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"content": "\u003cp>A powerful storm fueled by an \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/atmospheric-rivers-explainer-pineapple-express-pacific-california-8ab9a1f5bcda656055f11b71ed5b31c0\">atmospheric river\u003c/a> pounded Southern California on Monday, causing widespread flooding, turning hillsides into rivers of mud and rocks, knocking out power to many and leading to evacuation orders in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 1.4 million people in the Los Angeles area, including the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, were under a flash flood warning Monday morning. Up to 9 inches of rain had already fallen in the area, with more expected, according to the National Weather Service, which called the flash flooding and threat of mudslides “a particularly dangerous situation.”\u003cbr>\n[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Keki Mingus, resident of Studio City, Los Angeles\"]‘I can’t believe it. It looks like a river that’s been here for years. I’ve never seen anything like it.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A text late Sunday alerted Keki Mingus, who lives in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, that a neighbor’s house at the top of a hill was in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mud, rocks and water came rushing down through their house and another neighbor’s house and into our street,” Mingus said as water continued to rush down the road around dawn on Monday. “I can’t believe it. It looks like a river that’s been here for years. I’ve never seen anything like it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A record 4.1 inches of rain fell Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, blowing past the previous record of 2.55 inches set in 1927, the National Weather Service said. Sunday was also the third-wettest February day ever recorded for the city’s downtown and was tied for its 10th-wettest day ever since records began in 1877.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974719\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11974719\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"People walk in the rain as a storm moves through with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk in the rain as a storm moves through with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background near Sausalito, California, on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. \u003ccite>(Eric Risberg/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Northern California, the storm inundated streets and brought down trees and electrical lines Sunday throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, where winds topped 60 mph in some areas. Gusts exceeding 80 mph were recorded in the mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to the south in San Jose, emergency crews pulled occupants out of the windows of a car that was stranded by flooding and rescued people from a homeless encampment alongside a rising river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974720\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11974720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Search and rescue workers investigate a car surrounded by floodwater\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Search and rescue workers investigate a car surrounded by floodwater as heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to swell on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, in San Jose, California. The vehicle was uninhabited. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Yuba City, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco, police said they were investigating the death of a man found under a big redwood tree in his backyard Sunday evening. A neighbor heard the tree fall, and it was possible the man was using a ladder to try and clear the redwood when he was killed, police said on Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm then moved into Southern California, where officials warned of potentially devastating flooding and ordered evacuations for canyons that burned in recent wildfires and are at high risk for mud and debris flows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve had flooding. We’ve had gusty winds. We’ve had the whole gamut here,” said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service near Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been doing damage reports all night, so I’ve seen a fair amount of damage and of people being evacuated from homes due to mudslides,” Hall said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Classes were canceled Monday for schools throughout Santa Barbara County, which was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/60bdabd547a540b0b72da785739a9033\">devastated by mudslides\u003c/a> caused by 2018 storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further down the coast, strong winds and heavy rain brought treacherous conditions to the city of Ventura, said Alexis Herrera, who was trying to bail out his flooded sedan. “All the freeways are flooded around here,” Herrera said in Spanish. “I don’t know how I’m going to move my car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 543,000 customers were without electricity statewide on Monday morning, according to \u003ca href=\"https://poweroutage.us/area/state/california\">poweroutage.us\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palisades Tahoe, a ski resort about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, said Sunday it was anticipating the heaviest snowfall yet this season, with accumulations of 6 inches per hour for a total of up to 2 feet. Heavy snow was expected into Monday throughout the Sierra Nevada and motorists were urged to avoid mountain roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the state had been drying out from the initial atmospheric river-powered storm that blew in last week. The latest one, also called a “Pineapple Express” because its plume of moisture stretches back across the Pacific to near Hawaii, arrived offshore in Northern California on Saturday, when most of the state was under some sort of wind, surf or flood watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and can produce torrential amounts of rain as they move over land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather service issued a rare “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1754043469067387013?s=20\">hurricane force wind warning\u003c/a>” for the Central Coast, with wind gusts of up to 92 mph possible from the Monterey Peninsula to the northern section of San Luis Obispo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evacuation orders and warnings were in effect for mountain and canyon areas of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath urged residents near wildfire burn areas of Topanga and Soledad canyons to heed orders to get out ahead of possible mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have not already left, please gather your family, your pets, your medications and leave immediately,” Horvath said at a Sunday briefing. The county set up shelters where evacuees could spend the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk.[aside tag=\"weather,storm\" label=\"More Related Stories\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest, said its schools would be open Monday, with the exception of Topanga Elementary Charter School and Vinedale College Preparatory Academy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather service forecast up to 8 inches of rainfall across Southern California’s coastal and valley areas, with 14 inches possible in the foothills and mountains. Heavy to moderate rain is expected in Southern California until Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The storm will actually sit on top of us for today,” Hall said. “There’s really no relief, unfortunately, because this band is just stalled right over us, and it’s going to dump moderate to heavy rain on us all day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>___\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press videographer Eugene Garcia in Ventura, California, and radio reporter Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A powerful storm fueled by an \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/atmospheric-rivers-explainer-pineapple-express-pacific-california-8ab9a1f5bcda656055f11b71ed5b31c0\">atmospheric river\u003c/a> pounded Southern California on Monday, causing widespread flooding, turning hillsides into rivers of mud and rocks, knocking out power to many and leading to evacuation orders in some areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 1.4 million people in the Los Angeles area, including the Hollywood Hills and Beverly Hills, were under a flash flood warning Monday morning. Up to 9 inches of rain had already fallen in the area, with more expected, according to the National Weather Service, which called the flash flooding and threat of mudslides “a particularly dangerous situation.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A text late Sunday alerted Keki Mingus, who lives in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, that a neighbor’s house at the top of a hill was in trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mud, rocks and water came rushing down through their house and another neighbor’s house and into our street,” Mingus said as water continued to rush down the road around dawn on Monday. “I can’t believe it. It looks like a river that’s been here for years. I’ve never seen anything like it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A record 4.1 inches of rain fell Sunday in downtown Los Angeles, blowing past the previous record of 2.55 inches set in 1927, the National Weather Service said. Sunday was also the third-wettest February day ever recorded for the city’s downtown and was tied for its 10th-wettest day ever since records began in 1877.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974719\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11974719\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"People walk in the rain as a storm moves through with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24036658778995-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk in the rain as a storm moves through with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background near Sausalito, California, on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. \u003ccite>(Eric Risberg/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Northern California, the storm inundated streets and brought down trees and electrical lines Sunday throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, where winds topped 60 mph in some areas. Gusts exceeding 80 mph were recorded in the mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just to the south in San Jose, emergency crews pulled occupants out of the windows of a car that was stranded by flooding and rescued people from a homeless encampment alongside a rising river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11974720\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11974720\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Search and rescue workers investigate a car surrounded by floodwater\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/AP24035841785066-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Search and rescue workers investigate a car surrounded by floodwater as heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to swell on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, in San Jose, California. The vehicle was uninhabited. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Yuba City, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco, police said they were investigating the death of a man found under a big redwood tree in his backyard Sunday evening. A neighbor heard the tree fall, and it was possible the man was using a ladder to try and clear the redwood when he was killed, police said on Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The storm then moved into Southern California, where officials warned of potentially devastating flooding and ordered evacuations for canyons that burned in recent wildfires and are at high risk for mud and debris flows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve had flooding. We’ve had gusty winds. We’ve had the whole gamut here,” said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service near Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been doing damage reports all night, so I’ve seen a fair amount of damage and of people being evacuated from homes due to mudslides,” Hall said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Classes were canceled Monday for schools throughout Santa Barbara County, which was \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/60bdabd547a540b0b72da785739a9033\">devastated by mudslides\u003c/a> caused by 2018 storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further down the coast, strong winds and heavy rain brought treacherous conditions to the city of Ventura, said Alexis Herrera, who was trying to bail out his flooded sedan. “All the freeways are flooded around here,” Herrera said in Spanish. “I don’t know how I’m going to move my car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 543,000 customers were without electricity statewide on Monday morning, according to \u003ca href=\"https://poweroutage.us/area/state/california\">poweroutage.us\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palisades Tahoe, a ski resort about 200 miles northeast of San Francisco, said Sunday it was anticipating the heaviest snowfall yet this season, with accumulations of 6 inches per hour for a total of up to 2 feet. Heavy snow was expected into Monday throughout the Sierra Nevada and motorists were urged to avoid mountain roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the state had been drying out from the initial atmospheric river-powered storm that blew in last week. The latest one, also called a “Pineapple Express” because its plume of moisture stretches back across the Pacific to near Hawaii, arrived offshore in Northern California on Saturday, when most of the state was under some sort of wind, surf or flood watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and can produce torrential amounts of rain as they move over land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The weather service issued a rare “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/NWSBayArea/status/1754043469067387013?s=20\">hurricane force wind warning\u003c/a>” for the Central Coast, with wind gusts of up to 92 mph possible from the Monterey Peninsula to the northern section of San Luis Obispo County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evacuation orders and warnings were in effect for mountain and canyon areas of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath urged residents near wildfire burn areas of Topanga and Soledad canyons to heed orders to get out ahead of possible mudslides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have not already left, please gather your family, your pets, your medications and leave immediately,” Horvath said at a Sunday briefing. The county set up shelters where evacuees could spend the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A Humboldt County cannabis grower \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/enforcement/compliance/acl_complaint_actions/2024/sweet-fully-executed-stipulated-final-judgment-12.19.23.pdf\">has agreed to pay $750,000\u003c/a>, remove unpermitted ponds and restore streams and wetlands after state officials accused him of violating regulations protecting water supplies, wildlife and waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the total, $500,000 is a record penalty for a water rights violation in California. \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">State officials \u003c/a>said the violations by Joshua Sweet and the companies he owns and manages, Shadow Light Ranch, LLC and The Hills, LLC, continued for years and were “egregious,” damaging wetlands and other resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, Sweet will have to pay an additional $1 million if the remediation work outlined is not completed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to CalMatters, Sweet said, “If the full penalty and remediation costs were due today, it would take everything I own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much,” Sweet, \u003ca href=\"https://search.cannabis.ca.gov/results?searchQuery=Joshua%20Sweet\">a licensed cannabis cultivator\u003c/a>, said in the emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even during our court-mandated settlement conference, they were asked why they would go after a small independent businessman with these type of enormous fines usually reserved for huge corporations that destroy ecosystems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the settlement, Sweet agreed that “developing the properties in Humboldt County … resulted in violations of the California Fish and Game Code and the California Water Code.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The companies’ 435 acres of land are part of the Emerald Triangle, where cannabis reins. Springs and streams of the Bear Canyon Creek Watershed cross the land and eventually drain into the South Fork Eel River — a wild and scenic river that provides critical habitat for \u003ca href=\"https://eelriver.org/the-eel-river/ecology/\">threatened and endangered species\u003c/a> of steelhead, Chinook and coho salmon.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Joshua Sweet, Humboldt County Cannabis Grower\"]‘Although I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much.’[/pullquote]The settlement comes as the cannabis \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/02/emerald-triangle-cannabis-communities/\">industry is still trying to find its footing after legalization\u003c/a> and as its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/illegal-marijuana-growers-steal-california-water/\">water use, especially for illegal cannabis \u003c/a>operations, becomes \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article254058083.html\">increasingly contentious\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement, approved by the Humboldt County Superior Court and \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">announced last week,\u003c/a> is the culmination of years of inspections by state water and wildlife officials dating back to 2016, according to the timeline \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sweet-First-Amended-Complaint-filed.pdf\">outlined in the initial complaint\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It “resolves violations … that include: the owner’s destruction of wetland habitat and stream channels; conversion of oak woodland to grow cannabis; and failure to … satisfy permitting requirements,” \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">the state’s announcement of the deal said. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/enforcement/director.html\">Yvonne West\u003c/a>, director of the State Water Resources Control Board’s office of enforcement, said Sweet didn’t have authorization to divert water to the reservoirs and use it. Between 2017 and 2020, Sweet took about 16.2 acre-feet of water for three ponds, according to an email from the water board — approximately enough to supply about 49 households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ordered penalties are modest given the scope of damage, the length of time the site has been left unremediated and considering the unjust enrichment or benefit to Mr. Sweet from running a business for several years without going through the necessary permitting process,” said Jeremy Valverde, assistant chief counsel at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet and his businesses “for years resisted our attempts to cooperatively work on restoration and recovery of those resources, leaving formal enforcement as our only option,” said Joshua Curtis, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s assistant executive officer.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" tag=\"water-rights\"]Sweet said, though, that the case didn’t have to play out like it did. “Offers were made and denied,” he said. “There would be no settlement without their need to ‘make an example of me first.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The size of the penalty is notable because the water board has limited powers to enforce California’s arcane water rights system. A weeklong standoff during a drought, when \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">ranchers pumped more than half of the Shasta River’s\u003c/a> water in violation of state orders, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">netted a $500 per day fine that reached $4,000\u003c/a>, or roughly $50 per rancher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers floated a bill last year that could triple the fines for water rights violations, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/06/california-water-fines/\">though the bill has thus far stalled\u003c/a>. And in 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB195\">a new law enhanced penalties\u003c/a> for cannabis-related violations to $3,500 per day,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>though this took effect after then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was an ongoing use by Mr. Sweet, and the penalties are over an approximately four-year period for unauthorized diversion and use of water to support cultivation,” West said. “Five hundred dollars a day, multiple violations over a four-year period, does really add up. And then again, we did have the additional types of violations at play here as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cannabis operation’s complex irrigation system came to state officials’ attention after Sweet notified the Department of Fish and Wildlife of plans to develop the property further in 2015, the 2020 complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, inspections by state agencies turned up “violations … for unlawful alteration of the bed, channel, or bank of a stream and … unlawful sediment discharge into waters,” the complaint said. They also turned up storage tanks and three storage ponds, two of which predated his ownership and one that, according to the complaint, Sweet had constructed despite the warning that it needed a permit.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Yvonne West, director, Office of Enforcement, California Water Resources Board\"]‘This was an ongoing use by Mr. Sweet, and the penalties are over an approximately four-year period for unauthorized diversion and use of water to support cultivation.’[/pullquote]The pond was in a location that “disturbs/inundates wetlands with a direct hydrologic connection and discharge to a … tributary to the South Fork Eel River,” the complaint said.\u003cem> \u003c/em>“Additionally, the Property’s other ponds, multiple illegal stream crossings, and road-associated landslide discharge or threaten to discharge to unnamed tributaries of the South Fork Eel River.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pond is one of the reasons state officials considered the case egregious, West said. “We didn’t have the opportunity to review and catalog the status of that wetland or the benefits of that wetland before it was destroyed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet, the grower, said the lengthy process “has caused so much undue and unnecessary strain, pain, and suffering on me and my health, my family, my friends, and this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought what I was following the law and had hired the proper professional team to abide by the myriad of requirements,” Sweet added. “My suffering does not end, and I will continue to struggle for the foreseeable future. Which is, I guess, what they wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A Humboldt County cannabis grower \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/enforcement/compliance/acl_complaint_actions/2024/sweet-fully-executed-stipulated-final-judgment-12.19.23.pdf\">has agreed to pay $750,000\u003c/a>, remove unpermitted ponds and restore streams and wetlands after state officials accused him of violating regulations protecting water supplies, wildlife and waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the total, $500,000 is a record penalty for a water rights violation in California. \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">State officials \u003c/a>said the violations by Joshua Sweet and the companies he owns and manages, Shadow Light Ranch, LLC and The Hills, LLC, continued for years and were “egregious,” damaging wetlands and other resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the settlement, Sweet will have to pay an additional $1 million if the remediation work outlined is not completed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to CalMatters, Sweet said, “If the full penalty and remediation costs were due today, it would take everything I own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Although I will follow through with my end of the settlement, I do not believe this is fair or just, and I believe I have already suffered way too much,” Sweet, \u003ca href=\"https://search.cannabis.ca.gov/results?searchQuery=Joshua%20Sweet\">a licensed cannabis cultivator\u003c/a>, said in the emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The settlement comes as the cannabis \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2023/02/emerald-triangle-cannabis-communities/\">industry is still trying to find its footing after legalization\u003c/a> and as its \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/illegal-marijuana-growers-steal-california-water/\">water use, especially for illegal cannabis \u003c/a>operations, becomes \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article254058083.html\">increasingly contentious\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agreement, approved by the Humboldt County Superior Court and \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">announced last week,\u003c/a> is the culmination of years of inspections by state water and wildlife officials dating back to 2016, according to the timeline \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Sweet-First-Amended-Complaint-filed.pdf\">outlined in the initial complaint\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It “resolves violations … that include: the owner’s destruction of wetland habitat and stream channels; conversion of oak woodland to grow cannabis; and failure to … satisfy permitting requirements,” \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/court-approves-175-million-settlement-for-cannabis-cultivators-environmental-violations#gsc.tab=0\">the state’s announcement of the deal said. