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"title": "From Sewage to Drinking Glass: California's Plan to Recycle Water",
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"content": "\u003cp>Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">more than 60 years (PDF)\u003c/a> to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a pit stop in a reservoir or an aquifer before it can flow to taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">mandated by state law (PDF)\u003c/a>, would require extensive treatment and monitoring before wastewater can be piped to taps or mingled with raw water upstream of a drinking water treatment plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toilet-to-tap” this is not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between flush and faucet, a slew of steps are designed to remove chemicals and pathogens that remain in sewage after it has already undergone \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/bastre.pdf\">traditional primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary treatment (PDF).\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bubbled with ozone, chewed by bacteria, filtered through activated carbon, pushed at high pressures through reverse osmosis membranes multiple times, cleansed with an oxidizer like hydrogen peroxide and beamed with high-intensity UV light. Valuable minerals such as calcium, that were filtered out, are restored. And then, finally, the wastewater is subjected to the regular treatment that all drinking water \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html\">currently undergoes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Quite honestly, it’ll be the cleanest drinking water around,” said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state’s Division of Drinking Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/rulemaking/dpr_draft_reg_text.pdf\">62 pages of proposed rules (PDF)\u003c/a>, more than \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB918\">a decade in the making\u003c/a>, are not triggering much, if any, debate among health or water experts. A panel of engineering and water quality scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">deemed an earlier version of the regulations protective of public health (PDF)\u003c/a>, although they raised concerns that the treatment process would be energy-intensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would have no hesitation drinking this water my whole life,” said \u003ca href=\"https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/McCurry/Daniel\">Daniel McCurry\u003c/a>, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This water is expected to be more expensive than imported water, but also provide a more renewable and reliable supply for California as climate change continues. Most treated sewage — \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacsd.org/services/wastewater-sewage/facilities/wastewater-treatment-facilities#:~:text=Through%20the%20operation%20of%2011,MGD%20are%20available%20for%20reuse.\">about 400 million gallons a day in Los Angeles County alone\u003c/a> — is released into rivers, streams and the deep ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983705\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983705 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a protective mask and gear is injecting a form of liquid into water. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis Canela, a water quality technician, injects chemicals to chlorinate water at the Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant in Carson. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The draft rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/dpr-regs.html\">released on July 21st\u003c/a>, still face a gauntlet of public comment, a hearing and peer review by another panel of experts, before being finalized. The State Water Resources Control Board is required by law to vote on them by the end of December, though they can extend the deadline if necessary. They would likely go into effect next April and it will take many years to reach people’s taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Collins, water treatment manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the regulations will give the district more certainty about how to design a massive, multi-billion dollar water recycling project with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The district imports water that is provided to 19 million Southern Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joint effort, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/building-local-supplies/pure-water-southern-california/\">Pure Water Southern California\u003c/a>, has\u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/press-releases/state-presents-80-million-check-to-advance-development-of-pure-water-southern-california\"> already received $80 million\u003c/a> from the state. The first phase of the project, which could be completed by 2032, is expected to produce about 115 million gallons of recycled water a day, enough for 385,000 Southern California households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most is planned to go toward recharging local water agencies’ groundwater stores, but about 20% could be added to drinking water supplies upstream of Metropolitan’s existing treatment plant for imported water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re excited,” Collins said. “It helps better inform us on what our project needs to include, so that we can have a climate-resistant supply for our agencies in Southern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules come as endless cycles of drought leave California’s water \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/\">suppliers scrambling for new sources of water\u003c/a>, like purified sewage. In 2021, Californians used about \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">732,000 acre feet of recycled water (PDF)\u003c/a>, equivalent to the amount used by roughly 2.6 million households, though much of it goes to non-drinking purposes, like irrigating landscapes, golf courses and crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for increasing recycled water use in California, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">roughly 9% by 2030 (PDF)\u003c/a> and more than doubling it by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water recycling is about finding new water, not just accepting the scarcity mindset — being more resourceful in terms of our approach,” Newsom said last \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/efEvnNna6kc?feature=share\">May in front of Metropolitan’s Pure Water Southern California\u003c/a> demonstration plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-graphics-water-recycling.netlify.app/?initialWidth=780&childId=pym-parent&parentTitle=Not%20%E2%80%98toilet%20to%20tap%3A%E2%80%99%20CA%20will%20turn%20sewage%20into%20drinking%20water%20-%20CalMatters&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fcalmatters.org%2Fenvironment%2F2023%2F08%2Fcalifornia-toilet-to-tap-water%2F\" width=\"800\" height=\"1000\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some recycled water is already used to refill underground stores that provide drinking water, a process called indirect potable reuse, employed beginning in \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">the 1960s in Los Angeles (PDF) \u003c/a>and Orange counties. But a water agency must have a clean and convenient place to store the expensive, highly-purified water. “You don’t want to inject this recycled wastewater that you’ve spent all this effort cleaning into a dirty, polluted aquifer just to ruin it again,” McCurry said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To expand these uses, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB918\">state lawmakers in 2010 tasked the water board\u003c/a> with investigating the possibility of adding recycled water either directly into a public water system or just upstream of a water treatment plant. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB574\">In 2017, they set a deadline\u003c/a> to develop the regulations by the end of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California won’t be the first; Colorado \u003ca href=\"https://cdphe.colorado.gov/Regulation_11_Direct_Potable_Reuse\">already has regulations\u003c/a> and the nation’s first direct potable reuse plant \u003ca href=\"https://www.crmwd.org/water-sources/reuse/\">was built in Texas in 2013\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://floridadep.gov/water/domestic-wastewater/content/water-reuse-news-rulemaking-information\">Florida\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://azdeq.gov/awp-rulemaking\">Arizona\u003c/a> have rules in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s statewide rules, however, are expected to be the most stringent, said Andrew Salveson, water reuse chief technologist at Carollo Engineers, an environmental engineering consulting firm that specializes in water treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more conservative than anywhere else,” he said. “And I’m not being critical. In the state of California, because we’re in the early days of (direct potable reuse) implementation, they’re taking measured and conservative steps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Removing viruses and chemicals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The water that flushes down toilets, whirls down sinks, runs from industrial facilities and flows off agricultural fields is teeming with viruses, parasites and other pathogens that can make people sick. Chemicals also contaminate this sewage, everything from industrial \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/projects/california-water-contaminated-forever-chemicals/#\">perfluorinated “forever chemicals”\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b05592\">drugs excreted in urine\u003c/a>. Bypassing groundwater stores or reservoirs to funnel purified sewage directly into pipes means \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">that there’s less room for error (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new regulations would ramp up restrictions on pathogens, calling for scrubbing away more than 99.9999% of diarrhea-causing viruses and certain parasites. Also a series of treatments are designed to break down chemical contaminants like anti-seizure drugs, pain relievers, antidepressants and other pharmaceuticals. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/pharmaceuticals-water\">Medications can bypass traditional sewage treatment\u003c/a> so they are found in low concentrations in recycled sewage and groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983703\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An image of three levels of big blue pipes.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water makes its way to the first step of the water purification process, membrane bioreactors, at the Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant in Carson, on July 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The added technologies are good at washing away pharmaceuticals, McCurry said, so having them “back-to-back introduces a ton of redundancy,” he said. “Any pharmaceutical you could think of, if you tried to measure it in the product water of one of these plants, is going to be below the detection limit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules call for extensive monitoring to ensure the treatment is working. Some harmful chemicals, such as lead and nitrates, which are dangerous to babies and young children, will be tested for weekly; others, monthly. And water providers must also monitor the sewage itself before it even reaches treatment for any chemical spikes that could indicate illegal dumping or spills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we’ve got the chemical classes covered in the treatment processes, so that we’re removing materials that we don’t even know are there,” the water board’s Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a trade association for water recycling, said she was happy to finally see California’s regulations, though she hopes the state will build in more flexibility for water providers to alter the suite of treatments as technologies change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0Pt4C/7/\" width=\"800\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.sdsu.edu/people/richard-gersberg/\">Richard Gersberg\u003c/a>, San Diego State University professor emeritus of environmental health, said he supports using highly treated waste for drinking water. But he suggests that the state fund long-term studies comparing health effects in people who drink it to those whose drinking water comes from another source, such as rivers, “which might end up being worse. Probably is,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the vast and changing cocktail of chemicals constantly in use, “we don’t know what we don’t know,” Gersberg said. “If this becomes huge in California, and it will, I believe … we should at least spend a little money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who will be first?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>All this treatment and monitoring is likely to be pricey, which is why Polhemus expects to see it largely limited to large urban areas that produce a lot of wastewater, such as Los Angeles County. The Metropolitan Water District’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/media/16859/program-brochure-2021.pdf\">$3.4 billion estimate for building the project (PDF) \u003c/a>dates back to 2018, and has likely increased since then, according to spokesperson Rebecca Kimitch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For small and medium communities, Polhemus said, “it doesn’t pencil out in a small-scale type of arrangement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County Water District, which has long been a leader in purifying recycled water, has concluded that piping it directly to customers doesn’t pencil out for them either, because they’ve already invested so heavily in refilling their carefully tended aquifer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would “require adding more treatment processes and increasing operating expenses,” board president Cathy Green said in a statement. “Local water agencies are currently well-equipped to continue to supply drinking water to customers in our service area at a low cost using the Orange County Groundwater Basin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For other regions like Silicon Valley, though, the costs may be worth it as climate change continues to shrink state supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point, it’s more expensive than water we might import during a drought. But who knows what will happen in the future,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer in the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which serves approximately 2 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why we need to get prepared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983704\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983704 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-800x533.jpg\" alt='Multiple pipes are seen in a laboratory. A sign that says \"Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant\" is displayed. ' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant showcases technology that may provide drinking water to Southern Californians by 2032. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Santa Clara water agency, known as Valley Water, is planning a $1.2 billion project in Palo Alto to produce about 10 million gallons a day of water for groundwater recharge, but Struve said she hopes the plant also will be used for direct potable reuse in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing of the regulations has butted up against the realities of planning for Monterey One Water on the Monterey Peninsula as well. The utility has been injecting purified wastewater into the seaside aquifer for three years, producing about a third of the local supply, said General Manager Paul Sciuto. It is working on expanding the project by 2025, Sciuto said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I get that question of, ‘This water is so pure, why do you put it in the ground? Why can’t you just serve it?’” he said. “And I always fall back on, well, there’s no regulations that allow us to do that at this point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the state is closer to finalizing them, he said, “there’s a point on the horizon to shoot for.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it's piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state's new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.",
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"description": "Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it's piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state's new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.",
"title": "From Sewage to Drinking Glass: California's Plan to Recycle Water | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">more than 60 years (PDF)\u003c/a> to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a pit stop in a reservoir or an aquifer before it can flow to taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">mandated by state law (PDF)\u003c/a>, would require extensive treatment and monitoring before wastewater can be piped to taps or mingled with raw water upstream of a drinking water treatment plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Toilet-to-tap” this is not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between flush and faucet, a slew of steps are designed to remove chemicals and pathogens that remain in sewage after it has already undergone \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/bastre.pdf\">traditional primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary treatment (PDF).\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is bubbled with ozone, chewed by bacteria, filtered through activated carbon, pushed at high pressures through reverse osmosis membranes multiple times, cleansed with an oxidizer like hydrogen peroxide and beamed with high-intensity UV light. Valuable minerals such as calcium, that were filtered out, are restored. And then, finally, the wastewater is subjected to the regular treatment that all drinking water \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_treatment.html\">currently undergoes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Quite honestly, it’ll be the cleanest drinking water around,” said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state’s Division of Drinking Water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/rulemaking/dpr_draft_reg_text.pdf\">62 pages of proposed rules (PDF)\u003c/a>, more than \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB918\">a decade in the making\u003c/a>, are not triggering much, if any, debate among health or water experts. A panel of engineering and water quality scientists \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/docs/2022/nwri-ep-finalmemoprelimfind.pdf\">deemed an earlier version of the regulations protective of public health (PDF)\u003c/a>, although they raised concerns that the treatment process would be energy-intensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would have no hesitation drinking this water my whole life,” said \u003ca href=\"https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/McCurry/Daniel\">Daniel McCurry\u003c/a>, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This water is expected to be more expensive than imported water, but also provide a more renewable and reliable supply for California as climate change continues. Most treated sewage — \u003ca href=\"https://www.lacsd.org/services/wastewater-sewage/facilities/wastewater-treatment-facilities#:~:text=Through%20the%20operation%20of%2011,MGD%20are%20available%20for%20reuse.\">about 400 million gallons a day in Los Angeles County alone\u003c/a> — is released into rivers, streams and the deep ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983705\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983705 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a protective mask and gear is injecting a form of liquid into water. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-05.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luis Canela, a water quality technician, injects chemicals to chlorinate water at the Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant in Carson. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The draft rules, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/dpr-regs.html\">released on July 21st\u003c/a>, still face a gauntlet of public comment, a hearing and peer review by another panel of experts, before being finalized. The State Water Resources Control Board is required by law to vote on them by the end of December, though they can extend the deadline if necessary. They would likely go into effect next April and it will take many years to reach people’s taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Collins, water treatment manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the regulations will give the district more certainty about how to design a massive, multi-billion dollar water recycling project with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The district imports water that is provided to 19 million Southern Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joint effort, called \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/building-local-supplies/pure-water-southern-california/\">Pure Water Southern California\u003c/a>, has\u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/press-releases/state-presents-80-million-check-to-advance-development-of-pure-water-southern-california\"> already received $80 million\u003c/a> from the state. The first phase of the project, which could be completed by 2032, is expected to produce about 115 million gallons of recycled water a day, enough for 385,000 Southern California households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most is planned to go toward recharging local water agencies’ groundwater stores, but about 20% could be added to drinking water supplies upstream of Metropolitan’s existing treatment plant for imported water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re excited,” Collins said. “It helps better inform us on what our project needs to include, so that we can have a climate-resistant supply for our agencies in Southern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules come as endless cycles of drought leave California’s water \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-water-solutions/\">suppliers scrambling for new sources of water\u003c/a>, like purified sewage. In 2021, Californians used about \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/recycled_water/docs/2022/volumetric-infographic-2021.pdf\">732,000 acre feet of recycled water (PDF)\u003c/a>, equivalent to the amount used by roughly 2.6 million households, though much of it goes to non-drinking purposes, like irrigating landscapes, golf courses and crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for increasing recycled water use in California, \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">roughly 9% by 2030 (PDF)\u003c/a> and more than doubling it by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water recycling is about finding new water, not just accepting the scarcity mindset — being more resourceful in terms of our approach,” Newsom said last \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/efEvnNna6kc?feature=share\">May in front of Metropolitan’s Pure Water Southern California\u003c/a> demonstration plant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://calmatters-graphics-water-recycling.netlify.app/?initialWidth=780&childId=pym-parent&parentTitle=Not%20%E2%80%98toilet%20to%20tap%3A%E2%80%99%20CA%20will%20turn%20sewage%20into%20drinking%20water%20-%20CalMatters&parentUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fcalmatters.org%2Fenvironment%2F2023%2F08%2Fcalifornia-toilet-to-tap-water%2F\" width=\"800\" height=\"1000\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some recycled water is already used to refill underground stores that provide drinking water, a process called indirect potable reuse, employed beginning in \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">the 1960s in Los Angeles (PDF) \u003c/a>and Orange counties. But a water agency must have a clean and convenient place to store the expensive, highly-purified water. “You don’t want to inject this recycled wastewater that you’ve spent all this effort cleaning into a dirty, polluted aquifer just to ruin it again,” McCurry said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To expand these uses, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=200920100SB918\">state lawmakers in 2010 tasked the water board\u003c/a> with investigating the possibility of adding recycled water either directly into a public water system or just upstream of a water treatment plant. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB574\">In 2017, they set a deadline\u003c/a> to develop the regulations by the end of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California won’t be the first; Colorado \u003ca href=\"https://cdphe.colorado.gov/Regulation_11_Direct_Potable_Reuse\">already has regulations\u003c/a> and the nation’s first direct potable reuse plant \u003ca href=\"https://www.crmwd.org/water-sources/reuse/\">was built in Texas in 2013\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://floridadep.gov/water/domestic-wastewater/content/water-reuse-news-rulemaking-information\">Florida\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://azdeq.gov/awp-rulemaking\">Arizona\u003c/a> have rules in the works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s statewide rules, however, are expected to be the most stringent, said Andrew Salveson, water reuse chief technologist at Carollo Engineers, an environmental engineering consulting firm that specializes in water treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are more conservative than anywhere else,” he said. “And I’m not being critical. In the state of California, because we’re in the early days of (direct potable reuse) implementation, they’re taking measured and conservative steps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Removing viruses and chemicals\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The water that flushes down toilets, whirls down sinks, runs from industrial facilities and flows off agricultural fields is teeming with viruses, parasites and other pathogens that can make people sick. Chemicals also contaminate this sewage, everything from industrial \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/projects/california-water-contaminated-forever-chemicals/#\">perfluorinated “forever chemicals”\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b05592\">drugs excreted in urine\u003c/a>. Bypassing groundwater stores or reservoirs to funnel purified sewage directly into pipes means \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/direct_potable_reuse/dprframewkseced.pdf\">that there’s less room for error (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new regulations would ramp up restrictions on pathogens, calling for scrubbing away more than 99.9999% of diarrhea-causing viruses and certain parasites. Also a series of treatments are designed to break down chemical contaminants like anti-seizure drugs, pain relievers, antidepressants and other pharmaceuticals. \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/pharmaceuticals-water\">Medications can bypass traditional sewage treatment\u003c/a> so they are found in low concentrations in recycled sewage and groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983703\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983703\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"An image of three levels of big blue pipes.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823-Pure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-22.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water makes its way to the first step of the water purification process, membrane bioreactors, at the Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant in Carson, on July 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The added technologies are good at washing away pharmaceuticals, McCurry said, so having them “back-to-back introduces a ton of redundancy,” he said. “Any pharmaceutical you could think of, if you tried to measure it in the product water of one of these plants, is going to be below the detection limit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rules call for extensive monitoring to ensure the treatment is working. Some harmful chemicals, such as lead and nitrates, which are dangerous to babies and young children, will be tested for weekly; others, monthly. And water providers must also monitor the sewage itself before it even reaches treatment for any chemical spikes that could indicate illegal dumping or spills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we’ve got the chemical classes covered in the treatment processes, so that we’re removing materials that we don’t even know are there,” the water board’s Polhemus said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a trade association for water recycling, said she was happy to finally see California’s regulations, though she hopes the state will build in more flexibility for water providers to alter the suite of treatments as technologies change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0Pt4C/7/\" width=\"800\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.sdsu.edu/people/richard-gersberg/\">Richard Gersberg\u003c/a>, San Diego State University professor emeritus of environmental health, said he supports using highly treated waste for drinking water. But he suggests that the state fund long-term studies comparing health effects in people who drink it to those whose drinking water comes from another source, such as rivers, “which might end up being worse. Probably is,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given the vast and changing cocktail of chemicals constantly in use, “we don’t know what we don’t know,” Gersberg said. “If this becomes huge in California, and it will, I believe … we should at least spend a little money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Who will be first?