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California Water Service plans infrastructure upgrades to the Salinas water system including a water storage tank, a new booster station,sa new water main, and two new groundwater wells. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Scientists say that capturing and storing water underground can sustain agriculture and keep up with climate change. A recent study found that groundwater aquifers have more storage potential than surface water reservoirs. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
More than 735,000 Californians are served by the nearly 400 water systems that fail to meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water. Latino farm communities struggling with poverty and pollution are most impacted. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California regulators approved 35 new oil and gas well drilling permits in 2024’s second quarter. California is currently home to 101,000 actively producing, idle, and newly permitted wells that have not yet become operational, according to the FracTracker Alliance. Of that number, 26,000 are located within the 3,200-foot buffer zone where millions of people live. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Yorba Linda, a city in Orange County, isshome to the nation’s largest PFAS water treatment plant using resin, according to the city. PFAS are forever chemicals that can damage human health. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are thousands of water systems, serving around 100 million people, that have harmful levels of PFAS in their drinking water. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked with lower IQ in children, according to a new federal report. Adding low levels of fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
The U.S. Forest Service has denied permits to Blue Triton Brands, the company that bottles Arrowhead water, to extract water from San Bernardino Mountain springs. Environmentalists say the removal of that water is harming wildlife. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
The City of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $20.8 million to make improvements at its Hyperion Water Reclamation Facility near El Segundo, where a sewage spill in 2021 resulted in 12.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater discharged into the Santa Monica Bay. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
A state law passed in 2022 bans new oil well drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, and hospitals, affecting more than 2.5 million people who are predominantly low income and nearly 70% from communities of color. Oil companies have until the end of this year to submit leak detection and response plans to state regulators, and until the end of 2026 to implement them. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
According to a new report from the California Department of Water Resources, the amount of water the state can provide is projected to drop over the next twenty years due to climate change. The report evaluates a water storage and delivery system that spans more than 700 miles and provides water to 27 million residents. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: San Francisco has some of the cleanest tap water in the state because of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a snowmelt-fed body of water in Yosemite National Park, and a source of drinking water for San Francisco and several other Bay Area cities for nearly 100 years. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
A California law that bans drilling new oil wells within 3,200 feet of homes and buildings will take effect after the oil industry withdrew a referendum from the November ballot asking voters to overturn it. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
In 2019, California established the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) program to provide sustainable safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities. Since then, the number of failing water systems in the state remains about the same—385 systems serving 913,000 residents. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
More than 100,000 oil and gas wells across the western U.S. are in areas burned by wildfires in recent decades, according to a new study. Nearly 3 million people live within half a mile of a well. Most of the oil wells in California are currently in wildfire-threatened areas. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
According to a recent survey, Californians are most likely to name climate change, forest fires and wildfires, and water supply and drought as the most important environmental issues facing the state. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than any other extreme weather events, including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Visit ready.ca.gov to prepare for emergencies and extreme weather. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Following historic rainfall from late 2023 to early spring 2024, Los Angeles County reservoirsscaptured and stored about 96.3 billion gallons of water, which is enough to supply an estimated 2.4 million people for a year. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Idle oil wells pollute the environment and threaten health. There are more than 40,000 idle or orphaned wells in California. About 66% of active and idle wells leak toxic methane, and 79% of the wells pose a threat to groundwater. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: More than 130,000 residents in Kern County are served by 61 failing water systems, the state’s highest number of failing systems: ones that are consistently unable to meet drinking water standards. Most of them are in disadvantaged communities. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
The ongoing removal of four dams along the Klamath River restores and returns about 2,800 acres of sacred and culturally significant lands to the Shasta Indian Nation. The project was initiated to restore dwindling salmon populations. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll
California will use about $35 million in new federal funding to plug and remediate 206 high-risk orphaned oil and gas wells and decommission 47 production facilities. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California will receive about $35.2 million in federal funding to plug 206 high-risk orphaned oil and gas wells. The funding will also help decommission 47 attendant production facilities with approximately 70,000 feet of associated pipelines. Learn more #HealthyWorldForAll.
The US Environmental Protection Agency announced that $28.7 million in federal funds will go to California to help identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water. Learn more #HealthyWorldForAll.
For the second consecutive year, Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, filled to almost 100% capacity. The lake is crucial for irrigation, municipal water supplies, and flood control. Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, also reached full capacity for the second year in a row. Learn more #HealthyWorldForAll.
California wildlife officials banned salmon fishing due to low fish populations in the Klamath River Basin and Central Valley rivers for the second consecutive year. Learn more #HealthyWorldForAll.
A proposed water tunnel system that would capture water from the Sacramento River during major storms and send it south for storage will cost $20 billion. The Delta Tunnel would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide, large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. Learn more #HealthyWorldForAll.