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/enforcement/director.html\">Yvonne West\u003c/a>, director of the State Water Resources Control Board’s office of enforcement, said Sweet didn’t have authorization to divert water to the reservoirs and use it. Between 2017 and 2020, Sweet took about 16.2 acre-feet of water for three ponds, according to an email from the water board — approximately enough to supply about 49 households for a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ordered penalties are modest given the scope of damage, the length of time the site has been left unremediated and considering the unjust enrichment or benefit to Mr. Sweet from running a business for several years without going through the necessary permitting process,” said Jeremy Valverde, assistant chief counsel at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in an emailed statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet and his businesses “for years resisted our attempts to cooperatively work on restoration and recovery of those resources, leaving formal enforcement as our only option,” said Joshua Curtis, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s assistant executive officer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sweet said, though, that the case didn’t have to play out like it did. “Offers were made and denied,” he said. “There would be no settlement without their need to ‘make an example of me first.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The size of the penalty is notable because the water board has limited powers to enforce California’s arcane water rights system. A weeklong standoff during a drought, when \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/shasta-river-water-standoff/\">ranchers pumped more than half of the Shasta River’s\u003c/a> water in violation of state orders, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">netted a $500 per day fine that reached $4,000\u003c/a>, or roughly $50 per rancher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers floated a bill last year that could triple the fines for water rights violations, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/06/california-water-fines/\">though the bill has thus far stalled\u003c/a>. And in 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB195\">a new law enhanced penalties\u003c/a> for cannabis-related violations to $3,500 per day,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>though this took effect after then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was an ongoing use by Mr. Sweet, and the penalties are over an approximately four-year period for unauthorized diversion and use of water to support cultivation,” West said. “Five hundred dollars a day, multiple violations over a four-year period, does really add up. And then again, we did have the additional types of violations at play here as well.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cannabis operation’s complex irrigation system came to state officials’ attention after Sweet notified the Department of Fish and Wildlife of plans to develop the property further in 2015, the 2020 complaint said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, inspections by state agencies turned up “violations … for unlawful alteration of the bed, channel, or bank of a stream and … unlawful sediment discharge into waters,” the complaint said. They also turned up storage tanks and three storage ponds, two of which predated his ownership and one that, according to the complaint, Sweet had constructed despite the warning that it needed a permit.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The pond was in a location that “disturbs/inundates wetlands with a direct hydrologic connection and discharge to a … tributary to the South Fork Eel River,” the complaint said.\u003cem> \u003c/em>“Additionally, the Property’s other ponds, multiple illegal stream crossings, and road-associated landslide discharge or threaten to discharge to unnamed tributaries of the South Fork Eel River.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pond is one of the reasons state officials considered the case egregious, West said. “We didn’t have the opportunity to review and catalog the status of that wetland or the benefits of that wetland before it was destroyed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sweet, the grower, said the lengthy process “has caused so much undue and unnecessary strain, pain, and suffering on me and my health, my family, my friends, and this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought what I was following the law and had hired the proper professional team to abide by the myriad of requirements,” Sweet added. “My suffering does not end, and I will continue to struggle for the foreseeable future. Which is, I guess, what they wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The return of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/monterey-north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-environment-04ca611714a246d3b7878c4481137c24\">sea otters\u003c/a> and their voracious appetites has helped rescue a section of California marshland, a new study shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea otters eat constantly, and one of their favorite snacks is the striped shore crab. These crabs dig burrows and also nibble away the roots of the marsh grass pickleweed that holds dirt in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Brent Hughes, marine ecologist, Sonoma State University\"]‘They don’t completely reverse erosion, but slow it down to natural levels.’[/pullquote]Left unchecked, the crabs turn the marsh banks “into Swiss cheese,” which can collapse when big waves or storms hit, said Brent Hughes, a Sonoma State University marine ecologist and co-author of the new study published Wednesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06959-9\">in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers found that the return of the crab-eating sea otters to a tidal estuary near Monterey, California, helped curb erosion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t completely reverse erosion, but slow it down to natural levels,” Hughes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many years, there weren’t any sea otters in Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 19th-century fur trade decimated their global population, which once stretched from Alaska to California, as well as into Russia and Japan. At one point, as few as 2,000 animals remained, mostly in Alaska.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hunting bans and habitat restoration efforts helped sea otters recover some of their former range. The first returnees were spotted in Elkhorn Slough in 1984. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s program for raising and releasing orphaned sea otters also boosted the estuary’s population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11955604\" label=\"Related Story\"]For the new study, researchers analyzed historic erosion rates dating back to the 1930s to assess the impact of sea otters’ return. They also set up fenced areas to keep otters away from some creek sections for three years — those creek banks eroded much faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Past studies about the return of top predators to various habitats — most famously, the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park — show how such species maintain ecosystem stability. Wolves curbed the number of elk and moose that ate saplings and slowed riverbank erosion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many past studies relied on observations, but the design of the latest research left no doubt as to the sea otters’ impact, said Johan Eklöf, a Stockholm University marine biologist who was not involved in the new study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other research has shown that \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000290\">sea otters help kelp forests\u003c/a> regrow by controlling the number of sea urchins that munch kelp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sea otters “are amazing finders and eaters,” said Brian Silliman, a Duke University coastal ecologist and co-author of the latest study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Left unchecked, the crabs turn the marsh banks “into Swiss cheese,” which can collapse when big waves or storms hit, said Brent Hughes, a Sonoma State University marine ecologist and co-author of the new study published Wednesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06959-9\">in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers found that the return of the crab-eating sea otters to a tidal estuary near Monterey, California, helped curb erosion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t completely reverse erosion, but slow it down to natural levels,” Hughes said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many years, there weren’t any sea otters in Elkhorn Slough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pledging to fast-track more than half a dozen projects by the end of his term to remove or bypass dams that have blocked salmon from returning to the state’s chilly mountain streams and acting as the keystone of a complex ecosystem that sustains both economies and spiritual beliefs for tribes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom — now in his second term and seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate beyond 2024 — has worked hard to stake a claim as the nation’s most environmentally-conscious governor. But his record has been dogged by \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/politics-gavin-newsom-california-business-climate-and-environment-2863facfcd6d308f8eb178ec55aaa8dc\">criticism from environmental groups\u003c/a> who say his water policies benefit big agriculture at the expense of salmon and other species of fish in danger of becoming extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jon Rosenfield, science director, San Francisco Baykeeper\"]‘Without the essential ingredient of a river, which is the flow of water, fish … are not going to survive.’[/pullquote]Millions of salmon once filled California’s rivers and streams each year, bringing with them key nutrients from the ocean that gave the state an abundance of natural resources that were so important to indigenous peoples that they formed the foundation of creation stories central to tribes’ way of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last year, so few salmon were in the state’s rivers that the officials \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/salmon-fishing-ban-chinook-west-coast-fd818fb1489834d5f8f9371818178b11\">closed the commercial fishing season\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Frustrated by the criticism leveled against him and his administration, Newsom on Tuesday released a plan outlining his strategy to protect salmon — a plan that includes a heavy helping of projects that would remove or bypass aging dams that prevent them from returning to the streams of their birth to lay eggs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are tangible. And so much of the work we do is, you know, you can’t see it, you can’t feel it,” Newsom told\u003cem> The Associated Press\u003c/em> in an interview near the banks of the Elk River in Eureka near a recently completed project that returned some agricultural land to a flood plain habitat for salmon. “But when you see a dam being removed and you come back a few months later — a year or two, five years later — and you see real progress.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11969648,news_11954645,science_1983312\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a promise to complete an agreement by the end of the year to remove the Scott Dam and replace the Cape Horn Dam along the Eel River that have blocked salmon access to 288 miles of habitat. Once completed, the Eel would be the longest free-flowing river in the state, flowing north through the Coast Ranges before emptying into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Fortuna.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By next summer, Newsom said he would complete plans to remove the nearly 100-year-old Rindge Dam along Malibu Creek in western Los Angeles County that would give steelhead another 15 miles of spawning and rearing habitat. And by 2026 — the last year of Newsom’s term — he promised to complete the infrastructure necessary to remove the Matilija Dam in Ventura County along a tributary of the Ventura River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These projects have already been announced and are in the early stages of development. Newsom’s plan, however, puts on record his goal to either complete them or have them approved by state regulatory bodies before he leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got three more years. And I want to put it all out there,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s embrace of some dam demolitions comes as the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/klamath-dam-california-removal-restoration-473a570024584c2e02837434e05693da\">largest dam removal project in U.S. history\u003c/a> got underway in earnest last week when crews blew a hole in the bottom of the Copco No. 1 dam along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. It’s one of four dams set to be removed along the Klamath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to demolishing dams, Newsom is trying to bring attention to some of the $800 million he has signed off on in recent years for projects that return some creeks and streams to their natural state so that salmon can live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday, Newsom trudged through thick mud to visit a project along Prairie Creek in Redwoods National Park. The creek had been converted to a ditch, with steep rock walls preventing the water from spilling into a flood plain where baby salmon could eat and grow before heading out to the ocean. The goal is to get the baby fish to stay longer in this creek so they can grow larger before heading out to the ocean — making it more likely they will return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom watched as Kate Stonecypher, a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, pulled juvenile coho salmon and steelhead trout from the river that had been tagged with a tracking device. Researchers are still studying the results. But early indications have been positive. Fish from the creek were later found to travel 50 miles to Humboldt Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the biggest criticism of Newsom’s environmental policies has not been a lack of restoration projects but a lack of water in the rivers. Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a controversial proposal to seek \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-california-sacramento-north-america-d11f6781a9f664b0049db953b8d2a005\">voluntary agreements\u003c/a> with major farmers over how much water they can take out of the rivers and streams. Some environmental groups, including the San Francisco Baykeeper, have called this plan “astonishingly weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Baykeeper Science Director Jon Rosenfield said California has already done lots of habitat restoration projects but has failed to boost salmon populations significantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without the essential ingredient of a river, which is the flow of water, fish … are not going to survive,” he said. “The governor is out there promising actions that are not adequate to restore the population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also pledged to continue to work with native tribes, who often refer to the rivers where salmon live as their church. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-native-americans-982b507a846a4ad6bc184b3e7f99ec70\">formally apologized\u003c/a> to Native American tribes four years ago for how the state had treated them historically. And he has committed to partnering with them to conduct much of the work around salmon habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday, Frankie Myers, vice chair of the Yurok Tribe, told Newsom the tribe’s work on Prairie Creek had changed the community by restoring the tribe’s purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This goes beyond that apology. This is about restoration,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a promise to complete an agreement by the end of the year to remove the Scott Dam and replace the Cape Horn Dam along the Eel River that have blocked salmon access to 288 miles of habitat. Once completed, the Eel would be the longest free-flowing river in the state, flowing north through the Coast Ranges before emptying into the Pacific Ocean near the town of Fortuna.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By next summer, Newsom said he would complete plans to remove the nearly 100-year-old Rindge Dam along Malibu Creek in western Los Angeles County that would give steelhead another 15 miles of spawning and rearing habitat. And by 2026 — the last year of Newsom’s term — he promised to complete the infrastructure necessary to remove the Matilija Dam in Ventura County along a tributary of the Ventura River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These projects have already been announced and are in the early stages of development. Newsom’s plan, however, puts on record his goal to either complete them or have them approved by state regulatory bodies before he leaves office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got three more years. And I want to put it all out there,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s embrace of some dam demolitions comes as the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/klamath-dam-california-removal-restoration-473a570024584c2e02837434e05693da\">largest dam removal project in U.S. history\u003c/a> got underway in earnest last week when crews blew a hole in the bottom of the Copco No. 1 dam along the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. It’s one of four dams set to be removed along the Klamath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to demolishing dams, Newsom is trying to bring attention to some of the $800 million he has signed off on in recent years for projects that return some creeks and streams to their natural state so that salmon can live there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday, Newsom trudged through thick mud to visit a project along Prairie Creek in Redwoods National Park. The creek had been converted to a ditch, with steep rock walls preventing the water from spilling into a flood plain where baby salmon could eat and grow before heading out to the ocean. The goal is to get the baby fish to stay longer in this creek so they can grow larger before heading out to the ocean — making it more likely they will return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom watched as Kate Stonecypher, a graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, pulled juvenile coho salmon and steelhead trout from the river that had been tagged with a tracking device. Researchers are still studying the results. But early indications have been positive. Fish from the creek were later found to travel 50 miles to Humboldt Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the biggest criticism of Newsom’s environmental policies has not been a lack of restoration projects but a lack of water in the rivers. Newsom’s salmon strategy includes a controversial proposal to seek \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-environment-california-sacramento-north-america-d11f6781a9f664b0049db953b8d2a005\">voluntary agreements\u003c/a> with major farmers over how much water they can take out of the rivers and streams. Some environmental groups, including the San Francisco Baykeeper, have called this plan “astonishingly weak.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Baykeeper Science Director Jon Rosenfield said California has already done lots of habitat restoration projects but has failed to boost salmon populations significantly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Without the essential ingredient of a river, which is the flow of water, fish … are not going to survive,” he said. “The governor is out there promising actions that are not adequate to restore the population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also pledged to continue to work with native tribes, who often refer to the rivers where salmon live as their church. Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-native-americans-982b507a846a4ad6bc184b3e7f99ec70\">formally apologized\u003c/a> to Native American tribes four years ago for how the state had treated them historically. And he has committed to partnering with them to conduct much of the work around salmon habitat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday, Frankie Myers, vice chair of the Yurok Tribe, told Newsom the tribe’s work on Prairie Creek had changed the community by restoring the tribe’s purpose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This goes beyond that apology. This is about restoration,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Alarming Study Reveals California's Rapidly Declining Groundwater Basins",
"headTitle": "Alarming Study Reveals California’s Rapidly Declining Groundwater Basins | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In a sign of the ongoing threats to its precious groundwater stores, half a dozen regions in California rank among the world’s most rapidly declining aquifers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06879-8\">according to research published on Wednesday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, lack of local water drives migration, poverty, starvation and violence — while in California, it drives \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">decades-long regulatory battles\u003c/a> over how to stop over-pumping by growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aquifers in Spain, Iran, China and Chile top the list of the 100 most rapidly dropping groundwater levels. \u003ca href=\"https://legal-planet.org/2023/09/18/why-is-there-a-carrot-boycott-in-cuyama-valley/\">California’s Cuyama Valley\u003c/a>, north of Santa Barbara, ranked 34th worldwide. Its underground basin has been dropping almost 5 feet a year, and residents, farmers and even the school district are locked in a court battle with carrot growers who \u003ca href=\"https://legal-planet.org/2023/09/18/why-is-there-a-carrot-boycott-in-cuyama-valley/\">sued them over groundwater rights\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four other basins in the San Joaquin Valley and one in northeastern San Diego also netted spots in the top 100, with water levels falling up to almost four feet a year, according to the study, which was led by University of California and Swiss researchers and published in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only two other basins in the United States made the top 100: Gila Bend near Phoenix and Mill Creek in Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Scott Jasechko, study co-author and associate professor of hydrology, water resources and groundwater, UC Santa Barbara\"]‘Some of the rates of groundwater level decline occurring in California really are some of the highest in the world. It’s a sobering finding. We’ve got a lot of work to do here in California.’[/pullquote]“Some of the rates of groundwater level decline occurring in California really are some of the highest in the world,” said \u003ca href=\"https://bren.ucsb.edu/people/scott-jasechko\">Scott Jasechko\u003c/a>, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of hydrology, water resources and groundwater at UC Santa Barbara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a sobering finding,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research revealed that rapidly declining groundwater basins are virtually nonexistent in places without farming. Heavily farmed regions in drier climates, such as the San Joaquin Valley, Iran and parts of India, are especially hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plummeting groundwater levels \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">can cause drinking water wells to go dry\u003c/a>. Streams \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/12/klamath-basin-tribes-ranchers-water-salmon/\">can dwindle and disappear,\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/san-joaquin-valley-groundwater/\">desiccated earth can sink and collapse\u003c/a> — shrinking the storage capacity of aquifers and damaging roads, buildings, levees and other structures above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywatersupply.water.ca.gov/report/publicpage\">thousands of wells have gone dry\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">years of drought and overpumping\u003c/a> — spreading from the San Joaquin Valley to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">Sacramento Valley\u003c/a> during the most recent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley has subsided so much that it has damaged the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Engineering-And-Construction/Subsidence\">California Aqueduct\u003c/a>, which carries river water to Southern California, forced at least \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Jan-21/Friant-Kern-Canal-Groundbreaking\">$187 million of repairs on the Friant-Kern Canal\u003c/a>, and required \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-12/newsom-announces-funding-to-raise-corcoran-levee\">millions more to fortify a levee\u003c/a> around the sinking town of Corcoran to protect it from floodwaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers analyzed more than 170,000 groundwater wells in more than 40 countries\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and reported “widespread acceleration in groundwater level deepening,” which they said “highlights an urgent need for more effective measures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-map-groundwater-global.netlify.app/\" width=\"800\" height=\"1000\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study provides a global database that backs up observations that have long worried water watchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The major contribution is to bring into much sharper focus this global problem of groundwater depletion and over-pumping,” said \u003ca href=\"https://lawr.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/fogg-graham\">Graham Fogg\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of hydrogeology at UC Davis who was not involved with the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With groundwater, if it’s left unmanaged and unregulated, it’s going to be abused in many, many cases. And if that abuse goes on long enough, some basins will be exhausted of water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violence over water is flaring around the globe. Water is a trigger, casualty and weapon in \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/announcement/violence-over-water-increases-globally-according-to-new-data-from-pacific-institute-water-conflict-chronology/\">hundreds of conflicts just over the past two years\u003c/a> — from Russian troops destroying a Ukrainian dam to \u003ca href=\"https://worldwater.org/conflict/list/\">cyberattacks on Israeli water infrastructure\u003c/a> and Israeli military forces seizing or destroying Palestinian water sources. Clashes over water safety and scarcity have led to injuries and deaths around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, water disputes roil the state, from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/12/klamath-basin-tribes-ranchers-water-salmon/\">the Scott and Shasta Rivers in the far north\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/09/california-delta-bay-plan/\">the Bay-Delta\u003c/a> and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Joaquin Valley growers are still over-pumping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ten years ago, alarmed by record declines in groundwater and thousands of dried-up wells, California lawmakers passed a law to stop overpumping. The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a> requires local agencies to achieve sustainable groundwater use by 2040 for the most critically overdrafted basins and 2042 for basins considered less depleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Graham Fogg, professor emeritus of hydrogeology, UC Davis\"]‘We’ve built a food supply system that relies in large part on irrigated agriculture, which in turn relies in many areas … on pumped groundwater. So that has to change.’