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>All this treatment and monitoring is likely to be pricey, which is why Polhemus expects to see it largely limited to large urban areas that produce a lot of wastewater, such as Los Angeles County. The Metropolitan Water District’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.mwdh2o.com/media/16859/program-brochure-2021.pdf\">$3.4 billion estimate for building the project (PDF) \u003c/a>dates back to 2018, and has likely increased since then, according to spokesperson Rebecca Kimitch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For small and medium communities, Polhemus said, “it doesn’t pencil out in a small-scale type of arrangement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Orange County Water District, which has long been a leader in purifying recycled water, has concluded that piping it directly to customers doesn’t pencil out for them either, because they’ve already invested so heavily in refilling their carefully tended aquifer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It would “require adding more treatment processes and increasing operating expenses,” board president Cathy Green said in a statement. “Local water agencies are currently well-equipped to continue to supply drinking water to customers in our service area at a low cost using the Orange County Groundwater Basin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For other regions like Silicon Valley, though, the costs may be worth it as climate change continues to shrink state supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this point, it’s more expensive than water we might import during a drought. But who knows what will happen in the future,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer in the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which serves approximately 2 million people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s why we need to get prepared.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983704\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983704 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-800x533.jpg\" alt='Multiple pipes are seen in a laboratory. A sign that says \"Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant\" is displayed. ' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/08/072823bPure-Water-Treatment-LJ-CM-23.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant showcases technology that may provide drinking water to Southern Californians by 2032. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Santa Clara water agency, known as Valley Water, is planning a $1.2 billion project in Palo Alto to produce about 10 million gallons a day of water for groundwater recharge, but Struve said she hopes the plant also will be used for direct potable reuse in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The timing of the regulations has butted up against the realities of planning for Monterey One Water on the Monterey Peninsula as well. The utility has been injecting purified wastewater into the seaside aquifer for three years, producing about a third of the local supply, said General Manager Paul Sciuto. It is working on expanding the project by 2025, Sciuto said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I get that question of, ‘This water is so pure, why do you put it in the ground? Why can’t you just serve it?’” he said. “And I always fall back on, well, there’s no regulations that allow us to do that at this point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the state is closer to finalizing them, he said, “there’s a point on the horizon to shoot for.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Climate Change Is Creating Bigger Waves on California Coasts",
"headTitle": "Climate Change Is Creating Bigger Waves on California Coasts | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Earlier this year, California was pummeled by what local surfer’s described as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/homeless-hollywood-storms/rain-surf-swells\">the best swell\u003c/a> in decades: massive waves that damaged piers, crumbled sea cliffs and flooded coastlines. A new study finds that wave heights are getting bigger along the California coast as global temperatures have warmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study, published Tuesday in the \u003cem>Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, \u003c/em>looked at nearly a century’s worth of data, and found that the average height of winter waves have grown by about a foot since 1969. The number of storm events that produced waves greater than 13 feet in height has also increased, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that same time, the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to an increase in average global temperatures by \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/global/time-series/globe/land_ocean/ytd/1/1970-2023\">more than 1 degree\u003c/a> Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is just another indication that overall average wave heights have increased significantly since 1970 — since the advent of the upward trend in global warming,” said Peter Bromirski, researcher emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the study’s author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Global climate-warming carbon dioxide has \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#:~:text=Global%20carbon%20emissions%20from%20fossil,increase%20from%201970%20to%202011.\">increased by about 90%\u003c/a> since 1970, federal data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While bigger waves may be a boon to surfers, they can also be damaging to California’s already climate-vulnerable coast.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Peter Bromirski, researcher emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography']‘Higher waves with higher sea levels allows more wave energy to reach vulnerable sea cliffs and also enhances coastal flooding as well as damage to coastal infrastructure.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>Warmer ocean temperatures and inflows of freshwater from the world’s melting ice caps have caused sea levels to \u003ca href=\"https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d0c1df224a97418bb4dad129ea4c6d17\">rise roughly 8 inches\u003c/a> along California’s 1,200 mile coastline in the last century, according to the California Coastal Commission. Without rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, they could rise by feet in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the turn of this century, federal estimates warn nearly three-quarters of California’s picturesque beaches may be\u003ca href=\"https://d197for5662m48.cloudfront.net/documents/publicationstatus/129901/preprint_pdf/f3f45324f53298f515110452a3077f58.pdf\"> completely eroded (PDF)\u003c/a> by rising seas. A report by California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found that between $8 and $10 billion worth of existing property is \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261#:~:text=Impacts%20of%20SLR%20Could%20Be%20Both%20Extensive%20and%20Expensive.&text=Some%20key%20findings%20from%20existing,at%20risk%20during%20high%20tides.\">likely to be underwater\u003c/a> within the next few decades, with an additional $6 to $10 billion worth of property at risk during high tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Higher waves with higher sea levels allows more wave energy to reach vulnerable sea cliffs and also enhances coastal flooding as well as damage to coastal infrastructure,” said Bromirski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new study adds to a growing body of research that suggests storm activity in the Northern Pacific Ocean — the main source of California’s winter swells — has increased as human activities have caused the world’s temperature to warm. A 2019 study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1974937/warming-oceans-stronger-swells-big-wave-surfers-ride-more-powerful-waves\"> the energy in ocean waves\u003c/a> have increased over most of the last century because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another study, published by a team of international researchers in 2021, found that climate change is causing wave power — the energy transferred from winds to waves — to \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL093622\">increase globally\u003c/a>, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The areas where we see the most warming in the global oceans is where we tend to see the most significant increases in wave power,” said Tom Mortlock, one of the study’s authors and an Australian-based senior analyst at the insurer Aon. “The reason for this is that as oceans warm, they intensify the circulation of winds over the ocean, and stronger winds drive higher waves.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside label='related coverage' postID=science_1978061,science_1974937]\u003c/span>Bromirski used seismic records dating back to 1931 to get a sense of how much wave heights had changed off California’s coasts during the winter months. When waves ricochet off of the coast, they send energy back towards the sea. When that energy hits incoming waves, it pushes energy downward, creating a seismic signal that can be detected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bromirski, who got a Ph.D. in seismology in 1993, knew that those wave to wave interactions caused seismic signals that could be detected underwater and on land, “but nobody had tried to invert the seismic signals for wave height,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interpreting the seismic data was crucial to understanding how wave heights had changed over most of the last century, Bromirski said. Buoys that measure wave height along the West Coast had only been collecting data since 1980, after the rapid intensification of greenhouse gas emissions had already begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By using seismic data, Bromirski could look for patterns in a longer window of time. Two notable periods stood out. From 1939 to 1947 and 1957 to 1965 there were extended periods of “exceptionally low winter wave activity,” Bromirski said. “There’s been nothing like that since 1970.”\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=Surf%27s+up%21+Wave+heights+increase+on+California%27s+coasts+as+climate+warms&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Earlier this year, California was pummeled by what local surfer’s described as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/homeless-hollywood-storms/rain-surf-swells\">the best swell\u003c/a> in decades: massive waves that damaged piers, crumbled sea cliffs and flooded coastlines. A new study finds that wave heights are getting bigger along the California coast as global temperatures have warmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study, published Tuesday in the \u003cem>Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, \u003c/em>looked at nearly a century’s worth of data, and found that the average height of winter waves have grown by about a foot since 1969. The number of storm events that produced waves greater than 13 feet in height has also increased, the study found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that same time, the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to an increase in average global temperatures by \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/climate-at-a-glance/global/time-series/globe/land_ocean/ytd/1/1970-2023\">more than 1 degree\u003c/a> Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is just another indication that overall average wave heights have increased significantly since 1970 — since the advent of the upward trend in global warming,” said Peter Bromirski, researcher emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the study’s author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Global climate-warming carbon dioxide has \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data#:~:text=Global%20carbon%20emissions%20from%20fossil,increase%20from%201970%20to%202011.\">increased by about 90%\u003c/a> since 1970, federal data show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While bigger waves may be a boon to surfers, they can also be damaging to California’s already climate-vulnerable coast.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Warmer ocean temperatures and inflows of freshwater from the world’s melting ice caps have caused sea levels to \u003ca href=\"https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d0c1df224a97418bb4dad129ea4c6d17\">rise roughly 8 inches\u003c/a> along California’s 1,200 mile coastline in the last century, according to the California Coastal Commission. Without rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, they could rise by feet in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the turn of this century, federal estimates warn nearly three-quarters of California’s picturesque beaches may be\u003ca href=\"https://d197for5662m48.cloudfront.net/documents/publicationstatus/129901/preprint_pdf/f3f45324f53298f515110452a3077f58.pdf\"> completely eroded (PDF)\u003c/a> by rising seas. A report by California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found that between $8 and $10 billion worth of existing property is \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4261#:~:text=Impacts%20of%20SLR%20Could%20Be%20Both%20Extensive%20and%20Expensive.&text=Some%20key%20findings%20from%20existing,at%20risk%20during%20high%20tides.\">likely to be underwater\u003c/a> within the next few decades, with an additional $6 to $10 billion worth of property at risk during high tides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Higher waves with higher sea levels allows more wave energy to reach vulnerable sea cliffs and also enhances coastal flooding as well as damage to coastal infrastructure,” said Bromirski.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new study adds to a growing body of research that suggests storm activity in the Northern Pacific Ocean — the main source of California’s winter swells — has increased as human activities have caused the world’s temperature to warm. A 2019 study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1974937/warming-oceans-stronger-swells-big-wave-surfers-ride-more-powerful-waves\"> the energy in ocean waves\u003c/a> have increased over most of the last century because of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another study, published by a team of international researchers in 2021, found that climate change is causing wave power — the energy transferred from winds to waves — to \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021GL093622\">increase globally\u003c/a>, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The areas where we see the most warming in the global oceans is where we tend to see the most significant increases in wave power,” said Tom Mortlock, one of the study’s authors and an Australian-based senior analyst at the insurer Aon. “The reason for this is that as oceans warm, they intensify the circulation of winds over the ocean, and stronger winds drive higher waves.”\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Bromirski used seismic records dating back to 1931 to get a sense of how much wave heights had changed off California’s coasts during the winter months. When waves ricochet off of the coast, they send energy back towards the sea. When that energy hits incoming waves, it pushes energy downward, creating a seismic signal that can be detected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bromirski, who got a Ph.D. in seismology in 1993, knew that those wave to wave interactions caused seismic signals that could be detected underwater and on land, “but nobody had tried to invert the seismic signals for wave height,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interpreting the seismic data was crucial to understanding how wave heights had changed over most of the last century, Bromirski said. Buoys that measure wave height along the West Coast had only been collecting data since 1980, after the rapid intensification of greenhouse gas emissions had already begun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By using seismic data, Bromirski could look for patterns in a longer window of time. Two notable periods stood out. From 1939 to 1947 and 1957 to 1965 there were extended periods of “exceptionally low winter wave activity,” Bromirski said. “There’s been nothing like that since 1970.”\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=Surf%27s+up%21+Wave+heights+increase+on+California%27s+coasts+as+climate+warms&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why Cities Like San Francisco Get 10 Degrees Hotter Than Rural Areas",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tens of millions of Americans have been living with stifling, dangerous heat this summer. A new analysis shows how much worse it is for people living in urban environments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roughly 41 million people live in urban areas where temperatures are at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their more rural surroundings, according to the analysis from the nonprofit research group \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/\">Climate Central\u003c/a>. In some neighborhoods of Washington D.C., Chicago, New York and San Francisco, temperatures are more than 10 degrees hotter, amplifying health risks and cooling costs for millions of residents.[aside label=\"Related coverage\" postID=\"news_11878134\"]Other research shows lower-income areas and communities of color are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most\">often worst affected\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change, supercharged by the burning of fossil fuels, is causing more intense and more frequent heatwaves. A study published earlier this week found that recent heatwaves in Europe and America would be “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1189837347/u-s-european-heat-waves-virtually-impossible-without-climate-change-new-study-fi\">virtually impossible\u003c/a>” without human-caused warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In cities, the heat is amplified by something called the \u003ca href=\"https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/urban-heat-islands\">urban heat island effect\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urban heat islands are a byproduct of a built environment. Gas-powered cars and air conditioning units generate and radiate heat. Concrete parking lots and buildings absorb the sun’s heat and emit that heat long after the sun sets. Fewer trees mean less shade. Densely built areas essentially become islands where temperatures are hotter than their surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you live in the suburbs, there is some relevance when you think maybe [from] your nice shaded house, you go to the shopping plaza by the highway and you feel how much hotter it is there,” said Jen Brady, senior data analyst at Climate Central. “It’s because you have this dense built environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is essentially a more detailed and tighter focused version of a report Brady helped lead in 2021, which created an index to measure the intensity of urban heat islands and then ranked \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/urban-heat-islands\">the nation’s 159 most-affected cities\u003c/a>. That index generated an intensity score based on several things including population density, building height, and whether a surface reflects sunlight or absorbs and retains heat. Climate Central’s latest examination looked at 44 of the country’s largest cities by population, zoomed in, and applied the same index to nearly 19,000 census tracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was surprised at how far out the urban heat island effect was,” Brady said. “I was thinking once you got out of the city core, [temperature] was just going to jump off a cliff, you know, [from] eight degrees more to two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reality, she said, the effects extend fairly far out. “You’re maintaining four to five degrees further and further outside even the city core.”[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation='Angel Hsu, a public policy professor at the University of North Carolina']‘Americans in major U.S. cities living two times below the poverty line are exposed to almost a full degree higher Celsius of this urban heat island effect compared to their wealthier counterparts. And the same thing goes with people of color.’[/pullquote]The study did not apply socioeconomic or race data to the findings, but other research shows that some neighborhoods experience even worse heat island effects than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Hsu, a public policy professor at the University of North Carolina, published a study in 2021 looking at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22799-5\">disproportionate exposures\u003c/a> to heat islands between different communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we found is that within a city, there can be huge differences in those temperatures and the heat exposure that various residents experience depending on their socio-demographic background,” she said. “Americans in major U.S. cities living two times below the poverty line are exposed to almost a full degree higher Celsius of this urban heat island effect compared to their wealthier counterparts. And the same thing goes with people of color.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration is trying to address the discrepancy, announcing earlier this year the availability of \u003ca href=\"https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2023/04/12/biden-harris-administration-announces-historic-funding-expand\">$1 billion in grants\u003c/a> for projects aimed at expanding green space or tree coverage in disadvantaged urban communities. Some cities and states are leading efforts to do the same. In Austin, aluminum shelters are being built over bus stops, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/transportation/2023-07-19/capmetro-new-bus-shelters-heat\">providing shade\u003c/a> for waiting commuters. In Los Angeles, some streets are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/heat-latinos-la-times-oc/cool-streets#:~:text=Reflective%20gray%20paint%20absorbs%20less,takes%20a%20walk%20every%20day.\">being painted\u003c/a> a bright shade of gray to reflect sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are smaller scale solutions,” Brady said. “It’s not going to take you from ten additional degrees to zero degrees, but they can make it more bearable.”\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=It%27s+hot+out+there.+A+new+analysis+shows+it%27s+much+worse+if+you%27re+in+a+city&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tens of millions of Americans have been living with stifling, dangerous heat this summer. A new analysis shows how much worse it is for people living in urban environments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roughly 41 million people live in urban areas where temperatures are at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than their more rural surroundings, according to the analysis from the nonprofit research group \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/\">Climate Central\u003c/a>. In some neighborhoods of Washington D.C., Chicago, New York and San Francisco, temperatures are more than 10 degrees hotter, amplifying health risks and cooling costs for millions of residents.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Other research shows lower-income areas and communities of color are \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/754044732/as-rising-heat-bakes-u-s-cities-the-poor-often-feel-it-most\">often worst affected\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change, supercharged by the burning of fossil fuels, is causing more intense and more frequent heatwaves. A study published earlier this week found that recent heatwaves in Europe and America would be “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/25/1189837347/u-s-european-heat-waves-virtually-impossible-without-climate-change-new-study-fi\">virtually impossible\u003c/a>” without human-caused warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In cities, the heat is amplified by something called the \u003ca href=\"https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/climate-change-impacts/urban-heat-islands\">urban heat island effect\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urban heat islands are a byproduct of a built environment. Gas-powered cars and air conditioning units generate and radiate heat. Concrete parking lots and buildings absorb the sun’s heat and emit that heat long after the sun sets. Fewer trees mean less shade. Densely built areas essentially become islands where temperatures are hotter than their surroundings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you live in the suburbs, there is some relevance when you think maybe [from] your nice shaded house, you go to the shopping plaza by the highway and you feel how much hotter it is there,” said Jen Brady, senior data analyst at Climate Central. “It’s because you have this dense built environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new analysis is essentially a more detailed and tighter focused version of a report Brady helped lead in 2021, which created an index to measure the intensity of urban heat islands and then ranked \u003ca href=\"https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/urban-heat-islands\">the nation’s 159 most-affected cities\u003c/a>. That index generated an intensity score based on several things including population density, building height, and whether a surface reflects sunlight or absorbs and retains heat. Climate Central’s latest examination looked at 44 of the country’s largest cities by population, zoomed in, and applied the same index to nearly 19,000 census tracts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was surprised at how far out the urban heat island effect was,” Brady said. “I was thinking once you got out of the city core, [temperature] was just going to jump off a cliff, you know, [from] eight degrees more to two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reality, she said, the effects extend fairly far out. “You’re maintaining four to five degrees further and further outside even the city core.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The study did not apply socioeconomic or race data to the findings, but other research shows that some neighborhoods experience even worse heat island effects than others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Angel Hsu, a public policy professor at the University of North Carolina, published a study in 2021 looking at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22799-5\">disproportionate exposures\u003c/a> to heat islands between different communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we found is that within a city, there can be huge differences in those temperatures and the heat exposure that various residents experience depending on their socio-demographic background,” she said. “Americans in major U.S. cities living two times below the poverty line are exposed to almost a full degree higher Celsius of this urban heat island effect compared to their wealthier counterparts. And the same thing goes with people of color.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden administration is trying to address the discrepancy, announcing earlier this year the availability of \u003ca href=\"https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2023/04/12/biden-harris-administration-announces-historic-funding-expand\">$1 billion in grants\u003c/a> for projects aimed at expanding green space or tree coverage in disadvantaged urban communities. Some cities and states are leading efforts to do the same. In Austin, aluminum shelters are being built over bus stops, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kut.org/transportation/2023-07-19/capmetro-new-bus-shelters-heat\">providing shade\u003c/a> for waiting commuters. In Los Angeles, some streets are \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/heat-latinos-la-times-oc/cool-streets#:~:text=Reflective%20gray%20paint%20absorbs%20less,takes%20a%20walk%20every%20day.\">being painted\u003c/a> a bright shade of gray to reflect sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are smaller scale solutions,” Brady said. “It’s not going to take you from ten additional degrees to zero degrees, but they can make it more bearable.”\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=It%27s+hot+out+there.+A+new+analysis+shows+it%27s+much+worse+if+you%27re+in+a+city&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "8 Mistakes to Avoid If You're Going Out During the California Heat Wave",
