How low our expectations of government have sunk. Federal agencies now regularly deny science that explains the warming of our planet and rising seas. Back-room deals and obstruction of the public’s will have become so commonplace that we notice when one of our state government’s agencies takes action to protect the environment, even if it falls well short of the mark.
The Trump administration is pushing the Supreme Court to review what could be the most consequential environmental case of the term: a broiling Clean Water Act debate. The Justice Department yesterday recommended the high court decide whether the landmark environmental law applies to pollution that travels through groundwater before reaching federally regulated water. Two recent circuit court decisions say yes, but critics think that approach vastly expands the statute.
Storms have come to California early this winter, but a survey of the Sierra snowpack on Thursday (Jan. 3) shows it is only at 67 percent of average statewide for this time of year, according to the state’s Department of Water Resources. The snowpack survey was the first of 2019 in California and included a manual survey at Phillips Station just off of U.S. Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe.
In September of 2018, a busload of local citizens traveled to San Francisco to support approval of our local desalination plant by the California Public Utilities Commission. Included among the supporters were local elected officials, representatives of labor, environmental, housing and business organizations, and people from the community at large. The one thing all these people had in common was the understanding that an adequate and drought-proof water supply is a necessity for a thriving community.
As Gov. Jerry Brown leaves office amid high praise and some criticism, it’s impossible to give him anything but a grade of incomplete on several major issues. The most prominent of these is criminal justice reform, where Brown has sought huge changes to the overly punitive system he helped create in his first stint as governor. His decision to sign the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act in 1976 was a major early step in an excessive war on crime that peaked in 1994 when California voters passed the nation’s harshest “three strikes and you’re out” law.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges. These were among the topics that Western Waternews explored in 2018. Western Water, the Foundation’s flagship publication, has provided in-depth coverage of significant water resource issues in California and the Southwest for more than 40 years. In 2018, we took Western Water news entirely online to make it more accessible to a broader range of readers.
In the final weeks of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration, his appointees on a state board ordered some powerful water districts to cut their historic river diversions to protect endangered salmon populations. It was a major move by a panel that in the past has often been leery of flexing its regulatory muscles. But while the State Water Resources Control Board was demanding more water for fish, other Brown appointees were busy crafting deals that could ultimately mean less water for the environment. Despite a flurry of activity, Brown is leaving plenty of unfinished water business as he heads to his ranch in the Sacramento Valley.
A lot more snow will have to fall if California is to have enough water this year to fill reservoirs, nourish salmon, help crops flourish and moisten the fire-prone hills long enough to avoid another catastrophic conflagration, state officials said Thursday. California’s top snow surveyors, in the Sierra on Thursday with measuring poles and electronic sensor data, concluded that the state’s frozen water supply is just adequate, at best.
Water use efficiency was a hot topic among sustainability experts in 2018, as changing weather patterns, a US population increase of 4%, and aging water infrastructure continue to put a strain on our nation’s water supply. But for all the dire news about the negative impacts of climate change on weather patterns, water restrictions and storms that spilled wastewater into city streets, good news happened, as well. Cities and municipalities are moving forward with innovative water conservation efforts. El Paso, Texas, for example, is building an advanced purification system that will treat sewage water and turn it directly into drinking water.
California water managers will conduct the season’s first manual surveys of the state’s crucial winter snowfall. Winter snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains supplies drinking water for much of California as it melts throughout the spring and summer. The amount of snow is measured monthly through the winter at more than 260 locations to help water managers plan for how much they can deliver to customers later in the year.