[/pullquote]But wells have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">continued to go dry,\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/california-s-groundwater-semi-annual-conditions-updates/resource/7a9f6a69-0f43-474c-b9a5-b8b6f3e5ed48\">groundwater depletion continues\u003c/a> with few protections in place. So far, California water officials deemed plans for six San Joaquin Valley basins \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/san-joaquin-valley-groundwater/\">inadequate and called for probation hearings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the Cuyama Valley, the \u003cem>Nature \u003c/em>paper’s top 100 includes the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsa/print/244\">White Wolf Basin in Kern County\u003c/a> (52nd), the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsa/print/370\">San Pasqual Valley\u003c/a> in northeastern San Diego (55th), the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/5_022_05_ChowchillaSubbasin.pdf\">Chowchilla Basin (PDF)\u003c/a> straddling Merced and Madera counties (65th), the Northern Kern Basin (69th) and \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/5_022_11_KaweahSubbasin.pdf\">the Kaweah Basin (PDF)\u003c/a> in Kings and Tulare counties (93rd).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jasechko and his colleagues set out to understand how groundwater depletion in California compared to other aquifers globally. It took them six years to scour the literature for water level measurements, download it from databases and request it from water managers around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than 540 aquifers, the researchers had enough data to compare groundwater levels over 40 years. Of those, about a third showed accelerating groundwater declines. Another 21% had increases in the 1980s and 1990s turned to losses over the past 23 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jasechko found some reasons for hope: 20% of aquifers saw groundwater declines slow down in the 21st century. Another 16% pivoted from groundwater decline to recovery, while 13% saw groundwater levels continue to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Long-term groundwater losses are neither universal nor inevitable,” the researchers wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11970957,news_11940344,news_11971872\"]Groundwater depletion in parts of Saudi Arabia slowed, for instance — possibly due to policies \u003ca href=\"https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1050168/CIRENDTARGETSOccasionalPaper19Kim_VanDerBeek2018.pdf?sequence=5\">aimed at curbing agricultural use\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Saudi%20Arabian%20Alfalfa%20Hay%20Market%20_Riyadh_Saudi%20Arabia_2-22-2017.pdf\">a phaseout of alfalfa (PDF)\u003c/a> cultivation that \u003ca href=\"https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/337173/\">also led to a massive increase in imports from the U.S\u003c/a>. In Bangkok, Thailand, pumping slowed after officials increased fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the Coachella Valley, groundwater levels \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70209731\">improved after the water district\u003c/a> introduced a new pricing structure, increased recharge and improved access to the Colorado River and recycled water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Davis’s Fogg said that the research also clarified what he called one of the existential challenges for the nexus between food, energy and water: how reining in groundwater depletion will affect the global food system. About 70% of water worldwide is used for agriculture and irrigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve built a food supply system that relies in large part on irrigated agriculture, which in turn relies in many areas … on pumped groundwater,” Fogg said. “So that has to change. That change will likely result in effects on the food supply. So it’s a major challenge to see how civilization can deal with that in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a sign of the ongoing threats to its precious groundwater stores, half a dozen regions in California rank among the world’s most rapidly declining aquifers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06879-8\">according to research published on Wednesday\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Globally, lack of local water drives migration, poverty, starvation and violence — while in California, it drives \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">decades-long regulatory battles\u003c/a> over how to stop over-pumping by growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aquifers in Spain, Iran, China and Chile top the list of the 100 most rapidly dropping groundwater levels. \u003ca href=\"https://legal-planet.org/2023/09/18/why-is-there-a-carrot-boycott-in-cuyama-valley/\">California’s Cuyama Valley\u003c/a>, north of Santa Barbara, ranked 34th worldwide. Its underground basin has been dropping almost 5 feet a year, and residents, farmers and even the school district are locked in a court battle with carrot growers who \u003ca href=\"https://legal-planet.org/2023/09/18/why-is-there-a-carrot-boycott-in-cuyama-valley/\">sued them over groundwater rights\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four other basins in the San Joaquin Valley and one in northeastern San Diego also netted spots in the top 100, with water levels falling up to almost four feet a year, according to the study, which was led by University of California and Swiss researchers and published in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only two other basins in the United States made the top 100: Gila Bend near Phoenix and Mill Creek in Idaho.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Some of the rates of groundwater level decline occurring in California really are some of the highest in the world,” said \u003ca href=\"https://bren.ucsb.edu/people/scott-jasechko\">Scott Jasechko\u003c/a>, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of hydrology, water resources and groundwater at UC Santa Barbara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a sobering finding,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do here in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research revealed that rapidly declining groundwater basins are virtually nonexistent in places without farming. Heavily farmed regions in drier climates, such as the San Joaquin Valley, Iran and parts of India, are especially hard hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plummeting groundwater levels \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">can cause drinking water wells to go dry\u003c/a>. Streams \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/12/klamath-basin-tribes-ranchers-water-salmon/\">can dwindle and disappear,\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/san-joaquin-valley-groundwater/\">desiccated earth can sink and collapse\u003c/a> — shrinking the storage capacity of aquifers and damaging roads, buildings, levees and other structures above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywatersupply.water.ca.gov/report/publicpage\">thousands of wells have gone dry\u003c/a> after \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">years of drought and overpumping\u003c/a> — spreading from the San Joaquin Valley to the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">Sacramento Valley\u003c/a> during the most recent drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley has subsided so much that it has damaged the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Engineering-And-Construction/Subsidence\">California Aqueduct\u003c/a>, which carries river water to Southern California, forced at least \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2022/Jan-21/Friant-Kern-Canal-Groundbreaking\">$187 million of repairs on the Friant-Kern Canal\u003c/a>, and required \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-12/newsom-announces-funding-to-raise-corcoran-levee\">millions more to fortify a levee\u003c/a> around the sinking town of Corcoran to protect it from floodwaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers analyzed more than 170,000 groundwater wells in more than 40 countries\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>and reported “widespread acceleration in groundwater level deepening,” which they said “highlights an urgent need for more effective measures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-map-groundwater-global.netlify.app/\" width=\"800\" height=\"1000\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study provides a global database that backs up observations that have long worried water watchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The major contribution is to bring into much sharper focus this global problem of groundwater depletion and over-pumping,” said \u003ca href=\"https://lawr.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/fogg-graham\">Graham Fogg\u003c/a>, a professor emeritus of hydrogeology at UC Davis who was not involved with the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With groundwater, if it’s left unmanaged and unregulated, it’s going to be abused in many, many cases. And if that abuse goes on long enough, some basins will be exhausted of water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Violence over water is flaring around the globe. Water is a trigger, casualty and weapon in \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/announcement/violence-over-water-increases-globally-according-to-new-data-from-pacific-institute-water-conflict-chronology/\">hundreds of conflicts just over the past two years\u003c/a> — from Russian troops destroying a Ukrainian dam to \u003ca href=\"https://worldwater.org/conflict/list/\">cyberattacks on Israeli water infrastructure\u003c/a> and Israeli military forces seizing or destroying Palestinian water sources. Clashes over water safety and scarcity have led to injuries and deaths around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, water disputes roil the state, from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/12/klamath-basin-tribes-ranchers-water-salmon/\">the Scott and Shasta Rivers in the far north\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/09/california-delta-bay-plan/\">the Bay-Delta\u003c/a> and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Joaquin Valley growers are still over-pumping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ten years ago, alarmed by record declines in groundwater and thousands of dried-up wells, California lawmakers passed a law to stop overpumping. The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\">Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a> requires local agencies to achieve sustainable groundwater use by 2040 for the most critically overdrafted basins and 2042 for basins considered less depleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We’ve built a food supply system that relies in large part on irrigated agriculture, which in turn relies in many areas … on pumped groundwater. So that has to change.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But wells have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">continued to go dry,\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/california-s-groundwater-semi-annual-conditions-updates/resource/7a9f6a69-0f43-474c-b9a5-b8b6f3e5ed48\">groundwater depletion continues\u003c/a> with few protections in place. So far, California water officials deemed plans for six San Joaquin Valley basins \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/san-joaquin-valley-groundwater/\">inadequate and called for probation hearings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the Cuyama Valley, the \u003cem>Nature \u003c/em>paper’s top 100 includes the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsa/print/244\">White Wolf Basin in Kern County\u003c/a> (52nd), the \u003ca href=\"https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsa/print/370\">San Pasqual Valley\u003c/a> in northeastern San Diego (55th), the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/5_022_05_ChowchillaSubbasin.pdf\">Chowchilla Basin (PDF)\u003c/a> straddling Merced and Madera counties (65th), the Northern Kern Basin (69th) and \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/5_022_11_KaweahSubbasin.pdf\">the Kaweah Basin (PDF)\u003c/a> in Kings and Tulare counties (93rd).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jasechko and his colleagues set out to understand how groundwater depletion in California compared to other aquifers globally. It took them six years to scour the literature for water level measurements, download it from databases and request it from water managers around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than 540 aquifers, the researchers had enough data to compare groundwater levels over 40 years. Of those, about a third showed accelerating groundwater declines. Another 21% had increases in the 1980s and 1990s turned to losses over the past 23 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Jasechko found some reasons for hope: 20% of aquifers saw groundwater declines slow down in the 21st century. Another 16% pivoted from groundwater decline to recovery, while 13% saw groundwater levels continue to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Long-term groundwater losses are neither universal nor inevitable,” the researchers wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Groundwater depletion in parts of Saudi Arabia slowed, for instance — possibly due to policies \u003ca href=\"https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/1050168/CIRENDTARGETSOccasionalPaper19Kim_VanDerBeek2018.pdf?sequence=5\">aimed at curbing agricultural use\u003c/a>, including \u003ca href=\"https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/report/downloadreportbyfilename?filename=Saudi%20Arabian%20Alfalfa%20Hay%20Market%20_Riyadh_Saudi%20Arabia_2-22-2017.pdf\">a phaseout of alfalfa (PDF)\u003c/a> cultivation that \u003ca href=\"https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/337173/\">also led to a massive increase in imports from the U.S\u003c/a>. In Bangkok, Thailand, pumping slowed after officials increased fees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the Coachella Valley, groundwater levels \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70209731\">improved after the water district\u003c/a> introduced a new pricing structure, increased recharge and improved access to the Colorado River and recycled water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Davis’s Fogg said that the research also clarified what he called one of the existential challenges for the nexus between food, energy and water: how reining in groundwater depletion will affect the global food system. About 70% of water worldwide is used for agriculture and irrigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve built a food supply system that relies in large part on irrigated agriculture, which in turn relies in many areas … on pumped groundwater,” Fogg said. “So that has to change. That change will likely result in effects on the food supply. So it’s a major challenge to see how civilization can deal with that in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Near fields awash with strawberries and greens, Ileana Miranda and her family pay $72 a month to get water piped into their home in a rural California community — and that’s before they consume a drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They pay to bring it from more than a mile away because the groundwater beneath them has been contaminated with nitrates leached into the soil from years of large-scale farming.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Ileana Miranda, manager of the San Jerardo cooperative\"]‘We understand crops need these chemicals to grow, but you don’t need to put that much in the groundwater. It is essentially poisoning the groundwater that we need to live.’[/pullquote]Now, the San Jerardo cooperative — where Miranda and 300 others live — and environmental organizations have sued the state, demanding stricter rules about how much fertilizer farmers can use in the hope that the next generation of residents in the community 100 miles southeast of San Francisco will have cleaner water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand crops need these chemicals to grow, but you don’t need to put that much in the groundwater,” said Miranda, who manages the cooperative. “It is essentially poisoning the groundwater that we need to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some California farming communities have been plagued for years by \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-california-water-quality-climate-and-environment-ca8eb802e95e8704ca0038d718fad541\">problems with their drinking water\u003c/a> due to nitrates and other contaminants in the groundwater that feeds their wells. Advocates have long pushed to remedy the situation, which disproportionately affects lower-income and Latino residents, many of whom worked in the same fields where farmers are accused of leaving too much nitrate behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen is in fertilizer because plants depend on it, but it can contaminate drinking water supplies. Much of the nitrate detected in wells today comes from fertilizer applied decades ago to ensure crop size and quality. As a result, researchers said the issue of nitrate-laden drinking water, which can cause a blood disease known as blue baby syndrome in infants and affect pregnant women, will likely persist for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has been working to address the problem for years through regional water quality control boards and the State Water Resources Control Board. Different approaches have been taken in the Central Valley, which is home to more dairies and tomato farms, and the Central Coast to the west, where strawberries and leafy greens thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970958\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970958\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman walks by a very large water tank.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ileana Miranda walks in front of the new San Jerardo cooperative water tank near her home in Salinas on Dec. 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued rules limiting how much fertilizer farmers could apply and protecting areas near streams. This year, the state water board put those plans on hold, arguing that more consistent standards and scientific review are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision drove San Jerardo residents and water quality advocates to take the state to court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers, meanwhile, filed their own legal action, arguing neither the state nor the regional board fully considered the economic impact of the changes on those responsible for the country’s food supply. Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said nitrogen is vital to ensure the size and quality of produce consumed throughout the country, but fertilizer is already being applied more precisely than it was in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n“We just can’t sustain our food supply without some sort of nitrogen application,” Groot said. “We now have a lot more science that supports when applications are needed and how those applications can be measured and metered. We’re not using nearly as much fertilizer as what was done a decade or 30 years ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Coast board’s limits would have forced some county farmers to grow two crops of leafy greens a year instead of three, he said. Pumping out groundwater laden with nitrates to irrigate fields while replacing it with newer water could help improve the situation over time, he said, adding that farmers depend on local drinking water, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edward Ortiz, a spokesperson for the State Water Resources Control Board, declined to comment on the lawsuits but said in an email that the approach taken in the Central Valley has the support of a panel of scientific experts. A second panel, he said, is expected to review both approaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The litigation comes as California is stepping up efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-groundwater-drought-farming-probation-hearing-38aa9bd2b7d991e6bd1000ec9d8ad771\">regulate \u003c/a>groundwater use after years of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-6f591a7e40f39a0d804706b507fd4022\">drought\u003c/a> and with potentially drier winters due to climate change. Farming is a key part of the state’s economy, with strawberries and lettuce bringing in more than $5 billion combined in 2021, agricultural statistics show.[aside label=\"more on groundwater issues\" tag=\"groundwater\"]Michael Cahn, irrigation and water resource advisor for the University of California, Cooperative Extension, said he’s been working with Central Coast farmers to reduce the nitrogen they leave behind. Strategies include rapid-testing soil before applying fertilizer, improving water management and planting \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cover-crops-farming-carbon-nitrogen-1648449f90b7072be50b95a21d733618\">cover crops\u003c/a>, he said, but added the problem won’t be resolved quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is the value of vegetables is so high, and a lot of time it is just easier to put more fertilizer and water on than do careful management,” Cahn said. “We have a lot of contaminated groundwater to use, so it will take a long time to clean up. People say this could be 50 years in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local communities rely on bottled drinking water due to nitrate levels in groundwater wells, said Brandon Bollinger, senior community advocacy manager at Community Water Center. He said his organization delivers bottled water weekly to about 260 households on the Central Coast, and in one area, nitrate levels were six times what’s deemed safe to drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to say water flows toward money and power, and in California, that generally looks like water flowing toward industrial agriculture,” he said. “We need to have limits and targets and a timeline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jerardo, which was founded by farmworkers in the 1970s, people rely solely on groundwater for drinking, bathing and washing. The community’s first well was deemed contaminated in 1990, and the second, a few years later. After a third well went bad, the county got involved and drilled the latest well, said Horacio Amezquita, whose father was among the community’s founding members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amezquita said efforts can be made to clean up the water system, but the answer is not to use synthetic fertilizers in the first place. He said he’s still farming in the area, growing cover crops and grains, but doesn’t use fertilizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more interested in having their crops, at their own time, having their schedule at their own time,” Amezquita said. “It’s not a sustainable agriculture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, the San Jerardo cooperative — where Miranda and 300 others live — and environmental organizations have sued the state, demanding stricter rules about how much fertilizer farmers can use in the hope that the next generation of residents in the community 100 miles southeast of San Francisco will have cleaner water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand crops need these chemicals to grow, but you don’t need to put that much in the groundwater,” said Miranda, who manages the cooperative. “It is essentially poisoning the groundwater that we need to live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some California farming communities have been plagued for years by \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-california-water-quality-climate-and-environment-ca8eb802e95e8704ca0038d718fad541\">problems with their drinking water\u003c/a> due to nitrates and other contaminants in the groundwater that feeds their wells. Advocates have long pushed to remedy the situation, which disproportionately affects lower-income and Latino residents, many of whom worked in the same fields where farmers are accused of leaving too much nitrate behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nitrogen is in fertilizer because plants depend on it, but it can contaminate drinking water supplies. Much of the nitrate detected in wells today comes from fertilizer applied decades ago to ensure crop size and quality. As a result, researchers said the issue of nitrate-laden drinking water, which can cause a blood disease known as blue baby syndrome in infants and affect pregnant women, will likely persist for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has been working to address the problem for years through regional water quality control boards and the State Water Resources Control Board. Different approaches have been taken in the Central Valley, which is home to more dairies and tomato farms, and the Central Coast to the west, where strawberries and leafy greens thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970958\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970958\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman walks by a very large water tank.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/AP23355285320786-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ileana Miranda walks in front of the new San Jerardo cooperative water tank near her home in Salinas on Dec. 20, 2023. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued rules limiting how much fertilizer farmers could apply and protecting areas near streams. This year, the state water board put those plans on hold, arguing that more consistent standards and scientific review are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision drove San Jerardo residents and water quality advocates to take the state to court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers, meanwhile, filed their own legal action, arguing neither the state nor the regional board fully considered the economic impact of the changes on those responsible for the country’s food supply. Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said nitrogen is vital to ensure the size and quality of produce consumed throughout the country, but fertilizer is already being applied more precisely than it was in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n“We just can’t sustain our food supply without some sort of nitrogen application,” Groot said. “We now have a lot more science that supports when applications are needed and how those applications can be measured and metered. We’re not using nearly as much fertilizer as what was done a decade or 30 years ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Central Coast board’s limits would have forced some county farmers to grow two crops of leafy greens a year instead of three, he said. Pumping out groundwater laden with nitrates to irrigate fields while replacing it with newer water could help improve the situation over time, he said, adding that farmers depend on local drinking water, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Edward Ortiz, a spokesperson for the State Water Resources Control Board, declined to comment on the lawsuits but said in an email that the approach taken in the Central Valley has the support of a panel of scientific experts. A second panel, he said, is expected to review both approaches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The litigation comes as California is stepping up efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-groundwater-drought-farming-probation-hearing-38aa9bd2b7d991e6bd1000ec9d8ad771\">regulate \u003c/a>groundwater use after years of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-6f591a7e40f39a0d804706b507fd4022\">drought\u003c/a> and with potentially drier winters due to climate change. Farming is a key part of the state’s economy, with strawberries and lettuce bringing in more than $5 billion combined in 2021, agricultural statistics show.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Michael Cahn, irrigation and water resource advisor for the University of California, Cooperative Extension, said he’s been working with Central Coast farmers to reduce the nitrogen they leave behind. Strategies include rapid-testing soil before applying fertilizer, improving water management and planting \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cover-crops-farming-carbon-nitrogen-1648449f90b7072be50b95a21d733618\">cover crops\u003c/a>, he said, but added the problem won’t be resolved quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality is the value of vegetables is so high, and a lot of time it is just easier to put more fertilizer and water on than do careful management,” Cahn said. “We have a lot of contaminated groundwater to use, so it will take a long time to clean up. People say this could be 50 years in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some local communities rely on bottled drinking water due to nitrate levels in groundwater wells, said Brandon Bollinger, senior community advocacy manager at Community Water Center. He said his organization delivers bottled water weekly to about 260 households on the Central Coast, and in one area, nitrate levels were six times what’s deemed safe to drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We like to say water flows toward money and power, and in California, that generally looks like water flowing toward industrial agriculture,” he said. “We need to have limits and targets and a timeline.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jerardo, which was founded by farmworkers in the 1970s, people rely solely on groundwater for drinking, bathing and washing. The community’s first well was deemed contaminated in 1990, and the second, a few years later. After a third well went bad, the county got involved and drilled the latest well, said Horacio Amezquita, whose father was among the community’s founding members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amezquita said efforts can be made to clean up the water system, but the answer is not to use synthetic fertilizers in the first place. He said he’s still farming in the area, growing cover crops and grains, but doesn’t use fertilizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re more interested in having their crops, at their own time, having their schedule at their own time,” Amezquita said. “It’s not a sustainable agriculture.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water",
"headTitle": "Drought-Prone California OKs New Rules for Turning Wastewater Directly into Drinking Water | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And — coming soon — kitchen faucets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big step for a state that has \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f\">struggled for decades\u003c/a> to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that, as recently as two decades ago, prompted a backlash that scuttled similar projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of drinking water division, California Water Resources Control Board\"]‘It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances.’[/pullquote]\u003cbr>\nSince then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists said was the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-c23c4dc500918ae6091826f2c38f521c\">driest three-year period\u003c/a> on record and left the state’s reservoirs at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once,” said Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a group advocating for recycled water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has been using recycled wastewater for decades. The Ontario Reign minor league hockey team has used it to make ice for its rink in Southern California. Soda Springs Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe has used it to make snow. And farmers in the Central Valley, where much of the nation’s vegetables, fruits and nuts are grown, use it to water their crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11729926,science_1983699\" label=\"Related Stories\"]But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-climate-and-environment-mountains-wastewater-8eef31f783da967b35c3a989ccf34af0\">following Colorado\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s taken regulators more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included multiple reviews by independent panels of scientists. A state law required the California Water Resources Control Board to approve these regulations by Dec. 31 — a deadline met with just days to spare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vote was heralded by some of the state’s biggest water agencies, which all have plans to build huge water recycling plants in the coming years. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, aims to produce up to 150 million gallons (nearly 570 million liters) per day of both direct and indirect recycled water. A project in San Diego is aiming to account for nearly half of the city’s water by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the new rules “will enable water managers across the state to consider new projects that have not yet been contemplated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water agencies will need public support to complete these projects — which means convincing customers that not only is recycled water safe to drink, but it’s not icky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules require the wastewater to be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which only require treatment for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s at the same drinking water quality and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive and time-consuming to build these treatment facilities, so Polhemus said it will only be an option for bigger, well-funded cities — at least initially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jose, local officials have opened the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center for public tours “so that people can see that this is a very high-tech process that ensures the water is super clean,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer for the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the agency uses the water for things like irrigating parks and playing fields. But they plan to use it for drinking water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in California, where the drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse,” Struve said. “And this is a drought-resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board that approved the new rules on Tuesday, noted that most people are already drinking recycled water anyway. 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.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone out there taking drinking water downstream from a wastewater treatment plant discharge — which, I promise you, you’re all doing — is already drinking toilet to tap,” Esquivel said. “All water is recycled. What we have here are standards, science and — importantly — monitoring that allow us to have the faith that it is pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink near Disneyland, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And — coming soon — kitchen faucets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big step for a state that has \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-gavin-newsom-recycling-c22de8f25b9d6a2bf69277a7185abc0f\">struggled for decades\u003c/a> to secure reliable sources of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that, as recently as two decades ago, prompted a backlash that scuttled similar projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nSince then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists said was the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/business-california-droughts-weather-climate-and-environment-c23c4dc500918ae6091826f2c38f521c\">driest three-year period\u003c/a> on record and left the state’s reservoirs at \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But it hasn’t been used directly for drinking water. Orange County operates a large water purification system that recycles wastewater and then uses it to refill underground aquifers. The water mingles with the groundwater for months before being pumped up and used for drinking water again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules would let — but not require — water agencies take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. California would be just the second state to allow this, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-climate-and-environment-mountains-wastewater-8eef31f783da967b35c3a989ccf34af0\">following Colorado\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s taken regulators more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included multiple reviews by independent panels of scientists. A state law required the California Water Resources Control Board to approve these regulations by Dec. 31 — a deadline met with just days to spare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vote was heralded by some of the state’s biggest water agencies, which all have plans to build huge water recycling plants in the coming years. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 19 million people, aims to produce up to 150 million gallons (nearly 570 million liters) per day of both direct and indirect recycled water. A project in San Diego is aiming to account for nearly half of the city’s water by 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the new rules “will enable water managers across the state to consider new projects that have not yet been contemplated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water agencies will need public support to complete these projects — which means convincing customers that not only is recycled water safe to drink, but it’s not icky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new rules require the wastewater to be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water treatment rules, which only require treatment for known pathogens, said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the division of drinking water for the California Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good — meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s at the same drinking water quality and probably better in many instances,” Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s expensive and time-consuming to build these treatment facilities, so Polhemus said it will only be an option for bigger, well-funded cities — at least initially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Jose, local officials have opened the Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center for public tours “so that people can see that this is a very high-tech process that ensures the water is super clean,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer for the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Right now, the agency uses the water for things like irrigating parks and playing fields. But they plan to use it for drinking water in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We live in California, where the drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse,” Struve said. “And this is a drought-resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the Water Resources Control Board that approved the new rules on Tuesday, noted that most people are already drinking recycled water anyway. 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.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anyone out there taking drinking water downstream from a wastewater treatment plant discharge — which, I promise you, you’re all doing — is already drinking toilet to tap,” Esquivel said. “All water is recycled. What we have here are standards, science and — importantly — monitoring that allow us to have the faith that it is pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-jerry-brown-trending-news-82c1f2b378ef01793dc69fb3140cf294\">The tunnel\u003c/a> would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration said the tunnel is necessary to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Adel Hagekhalil, general manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California\"]‘The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on.’[/pullquote]But environmental groups, Native American tribes and other opponents say the project will take more water out of the river than is necessary and will harm endangered species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday, the California Department of Water Resources released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/planning-processes/california-environmental-quality-act/final-eir/final-eir-document\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project. The report is the last step of a complex and lengthy state regulatory process. But it doesn’t mean the project is close to being built. The project still must complete a federal environmental review and obtain various state and federal permits. That process is expected to last until 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have not said how much it will cost to build it. A previous estimate on a different version of the tunnel was for $16 billion. State officials will release a new cost estimate next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11967823,science_1983092,science_3509\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Still, Friday’s report is significant because it signals the Newsom administration’s commitment to completing the project despite strong opposition from communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta region. Newsom said climate change is threatening the state’s access to clean drinking water, warning the state’s supply could drop 10% by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recently went three years without significant, sustained rain. The drought dropped reservoirs to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>, forcing millions of people to ration their supply. That drought ended suddenly last winter when California was hit by a series of storms that flooded the state’s rivers and \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-flooding-snowmelt-tulare-lake-water-c8c9914b12f25233fa9bfd4bedbbd6b4\">filled lake beds\u003c/a> that had been dry for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said that had this tunnel existed during those storms, the state could have captured and stored enough water for 2.3 million people to use for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing nothing is not an option,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups say the Newsom administration is ignoring their concerns. The Sierra Club said in a statement that the tunnel’s construction and operation would “cause mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, called it “an extinction plan for salmon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, said California already diverts more than half of the water flowing through Central Valley rivers for farms and big cities, which threaten native species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science clearly demonstrates that fish need increased river flows to survive, but state agencies are ignoring it,” Rosenfield said. “Chinook salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt and other fish that have thrived here for millennia cannot survive the Newsom administration’s assault on San Francisco Bay and its watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the Newsom administration has secured more than $1 billion in funding over the last three years to increase flows in rivers for environmental purposes and to expand habitat for fish and other wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitment remains steadfast for water resilience, not only for human communities but also for our natural communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the agency will review the findings from the environmental impact report to determine “how best to invest our resources.” The water district provides water to 19 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on,” Hagekhalil said. “Preventing this from happening again will take bold action and a clear recognition of the challenges we face.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-sacramento-jerry-brown-trending-news-82c1f2b378ef01793dc69fb3140cf294\">The tunnel\u003c/a> would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration said the tunnel is necessary to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But environmental groups, Native American tribes and other opponents say the project will take more water out of the river than is necessary and will harm endangered species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friday, the California Department of Water Resources released its \u003ca href=\"https://www.deltaconveyanceproject.com/planning-processes/california-environmental-quality-act/final-eir/final-eir-document\">final environmental impact report\u003c/a> for the project. The report is the last step of a complex and lengthy state regulatory process. But it doesn’t mean the project is close to being built. The project still must complete a federal environmental review and obtain various state and federal permits. That process is expected to last until 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have not said how much it will cost to build it. A previous estimate on a different version of the tunnel was for $16 billion. State officials will release a new cost estimate next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, Friday’s report is significant because it signals the Newsom administration’s commitment to completing the project despite strong opposition from communities in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta region. Newsom said climate change is threatening the state’s access to clean drinking water, warning the state’s supply could drop 10% by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state recently went three years without significant, sustained rain. The drought dropped reservoirs to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-droughts-government-and-politics-science-business-76709d5854394905e0f46880ed6dab9c\">dangerously low levels\u003c/a>, forcing millions of people to ration their supply. That drought ended suddenly last winter when California was hit by a series of storms that flooded the state’s rivers and \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-flooding-snowmelt-tulare-lake-water-c8c9914b12f25233fa9bfd4bedbbd6b4\">filled lake beds\u003c/a> that had been dry for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said that had this tunnel existed during those storms, the state could have captured and stored enough water for 2.3 million people to use for one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing nothing is not an option,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups say the Newsom administration is ignoring their concerns. The Sierra Club said in a statement that the tunnel’s construction and operation would “cause mass environmental destruction for Delta communities and ecosystems.” Scott Artis, executive director of the Golden State Salmon Association, called it “an extinction plan for salmon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jon Rosenfield, science director for San Francisco Baykeeper, said California already diverts more than half of the water flowing through Central Valley rivers for farms and big cities, which threaten native species of fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The science clearly demonstrates that fish need increased river flows to survive, but state agencies are ignoring it,” Rosenfield said. “Chinook salmon, steelhead, longfin smelt and other fish that have thrived here for millennia cannot survive the Newsom administration’s assault on San Francisco Bay and its watershed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the Newsom administration has secured more than $1 billion in funding over the last three years to increase flows in rivers for environmental purposes and to expand habitat for fish and other wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our commitment remains steadfast for water resilience, not only for human communities but also for our natural communities,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the agency will review the findings from the environmental impact report to determine “how best to invest our resources.” The water district provides water to 19 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The recent drought was a powerful indicator of just how vulnerable the State Water Project is — deliveries were so low last year that some Southern California communities could only get a fraction of the water they normally rely on,” Hagekhalil said. “Preventing this from happening again will take bold action and a clear recognition of the challenges we face.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Federal Agency Probes Marathon’s Martinez Refinery After Two Large Fires Last Month",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 10:15 a.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has launched an investigation into Marathon Petroleum’s Martinez refinery after it was hit by two major fires last month, including one that severely burned a refinery worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The CSB is sending investigators to Martinez,” Hillary Cohen, a spokesperson for the federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents, said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board confirmed the investigation on Tuesday, shortly after energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WoodMackenzie/status/1731965653639205224\">released a photo of the Nov. 19 fire\u003c/a> at the refinery, captured by infrared monitoring equipment near the plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/WoodMackenzie/status/1731965653639205224\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our Biofuels Production Monitor captured this fire just ahead of the planned start of its last renewable diesel unit,” the company said in a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/WoodMackenzie/status/1731965653639205224?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post\u003c/a> on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that fire, Jerome Serrano sustained third-degree burns to more than 80% of his body, according to a union official. Serrano has undergone at least two surgeries at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, and family members have been told he has a 10% chance of survival, said Tracy Scott, president of the United Steelworkers Local 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The family is pretty overwhelmed,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire in which Serrano was injured followed a blaze on Nov. 11, according to a preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/Martinez-Renewables-Incident-2023-1111-72hr-report.pdf\">report\u003c/a> that the company filed with Contra Costa County officials on Wednesday,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon officials have described both fires as facility-wide emergencies. The incidents occurred in a process unit part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.marathonmartinezrenewables.com/\">plant’s conversion\u003c/a> into a biofuel refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nov. 19 fire was more severe than the Nov. 11 episode. In addition to Serrano’s injuries, more than a dozen \u003ca href=\"https://w3.calema.ca.gov/operational/malhaz.nsf/f1841a103c102734882563e200760c4a/bb8c2523ba69823988258a6c0031dcd7?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,marathon%20w3.calema.ca.gov\">workers were forced to evacuate \u003c/a>in the minutes after the fire erupted. The incident led to the release of more than 200,000 pounds of renewable diesel fuel, according to a separate preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/Martinez-Renewables-Incident-2023-1119-72hr-report.pdf\">report\u003c/a> by Marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The smoke that drifted out of the refinery prompted an hours-long public health advisory from Contra Costa County officials. The episode has now led to four separate investigations — by state workplace regulators, the local air district, Marathon itself, and now, the federal chemical safety board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon managers told union leaders that the first fire, on Nov. 11, occurred during a failed start-up of refinery operations, according to the USW’s Scott. He says the second fire, which also took place during a start-up, was in a different part of the same unit.