by Cassandra Profita Dec. 23, 2019 A new study finds some Northwest forests have a lot of potential to capture carbon and offset climate change. That is, if they’re preserved and not logged. Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California-Berkeley looked at which forests in the Western United States should be prioritized for preservation under climate […]
Read MoreCategory: Main Article Archive
An archive of articles that where displayed on the River Watch main home page.
One thing you can do: Help to preserve forests
By Jillian Mock When we make a mess in the kitchen, many of us reach for paper towels without sparing a thought for where those crisp white sheets originated. If you’re in North America, some of the fiber in your paper towels (and other tissue products like toilet paper) probably started off as a tree […]
Read MoreWeb Map Showing California’s Fully Appropriated Streams
The State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Water Rights (Division) has released an interactive GIS web map for representing Fully Appropriated Stream Systems (FASS) in California. The web map provides access to FASS and related information, including seasonal limitations, court references, and Board decisions all in one place and within a geospatial context. The […]
Read MoreCALIFORNIA WATER | GROUNDWATER
The Nature Conservancy is pleased to announce the release of the Critical Species LookBook (the LookBook) which may be found on the Groundwater Resource Hub. The LookBook is a compendium of 84 state and federally listed species likely to be affected by groundwater management and merit consideration by Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act […]
Read MoreMaui is urged to withdraw its high-court wastewater appeal
Readers: This is a situation where there is an attempt to continue polluting groundwater and therefore the beaches and ocean where fresh water ends up. You can help by boycotting traveling there and opting to go somewhere else where environmental laws are respected and followed. Or you can send a letter out of outrage using […]
Read MoreTop 10 Solutions to Reverse Climate Change
Adapted with permission from Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming (Penguin Books, 2017), edited by Paul Hawken Paul Hawken and the Project Drawdown experts thought they knew what to expect when they modeled and ranked 80 solutions that could reverse global warming. But the data had some surprises in store. […]
Read MoreThe Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Demanding a New Kind of Politics
By Masha Gessen October 2, 2019 Sometimes the world makes so little sense that the only thing to do is engage in civil disobedience—even in a country as attached to its rules and regulations as Sweden is. Fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg has been protesting for more than a month. Before the country’s parliamentary election on September 9th, […]
Read MoreCLIMATE CHANGE
The crisis is upon us. What do we do now? Shonagh Rae For The LA Times The world is drifting steadily toward a climate catastrophe. For many of us, that’s been clear for a few years or maybe a decade or even a few decades. But others have known that a reckoning was coming for […]
Read MoreThe Russian River: Managing at the Watershed Level
Gokce SencanSeptember 10, 2019 This is part of a series on issues facing California’s rivers. Water managers across the state face new and more extreme challenges as the climate warms—from balancing the sometimes conflicting needs of urban, agricultural, and environmental water users to reducing risks from fires, floods, and droughts. We talked to Grant Davis, general […]
Read MoreEPA Proposes to Narrow Water Quality Certification Authority Under the Clean Water Act
Carbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle, with devastating consequences, study finds. August 2019 The Environmental Protection Agency issued a lengthy proposed rule on August 9, 2019 to clarify the substantive and procedural requirements for water quality certifications under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. According to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, the changes […]
Read MoreLetter to the Editor Published in the Press Democrat, Santa Rosa CA
State forest management policy is a major factor in the loss of salmon populations and the potential recovery of salmon populations. And – as it turn out forest management is a large part of the long term problem or long term solution of the climate change issue. I think the voting population is ready for change. […]
Read MoreBreaching a “carbon threshold” could lead to mass extinction
Carbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle, with devastating consequences, study finds. Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office July 8, 2019 In the brain, when neurons fire off electrical signals to their neighbors, this happens through an “all-or-none” response. The signal only happens once conditions in the cell breach a certain threshold. […]
Read MoreWhat Does Climate Change Really Mean to California’s Water Resources?
August 6, 2019 Robert Shibatani Guest blogger By Robert Shibatani Whether you are a water utility manager, elected official, or homeowner, future water availability is a concern. There are several factors fostering that concern and one of them is climate change. In fact, these days, climate change is a rapidly growing global hot topic (no […]
Read MoreThe Environmental Downside of Cannabis Cultivation
Wide-scale cannabis cultivation is causing environmental damage. Federal regulations could change this. By Jodi Helmer Thanks to the legalization of recreational cannabis in 10 states and the District of Columbia, sparking up a joint in these areas is as easy as ordering a glass of wine. Spending on legal cannabis, which includes 33 states and the […]
Read MoreState puts up a roadblock for desert water project
Law requires new environmental review of Cadiz plan to pump from Mojave aquifer. By Phil Willon SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has thrown another roadblock in front of a long-fought venture to pump and market groundwater from the Mojave Desert, leaving the Cadiz Inc. project facing a new set of state environmental reviews. Newsom signed […]
Read MoreAttorney General Becerra to Supreme Court: The Clean Water Act Regulates Indirect Discharges of Pollutants into Our Nation’s Waters
From the Office of California Attorney General: California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today, as part of a 14-state coalition, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County of Maui. In the brief, the coalition supports the environmental groups’ position that the indirect discharge of wastewater into the […]
Read MoreNature: the next big thing in climate adaptation technology?
