You are now in California and the U.S. Home Headline Media Coverage category.

Microplastics Could Trigger Cloud Formation and Affect the Weather, New Study Suggests

/in , , /by /CNNby Mary Gilbert

Microplastics are turning up in unusual places increasingly often as they filter into nearly every facet of life on Earth. They’ve been discovered in drinking water, food, air and even in blood. Now, scientists have found that these tiny particles might even be able to influence the weather.

Researchers reported Wednesday they detected microplastics in a majority of cloud samples taken from a mountaintop in China, in a study published in the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science & Technology Letters.

Full Story

Oceanside City Council Approves 12% Water Rate Increase Over Next Two Years

/in , , /by /Fox 5 San Diegoby Kasia Gregorczyk Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Oceanside residents will soon see a double-digit increase over the next two years after two years of no increase to their rates at all.

“Anytime we see something like this come forward, especially when cost-of-living generally is going up across-the-board and people are really struggling to make ends meet, this is considered very heavily,” Councilmember Eric Joyce said.

Councilmembers unanimously approved the new rates Wednesday.

Full Story

Water Agencies Say Funding For California’s Biggest Dam in Decades is ‘Pretty Much Lined Up’

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ari Plachta

California water agencies say they have nearly secured $4.5 billion in funding needed to build the state’s largest reservoir in nearly a century, Sites Reservoir, as a state environmental review process for the project comes to a rapid close after decades of delay.

Full Story

Opinion: What We Flush Down the Toilet Matters. Only the ‘Three Ps,’ Please

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times

What goes in the toilet, and what goes in the trash? It’s the kind of discussion one has with a 2-year old, and is all the more delightful because it’s a topic generally regarded as taboo in polite conversation. You get to say things such as only “the three Ps” — pee, poop and paper — go in the toilet. Everything else goes in the trash can. Right?

Full Story

Floodwaters On Farms Help Boost Aquifers

/in , , /by /AgAlertby Christine Souza

The historically wet winter early this year motivated greater adoption of a water management strategy known as flood-managed aquifer recharge, or flood-MAR, in which excess flood flows are diverted onto farmland to boost depleted groundwater aquifers.

Full Story

Lower Yuba River Project Helps Create Safer Home for Salmon Population, Reduces Flood Risk

/in , , /by /CBS News Sacramentoby Ashley Nanfria

A habitat restoration project in the lower Yuba River is complete. The project not only helps the local fish population but also those who live along the river’s banks.

“The Hallwood Fish Habitat Project” restored the natural flow of the Yuba River after decades of collecting debris from hydraulic mining during the Gold Rush.

Full Story

National Climate Assessment Predicts Growing Threats to Society, Economy

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Chelsey Harvey

A long-awaited federal climate report, released Tuesday, delivers a blunt warning: Rapidly curb planet-warming emissions or face dire consequences to human health, infrastructure and the economy.

The fifth installment of the National Climate Assessment presents the most comprehensive evaluation to date of U.S. climate science, impacts and action. Dozens of authors, including representatives from multiple federal agencies, contributed to the congressionally mandated report.

Full Story

Opinion: Howard Wayne Helped Set California’s Standard For Ocean Water Quality

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens

Howard Wayne had a license plate that read “AB 411.”

That probably meant nothing to the uninitiated, but those who knew the former Assembly member certainly got it.

In 1997, Wayne’s Assembly Bill 411 to require and standardize ocean water-quality testing in California was approved by the Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

Full Story

‘Ridiculous’ Water Bills. ‘Inordinate’ Hold Times. After Years of Customer Complaints, San Diego is Making Sweeping Changes.

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick

Years of complaints about billing mistakes and hours-long customer-service hold times have prompted San Diego officials to make sweeping changes to the city’s Water Department.

The changes include a new billing system, switching customer service software, new call routing, more payment options and a new policy alerting customers when their bill is being withheld for a leak investigation.

The city is also hiring more customer service workers, paying them more, expanding their training and putting new leaders in charge of their efforts.

Full Story

New Tribal Water Institute Will Help Arizona Tribes Navigate Water Law and Policies

/in , /by /az centralby Debra Utacia Krol

A new institute created by a national Native nonprofit law group and a foundation that works to protect rivers will support tribal water rights advocacy, recruit and train the next generation of tribal water attorneys and provide education on tribal water law and policies.

Full Story