Federal investments in Tijuana River Valley infrastructure to address ongoing problems with sewage runoff could mean an end to beach closures that have plagued the South Bay in recent years, officials announced today in San Diego.
The Environmental Protection Agency is spending $25 million on two projects to help stop the flow of cross border sewage and trash.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler met with state and local officials Wednesday to discuss the persistent problem and to announce two short-term solutions would move ahead.
California and 20 other states sued the Trump administration over its plan to curtail environmental regulations in permitting infrastructure projects that can take years to complete and have long-lasting consequences on land and communities. Led by California and Washington, the lawsuit seeks to block changes the administration has proposed to how the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act is implemented. It was filed in federal court in San Francisco against the White House Council on Environmental Quality and its chairman, Mary Neumayr.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency order after finding the owners of a privately owned mobile home park on the Pala Band of Mission Indians Reservation were in violation of federal laws that safeguard clean drinking water, it was announced Thursday.
EPA officials said problems with a faulty septic system and broken water lines at the Lee Bar Ranch mobile home park were so bad that the park’s residents have been told to start boiling water to drink. The EPA called the water system at the park — which has no connection to the Pala Band — “a danger to the residents of the park.”
Environmental toxic exposure suffered in many minority neighborhoods is part of the systemic racism evident in society, and environmental justice belongs near the top of discussions to right those wrongs, writes Kevin McKie, an attorney at the Environmental Litigation Group P.C. Communities can take several steps, including passing legislation requiring industries to comply with stricter environmental regulations or pay additional fines, requiring that stringent environmental impact studies be performed before construction of new plants or the installation of toxic emission monitoring stations, and offering free medical monitoring.
Every year, nearly 40% of California’s water used for drinking, agriculture, and irrigation comes from groundwater sources located in Northern California. During droughts, as much as 60% of water in California is sourced from groundwater. In addition, large quantities of California’s surface water (water found in lakes, rivers, stream, and reservoirs) provides a resource to citizens and farms in the state. However, since the 1922 Colorado River Compact, California is also able to draw up to 4.4 million acre feet per year from the Colorado River.
For more than two decades, cleaning up the Tijuana River has been one of my top priorities. The wastewater, trash and sediment that continues to flow into San Diego County are a danger to public health and our economy and it must be addressed.
Over the past year we’ve made real strides to fix the problem of cross-border pollution. And last week’s introduction of the Border Water Quality Restoration and Protection Act is another step toward achieving that goal.
The Trump administration is moving to loosen environmental standards for showerheads following a string of public complaints from the president about low-flow fixtures designed to save water.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued $6,137,000 in grants to assist the California Department of Social Services with identifying sources of lead in drinking water in childcare centers.
“Testing for lead in drinking water is critical for the protection of our children,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator John Busterud. “EPA is pleased to support California in its efforts to detect and reduce lead in drinking water, thereby protecting children’s health at childcare centers and elsewhere.”
