Aquafornia

It doesn’t look like wastewater will be turned into tap water in Marin County any time soon. California regulators approved new rules in December allowing water agencies to purify wastewater and put it back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses. Officials at the Marin Municipal Water District said potential projects come with a high cost and lots of complexities. “Where we stand is we look forward to continuing to monitor the regulations and larger agencies,” said Lucy Croy, water quality manager. With that said, members of the district board said they are interested in pursuing expansion of its purple pipe system that delivers recycled water for such purposes as irrigation, toilet flushing and industrial cooling.

Years ago, in a moment of despair over the utter dead-end that solving the Tijuana River sewage crisis seemed to be, I asked U.S. officials why we don’t just cross the border and start fixing broken pipes in Mexico. Nations can’t just cross each other’s borders like that, MacKenzie, the kindly federal official told me. At least, they shouldn’t. It would be a rude mistake. Mexico could consider such federal intrusion without permission as an act of war. But President Joe Biden’s pick to rein in cross-border sewage spills has found a way to leverage her relationships with Mexico to encourage more collaborative U.S. involvement. Maria-Elena Giner announced to reporters during a press conference last week that the International Boundary and Water Commission (the binational agency that deals with cross-border water issues) will start monthly inspections of a key sewage pump and trash shredder in Tijuana that feeds wastewater into San Diego for treatment.
-Written by MacKenzie Elmer, Voice of San Diego reporter. 

It’s rather amazing to ponder: As of this year, the Lower American River Task Force (LARTF) has been meeting regularly for the past 30 years. The task force is a unique collaborative venue created in 1994 as a way for environmental, recreational, community organizations, and others to learn about and engage with local, state, and federal agencies on their efforts to maintain flood control, environmental protection, and recreation on the Lower American River Parkway. Its members include representatives from federal, state, and local agencies, environmental and recreational groups, water suppliers, and other interested parties.

On Jan. 26, there was an opening ceremony at the Salton Sea for the construction of a big new plant to produce lithium. Presiding at the ceremony was John Podesta, who is the senior adviser to President Biden in implementing the $375 billion Clean Energy and climate change bill that was part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August 2022. It was Podesta who worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed up the environmental review for the lithium plant. But at the same time, the Army Corps has recently announced that it is postponing a restoration plan for the Salton Sea until 2030 or 2032. Many are saying that the method of extracting lithium at the Salton Sea is less damaging to the environment than traditional open pit mining and evaporation ponds.
-Written by Chuck Parker, a Coachella Valley resident who has been active in the Salton Sea Coalition since 2018.

Related article:

• New York Times: An Idyll on the Shores of a Toxic Lake

The Biden-Harris administration is redoubling its efforts to improve cybersecurity for the nation’s water systems. In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House issued a dire warning to state governors alerting them of the need to protect water and wastewater systems from ongoing cybersecurity threats and requested that the states provide plans to decrease the risk of attacks on water and wastewater systems in their state. … While the letter focused on the national need for investment in water infrastructure, California’s water systems are in particularly dire need for upgrades. The EPA has previously estimated that California needs about $51 billion in improvements to its water infrastructure.

Journalist and author Stephen Robert Miller grew up in Tucson. And now, he’s written a book taking a different look at his childhood home. In “Over the Seawall,” Miller investigates how lofty attempts to control nature and protect ourselves from climate change often backfire — and how vulnerable people are the most affected by it. It’s about unintended consequences and good — and sometimes bad — intentions. And, in Arizona, it’s about water – and our often futile attempts to get more of it in our ever-growing metropolises. … I focused a lot on agriculture and, obviously, you know, as everyone kind of does and you start writing about climate change and especially Arizona, because ag uses so much of the water, right about three-quarters of the whole system.

Related article: 

• Arizona Family: Florence sees water woes as town grows 

… In a matter of weeks, a succession of powerful storms flipped the script, dumping a stream of record-setting, intense rainfall across California, much of it on the state’s southwestern region. That wet pattern has continued as winter has given way to spring, with this past weekend’s storm dumping up to 4 inches of rain in some areas — pushing Los Angeles to a new two-year rain total not seen since the late 1800s and forestalling any hope for a quick end to the rainy season. … With more than 30 million acre-feet of water in storage, the state’s reservoirs are at 116% of their historical average. 

Related articles:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s how long cold, wet weather will continue across California in April
• Los Angeles Times: California storms deliver above-average snowpack, replenish reservoirs
• San Francisco Chronicle: What California’s ‘unusually average’ snowpack means for water resources
• SJV Sun: Feds boost Friant Division water allocation
• Union of Concerned Scientists: Four Reasons You Should Care about California Snow

Thirteen early to mid-career water professionals from across the West have been chosen to participate in the Water Education Foundation’s 2024 Colorado River Water Leaders cohort. Like our California Water Leaders program, the Colorado River Water Leaders cohort includes engineers, lawyers, resource specialists, scientists and others working for public, private and nongovernmental organizations from across the river’s basin in the United States and Mexico. The 2024 cohort roster can be found here. The Water Leader programs, led by Foundation Executive Director Jenn Bowles, deepen knowledge of water issues, enhance individual leadership skills and prepare participants to take an active, cooperative approach to decision-making about water resource issues. Leading experts and top policymakers serve as mentors to cohort members.

Fog is central to life in California. … But climate change is going to disrupt this quintessentially Californian weather experience. We asked Todd Dawson, a scientist who has long studied the relationship between fog and redwoods, to divine the future of fog for us. Why does fog occur in California, and why is it so important to the state’s ecosystems? … Fog also provides an enormous, critical water subsidy that sustains many coastal systems. Our coastal fog has a high water content, so when it strikes surfaces such as redwoods and grasses, it drips into the ecosystem. It represents anywhere from 30–40% of all the water coastal redwoods get each year.