The plan includes a $5 billion bond for clean water projects and the creation of a new institute of public health experts, scientists and state officials that would set standards to address water contaminates.
The Senate and Assembly are both scheduled to pass budgets this week and must negotiate a budget compromise before April 1.
Creation of a New $5 Billion Clean Water Bond Act To help begin making real progress in addressing the state’s ongoing infrastructure crisis, the Senate is proposing a new $5 billion Clean Water Bond Act.
The Bond Act would provide critical funds for many different types of projects to prevent contamination that endangers public health and safety, clean up pollution, protect water sources, and promote the growth of the economy through infrastructure investment.
Support for the Proposed $2 Billion for Clean Water Infrastructure The proposal of a $5 Billion Bond Act is in addition to the Senate’s support of $2 billion allocated in the Executive Budget.
Establishment of a New Drinking Water Quality Institute A new Drinking Water Quality Institute is proposed by the Senate to address emerging contaminants affecting water supplies.
Creation of the Emerging Contamination Monitoring Act To help better protect public health and establish safety thresholds for drinking water contaminants, the Senate proposal establishes the Emerging Contamination Monitoring Act.
Support for $300 Million Environmental Protection Funding The Senate’s budget proposal continues the state’s record commitment to the protection of natural resources by concurring with the $300 million proposed in the Executive Budget for the Environmental Protection Fund.
Continued Funding for the Water Quality Infrastructure Investment Program For the past two years, Senate Republicans succeeded in securing additional funding above the Executive Budget proposal for critical water and environmental infrastructure improvements in the final budget.
Continued Funding for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds The Senate’s budget proposal continues support for state-administered programs that continue providing low-cost financing and grants for the construction of water system projects and drinking water improvements in disadvantaged communities.

Due to this extensive reclamation and the damming of most of the Central Valley’s rivers, the Valley lost nearly all of its native habitat with a few notable exceptions, such as the Cosumnes River watershed.
Between 1900 and 1974, there were five distinct water projects totaling more than 30 dams proposed for the Cosumnes River.
These two land uses happened to be compatible with waterfowl and some native habitat types like vernal pools and riparian forests.
Unlike the riparian forest stands in the lower watershed, waterfowl have resided in the region, as well as the rest of the Central Valley, for more than a million years.
Due to the Cosumnes’ annual flooding, farmers opted to grow crops that could be planted and harvested before the unregulated deluge could destroy their agricultural investment.
TNC, along with its myriad partners, quickly realized that other rare habitat types and bird species resided in the lower watershed and capitalized on their presence to create a cutting-edge conservation model for the Delta.
The Cosumnes River Preserve today protects the Cosumnes’ free flow, floodplain, and rare native habitats.
As a result of the Cosumnes River Preserve’s innovative public-private partnership management model and restoration techniques, state policymakers today look to the Cosumnes River as a restoration model for other rivers in the Central Valley and for the Delta.
She completed her senior honors thesis, “Evading Dam-Nation: Land Use History of the Lower Cosumnes River Watershed, ca.
“Managing the Sacramento Valley Vernal Pool Landscape to Sustain the Native Flora.” In Ecology, Conservation, and Management of Vernal Pool Ecosystems – Proceedings from a 1996 Conference, edited by C.W.

Biological Restoration of water and land.
The problem is not only the amount of water available in the world’s rivers, lakes, and aquifers, but the pollution of those resources from human contamination, including bacteria, toxins, and nutrient loading.
Fortunately, this triple threat of nutrient loading, bacteria, and toxins – can be mitigated using organic, biological methods, generally known as “bioremediation.” Bioremediation Certain microbes, bacteria, fungi, and plants can remove or metabolise pollutants in soil or water, including assisting in the removal of industrial chemicals, petroleum products, and pesticides.
Some compounds – certain heavy metals, such as cadmium or lead, for example – resist bioremediation.
“How,” Goldstein and Johnson ask, “can we imagine a form of production that can both reproduce beautiful lives and unmake the infrastructure of our ecologically catastrophic social formation?” Ecological restoration To create successful biological design, we not only have to ask, “How does nature solve this physical challenge?” but also ask: “What is natural economics?” The economy of an ecosystem is non-hierarchical It is a web of shared relationships that contribute materials, energy and services to other parts of the network, as growth fluctuates within natural limits.
Lake Winnipeg in Canada suffered from high levels of phosphorus loading from the surrounding community, causing severe algae blooms.
In the 1990s, John Liu, an American who had been living in China for over 30 years, joined a Chinese government ecological rehabilitation initiative to restore the Loess Plateau economy by restoring the ecosystem.
“Landscape restoration,” explains Lui, “starts with restoring ecological function.
Real economy is understanding that natural ecological functions that create air, water, food and energy are vastly more valuable than anything that has ever been produced or bought and sold.
“Why fresh water shortages will cause the next great global crisis,” The Guardian, March 2015.

