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New Plan To Safeguard Russian River Targets Contamination From Human And Animal Waste

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

An on-again, off-again effort by state regulators to better protect the Russian River and its tributaries against failing septic systems, livestock waste and other potential sources of bacterial contamination is in its final stages, with hopes that an action plan for the entire watershed will be approved this August and go into effect next year. The move, controversial and closely watched in years past, could impose stricter regulations and mandatory septic system upgrades on thousands of landowners with properties near the river or its connected waterways.

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California’s Clean Drinking Water Problem

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

In Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first State of the State address, he urged every Californian to muster the political will to address a problem he called “a moral disgrace and … a medical emergency.” He was talking about California’s water. An estimated 1 million people across the state have unhealthy water pouring from their taps, with regions like the San Joaquin Valley especially impacted. Governor Newsom’s so-called “water tax” would have taxed residential water customers and certain agricultural industries to fund solutions to this problem for low-income communities. That plan didn’t make it through budget negotiations. The same budget talks produced a different solution: to spend $130 million a year from California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund on the water infrastructure problem.

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High Heat Quickly Melting Away California’s Snowpack

/in , , /by /CBS 13 (Sacramento)by Rachel Wulff

That excessive heat warning into the foothills is doing a number on the impressive snowpack in the Sierra. With temperatures in the 80s, what took weeks to melt is now taking days. “We found a little bit of snow and we were excited because it was a novelty. But then we realized it was everywhere, said Josh Jameison. Jameison and his girlfriend Megan didn’t expect to see so much snow as they set off for a hike. “The snow is a lot higher than previous years because I am usually out here on the first, and it’s still pretty bad,” she said. But snow on Loch Leven Trail during their midday hike didn’t last long.

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On Stressed Colorado River, States Test How Many More Diversions Watershed Can Bear

/in , /by /Arizona Public Mediaby Luke Runyon

The Colorado River is short on water. But you wouldn’t know it by looking at a slate of proposed water projects in the river’s Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The river and its tributaries provide water for 40 million people in the Southwest. For about the last 20 years, demand for water has outstripped the supply, causing its largest reservoirs to decline. In the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2012 Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, you can pinpoint when the lines crossed somewhere around the year 2002. It’s a well-documented and widely accepted imbalance.

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California Takes On An Ocean Of Plastic Waste, Considers Crackdown On Industry

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Dustin Gardiner

Even in an eco-conscious city like San Francisco, more than 9,000 tons of recyclables are dumped in landfills every year largely due to one culprit: flimsy plastics. Low-grade plastics, such as shopping bags, padded online shipping envelopes and food packaging, are piling up in recycling centers. Part of the reason is that overseas markets such as China and the Philippines — which used to buy America’s trash by the shipload — are turning most plastics away. California lawmakers say the state must act to stop plastics from crowding landfills and polluting the ocean. They’ve proposed sweeping legislation to require manufacturers to reduce the reliance on single-use plastics.

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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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