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San Diego Company Awarded EPA Grant To Develop Water Quality Testing Tech

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby Debbie L. Sklar

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it awarded a $100,000 contract to a San Diego-based technology company to develop technology to monitor water quality. The grant, awarded to 2W iTech LLC, is one of nearly two dozen awarded by the EPA through its Small Business Innovation Research program. The EPA awarded grants worth a combined $2.3 million to 21 companies across the country to develop technologies to improve environmental and human health, monitor air and water quality and clean contaminated areas. With its grant, 2W iTech will develop a low-cost method to identify trace amounts of perfluoroalkyl substances in water at a rate as small as 10 parts per trillion.

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Five Most Fascinating L.A. Dams, Where Disasters Struck And Catastrophes Were Averted

/in , /by /KCETby Sandi Hemmerlein

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was one surefire way for man to conquer nature in Southern California. Build a dam. With dams, water agencies could control the flow of raging rivers, stockpile emergency water supplies and even create giant lakes out of natural dry (or mildly soggy) basins. But the water that was supposed to be held and controlled sometimes overcame some of these great civil engineering feats. And so, many of the stories of the Los Angeles Basin’s tragedy and triumph can be told through the histories of its dams – those that still exist and those that have been lost to failure.

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Rep. Scott Peters Pledges Town Hall On Climate Crisis Following Activist Pressure To Support Green New Deal

/in , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Rep. Scott Peters of San Diego has agreed to hold a town hall meeting on climate issues following months of pressure by local activists on him and other members of Congress to support the Green New Deal. Peters’ announcement comes after Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, cosponsored the hotly debated resolution in June, which calls on the federal government to zero out greenhouse emissions by 2030 and create jobs in renewable energy and other sectors. After initially brushing off calls to support the Green New Deal, the congresswoman surprised constituents and local climate groups when she announced her support for the resolution during a town hall-style event last month.

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San Diego’s Water Portfolio Approach ‘Model for California’

/in , /by /Water News Network Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

State officials Thursday toured San Diego County water infrastructure to get a first-hand look at the region’s successful water portfolio approach for supply diversification. California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, Deputy Natural Resources Secretary Thomas Gibson, State Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross, and State Water Resources Board Chair E. Joaquin Esquivel were here to assess the region’s water projects as part of their new role in developing a water portfolio strategy for the state. “The region is proof that the portfolio approach works,” said Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer. “The Water Authority and its 24 member agencies continue to develop local projects and explore opportunities that would benefit the region, the state, Mexico and the Southwest.”

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When Will California Become Too Hot To Grow Wine Grapes?

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Esther Mobley

We know that climate change is going to alter wine. In fact, we know that it already has. But we are still working toward a deeper understanding of what it will look like — and what can be done about it. The latest step toward that understanding is a study published Tuesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists, one of the most detailed forecasts to date of extreme heat across the U.S. As The Chronicle’s environmental correspondent Kurtis Alexander reported, the study warns that most of the country will see more than double the number of days with a 100 degree heat index by 2050, unless something drastic is done.

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After 800,000-Gallon Spill, Chevron Site Is Still Leaking Oil

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Piper McDaniel

On the same day Sen. Dianne Feinstein chastised Chevron Corp. for keeping an 800,000-gallon spill outside Bakersfield “under wraps,” California officials confirmed Thursday that the site was once again seeping a hazardous mix of oil and water. The new leakage occurred in a surface expression vent in the Cymric oil field, near the Kern County town of McKittrick, according to the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. The vent is one of the locations where three previous leaks released about 800,000 gallons of oil and water.

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OPINION: Coalition Of Agencies, Environmentalists Sees Future For Aging Dam

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicle

While California contemplates new dams for its thirsty future, it’s also thinking about taking out old ones. Along with advancing plans to demolish three dams atop the Klamath River, there’s a movement to rethink and possibly take out a water and power dam in the Mendocino County back country. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is walking away from the Potter Valley project and Scott Dam, built east of Ukiah in 1922. A new federal license will be costly and the utility has plenty to do working its way out of wildfire-caused bankruptcy. What’s coming next is intriguing: A coalition of local agencies and a dedicated fishing group, California Trout, are talking up a takeover of the dam.

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Zone 7 Has Backup Plan To Keep Water Moving In Power Outages

/in , /by /The Independent (Livermore, Calif.)by Ron McNicoll

If PG&E shuts down power as part of its plan to prevent fires in northern California, the water will keep flowing in the Valley, thanks to Zone 7 Water Agency’s preparations. PG&E sent out notices with May bills that stated it had formed a Public Safety Power Shutoff program that would halt power deliveries in rural areas that may be threatened by wildfires. Investigators found that last year’s fatal Camp Fire, in Butte County, was caused by sparks from PG&E equipment.

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OPINION: The Changing Delta’s Challenges

/in , /by /News-Review (Sacramento)by Jay Lund

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is essential for the Central Valley’s economy, well-being and ecosystems. It is a major supplier of land for local agriculture, water for Central Valley farms and Bay Area and southern California cities, recreation for Californians and habitat for native species.

The Delta is ever-changing, from its origins 6,000 years ago as rising post-Ice Age sea levels drowned the confluence of local rivers to form a massive freshwater marsh. Since the 1800s this marsh was diked and drained for agriculture, leading to continuing land subsidence, as much as 25 feet below sea level in some places. Major federal and state water projects altered and reversed its water flows.

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CAISO To Require Equipment Improvements For Inverter-Based Generation

/in , /by /Utility Dive (Washington, D.C.)by Robert Walton

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) will require equipment improvements for renewable energy resources, requiring inverter-based generators to inject reactive current during low-voltage conditions in order to maintain grid reliability.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the ISO’s tariff revisions in a July 2 order. The change is designed to allow increased integration of wind and solar power.

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