drinking water for 2.7 million Bay Area residents, San Francisco water officials said Monday. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spent almost $22 million over the past year repairing and reinforcing Moccasin Dam in Tuolumne County. A storm in March sent a torrent of water and debris into the reservoir, raising fears the earthen barrier would collapse.

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Warming Weather To Increase Sierra Snowmelt, Flooding Risk

/in , /by /The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)

Forecasters say warming California weather will increase melting of the huge Sierra Nevada snowpack and raise water levels in many rivers and streams in the coming week. The National Weather Service says this will heighten the risk of flooding in adjacent areas, including along the upper Merced River in Yosemite National Park. Forecasters say nearby residents, hikers and campers should pay close attention to water levels and be ready to move to safety.

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Safe Water Fund Plan Advances To California Legislators

/in , /by /Bloomberg Environment

More than 1 million Californians don’t have access to safe drinking water, and after haggling throughout the weekend, California legislators approved a plan June 9 that would help fund work at contaminated water supplies across the state without imposing a tax. The state Conference Committee on the Budget unanimously approved a compromise plan that would allocate $133.4 million of the state’s proposed $213 billion budget for project costs in communities currently unable to use their water for cooking, bathing,

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New Report Highlights Acquisition Trends In The U.S. Water Market

/in , /by /Water Finance and Management

The U.S. municipal water landscape is undergoing a transformation as critical infrastructure services — water, gas, and electricity — converge under single investor-owned utility banners. This trend is highlighted by the growing roster of diversified infrastructure service providers owning water and wastewater utilities in the U.S., according to a new report from Bluefield Research. The recent report, “U.S. Private Water Utilities: Drivers, Competitive Landscape and Acquisition Trends, 2019,” provides in-depth analysis of investor-owned water utility strategies and of 517 water and wastewater system acquisitions from 2015 through 2018, including Eversource Energy’s $1.68 million (USD) for Aquarion Water, NW Natural’s roll-up of smaller systems in the Pacific Northwest, and Aqua America’s $4.3 billion (USD) acquisition of People Gas.

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Near-Record ‘Dead Zone’ Forecast Off U.S. Gulf Coast, Threatening Fish

/in , /by /Reutersby Rich McKay

A near record-sized “dead zone” of oxygen-starved water could form in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, threatening its huge stocks of marine life, researchers said. The area could spread to about 8,717 square miles (20,577 square km), scientists at Louisiana State University said on Monday, or about the size of the state of New Hampshire, and larger than the 5-year average of 5,770 square miles. Experts blamed unusually high rainfall across the U.S. Midwest this Spring that washed farm fertilisers along streams and rivers through the Mississippi River Basin out into the Gulf.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom Abandons Water Tax, Rejects Some New Spending In California Budget Deal

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby John Myers

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders announced Sunday the broad outlines of a new state budget, one that provides a boost for California’s low-income adults and children but excludes a controversial tax to pay for clean water in distressed communities. The details of key parts of the agreement were unveiled during a late afternoon hearing in which legislators from both houses met to approve the proposal. Though it does not signal the end of the budget process — legislators cited numerous places where the plan includes placeholder language, thus leaving the details to be determined later — the action brought to an end principal budget negotiations at the state Capitol, the first for Newsom since taking office this year.

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Utah Presses Forward With Pipeline Plans Despite Colorado River Basin Constraints

/in , /by /KUER (Salt Lake City)by Judy Fahys

The drive behind a massive water development project in southwestern Utah, the Lake Powell Pipeline, shows no signs of slowing even after the Colorado River Basin states signed a new agreement this spring that could potentially force more conservation or cutbacks. Despite the risk that the river resource is overcommitted and it is shrinking, four Upper Basin states — Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico — are pushing forward with dams, reservoir expansions and pipelines like the one at Lake Powell that will allow them to capture what they were promised under the 1922 Colorado River Compact. The Lower Basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California have been using that water downstream for nearly a century.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s First California Budget Deal Is Near. Here’s What To Watch For

/in , , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ben Adler

The first California budget deal under Gov. Gavin Newsom is just days away. Newsom and legislative leaders must finalize their spending plan for the coming fiscal year this weekend for lawmakers to meet their June 15 constitutional budget deadline. Democrats had hoped to close out the joint Senate-Assembly budget conference committee by Friday — likely with a late night hearing — in hopes of a budget passing the full Legislature next Thursday, two days ahead of next Saturday’s deadline. But it now appears that talks between Newsom, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) aren’t gelling as fast as hoped.

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UC San Diego Study Shows Large Levels Of Micro-Plastics In Deep Ocean Environment

/in , /by /ABC10 (San Diego) by Jared Aarons

A new study by a UC San Diego Assistant Professor says there is more plastic pollution in the deepest parts of the ocean than previously thought. Assistant Professor Anela Choy spent the last three years studying water samples off the Monterey Bay coast and found the highest concentration of micro-plastics at levels 200-600 meters below the surface. “It’s a great problem,” Choy says. “Tt’s pervasive and we’re just starting to understand the sources.” Choy worked with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to test water samples at varying depths. They also took readings of micro-plastics in the digestive systems of animals at different depths.

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