You are now in California and the U.S. category.

The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) reports that the State Water Resources Control Board is expected to notify public water systems in the coming days regarding a new initiative to provide lead sampling to schools. Specifically, the State Water Board is expected to contact water systems this week with information about a statewide program that will require water systems to provide lead sampling services to K-12 schools upon request. The State Water Board also is expected to announce details about a webinar that will provide water systems with details about the initiative.

California’s rain and snow season is getting off to a fast start as Thanksgiving week brought more storms, launched the ski season early and raised cautious hope for a wet year after five years of drought. Two damp months in a row have boosted seasonal rainfall totals in Woodland to 3.25 inches. That compares with 2.57 for the same time in 2015. The 10-year seasonal average for Woodland, according to the UC Cooperative Extension Service, is 2.90 inches.

Some 102 million trees have died in California since 2010, and that number will likely grow. Dead trees in a forest are natural, but the extraordinary numbers we see in parts of the Sierra Nevada threaten many benefits of our forests. Some places that had 20 trees per acre a century ago now have 260 trees. Too many trees, dead or alive, produce too much fuel. Once a fire gets started, a continuous expanse of fuel makes it more likely the fire will become extreme. California’s wildfires affect the whole nation.

In Palm Springs, one of the hottest regions in California, precious groundwater has been depleted for decades to build lush golf courses, swimming pools and tract homes. Now the local American Indian tribe is pressing for a right to help manage that water.The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which owns two casinos in the popular desert tourism region, has been buying water for decades from the two government water agencies that manage local groundwater, the Desert Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District.

California regulators say their sweeping proposal to devote more flows from the state’s major rivers to fish and wildlife is an attempt to balance competing interests for a scarce resource. So far, all they’ve done is get practically everyone mad at them. Opponents of the plan came out in force Tuesday, in the first of a series of hearings before the State Water Resources Control Board on the future of the San Joaquin River and its tributaries.