Jul 18, 2019 A unique levee in the Bay Area combines flood protection with wastewater treatment and wetlands restoration. The term infrastructure might conjures roads, pipes and walls — pretty much the antithesis of nature. But some scientists and engineers want to reverse that impression by harnessing nature as infrastructure. The idea that plants and soil can prevent flooding […]
Read MoreWho owns groundwater? Lawsuit seeks to answer the question
June 21, 2019By Christina Coxchristina@theacorn.com A case making its way through Santa Barbara County Superior Court is challenging the amount of water farm owners can pump from a groundwater basin that sits below Moorpark. The lawsuit was filed more than a year ago, in March 2018, by a group of Ventura County landowners and agricultural […]
Read MorePolluted Gravel Pit Breached in Flood
From Russianriver Keeper (www.russianriverkeeper.org) Our worst fears were realized in the Feb 28th flood event. The largest gravel pit mine, Syar’s Basalt Pit, had a complete levee failure on a section that had failed in previous floods. The image at left shows the breach in center of picture, with river on the left and Syar […]
Read MoreThe New Pollution: Monterey Bay is Swimming in Microplastic
Kevin Stark Monterey Bay — long considered an environmental success story—is now facing a new threat: tiny particles of plastic from single use drinking and food containers. And scientists are finding that it’s far worse than they suspected. The bay is a national marine sanctuary, a place where environmental protections and sustainable fishing have transformed […]
Read MoreUS climate policy must protect forests and communities, not the forest industry
By Danna Smith, Opinion Contributor — 03/21/19The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill The introduction of The Green New Deal resolution and the appointment of a House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, has propelled climate change back into the national policy debate. That’s why today, on […]
Read MoreThe Impacts of Climate Change and Delta Water
Sierra Club One of the ironies of living in an era of climate change is that it underscores how much we humans have to change. We cannot stop, reduce or adapt to climate change unless we change. Yet, because change is hard, policy influencers who can make a big difference—even the best intentioned—are having a […]
Read MoreHuffman Introduces Northwest California Wilderness, Recreation, and Working Forests Act
Apr 10, 2019Press Release Washington, D.C.-– After incorporating community input and ideas from across northwest California, Rep. Huffman (D-San Rafael) introduced his legislation today to guard communities against wildfires, provide local jobs, restore lands impaired by illegal marijuana growing operations, and permanently protect many of northwest California’s spectacular wild places and pristine streams. Senator Kamala […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s Public Trust Doctrine Draws Attention in the Courts
February 1, 2019 Legal Notes by Christian Mars The common law public trust doctrine in California has long played an important role in protecting navigable waters and waterfronts for the purposes of public use and enjoyment, such as commerce, navigation, fisheries, recreation and preservation. Cities periodically encounter the doctrine when: Administering tideland grants; Maintaining or operating […]
Read MoreNewsom declares wildfire emergency, waives environmental rules to expedite projects
By Taryn LunaMar 22, 2019Sacramento The governor’s action marks the latest effort by the state to offset the possibility of catastrophe after back-to-back years of savage wildfires that killed more than 100 people and burned nearly 2 million acres in total. The projects will cost a total of $35 million, which will be paid with […]
Read MoreWhy Gov Newsom and Cal Fire have Violated the Public Trust
March 24, 2019 by CA Chaparral Institute Governor Newsom’s Executive Order to waive environmental protection laws for a large number of Cal Fire’s habitat clearance and logging operations ignores science, dismisses the lessons of the 2017 and 2018 wildfires, and is following the pattern President Trump has established – if facts get in the way […]
Read MoreA massive aquifer lies beneath the Mojave Desert. Could it help solve California’s water problem?
“Cadiz hopes to pump 16.3 billion gallons of water from the desert each year, equivalent to 50,000 acre-feet. A required environmental assessment, paid for by the company, found that 32,000 acre-feet of water would naturally recharge the aquifer each year, an 18,000-acre-foot annual deficit that Cadiz acknowledges would last for the project’s 50-year life. The assessment […]
Read MoreThe future of the Clean Water Rule is in our hands
The EPA wants to reduce protections for headwater streams. Stand up for clean water today! Whether you fish or just simply understand the value of clean water, there is no law more important than the Clean Water Act. In 2015, the EPA developed a rule that affirmed Clean Water Act protections for “intermittent and ephemeral […]
Read MorePacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Leads Suit Against State Water Board to Protect Salmon in the Water Quality Control Plan
January 28, 2019 Maven Breaking News From the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA): On Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, a coalition of environmental, fishing, and Native American groups led by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) filed suit against the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board). Plaintiffs demand that the […]
Read MoreNew Platform Offers Resources and Engagement Tools for California Water Agencies and Communities
Website provides a one-stop shop for information on the state’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Sept. 18, 2018) Maven’s Notebook, in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Stanford’s Program on Water in the West (WitW), launched a new website today at www.groundwaterexchange.org to provide a central hub of science-based information related to […]
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