[aside label=\"more Bay Area refineries coverage\" tag=\"bay-area-refineries\"]The fires come months after Marathon began converting its Martinez facility into a biofuel refinery. Like the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo, Marathon has shifted away from crude oil and begun processing vegetable oil and animal fats into biofuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott says union leaders and workers at Marathon have voiced concerns to the company about training and staffing at the refinery as it transitions. He says employees have told managers the refinery’s training program is deficient, that new workers were pressured to learn the controls too quickly, and that the facility is understaffed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If nothing changes, we will certainly experience this type of incident again,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon pushed back on that criticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our training and staffing levels are based on industry standard practices and are regularly evaluated for effectiveness, quality and other measures,” the company said in an emailed statement Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our facility has a comprehensive training plan that requires all operations personnel to demonstrate proficiency in their roles before becoming qualified to work, including knowledge, skill and capability related to their specific unit,” the statement reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups have sued Contra Costa County over the Marathon and Phillips 66 conversions, arguing that the county’s review of both plans was flawed. Greg Karras, an energy-transition consultant who is not involved in the lawsuit, says the fire is just the latest sign that the conversions are dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was entirely predictable,” Karras told KQED. “They’re repurposing old refining equipment for this new stuff, and they’re finding all sorts of things going wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Eric Smith, a Tulane University professor specializing in energy issues, says the refinery changes do not make the facilities more dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operators do need specialized training to avoid accidents, but with proper training, I would opine that they are no more dangerous than the other conventional units,” Smith said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blazes come amid recent increased attention on the safety of refineries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, air regulators issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/rules-and-compliance/compliance-assistance/notices-of-violations/novs-issued\">four notices of violation\u003c/a> against Chevron after its Richmond plant had a major flaring incident that sent flames and a large column of smoke into the air, leading dozens of local residents to issue complaints to the local air district.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nAnd the other refinery in Martinez, the Martinez Refining Company, owned by New Jersey’s PBF Energy, has been the focus of multiple investigations since it released nearly 50,000 pounds of powdered industrial chemicals in November 2022. This week, Martinez residents filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpmlegal.com/media/news/15166_2023-11-28%20_1_%20Martinez%20Refinery%20Complaint.pdf\">lawsuit \u003c/a>against PBF over the releases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, state workplace regulators issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913837/state-issues-1-75m-in-fines-over-worker-death-at-valero-refinery\">$1.75 million in fines to Valero and three other companies\u003c/a>, alleging dozens of safety violations in connection with the death of a contract worker at its Benicia refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case of Marathon’s Nov. 19 fire, the company’s preliminary report says the fire erupted in a furnace in a renewable hydrodeoxygenation unit. Refinery operators shut down the furnace and then sent fuel to the facility’s flares to ease pressure in the unit. Marathon’s crews put out the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serrano, the worker injured in the blaze, was airlifted to the UC Davis medical facility in Sacramento. The USW’s Scott said the family has told him Serrano is unable to speak but is responding to treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two online fundraising campaigns — \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/friend-badly-burned-last-night\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/jerome-serrano-husband-father-brother-friend\">here\u003c/a> — have been organized to help Serrano and his family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The original version of this story was published on Friday, Nov. 1.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 10:15 a.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has launched an investigation into Marathon Petroleum’s Martinez refinery after it was hit by two major fires last month, including one that severely burned a refinery worker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The CSB is sending investigators to Martinez,” Hillary Cohen, a spokesperson for the federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents, said in an email to KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The board confirmed the investigation on Tuesday, shortly after energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WoodMackenzie/status/1731965653639205224\">released a photo of the Nov. 19 fire\u003c/a> at the refinery, captured by infrared monitoring equipment near the plant.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“Our Biofuels Production Monitor captured this fire just ahead of the planned start of its last renewable diesel unit,” the company said in a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/WoodMackenzie/status/1731965653639205224?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post\u003c/a> on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During that fire, Jerome Serrano sustained third-degree burns to more than 80% of his body, according to a union official. Serrano has undergone at least two surgeries at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, and family members have been told he has a 10% chance of survival, said Tracy Scott, president of the United Steelworkers Local 5.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The family is pretty overwhelmed,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire in which Serrano was injured followed a blaze on Nov. 11, according to a preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/Martinez-Renewables-Incident-2023-1111-72hr-report.pdf\">report\u003c/a> that the company filed with Contra Costa County officials on Wednesday,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon officials have described both fires as facility-wide emergencies. The incidents occurred in a process unit part of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.marathonmartinezrenewables.com/\">plant’s conversion\u003c/a> into a biofuel refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Nov. 19 fire was more severe than the Nov. 11 episode. In addition to Serrano’s injuries, more than a dozen \u003ca href=\"https://w3.calema.ca.gov/operational/malhaz.nsf/f1841a103c102734882563e200760c4a/bb8c2523ba69823988258a6c0031dcd7?OpenDocument&Highlight=0,marathon%20w3.calema.ca.gov\">workers were forced to evacuate \u003c/a>in the minutes after the fire erupted. The incident led to the release of more than 200,000 pounds of renewable diesel fuel, according to a separate preliminary \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/hazmat/pdf/Martinez-Renewables-Incident-2023-1119-72hr-report.pdf\">report\u003c/a> by Marathon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The smoke that drifted out of the refinery prompted an hours-long public health advisory from Contra Costa County officials. The episode has now led to four separate investigations — by state workplace regulators, the local air district, Marathon itself, and now, the federal chemical safety board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon managers told union leaders that the first fire, on Nov. 11, occurred during a failed start-up of refinery operations, according to the USW’s Scott. He says the second fire, which also took place during a start-up, was in a different part of the same unit.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The fires come months after Marathon began converting its Martinez facility into a biofuel refinery. Like the Phillips 66 refinery in Rodeo, Marathon has shifted away from crude oil and begun processing vegetable oil and animal fats into biofuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott says union leaders and workers at Marathon have voiced concerns to the company about training and staffing at the refinery as it transitions. He says employees have told managers the refinery’s training program is deficient, that new workers were pressured to learn the controls too quickly, and that the facility is understaffed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If nothing changes, we will certainly experience this type of incident again,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marathon pushed back on that criticism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our training and staffing levels are based on industry standard practices and are regularly evaluated for effectiveness, quality and other measures,” the company said in an emailed statement Friday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our facility has a comprehensive training plan that requires all operations personnel to demonstrate proficiency in their roles before becoming qualified to work, including knowledge, skill and capability related to their specific unit,” the statement reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some environmental groups have sued Contra Costa County over the Marathon and Phillips 66 conversions, arguing that the county’s review of both plans was flawed. Greg Karras, an energy-transition consultant who is not involved in the lawsuit, says the fire is just the latest sign that the conversions are dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was entirely predictable,” Karras told KQED. “They’re repurposing old refining equipment for this new stuff, and they’re finding all sorts of things going wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Eric Smith, a Tulane University professor specializing in energy issues, says the refinery changes do not make the facilities more dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Operators do need specialized training to avoid accidents, but with proper training, I would opine that they are no more dangerous than the other conventional units,” Smith said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blazes come amid recent increased attention on the safety of refineries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, air regulators issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/rules-and-compliance/compliance-assistance/notices-of-violations/novs-issued\">four notices of violation\u003c/a> against Chevron after its Richmond plant had a major flaring incident that sent flames and a large column of smoke into the air, leading dozens of local residents to issue complaints to the local air district.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nAnd the other refinery in Martinez, the Martinez Refining Company, owned by New Jersey’s PBF Energy, has been the focus of multiple investigations since it released nearly 50,000 pounds of powdered industrial chemicals in November 2022. This week, Martinez residents filed a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpmlegal.com/media/news/15166_2023-11-28%20_1_%20Martinez%20Refinery%20Complaint.pdf\">lawsuit \u003c/a>against PBF over the releases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, state workplace regulators issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11913837/state-issues-1-75m-in-fines-over-worker-death-at-valero-refinery\">$1.75 million in fines to Valero and three other companies\u003c/a>, alleging dozens of safety violations in connection with the death of a contract worker at its Benicia refinery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the case of Marathon’s Nov. 19 fire, the company’s preliminary report says the fire erupted in a furnace in a renewable hydrodeoxygenation unit. Refinery operators shut down the furnace and then sent fuel to the facility’s flares to ease pressure in the unit. Marathon’s crews put out the fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serrano, the worker injured in the blaze, was airlifted to the UC Davis medical facility in Sacramento. The USW’s Scott said the family has told him Serrano is unable to speak but is responding to treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two online fundraising campaigns — \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/friend-badly-burned-last-night\">here\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/jerome-serrano-husband-father-brother-friend\">here\u003c/a> — have been organized to help Serrano and his family.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The original version of this story was published on Friday, Nov. 1.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Blue Power: Can California Harness Clean Energy From Ocean Waves?",
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"content": "\u003cp>The world’s oceans may be vast, but they are getting crowded. Coastal areas are congested with cargo ships, international commercial fishing fleets, naval vessels, oil rigs and, soon, floating platforms for \u003ca href=\"https://www.wri.org/insights/deep-sea-mining-explained\">deep-sea mining\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Pacific Ocean is going to get even busier: Nearly 600 square miles of ocean off California have been leased for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/california-offshore-wind-humboldt/\">floating wind farms\u003c/a>, with more expected. Now the state is considering hosting another renewable energy technology in the sea: blue power, electricity created from waves and tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB605\">new law\u003c/a> signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October instructs state agencies to study the feasibility and impacts of capturing ocean movement to create power and report back to the Legislature by January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to jumpstart an industry that could fill in the power gaps as California tries to achieve its goal of transitioning to an all-renewable electric grid by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for all the interest in renewable energy — and the government subsidies — public investment in ocean energy has lagged. The technology that would make the projects more efficient, cost-effective and able to withstand a punishing sea environment is still under development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, a handful of small demonstration projects have been launched off the West Coast, although none has produced commercial power for the grid. Through 2045, the California Energy Commission’s new projections for future power do not include any wave and tidal power. Yet energy experts say there is great potential along the Pacific coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/marine-energy-program\">Water Power Technologies Office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Energy from waves and tides is generated by an action that the ocean almost always provides — movement. Although wave and tidal devices take different forms, most capture the ocean’s kinetic motion as seawater flows through cylinders or when floating devices move up and down or sideways. In some cases, that movement creates hydraulic pressure that spins a turbine or generator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with all developing energy technologies, Ramsey said, the cost to produce wave and tidal power is expected to be quite high in the early years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there have been advances in technology, getting ocean-based projects from the pilot stage to providing commercial power to the grid is the next hurdle for the industry — and it’s a substantial one. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager, US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office\"]‘Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago.’[/pullquote]“It’s very expensive right now, and really hard to do. Working out in the water is very complex, in some cases in the harshest places on Earth. … Then being able to build something that can last 20 to 30 years. We’ve made progress, but we’re a decade away,” Ramsey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Steve Padilla, a Democrat from Chula Vista and the author of the wave energy bill, said ocean power has “great potential” but it has been agonizingly slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks have been busy focusing on other things,” he said, citing the state’s current push for floating offshore wind development. “There has been a combination of a lack of knowledge and awareness of the infrastructure and impacts. We know the state’s energy portfolio has to be as broad as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Energy Commission, which is taking the lead on the new state study, declined to comment about wave power, saying its work has not yet begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential is enticing: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021/02/f82/78773_3.pdf\">National Renewable Energy Laboratory (PDF)\u003c/a> estimated that the total wave and tide energy resources that are available in the U.S. with current technology\u003cem> \u003c/em>are equivalent to 57% of 2019’s domestic energy production. While the report noted that the technologies are in the early stages of development, “even if only a small portion of the technical resource potential is captured, marine energy technologies would make significant contributions to our nation’s energy needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Energy’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/wpto-pbe-brochure-july2022.pdf\">Powering the Blue Economy (PDF)\u003c/a>” initiative, among others, provides grants and sponsors competitions to explore new and better technology. The fiscal year 2023 federal budget for ocean waves energy is $123 million, Ramsey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One program is funding \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/articles/water-power-technologies-office-announces-nearly-18-million-continuing-marine\">research led by national labs\u003c/a>, including designs to improve wave-driven turbines and building better motor drives for wave-energy converters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Motion in the ocean\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The idea of harnessing wave power has been kicking around California for decades. So has the state policy of ordering research into its potential: A \u003ca href=\"https://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/project_pages/energy/CA_WEC_Effects.pdf\">2008 study (PDF)\u003c/a> prepared for the Energy Commission and the Ocean Protection Council concluded that much more research was needed to better assess the potential impacts of wave and tidal energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time that study was released, one of the technology’s most ardent proponents was a young politician named Gavin Newsom. While mayor of San Francisco in 2007, Newsom proposed a tidal energy project near the Golden Gate Bridge. That idea was scrapped because it was prohibitively expensive. [aside postID=science_1984927 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/10/GettyImages-1309301200-1020x663.jpg']Not long after, as lieutenant governor, Newsom backed a pilot wave energy project he hoped would be up and running by 2012 or 2013. It wasn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the dream has not died. California is already hosting wave energy projects, including one being assembled at \u003ca href=\"https://altasea.org/our-future-is-blue/\">AltaSea\u003c/a>, a public-private research center that supports marine scientists focusing on the so-called Blue Economy. It operates out of a 35-acre campus at the Port of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its CEO is Terry Tamminen, a former California environmental secretary, who had a hand in writing the new wave and tidal energy law. Tamminen said wave energy has been ignored by some state and federal officials in the face of “irrational exuberance” for offshore wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the smaller, cheaper wave energy development would help the state meet its clean energy goal and could produce power well before massive floating offshore wind projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of AltaSea’s tenants, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecowavepower.com/\">Eco Wave Power\u003c/a>, is designed to deploy near shore, in breakwaters and jetties that roil with moving water. Its floating, paddle-like arms bob up and down in waves, triggering hydraulic pistons that power a motor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamminen said the system is “ready to deploy. Within two years we could have a commercial installation of Eco Wave technology.” The demonstration project will be installed at a wharf in L.A.’s harbor and will not generate any significant power, he said. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jason Busch, executive director, Pacific Ocean Energy Trust\"]‘A little bit of homework would have told you there isn’t much of a tidal opportunity in California.’[/pullquote]California is not likely to see much electricity from tidal energy, said Jason Busch, executive director of \u003ca href=\"https://pacificoceanenergy.org/\">Pacific Ocean Energy Trust\u003c/a>, an Oregon-based nonprofit fostering research into marine energy. He said the state of Washington is more conducive to this new energy, for example, because it has deep bays and estuaries for funneling water through turbine equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A little bit of homework would have told you there isn’t much of a tidal opportunity in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small number of companies are preparing to launch pilot wave projects in other states. The Navy operates a \u003ca href=\"https://tethys.pnnl.gov/project-sites/us-navy-wave-energy-test-site-wets\">wave energy test site\u003c/a> in Hawaii; three developers are preparing to launch new projects in the water there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pacwaveenergy.org/\">PacWave\u003c/a>, which operates two test sites off Newport, Oregon, is another demonstration project. A California-based company, \u003ca href=\"https://calwave.energy/about/\">CalWave\u003c/a>, which concluded a 10-month demonstration off the Scripps Institute of Oceanography’s research pier in San Diego, will deploy its wave-energy devices in a grid-connected, pre-permitted open-water test. The demonstration at the Oregon site is scheduled to begin next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968805\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968805\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02.jpg\" alt=\"A piece of high-tech equipment is seen floating in the open ocean where it will be submerged in order to detect wave energy.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This type of wave-energy device is moored in the open ocean, where it is submerged. Units like this from CalWave will be used in a project off the coast of Oregon that will provide power to the grid. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of CalWave)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Much is riding on the success of the project, which took 11 years to acquire permits. Some testing has been conducted with small-scale versions of the final device, but not in harsh open water conditions and with no expectation of supplying power to the grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the first-of-its-kind full-scale deployment. Not in ‘nursery’ conditions. It’s the real world, off you go,” said Bryson Robertson, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.pmec.us/\">Pacific Marine Energy Center\u003c/a> at Oregon State University, which is constructing the two testing sites. “We want to prove that we can deliver power.” [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Bryson Robertson, director, Pacific Marine Energy Center at Oregon State University\"]‘We want to prove that we can deliver power.’[/pullquote]Robertson, an engineer who studies wave dynamics, said one of the technologies being tested places large, buoyant squares in the water just below the surface, attached by lines to the sea floor. Kinetic energy is created as the floats bob and pitch with the action of the waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some companies’ technology sits atop the waves and others are fully submerged. Another is deployed on the surface and moves like a snake, with each segment creating energy from its movement. Each bespoke device is expensive, and some of the one-of-a-kind devices can cost $10 million to design and build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry “hasn’t narrowed in on a winning archetype,” Ramsey said. Some smaller designs can be picked up and thrown off a boat, he said, while others are large enough to need a boat to tow them into position. [aside label='More Stories on Clean Energy' tag='clean-energy']To Busch, it’s a critical moment for ocean energy, with small companies requiring years to raise enough funding to continue testing. And with attention on the industry, they cannot afford to stumble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Early companies that got full-scale machines in the water committed the mortal sin of overpromising and under-delivering to shareholders. One by one they went into bankruptcy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the second generation. These machines can only be developed toward commercial viability by putting them in the water and assessing their performance. That process is very long. Companies receive only limited private capital. The venture capital model does not fit marine energy. It’s a long slog to build and deploy and make money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the near future, wave and tidal energy may not provide huge amounts of power in the clean-energy mosaic that will form the grid, but the technology may prove to be one of the most versatile. Experts say marine power doesn’t have to be transported to shore to be useful — it could charge oceangoing vessels, research devices, navigation equipment and aquaculture operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closer to shore, modest wave-powered projects could support small, remote so-called “extension cord communities” at the end of the power supply. Federal researchers also foresee ocean power being used for desalination plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wave-powered generators and other renewables are already supplying all of the needs of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with the surplus energy used to create hydrogen to run ferries to the mainland.