Time Is Ripe for EPA to Lead on Drinking Water Issues.
East Chicago is yet another city with a lead-in-drinking water problem.
Unfortunately, drinking water contamination is only one aspect of the challenges the city faces.
The community—of which 90 percent are people of color and over a third are living below the federal poverty line—has been plagued by a legacy of lead and arsenic contamination in connection with the numerous industrial facilities that have been operating in and around the city for decades.
Against this background of soil and air contamination, EPA conducted a pilot study last year to determine if remediation of the soil would impact lead levels in the drinking water.
But it hasn’t offered any other immediate assistance to protect residents from consuming contaminated water.
Of course, EPA received our petition the same week the Trump administration announced massive staff and budget cuts.
In fact, one of the programs rumored to be on the chopping block is the Agency’s environmental justice program intended to protect communities of color like East Chicago that already bare a disproportionate pollution burden.
EPA Administrator Pruitt has an opportunity to show real leadership by standing behind the statements he made at his confirmation hearing and take action where the City and State have failed to do so.
Pruitt should act now.

What can I, as a young graduate, do about water scarcity?.
C writes: Hey David, I really enjoyed your AMA on water shortages in California and the problems with our water management system in the US.
I am recently out of college, studied mechanical engineering, and am finding the water scarcity issue (in the western US & the rest of the world) a scary, but inspiring issue to get involved in.
I am currently in the middle of reading Cadillac Desert, which led me to searching reddit and finding your AMA.
My question is: From your expertise, how can I as someone motivated and new in the work force get involved in and help make a difference in these issues?
I am not fixed on staying with careers directly linked to my college major.
Dear C, You’ve made the first step, admitting that WE have a problem 🙂 As for the next steps, I think there are two ways to go.
The first way is to "address the symptoms," i.e., using your skills [engineering for you; other things for others] to help increase supplies or reduce demand for water — and thus try to reduce scarcity.
The good news is that water scarcity is a local issue that’s solvable by local, concerned citizens.
Bottom Line: Everyone can reduce water scarcity (and the risks it brings) by doing their part.

State Water Board adopts climate change resolution.
From the State Water Resources Control Board: Today the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a resolution requiring a proactive approach to climate change in all Board actions, including drinking water regulation, water quality protection, and financial assistance.
We can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect our infrastructure and our ecosystems,” said Spivy-Weber.
Since that time, the Brown administration developed the California Water Action Plan, a blueprint for achieving more sustainable water management by improving water supply reliability, restoring important wildlife and habitat, and making the state’s water systems and environment more resilient.
Since 2007, the State and Regional Water Boards have taken a variety of actions to respond to climate change impacts.
The resolution also requires State Water Board staff to use current models and data to inform Board actions.
To increase regulatory consistency, the resolution also requires staff to use climate change policy guidance from other agencies.
Additional Climate Change and Drought Resources For more information on the state’s effort to combat and adapt to climate change, visit the climate change portal here.
To follow the state and regional water board efforts on this, visit the climate change page here.
Sign up for daily emails and get all the Notebook’s aggregated and original water news content delivered to your email box by 9AM.

Flint Mayor: City Needs 2 Years Before it Can Treat its Own Water.
Mayor Karen Weaver wrote to EPA officials earlier this week to inform them that the Michigan city will not be able to treat its own water for lead and other contaminants until 2019, citing a lengthy construction and testing process for a new water treatment plant.
“Based on this approach, an August, 2019, completion date is anticipated for the treatment plant improvements.” In 2014, officials implemented a cost-cutting plan to switch the city’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which is 19 times more corrosive, according to researchers from Virginia Tech.
“The water would come in brown and my daughter was like ‘Mom … why is the water brown?,’” Flint resident Rhonda Keslo told CNN last year.
The EPA intervened in 2016, following studies that revealed dangerous levels of lead in the city’s drinking water and a class-action lawsuit alleging that the Department of Environmental Quality wasn’t treating the Flint River with an anti-corrosive agent.
These efforts include rerouting the water supply, replacing corroded water pipes and distributing bottled water and filters.
Lead levels below federal limit The EPA has also required that the city receive public input on its final water source and treatment plan.
The current proposed long-term water source is Lake Huron, according to Weaver’s letter.
The city will also select a backup water source for use in emergencies.
However, many residents still rely on bottled water, and the state still recommends that residents use filtered water for cooking and drinking.

Burgess Hill: Bottled water supplied after burst main leaves thousands without water.
A number of homes have been flooded and thousands more are without water after a mains pipe burst in Burgess Hill.
West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was alerted around 4am that the pipe had burst, flooding water into Cromwell Road.
Homes in Fairfield Road, Newport Road and Royal George Road were also affected.
Four fire engines attended the scene and directed water to a nearby field.
The clear up operation is now under way after a number of homes were breached.
Some residents have been moved after their houses flooded destroying carpets, furniture and belongings.
Our technicians are on site and have stopped water flowing from the main to allow us to clear the water and to start our repairs.
"We are working really hard to re-route water around our underground network of pipes and customers in the Royal George Road area should be starting to get their water back.
"We expect customers still without water to have supplies restored shortly."

Church giving away bottled water ahead of water outage.
Jackson, Miss.
(WJTV) –The Word Center Church in Jackson will give away bottled water to assist Jackson citizens impacted by the recently scheduled water outage.
Volunteers unloaded the water at the church Saturday.
Approximately 10,000 bottles of water will be given away on a first‐come, first served basis.
Individuals needing assistance can pick up water beginning Monday, March 6th from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday, March 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 5305 Executive Place, Jackson, MS while supplies last.
For more information, call 601-665-5555 or email info@thewordcity.com Play Video Play Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Remaining Time -0:00 This is a modal window.
Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done