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Why One Arizona County Could Upend the Southwest’s Drought Plan

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Matt Weiser

Serious water shortages on the Colorado River could be less than two years away, according to new federal estimates. Yet after 19 years of drought, just 500 farmers in one Arizona county may decide the fate of the entire Southwest: By holding tight to their own temporary water supply, they could stall a conservation plan designed to save the entire region from water shortages.

Pinal County, sandwiched between Phoenix and Tucson, is the third-largest farming county in Arizona and 54th in the nation, generating about $1 billion in annual sales, according to United States Department of Agriculture statistics. Beef cattle and milk generate more than half of that income, with cotton and alfalfa the next largest commodities

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California’s Biggest Environmental Challengers? Water. Climate Change. Political Hot Air.

/in , /by /Sacramento Beeby Editorial Staff

California Influencers, a group of the state’s most respected experts in public policy, politics and government, weighed in on this question: What is the biggest environmental challenge facing the state?

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Imperial Beach, Federal Government to Face-off in Court Over Tijuana Sewage Pollution

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

South Bay cities are preparing to go head-to-head with the federal government this week in a legal battle that could force the Trump administration to plug sewage spilling from Tijuana into San Diego.

Local officials filed the lawsuit in March after demanding for more than a year that federal infrastructure along the border be beefed up to ensure that flows from Mexico are captured before they foul San Diego wetlands and beaches.

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California Farm Baron Offered To Drop Water Lawsuit — If His Family Got A Special Exemption

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Sammy Roth

A lawsuit in California’s Imperial Valley could determine who controls the single largest share of Colorado River water in the West — a few hundred landowning farmers, or the elected five-member board of the Imperial Irrigation District.

But a newly obtained document shows that the farmer who filed the lawsuit, Mike Abatti, was willing to sidestep that explosive legal question — if he and his family got a special exemption from a plan that could have limited his access to Colorado River water.

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In California’s New Wildfire Reality, Facing the Need for Periodic Fires to Clear Fuel

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Curtis Alexander

When a wall of flames raced up the hillside at Avalanche Creek on a recent afternoon, firefighters in Yosemite National Park had to act quickly.

The giant Ferguson Fire was headed toward the south rim of Yosemite Valley, and if crews didn’t stop it here, the fire would open up on the edge of the park’s most beloved spot. Already, 10,000 acres of Yosemite had been charred, and much of the park was entering its third week of closure.

But just as the blaze began spitting hot embers out of the creek drainage and across Glacier Point Road, where helicopters with water buckets and engine teams with chain saws had staked their line of defense, firefighters caught a break — at least for the moment.

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Few California School Districts Have Tested Water for Lead, Even Though It’s Free

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Jill Tucker

As students head back to class across California this month, many will sip water from school fountains or faucets that could contain high levels of lead.

That’s because two-thirds of the state’s 1,026 school districts have not taken advantage of a free state testing program to determine whether the toxic metal is coming out of the taps and, if so, whether it exceeds federal standards. Among the 330 districts that have started or completed testing, more than half identified at least one school where levels exceeded the federal standard, according to data submitted to the state by June 1.

The testing by local water utilities has been available to every public and private school in the state for more than 18 months. Exposure to high levels of lead can cause irreversible neurological and brain damage, including lowering a child’s IQ.

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OPINION: The Observer: Keeping Both Eyes on Statewide Drinking Water Tax

/in , /by /Ukiah Daily Journalby Jim Shields

With the state legislature returning from summer recess, the proposal to impose a statewide tax on drinking water could return before the end of the current legislative year on August 31.

The proposed tax on drinking water was introduced in 2017 by Sen. Bill Monning (SB 623). The primary purpose of the bill was to fund solutions in some disadvantaged communities without access to safe drinking water, which are primarily located in rural areas in the Central Valley. In September of 2017, the Assembly Appropriations Committee moved the bill to the Assembly Rules Committee, where it currently remains as a two-year bill. The proposal would have generated roughly $110 million per year through a 95-cent monthly fee on home water bills as well as taxes on businesses of up to $10 per month. Another $30 million would come from higher fees on agricultural and dairy businesses, industries whose chemicals contribute to the problem of contaminated groundwater.

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How Ranchers Are Getting By With Less Water Across The West

/in , /by /Water Deeplyby Cassidy Johnston

In the summer, all we talk about is rain. Walk into a diner or a barn, or just run into someone at the store, and the first question anyone asks – even before, “How are you?” – is, “Did you get any rain?” It’s the same in New Mexico as in Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and California. Everyone is concerned because, as ranchers, we know the health of our cattle depends on the amount of water that falls out of the sky. And this year, it hasn’t been a lot.

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Break in the Weather Helps California Firefighters Battle Massive Blazes Across State

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby Tony Barbosa

Cooler, calmer weather is helping firefighters get a handle on battling the largest wildfires burning across California and preventing new blazes from getting out of control.

Temperatures are cooling slightly, and humidity is inching upward due to a weakened high-pressure system that forecasters say will persist through Tuesday.

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Millions to be Spent Protecting SF Bay Shoreline From Sea Level Rise

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby John Wildermuth

A decades-old plan to protect Alviso and surrounding South Bay areas from devastating floods has moved closer to reality with $177 million in federal funds to begin work on a 4-mile-long levee and wetlands restoration.

The combination of flood control and environmental improvements will be a model for the rest of the country, Sam Schuchat, executive officer of the state Coastal Conservancy, said Friday at an event celebrating the project at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Alviso.

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