"headTitle": "8 Mistakes to Avoid If You’re Going Out During the California Heat Wave | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It’s hot — which shouldn’t come as a surprise in July. But this summer’s heat is \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/05/1186003959/el-nino-plus-climate-change-means-record-breaking-heat\">breaking records\u003c/a> around the world, and in the U.S. this week, a heat dome is afflicting the Southwest with ultrahigh temperatures. The East Coast is expected to be steamy, and parts of Southern California could hit 106 degrees by Saturday in what the National Weather Service has dubbed a summer of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/21/1183486618/summer-solstice-weather-extreme-heat\">excessive\u003c/a>” weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related coverage\" postID=\"news_11878134\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, it’s summer and you have things to do outdoors, from festivals to barbecues to mowing the lawn. We get it. But the heat can take a toll on your body, and you need to plan ahead when the temperature rises to extreme heat. “Don’t overdo it,” warns \u003ca href=\"https://www.oakstreethealth.com/doctors/john-h-schumann\">John Schumann\u003c/a>, a primary care physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Heat can envelop and pummel you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are a lot of misconceptions about the best ways to protect yourself, warns \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/providers/david-eisenman\">David Eisenman\u003c/a>, a physician at UCLA who is \u003ca href=\"https://ph.ucla.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/david-eisenman\">co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions\u003c/a>. Here are mistakes to avoid in order to ensure you stay safe in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Too much, too soon: You need to acclimatize\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When a heat wave strikes, your body needs time to adjust, says \u003ca href=\"https://scholars.houstonmethodist.org/en/persons/neil-a-gandhi\">Neil Gandhi\u003c/a>, a physician at Houston Methodist Hospital: “You can’t do too much too soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you go from mostly spending time in air conditioning to an outdoor activity in the sweltering heat, you could be caught off guard. Your body isn’t “acclimatized to handle the stress,” Gandhi says. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/pictureofamerica/pdfs/picture_of_america_heat-related_illness.pdf\">every year, about 650 people die (PDF)\u003c/a> from heat-related illness in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, once acclimatized, the body gets better at fending off heat-related illness. “Our body starts to sweat sooner at a lower body temperature and at a greater rate,” explains Eisenman. Also, blood flow to the skin improves, which has the effect of cooling us down by carrying heat out of the body’s core. And your thirst increases, so you’re less likely to get dehydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this doesn’t happen immediately. “It’s going to happen over the space of several days of exposure,” Eisenman says. So if you’re planning a hiking trip, summer sightseeing or any other extended exposure to heat, plan to spend short periods in the heat each day in the days leading up to your outdoor adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And note that kids acclimatize much more slowly than adults, says Eisenman, so give them extra days to prepare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983477\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983477\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A few people pictured outside holding black umbrellas. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4.jpg 911w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staying out of direct sun as much as possible can help prevent heat-related illness. Look for shade or make your own with an umbrella, like these pedestrians waiting for a bus during a heat wave in Miami on June 26. \u003ccite>(Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>2. Failing to pre-hydrate (and rehydrate!)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hydrate in advance, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.memorialhermann.org/doctors/cardiovascular-disease-specialists/dr-wafi-momin-do-1437414778\">Wafi Momin\u003c/a>, a cardiologist at Memorial Hermann Health System in Katy, Texas. “Grab a glass of water or a sports drink before you head out to the outdoors,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And bring plenty of water with you, and don’t wait until you’re thirsty to start drinking during an outdoor activity. “The moment you begin to feel thirsty, you’re likely anywhere between 10 to 25% dehydrated already,” says Gandhi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people aren’t even hydrated enough on a normal day, Eisenman notes, so it’s easy to start at a deficit on a hot day. His advice is to double the amount you’d drink in a typical day. The best test of hydration is to check the color of your urine. “Make sure that you’re peeing frequently and that your urine is pale” — almost clear, says Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is the best way to hydrate — and it’s free! Sports drinks add electrolytes and can be helpful if you’ve gotten overheated or if you’re participating in a marathon or other endurance event — but they’re not necessary when you’re simply trying to stay hydrated throughout the day, says Schumann, who also serves as a medical director for Oak Street Health, a chain of primary care clinics. In Tulsa, he says, in recent weeks they’ve seen bouts of 100-degree weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In these heat-dome times, though I pooh-pooh all the millennials who carry water bottles everywhere, the kids — they’re right about this,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Don’t be the frog in the boiling pot (i.e., your car)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may not realize how hot it’s getting inside your car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cars heat up so fast even in moderate heat because of a “mini greenhouse effect,” Eisenman explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sun is coming through those windows, and then the heat is getting bounced around and getting trapped inside. It turns into a different wavelength of heat and doesn’t go back out the windows,” he says. “And on a day of moderate temperatures, say like 75 degrees outside, in 25 minutes it will become 100 degrees inside your car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/heatstroke#:~:text=When%20a%20child%20is%20left,died%20of%20heatstroke%20in%20vehicles\">about 50 children die \u003c/a>when left in a car. So do not underestimate the dangers, especially if you’re distracted by finishing up a phone call, says Eisenman. “Even with the air conditioner running, even with the windows cracked, it can become hot in there very quickly,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983478\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983478\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A kid in an orange short and shorts with images of food on them plays in the water. The kid is holding a blue and green toy in his hand. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19.jpg 907w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kids can be more vulnerable to heat-related illness, and it takes them longer to acclimatize to sudden hot weather. \u003ccite>(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. Heat + (certain) medications don’t mix\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Certain medications can make people more vulnerable to heat, explains Momin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heart medications such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114821088/blood-pressure-medication-can-complicate-heat-related-illness\">blood pressure drugs\u003c/a>, which millions of people take, are diuretic, he explains. “Those medications are trying to get rid of fluid from your body because of underlying heart issues,” he says. And if you then add heat, which also causes you to lose excessive amounts of fluid, “that can cause a very dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other types of medications can have this effect too, says Schumann. These include \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodrx.com/classes/anticholinergics/anticholinergic-drugs-medications\">anticholinergic medications\u003c/a>, anticonvulsants, bladder medications and sedatives. “Lots of medicines work by dehydrating us — excreting excess fluid. Be careful!” he warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, older people are more vulnerable to heat, so if you’re older and on these medications, take extra precautions to stay cool and hydrated. Ask your doctor whether any of your medicines could be dehydrating.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Don’t ignore the early signs of heat-related illness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first few signs that you’re getting overheated may not feel too alarming: sweating, fatigue, dizziness and headache. You might feel nauseous or lightheaded. But “those are the telltale signs of heat exhaustion creeping in,” says Momin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You may just blow it off, saying, you know, it’s hot and I’ve felt this way before, but the worst of the symptoms can come on very quickly without realizing it,” he says. “And all of a sudden, your body’s overheating to a point where you won’t really be able to drink enough fluids at that juncture to reverse what’s already gone on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Symptoms of heat exhaustion can quickly become more serious. They can include muscle cramping, increased fatigue and accelerated heart rate. “You may start to weaken and just kind of get out of breath as you exert yourself,” Gandhi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Know when to seek medical attention\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re with someone who begins to show signs of heat-related illness, move the person to a cool place, give them water or a sports drink and moisten their skin. You can also remove unnecessary clothing such as shoes, socks and jackets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, observe them. Their symptoms should start to improve in about 30 minutes, Eisenman says. If they don’t get better in that time or if \u003cem>at any point\u003c/em> they start having more \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-illness#:~:text=Heat%20Stroke,Delay%20can%20be%20fatal.\">worrisome symptoms\u003c/a>, call for medical help. “I think sometimes people wait too long to call 911,” says Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If their heart rate is going fast, if they’re breathing quickly, if they seem at all confused, those are all indicators they’ve had more exposure to the heat than \u003cem>you\u003c/em> can handle,” Eisenman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When heatstroke sets in, people can even lose consciousness or pass out — in this case, seek immediate medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You \u003cem>really \u003c/em>want to avoid heatstroke: With heatstroke, your core body temperature can rise quickly to 103 to 105 degrees or more, says Gandhi. When this happens, “you can start to experience some organ damage pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>7. Wear loose, light clothing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re spending time in the heat, what you wear matters. “I would seek lighter colors because those tend to reflect heat rather than absorb heat compared to darker colors such as blacks and dark blues,” says Momin. And stay away from tight clothing, which can block airflow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Loose-fitting clothing allows for the heat to evaporate off your body more easily,” adds Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Alcohol is a bad call\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re at an outdoor party, resist that ice-cold margarita. Go for mocktails instead. “Alcohol will dehydrate you much faster” in the heat, says Schumann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re determined to have something with a little kick in it, “drink some water for every drink you have to avoid trouble,” he says. “If you wind up having to pee a lot, it’ll be worth it. If you don’t, you might be getting into trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alcohol is very problematic” if you’re outdoors in the heat, agrees Momin. Not only does it cause you to lose fluids, but “it can also impair your judgment.” And when that happens, you might miss the signs of heat-related illness.\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=8+mistakes+to+avoid+if+you%27re+going+out+in+the+heat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "You can still enjoy the outdoors this summer despite the scorching weather, if you're smart about it. Here's what to watch out for and how to stay safe.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s hot — which shouldn’t come as a surprise in July. But this summer’s heat is \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/07/05/1186003959/el-nino-plus-climate-change-means-record-breaking-heat\">breaking records\u003c/a> around the world, and in the U.S. this week, a heat dome is afflicting the Southwest with ultrahigh temperatures. The East Coast is expected to be steamy, and parts of Southern California could hit 106 degrees by Saturday in what the National Weather Service has dubbed a summer of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/21/1183486618/summer-solstice-weather-extreme-heat\">excessive\u003c/a>” weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, it’s summer and you have things to do outdoors, from festivals to barbecues to mowing the lawn. We get it. But the heat can take a toll on your body, and you need to plan ahead when the temperature rises to extreme heat. “Don’t overdo it,” warns \u003ca href=\"https://www.oakstreethealth.com/doctors/john-h-schumann\">John Schumann\u003c/a>, a primary care physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Heat can envelop and pummel you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And there are a lot of misconceptions about the best ways to protect yourself, warns \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/providers/david-eisenman\">David Eisenman\u003c/a>, a physician at UCLA who is \u003ca href=\"https://ph.ucla.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/david-eisenman\">co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions\u003c/a>. Here are mistakes to avoid in order to ensure you stay safe in the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1. Too much, too soon: You need to acclimatize\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When a heat wave strikes, your body needs time to adjust, says \u003ca href=\"https://scholars.houstonmethodist.org/en/persons/neil-a-gandhi\">Neil Gandhi\u003c/a>, a physician at Houston Methodist Hospital: “You can’t do too much too soon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you go from mostly spending time in air conditioning to an outdoor activity in the sweltering heat, you could be caught off guard. Your body isn’t “acclimatized to handle the stress,” Gandhi says. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/pictureofamerica/pdfs/picture_of_america_heat-related_illness.pdf\">every year, about 650 people die (PDF)\u003c/a> from heat-related illness in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately, once acclimatized, the body gets better at fending off heat-related illness. “Our body starts to sweat sooner at a lower body temperature and at a greater rate,” explains Eisenman. Also, blood flow to the skin improves, which has the effect of cooling us down by carrying heat out of the body’s core. And your thirst increases, so you’re less likely to get dehydrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this doesn’t happen immediately. “It’s going to happen over the space of several days of exposure,” Eisenman says. So if you’re planning a hiking trip, summer sightseeing or any other extended exposure to heat, plan to spend short periods in the heat each day in the days leading up to your outdoor adventure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And note that kids acclimatize much more slowly than adults, says Eisenman, so give them extra days to prepare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983477\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983477\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A few people pictured outside holding black umbrellas. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259099394-72634062db48a3d4e83f773465494cc2a560a4e4.jpg 911w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Staying out of direct sun as much as possible can help prevent heat-related illness. Look for shade or make your own with an umbrella, like these pedestrians waiting for a bus during a heat wave in Miami on June 26. \u003ccite>(Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>2. Failing to pre-hydrate (and rehydrate!)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hydrate in advance, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.memorialhermann.org/doctors/cardiovascular-disease-specialists/dr-wafi-momin-do-1437414778\">Wafi Momin\u003c/a>, a cardiologist at Memorial Hermann Health System in Katy, Texas. “Grab a glass of water or a sports drink before you head out to the outdoors,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And bring plenty of water with you, and don’t wait until you’re thirsty to start drinking during an outdoor activity. “The moment you begin to feel thirsty, you’re likely anywhere between 10 to 25% dehydrated already,” says Gandhi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most people aren’t even hydrated enough on a normal day, Eisenman notes, so it’s easy to start at a deficit on a hot day. His advice is to double the amount you’d drink in a typical day. The best test of hydration is to check the color of your urine. “Make sure that you’re peeing frequently and that your urine is pale” — almost clear, says Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is the best way to hydrate — and it’s free! Sports drinks add electrolytes and can be helpful if you’ve gotten overheated or if you’re participating in a marathon or other endurance event — but they’re not necessary when you’re simply trying to stay hydrated throughout the day, says Schumann, who also serves as a medical director for Oak Street Health, a chain of primary care clinics. In Tulsa, he says, in recent weeks they’ve seen bouts of 100-degree weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In these heat-dome times, though I pooh-pooh all the millennials who carry water bottles everywhere, the kids — they’re right about this,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>3. Don’t be the frog in the boiling pot (i.e., your car)\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>You may not realize how hot it’s getting inside your car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cars heat up so fast even in moderate heat because of a “mini greenhouse effect,” Eisenman explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sun is coming through those windows, and then the heat is getting bounced around and getting trapped inside. It turns into a different wavelength of heat and doesn’t go back out the windows,” he says. “And on a day of moderate temperatures, say like 75 degrees outside, in 25 minutes it will become 100 degrees inside your car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/heatstroke#:~:text=When%20a%20child%20is%20left,died%20of%20heatstroke%20in%20vehicles\">about 50 children die \u003c/a>when left in a car. So do not underestimate the dangers, especially if you’re distracted by finishing up a phone call, says Eisenman. “Even with the air conditioner running, even with the windows cracked, it can become hot in there very quickly,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983478\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983478\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A kid in an orange short and shorts with images of food on them plays in the water. The kid is holding a blue and green toy in his hand. \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1259090449-8caea5a3b2d90f17440653fb95d3345c130eab19.jpg 907w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kids can be more vulnerable to heat-related illness, and it takes them longer to acclimatize to sudden hot weather. \u003ccite>(Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>4. Heat + (certain) medications don’t mix\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Certain medications can make people more vulnerable to heat, explains Momin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heart medications such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/08/01/1114821088/blood-pressure-medication-can-complicate-heat-related-illness\">blood pressure drugs\u003c/a>, which millions of people take, are diuretic, he explains. “Those medications are trying to get rid of fluid from your body because of underlying heart issues,” he says. And if you then add heat, which also causes you to lose excessive amounts of fluid, “that can cause a very dangerous situation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other types of medications can have this effect too, says Schumann. These include \u003ca href=\"https://www.goodrx.com/classes/anticholinergics/anticholinergic-drugs-medications\">anticholinergic medications\u003c/a>, anticonvulsants, bladder medications and sedatives. “Lots of medicines work by dehydrating us — excreting excess fluid. Be careful!” he warns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, older people are more vulnerable to heat, so if you’re older and on these medications, take extra precautions to stay cool and hydrated. Ask your doctor whether any of your medicines could be dehydrating.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>5. Don’t ignore the early signs of heat-related illness\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The first few signs that you’re getting overheated may not feel too alarming: sweating, fatigue, dizziness and headache. You might feel nauseous or lightheaded. But “those are the telltale signs of heat exhaustion creeping in,” says Momin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You may just blow it off, saying, you know, it’s hot and I’ve felt this way before, but the worst of the symptoms can come on very quickly without realizing it,” he says. “And all of a sudden, your body’s overheating to a point where you won’t really be able to drink enough fluids at that juncture to reverse what’s already gone on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Symptoms of heat exhaustion can quickly become more serious. They can include muscle cramping, increased fatigue and accelerated heart rate. “You may start to weaken and just kind of get out of breath as you exert yourself,” Gandhi says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>6. Know when to seek medical attention\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re with someone who begins to show signs of heat-related illness, move the person to a cool place, give them water or a sports drink and moisten their skin. You can also remove unnecessary clothing such as shoes, socks and jackets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, observe them. Their symptoms should start to improve in about 30 minutes, Eisenman says. If they don’t get better in that time or if \u003cem>at any point\u003c/em> they start having more \u003ca href=\"https://www.weather.gov/safety/heat-illness#:~:text=Heat%20Stroke,Delay%20can%20be%20fatal.\">worrisome symptoms\u003c/a>, call for medical help. “I think sometimes people wait too long to call 911,” says Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If their heart rate is going fast, if they’re breathing quickly, if they seem at all confused, those are all indicators they’ve had more exposure to the heat than \u003cem>you\u003c/em> can handle,” Eisenman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When heatstroke sets in, people can even lose consciousness or pass out — in this case, seek immediate medical attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You \u003cem>really \u003c/em>want to avoid heatstroke: With heatstroke, your core body temperature can rise quickly to 103 to 105 degrees or more, says Gandhi. When this happens, “you can start to experience some organ damage pretty quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>7. Wear loose, light clothing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re spending time in the heat, what you wear matters. “I would seek lighter colors because those tend to reflect heat rather than absorb heat compared to darker colors such as blacks and dark blues,” says Momin. And stay away from tight clothing, which can block airflow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Loose-fitting clothing allows for the heat to evaporate off your body more easily,” adds Eisenman.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>8. Alcohol is a bad call\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If you’re at an outdoor party, resist that ice-cold margarita. Go for mocktails instead. “Alcohol will dehydrate you much faster” in the heat, says Schumann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re determined to have something with a little kick in it, “drink some water for every drink you have to avoid trouble,” he says. “If you wind up having to pee a lot, it’ll be worth it. If you don’t, you might be getting into trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alcohol is very problematic” if you’re outdoors in the heat, agrees Momin. Not only does it cause you to lose fluids, but “it can also impair your judgment.” And when that happens, you might miss the signs of heat-related illness.\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=8+mistakes+to+avoid+if+you%27re+going+out+in+the+heat&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Racist Past and Hotter Future Are Testing Western Water Like Never Before",