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lots of unknowns\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>New technology often comes cloaked in questions: How will the wave devices impact marine animals, shipping and other ocean users? What about transmission lines and possible floating power stations? [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager, US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office\"]‘I think the potential is so enormous. If we can figure out how to do it cost-effectively, I know it will get solved. I hope the US is at the forefront of solving that.’[/pullquote]“Blue energy synergy” is a future possibility, with wave projects sited alongside floating offshore wind projects, allowing the power producers to share transmission lines and other infrastructure. The state report due next year is meant to answer those questions and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still don’t fully understand all of the interactions of the device in the marine environment,” Ramsey said. “Until you can put devices in the water and get long-term data collection, we don’t know. We do try to extrapolate from other industries and activities in the ocean — oil and gas, offshore wind — but that only gets you so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the potential is so enormous. If we can figure out how to do it cost-effectively, I know it will get solved. I hope the U.S. is at the forefront of solving that. If we lose a big industry to overseas, that is a lost opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The world’s oceans may be vast, but they are getting crowded. Coastal areas are congested with cargo ships, international commercial fishing fleets, naval vessels, oil rigs and, soon, floating platforms for \u003ca href=\"https://www.wri.org/insights/deep-sea-mining-explained\">deep-sea mining\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the Pacific Ocean is going to get even busier: Nearly 600 square miles of ocean off California have been leased for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/10/california-offshore-wind-humboldt/\">floating wind farms\u003c/a>, with more expected. Now the state is considering hosting another renewable energy technology in the sea: blue power, electricity created from waves and tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB605\">new law\u003c/a> signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October instructs state agencies to study the feasibility and impacts of capturing ocean movement to create power and report back to the Legislature by January 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to jumpstart an industry that could fill in the power gaps as California tries to achieve its goal of transitioning to an all-renewable electric grid by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for all the interest in renewable energy — and the government subsidies — public investment in ocean energy has lagged. The technology that would make the projects more efficient, cost-effective and able to withstand a punishing sea environment is still under development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, a handful of small demonstration projects have been launched off the West Coast, although none has produced commercial power for the grid. Through 2045, the California Energy Commission’s new projections for future power do not include any wave and tidal power. Yet energy experts say there is great potential along the Pacific coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Tim Ramsey, marine energy program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/marine-energy-program\">Water Power Technologies Office\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Energy from waves and tides is generated by an action that the ocean almost always provides — movement. Although wave and tidal devices take different forms, most capture the ocean’s kinetic motion as seawater flows through cylinders or when floating devices move up and down or sideways. In some cases, that movement creates hydraulic pressure that spins a turbine or generator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As with all developing energy technologies, Ramsey said, the cost to produce wave and tidal power is expected to be quite high in the early years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there have been advances in technology, getting ocean-based projects from the pilot stage to providing commercial power to the grid is the next hurdle for the industry — and it’s a substantial one. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Of all the energies out there, marine energy has been the slowest to develop. We are kind of where land-based wind was 20 or 30 years ago.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It’s very expensive right now, and really hard to do. Working out in the water is very complex, in some cases in the harshest places on Earth. … Then being able to build something that can last 20 to 30 years. We’ve made progress, but we’re a decade away,” Ramsey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Steve Padilla, a Democrat from Chula Vista and the author of the wave energy bill, said ocean power has “great potential” but it has been agonizingly slow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Folks have been busy focusing on other things,” he said, citing the state’s current push for floating offshore wind development. “There has been a combination of a lack of knowledge and awareness of the infrastructure and impacts. We know the state’s energy portfolio has to be as broad as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the California Energy Commission, which is taking the lead on the new state study, declined to comment about wave power, saying its work has not yet begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The potential is enticing: The \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021/02/f82/78773_3.pdf\">National Renewable Energy Laboratory (PDF)\u003c/a> estimated that the total wave and tide energy resources that are available in the U.S. with current technology\u003cem> \u003c/em>are equivalent to 57% of 2019’s domestic energy production. While the report noted that the technologies are in the early stages of development, “even if only a small portion of the technical resource potential is captured, marine energy technologies would make significant contributions to our nation’s energy needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Energy’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/wpto-pbe-brochure-july2022.pdf\">Powering the Blue Economy (PDF)\u003c/a>” initiative, among others, provides grants and sponsors competitions to explore new and better technology. The fiscal year 2023 federal budget for ocean waves energy is $123 million, Ramsey said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One program is funding \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/articles/water-power-technologies-office-announces-nearly-18-million-continuing-marine\">research led by national labs\u003c/a>, including designs to improve wave-driven turbines and building better motor drives for wave-energy converters.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Motion in the ocean\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The idea of harnessing wave power has been kicking around California for decades. So has the state policy of ordering research into its potential: A \u003ca href=\"https://www.opc.ca.gov/webmaster/ftp/project_pages/energy/CA_WEC_Effects.pdf\">2008 study (PDF)\u003c/a> prepared for the Energy Commission and the Ocean Protection Council concluded that much more research was needed to better assess the potential impacts of wave and tidal energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time that study was released, one of the technology’s most ardent proponents was a young politician named Gavin Newsom. While mayor of San Francisco in 2007, Newsom proposed a tidal energy project near the Golden Gate Bridge. That idea was scrapped because it was prohibitively expensive. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Not long after, as lieutenant governor, Newsom backed a pilot wave energy project he hoped would be up and running by 2012 or 2013. It wasn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the dream has not died. California is already hosting wave energy projects, including one being assembled at \u003ca href=\"https://altasea.org/our-future-is-blue/\">AltaSea\u003c/a>, a public-private research center that supports marine scientists focusing on the so-called Blue Economy. It operates out of a 35-acre campus at the Port of Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its CEO is Terry Tamminen, a former California environmental secretary, who had a hand in writing the new wave and tidal energy law. Tamminen said wave energy has been ignored by some state and federal officials in the face of “irrational exuberance” for offshore wind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the smaller, cheaper wave energy development would help the state meet its clean energy goal and could produce power well before massive floating offshore wind projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of AltaSea’s tenants, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecowavepower.com/\">Eco Wave Power\u003c/a>, is designed to deploy near shore, in breakwaters and jetties that roil with moving water. Its floating, paddle-like arms bob up and down in waves, triggering hydraulic pistons that power a motor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tamminen said the system is “ready to deploy. Within two years we could have a commercial installation of Eco Wave technology.” The demonstration project will be installed at a wharf in L.A.’s harbor and will not generate any significant power, he said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘A little bit of homework would have told you there isn’t much of a tidal opportunity in California.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California is not likely to see much electricity from tidal energy, said Jason Busch, executive director of \u003ca href=\"https://pacificoceanenergy.org/\">Pacific Ocean Energy Trust\u003c/a>, an Oregon-based nonprofit fostering research into marine energy. He said the state of Washington is more conducive to this new energy, for example, because it has deep bays and estuaries for funneling water through turbine equipment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A little bit of homework would have told you there isn’t much of a tidal opportunity in California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A small number of companies are preparing to launch pilot wave projects in other states. The Navy operates a \u003ca href=\"https://tethys.pnnl.gov/project-sites/us-navy-wave-energy-test-site-wets\">wave energy test site\u003c/a> in Hawaii; three developers are preparing to launch new projects in the water there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://pacwaveenergy.org/\">PacWave\u003c/a>, which operates two test sites off Newport, Oregon, is another demonstration project. A California-based company, \u003ca href=\"https://calwave.energy/about/\">CalWave\u003c/a>, which concluded a 10-month demonstration off the Scripps Institute of Oceanography’s research pier in San Diego, will deploy its wave-energy devices in a grid-connected, pre-permitted open-water test. The demonstration at the Oregon site is scheduled to begin next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968805\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968805\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02.jpg\" alt=\"A piece of high-tech equipment is seen floating in the open ocean where it will be submerged in order to detect wave energy.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/CMBluePower02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This type of wave-energy device is moored in the open ocean, where it is submerged. Units like this from CalWave will be used in a project off the coast of Oregon that will provide power to the grid. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of CalWave)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Much is riding on the success of the project, which took 11 years to acquire permits. Some testing has been conducted with small-scale versions of the final device, but not in harsh open water conditions and with no expectation of supplying power to the grid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the first-of-its-kind full-scale deployment. Not in ‘nursery’ conditions. It’s the real world, off you go,” said Bryson Robertson, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.pmec.us/\">Pacific Marine Energy Center\u003c/a> at Oregon State University, which is constructing the two testing sites. “We want to prove that we can deliver power.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Robertson, an engineer who studies wave dynamics, said one of the technologies being tested places large, buoyant squares in the water just below the surface, attached by lines to the sea floor. Kinetic energy is created as the floats bob and pitch with the action of the waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some companies’ technology sits atop the waves and others are fully submerged. Another is deployed on the surface and moves like a snake, with each segment creating energy from its movement. Each bespoke device is expensive, and some of the one-of-a-kind devices can cost $10 million to design and build.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry “hasn’t narrowed in on a winning archetype,” Ramsey said. Some smaller designs can be picked up and thrown off a boat, he said, while others are large enough to need a boat to tow them into position. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>To Busch, it’s a critical moment for ocean energy, with small companies requiring years to raise enough funding to continue testing. And with attention on the industry, they cannot afford to stumble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Early companies that got full-scale machines in the water committed the mortal sin of overpromising and under-delivering to shareholders. One by one they went into bankruptcy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the second generation. These machines can only be developed toward commercial viability by putting them in the water and assessing their performance. That process is very long. Companies receive only limited private capital. The venture capital model does not fit marine energy. It’s a long slog to build and deploy and make money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the near future, wave and tidal energy may not provide huge amounts of power in the clean-energy mosaic that will form the grid, but the technology may prove to be one of the most versatile. Experts say marine power doesn’t have to be transported to shore to be useful — it could charge oceangoing vessels, research devices, navigation equipment and aquaculture operations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closer to shore, modest wave-powered projects could support small, remote so-called “extension cord communities” at the end of the power supply. Federal researchers also foresee ocean power being used for desalination plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wave-powered generators and other renewables are already supplying all of the needs of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with the surplus energy used to create hydrogen to run ferries to the mainland.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lots of unknowns\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>New technology often comes cloaked in questions: How will the wave devices impact marine animals, shipping and other ocean users? What about transmission lines and possible floating power stations? \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I think the potential is so enormous. If we can figure out how to do it cost-effectively, I know it will get solved. I hope the US is at the forefront of solving that.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Blue energy synergy” is a future possibility, with wave projects sited alongside floating offshore wind projects, allowing the power producers to share transmission lines and other infrastructure. The state report due next year is meant to answer those questions and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We still don’t fully understand all of the interactions of the device in the marine environment,” Ramsey said. “Until you can put devices in the water and get long-term data collection, we don’t know. We do try to extrapolate from other industries and activities in the ocean — oil and gas, offshore wind — but that only gets you so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the potential is so enormous. If we can figure out how to do it cost-effectively, I know it will get solved. I hope the U.S. is at the forefront of solving that. If we lose a big industry to overseas, that is a lost opportunity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "climate-funding-is-in-short-supply-some-want-to-rework-the-financial-system",
"title": "With Climate Funding in Short Supply, Some Are Pushing to Change the Global Financing Process",
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"headTitle": "With Climate Funding in Short Supply, Some Are Pushing to Change the Global Financing Process | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Money is one of the biggest obstacles to dealing with climate change — especially in poor countries hit hardest by disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not enough is being spent to cut the pollution that’s heating the planet or on things that could help people adapt to a hotter world, like flood defenses and infrastructure that’s built for more extreme weather. As a result, developing countries, which bear little responsibility for fueling climate change, are at risk of suffering crippling \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">losses and damages\u003c/a> as temperatures rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That funding shortfall, which has endured for years, will be at the heart of the United Nations climate negotiations that start this week in Dubai. As the United Arab Emirates prepared to host this year’s climate summit, known as COP28, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uae-embassy.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/July%20Embassy_One%20Page_COP28_07.20.2023.pdf\">it \u003c/a>said that “fixing climate finance” is a top priority. That includes making sure wealthy nations finally \u003ca href=\"https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/10/COP28-President-calls-for-improved-adaptation-finance-for-vulnerable-nations\">deliver on a long-standing but chronically unmet promise\u003c/a> to give $100 billion a year in climate financing to their poorer neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But talks are already underway to replace that pledge, which is more than a decade old and inadequate for the climate challenges that developing countries face, experts said. As the host of this year’s conference, the UAE will need to lay the groundwork for a \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/NCQG\">new funding target\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme weather this year has driven home the urgency of talks for greater funding. COP28 comes at the end of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/05/1203821716/earth-is-on-track-for-its-hottest-year-yet-according-to-a-european-climate-agenc\">what will almost certainly be the hottest year ever recorded\u003c/a> on Earth, and developing countries are in “immediate danger,” said Wanjira Mathai, managing director for Africa and global partnerships at the World Resources Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the pressure will be put on very significantly at COP28 for the finance to flow,” Mathai said. “Action has to be the focus going forward. And that action costs” money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968526\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968526\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A smoke stack with smoke billowing out it, surrounded by wind turbines.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines are seen near the open-cast mining and the coal-fired power station Neurath of German energy giant RWE in Garzweiler, western Germany, on March 15, 2021. On March 16, 2021, the group will present its detailed figures for 2020, for the last time with RWE CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 was a successful year for RWE. \u003ccite>(na Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Developing countries need a lot more money for climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Industrialized countries like the United States built their wealth by producing and using fossil fuels. The U.S. is by far the biggest historical contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet. Developing nations from Peru to the Philippines have contributed far less pollution, but they’re suffering disproportionate harm because of their smaller economies and geographic locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So in 2009, industrialized countries set a goal to give developing nations $100 billion a year by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change. In 2015, countries extended the pledge to 2025. They also said they’d set a new goal that reflects the “needs and priorities of developing countries” before the old one expires. That is the new target that COP28 will help determine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.oecd.org/environment/growth-accelerated-in-the-climate-finance-provided-and-mobilised-in-2021-but-developed-countries-remain-short.htm\">latest assessment by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development\u003c/a> (OECD) found developing nations received $89.6 billion from public and private sources in 2021, an increase of almost 8% from the year before, but still short of the $100 billion annual goal. The OECD said wealthy countries appear to have met the funding target in 2022, though the data is preliminary and unverified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But recent tallies show that what’s currently being spent on climate change is a fraction of what’s actually needed. A report \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210065704/climate-change-finance-adaptation-gap-developing-countries\">published recently by the U.N.\u003c/a> said developing countries need at least 10 times more money to adapt to the effects of human-driven climate change than what they’ve been getting. The OECD said developing countries will need around $2.4 trillion every year for climate investments between 2026 and 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of underinvestment is becoming clear. Severe flooding in Pakistan in the summer of 2022 that was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123798981/climate-change-likely-helped-cause-deadly-pakistan-floods-scientists-find\">likely fueled by climate change\u003c/a> killed at least 1,700 people and \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/10/28/pakistan-flood-damages-and-economic-losses-over-usd-30-billion-and-reconstruction-needs-over-usd-16-billion-new-assessme\">caused more than $30 billion in damage and economic losses\u003c/a>. That’s more than the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210065704/climate-change-finance-adaptation-gap-developing-countries\">$21.3 billion of public funding \u003c/a>that all developing countries combined received in 2021 to help them adapt to the impacts of global warming, according to the United Nations. Early this year, international donors \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-chief-calls-massive-investments-pakistan-recovery-2023-01-09/\">pledged more than $9 billion\u003c/a> to help Pakistan recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves developing nations in a bind. They need help, but whatever money is promised for the future is likely to fall short of what’s needed. And they’ll be relying on wealthier countries that failed to deliver in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That $100 billion is a very important symbol of trust” between wealthy countries and developing nations, “and so, of course, it’s important to keep that going” with a new goal that reflects the climate risks that poor countries face, said Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, assistant director of the Global Economic Governance Initiative at Boston University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Bhandary said efforts to boost climate finance have moved beyond national pledges from big historical polluters and are now focused instead on something even larger: overhauling the global financial system to better channel money to vulnerable nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11968528 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman holding two water containers wades through flood waters. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman wades through flood waters to get drinking water at Dera Allah Yar in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province in Pakistan on Oct. 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fida Hussain/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Attention shifts to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of attention is focused on development organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Those institutions take funding from member countries and use it to raise more money from private investors. The institutions then lend those funds to developing countries at lower interest rates than they could typically get on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year, calls have grown to make those organizations bigger — and better at getting more cheap money to countries that need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finance experts said there are signs that those institutions are starting to respond to the pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is a threat to global peace, security, economic stability, and development,” the heads of the World Bank and IMF said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/09/07/enhancing-imf-world-bank-collaboration\">joint statement in September\u003c/a>.