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Who governs California’s drinking water systems?

/in , /by /California WaterBlog by Kristin Dobbin and Amanda Fencl

A key feature of California’s drinking water system is the large number of individual water systems.

There are approximately 3,000 Community Water Systems (CWSs) in the state, meaning systems that serve a residential population year-round (the remaining 5,000 of the state’s 8,000 Public Water Systems are non-community systems serve places like schools, daycare, hospitals, campgrounds, or businesses that serve at least 25 people but have transient or non-residential populations.

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Controversial Water Legislation Heads To Calif. Assembly Floor

/in , , /by /The San Jouquin Valley Sun

Senate Bill 1, a highly controversial piece of water legislation, is headed to the floor of the California State Assembly in the coming weeks after clearing the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday.

The bill, penned by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D–San Diego) would tie California’s air quality and water laws to the Federal standards as of Jan. 19, 2017 – the final day of the Obama administration.

Initially, Senate Bill 1 was placed in the committee’s “suspense file,” or Legislative jargon for setting the bill aside temporarily. During Friday’s committee hearing, the bill was brought on with new amendments included.

 

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Jury Awards Atwater $63 Million In Groundwater Pollution Suit Against Oil Giant Shell

/in , /by /Merced Sun - Star

A jury has ordered Shell Oil Company to pay the City of Atwater a total of $63 million in damages in a groundwater pollution suit.

The decision, reached Friday after a four-month trial in Merced County Superior Court, awarded Atwater $53 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages, according to a news release from the city.

The lawsuit stemmed from the highly toxic chemical 1,2,3-Trichloropropane (TCP), which can pose a risk to public health and can contaminate drinking water.

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State Of California Proposes Plan For Delta Levees

/in , , /by /The Brentwood Press (Brentwood, Calif.)by Tony Kukulich

Last week, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) held a public hearing to review proposed changes to how spending decisions on the maintenance of Delta levees are made, and the plan — known as the Delta Levee Investment Strategy (DLIS) — has drawn criticism from several sources. Among the criticisms leveled at the DLIS is a concern that Delta towns, including Discovery Bay and Rio Vista, were ranked second among the three risk classifications, and heritage towns like Courtland, Hood, Walnut Grove and Locke received the lowest risk classification. Meanwhile, it’s asserted by critics like Deirdre Des Jardins, principal with California Water Research, that islands and tracts related to the export of Delta water via the State Water Project received the highest prioritization.

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Mexico Facing ‘Water Zero’

/in , , /by /AZ Big Media (Pheonix, Ariz.)by Victoria Harker

Mexico is one of a growing list of countries deemed most at risk of hitting “Day Zero” when they no longer have enough water to meet citizen needs, according to a new report by global research organization, World Resources Institute (WRI). The nonprofit institute categorized countries into five different levels according to their relative risk of consuming all of their water resources, ranging from “Low Baseline Water Stress” to “Extremely High Baseline Water Stress.” Mexico is one of 44 countries – representing one-third of the world’s population – that fall into the second-highest category, “High Baseline Water Stress,” meaning that the nation consumes between 40 and 80 percent of the water supply available in a year.

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Water Harvester Makes It Easy To Drink Water From Thin Air

/in , /by /University of Californiaby Robert Sanders

In a paper appearing this week in ACS Central Science, a journal of the American Chemical Society, UC Berkeley’s Omar Yaghi and his colleagues describe the latest version of their water harvester, which can pull more than five cups of water (1.3 liters) from low-humidity air per day for each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of water-absorbing material, a very porous substance called a metal-organic framework, or MOF. That is more than the minimum required to stay alive. During field tests over three days in California’s arid Mojave Desert, the harvester reliably produced 0.7 liters per kilogram of absorber per day — nearly three cups of clean, pure H2O. That’s 10 times better than the previous version of the harvester.

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Paso Groundwater Basin Included in High-Tech Stanford Study

/in , /by /New Times (Paso Robles, Calif.)by Peter Johnson

A pair of upcoming North County groundwater studies are expected to shed new light on the hydrogeological conditions of two key water sources in the region.

The Paso Robles Groundwater Basin is one of three basins in the state chosen to participate in a Stanford University study that will deploy state-of-the-art aerial electromagnetic technology to better understand its characteristics.

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Environmentalists Slam Chevron, State Regulators Over Kern County Oil Releases

/in , /by /KQED Radio San Franciscoby Ted Goldberg

Environmental groups are calling for increased scrutiny of California’s oil and gas industry after learning that more than 50 million gallons of crude oil flowed out of the ground in an uncontrolled release near a Chevron facility in Kern County over the last 16 years.

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OPINION: Valley Voice: The Legislature Must Rethink SB 1. It Will Hurt Water Management Efforts

/in , /by /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Peter Nelson

If not amended, Senate Bill 1 will perpetuate California’s water and environmental troubles, not help to resolve them, as its proponents claim.

How? As written, SB 1 limits the use of research conducted over the last decade meant to better understand Delta water management and its relationship to fish and wildlife. The State Water Project — funded by ratepayers throughout California, including the Coachella Valley — has spent tens of millions of dollars to improve this understanding.

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Ag Report: California’s Water Future And Fall Bringing Some New Interests In Produce

/in , /by /23ABC News Bakersfield
Potential progress on the trade war with China. A Chinese delegation is expected to travel to Washington, DC next month. President Donald Trump says China called him to ask that trade talks keep moving forward. China says it doesn’t know about that call. Trump told reporters that United States tariffs have hurt China so bad that it has no choice but to reach a deal
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