"headTitle": "A Racist Past and Hotter Future Are Testing Western Water Like Never Before | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As droughts strain water supplies across Western states, some cities and farmers have struggled with mandatory cutbacks. Determining who gets cut is decided by the foundational pecking order of Western water: the older your claim to water, created as the country expanded westward, the better protected it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When there’s a shortage, those with newer water rights have to cut back first, sometimes giving up their water completely before older claims lose a single drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s known as “first in time, first in right.” But “first” is a relative term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First in time, first in right is kind of laughable, because the ones that were here first were the indigenous people,” says Gary Mulcahy, government liaison for the Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the climate gets hotter and further shrinks strained water supplies, Western states are grappling with whether a century-old water system created by white settlers can equitably handle a future of worsening droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rights to water have long been seen as sacrosanct by many. But after decades of exclusion, Native American tribes are helping lead the charge both in California and on the Colorado River, arguing for overhauling an arcane system they say is inherently racist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are debating whether to create new authority to rein in the oldest water users, who have long contended their rights can’t be constrained by the state. Cities like San Francisco and farming districts with senior water rights are lobbying hard against the bills, saying billions of dollars invested into the water system are at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The weight of the inequities is really stunning,” say Felicia Marcus, a fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West program and a former California water regulator. “Folks are going to need to think about what are the alternatives to cure what might be a historic injustice, while also being aware of the equities of all the communities and people dependent on the system that we do have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983451\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-800x533.jpg\" alt='A group of 9 people stand in protest with signs reading \"Free the eel\" and \"Save the salmon\" in front of a building. A man on the far right holds a microphone.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe (right) speaks at a rally for water rights and the environment at California’s state Capitol building. \u003ccite>(Tim Daw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>First in time, via a piece of paper on a tree\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than a century ago, San Francisco locked up a pristine water supply. The city was booming in the late 1800s, and officials knew that local supplies wouldn’t be enough for the growing population. They set their sights on a river high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more than 150 miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To tap into that river, the city had to first officially file for a water right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It meant you write it on a piece of paper and nail it to a tree,” says Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to that piece of paper \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/San_Francisco_Municipal_Reports/DHRFLjqZG3UC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=san+francisco+water+tree+tuolumne&pg=PA405&printsec=frontcover\">nailed to an 8-inch round oak tree\u003c/a> near the Tuolumne River in 1901, San Francisco has enjoyed a stable water supply ever since. During California’s most severe droughts, the city hasn’t had to make mandatory cutbacks, even when other cities and farms around the state saw their supplies dwindle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We and others have invested a lot of money in our systems to make them work based on the principle of first in time and first in right,” Ritchie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>For tribes, being first doesn’t mean you have water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For California’s Native American tribes, which have largely been excluded from the water rights hierarchy, that focus on the history of settlers’ interests rings hollow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we say about the senior water rights holders is they all got their water through murder, mayhem, rape, theft and genocide,” Mulcahy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The traditional land of the Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California was flooded in the 1940s when California built Shasta Dam, creating the largest reservoir in the state. Today, it’s one of the most valuable sources of water, supplying farms and cities that stretch hundreds of miles, all the way to Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983446\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983446\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A vast blue lake is seen with a large dam connecting to a reservoir. In the background are white clouds in blue skies with green mountains.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Shasta in Northern California is one of the state’s most vital water supplies. When it was built in the 1940s, it also flooded the traditional homeland of the Wimmemem Wintu Tribe. \u003ccite>(Ken James/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have no water rights,” Mulcahy says. “We’re the Winnemem Wintu tribe. Winnemem means ‘middle water’– middle water people. That kind of tells you our culture, our spirituality is based on water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s tribes, like most across the West, were forced to sign treaties with the federal government, giving up their land in exchange for a reservation to live on. But the treaties with most California tribes were never ratified by the U.S. Senate and \u003ca href=\"https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2013/fall-winter/treaties.pdf\">were lost for 50 years (PDF)\u003c/a>. As a result, the tribes have no federal recognition, giving them little standing to claim water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water rights system absolutely totally needs to change for everybody’s right, for everybody’s health and well-being, and not just a select few who think that they are the gods of water and they can’t be touched,” Mulcahy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>State bills would grant authority over senior rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are now debating whether to take some steps toward reform. State bills would give regulators more power to investigate the water use of senior rights holders, allow them to order those rights holders to stop using water when there’s a shortage, and to increase the fines against those who take water illegally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pushback has been swift from senior rights holders, which represent some of California’s wealthiest cities and farming areas. Many contend their water use can’t be curbed, since their rights were established before California created its regulatory water agency in 1914, the California State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t think that curtailment should apply to us,” Ritchie says. “Water rights are basically a form of a property right. So having the uncertainty that that supply might be cut at some point, that is very troubling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983447\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983447\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women are seen on a truck filling up large containers of water through a pipe. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Women who belong to the Navajo Nation fill up their family’s water containers. Parts of the reservation still lack running water and the tribe has been pushing for rights to the Colorado River for decades. \u003ccite>(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During California’s last two droughts, state regulators struggled to order cutbacks among those with senior water rights, lacking data about how much water was being used and what rights were affected. When water users have defied orders to cut their use, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">the state’s ability to levy fines has been minimal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t mean to say it’s kind of a hot mess, but it’s kind of a mess,” Marcus says. “We have to figure out how to have a better way of allocating water more fairly according to set-upon rules that everybody can see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tribes push for water rights on the Colorado River\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Water cutbacks are also contentious on the Colorado River. There, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1003424717/the-drought-in-the-western-u-s-is-getting-bad-climate-change-is-making-it-worse\">two-decades-long drought\u003c/a> is forcing states to face a harsh reality: the future will mean less water for everyone. But tribes on the river \u003ca href=\"https://www.kunc.org/thirstgap/2023-05-15/first-in-time\">have been left out from the very beginning\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164852475/supreme-court-navajo-nation-water-rights\">Navajo Nation has been battling with the state of Arizona\u003c/a> for decades over getting its water rights clarified on the river. Some parts of the reservation \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/01/06/374584452/for-many-of-navajo-nation-water-delivery-comes-monthly\">still lack running water\u003c/a>, forcing residents to get deliveries by truck. As a federally-recognized tribe, the Navajo Nation has rights to water as part of the “permanent home” the federal government granted with a treaty creating the reservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue is that they haven’t been quantified and no one really knows what the scope of those rights look like,” says Dylan Hedden-Nicely, director of the Native American Law Program at the University of Idaho College of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the Supreme Court ruled against the tribe, saying the federal government had no duty to support the investment needed to deliver a water supply. Still, after a long-fought battle, tribes are now \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172273665/tribal-nations-were-once-excluded-from-colorado-river-talks-now-theyre-key-playe\">being included in key negotiations\u003c/a> over the future of the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983448\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983448\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"An image of a lake with a backdrop of mountain cliffs. Green trees, rocks and dirt surfaces are seen in the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1020x692.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-768x521.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1536x1041.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1920x1302.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1901, San Francisco claimed water from the Tuolumne River by nailing a piece of paper to a tree. The city has long contended that its senior water rights shouldn’t be constrained by the state. \u003ccite>(California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In cases where tribes have had their water rights spelled out, they’ve struck deals to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-river-water-tribes-climate-drought-540c7db3588b2369985351ac9e9114b1\">transfer some of that water\u003c/a> to alleviate the overall shortage for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are the types of opportunities that exist if people can get over this historical paradigm that this is a zero-sum game – if you get anything, it’s coming out of my hide and therefore I’m going to fight you tooth and nail,” Hedden-Nicely says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the climate gets hotter, water supplies both on the Colorado River and in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1003424717/the-drought-in-the-western-u-s-is-getting-bad-climate-change-is-making-it-worse\">are expected to shrink\u003c/a> and become more erratic. With the pressure mounting, the inequities in the system are becoming hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think climate change is forcing these conversations that are uncomfortable because the water’s just not there,” Marcus says. “And we need to figure out what to do.”\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=A+racist+past+and+hotter+future+are+testing+Western+water+like+never+before&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As droughts strain water supplies across Western states, some cities and farmers have struggled with mandatory cutbacks. Determining who gets cut is decided by the foundational pecking order of Western water: the older your claim to water, created as the country expanded westward, the better protected it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When there’s a shortage, those with newer water rights have to cut back first, sometimes giving up their water completely before older claims lose a single drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s known as “first in time, first in right.” But “first” is a relative term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First in time, first in right is kind of laughable, because the ones that were here first were the indigenous people,” says Gary Mulcahy, government liaison for the Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the climate gets hotter and further shrinks strained water supplies, Western states are grappling with whether a century-old water system created by white settlers can equitably handle a future of worsening droughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rights to water have long been seen as sacrosanct by many. But after decades of exclusion, Native American tribes are helping lead the charge both in California and on the Colorado River, arguing for overhauling an arcane system they say is inherently racist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are debating whether to create new authority to rein in the oldest water users, who have long contended their rights can’t be constrained by the state. Cities like San Francisco and farming districts with senior water rights are lobbying hard against the bills, saying billions of dollars invested into the water system are at stake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The weight of the inequities is really stunning,” say Felicia Marcus, a fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West program and a former California water regulator. “Folks are going to need to think about what are the alternatives to cure what might be a historic injustice, while also being aware of the equities of all the communities and people dependent on the system that we do have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983451\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983451\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-800x533.jpg\" alt='A group of 9 people stand in protest with signs reading \"Free the eel\" and \"Save the salmon\" in front of a building. A man on the far right holds a microphone.' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/lfc_3672_custom-0e499fdf69d08753c0ceebb82b9c055dcfc1d402-s1600-c85.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Mulcahy of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe (right) speaks at a rally for water rights and the environment at California’s state Capitol building. \u003ccite>(Tim Daw)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>First in time, via a piece of paper on a tree\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than a century ago, San Francisco locked up a pristine water supply. The city was booming in the late 1800s, and officials knew that local supplies wouldn’t be enough for the growing population. They set their sights on a river high in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more than 150 miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To tap into that river, the city had to first officially file for a water right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It meant you write it on a piece of paper and nail it to a tree,” says Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thanks to that piece of paper \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/books/edition/San_Francisco_Municipal_Reports/DHRFLjqZG3UC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=san+francisco+water+tree+tuolumne&pg=PA405&printsec=frontcover\">nailed to an 8-inch round oak tree\u003c/a> near the Tuolumne River in 1901, San Francisco has enjoyed a stable water supply ever since. During California’s most severe droughts, the city hasn’t had to make mandatory cutbacks, even when other cities and farms around the state saw their supplies dwindle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We and others have invested a lot of money in our systems to make them work based on the principle of first in time and first in right,” Ritchie says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>For tribes, being first doesn’t mean you have water\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For California’s Native American tribes, which have largely been excluded from the water rights hierarchy, that focus on the history of settlers’ interests rings hollow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we say about the senior water rights holders is they all got their water through murder, mayhem, rape, theft and genocide,” Mulcahy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The traditional land of the Winnemem Wintu tribe in Northern California was flooded in the 1940s when California built Shasta Dam, creating the largest reservoir in the state. Today, it’s one of the most valuable sources of water, supplying farms and cities that stretch hundreds of miles, all the way to Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983446\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983446\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A vast blue lake is seen with a large dam connecting to a reservoir. In the background are white clouds in blue skies with green mountains.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/2023_06_12_kj_2673_aerials_lake_levels_custom-66cec55890637f346881987a0f214049cc0f2d5b.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Shasta in Northern California is one of the state’s most vital water supplies. When it was built in the 1940s, it also flooded the traditional homeland of the Wimmemem Wintu Tribe. \u003ccite>(Ken James/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have no water rights,” Mulcahy says. “We’re the Winnemem Wintu tribe. Winnemem means ‘middle water’– middle water people. That kind of tells you our culture, our spirituality is based on water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s tribes, like most across the West, were forced to sign treaties with the federal government, giving up their land in exchange for a reservation to live on. But the treaties with most California tribes were never ratified by the U.S. Senate and \u003ca href=\"https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2013/fall-winter/treaties.pdf\">were lost for 50 years (PDF)\u003c/a>. As a result, the tribes have no federal recognition, giving them little standing to claim water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The water rights system absolutely totally needs to change for everybody’s right, for everybody’s health and well-being, and not just a select few who think that they are the gods of water and they can’t be touched,” Mulcahy says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>State bills would grant authority over senior rights\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers are now debating whether to take some steps toward reform. State bills would give regulators more power to investigate the water use of senior rights holders, allow them to order those rights holders to stop using water when there’s a shortage, and to increase the fines against those who take water illegally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pushback has been swift from senior rights holders, which represent some of California’s wealthiest cities and farming areas. Many contend their water use can’t be curbed, since their rights were established before California created its regulatory water agency in 1914, the California State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t think that curtailment should apply to us,” Ritchie says. “Water rights are basically a form of a property right. So having the uncertainty that that supply might be cut at some point, that is very troubling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983447\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983447\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two women are seen on a truck filling up large containers of water through a pipe. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965-1920x1279.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/gettyimages-1153763326_custom-42a2dabb5e51047cf49fa272e6126303d6e5d965.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Women who belong to the Navajo Nation fill up their family’s water containers. Parts of the reservation still lack running water and the tribe has been pushing for rights to the Colorado River for decades. \u003ccite>(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During California’s last two droughts, state regulators struggled to order cutbacks among those with senior water rights, lacking data about how much water was being used and what rights were affected. When water users have defied orders to cut their use, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/11/california-ranchers-drought-fine/\">the state’s ability to levy fines has been minimal\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t mean to say it’s kind of a hot mess, but it’s kind of a mess,” Marcus says. “We have to figure out how to have a better way of allocating water more fairly according to set-upon rules that everybody can see.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tribes push for water rights on the Colorado River\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Water cutbacks are also contentious on the Colorado River. There, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1003424717/the-drought-in-the-western-u-s-is-getting-bad-climate-change-is-making-it-worse\">two-decades-long drought\u003c/a> is forcing states to face a harsh reality: the future will mean less water for everyone. But tribes on the river \u003ca href=\"https://www.kunc.org/thirstgap/2023-05-15/first-in-time\">have been left out from the very beginning\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164852475/supreme-court-navajo-nation-water-rights\">Navajo Nation has been battling with the state of Arizona\u003c/a> for decades over getting its water rights clarified on the river. Some parts of the reservation \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/01/06/374584452/for-many-of-navajo-nation-water-delivery-comes-monthly\">still lack running water\u003c/a>, forcing residents to get deliveries by truck. As a federally-recognized tribe, the Navajo Nation has rights to water as part of the “permanent home” the federal government granted with a treaty creating the reservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue is that they haven’t been quantified and no one really knows what the scope of those rights look like,” says Dylan Hedden-Nicely, director of the Native American Law Program at the University of Idaho College of Law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, the Supreme Court ruled against the tribe, saying the federal government had no duty to support the investment needed to deliver a water supply. Still, after a long-fought battle, tribes are now \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/04/27/1172273665/tribal-nations-were-once-excluded-from-colorado-river-talks-now-theyre-key-playe\">being included in key negotiations\u003c/a> over the future of the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983448\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1983448\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-800x542.jpg\" alt=\"An image of a lake with a backdrop of mountain cliffs. Green trees, rocks and dirt surfaces are seen in the frame.\" width=\"800\" height=\"542\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-800x542.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1020x692.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-768x521.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1536x1041.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343-1920x1302.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/hetch_hetchy_18_custom-1b4a57f0d87c8b165d5278a110d6a170c8924343.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 1901, San Francisco claimed water from the Tuolumne River by nailing a piece of paper to a tree. The city has long contended that its senior water rights shouldn’t be constrained by the state. \u003ccite>(California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In cases where tribes have had their water rights spelled out, they’ve struck deals to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/colorado-river-water-tribes-climate-drought-540c7db3588b2369985351ac9e9114b1\">transfer some of that water\u003c/a> to alleviate the overall shortage for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those are the types of opportunities that exist if people can get over this historical paradigm that this is a zero-sum game – if you get anything, it’s coming out of my hide and therefore I’m going to fight you tooth and nail,” Hedden-Nicely says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the climate gets hotter, water supplies both on the Colorado River and in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1003424717/the-drought-in-the-western-u-s-is-getting-bad-climate-change-is-making-it-worse\">are expected to shrink\u003c/a> and become more erratic. With the pressure mounting, the inequities in the system are becoming hard to ignore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think climate change is forcing these conversations that are uncomfortable because the water’s just not there,” Marcus says. “And we need to figure out what to do.”\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=A+racist+past+and+hotter+future+are+testing+Western+water+like+never+before&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Sea Lions Are Sick and Dying Along Southern California's Coast. Here's What to Know",
"headTitle": "Sea Lions Are Sick and Dying Along Southern California’s Coast. Here’s What to Know | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>It looked like something out of an apocalyptic movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few weeks, droves of sick and dying sea animals have been washing up along the coast of Southern California, including beaches in Santa Barbara and Ventura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastation has been caused by an outbreak of toxic algae on a scale never before seen in the region, according to NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of last week, local officials had estimated that over 100 dolphins and over 500 sea lions had been killed by the algal bloom. It appears that the toxins are slowly spreading to Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983431\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983431 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-800x460.jpg\" alt=\"Sea lions and a dolphin are seen lying on the sea shore.\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-800x460.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-1020x586.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-160x92.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-768x441.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85.jpg 1046w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute has been able to rescue over 100 sea mammals that were suffering from the algae outbreak. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Samuel Dover, who leads Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute, has witnessed six algal blooms during his career and described the current one as the worst yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bloom is so much larger,” he told NPR. “This time, it’s in the center of the channel, where a lot of animals are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is an algal bloom?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Algae are usually benign plants, commonly seen in the form of pond scum or kelp. But under certain conditions, they can grow out of control and generate deadly toxins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When that happens, it is known as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/what-is-harmful-algal-bloom\">bloom\u003c/a>. It tends to be a problem for U.S. states near the country’s coast and the Great Lakes. Over the years, algal blooms have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/09/03/641606668/as-climate-warms-algae-blooms-in-drinking-water-supplies\">contaminated\u003c/a> tap water, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739874122/toxic-algae-bloom-closes-25-beaches-on-mississippis-coast-fed-by-fresh-floodwate\">forced\u003c/a> beaches to close, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161339697/what-to-know-red-tide-florida-beaches-algae\">discolored\u003c/a> coastal waters and led to the demise of countless animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although algal blooms are considered a natural phenomenon, climate change and human activities do play a role in their frequency and intensity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, the algae outbreak is believed to have resulted from wind pushing water full of nutrients toward algae, making them grow. That process is not typically related to climate change, but it does not rule it out as a factor either, according to scientists at NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What are algae doing to the sea lions in California?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bloom in California is producing domoic acid, which generally doesn’t affect humans but is poisonous to animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a sea creature suffers from domoic acid poisoning, it affects the animal’s brain and causes seizures, erratic behavior, bulging eyes and foaming at the mouth. Beachgoers have been warned to stay at least 50 feet away from sick animals in case they turn aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983432\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983432 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg\" alt='The words \"Please keep back. Marine mammal rescue has been called\" is written on the sand, with a seal lying on the beach in the distance.' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beachgoers have been asked to stay at least 50 feet away from animals poisoned by toxic algae because of the risk that the sea creatures may turn aggressive. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There is no antidote or specific remedy for domoic acid poisoning. Veterinarians have been giving some animals antiseizure medicine and keeping them hydrated in hopes that the toxins will flush out of their bodies. The problem is that the longer the toxins are in an animal’s system, the more difficult it becomes to treat the poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adult pregnant sea lions have been the most severely affected by the outbreak, according to Dover, of Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When will it get better?