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Man-Made Fabrics Have State Lawmakers Vying For Warning Tags

/in , /by /Bloomberg Business (New York City, N.Y.)by Lindsey Rupp

Your polyester shirt may soon come with a warning label. Lawmakers in California and New York have proposed state bills this year to raise awareness of a problem few consumers may have heard of — synthetic fabrics shedding microfibers into the water system. Reminiscent of the plastic microbeads that were banned from cosmetics, garments made with polymer-based cloth can release as many as 1,900 microfibers per wash that eventually end up in waterways, one study shows. But research is still at the early stages, and few are in agreement about what the best response is.

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The Great California Laundry And Shower Meme, Explained

/in , /by /Mother Jones (San Francisco)by Kevin Drum

Last night I received the following peculiar tweet: Off-topic, but do you know if a new California law prohibits taking a shower and doing laundry on the same day? A lot of conservative sites are claiming that, but they’re not known for their factual accuracy. It just so happens that on Monday I took a shower and did a load of laundry. I’m pretty sure this is still legal, even here in the Golden State. But, um, what brought this up?

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Another Danger From Overpumping Groundwater: Arsenic

/in , /by /KQED (San Francisco)by Amel Ahmed

Sinking land caused by intensive groundwater pumping in the San Joaquin Valley is releasing trapped arsenic — a known carcinogen — into aquifers that supply irrigation and drinking water for a million people, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical in the Earth’s crust, is undetectable by the human senses and has been linked to a host of diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Researchers at Stanford University say residents should be concerned about arsenic levels in their water supply.

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Why Emergency Drought Assistance Will Be Needed In California For Years

/in , /by /Water Deeply (New York)by Tess Townsend

Gov. Jerry Brown declared the end of California’s five-year drought in April 2017 after a wet winter replenished shrinking reservoirs. But the lingering impact of the drought, especially on groundwater supplies, means some still rely on emergency water tanks while they wait for long-term solutions. This is particularly true in the San Joaquin Valley, where more than 300 domestic well users whose taps have run dry continue to use tanks provided by the state through a program originally slated to end in June.

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OPINION: This Is California. We Should Be Able To Drink The Water. Lawmakers, Fix This Disgrace

/in , /by /The Fresno Bee

In the world’s fifth-largest economy, in the richest state in the richest nation, some 360,000 Californians have water that is unsafe to drink. That’s the equivalent of about three and a half Flint, Michigans, and it’s an outrage. Worse, it’s a fixable outrage, and the fix is being blocked by vested interests. This stalemate has gone on for more than a year now at the state Capitol while vulnerable families, many of them in the Central Valley, have lived as if this is a Third World country. Enough is enough. Let’s deal with this.

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OPINION: Taxing Your Drinking Water Is No Solution

/in , /by /The Daily Journal (San Mateo)by Dave Warden

As a local water agency, the Mid-Peninsula Water District (MPWD) is committed to delivering safe and reliable water to our customers. We are among the vast majority of Californians with access to safe drinking water. Unfortunately, some in the state, who live in small, rural, disadvantaged communities, do not have access to safe drinking water. While we support the goal of ensuring safe drinking water for all Californians, the latest proposal to impose new state taxes on our drinking water is the wrong solution to a problem that we agree must be solved.

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OPINION: Brown May Leave With Two Big Projects On The Bubble

/in , /by /CALmatters (Sacramento)by Dan Walters Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

During Jerry Brown’s first stint as governor four decades ago, he was openly disdainful of big public works projects, often citing British economist E.F. Schumacher’s 1973 book, “Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered.” Brown’s attitude manifested itself in a virtual halt to highway construction, which led to constant bickering with his fellow Democrats in the Legislature who wanted projects in their districts.

 

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California Will Have Water Consumption Limits For The First Time After ‘Landmark’ Legislation Passed

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

For the first time in the state’s history, California is setting permanent water-consumption goals to prepare for future droughts and climate change, with a local elected official involved in the historic move. Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) introduced Assembly Bill 1668, one of the bills signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown Thursday. Her district also includes Burbank. Brown also signed Assembly Bill 606 by Robert Herzberg (D-Van Nuys). The laws will go into effect in January. “A lot of us have taken water for granted, but it’s not something we can take for granted in Southern California,” Friedman said.

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Southwest Drought Worsens As Hot June Weather Arrives

/in , /by /The Weather Network

June is here and the heat is on across many areas of the southern U.S., including the Four Corner states. Despite some recent precipitation, which helped lower drought numbers in some counties, overall conditions continue to intensify and expand. Rivers and watering holes across different areas of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are drying up, forcing the closure of popular mountain recreation areas. Water restrictions are becoming the norm across the region.

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These Fish Are At The Heart Of California’s Water Debate. But Extinction Could Be Close

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler

As a young biologist in the 1970s, Peter Moyle remembers towing nets behind boats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and catching 50 to 100 translucent, finger-length smelt in a matter of minutes. Moyle doesn’t see those days coming back. “I think extinction is imminent the way things are going,” said Moyle, a prominent UC Davis fisheries biologist. State biologists have found hardly any Delta smelt in their sampling nets in the past two years. Consecutive surveys in late April and early May found no smelt at all. Those results don’t mean the smelt have completely vanished.

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