Tag Archive for: California

California Appellate Judge Confirms State Agency’s Limits on Perchlorate

/in , /by /Courthouse News Serviceby Eric Burkett

An appeals court in Sacramento on Thursday upheld a California environmental agency’s standards for limiting the presence of the chemical perchlorate in the state’s drinking water.

In the appeal brought by plaintiff California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Judge Elena Duarte ruled the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment properly considered iodide uptake inhibition and established its public health goal “at the level at which no known or anticipated adverse effects on health occur, with an adequate margin of safety.”

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The Colorado River Hits a Boiling Point

/in , , /by /Politicoby Debra Kahn and Ry Rivard Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Push is coming to shove on the West’s most important river.

The seven states that share water from the Colorado River are as close to open conflict over dwindling supplies as they’ve ever been. Six of them ganged up on California last week, arguing that it should bear the brunt of supply cuts because a greater share of the water evaporates before it gets that far downriver.

California is bristling at the proposal. “We didn’t just learn last year that water evaporates,” said J.B. Hamby, the chair of the Colorado River Board of California.

Another top California water official, Jim Madaffer, vice chair of the Colorado River Board of California, who represents the San Diego County Water Authority, said California has a blueprint for other states — a multi-agency, multi-year process that California used to rein in its water use two decades ago.

“California has done its part and is willing to do more, but it’s time for the other states to step up,” Madaffer said in an email.

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States Miss Deadline to Address Colorado River Water Crisis, Pressure Builds on California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a Jan. 31 federal deadline for reaching a regionwide consensus on how to sharply reduce water use, raising the likelihood of more friction as the West grapples with how to take less supplies from the shrinking river.

In a bid to sway the process after contentious negotiations reached an impasse, six of the seven states gave the federal government a last-minute proposal outlining possible water cuts to help prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels, presenting a unified front while leaving out California, which uses the single largest share of the river.

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Is the Drought Over? Reflections on California’s Recent Flood-Drought Combo

/in , , /by /California WaterBlogby Andrew L. Rypel, Jay Lund, and Carson Jeffres

Early January was an unusually wild ride of atmospheric rivers. Nine sizable systems produced a train of storms beginning about New Years and lasting for several weeks across almost all of California. After three years of drought, the storms reminded us that California has flood problems similar in magnitude to its drought problems, and that floods and droughts can occur in synchrony.

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Nevada Outlines Framework for Colorado River Cuts as States Show Their Cards

/in , , /by /The Nevada Independent by Daniel Rothberg

At the end of last year, the seven states in the Colorado River Basin committed to once again work together and negotiate a consensus framework for making significant cuts to water use, an attempt to stabilize the nation’s two largest reservoirs and avoid an even deeper shortage crisis.

The states recommitted to considering a consensus deal, by Jan. 31, after several deadlines passed in 2022 — with seemingly irreconcilable differences over how to make painful cuts in a watershed relied upon by 40 million people who use the river for drinking water and agriculture.

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‘The Worst of it Still in Front of Us’ as New Storms Set to Pound a Rain-Weary California

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rong-Gong Lin II, Jessica Garrison, City Carcamo, and Anita Chabria

California is bracing for another week of destructive storms that will probably bring flooding and hazardous winds Monday to an already battered state.

A series of atmospheric rivers that pummeled coastal communities last week and left more than 400,000 without power in California on Sunday will be followed by particularly brutal weather as rivers reach flood levels and powerful winds wreak havoc, forecasters fear.

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How Record Snowfall Could Soften the 2023 Drought Season

/in , /by /NPRby Ari Shapiro

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with Andrew Schwartz of the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab about how record snowfall in western states could mean a less drought-ridden 2023.

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Opinion: San Diego is Not Protected from California’s Severe Water Supply Crisis

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Gary Arant and Kimberly Thorner

California’s water supply crisis has hit a tipping point, with impacts spreading far and wide, reaching local communities and critical industries, putting us once again in jeopardy.

This is a pivotal moment in the state’s future – one in which bold political leadership will emerge, or future generations will suffer. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement on his new water supply plan, is encouraging that leadership is materializing, but the proof is in the pudding.

The new plan, California’s Water Supply Strategy: Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future, underscores the significant challenges we face as a result of a changing climate, the need to transform the current water system, and the importance of significantly investing in California water systems to secure the future of California’s water supply and reliability. The plan outlines water supply strategies and includes a pledge to fast track the advancement of policies and new projects to begin addressing California’s water supply crisis. While this new plan is promising, there is still significant work that needs to be done to adequately address California’s perpetual droughts and water supply crisis.

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Water Thieves Abound in Dry California. Why Are They So Hard to Catch?

/in , , /by /Gristby Jake Bittle

It’s not easy enforcing water regulations in the West. Just ask the officials in California who have been trying for almost a decade to penalize a man who took water from the river system that feeds San Francisco and bottled it for sale to stores like Starbucks.

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Why California Wildfires Burned Far Less This Year

/in , , /by /Scientific Americanby Anne C. Mulkern

California is enjoying fewer extreme wildfires than it has in years, which experts attribute to a combination of summer rain, calm weather and increased forest management.

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