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Southern California was struck by an algal bloom last year, it lasted about six weeks, Dover said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similarly, the current outbreak, in its eighth week, appears to be improving, and fewer sick animals are appearing on shores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983433\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983433 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg\" alt='A sea lion droops on some rocks behind yellow tape that says \"Fire Line Do Not Cross.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There is no antidote or specific remedy for poisoning from domoic acid, the toxin that the algal bloom in California is producing. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To compare, Dover said lately his volunteer group has been receiving about 40 to 50 reports of sick animals per day. A month ago, they were receiving 40 to 50 reports per hour, though many reports tend to be duplicates of the same animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While that is a good sign, not much can be done to speed up the process. Harmful algal blooms are nearly impossible to clean, especially at the scale that has emerged near California.\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=Sea+lions+are+sick+and+dying+along+Southern+California%27s+coast.+Here%27s+what+to+know&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A deadly toxin has been poisoning sea lions and dolphins, causing seizures, erratic behavior, bulging eyes and foaming at the mouth. It has been especially worse for pregnant mammals.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It looked like something out of an apocalyptic movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past few weeks, droves of sick and dying sea animals have been washing up along the coast of Southern California, including beaches in Santa Barbara and Ventura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The devastation has been caused by an outbreak of toxic algae on a scale never before seen in the region, according to NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of last week, local officials had estimated that over 100 dolphins and over 500 sea lions had been killed by the algal bloom. It appears that the toxins are slowly spreading to Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983431\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983431 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-800x460.jpg\" alt=\"Sea lions and a dolphin are seen lying on the sea shore.\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-800x460.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-1020x586.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-160x92.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85-768x441.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-59-521_custom-7acc15af608abbdc21effcd064aed6e71dfa61e7-s1200-c85.jpg 1046w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute has been able to rescue over 100 sea mammals that were suffering from the algae outbreak. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Samuel Dover, who leads Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute, has witnessed six algal blooms during his career and described the current one as the worst yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bloom is so much larger,” he told NPR. “This time, it’s in the center of the channel, where a lot of animals are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is an algal bloom?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Algae are usually benign plants, commonly seen in the form of pond scum or kelp. But under certain conditions, they can grow out of control and generate deadly toxins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When that happens, it is known as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.noaa.gov/what-is-harmful-algal-bloom\">bloom\u003c/a>. It tends to be a problem for U.S. states near the country’s coast and the Great Lakes. Over the years, algal blooms have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/09/03/641606668/as-climate-warms-algae-blooms-in-drinking-water-supplies\">contaminated\u003c/a> tap water, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739874122/toxic-algae-bloom-closes-25-beaches-on-mississippis-coast-fed-by-fresh-floodwate\">forced\u003c/a> beaches to close, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161339697/what-to-know-red-tide-florida-beaches-algae\">discolored\u003c/a> coastal waters and led to the demise of countless animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although algal blooms are considered a natural phenomenon, climate change and human activities do play a role in their frequency and intensity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, the algae outbreak is believed to have resulted from wind pushing water full of nutrients toward algae, making them grow. That process is not typically related to climate change, but it does not rule it out as a factor either, according to scientists at NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast branch.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What are algae doing to the sea lions in California?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bloom in California is producing domoic acid, which generally doesn’t affect humans but is poisonous to animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a sea creature suffers from domoic acid poisoning, it affects the animal’s brain and causes seizures, erratic behavior, bulging eyes and foaming at the mouth. Beachgoers have been warned to stay at least 50 feet away from sick animals in case they turn aggressive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983432\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983432 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg\" alt='The words \"Please keep back. Marine mammal rescue has been called\" is written on the sand, with a seal lying on the beach in the distance.' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/photo-2023-06-16-10-34-04-1-_wide-0298a4fa48be217fb9eef8d674e930a04c358c9a-s1200-c85.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Beachgoers have been asked to stay at least 50 feet away from animals poisoned by toxic algae because of the risk that the sea creatures may turn aggressive. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There is no antidote or specific remedy for domoic acid poisoning. Veterinarians have been giving some animals antiseizure medicine and keeping them hydrated in hopes that the toxins will flush out of their bodies. The problem is that the longer the toxins are in an animal’s system, the more difficult it becomes to treat the poisoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adult pregnant sea lions have been the most severely affected by the outbreak, according to Dover, of Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>When will it get better?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Southern California was struck by an algal bloom last year, it lasted about six weeks, Dover said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similarly, the current outbreak, in its eighth week, appears to be improving, and fewer sick animals are appearing on shores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983433\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1983433 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg\" alt='A sea lion droops on some rocks behind yellow tape that says \"Fire Line Do Not Cross.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/copy-of-430b7d55-5d0f-462b-a575-4679173d3bfd_wide-ee901cd15f80791a43dfdfef4a884dc7fcddf545-s1200-c85.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There is no antidote or specific remedy for poisoning from domoic acid, the toxin that the algal bloom in California is producing. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To compare, Dover said lately his volunteer group has been receiving about 40 to 50 reports of sick animals per day. A month ago, they were receiving 40 to 50 reports per hour, though many reports tend to be duplicates of the same animal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While that is a good sign, not much can be done to speed up the process. Harmful algal blooms are nearly impossible to clean, especially at the scale that has emerged near California.\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=Sea+lions+are+sick+and+dying+along+Southern+California%27s+coast.+Here%27s+what+to+know&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Go clamber around the tide pools at Asilomar State Beach this summer and you might notice something odd: Some of the rocks look like someone haphazardly glued twisty scraps of old macaroni to them. \u003cem>Nature enrolled in a kindergarten art class\u003c/em>, you might think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_shell_tower.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_shell_tower.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983395\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scaled wormsnail retracts into its tower-like shell to avoid drying out when exposed to the air during low tide. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But if you watch one of those noodle-like tubes closely, after a few seconds a squishy, speckled, black-and-orange creature may peep out from the opening. You’ve just found a scaled wormsnail — a curious marine animal that built this tube out of calcium carbonate secreted from its body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It might look tiny and fragile, but looks can deceive: As climate change fuels marine heat waves that threaten countless ocean species, this odd little mollusk could prove to be a survivor. Its strength may stem, at least in part, from an adaptable diet of marine detritus, which it plucks from the current with a net made of its own mucus.\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>A Fishing Net ‘Like Snot in Seawater’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scaled wormsnail is a snail, not a worm. It gets its confounding name because it resembles marine worms that also live in tubes. But while other snails carry their houses around on their backs, this one doesn’t move at all. It anchors itself to a rock and never leaves, its tube home protecting it from the crashing surf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wormsnail’s cloistered lifestyle brings with it a major drawback, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can’t do the normal thing other gastropods would do, which is crawl around and search for food,” says Peter Macht, aquarium curator at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how can it find anything to eat?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a process that Macht sees every day at the Seymour Center’s aquarium, wormsnails fish for their dinner by casting a net. But instead of fashioning it from rope or thread like human fishers, they use something all snails have plenty of: mucus. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to look like snot in seawater,” Macht says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983393\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_hauling_in.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_hauling_in.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983393\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One big pull at a time, a scaled wormsnail hauls in its mucus net, which has bits of food attached to it. In the wild, the snail’s diet typically includes tiny plankton, little bits of seaweed, and detritus churned up by the waves. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The snail releases mucus from a gland just below its mouth. But, unlike its more mobile relatives, which leave a trail of the slimy substance, the wormsnail sends mucus down the tentacles on either side of its head, forming it into strings like some invertebrate Spiderman slinging a web. The mucus strands ride the tides, spreading out into the water to create a miniature fishing net. It can cover more than 7 square inches in a matter of minutes, an impressive feat for a snail living in a tube the width of a pencil. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reeling in the Catch With a Monstrous Mouth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once it casts its net, the snail simply sits and waits for goodies to drift by and get caught — a tiny crustacean here, a savory mote of algae there. As it gathers particles, the net gradually becomes visible to the human eye, like a fresh spiderweb gathering dust. And by snatching random organic detritus from the water, the snail acts as a recycler, similar to a hungry earthworm breaking down meal scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s time to eat, the wormsnail uses its radula — an undulating conveyor belt of jagged teeth — to snag and pull the mucus net down the hatch. Seen up close, a feeding wormsnail looks a bit like the Sarlacc, the tentacled desert monster from “Return of the Jedi,” as it drags struggling prey down its gaping maw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983390\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_radula.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_radula.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983390\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail hauls in its mucus net using a belt of hooked teeth called the radula. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With no way of disentangling its catch from the net, the wormsnail swallows the entire bundle, mucus and all. This way, it recoups the calories it spent to make the net in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a wormsnail has to stay alert if it wants to keep all that phlegmy goodness for itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often, their mucus nets fuse,” says biologist Michael Hadfield, who has studied wormsnails extensively at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. “When one of them starts to pull it in, the others sense it, and they all pull in to make sure they get their share.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scourge of the Aquarium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Indian and Pacific oceans, the scaled wormsnail’s cousins antagonize other creatures, too. Tropical species of wormsnail sometimes coat corals with their mucus nets, making it harder for those corals to \u003ca href=\"https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2010.0291\">grow and survive\u003c/a>. Researchers aren’t sure why, but some suggest wormsnails’ nets hog food particles or alter the balance of \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258391779_Detection_of_Bioactive_Compounds_in_the_Mucus_Nets_of_Dendropoma_maxima_Sowerby_1825_Prosobranch_Gastropod_Vermetidae_Mollusca\">chemicals \u003c/a>around the surfaces of corals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s always this death zone around the vermetids,” says Rüdiger Bieler of Chicago’s Field Museum, referring to the name given to the family of wormsnail species around the world. This can make them a pest to saltwater aquarium keepers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_Wormsnail_in_private_aquarium_Brock_Leonard.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_Wormsnail_in_private_aquarium_Brock_Leonard.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983403\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail has cast a long net inside a private aquarium tank in Shreveport, Louisiana. \u003ccite>(Brock Leonard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve talked to a lot of aquarium folks,” Bieler says, “and it took me a while to realize how much they hate these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In Warming Waters, a Varied Menu Goes a Long Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the California coast, the scaled wormsnail may be gaining a competitive advantage over its neighbors, as climate change heats up ocean habitats. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists at UC Santa Barbara found that the 2014-15 marine heat wave known as the “Blob” gave a boost to scaled wormsnails living along the coast near the university’s campus. By contrast, invertebrates like sea stars, which eat wormsnails, perished during the event. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That freed up a lot of space that the wormsnail could colonize,” says marine ecologist Bob Miller, senior author on the 2022 study. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, wormsnails spread to occupy over 80 times more space than before the Blob — from less than one-fifth of a square foot at each study site to over 16 square feet per site, on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller believes the scaled wormsnail may be able to withstand heat waves along the California coast because it has evolved within a range that extends south to Baja California, Mexico, where waters are already warmer to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not being a picky eater may help, too, the researchers noted. When a heat wave makes nutritious plankton hard to come by, for instance, shreds of kelp and other floating food bits can fill the snails’ phlegmy nets instead. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_tangled_nets.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_tangled_nets.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983401\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail’s net can cover over 7 square inches in a few minutes. When multiple snails cluster together, their combined nets can span an even broader area. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whatever may end up in their nets, wormsnails will continue to perform an important job: As their nets filter the water, they keep coastal habitats clean for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re doing their part in recycling dead plant material,” biologist Hadfield says. “If there were no recyclers except bacteria and fungi in the sea, there would be huge piles of decaying detritus.” Those piles would suck oxygen from the environment as they decomposed, potentially harming other marine animals. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So next time you’re exploring the tide pools, peering through clean, clear water at anemones, crabs and nudibranchs, just remember — among many other creatures, you’ve got a sedentary little snail and its mucus to thank.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Most of the sea snails in a tide pool cruise around searching for food. But not the scaled wormsnail. It cements its shell to a rock and snags its meals using the one thing a snail has plenty of: mucus. Researchers have found that warming ocean waters might actually give these sea snails a boost.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Go clamber around the tide pools at Asilomar State Beach this summer and you might notice something odd: Some of the rocks look like someone haphazardly glued twisty scraps of old macaroni to them. \u003cem>Nature enrolled in a kindergarten art class\u003c/em>, you might think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_shell_tower.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_shell_tower.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983395\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scaled wormsnail retracts into its tower-like shell to avoid drying out when exposed to the air during low tide. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But if you watch one of those noodle-like tubes closely, after a few seconds a squishy, speckled, black-and-orange creature may peep out from the opening. You’ve just found a scaled wormsnail — a curious marine animal that built this tube out of calcium carbonate secreted from its body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It might look tiny and fragile, but looks can deceive: As climate change fuels marine heat waves that threaten countless ocean species, this odd little mollusk could prove to be a survivor. Its strength may stem, at least in part, from an adaptable diet of marine detritus, which it plucks from the current with a net made of its own mucus.\u003cbr>\n\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>A Fishing Net ‘Like Snot in Seawater’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scaled wormsnail is a snail, not a worm. It gets its confounding name because it resembles marine worms that also live in tubes. But while other snails carry their houses around on their backs, this one doesn’t move at all. It anchors itself to a rock and never leaves, its tube home protecting it from the crashing surf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wormsnail’s cloistered lifestyle brings with it a major drawback, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It can’t do the normal thing other gastropods would do, which is crawl around and search for food,” says Peter Macht, aquarium curator at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So how can it find anything to eat?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a process that Macht sees every day at the Seymour Center’s aquarium, wormsnails fish for their dinner by casting a net. But instead of fashioning it from rope or thread like human fishers, they use something all snails have plenty of: mucus. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to look like snot in seawater,” Macht says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983393\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_hauling_in.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_hauling_in.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983393\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One big pull at a time, a scaled wormsnail hauls in its mucus net, which has bits of food attached to it. In the wild, the snail’s diet typically includes tiny plankton, little bits of seaweed, and detritus churned up by the waves. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The snail releases mucus from a gland just below its mouth. But, unlike its more mobile relatives, which leave a trail of the slimy substance, the wormsnail sends mucus down the tentacles on either side of its head, forming it into strings like some invertebrate Spiderman slinging a web. The mucus strands ride the tides, spreading out into the water to create a miniature fishing net. It can cover more than 7 square inches in a matter of minutes, an impressive feat for a snail living in a tube the width of a pencil. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reeling in the Catch With a Monstrous Mouth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once it casts its net, the snail simply sits and waits for goodies to drift by and get caught — a tiny crustacean here, a savory mote of algae there. As it gathers particles, the net gradually becomes visible to the human eye, like a fresh spiderweb gathering dust. And by snatching random organic detritus from the water, the snail acts as a recycler, similar to a hungry earthworm breaking down meal scraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it’s time to eat, the wormsnail uses its radula — an undulating conveyor belt of jagged teeth — to snag and pull the mucus net down the hatch. Seen up close, a feeding wormsnail looks a bit like the Sarlacc, the tentacled desert monster from “Return of the Jedi,” as it drags struggling prey down its gaping maw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983390\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_radula.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_radula.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983390\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail hauls in its mucus net using a belt of hooked teeth called the radula. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With no way of disentangling its catch from the net, the wormsnail swallows the entire bundle, mucus and all. This way, it recoups the calories it spent to make the net in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a wormsnail has to stay alert if it wants to keep all that phlegmy goodness for itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Often, their mucus nets fuse,” says biologist Michael Hadfield, who has studied wormsnails extensively at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. “When one of them starts to pull it in, the others sense it, and they all pull in to make sure they get their share.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scourge of the Aquarium\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Indian and Pacific oceans, the scaled wormsnail’s cousins antagonize other creatures, too. Tropical species of wormsnail sometimes coat corals with their mucus nets, making it harder for those corals to \u003ca href=\"https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2010.0291\">grow and survive\u003c/a>. Researchers aren’t sure why, but some suggest wormsnails’ nets hog food particles or alter the balance of \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258391779_Detection_of_Bioactive_Compounds_in_the_Mucus_Nets_of_Dendropoma_maxima_Sowerby_1825_Prosobranch_Gastropod_Vermetidae_Mollusca\">chemicals \u003c/a>around the surfaces of corals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s always this death zone around the vermetids,” says Rüdiger Bieler of Chicago’s Field Museum, referring to the name given to the family of wormsnail species around the world. This can make them a pest to saltwater aquarium keepers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_Wormsnail_in_private_aquarium_Brock_Leonard.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_Wormsnail_in_private_aquarium_Brock_Leonard.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983403\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail has cast a long net inside a private aquarium tank in Shreveport, Louisiana. \u003ccite>(Brock Leonard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve talked to a lot of aquarium folks,” Bieler says, “and it took me a while to realize how much they hate these things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>In Warming Waters, a Varied Menu Goes a Long Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along the California coast, the scaled wormsnail may be gaining a competitive advantage over its neighbors, as climate change heats up ocean habitats. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists at UC Santa Barbara found that the 2014-15 marine heat wave known as the “Blob” gave a boost to scaled wormsnails living along the coast near the university’s campus. By contrast, invertebrates like sea stars, which eat wormsnails, perished during the event. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That freed up a lot of space that the wormsnail could colonize,” says marine ecologist Bob Miller, senior author on the 2022 study. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, wormsnails spread to occupy over 80 times more space than before the Blob — from less than one-fifth of a square foot at each study site to over 16 square feet per site, on average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller believes the scaled wormsnail may be able to withstand heat waves along the California coast because it has evolved within a range that extends south to Baja California, Mexico, where waters are already warmer to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not being a picky eater may help, too, the researchers noted. When a heat wave makes nutritious plankton hard to come by, for instance, shreds of kelp and other floating food bits can fill the snails’ phlegmy nets instead. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 500px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_tangled_nets.gif\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/DL1009_wormsnail_tangled_nets.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983401\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wormsnail’s net can cover over 7 square inches in a few minutes. When multiple snails cluster together, their combined nets can span an even broader area. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Whatever may end up in their nets, wormsnails will continue to perform an important job: As their nets filter the water, they keep coastal habitats clean for everyone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re doing their part in recycling dead plant material,” biologist Hadfield says. “If there were no recyclers except bacteria and fungi in the sea, there would be huge piles of decaying detritus.” Those piles would suck oxygen from the environment as they decomposed, potentially harming other marine animals. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So next time you’re exploring the tide pools, peering through clean, clear water at anemones, crabs and nudibranchs, just remember — among many other creatures, you’ve got a sedentary little snail and its mucus to thank.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Record Lows to Near Brimming: North Bay Reservoirs Stage Remarkable Recovery",