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"climate-change\"]Officials from the World Bank and IMF said \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/09/07/enhancing-imf-world-bank-collaboration\">they are meeting regularly\u003c/a> to coordinate their climate programs. The World Bank has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/07/10/ceos-and-chairs-to-join-private-sector-investment-lab\">started working with corporate leaders\u003c/a> to figure out ways to increase private investment in emerging markets. And it is \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/10/13/statement-of-the-heads-of-multilateral-development-banks-group-strengthening-our-collaboration-for-greater-impact\">collaborating with multilateral development banks\u003c/a>, like the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to try to lend more money to developing countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it announced the bank collaboration in October, the World Bank said measures that had already been implemented or were under consideration could boost the banks’ lending ability by up to $400 billion over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is still just a portion of what is needed. A report commissioned recently by the Group of 20 nations said multilateral development banks \u003ca href=\"https://www.g20.org/content/dam/gtwenty/gtwenty_new/document/Strengthening-MDBs-The-Triple-Agenda_G20-IEG-Report-Volume.pdf\">need to help raise an additional $1.8 trillion per year\u003c/a> of climate investments in developing countries by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The finance needs are huge,” said Aki Kachi, a senior climate policy analyst at the NewClimate Institute, a German nonprofit that advocates for more aggressive action on climate change. “I mean, we’re talking about rebuilding, essentially, the whole global economic system, our energy systems, our transport systems, the way we heat our buildings, the way we cook, the way we farm, how we source our supplies — the natural resources — the transport logistics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re talking about changing a lot,” Kachi adds, “and that takes a lot of money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cutting countries’ debt loads could help them boost their own climate investing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Easing countries’ foreign debt burdens is increasingly seen as a critical way to free up money that developing countries could use to prepare for climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 50 countries are facing “severe debt problems,” said Lars Jensen, a senior economist with the U.N. Development Programme. That means those nations often forgo investments in areas like education, health care and climate action in order to continue repaying their overseas lenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968530\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968530\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man speaks into a bullhorn, with demonstrators behind him holding flags and a banner that says 'World Bank.'\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists hold placards during a demonstration against poverty and climate change during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), in Marrakesh on October 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nigeria is one of the countries under serious debt pressure. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/fiscal-policy-options-for-growing-out-of-debt-evidence-from-nigeria/\">estimated 96% of government revenue\u003c/a> went to paying the interest on its loans in 2022. And the country faces “\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/nigeria\">major challenges\u003c/a>” in meeting most of its \u003ca href=\"https://sdgs.un.org/goals\">goals for sustainable development\u003c/a>. Those goals include making cities and communities more resilient to extreme weather and ensuring people have access to clean and affordable energy. Nigeria was hit by intense rain and deadly flooding in 2022, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-exacerbated-heavy-rainfall-leading-to-large-scale-flooding-in-highly-vulnerable-communities-in-west-africa/\">made worse by climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[These] debt troubles are really contributing to a severe development crisis — a systemic development crisis, if you want to call it that — in the Global South,” Jensen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some countries simply borrowed too much money and spent it on things that didn’t help their economies, Jensen said many others are victims of factors outside their control such as swings in commodity prices, soaring interest rates and “natural disaster shocks” related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often, they are hit by a disaster, they do still have to pay their old debt, and then a lot of the disaster help that comes to them is actually in the form of more loans,” which puts them deeper in debt, said Lara Merling, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “That’s kind of the vicious cycle.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Lars Jensen, senior economist with the U.N. Development Programme\"]‘[These] debt troubles are really contributing to a severe development crisis — a systemic development crisis, if you want to call it that — in the Global South.’[/pullquote]Soon after floods swamped Pakistan last year, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.undp.org/publications/dfs-avoiding-too-little-too-late-international-debt-relief\">report in October 2022 from the U.N. Development Programme\u003c/a> listed the country as one of 54 developing economies that face serious debt problems. Later that month, Pakistan was approved for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.adb.org/news/1-5-billion-adb-financing-promote-social-protection-food-security-pakistan\">$1.5 billion loan\u003c/a> from the Asian Development Bank to improve food security and support employment in response to the floods and disruptions in global supply chains. That was quickly followed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.adb.org/news/adb-approves-flood-assistance-package-pakistan\">another loan from the bank for $475 million\u003c/a> to help Pakistan pay for flood recovery and reconstruction. Less than a year after those loans were approved, Pakistan had to \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-imf-reach-staff-level-pact-release-stalled-funds-2023-06-30/\">get a bailout this summer from the IMF\u003c/a> to keep from defaulting on its debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vulnerable nations have been pushing for years to get debt relief when disaster hits. Grenada was able to secure a “\u003ca href=\"https://production-new-commonwealth-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/migrated/inline/Introducing%20Hurricance%20Clauses.PDF\">hurricane clause\u003c/a>” in its bonds as part of a debt restructuring in 2015. The provision \u003ca href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/4917e73a-8305-11e9-b592-5fe435b57a3b\">allows the Caribbean country to temporarily stop paying lenders\u003c/a> if it is struck by a natural disaster. The idea has been catching on. The World Bank \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2023/06/22/comprehensive-toolkit-to-support-countries-after-natural-disasters\">announced a policy in June\u003c/a> to allow certain countries to pause debt repayments in the event of “crisis or catastrophe.” Countries should be able to “focus on meeting the urgent needs of their people instead of on loan repayments,” the World Bank said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merling called it the “bare minimum” that lenders can do. She said countries still don’t have good options to restructure their debts. So rather than default, Merling said many countries go for years spending much of their budget paying down debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kenya \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/23/1177579336/a-dilemma-for-dozens-of-countries-fund-your-schools-and-hospitals-or-pay-your-de\">suspended salary payments to thousands of government workers\u003c/a> earlier in 2023 to keep from defaulting on its loans. An adviser to Kenyan President William Ruto said \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/11/kenya-presidency-rules-out-default-as-cash-crunch-delays-salaries\">defaulting would force the country into dragged-out restructuring\u003c/a> negotiations with lenders. In October, Ruto \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/kenya-china-loans-economy-belt-road-debt-97e352532bf5db3bc40a7370116f4410\">sought $1 billion in loans from China\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[We’ve] seen for those handful of countries that have defaulted and are negotiating, it’s taking years and years” to restructure their debts, Merling said. “And they’re still coming out on the other side with a huge percentage of their revenue dedicated to debt service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It “becomes sort of like a Ponzi scheme,” Merling adds. “Because you’re just borrowing more and more to just keep making interest payments on your previous debt and only really default when things are just impossible and you actually cannot pay anything anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ruto and other African leaders recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/opinion/climate-change-africa-debt.html\">called for a global deal for debt relief\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11968532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A line of people walking on a thin walkway through floodwaters. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>The UAE says climate finance for poor countries is a priority at this year’s U.N. talks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The challenge is trying to adjust how global financial systems and organizations operate when countries are already suffering the impacts of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s very clear that it’s not changing fast enough,” said Kachi of the NewClimate Institute. “And we really need to accelerate that pace of change drastically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/06/29/pr23246-statement-imf-md-cop28-pres-designate-wb-pres-un-special-envoy-climate-action-finance\">statement issued in June\u003c/a> with the heads of the World Bank and the IMF, Sultan Al Jaber, president of this year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai, expressed similar frustration. Climate finance “is nowhere near available enough, accessible enough and affordable enough — especially for countries in the Global South,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Climate+funding+is+in+short+supply.+So+some+want+to+rework+the+financial+system&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Efforts to boost climate financing have moved beyond national pledges. Now, the focus is on overhauling organizations like the World Bank and providing countries with debt relief.",
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"title": "With Climate Funding in Short Supply, Some Are Pushing to Change the Global Financing Process | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Money is one of the biggest obstacles to dealing with climate change — especially in poor countries hit hardest by disasters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not enough is being spent to cut the pollution that’s heating the planet or on things that could help people adapt to a hotter world, like flood defenses and infrastructure that’s built for more extreme weather. As a result, developing countries, which bear little responsibility for fueling climate change, are at risk of suffering crippling \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1133270753/climate-change-loss-damage-cop27\">losses and damages\u003c/a> as temperatures rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That funding shortfall, which has endured for years, will be at the heart of the United Nations climate negotiations that start this week in Dubai. As the United Arab Emirates prepared to host this year’s climate summit, known as COP28, \u003ca href=\"https://www.uae-embassy.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/July%20Embassy_One%20Page_COP28_07.20.2023.pdf\">it \u003c/a>said that “fixing climate finance” is a top priority. That includes making sure wealthy nations finally \u003ca href=\"https://www.cop28.com/en/news/2023/10/COP28-President-calls-for-improved-adaptation-finance-for-vulnerable-nations\">deliver on a long-standing but chronically unmet promise\u003c/a> to give $100 billion a year in climate financing to their poorer neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But talks are already underway to replace that pledge, which is more than a decade old and inadequate for the climate challenges that developing countries face, experts said. As the host of this year’s conference, the UAE will need to lay the groundwork for a \u003ca href=\"https://unfccc.int/NCQG\">new funding target\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme weather this year has driven home the urgency of talks for greater funding. COP28 comes at the end of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/10/05/1203821716/earth-is-on-track-for-its-hottest-year-yet-according-to-a-european-climate-agenc\">what will almost certainly be the hottest year ever recorded\u003c/a> on Earth, and developing countries are in “immediate danger,” said Wanjira Mathai, managing director for Africa and global partnerships at the World Resources Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think the pressure will be put on very significantly at COP28 for the finance to flow,” Mathai said. “Action has to be the focus going forward. And that action costs” money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968526\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968526\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A smoke stack with smoke billowing out it, surrounded by wind turbines.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1231733965_custom-7b2ef90794da65aabc1b14c933967c504b5bb557-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wind turbines are seen near the open-cast mining and the coal-fired power station Neurath of German energy giant RWE in Garzweiler, western Germany, on March 15, 2021. On March 16, 2021, the group will present its detailed figures for 2020, for the last time with RWE CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 was a successful year for RWE. \u003ccite>(na Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Developing countries need a lot more money for climate change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Industrialized countries like the United States built their wealth by producing and using fossil fuels. The U.S. is by far the biggest historical contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet. Developing nations from Peru to the Philippines have contributed far less pollution, but they’re suffering disproportionate harm because of their smaller economies and geographic locations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So in 2009, industrialized countries set a goal to give developing nations $100 billion a year by 2020 to help them adapt to climate change. In 2015, countries extended the pledge to 2025. They also said they’d set a new goal that reflects the “needs and priorities of developing countries” before the old one expires. That is the new target that COP28 will help determine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.oecd.org/environment/growth-accelerated-in-the-climate-finance-provided-and-mobilised-in-2021-but-developed-countries-remain-short.htm\">latest assessment by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development\u003c/a> (OECD) found developing nations received $89.6 billion from public and private sources in 2021, an increase of almost 8% from the year before, but still short of the $100 billion annual goal. The OECD said wealthy countries appear to have met the funding target in 2022, though the data is preliminary and unverified.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But recent tallies show that what’s currently being spent on climate change is a fraction of what’s actually needed. A report \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210065704/climate-change-finance-adaptation-gap-developing-countries\">published recently by the U.N.\u003c/a> said developing countries need at least 10 times more money to adapt to the effects of human-driven climate change than what they’ve been getting. The OECD said developing countries will need around $2.4 trillion every year for climate investments between 2026 and 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of underinvestment is becoming clear. Severe flooding in Pakistan in the summer of 2022 that was \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123798981/climate-change-likely-helped-cause-deadly-pakistan-floods-scientists-find\">likely fueled by climate change\u003c/a> killed at least 1,700 people and \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/10/28/pakistan-flood-damages-and-economic-losses-over-usd-30-billion-and-reconstruction-needs-over-usd-16-billion-new-assessme\">caused more than $30 billion in damage and economic losses\u003c/a>. That’s more than the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1210065704/climate-change-finance-adaptation-gap-developing-countries\">$21.3 billion of public funding \u003c/a>that all developing countries combined received in 2021 to help them adapt to the impacts of global warming, according to the United Nations. Early this year, international donors \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-chief-calls-massive-investments-pakistan-recovery-2023-01-09/\">pledged more than $9 billion\u003c/a> to help Pakistan recover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That leaves developing nations in a bind. They need help, but whatever money is promised for the future is likely to fall short of what’s needed. And they’ll be relying on wealthier countries that failed to deliver in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That $100 billion is a very important symbol of trust” between wealthy countries and developing nations, “and so, of course, it’s important to keep that going” with a new goal that reflects the climate risks that poor countries face, said Rishikesh Ram Bhandary, assistant director of the Global Economic Governance Initiative at Boston University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Bhandary said efforts to boost climate finance have moved beyond national pledges from big historical polluters and are now focused instead on something even larger: overhauling the global financial system to better channel money to vulnerable nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11968528 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman holding two water containers wades through flood waters. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1243768013_custom-adf00878f577cd08028a3981954430c858578770-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman wades through flood waters to get drinking water at Dera Allah Yar in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province in Pakistan on Oct. 6, 2022. \u003ccite>(Fida Hussain/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Attention shifts to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of attention is focused on development organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Those institutions take funding from member countries and use it to raise more money from private investors. The institutions then lend those funds to developing countries at lower interest rates than they could typically get on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year, calls have grown to make those organizations bigger — and better at getting more cheap money to countries that need it most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finance experts said there are signs that those institutions are starting to respond to the pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change is a threat to global peace, security, economic stability, and development,” the heads of the World Bank and IMF said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/09/07/enhancing-imf-world-bank-collaboration\">joint statement in September\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Officials from the World Bank and IMF said \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/09/07/enhancing-imf-world-bank-collaboration\">they are meeting regularly\u003c/a> to coordinate their climate programs. The World Bank has also \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2023/07/10/ceos-and-chairs-to-join-private-sector-investment-lab\">started working with corporate leaders\u003c/a> to figure out ways to increase private investment in emerging markets. And it is \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2023/10/13/statement-of-the-heads-of-multilateral-development-banks-group-strengthening-our-collaboration-for-greater-impact\">collaborating with multilateral development banks\u003c/a>, like the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to try to lend more money to developing countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it announced the bank collaboration in October, the World Bank said measures that had already been implemented or were under consideration could boost the banks’ lending ability by up to $400 billion over the next decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is still just a portion of what is needed. A report commissioned recently by the Group of 20 nations said multilateral development banks \u003ca href=\"https://www.g20.org/content/dam/gtwenty/gtwenty_new/document/Strengthening-MDBs-The-Triple-Agenda_G20-IEG-Report-Volume.pdf\">need to help raise an additional $1.8 trillion per year\u003c/a> of climate investments in developing countries by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The finance needs are huge,” said Aki Kachi, a senior climate policy analyst at the NewClimate Institute, a German nonprofit that advocates for more aggressive action on climate change. “I mean, we’re talking about rebuilding, essentially, the whole global economic system, our energy systems, our transport systems, the way we heat our buildings, the way we cook, the way we farm, how we source our supplies — the natural resources — the transport logistics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re talking about changing a lot,” Kachi adds, “and that takes a lot of money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cutting countries’ debt loads could help them boost their own climate investing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Easing countries’ foreign debt burdens is increasingly seen as a critical way to free up money that developing countries could use to prepare for climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 50 countries are facing “severe debt problems,” said Lars Jensen, a senior economist with the U.N. Development Programme. That means those nations often forgo investments in areas like education, health care and climate action in order to continue repaying their overseas lenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11968530\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11968530\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man speaks into a bullhorn, with demonstrators behind him holding flags and a banner that says 'World Bank.'\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/gettyimages-1722584497_custom-5db4939b55d2bebae9da986d0f89fea929eee1b5-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Activists hold placards during a demonstration against poverty and climate change during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG), in Marrakesh on October 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nigeria is one of the countries under serious debt pressure. An \u003ca href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/fiscal-policy-options-for-growing-out-of-debt-evidence-from-nigeria/\">estimated 96% of government revenue\u003c/a> went to paying the interest on its loans in 2022. And the country faces “\u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/profiles/nigeria\">major challenges\u003c/a>” in meeting most of its \u003ca href=\"https://sdgs.un.org/goals\">goals for sustainable development\u003c/a>. Those goals include making cities and communities more resilient to extreme weather and ensuring people have access to clean and affordable energy. Nigeria was hit by intense rain and deadly flooding in 2022, which was \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-exacerbated-heavy-rainfall-leading-to-large-scale-flooding-in-highly-vulnerable-communities-in-west-africa/\">made worse by climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[These] debt troubles are really contributing to a severe development crisis — a systemic development crisis, if you want to call it that — in the Global South,” Jensen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some countries simply borrowed too much money and spent it on things that didn’t help their economies, Jensen said many others are victims of factors outside their control such as swings in commodity prices, soaring interest rates and “natural disaster shocks” related to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often, they are hit by a disaster, they do still have to pay their old debt, and then a lot of the disaster help that comes to them is actually in the form of more loans,” which puts them deeper in debt, said Lara Merling, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “That’s kind of the vicious cycle.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘[These] debt troubles are really contributing to a severe development crisis — a systemic development crisis, if you want to call it that — in the Global South.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Soon after floods swamped Pakistan last year, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.undp.org/publications/dfs-avoiding-too-little-too-late-international-debt-relief\">report in October 2022 from the U.N. Development Programme\u003c/a> listed the country as one of 54 developing economies that face serious debt problems. Later that month, Pakistan was approved for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.adb.org/news/1-5-billion-adb-financing-promote-social-protection-food-security-pakistan\">$1.5 billion loan\u003c/a> from the Asian Development Bank to improve food security and support employment in response to the floods and disruptions in global supply chains. That was quickly followed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.adb.org/news/adb-approves-flood-assistance-package-pakistan\">another loan from the bank for $475 million\u003c/a> to help Pakistan pay for flood recovery and reconstruction. Less than a year after those loans were approved, Pakistan had to \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistan-imf-reach-staff-level-pact-release-stalled-funds-2023-06-30/\">get a bailout this summer from the IMF\u003c/a> to keep from defaulting on its debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vulnerable nations have been pushing for years to get debt relief when disaster hits. Grenada was able to secure a “\u003ca href=\"https://production-new-commonwealth-files.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/migrated/inline/Introducing%20Hurricance%20Clauses.PDF\">hurricane clause\u003c/a>” in its bonds as part of a debt restructuring in 2015. The provision \u003ca href=\"https://www.ft.com/content/4917e73a-8305-11e9-b592-5fe435b57a3b\">allows the Caribbean country to temporarily stop paying lenders\u003c/a> if it is struck by a natural disaster. The idea has been catching on. The World Bank \u003ca href=\"https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2023/06/22/comprehensive-toolkit-to-support-countries-after-natural-disasters\">announced a policy in June\u003c/a> to allow certain countries to pause debt repayments in the event of “crisis or catastrophe.” Countries should be able to “focus on meeting the urgent needs of their people instead of on loan repayments,” the World Bank said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Merling called it the “bare minimum” that lenders can do. She said countries still don’t have good options to restructure their debts. So rather than default, Merling said many countries go for years spending much of their budget paying down debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kenya \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/23/1177579336/a-dilemma-for-dozens-of-countries-fund-your-schools-and-hospitals-or-pay-your-de\">suspended salary payments to thousands of government workers\u003c/a> earlier in 2023 to keep from defaulting on its loans. An adviser to Kenyan President William Ruto said \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/11/kenya-presidency-rules-out-default-as-cash-crunch-delays-salaries\">defaulting would force the country into dragged-out restructuring\u003c/a> negotiations with lenders. In October, Ruto \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/kenya-china-loans-economy-belt-road-debt-97e352532bf5db3bc40a7370116f4410\">sought $1 billion in loans from China\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[We’ve] seen for those handful of countries that have defaulted and are negotiating, it’s taking years and years” to restructure their debts, Merling said. “And they’re still coming out on the other side with a huge percentage of their revenue dedicated to debt service.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It “becomes sort of like a Ponzi scheme,” Merling adds. “Because you’re just borrowing more and more to just keep making interest payments on your previous debt and only really default when things are just impossible and you actually cannot pay anything anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ruto and other African leaders recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/opinion/climate-change-africa-debt.html\">called for a global deal for debt relief\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11968532\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A line of people walking on a thin walkway through floodwaters. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/11/ap23187339215473_custom-fa40eefc3fa6a8d8792c0c0ca9d9e556a9d511d6-1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>The UAE says climate finance for poor countries is a priority at this year’s U.N. talks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The challenge is trying to adjust how global financial systems and organizations operate when countries are already suffering the impacts of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s very clear that it’s not changing fast enough,” said Kachi of the NewClimate Institute. “And we really need to accelerate that pace of change drastically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/06/29/pr23246-statement-imf-md-cop28-pres-designate-wb-pres-un-special-envoy-climate-action-finance\">statement issued in June\u003c/a> with the heads of the World Bank and the IMF, Sultan Al Jaber, president of this year’s U.N. climate summit in Dubai, expressed similar frustration. Climate finance “is nowhere near available enough, accessible enough and affordable enough — especially for countries in the Global South,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Climate+funding+is+in+short+supply.+So+some+want+to+rework+the+financial+system&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California's Reservoirs Are Full, but the Water Forecast Is Murky",
