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‘We Couldn’t Even Take Showers’: Californians With Unsafe Drinking Water Appeal For Fixes

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Kyung Mil Lee

A coalition of California residents affected by unsafe drinking water held a symbolic “water strike” at the Capitol on Wednesday, pressing lawmakers to fund a plan that would clean up their water sources. More than 1 million Californians lack access to clean drinking water, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration. An additional 2 million people are vulnerable to contamination, according to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund Coalition. “We cannot claim to be the Golden State when we have 1 million Californians without access to clean and affordable water,” said Daniel Peñaloza, City Council Member from Porterville in Tulare County. “This is an injustice and a disgrace.”

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OPINION: Mandates Or Open Markets?

/in , /by /pv magazine by Christian Roselund

The 100% clean energy movement has swept the United States. Over the last six months, dozens of cities including Chicago (population 2.7 million+) have joined New Mexico, Washington State, Puerto Ricoand Washington D.C. in passing mandates that set a timeline by 2050 or sooner for utilities to entirely phase out fossil fuels in their electricity supply.

This brings us to the point where one in five Americans live in a jurisdiction that has passed such a policy. And with five more states considering legislation to do so, advocates say that this is just the beginning.

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Two North County Districts Contemplating Exit From The San Diego County Water Authority

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby J. Harry Jones Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Two water districts in northern San Diego County are exploring the possibility of leaving the San Diego County Water Authority and buying their water instead from an agency in southern Riverside County, a move one district says could save it as much as $6 million annually. It is the first time in the Water Authority’s 75-year history that such a move has been considered by any of its 24 member agencies, officials say, and it likely would be challenged. Both the Rainbow Municipal Water District and the Fallbrook Public Utility Department have been discussing the move for several months. A lawyer for the Water Authority read a public statement at the authority’s most recent board meeting on May 23, making it public knowledge.

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Water, Water Everywhere: Good And Bad Of California’s Rising Reservoir Levels

/in , , /by /Fox KTVUby Tom Vacar

Use it or lose it” is what state and federal water managers in California are wrestling with as one of the biggest precipitation years has the mountains packed with snow and reservoirs loaded to the brim. For the state, water is liquid gold that feeds many people, animals, trees, and industries. But, if not well managed, it can also present great danger.

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California Has Too Much Solar Power. That Might Be Good For Ratepayers

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

California set two renewable energy records last week: the most solar power ever flowing on the state’s main electric grid, and the most solar power ever taken offline because it wasn’t needed. There’s no contradiction: As California utilities buy more and more solar power as part of the state’s quest to confront climate change, supply and demand are increasingly out of sync. The state’s fleet of solar farms and rooftop panels frequently generate more electricity than Californians use during the middle of the day — a phenomenon that has sent lawmakers and some climate advocates scrambling to find ways to save the extra sunlight rather than let it go to waste.

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Understanding the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

/in , /by /Benito Linkby Shawn Novack

In the midst of our most recent and severe drought, perhaps the most significant legislative water initiative in California in half a century was passed and signed into law, it is entitled: the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA). The 2014 law provides a framework for sustainable management of groundwater resources by local authorities. Water sustainability efforts ensure that adequate amounts of high-quality water supply will continue to be available in the future. The integrated management of water resources is a delicate balancing act that aims to maximize the economic and social benefits that water resources provide while maintaining aquatic ecosystems.

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Protecting The Watershed

/in , /by /News-Review (Sacramento)by Meredith J. Cooper

Everyone has heard it a million times by now: The Camp Fire was the most destructive fire in California’s history. But that’s only taking into consideration man-made structures. What about the natural landscape—and, in particular, our waterways? To echo the mantra of 2017’s Standing Rock protest, “Water is life.” That was what brought many people out to Chico State’s University Farm Tuesday (June 4) for the daylong Camp Fire Water Resources Monitoring and Research Symposium. Organized by the University of California Cooperative Extension, it included presentations from researchers who have been studying fire’s impact on ecosystems, in particular ground and surface water.

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In Quest for Bigger Batteries, California Mulls Century-Old Idea

/in , , /by /Bloomberg by David R Baker Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

As the sun sets on California’s solar farms, a backup energy source deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains springs to life. The huge system of reservoirs and turbines can store energy during the day and then crank out electricity for 900,000 homes, using just water and gravity.

As the state tries to make wind and solar work around the clock, officials want to build more like it. It won’t be easy: such projects take years to develop, are expensive and face stiff opposition.he push by California and other states to revive the century-old technology — called “pumped-hydro storage” — underscores the limitations of modern batteries.

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OPINION: Hydropower Is A Clean Energy Source. Why Don’t California Lawmakers Grasp This?

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribune

The reality of climate change is properly framed in potentially apocalyptic terms. Without cleaner energy, the atmosphere will keep heating, and extreme weather will be more common, disruptive and deadly. Hence the need for an “all of the above” clean-energy strategy. Yet too many environmentalists oppose hydropower and nuclear power. These energy sources have their downsides — the impact on aquatic life and nuclear waste storage among them — but if climate change is an existential threat, opposing their use doesn’t make any sense.

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Environmentalists Say County Water Authority And City Of San Diego Are Violating Laws By Pumping Down Lake Hodges, Leaning Grebe Nests “High And Dry”

/in , /by /East County Magazineby Miriam Raftery Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

A coalition of environmental groups has sent an urgent request to the San Diego County Water Authority asking for an emergency directive to halt pumping of water from Lake Hodges which has left grebe nests with eggs “high and dry” for the third time this season. The lake is in the city of San Diego, which has advised ECM today that it is taking steps to address the problem. Grebes are famed for “dancing” across the water during mating system, drawing visitors for the spectacle. (View video of dancing grebes and a new video titled “Save the Grebe Chicks of Lake Hodges.”)

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