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"headTitle": "Record Lows to Near Brimming: North Bay Reservoirs Stage Remarkable Recovery | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Two North Bay reservoirs are flush with water just a year after their levels fell to record-setting lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heading into the second week of July, Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino — at 66% and 79% full, respectively — are both well \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">above their average levels for this time of year\u003c/a>, and roughly twice as full as they were last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless you count the first year it was filled, Lake Sonoma had dropped to the lowest level ever,” said David Rabbitt, a Sonoma County supervisor and a Sonoma Water director. “To rebound like that in one year was beyond anyone’s imagination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983352\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983352\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the a lake with low water levels. On the left, a bridge crosses a span where the banks of the lake are so low that the lake bed has been exposed. On the right, the same is the case but boats are also seen in dock.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A view of the Warm Springs Creek Bridge from the Lake Sonoma Overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. Right: A view of the Lake Sonoma Resort Area from the Lake Sonoma Overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the summer heats up, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">reservoir levels statewide are collectively at around 87%\u003c/a>, the result of the massive amount of precipitation that storms dumped on the state this year. But while other reservoirs across California depend on runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack, Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma — serving over 600,000 customers in Sonoma and Marin counties — rely on seasonal rains in the hills above the Russian River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And although this flash-in-the-pan system normally goes through wet-to-dry extremes, human-caused climate change has significantly widened that chasm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The weather patterns are so volatile,” said Rabbitt. “Three years of drought can be followed by one year of intense rainfall can be followed by three or more years of drought again. And we seem to be in this pattern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983333\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand in the middle of a dried out lake bed.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two people and a dog wade near the coast of Lake Mendocino on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He notes that even with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">grand reentrance of El Niño this summer\u003c/a> — which could usher in another wet, stormy winter — his agency has to prepare for what may be a dry year ahead.[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"Supervisor David Rabbitt, Sonoma County\"]‘The weather patterns are so volatile. Three years of drought can be followed by one year of intense rainfall can be followed by three or more years of drought again.’[/pullquote]Regardless of what comes from the skies, Sonoma Water, which collectively manages both reservoirs with the Army Corps of Engineers, uses satellite forecasting to watch for coming storms to decide in real time when to release water. When a storm is on its way, the agency can decide to let water out or keep it in the reservoir if there is no storm on track. While it sounds like a no-brainer, the concept is new to how the reservoirs are managed because of rules set up decades ago. This practice allowed the agencies to keep 19,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Sonoma and 5,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mendocino this winter, instead of releasing it into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we think of Lake Sonoma as a large reservoir, compared to some of the others in the state, it’s not,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the Army Corps’ San Francisco office. “Imagine the amount of water that could be saved if [the state] utilized that tool to its fullest potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983350\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the boat dock at different points in time. On the left, the dock sits on the floor of the dried out lake bed. On the right, it floats on top of the water.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A boat dock at Lake Mendocino on June 11, 2021 (left) and July 5, 2023 (right). \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sonoma Water also uses a series of stationary radar units across the Bay Area to better understand where these storms will drop the majority of their rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Malasavage said fuller reservoirs and the possibility of another wet year also raise a concern that was avoided last winter along the Russian River: disastrous flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Last year we were just hoping for rain,” he said. But this year, with reservoirs fuller, the agency has “to be more methodical and more mindful” of potential flooding when winter begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983339\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap wades into water holding a fishing rod in their hands.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean Adams stands on a partially submerged park bench to fish at the Lake Mendocino South Ramp on July 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During the rainy season, managers in charge of flows from the reservoirs also allowed farmers to use excess water from the Russian River to submerge their land, a process meant to slowly recharge groundwater aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just simulating what naturally would have been a rainy season,” said Elizabeth Salomone, general manager for the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. “Some of these farmers who did that saw better yields in 2022. Word of mouth got around and now folks are opening up a lot more to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with all the rain this year, Salomone said she is worried about both too much and too little rainfall next winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983351\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983351\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the same iron bridge at different moments in time. On the left, there are standing pools of water in the river bed. On the right, the banks of the river brim with flowing water.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Memorial Bridge over the Russian River near Healdsburg on June 3, 2021 (left), and July 5, 2023 (right). \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (left), Beth LaBerge/KQED (right))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I need to dust off my crystal ball because as a water supplier, I always have to consider the worst-case scenario,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says she gets calls from farmers all the time asking whether the drought is over, and tells them they’re asking the wrong question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to stop focusing on whether we are out of a drought, but instead, ask this question: What if it doesn’t rain when we expect it to rain?” Salomone said. “Because one thing we can expect is that it’s likely not going to occur the way we have expected it to in the past. The historical patterns of precipitation are no more.”[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino — at 66% and 79% full, respectively — are both well above their average levels for this time of year. But there are concerns about future rainfall.",
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"title": "Record Lows to Near Brimming: North Bay Reservoirs Stage Remarkable Recovery | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Two North Bay reservoirs are flush with water just a year after their levels fell to record-setting lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heading into the second week of July, Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino — at 66% and 79% full, respectively — are both well \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">above their average levels for this time of year\u003c/a>, and roughly twice as full as they were last summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unless you count the first year it was filled, Lake Sonoma had dropped to the lowest level ever,” said David Rabbitt, a Sonoma County supervisor and a Sonoma Water director. “To rebound like that in one year was beyond anyone’s imagination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983352\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983352\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the a lake with low water levels. On the left, a bridge crosses a span where the banks of the lake are so low that the lake bed has been exposed. On the right, the same is the case but boats are also seen in dock.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-1-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A view of the Warm Springs Creek Bridge from the Lake Sonoma Overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. Right: A view of the Lake Sonoma Resort Area from the Lake Sonoma Overlook on the southeastern coast of the lake on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the summer heats up, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES\">reservoir levels statewide are collectively at around 87%\u003c/a>, the result of the massive amount of precipitation that storms dumped on the state this year. But while other reservoirs across California depend on runoff from the Sierra Nevada snowpack, Lake Mendocino and Lake Sonoma — serving over 600,000 customers in Sonoma and Marin counties — rely on seasonal rains in the hills above the Russian River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And although this flash-in-the-pan system normally goes through wet-to-dry extremes, human-caused climate change has significantly widened that chasm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The weather patterns are so volatile,” said Rabbitt. “Three years of drought can be followed by one year of intense rainfall can be followed by three or more years of drought again. And we seem to be in this pattern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983333\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983333\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand in the middle of a dried out lake bed.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS49925_029_MendocinoCounty_LakeMendocinoDrought_06112021-KQED-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two people and a dog wade near the coast of Lake Mendocino on June 11, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He notes that even with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">grand reentrance of El Niño this summer\u003c/a> — which could usher in another wet, stormy winter — his agency has to prepare for what may be a dry year ahead.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The weather patterns are so volatile. Three years of drought can be followed by one year of intense rainfall can be followed by three or more years of drought again.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Regardless of what comes from the skies, Sonoma Water, which collectively manages both reservoirs with the Army Corps of Engineers, uses satellite forecasting to watch for coming storms to decide in real time when to release water. When a storm is on its way, the agency can decide to let water out or keep it in the reservoir if there is no storm on track. While it sounds like a no-brainer, the concept is new to how the reservoirs are managed because of rules set up decades ago. This practice allowed the agencies to keep 19,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Sonoma and 5,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mendocino this winter, instead of releasing it into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While we think of Lake Sonoma as a large reservoir, compared to some of the others in the state, it’s not,” said Nicholas Malasavage, chief of the operations and readiness division at the Army Corps’ San Francisco office. “Imagine the amount of water that could be saved if [the state] utilized that tool to its fullest potential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983350\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983350\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the boat dock at different points in time. On the left, the dock sits on the floor of the dried out lake bed. On the right, it floats on top of the water.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-2-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A boat dock at Lake Mendocino on June 11, 2021 (left) and July 5, 2023 (right). \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Sonoma Water also uses a series of stationary radar units across the Bay Area to better understand where these storms will drop the majority of their rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Malasavage said fuller reservoirs and the possibility of another wet year also raise a concern that was avoided last winter along the Russian River: disastrous flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Last year we were just hoping for rain,” he said. But this year, with reservoirs fuller, the agency has “to be more methodical and more mindful” of potential flooding when winter begins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983339\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a baseball cap wades into water holding a fishing rod in their hands.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/RS66732_230705-LakeMendocino-21-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sean Adams stands on a partially submerged park bench to fish at the Lake Mendocino South Ramp on July 5, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During the rainy season, managers in charge of flows from the reservoirs also allowed farmers to use excess water from the Russian River to submerge their land, a process meant to slowly recharge groundwater aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were just simulating what naturally would have been a rainy season,” said Elizabeth Salomone, general manager for the Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. “Some of these farmers who did that saw better yields in 2022. Word of mouth got around and now folks are opening up a lot more to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even with all the rain this year, Salomone said she is worried about both too much and too little rainfall next winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983351\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983351\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two photos of the same iron bridge at different moments in time. On the left, there are standing pools of water in the river bed. On the right, the banks of the river brim with flowing water.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"827\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-800x265.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-768x254.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1536x508.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-2048x677.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/07/071023-Lakes-Sonoma-Mendocino-Diptych-3-KQED-1920x635.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Memorial Bridge over the Russian River near Healdsburg on June 3, 2021 (left), and July 5, 2023 (right). \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images (left), Beth LaBerge/KQED (right))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I need to dust off my crystal ball because as a water supplier, I always have to consider the worst-case scenario,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says she gets calls from farmers all the time asking whether the drought is over, and tells them they’re asking the wrong question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to stop focusing on whether we are out of a drought, but instead, ask this question: What if it doesn’t rain when we expect it to rain?” Salomone said. “Because one thing we can expect is that it’s likely not going to occur the way we have expected it to in the past. The historical patterns of precipitation are no more.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s future looks a whole lot wetter, thanks in part to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new city-funded study that predicts that San Francisco will be hit by\u003ca href=\"https://sfpuc.org/about-us/reports/san-francisco-bay-area-precipitation-warmer-world\"> increasingly intense storms in the coming decades\u003c/a>, and needs to dramatically update its stormwater infrastructure to try to handle the deluge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re gonna see more areas that flood that have never flooded before,” said Kris May, founder of the Pathways Climate Institute, a San Francisco-based consulting firm, who helped lead the study. “I don’t think we have nomenclature anymore for what is coming with climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, which was released weeks after KQED filed a public records request about it, predicts that storms in San Francisco, and throughout the Bay Area, could become 37% wetter by the end of this century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our infrastructure is not designed for these big storms, and we’re never going to really be able to design it to handle them,” said May, noting that the study stops short of recommending how the city should adapt its sewer system and water-related infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know how to solve this yet and that’s what’s scary for most of the folks I’ve been working with,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While San Francisco has its own unique challenges, May added, it’s among scores of coastal cities that are now being forced to address storm-related threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think any city is really in the shape to prepare for the storms that are coming,” May said. “It’s just going to be a big change that the country as a whole has to deal with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more on climate adaptation\" tag=\"climate-change-adaptation\"]Unlike typical climate studies that cover larger geographic areas, this report focuses on only 3 kilometers (just under 2 miles), in an effort to identify which parts of the city are most vulnerable to flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It enables us to look at extreme weather in ways we hadn’t before,” said study co-author Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “If you use the old techniques, you’re underestimating how bad the future is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For San Francisco, that future periodically brings the heightened risk of intense flooding in a city with aging infrastructure that’s bordered by water on three sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public needs to know that dangerous climate change is already here,” he said, pointing to the intense atmospheric river storms that battered the city earlier this year. “This is not our grandchildren’s problem or our children’s problem. It’s ours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to overall wetter conditions, the study predicts increasingly intense bursts of heavy rain during storms — up to two-thirds wetter by the end of the century — the type of brief torrents that can easily overwhelm sewer systems, swamp cars and cause significant property damage and even loss of life, said Michael Mak, a Pathways water resources engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco got a preview of that this winter, when massive amounts of rainfall in short periods left thousands without power, turned roads into rivers and downed scores of trees across the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the city does not adapt, “we’re going to see more events like we saw over the past few months, except it might be much more frequent than once every few decades and might be every other year, or it might be multiple times a season,” said Mak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mak, San Francisco’s sewer system and flood infrastructure, designed to clean and push water out to the bay during storms, simply don’t have the capacity to handle the extreme influxes of water that are expected to become more frequent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, it was like, ‘Wow, OK, these extreme storms are going to be much more extreme than what we’ve seen,’” said Brian Strong, San Francisco’s chief resilience officer. “Then this past year, we’ve seen some of that come true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strong, whose office helped commission the study, recognizes there are limits to how San Francisco can physically adapt its infrastructure to deal with substantially more rainfall. But he hopes the study will help guide future development decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t build streets without thinking about where the water is going to go,” he said. “We can’t completely engineer our way out of all of these things. So, we will have to work together and figure out how to do a better job capturing water and reducing runoff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New infrastructure, Strong said, can only help so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t make sense to keep building a bigger pipe if, ultimately, it’s still not going to be big enough,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s future looks a whole lot wetter, thanks in part to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a new city-funded study that predicts that San Francisco will be hit by\u003ca href=\"https://sfpuc.org/about-us/reports/san-francisco-bay-area-precipitation-warmer-world\"> increasingly intense storms in the coming decades\u003c/a>, and needs to dramatically update its stormwater infrastructure to try to handle the deluge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re gonna see more areas that flood that have never flooded before,” said Kris May, founder of the Pathways Climate Institute, a San Francisco-based consulting firm, who helped lead the study. “I don’t think we have nomenclature anymore for what is coming with climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, which was released weeks after KQED filed a public records request about it, predicts that storms in San Francisco, and throughout the Bay Area, could become 37% wetter by the end of this century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our infrastructure is not designed for these big storms, and we’re never going to really be able to design it to handle them,” said May, noting that the study stops short of recommending how the city should adapt its sewer system and water-related infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know how to solve this yet and that’s what’s scary for most of the folks I’ve been working with,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While San Francisco has its own unique challenges, May added, it’s among scores of coastal cities that are now being forced to address storm-related threats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think any city is really in the shape to prepare for the storms that are coming,” May said. “It’s just going to be a big change that the country as a whole has to deal with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Unlike typical climate studies that cover larger geographic areas, this report focuses on only 3 kilometers (just under 2 miles), in an effort to identify which parts of the city are most vulnerable to flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It enables us to look at extreme weather in ways we hadn’t before,” said study co-author Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “If you use the old techniques, you’re underestimating how bad the future is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For San Francisco, that future periodically brings the heightened risk of intense flooding in a city with aging infrastructure that’s bordered by water on three sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The public needs to know that dangerous climate change is already here,” he said, pointing to the intense atmospheric river storms that battered the city earlier this year. “This is not our grandchildren’s problem or our children’s problem. It’s ours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to overall wetter conditions, the study predicts increasingly intense bursts of heavy rain during storms — up to two-thirds wetter by the end of the century — the type of brief torrents that can easily overwhelm sewer systems, swamp cars and cause significant property damage and even loss of life, said Michael Mak, a Pathways water resources engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco got a preview of that this winter, when massive amounts of rainfall in short periods left thousands without power, turned roads into rivers and downed scores of trees across the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the city does not adapt, “we’re going to see more events like we saw over the past few months, except it might be much more frequent than once every few decades and might be every other year, or it might be multiple times a season,” said Mak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Mak, San Francisco’s sewer system and flood infrastructure, designed to clean and push water out to the bay during storms, simply don’t have the capacity to handle the extreme influxes of water that are expected to become more frequent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, it was like, ‘Wow, OK, these extreme storms are going to be much more extreme than what we’ve seen,’” said Brian Strong, San Francisco’s chief resilience officer. “Then this past year, we’ve seen some of that come true.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strong, whose office helped commission the study, recognizes there are limits to how San Francisco can physically adapt its infrastructure to deal with substantially more rainfall. But he hopes the study will help guide future development decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t build streets without thinking about where the water is going to go,” he said. “We can’t completely engineer our way out of all of these things. So, we will have to work together and figure out how to do a better job capturing water and reducing runoff.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New infrastructure, Strong said, can only help so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t make sense to keep building a bigger pipe if, ultimately, it’s still not going to be big enough,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Ford, General Motors OK California's Plan to Ban New Diesel Big Rig Sales",
