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Supes Boost Water Reuse Requirements for New Buildings

/in , /by /San Francisco Examinerby Bay City News

New buildings will need to collect and reuse much more water than what is required for existing buildings, after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved new regulations Tuesday.

The ordinance more than doubles the amount of water that new large buildings will be required to collect and reuse on site, said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, its author. He said it also directs the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to come up with a plan for expanding The City’s supply and use of recycled water.

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State’s Curtailment Orders Draw Lawsuits From Modesto-Area Water Users and San Francisco

/in , /by /The Modesto Beeby John Holland

The state’s curtailment of river diversions has drawn lawsuits from eight irrigation districts in and near Stanislaus County, along with San Francisco.

The three filings claim that the State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its authority with the Aug. 20 orders. The plaintiffs also said they did not get enough chance beforehand to make their cases for continued diversions.

One suit was filed Sept. 2 by the Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation districts and San Francisco. It involves the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers.

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San Francisco, Agriculture Suppliers Want Their Water, Sue State Over Drought Restrictions

/in , , /by /The San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

San Francisco, along with a handful of Central Valley irrigation districts, is suing the state for enacting drought restrictions that are keeping thousands of landowners and suppliers from drawing water from rivers and creeks.

San Francisco, along with a handful of Central Valley irrigation districts, is suing the state for enacting drought restrictions that are keeping thousands of landowners and suppliers from drawing water from rivers and creeks.

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S.F. to Pay $600 Million to Keep Low-lying Neighborhoods From Flooding. It Will Probably Take Seven Years

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Michael Cabanatuan

San Francisco has pledged to invest another $600 million into the city’s sewer system in an effort to prevent chronic flooding in low-lying areas as part of an agreement with state water quality officials.

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board announced the tentative pact, which was negotiated with city officials but needs final approval from the Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed. The city’s Public Utilities Commission has recommended approval.

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S.F. Embraces Aggressive New Climate Change Goals as Drought, Heat and Wildfires Engulf California

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Mallory Moench

San Francisco set new, more ambitious climate change goals Tuesday, including getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions produced in the city by 2040, as wildfires, drought and heat waves worsened by climate change plague California and floods in Europe grab headlines.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an update to the environment code that pledges the city will cut its greenhouse gas emissions to at least 61% below 1990 levels by 2030. The city wants to reduce emissions generated outside city borders for products consumed in San Francisco – such as the carbon footprint of SFO air travel – by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

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San Francisco Water Use Has Declined Since Last Drought — What Else Can You Do to Conserve?

/in , , /by /SF Newsby Jay Barmann

We’re once again going to be having conversations this summer about water use, and hearing about ever more strict mandates coming down from counties and the state about what we use water for. But is San Francisco’s household water use really the problem?

The drought is bad, and it’s getting worse. A big swath of the Bay Area was just put in the “exceptional” drought tier last week by the U.S. Drought Monitor, and the rest of the Bay Area is in the second-worst or “extreme” drought category, along with about three-quarters of California.

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San Francisco Sues State Over Bid to Restrict its Sierra Water Supplies

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

The city of San Francisco is reviving a long-simmering feud with the state over water, filing a lawsuit Friday that charges state regulators with trying to take away the city’s coveted Sierra Nevada water supplies.

The suit claims the state water board is demanding the city forfeit too much water from the Tuolumne River as part of a licensing deal for two dams in the faraway basin. State regulators have said the water is needed to maintain proper river flows and support struggling salmon, but city officials contend the demands would leave Bay Area residents and businesses vulnerable to water shortages.

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Opinion: With San Francisco Bay On Life Support, Newsom Withholds the Cure

/in , /by /CalMattersby Jon Rosenfield

San Francisco Bay’s life support systems are unravelling quickly, and a wealth of science indicates that unsustainable water diversions are driving this estuary’s demise.

Yet, with another drought looming, federal and state water managers still plan to divert large amounts of water to their contractors and drain upstream reservoirs this summer. Meanwhile, the state’s most powerful water districts are preparing yet another proposal to maintain excessive water diversions for the long-term.

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Rainy Season Peters Out in Another Moisture-Starved Year for S.F.

/in , , /by /The San Francisco Chronicleby Lauren Hernández
A too-dry February left San Francisco with only 38% of normal rainfall for the month, and forecasters say residents should get used to it: With the wet season ending, it’s almost impossible to see the water year ending with anything close to a normal soaking.

San Francisco’s rain total for February — typically the heart of the rainy season along with December and January — was just 1.71 inches, compared to the 4.46 inches that’s considered normal, National Weather Service Bay Area officials said. A year ago it was even worse: February 2020 brought no rain to San Francisco.

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EPA Water Pollution Permit Limits Challenged by San Francisco

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Maya Earls

San Francisco is challenging the EPA over conditions imposed in a permit that allows the city to send discharge from its combined sewer system into the Pacific Ocean, according to a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit. The city’s filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit comes after the Environmental Protection Agency refused to review three conditions in the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit. The EPA approved the permit in December 2019.

 

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