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Recycled Water From Sewers Coming To California Taps

/in /by /SF Gateby Ted Andersen

Water that once coursed through city sewers may soon find new life coming out of your home faucet. New regulations approved Tuesday by the California State Water Resources Control Board allow treated recycled water to be added to reservoirs, the source of California municipal drinking water. The regulations specify the percentage of recycled water that can be added and how long it must reside there before being treated again at a surface water treatment facility and provided as drinking water, according to the Water Board.

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Pressure Mounts On WaterFix Agencies

/in /by /The Press (Brentwood)by Tony Kukulich

As the clock winds down on Gov. Jerry Brown’s time in office, pressure appears to be mounting on state agencies to move the California WaterFix project forward. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) surprised many during a Bay-Delta Special Committee meeting on Feb. 27 when it was disclosed that the agency was examining the opportunity to finance the $11 billion cost of  building the first of two tunnels in accordance with the Department of Water Resource’s (DWR) revised construction plan. 

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Loan To Jared Kushner Raises Questions About California Water Project

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Followers of the ecologically dubious and largely pointless Cadiz water project in the Mojave Desert might have pricked up their ears last week at reports of a possible conflict of interest involving Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and the investment firm Apollo Global Management. That’s because Apollo is a sizable investor in Cadiz, which has received favorable regulatory treatment from the Trump administration after years of thumbs-down rulings under the Obama administration and from local and state officials. Apollo and Cadiz announced the $60-million investment, along with a “conditional” $240 million in construction financing, on May 2.

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OPINION: California’s Water Hole

/in /by /The Wall Street Journal

Storms like the one that have doused arid California in recent days are cause for celebration, but also for better conservation. The Sierra Nevada mountains received nearly six feet of snow, which was especially welcome in a dry winter. Snowpack in the Sierras had measured a quarter of its historical average.

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California Would Require Electricity To Be 100 Percent Renewable By 2045 If This Bill Passes

/in /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ezra David Romero

Electricity in California would all come from sources like wind and solar if a bill in the Assembly becomes law. Senate Bill 100 starts by boosting the state’s renewable electricity requirement to 60 percent by 2030. Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner says the bill also sets a goal of getting 100 percent of electricity from non-carbon emitting sources by 2045. “If we pull that off, then we will be the largest users of energy in the world with such a goal,” said Skinner, who co-authored the bill.

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Binational Water Commission Presses For Upgrades To Battle Cross-Border Sewage “Crisis”

/in /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Sandra Dibble

In the wake of rising outcry in San Diego of cross-border flows of contaminated water, trash and sediment from Tijuana, Mexico is moving ahead with a series of short-term upgrades to Tijuana’s sewage collection and treatment system aimed at preventing such incidents, and responding with greater speed should they occur. These efforts include upgrading a key piece of infrastructure in Tijuana known as Pump Station CILA that is critical for preventing dry weather flows in the Tijuana River channel from crossing into the United States.

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Water Reuse Approved By California Water Board

/in /by /Courthouse News Service (Pasadena)by Matthew Renda

California’s water regulator paved the way for the increased use of recycled water on the same day it instituted new pesticide thresholds for a river on the central coast. The State Water Resources Control Board unanimously passed regulations that hold local water agencies accountable for the amount of pesticides that flow from agricultural operations into the Salinas River. “I understand the benefits of pyrethroid pesticide use as it makes food production possible at this time,” said water control board member Steven Moore.

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Scientists Engineer Crops To Conserve Water, Resist Drought

/in /by /Phys.Org

Agriculture already monopolizes 90 percent of global freshwater—yet production still needs to dramatically increase to feed and fuel this century’s growing population. For the first time, scientists have improved how a crop uses water by 25 percent without compromising yield by altering the expression of one gene that is found in all plants, as reported in Nature Communications.

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Here’s What That Last Storm Did For California’s Water Supply

/in /by /KPCCby Jacob Margolis

It’s been an usually dry winter, and last weekend’s atmospheric river was welcome for the snow and rain it brought. But what did it mean for California’s water supply? In truth? Not much. As of last week, this winter was on track to be one of the warmest and driest on record. So, no one would blame you if you breathed a sigh of relief when that freezing cold storm came through and dumped rain and snow on our parched state. But look at the numbers and you’ll see that California’s far from recovered.

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SF To Charge Vacant-Lot Owners For Rainwater That Runs Down The Drain

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Matier and Ross

When it rains, it pours — and that has San Francisco water officials looking into charging property owners a new “storm-water fee” to help with the upkeep of the city’s aging sewer system. The first target will be the owners of vacant lots. “It’s a tax on rain,” fumed Jason Sanders, who was just notified that effective July 1, he will be assessed $31.46 a month for runoff on his vacant lot on Ashbury Street.

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