"headTitle": "Ford, General Motors OK California’s Plan to Ban New Diesel Big Rig Sales | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Ford, General Motors and several other large-truck manufacturers announced an agreement today with California over its clean truck rules, including a ban on the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036, which the state passed in an attempt to fight air pollution and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carbon pollution wafting from cars and trucks remains the state’s largest source of planet-warming emissions, and transportation has been one of the trickiest sectors for the state to decarbonize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s powerful Air Resources Board solidified two nation-leading clean truck rules this year. The new agreement is an industry stamp of approval on those plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, the Biden administration approved California’s plan to require truck makers to ramp up the sale of electric, heavy-duty trucks by 2035. Next year, the state will require truck manufacturers to begin to sell more and more electric models. By 2045, most heavy-duty vehicles on the road must be electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in April, California banned the sale of combustion engine trucks by 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rules are likely to face legal challenges from Republican-led states or industry groups, but the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association agreed to follow them anyway. And the large-truck manufacturers say they are committed to electrification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom applauded the agreement in a statement that said: “Today, truck manufacturers join our urgent efforts to slash air pollution, showing the rest of the country that we can both cut dangerous pollution and build the economy of the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘Today, truck manufacturers join our urgent efforts to slash air pollution, showing the rest of the country that we can both cut dangerous pollution and build the economy of the future.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jed Mandel, president of the manufacturing association, said in a statement that the agreement is evidence of the group’s “commitment to reducing emissions and to a zero-emissions commercial vehicle future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He touted it as an example of industry and California’s air regulators working together, although truck makers had previously fought these clean truck rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandel’s manufacturers association and several truck companies, including Volvo, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen and PACCAR, had opposed clean truck rules on the federal and state level while they were publicly promoting zero-emissions fleets, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141303693/truck-makers-lobby-to-weaken-u-s-climate-policies-report-finds\">KQED’s Laura Klivans reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasan Sadaat, a senior researcher and policy analyst with the environmental law organization Earth Justice, said the manufacturing association has for years actively fought against clean trucks in California and across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At every turn, whether it’s the Advanced Clean Truck rule, the Advanced Clean Fleets rule, the Heavy Duty NOx rule, challenging California’s authority to pass its own regulations, countering the stringency of EPA’s regulations, they’ve been the greatest barrier to more ambitious rules in slashing air pollution from trucks.” he said. “That’s their record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new agreement, California will adopt some of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s less-strict rules on nitrogen oxide emissions and provide several years of lead time before passing new regulations.[aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']“Through this agreement, we have aligned on a single nationwide nitrogen oxide emissions standard, secured needed lead time and stability for manufacturers, and agreed on regulatory changes that will ensure continued availability of commercial vehicles,” Mandel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Trucking Associations has said that California’s regulations are too costly and will be burdensome for businesses to adopt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry group did not appear to approve of the agreement and issued a statement Thursday that said that while it has long advocated for harmonious regulations between California and the federal government, “the trucking industry shouldn’t be strong armed by the government into an agreement with such terms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our association represents motor carrier members — the paying customers who will inherit the costs of this agreement — and we will not roll over nor relinquish our right to litigate with any party when our interests are threatened,” the statement said. “It is clear that America has lost its way when the government bullies the private sector to succumb to unachievable timelines, targets and technologies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pact will have national implications, as other states typically follow California’s rules. Several other states adopted some of California’s earlier truck rules, representing more than one-fifth of the U.S. truck market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government sets emissions standards by law, but the EPA has allowed California to pass tighter rules on cars and trucks that the federal government eventually adopts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association once opposed the state’s clean truck rules, including a ban on the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036. Now, it will follow them.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Ford, General Motors and several other large-truck manufacturers announced an agreement today with California over its clean truck rules, including a ban on the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036, which the state passed in an attempt to fight air pollution and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carbon pollution wafting from cars and trucks remains the state’s largest source of planet-warming emissions, and transportation has been one of the trickiest sectors for the state to decarbonize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s powerful Air Resources Board solidified two nation-leading clean truck rules this year. The new agreement is an industry stamp of approval on those plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, the Biden administration approved California’s plan to require truck makers to ramp up the sale of electric, heavy-duty trucks by 2035. Next year, the state will require truck manufacturers to begin to sell more and more electric models. By 2045, most heavy-duty vehicles on the road must be electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then in April, California banned the sale of combustion engine trucks by 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rules are likely to face legal challenges from Republican-led states or industry groups, but the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association agreed to follow them anyway. And the large-truck manufacturers say they are committed to electrification.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom applauded the agreement in a statement that said: “Today, truck manufacturers join our urgent efforts to slash air pollution, showing the rest of the country that we can both cut dangerous pollution and build the economy of the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jed Mandel, president of the manufacturing association, said in a statement that the agreement is evidence of the group’s “commitment to reducing emissions and to a zero-emissions commercial vehicle future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He touted it as an example of industry and California’s air regulators working together, although truck makers had previously fought these clean truck rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandel’s manufacturers association and several truck companies, including Volvo, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen and PACCAR, had opposed clean truck rules on the federal and state level while they were publicly promoting zero-emissions fleets, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141303693/truck-makers-lobby-to-weaken-u-s-climate-policies-report-finds\">KQED’s Laura Klivans reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasan Sadaat, a senior researcher and policy analyst with the environmental law organization Earth Justice, said the manufacturing association has for years actively fought against clean trucks in California and across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At every turn, whether it’s the Advanced Clean Truck rule, the Advanced Clean Fleets rule, the Heavy Duty NOx rule, challenging California’s authority to pass its own regulations, countering the stringency of EPA’s regulations, they’ve been the greatest barrier to more ambitious rules in slashing air pollution from trucks.” he said. “That’s their record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new agreement, California will adopt some of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s less-strict rules on nitrogen oxide emissions and provide several years of lead time before passing new regulations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Through this agreement, we have aligned on a single nationwide nitrogen oxide emissions standard, secured needed lead time and stability for manufacturers, and agreed on regulatory changes that will ensure continued availability of commercial vehicles,” Mandel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Trucking Associations has said that California’s regulations are too costly and will be burdensome for businesses to adopt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry group did not appear to approve of the agreement and issued a statement Thursday that said that while it has long advocated for harmonious regulations between California and the federal government, “the trucking industry shouldn’t be strong armed by the government into an agreement with such terms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our association represents motor carrier members — the paying customers who will inherit the costs of this agreement — and we will not roll over nor relinquish our right to litigate with any party when our interests are threatened,” the statement said. “It is clear that America has lost its way when the government bullies the private sector to succumb to unachievable timelines, targets and technologies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pact will have national implications, as other states typically follow California’s rules. Several other states adopted some of California’s earlier truck rules, representing more than one-fifth of the U.S. truck market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government sets emissions standards by law, but the EPA has allowed California to pass tighter rules on cars and trucks that the federal government eventually adopts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mayra Gudiño walked across the central schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose, a public elementary school in East Oakland last fall. It’s a familiar place, where Gudiño has sent all three of her children for their education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mayra Gudiño, parent\"]‘They don’t have green areas, they don’t have shade. Everything is cement, children get hurt very often.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the yard didn’t look much like one, it was closer to an enormous parking lot, surrounded by blue, one-story school buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always said Bridges is my second home and the second home of my children,” Gudiño said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gudiño said it looks sad. She’d like something far happier for her kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have green areas, they don’t have shade. Everything is cement, children get hurt very often,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983205\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Children wearing masks play in a schoolyard on asphalt.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play in the schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And even on a mild morning, the blacktop beneath Gudiño’s feet was getting warm. Asphalt and other surfaces made from petroleum (asphalt is a byproduct of refining crude oil) heat up far beyond the temperature of the surrounding air, especially in the direct sun. As the world warms, schoolyards like this one are becoming a safety hazard due to extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharon Danks is the founder and CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenschoolyards.org/\">Green Schoolyards America\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that works to transform asphalt playgrounds into ones teeming with nature. She said asphalt-based schoolyards are common: “It’s the standard way our schools have been built: Take out the trees, flatten the site, build your school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues are concerned about the effect extreme heat from these schoolyards will have on the young bodies running across them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danks has taken many schoolyard heat measurements in her years in this field. “On a 90-degree day when we’ve measured temperatures with our surface thermometers, rubber safety surfaces are 165 degrees and asphalt is a mere 140,” she said. Rubber safety surfaces are spongy materials sometimes made from recycled tires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those temperatures can overheat or burn a young body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grass, on the other hand, is typically just above air temperature in the sun, and below it in the shade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1.png\" alt=\"An infographic slide showing side by side thermal imaging of a playground and a regular photo of a playground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1-768x429.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The nonprofit Green Schoolyards America regularly finds that asphalt and rubber surfaces in full sun greatly exceed the temperature of the air, as seen in this image taken with a thermal camera. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Green Schoolyards America)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using geographic information system (GIS) mapping, Danks and colleagues at the mapping service \u003ca href=\"https://www.greeninfo.org/\">GreenInfo Network\u003c/a> found that the average California school has just 9% of tree cover. And those trees are typically in places where students are not, like outside the front entrance, or by a parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this asphalt can contribute to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/climate-change-and-heat-islands\">urban heat island effect\u003c/a>, in which structures like buildings and roads absorb and reemit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes like forests or bodies of water, leading to higher-than-average temperatures in urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California invests in greening schoolyards\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year, California earmarked $150 million for green schoolyards. One initiative pushing the work forward is called the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.greenschoolyards.org/ca-schoolyard-forests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Schoolyard Forest System\u003c/a>,” a collaboration between the California Department of Education, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), nonprofits Green Schoolyards America and Ten Strands, school districts and county offices of education.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Walter Passmore, CAL FIRE State Urban Forester\"]‘Our big, green audacious goal is to plant enough trees by 2035 so that when mature, they’ll provide 30% shade cover to child-accessible areas.’[/pullquote]“Our big, green audacious goal is to plant enough trees by 2035 so that when mature, they’ll provide 30% shade cover to child-accessible areas,” said Walter Passmore, a State Urban Forester with CAL FIRE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passmore said the money is just a drop in the bucket when you consider the state’s more than 10,000 public schools, roughly 130,000 acres of land, and nearly 6 million students. The program will prioritize schools in communities with high poverty levels, minimal tree cover and hot climates. Passmore hopes the initial funding will be a “down payment,” with more to come in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State legislators also sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2566\">codify a grant program for school greening projects\u003c/a>. Newsom vetoed the bill in September, stating it would put “cost pressure” on the state with an “ongoing commitment not provided for in the budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers are working on various bills to accelerate the greening of schoolyards. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB527\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One bill\u003c/a> aims to codify a grant program for school greening projects (a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2566\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">similar bill\u003c/a> was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, in which he stated it would put cost pressure on the state with an “ongoing commitment not provided for in the budget”). \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB499\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Another\u003c/a> focuses on creating extreme heat plans for schools and includes planting shade trees and gardens. And \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB394\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a third\u003c/a> would require various state agencies to build a “master plan for healthy, sustainable, and climate resilient schools.” There are others in the works, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico introduced the \u003ca href=\"https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-introduces-legislation-to-help-schools-re-envision-build-outdoor-learning-spaces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Living Schoolyards Act\u003c/a> in May, legislation that, if passed, would fund outdoor classrooms and other greening projects through the U.S. Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983208\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1238px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983208\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM.png\" alt=\"Children playing on equipment in a schoolyard.\" width=\"1238\" height=\"822\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM.png 1238w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-800x531.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-1020x677.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-768x510.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play on the newly renovated ‘green’ schoolyard at Oakland Unified School District’s Cesar Chavez campus in East Oakland. Fence-to-fence asphalt a few years ago, the schoolyard is now home to 64 new trees. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An urban oasis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Just a few miles away from the asphalt schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose is an outdoor space that’s quite the opposite. Oakland Unified School District’s Cesar Chavez campus houses two elementary schools, and nature abounds outside its classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kira Maritano is a senior program manager for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tpl.org/\">Trust for Public Land\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that has partnered with the district to pilot a handful of green schoolyards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maritano points out some of the 64 new trees on this campus: Catalina ironwoods, southern live oaks, red maples and Chinese evergreen elms. She said they were chosen for a host of reasons, like how fast they grow, how much heat they can tolerate, and how much carbon they can sequester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This schoolyard is now built to get cooler and cooler every year as we see the effects of climate change increase,” Maritano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees shade the yard and building. They cool the air around them through evapotranspiration: water evaporating from their leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are still sections of asphalt. Maritano explains that they’re needed for the myriad functions a schoolyard serves. But these paved surfaces make up far less of the overall outdoor footprint. A few years ago, the asphalt was fence-to-fence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A display in both English and Spanish on the schoolyard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play near a sign describing the living schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now children swing on ropes attached to logs above wood chips, two girls wander across a “bioswale” — a curving ditch, now dry, which collects stormwater when it rains — and a group of boys play soccer on a grass field. There’s an enormous garden and a fruit tree orchard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving kids the opportunity to have a tangible relationship with these natural materials is really important,” Maritano said. “A lot of these kids don’t have a chance in their day-to-day life, in their urban environment, to climb on a tree. Just knowing what that feels like starts to break down outdoor equity gaps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A green schoolyard is also more permeable than one covered in asphalt or rubber safety tiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is basically a stormwater sink,” Maritano said, referring to a woodchip-covered play area. “As much as possible, if we can remove asphalt and sink that water back into the earth, we’re benefiting the environment,” and avoiding putting pressure on public utilities like sewer systems, she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Children running after a soccer ball on a grassy school yard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play soccer in a grass field at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Benefits for health, gender equality\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Proponents of green schoolyards throw around the word “co-benefits” with regularity. One of the co-benefits of such a yard, beyond cooling a school and even a neighborhood, is better human health.[aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']“Our immune system becomes more robust and stronger against infectious agents when we spend time digging in the dirt, when we have regular exposure to vitamin D from sunlight, and when we engage in physical activity on a regular basis,” said Marcella Raney, of the Office of Well-Being at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said for many kids, their schoolyard is one of the only places to exercise and be outside — and, to combat issues like obesity, it’s important that their schoolyard be an inviting place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raney has also found \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016920462200281X\">differences in how boys and girls use schoolyards\u003c/a>: Kids who identify as boys are more active on asphalt schoolyards than kids who identify as girls. That’s because asphalt schoolyards are typically designed for “ball-based” games such as basketball, kickball and dodgeball — larger group sports that are competitive — and, Raney said, these games appeal most to boys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Green schoolyards appeal to both genders, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Girls are going to be a lot more active on a green schoolyard than they are on an asphalt schoolyard,” Raney said. “When we compare girls versus boys in green spaces, their activity levels are the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A group of children play on equipment in a school yard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raney has observed that girls favor smaller group activities and want to challenge themselves by climbing, jumping and swinging. A green schoolyard is designed to promote more of these activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, better physical activity for kids tends to mean better school performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barriers to change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For many, green schoolyards are a no-brainer, but there are hurdles to overcome before they’re widely adopted. One such hurdle, according to Cal Poly Pomona landscape architecture professor Claire Latané, is that decision-makers in schools and cities often work in silos, with very specific responsibilities like curriculum design, mental health or maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “when we do get people together to have those conversations and really talk about the multiple benefits [of green schoolyards], that conversation changes dramatically, because when thinking about the big picture, everyone wants what’s best for students and the community,” Latané said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts are also hesitant to jump into large projects spearheaded by one “champion,” Latané said, for fear no one will maintain the work when that individual moves on. Schools are understandably risk-averse, and a schoolyard of abandoned trees can become a liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latané said another challenge is that “schools have always been strained for finances in terms of maintenance. And asphalt is seen as a really low-maintenance material,” despite studies showing that over the long term,\u003ca href=\"https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/05/117296-social-and-economic-benefits-green-schoolyards\"> green schoolyards are actually less expensive than asphalt ones\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A monarch butterfly rests on a plant outside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch butterfly lands on a plant growing in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>LaMonte Douglas was a maintenance project manager for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 35 years. He has since retired. He says that when LA started greening schools, he saw the directive as “yet another thing on the plate to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when he learned of and saw the benefits of a green schoolyard, he said it became a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remembers a day he planted a bush at a school site and, immediately, he said, “Some exotic bird came and landed right by that bush. I’ve never seen that type of bird before. And it was almost like the bird was saying, ‘Well, finally, you give me a place to rest.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Schoolyard as community space\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland, Mayra Gudiño lays out a vision for the transformation she wants for her kids’ asphalt schoolyard: trees, green spaces and more color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983213\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983213\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walking on a schoolyard with children playing in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayra Gudiño walks through the schoolyard with her daughter at Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It turns out they’ll get it. Through Gudiño and other parents, teacher and administrative activism, the school has received funding to transform their schoolyard: to rip up asphalt and plant trees. They broke ground early this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One condition of their funding is that they keep the schoolyard open for community use on nights and weekends, a boon for their neighborhood without nearby parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gudiño said they deserve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "With $150 million dedicated to green schoolyards over the next 2 years under the California Schoolyard Forest System, Oakland campuses are already feeling the impact.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mayra Gudiño walked across the central schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose, a public elementary school in East Oakland last fall. It’s a familiar place, where Gudiño has sent all three of her children for their education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘They don’t have green areas, they don’t have shade. Everything is cement, children get hurt very often.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the yard didn’t look much like one, it was closer to an enormous parking lot, surrounded by blue, one-story school buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always said Bridges is my second home and the second home of my children,” Gudiño said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Gudiño said it looks sad. She’d like something far happier for her kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have green areas, they don’t have shade. Everything is cement, children get hurt very often,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983205\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983205\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Children wearing masks play in a schoolyard on asphalt.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59505_036_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play in the schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And even on a mild morning, the blacktop beneath Gudiño’s feet was getting warm. Asphalt and other surfaces made from petroleum (asphalt is a byproduct of refining crude oil) heat up far beyond the temperature of the surrounding air, especially in the direct sun. As the world warms, schoolyards like this one are becoming a safety hazard due to extreme heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharon Danks is the founder and CEO of \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenschoolyards.org/\">Green Schoolyards America\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that works to transform asphalt playgrounds into ones teeming with nature. She said asphalt-based schoolyards are common: “It’s the standard way our schools have been built: Take out the trees, flatten the site, build your school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She and her colleagues are concerned about the effect extreme heat from these schoolyards will have on the young bodies running across them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danks has taken many schoolyard heat measurements in her years in this field. “On a 90-degree day when we’ve measured temperatures with our surface thermometers, rubber safety surfaces are 165 degrees and asphalt is a mere 140,” she said. Rubber safety surfaces are spongy materials sometimes made from recycled tires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those temperatures can overheat or burn a young body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grass, on the other hand, is typically just above air temperature in the sun, and below it in the shade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983207\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983207\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1.png\" alt=\"An infographic slide showing side by side thermal imaging of a playground and a regular photo of a playground.