"headTitle": "California’s Reservoirs Are Full, but the Water Forecast Is Murky | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state — are in good shape, with levels at \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/\">124% of average\u003c/a>. In late 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151422/california-reservoir-rebound\">bathtub rings of dry earth\u003c/a> lined lakes that had collectively dipped to about two-thirds of average — until heavy winter storms in January filled many of them almost to the brim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet healthy water levels don’t mean California’s reservoirs are full. Most of California’s large reservoirs are operated for flood control as well as water storage, with space kept empty to rein in winter storm runoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wet season has arrived in California, with El Niño conditions \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/archives/32554\">projected to continue strengthening\u003c/a>. But for the Golden State, with its unpredictable swings from dry to wet and back again, El Niño doesn’t guarantee heavy rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as California’s water managers plan for the water year ahead, they’re faced, as always, with their dueling responsibilities: forestalling floods while preparing for possible scarcity in a state where water supplies are often stretched thin and long droughts are common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When state climatologist Michael Anderson looks into California’s water year ahead, he says the crystal ball is cloudy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-a-murky-forecast-both-near-and-far\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A murky forecast, both near and far\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Threats of a major storm dissolved into showers in parts of California this week, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/hpcdiscussions.php?disc=pmdspd\">another surge of rainfall expected to wrap up this weekend\u003c/a>. Rainfall is only expected to reach 1 to 2 inches statewide through Saturday morning, with light snowfall predicted in the Sierra Nevada mountains at higher elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall this is looking to be a beneficial rainfall event for Southern California, which is definitely welcome during the typical peak of our fire season,” the National Weather Service office for San Diego reported earlier this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Marty Ralph, director, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego\"]‘It’s like you’re playing poker, and you’ve got a good hand — that’s El Niño for us. But we haven’t finished the round of the game, and we still have to draw a couple cards. But we might not draw the good cards.’[/pullquote]Some headlines heralded it as the first storm of many as El Niño continues to strengthen and intensify. Characterized \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/understanding-el-nino\">by warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean\u003c/a>, El Niño is \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html\">often expected to bring wetter weather\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in California, the connection is more tenuous. Of seven El Niño events over the past 23 years, Anderson said, two have been dry, three have been roughly average and two have been wet. One recent study reported that El Niño accounts for only about 25% of the \u003ca href=\"https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/103/12/BAMS-D-21-0252.1.xml\">year-to-year variability in California’s rain and snowfall during the winter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that tells me is anything goes,” Anderson said. “El Niño by itself doesn’t define our water year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the year is actually off to a drier start: Statewide, California has \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/\">seen only about 45% of average precipitation\u003c/a> since this water year began Oct. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego, suspects that it’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">atmospheric rivers like the ones that pummeled California last year\u003c/a> that will determine whether El Niño will bring a firehose or a trickle to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like you’re playing poker, and you’ve got a good hand — that’s El Niño for us. But we haven’t finished the round of the game, and we still have to draw a couple cards,” Ralph said. “But we might not draw the good cards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-waste-not-want-not-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Waste not, want not?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With seasonal outlooks unable to \u003ca href=\"https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/103/12/BAMS-D-21-0252.1.xml\">reliably say\u003c/a> whether a winter will be wet or dry, water managers must plan for both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately there’s some wiggle room this year, according to Jeanine Jones, the Department of Water Resources’ interstate resources manager. Last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">massive snowpack and abundant rainfall\u003c/a> filled the state’s reservoirs enough that even if this rainy season leans dry, she said, “We’re going into next year with a cushion, which is always good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1985131,news_11943212,science_1981943\"]That doesn’t mean the reservoirs are full, though. Lake Oroville — the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/state-water-project/swp-facilities/oroville\">largest reservoir on the State Water Project\u003c/a>, which sends water south to farms and cities — and Lake Shasta — critical to growers and other water users reliant on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/\">federal Central Valley Project\u003c/a> — are \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\">at about two-thirds of their total capacity\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because with reservoirs that serve the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/slwri/docs/wkshp-pstrs/20140620-shasta-reservoir.pdf\">dual purpose of flood control and water storage\u003c/a>, water managers must \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/State-Water-Project/Oroville-CNA/Files/Meeting-3/PMF_Info_Sheet20190107_ay_19.pdf\">release water to keep space empty\u003c/a> to wrangle possible floods during the wet season, Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water that flows into rivers and streams and out to the ocean \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/sacramento-valley-water-drought/\">is often bemoaned as\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>water wasted\u003c/a>. But waste is in the eye of the beholder, said Jay Lund, vice-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water that’s ‘wasted’ is always water used by somebody else,” Lund said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of benefits for fishing, conservation, Delta farmers, water quality and healthy shorelines \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d10g5vp\">is lengthy\u003c/a>. Water allowed to flow out into the San Francisco Bay, for instance, washes away salts and pollutants, transports sediment and sand necessary to maintain marshes and restore eroding beaches, assists salmon in migrations and helps maintain healthy ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Public Policy Institute of California reports that California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/priorities-for-californias-water/\">could have socked away more\u003c/a> water last year, had there been better ways to ferry water from full rivers to groundwater recharge sites, and better coordination among landowners, local agencies, and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tend to think that there is room for capturing more surface water … if you could afford the cost of capturing it,” agreed Lund. “That, to me, is the biggest problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/02/california-sites-reservoir/\">controversial Sites Reservoir project\u003c/a>, for instance, is projected to cost more than $4.4 billion. The reservoir, planned in the western Sacramento Valley, would store as much as 1.5 million acre-feet of \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia-background/sites-reservoir\">Sacramento River water\u003c/a>, alarming environmental groups that say drawing more water from the river will imperil its already-struggling fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.opr.ca.gov/news/2023/11-06.html\">In early November\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom cleared the project to be fast-tracked “to the extent feasible” through any litigation challenging it under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act. That move was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/06/california-infrastructure-deal/\">made possible with new legislation\u003c/a>. Even so, the project is not expected to be \u003ca href=\"https://cwc.ca.gov/Water-Storage/WSIP-Project-Review-Portal/All-Projects/Sites-Project\">completed before 2030 or 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Jay Lund, vice-director, Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis\"]‘I tend to think that there is room for capturing more surface water … if you could afford the cost of capturing it. That, to me, is the biggest problem.’[/pullquote]In the meantime, researchers like UC San Diego’s Ralph, along with local, state and federal agencies, hope to operate the state’s reservoirs more nimbly by incorporating new weather forecasting tools into decades-old rulebooks governing when to hold onto water and when to release it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program allowed the Russian River watershed to hold onto about 7,000 to 8,000 acre-feet more water in Lake Mendocino this past year, and an additional 19,000 acre-feet more in Lake Sonoma, according to Donald Seymour, deputy director of engineering with Sonoma Water. The Department of Water Resources announced that it is expanding \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2023/Jan-23/Californias-Forecast-Informed-Reservoir-Operations-Are-Key-to-Managing-Floods-and-Water-Supplies\">the effort to two major reservoirs, Lake Oroville and New Bullards Bar\u003c/a>, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many are looking down rather than up for opportunities to store more water. The Department of Water Resources estimates that \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2023/July-23/DWR-Captures-and-Stores-Water-from-Record-Breaking-Snowpack\">about 3.8 million acre-feet of water\u003c/a> was captured through groundwater recharge by last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Southern California water import giant, the Metropolitan Water District, also recently announced a $211 million groundwater bank in the Antelope Valley. The bank can store \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/press-releases/new-regional-water-bank-improves-water-supply-reliability-for-millions/\">280,000 acre-feet of water\u003c/a>, enough to fill Castaic Lake, \u003ca href=\"https://www.castaiclake.com/\">the largest State Water Project reservoir in Southern California\u003c/a>. Though construction to allow withdrawals hasn’t been completed yet, the bank stands ready to accept deposits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bank is aimed at providing a little more net for the tightrope walk that California’s water managers start anew every water year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We always plan for it to be potentially very dry, or very wet,” said Brad Coffey, Metropolitan’s water resources manager. “No matter what kind of year we had this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Unlike a year ago, water storage is above average. Whether the year is wet or dry, though, remains uncertain despite El Niño conditions.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state — are in good shape, with levels at \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/\">124% of average\u003c/a>. In late 2022, \u003ca href=\"https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151422/california-reservoir-rebound\">bathtub rings of dry earth\u003c/a> lined lakes that had collectively dipped to about two-thirds of average — until heavy winter storms in January filled many of them almost to the brim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet healthy water levels don’t mean California’s reservoirs are full. Most of California’s large reservoirs are operated for flood control as well as water storage, with space kept empty to rein in winter storm runoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wet season has arrived in California, with El Niño conditions \u003ca href=\"https://weatherwest.com/archives/32554\">projected to continue strengthening\u003c/a>. But for the Golden State, with its unpredictable swings from dry to wet and back again, El Niño doesn’t guarantee heavy rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as California’s water managers plan for the water year ahead, they’re faced, as always, with their dueling responsibilities: forestalling floods while preparing for possible scarcity in a state where water supplies are often stretched thin and long droughts are common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When state climatologist Michael Anderson looks into California’s water year ahead, he says the crystal ball is cloudy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-a-murky-forecast-both-near-and-far\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A murky forecast, both near and far\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Threats of a major storm dissolved into showers in parts of California this week, with \u003ca href=\"https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/hpcdiscussions.php?disc=pmdspd\">another surge of rainfall expected to wrap up this weekend\u003c/a>. Rainfall is only expected to reach 1 to 2 inches statewide through Saturday morning, with light snowfall predicted in the Sierra Nevada mountains at higher elevations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Overall this is looking to be a beneficial rainfall event for Southern California, which is definitely welcome during the typical peak of our fire season,” the National Weather Service office for San Diego reported earlier this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some headlines heralded it as the first storm of many as El Niño continues to strengthen and intensify. Characterized \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/understanding-el-nino\">by warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean\u003c/a>, El Niño is \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html\">often expected to bring wetter weather\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in California, the connection is more tenuous. Of seven El Niño events over the past 23 years, Anderson said, two have been dry, three have been roughly average and two have been wet. One recent study reported that El Niño accounts for only about 25% of the \u003ca href=\"https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/103/12/BAMS-D-21-0252.1.xml\">year-to-year variability in California’s rain and snowfall during the winter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that tells me is anything goes,” Anderson said. “El Niño by itself doesn’t define our water year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the year is actually off to a drier start: Statewide, California has \u003ca href=\"https://cww.water.ca.gov/\">seen only about 45% of average precipitation\u003c/a> since this water year began Oct. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego, suspects that it’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">atmospheric rivers like the ones that pummeled California last year\u003c/a> that will determine whether El Niño will bring a firehose or a trickle to California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like you’re playing poker, and you’ve got a good hand — that’s El Niño for us. But we haven’t finished the round of the game, and we still have to draw a couple cards,” Ralph said. “But we might not draw the good cards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-waste-not-want-not-nbsp\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Waste not, want not?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With seasonal outlooks unable to \u003ca href=\"https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/103/12/BAMS-D-21-0252.1.xml\">reliably say\u003c/a> whether a winter will be wet or dry, water managers must plan for both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately there’s some wiggle room this year, according to Jeanine Jones, the Department of Water Resources’ interstate resources manager. Last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/03/california-storm-reservoirs-flooding/\">massive snowpack and abundant rainfall\u003c/a> filled the state’s reservoirs enough that even if this rainy season leans dry, she said, “We’re going into next year with a cushion, which is always good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That doesn’t mean the reservoirs are full, though. Lake Oroville — the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/programs/state-water-project/swp-facilities/oroville\">largest reservoir on the State Water Project\u003c/a>, which sends water south to farms and cities — and Lake Shasta — critical to growers and other water users reliant on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/\">federal Central Valley Project\u003c/a> — are \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\">at about two-thirds of their total capacity\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because with reservoirs that serve the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usbr.gov/mp/ncao/slwri/docs/wkshp-pstrs/20140620-shasta-reservoir.pdf\">dual purpose of flood control and water storage\u003c/a>, water managers must \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/State-Water-Project/Oroville-CNA/Files/Meeting-3/PMF_Info_Sheet20190107_ay_19.pdf\">release water to keep space empty\u003c/a> to wrangle possible floods during the wet season, Jones said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water that flows into rivers and streams and out to the ocean \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/05/sacramento-valley-water-drought/\">is often bemoaned as\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>water wasted\u003c/a>. But waste is in the eye of the beholder, said Jay Lund, vice-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water that’s ‘wasted’ is always water used by somebody else,” Lund said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of benefits for fishing, conservation, Delta farmers, water quality and healthy shorelines \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d10g5vp\">is lengthy\u003c/a>. Water allowed to flow out into the San Francisco Bay, for instance, washes away salts and pollutants, transports sediment and sand necessary to maintain marshes and restore eroding beaches, assists salmon in migrations and helps maintain healthy ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the Public Policy Institute of California reports that California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/priorities-for-californias-water/\">could have socked away more\u003c/a> water last year, had there been better ways to ferry water from full rivers to groundwater recharge sites, and better coordination among landowners, local agencies, and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I tend to think that there is room for capturing more surface water … if you could afford the cost of capturing it,” agreed Lund. “That, to me, is the biggest problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/02/california-sites-reservoir/\">controversial Sites Reservoir project\u003c/a>, for instance, is projected to cost more than $4.4 billion. The reservoir, planned in the western Sacramento Valley, would store as much as 1.5 million acre-feet of \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia-background/sites-reservoir\">Sacramento River water\u003c/a>, alarming environmental groups that say drawing more water from the river will imperil its already-struggling fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.opr.ca.gov/news/2023/11-06.html\">In early November\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom cleared the project to be fast-tracked “to the extent feasible” through any litigation challenging it under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act. That move was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/06/california-infrastructure-deal/\">made possible with new legislation\u003c/a>. Even so, the project is not expected to be \u003ca href=\"https://cwc.ca.gov/Water-Storage/WSIP-Project-Review-Portal/All-Projects/Sites-Project\">completed before 2030 or 2031\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the meantime, researchers like UC San Diego’s Ralph, along with local, state and federal agencies, hope to operate the state’s reservoirs more nimbly by incorporating new weather forecasting tools into decades-old rulebooks governing when to hold onto water and when to release it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program allowed the Russian River watershed to hold onto about 7,000 to 8,000 acre-feet more water in Lake Mendocino this past year, and an additional 19,000 acre-feet more in Lake Sonoma, according to Donald Seymour, deputy director of engineering with Sonoma Water. The Department of Water Resources announced that it is expanding \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2023/Jan-23/Californias-Forecast-Informed-Reservoir-Operations-Are-Key-to-Managing-Floods-and-Water-Supplies\">the effort to two major reservoirs, Lake Oroville and New Bullards Bar\u003c/a>, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many are looking down rather than up for opportunities to store more water. The Department of Water Resources estimates that \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2023/July-23/DWR-Captures-and-Stores-Water-from-Record-Breaking-Snowpack\">about 3.8 million acre-feet of water\u003c/a> was captured through groundwater recharge by last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Southern California water import giant, the Metropolitan Water District, also recently announced a $211 million groundwater bank in the Antelope Valley. The bank can store \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/press-releases/new-regional-water-bank-improves-water-supply-reliability-for-millions/\">280,000 acre-feet of water\u003c/a>, enough to fill Castaic Lake, \u003ca href=\"https://www.castaiclake.com/\">the largest State Water Project reservoir in Southern California\u003c/a>. Though construction to allow withdrawals hasn’t been completed yet, the bank stands ready to accept deposits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bank is aimed at providing a little more net for the tightrope walk that California’s water managers start anew every water year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We always plan for it to be potentially very dry, or very wet,” said Brad Coffey, Metropolitan’s water resources manager. “No matter what kind of year we had this year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
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