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Atmospheric Rivers Are Back. That’s Not A Bad Thing.

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Jill Cowan

Remember atmospheric rivers? Earlier this year, they hit California’s collective consciousness in a big way, as the state reeled from the catastrophic flooding, mudslides and pounding rain they brought with them. This week, much to the dismay of anyone eyeing a weekend outdoors, atmospheric rivers are back and forecast to pour cold water (and snow) on the Bay Area and other parts of California. As Daniel Swain, a climate researcher and the author of the Weather West blog, put it: “Enjoy the upcoming 10 days of ‘Mayuary.’”

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What’s All This About A Water Tax?

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Jose A. Del Real

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made repairing hundreds of failing drinking-water systems in California a big priority since taking office, giving fresh momentum to an entrenched problem the state’s leaders have long struggled to resolve. But his proposed solution — a $140 million yearly tax raised in part through fees on urban water districts — has raised eyebrows in a state where residents already feel overtaxed. Toxic drinking water in California is a much larger problem than many people realize: From the coasts to the Central Valley, from Southern California to the northern reaches of the state, hundreds of public water systems regulated by the state do not meet safe drinking standards.

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E.P.A. Proposes Weaker Standards On Chemicals Contaminating Drinking Water

/in , , /by /The New York Timesby Eric Lipton and Julie Turkewitz

After pressure from the Defense Department, the Environmental Protection Agency significantly weakened a proposed standard for cleaning up groundwater pollution caused by toxic chemicals that contaminate drinking water consumed by millions of Americans and that have been commonly used at military bases. Standards released by the agency on Thursday eliminated entirely a section that would have addressed how it would respond to what it has described as “immediate threats posed by hazardous waste sites.” Those short-term responses, known as removal actions, can include excavating contaminated soil or building a security fence around a toxic area.

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Amid 19-Year Drought, States Sign Deal To Conserve Colorado River Water

/in , /by /The New York Timesby John Schwartz

The water is saved, for now. Seven Western states have agreed on a plan to manage the Colorado River amid a 19-year drought, voluntarily cutting their water use to prevent the federal government from imposing a mandatory squeeze on the supply. State water officials signed the deal on Tuesday after years of negotiations, forestalling what would have been the first federally enforced restrictions on the river’s lower basin. But any victory may be short-lived. Climate change promises to make the American West increasingly hot and dry, putting further pressure on the Colorado and the 40 million people who depend on its water.

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Legal Rights For Lake Erie? Voters In Ohio City Will Decide

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Timothy Williams

The failing health of Lake Erie, the world’s 11th largest lake, is at the heart of one of the most unusual questions to appear on an American ballot: Should a body of water be given rights normally associated with those granted to a person? Voters in Toledo, Ohio, will be asked this month to decide whether Lake Erie, which supports the economies of four states, one Canadian province and the cities of Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, has the legal right “to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.”

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Major Climate Report Describes A Strong Risk Of Crisis As Early As 2040

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Coral Davenport

A landmark report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.”

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California Had Its Own Climate Summit. Now What?

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Brad Plumer

For years, presidents and prime ministers have been the public face of the fight against climate change, gathering at United Nations summit meetings and pressuring each other to reduce emissions. The results have often been lackluster. A climate conference in California this week tried something different. The meeting, organized by the state’s governor, Jerry Brown, had far fewer national leaders present. Instead, an array of governors, mayors and business executives from around the globe met to promote their successes in cutting greenhouse gas emissions locally and to encourage one another to do more.

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OPINION: Safe Drinking Water For All

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Laurel Firestone and Susana De Anda

In 2007, the small town of Lanare in California’s Central Valley finally got what it had desperately needed for years — a treatment plant to remove high levels of arsenic in the drinking water. But the victory was short-lived. Just months after the $1.3 million federally funded plant began running, the town was forced to shut it down because it ran out of money to operate and maintain it. More than a decade later, the plant remains closed and Lanare’s tap water is still contaminated — as is the drinking water piped to about a million other Californians around the state.

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Behind Most Wildfires, A Person And A Spark: ‘We Bring Fire With Us’

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Tim Arango

In the summer of 1965, Johnny Cash was living in the wilderness of Southern California when — possibly high on drugs — he sparked a wildfire with his overheated truck that blazed through more than 500 acres and threatened the lives of endangered condors. When asked by a judge if he started the fire, he said, “my truck did, and it’s dead, so you can’t question it.” (Mr. Cash ended up settling the case for $82,000, or about a half a million in today’s dollars.)

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What’s Different About California’s Fires This Year?

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

California is burning, with at least 16 big wildfires statewide. The largest, in and around the northern city of Redding, has killed at least six people and burned more than a thousand homes and other structures. Fires are nothing new in the state this time of year. It’s fire season, after all, as it is elsewhere in the West. But something feels different this time, perhaps because, following the Santa Rosa fire last October, this is the second year in a row in which fire has destroyed large parts of a city.

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