\" width=\"800\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.11.36-PM-800x447-1-768x429.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The nonprofit Green Schoolyards America regularly finds that asphalt and rubber surfaces in full sun greatly exceed the temperature of the air, as seen in this image taken with a thermal camera. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Green Schoolyards America)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using geographic information system (GIS) mapping, Danks and colleagues at the mapping service \u003ca href=\"https://www.greeninfo.org/\">GreenInfo Network\u003c/a> found that the average California school has just 9% of tree cover. And those trees are typically in places where students are not, like outside the front entrance, or by a parking lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All this asphalt can contribute to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/climate-change-and-heat-islands\">urban heat island effect\u003c/a>, in which structures like buildings and roads absorb and reemit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes like forests or bodies of water, leading to higher-than-average temperatures in urban areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California invests in greening schoolyards\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Last year, California earmarked $150 million for green schoolyards. One initiative pushing the work forward is called the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.greenschoolyards.org/ca-schoolyard-forests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Schoolyard Forest System\u003c/a>,” a collaboration between the California Department of Education, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), nonprofits Green Schoolyards America and Ten Strands, school districts and county offices of education.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Our big, green audacious goal is to plant enough trees by 2035 so that when mature, they’ll provide 30% shade cover to child-accessible areas,” said Walter Passmore, a State Urban Forester with CAL FIRE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Passmore said the money is just a drop in the bucket when you consider the state’s more than 10,000 public schools, roughly 130,000 acres of land, and nearly 6 million students. The program will prioritize schools in communities with high poverty levels, minimal tree cover and hot climates. Passmore hopes the initial funding will be a “down payment,” with more to come in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State legislators also sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom to \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2566\">codify a grant program for school greening projects\u003c/a>. Newsom vetoed the bill in September, stating it would put “cost pressure” on the state with an “ongoing commitment not provided for in the budget.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers are working on various bills to accelerate the greening of schoolyards. \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB527\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">One bill\u003c/a> aims to codify a grant program for school greening projects (a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2566\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">similar bill\u003c/a> was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, in which he stated it would put cost pressure on the state with an “ongoing commitment not provided for in the budget”). \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB499\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Another\u003c/a> focuses on creating extreme heat plans for schools and includes planting shade trees and gardens. And \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB394\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a third\u003c/a> would require various state agencies to build a “master plan for healthy, sustainable, and climate resilient schools.” There are others in the works, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico introduced the \u003ca href=\"https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-introduces-legislation-to-help-schools-re-envision-build-outdoor-learning-spaces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Living Schoolyards Act\u003c/a> in May, legislation that, if passed, would fund outdoor classrooms and other greening projects through the U.S. Department of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983208\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1238px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983208\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM.png\" alt=\"Children playing on equipment in a schoolyard.\" width=\"1238\" height=\"822\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM.png 1238w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-800x531.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-1020x677.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/Screen-Shot-2022-11-30-at-2.13.19-PM-768x510.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1238px) 100vw, 1238px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play on the newly renovated ‘green’ schoolyard at Oakland Unified School District’s Cesar Chavez campus in East Oakland. Fence-to-fence asphalt a few years ago, the schoolyard is now home to 64 new trees. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An urban oasis\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Just a few miles away from the asphalt schoolyard at Bridges Academy at Melrose is an outdoor space that’s quite the opposite. Oakland Unified School District’s Cesar Chavez campus houses two elementary schools, and nature abounds outside its classrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kira Maritano is a senior program manager for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.tpl.org/\">Trust for Public Land\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that has partnered with the district to pilot a handful of green schoolyards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maritano points out some of the 64 new trees on this campus: Catalina ironwoods, southern live oaks, red maples and Chinese evergreen elms. She said they were chosen for a host of reasons, like how fast they grow, how much heat they can tolerate, and how much carbon they can sequester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This schoolyard is now built to get cooler and cooler every year as we see the effects of climate change increase,” Maritano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trees shade the yard and building. They cool the air around them through evapotranspiration: water evaporating from their leaves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are still sections of asphalt. Maritano explains that they’re needed for the myriad functions a schoolyard serves. But these paved surfaces make up far less of the overall outdoor footprint. A few years ago, the asphalt was fence-to-fence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983209\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983209\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A display in both English and Spanish on the schoolyard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59531_031_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play near a sign describing the living schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now children swing on ropes attached to logs above wood chips, two girls wander across a “bioswale” — a curving ditch, now dry, which collects stormwater when it rains — and a group of boys play soccer on a grass field. There’s an enormous garden and a fruit tree orchard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Giving kids the opportunity to have a tangible relationship with these natural materials is really important,” Maritano said. “A lot of these kids don’t have a chance in their day-to-day life, in their urban environment, to climb on a tree. Just knowing what that feels like starts to break down outdoor equity gaps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A green schoolyard is also more permeable than one covered in asphalt or rubber safety tiles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is basically a stormwater sink,” Maritano said, referring to a woodchip-covered play area. “As much as possible, if we can remove asphalt and sink that water back into the earth, we’re benefiting the environment,” and avoiding putting pressure on public utilities like sewer systems, she adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983210\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983210\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Children running after a soccer ball on a grassy school yard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59518_016_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play soccer in a grass field at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Benefits for health, gender equality\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Proponents of green schoolyards throw around the word “co-benefits” with regularity. One of the co-benefits of such a yard, beyond cooling a school and even a neighborhood, is better human health.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Our immune system becomes more robust and stronger against infectious agents when we spend time digging in the dirt, when we have regular exposure to vitamin D from sunlight, and when we engage in physical activity on a regular basis,” said Marcella Raney, of the Office of Well-Being at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said for many kids, their schoolyard is one of the only places to exercise and be outside — and, to combat issues like obesity, it’s important that their schoolyard be an inviting place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raney has also found \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016920462200281X\">differences in how boys and girls use schoolyards\u003c/a>: Kids who identify as boys are more active on asphalt schoolyards than kids who identify as girls. That’s because asphalt schoolyards are typically designed for “ball-based” games such as basketball, kickball and dodgeball — larger group sports that are competitive — and, Raney said, these games appeal most to boys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Green schoolyards appeal to both genders, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Girls are going to be a lot more active on a green schoolyard than they are on an asphalt schoolyard,” Raney said. “When we compare girls versus boys in green spaces, their activity levels are the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983211\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983211\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A group of children play on equipment in a school yard.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59515_007_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students play in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raney has observed that girls favor smaller group activities and want to challenge themselves by climbing, jumping and swinging. A green schoolyard is designed to promote more of these activities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, better physical activity for kids tends to mean better school performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Barriers to change\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For many, green schoolyards are a no-brainer, but there are hurdles to overcome before they’re widely adopted. One such hurdle, according to Cal Poly Pomona landscape architecture professor Claire Latané, is that decision-makers in schools and cities often work in silos, with very specific responsibilities like curriculum design, mental health or maintenance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But “when we do get people together to have those conversations and really talk about the multiple benefits [of green schoolyards], that conversation changes dramatically, because when thinking about the big picture, everyone wants what’s best for students and the community,” Latané said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Districts are also hesitant to jump into large projects spearheaded by one “champion,” Latané said, for fear no one will maintain the work when that individual moves on. Schools are understandably risk-averse, and a schoolyard of abandoned trees can become a liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latané said another challenge is that “schools have always been strained for finances in terms of maintenance. And asphalt is seen as a really low-maintenance material,” despite studies showing that over the long term,\u003ca href=\"https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/05/117296-social-and-economic-benefits-green-schoolyards\"> green schoolyards are actually less expensive than asphalt ones\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983212\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983212\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A monarch butterfly rests on a plant outside.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59528_025_KQEDScience_IntCommunitySchoolOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A monarch butterfly lands on a plant growing in the schoolyard at International Community School in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>LaMonte Douglas was a maintenance project manager for the Los Angeles Unified School District for 35 years. He has since retired. He says that when LA started greening schools, he saw the directive as “yet another thing on the plate to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when he learned of and saw the benefits of a green schoolyard, he said it became a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He remembers a day he planted a bush at a school site and, immediately, he said, “Some exotic bird came and landed right by that bush. I’ve never seen that type of bird before. And it was almost like the bird was saying, ‘Well, finally, you give me a place to rest.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Schoolyard as community space\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland, Mayra Gudiño lays out a vision for the transformation she wants for her kids’ asphalt schoolyard: trees, green spaces and more color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1983213\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1983213\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two women walking on a schoolyard with children playing in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS59504_033_KQEDScience_BridgesAcademyOakland_10202022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayra Gudiño walks through the schoolyard with her daughter at Bridges Academy at Melrose in Oakland on Oct. 20, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It turns out they’ll get it. Through Gudiño and other parents, teacher and administrative activism, the school has received funding to transform their schoolyard: to rip up asphalt and plant trees. They broke ground early this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One condition of their funding is that they keep the schoolyard open for community use on nights and weekends, a boon for their neighborhood without nearby parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gudiño said they deserve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "What California's Wet Winter Means for Fire Season",
"headTitle": "What California’s Wet Winter Means for Fire Season | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The series of 31 atmospheric rivers that drenched California this past winter has wildfire officials and scientists breathing sighs of relief — for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a coalition of state and federal fire directors, which puts out regular \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/outlooks/Outlook_NOps.pdf\">predictions about wildfire season in Northern California (PDF)\u003c/a>, the potential for significant fires this year is normal to below normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s prediction comes from a compilation of factors, chief among them weather (past, present and future) and fuel moisture (how much water trees and plants are holding onto). Given the wet, cool winter and spring months, this year’s fire season is off to a slow start. The ground is still wet and grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto that moisture, making them less likely to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same thing as when you try to start a campfire: You don’t use wet wood. It’s very hard to get wet wood to ignite,” said Craig Clements, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/team/faculty.php\">director\u003c/a> of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Statewide Rainfall/Acres Burned (2000-2022) \" aria-label=\"Scatter Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-61l7B\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/61l7B/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>But what about all that extra vegetation?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe you’ve heard that all that rain means more vegetation, and that more vegetation means more fuel for wildfires. That’s true — but only in certain ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you might’ve noticed grasses are extra tall this year due to all the rain. Grassland ecosystems are certainly more dense this year and once those grasses cure, they’ll be primed for burning. Thus, if conditions are ripe for fires in August, September and October, grassy environments could be at increased risk. That risk could spill over into next year, too, depending on the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year is going to be more a function of the soil moisture content being so high,” said Clements. In other words, because grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto their moisture longer than usual, the window for them to cure — and for severe wildfire risk — is narrower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Clements added, grass fires are among the least concerning to firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re dangerous, they spread rapidly, but aircraft suppression works really well on grass fires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire ramped up its flight suppression last year, which the agency said helped prevent wildfires from blazing out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So where will fires be worst this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In short: likely in the coastal grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do get significant heat waves or wind events in August, September and October, there could be a high level of fire activity in [the grasslands],” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a recent live YouTube \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45I9YeO0ek\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the Bay Area is considered coastal grassland and, depending on the late summer weather — particularly heat waves followed by gusty, dry offshore winds — the region could see increased fire activity later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, forest and mountain ecosystems like the Sierra Nevada are still blanketed in snow, which could mean they’ll be spared this fire season. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/03/30/california-snowpack-record-sierra/\">record-breaking snowpack in the mountains is lingering into the summer months\u003c/a>, thereby decreasing fire danger. Even when it all melts later this summer, the fuel moisture will likely stay high enough to ward off any severe burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How will this summer’s weather factor in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course all of these predictions are contingent upon the weather, which in California is notoriously fickle. June has already been cooler and wetter than usual, and with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">El\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">Niño\u003c/a> conditions here, that trend is likely to continue later on this year. That narrows the window for high fire danger conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that window will still exist. Although fuel moisture is higher than normal right now, the tall grasses and shrubs will cure at some point this summer, likely in August, and will be ready to burn. August, September and October are notoriously hot, dry and windy across California, and even the dozens of atmospheric rivers from the previous winter won’t be enough to quell the fire season entirely. That’s thanks in part to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting more fire weather days and worse high fire risk days because of climate change,” said Clements. “It’s day-to-day weather that really drives fire behavior on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One heatwave can drastically change the fire danger outlook. “It can happen just in a matter of days,” said Clements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to know how those late summer months will play out weather-wise, but one thing is for sure: There will be fires in California this year. Because fire is a natural part of the state’s landscape, and many ecosystems are adapted to it and even need it to survive and thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A group of fire directors say the potential for big fires this year is much less than in recent years. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The series of 31 atmospheric rivers that drenched California this past winter has wildfire officials and scientists breathing sighs of relief — for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a coalition of state and federal fire directors, which puts out regular \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/outlooks/Outlook_NOps.pdf\">predictions about wildfire season in Northern California (PDF)\u003c/a>, the potential for significant fires this year is normal to below normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s prediction comes from a compilation of factors, chief among them weather (past, present and future) and fuel moisture (how much water trees and plants are holding onto). Given the wet, cool winter and spring months, this year’s fire season is off to a slow start. The ground is still wet and grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto that moisture, making them less likely to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same thing as when you try to start a campfire: You don’t use wet wood. It’s very hard to get wet wood to ignite,” said Craig Clements, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/team/faculty.php\">director\u003c/a> of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Statewide Rainfall/Acres Burned (2000-2022) \" aria-label=\"Scatter Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-61l7B\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/61l7B/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>But what about all that extra vegetation?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe you’ve heard that all that rain means more vegetation, and that more vegetation means more fuel for wildfires. That’s true — but only in certain ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you might’ve noticed grasses are extra tall this year due to all the rain. Grassland ecosystems are certainly more dense this year and once those grasses cure, they’ll be primed for burning. Thus, if conditions are ripe for fires in August, September and October, grassy environments could be at increased risk. That risk could spill over into next year, too, depending on the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year is going to be more a function of the soil moisture content being so high,” said Clements. In other words, because grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto their moisture longer than usual, the window for them to cure — and for severe wildfire risk — is narrower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Clements added, grass fires are among the least concerning to firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re dangerous, they spread rapidly, but aircraft suppression works really well on grass fires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire ramped up its flight suppression last year, which the agency said helped prevent wildfires from blazing out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So where will fires be worst this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In short: likely in the coastal grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do get significant heat waves or wind events in August, September and October, there could be a high level of fire activity in [the grasslands],” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a recent live YouTube \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45I9YeO0ek\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the Bay Area is considered coastal grassland and, depending on the late summer weather — particularly heat waves followed by gusty, dry offshore winds — the region could see increased fire activity later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, forest and mountain ecosystems like the Sierra Nevada are still blanketed in snow, which could mean they’ll be spared this fire season. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/03/30/california-snowpack-record-sierra/\">record-breaking snowpack in the mountains is lingering into the summer months\u003c/a>, thereby decreasing fire danger. Even when it all melts later this summer, the fuel moisture will likely stay high enough to ward off any severe burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How will this summer’s weather factor in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course all of these predictions are contingent upon the weather, which in California is notoriously fickle. June has already been cooler and wetter than usual, and with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">El\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">Niño\u003c/a> conditions here, that trend is likely to continue later on this year. That narrows the window for high fire danger conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that window will still exist. Although fuel moisture is higher than normal right now, the tall grasses and shrubs will cure at some point this summer, likely in August, and will be ready to burn. August, September and October are notoriously hot, dry and windy across California, and even the dozens of atmospheric rivers from the previous winter won’t be enough to quell the fire season entirely. That’s thanks in part to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting more fire weather days and worse high fire risk days because of climate change,” said Clements. “It’s day-to-day weather that really drives fire behavior on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One heatwave can drastically change the fire danger outlook. “It can happen just in a matter of days,” said Clements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to know how those late summer months will play out weather-wise, but one thing is for sure: There will be fires in California this year. Because fire is a natural part of the state’s landscape, and many ecosystems are adapted to it and even need it to survive and thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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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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"mindshift": {
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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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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"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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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"perspectives": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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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": {
"id": "possible",
"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.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"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.",
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