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Opinion: Newsom’s Water Framework is Imperfect but Necessary. The Alternative is Further Deterioration of the Delta

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Ellen Hanak and Jeffrey Mount

Gov. Gavin Newsom has put forward aframework for managing water and habitat in the Delta and its watershed. As far as we can tell, no one is very happy with the framework—and that may be a good sign.

The framework is the product of years of effort to negotiate an agreement among water users, other stakeholders, and regulatory agencies. Details are yet to be worked out, including firm commitments for water and funding, along with critical negotiations with the federal government on how to cooperatively manage upstream dams and the Delta pumps. Ultimately, the package has to be acceptable to state and federal regulators.

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Unlikely Allies Got White House to Tackle Tijuana River Mess: How They Pulled it Off

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Anna M. Phillips and Jennifer Haberkorn

For decades, millions of gallons of raw sewage and trash have flowed from the Tijuana River to the Pacific Ocean, fouling beaches, angering Southern Californians and getting worse by the year.

An estimated 143 million gallons of waste from Tijuana spilled into the river valley in 2017, overwhelming a treatment plant built by the United States and Mexico nearly 25 years ago. Last October, a corpse clogged a sewage intake screen, causing a backup and sending 14.5 million gallons of polluted water over the border and into the U.S.

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Study: Toxic Elements Around Salton Sea Could Adversely Affect Nearby Residents

/in , , /by /KPBSby Shalina Chatlani

More than dust-filled air could be plaguing residents around the quickly evaporating Salton Sea in Imperial Valley. University of California, Riverside research shows toxic aerosols could also be filling the air. The problem has to do with agricultural fertilizer in the Salton Sea wetland area. UC Riverside toxicologist Sabbir Ahmed and first-author on the study says the fertilizer is rich in the element selenium, which is necessary for human body health, but not in excessive doses. Ahmed said plants in the area digest this mineral and release into the air as an aerosol, which is air filled with liquid or solid particles.

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FPUD Adds PFAS Treatment to Conjunctive Use Project work

/in , , /by /Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The Fallbrook Public Utility District has amended its design contract for the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project so that the groundwater treatment plant can also remove per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contaminants from the treated water. A 5-0 FPUD board vote Jan. 27 approved an amendment to the design contract with Infrastructure Engineering Corporation which will provide IEC with an additional $771,143 and which will provide FPUD with treatment process selection, design services, and construction administration for the additional facilities.

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Mysterious Machine Dropped to the Bottom of Lake Hodges

/in , , /by /NBC7 (San Diego)by Joe Little

It’s the only one of its kind in Southern California and no one will see it again for years.

“It’s a giant upside-down cone with some pipes,” said Jeff Pasek. “It’s a strange looking device.”

It’s a strange looking device called a Speece Cone that’s expected to improve the water quality at Hodges Reservoir near Escondido.

“It’s not going to be seen again for a number of years because it’s 70 feet deep in the reservoir,” said Pasek, a Project Officer with the City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department.

The $3.4 million project will constantly inject oxygen into the reservoir which will reduce the nutrients that algae feed on, Pasek said.

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California County Shuts Down Fifth of Water Wells Over PFAS

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Environmentby Emily C. Dooley

California wants to slash the allowable levels in drinking water for two “forever chemical” compounds, immediately prompting agencies supplying water to 2.5 million residents in Orange County to remove a fifth of their wells from service.

The State Water Resources Control board Thursday said it planned to dramatically lower its response levels for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), though actual drinking water standards are still years away.

The response levels require water suppliers to install treatment, and remove wells from service if they exceed the thresholds. Notifying customers is required if districts plan to keep wells in service without treatment for an extended period.

Orange County oversees the area’s groundwater basin and provides water to 19 agencies, which rely on underground supplies for 77% of deliveries. The remainder comes from the Colorado River and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water to 19 million people in the region.

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Blog: Imperial Valley Conservation Efforts Benefit San Diego, Southwest

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation (Sacramento, Calif.) Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors visited the Imperial Valley January 30 for a day-long tour that highlighted areas critical to the agency’s Regional Conveyance System Study.

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Meet the Veteran Insider Who’s Shepherding Gov. Newsom’s Plan to Bring Climate Resilience to California Water

/in , , /by /Western Water / Water Education Foundationby Gary Pitzer

Shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges — from unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing climate to severely depleted groundwater aquifers and declining native fish populations — he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and veteran water communicator, to get it done. In an interview with Western Water, Vogel explains how the draft portfolio released Jan. 3 came together and why it should matter to average Californians.

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Pure Water Monterey Gets Final State OK

/in , , /by /The Monterey Herald by Jim Johnson

Pure Water Monterey has finally secured a critical final state approval and is poised to begin delivering potable recycled water to the Seaside basin by mid-February.

After an all-day inspection of the $126 million recycled water project’s advanced water purification facility by a nine-member team on Tuesday, the state Division of Drinking Water signed off both verbally and by email.

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2020 Snow Report

/in , , /by /Climate Central

A new Climate Central report analyzes snowfall trends over the past fifty years, finding that snowfall has been decreasing in the spring and fall seasons across much of the U.S. but with clear regional differences.

The impact of climate change on snow can be a tricky story to tell. While warming winters would suggest that more precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow, a warming climate is also associated with increased precipitation which, in cold regions, can lead to an increase in snowfall. A new report from Climate Central aims to make sense of this challenging subject—analyzing snowfall data collected between 1970 and 2019 from 145 stations across the country.

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