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Opinion: 10 Years Later, Flint’s and America’s Water Remains Unnecessarily Hazardous

/in , , /by /The Hillby Ella Greene-Moton

Long before my role as president of the American Public Health Association, I was a normal woman from Flint, Mich.

Flint is home. It is where I committed myself to public health over the last 40 years, started a family, developed rich friendships and found my voice. It is where I learned to speak the truth clearly and directly, and it is why I believe that our nation’s inability to fix lead in our water systems is slowly killing us all.

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OPINION -Don’t Flee the American Southwest Just Yet

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Tom Zoellner

This summer, when the temperature hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit or above in Phoenix for 31 straight days, many were fretting about the Southwest’s prospects in the age of climate change. A writer for The Atlantic asked, “When Will the Southwest Become Unlivable?” Bloomberg wondered, “How Long Can We Keep Living in Hotboxes Like Phoenix?”

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Opinion: Lots of Snow, Rain and Federal Money Make San Diego Water Deal a Reality

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

An agreement between San Diego’s major water agency and two others in Southern California is expected to save millions of dollars and conserve millions of gallons of water in the Colorado River, which has been threatened by years of overuse and drought.

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Opinion: This Water Project is Expensive, Wasteful and Ecologically Damaging. Why is It Being Fast-Tracked?

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

Noah Cross, the sinister plutocrat of the movie
“Chinatown,” remarked that “politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

He might have added public works projects to that list: If they get talked about long enough, sometimes they acquire the image of inevitability. That seems to be the case with the Sites Reservoir, a water project in the western Sacramento Valley that originated during the Eisenhower administration.

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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?

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Opinion: Millions Share the Discontent That Fueled Rainbow and Fallbrook Vote For a Water Divorce

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribune Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

In modern American politics, voters at the local and state level are asked to weigh in all the time on ballot measures involving public policy. What’s strikingly consistent across the nation is just how contrary voters are and how ready they are to object to anything. In San Diego, for a local example, an utterly mundane 2016 measure to change the City Charter’s language on municipal bonds so that it conformed with the state Constitution and changes in state law drew the objections of 21 percent of voters. Very lopsided results are extremely rare.

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Opinion: It’s About Time California Built the Sites Reservoir

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby George Skeleton

California’s state government began drawing up plans for Sites Reservoir in the Sacramento Valley 70 years ago. And it still only exists on paper.

So, kudos to Gov. Gavin Newsom for deciding that it’s finally time to put this tardy project on the fast track.

Fast track means there’ll be limited time for any opponent to contest the project in court on environmental grounds.

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Opinion: Federal Court Hears Oral Arguments on Imperial Valley Farmers’ Claims to Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /The Desert Review

In what seems to be perennially Michael Abatti v. IID season in the courtroom, Judge Michael Anello of the Federal Southern District Court heard oral arguments from each side’s attorneys on Wednesday, June 6, in San Diego.

Mr. Abatti and 23 of his relatives and friends filed a lawsuit last June alleging that the IID’s new Equitable Distribution Plan violated their rights to water, deprived them of due process, and caused them economic harm.

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Opinion: California’s Regulated Water Utilities Work Constantly to Provide Safe, Clean Water

/in , , /by /Desert Newsby Jennifer Capitolo

Water is a precious resource, essential to life and requires our utmost care. As drought, climate change, wildfires and other natural disasters become more impactful, it is more important than ever that we are meeting our everyday and emergency water needs.

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Opinion: Colorado River Deal Must Empower Conservationists on the Ground

/in , , /by /Reno Gazette Journalby Sarah Jensen

If we hope to solve our country’s most pressing natural resource challenges, we must go straight to the source: Americans on the ground who know firsthand what is needed to solve them.

The historic Colorado River agreement reached last month temporarily secures access to clean water in the West. All Americans deserve clean air and clean water, but unfortunately, the challenges confronting the Colorado River puts access to this vital resource in jeopardy.

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