California regulators voted Wednesday to establish a drinking water limit on hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical compound made infamous by the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
Rep. Scott Peters and Sen. Alex Padilla introduced legislation Tuesday to help alleviate the western water crisis, stemming from the long-term drought conditions affecting the Colorado River and its reservoirs.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the final version of California Water Plan Update 2023. This plan is a critical planning tool and can now be used by water managers, such as water districts, cities and counties, and Tribal communities, to inform and guide the use and development of water resources in the state.
As of Monday morning, water tainted with untreated sewage from Mexico was flowing at 171 million gallons per day, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission.
The IBWC is also reporting that so far this year, the transboundary volume in the Tijuana River has been 25.3 billion gallons, although it says the composition of this flow is estimated to be 95% stormwater.
Cyber criminals affiliated with Iran and China are targeting critical water sector infrastructure in the United States. In a letter to governors, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Michael Regan, and the president’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said disabling cyberattacks are striking water and wastewater systems throughout the United States.
Olivenhain Municipal Water District continues to reduce its imported drinking water demand by converting seven meters within the Village Park Manor condominium community to recycled water.
A plan to build the largest reservoir in California in decades, Sites Reservoir about 70 miles north of Sacramento, is being challenged as ecologically destructive and not worth the cost in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups Wednesday.
California is no stranger to severe droughts. Eleven of the past 17 years have been in drought, with urban water shortages, barren farm fields, and a lack of water for fish and wildlife — the most recent ending just last winter when soaking rains finally returned.
The politics of water in California could be likened to the constant grinding of tectonic plates 10 miles or more beneath its surface. The Pacific Plate battles with the North American Plate for dominance along the 800-mile-long San Andreas Fault tracing California’s coast. When one gives way, the state experiences an earthquake.