California is investing in solar-over-canal projects in the Central Valley that will generate clean energy while conserving water. Almost 60% of the state’s electricity comes from clean sources. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Thousands of fish are dying including smelt, salmon, and Central Valley steelhead at CVP and SWP water pumps located in the Delta Sacramento-San Joaquin River Project. Environmentalists are calling for action. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California water officials are taking measures to control destructive pumping of depleted groundwater in the Tulare Lake agricultural region. Fees will be charged based on water use and pumping will be monitored by the state. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Newsweek recently published a map that shows where millions of residents in southern California counties can expect their water bills to increase significantly. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll
California water officials set a maximum level for chromium-6 in drinking water that will significantly reduce health risks. Exposure to Chromium-6 has been linked to gastrointestinal cancer, reproductive harm, and damage to the liver and kidneys. It is a heavy metal naturally found in groundwater and is also an industrial pollutant that has been discharged from chemical plants, cooling towers and gas compressor stations. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Celebrate Mother’s Day on May 12 by planning nature-friendly activities around Mother Earth—the Mother to All of Us and All Life. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California officials weakened proposed rules that would have reduced urban water use. To the dismay of environmentalists, the state is giving city and county water districts an extra five years to reduce outdoor irrigation. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California water officials will set goals focusing on a portion of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta watershed for increasing river flows to help rapidly declining populations of chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll
DYK: Clothing is made with highly toxic dyes and heavy metals that pollute clean water streams, rivers and aquifers. In addition, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year and significant amounts of microplastics from them go into the go into the ocean. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Celebrate Earth Day on April 22 and help protect our planet by participating in local events. This year’s theme is Planet vs. Plastics and promotes awareness on the health risk of plastics and phasing out single-use plastics. The goal is a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040. Visit earhday.org. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Drinking-water sources serving up to 25 million Californians are or have been contaminated with PFAS toxic forever chemicals. PFAS pollution is more prevalent in disadvantaged communities with up to 8.9 million Californians in those communities potentially impacted.sLearn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California’s organic waste recycling program seeks to slash by 75% the amount of organic waste it sends to landfills by 2025 from 2014 levels. The goal is to keep waste from piling up in landfills, and instead turn it into compost or biogas. The program is behind schedule. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForfAll.
DYK: Despite record rainfall in California,s80% of the water is lost to the oceans due to inadequate infrastructure. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: In 2024, 35 states will introduce policies banning PFAS forever chemicals, according to Safer States, a national alliance of environmental health organizations and coalitions. PFAS are found in numerous consumer products, providing heat, oil, stain, and grease resistance; they also pose serious human health concerns. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Extreme February rainfall created a temporary lake in Death Valley National Park at Badwater Basin. Informally called Lake Manly, it is about 6 miles long, 3 miles wide and 1 foot deep. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Rainfall from atmospheric rivers in February resulted in 2.7 billion gallons of stormwater captured by Los Angeles County Public Works. That’s enough water for 65,600 residents for a year. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: Flash flooding is the deadliest severe weather in the U.S., killing more people per year than hurricanes, tornadoes, and lightning. Almost half of flood deaths are vehicle related. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
In January, record rain brought dangerous flooding to San Diego where businesses and homes were destroyed, vehicles were swept away, and roads were closed. Emergency crews rescued injured and displaced residents. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Thanks to rain from recent atmospheric rivers, Lake Shasta reservoir water levels rose 5 feet to 1,020 feet. Last winter’s atmospheric rivers raised water levels by 135 feet from January to May 2023. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California state officials launched a four-year pilot program that aims to increase precipitation by 5% to 15%. The plan is to release silver iodide into the atmosphere through cloud seeding generators located near the base of mountains surrounding the Santa Ana River watershed basin. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Despite long opposition by environmental groups, California officials recently approved construction of the Delta Tunnel. The proposed 45-mile-long tunnel is to be built beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and would pipe water from the Sacramento River, bypassing the Delta, and redirect it into the Bethany Reservoir on the California Aqueduct, and then deliver it to Southern California. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
DYK: According to a new study of 83 U.S. cities, formerly redlined areas (which are still predominantly Black, brown, or low-income) experience higher noise levels which can damage hearing after less than two hours of exposure. The noise also affects animals in the area. Learn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
California will allow agencies to recycle filtered wastewater into drinking water for homes, schools and businesses. California would be the second state to allow this, following Colorado. State officials say most people are already drinking recycled water: most wastewater treatment plants put their treated water back into rivers and streams, which then flow down to the next town so they can drink it.sLearn more at #HealthyWorldForAll.
Officials are preparing for yet another critical water year in California as the state – along with most of the American west – remains mired in drought.
On the dusty outskirts of Bakersfield, Rosa Perez and her family are living without a basic housing amenity — clean water. Though they pay the water bill each month, what comes out of the taps is laced with a chemical that California admits could make the family of four more likely to develop cancer. Perez, 43, would rather spend some of her meager farmworker income on bottled water than see that come to pass.