Drought

The effects of California’s four-plus year drought are all around us – brown lawns, dried-up plants, residences with new desert-scape yards — and now dead and collapsing pine trees, oaks and tanoaks. Whereas Californians were willing to practice conservation and have even voluntarily made significant changes in how they use …

A new study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters (ES&T Letters) has found that aqueous fire-fighting foams, used to extinguish fuel fires and during training exercises at airports and military bases, that contain highly fluorinated chemicals, are a primary source of these same chemicals in drinking water. These same cancer-causing …

Longtime Ontario resident Paul Hofer has been appointed to the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) Board of Directors, Division 2, following the passing of long-term Board member Gene Koopman in May. Hofer, a farmer, resides and works in Hofer Ranch, his family’s homestead since 1882. Division 2 includes the city …

A $5.5 million construction contract has been awarded to TNT Industrial Contractors, Inc., based in Sacramento, by the Bureau of Reclamation for modifications to the fish ladders and fish screens for two dams on North Fork Battle Creek. The Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project is restoring some 42 …

The former DeWitt property – the site of a hazardous waste cleanup undertaking in late 2014 – is about to become the site of a six-acre parcel restoration project thanks to the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA). The CNRA has noticed the city of Laguna Beach that they will receive …

Blue-Green algae is blooming throughout California. Authorities are warning both residents and visitors, including swimmers, boaters and recreational users to avoid direct contact with, or use of, waters containing potentially harmful blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and to avoid swallowing or inhaling water spray in an algae bloom area. Exposure to blue-green …