Water Resources

"It is things like limiting idling time of equipment. It's looking at all of our equipment and seeing that it's sized right for the job," explained John Andrew, assistant deputy at DWR.

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Hydrogeographers such as Peter Vorster of the Bay Institute are on one side. KTVU met him along the last stretch of the wild San Joaquin River, arguably the most desiccated -- and desecrated -- major river in California. "This has a lot of salts in it from the agricultural runoff, Vorster remarked. "The water that would have been in here, a lot of it has been diverted to make these fields grow these amazing crops. The San Joaquin Valley is the most productive agricultural region, arguably, in the world."

“We were in Seville last week doing survey work and heard about people getting boil notices when there’s bacteria,” said Balazs, who joined the Community Water Center as a staff scientist after completing her Ph.D at UC Berkeley. “But one of the worst things you can do is boil water when there are nitrates. It just concentrates them.” Read the full story

We'd probably like to think that clean, safe food goes hand in hand with pristine nature, with lots of wildlife and clean water. But in the part of California that grows a lot of the country's lettuce and spinach, these two goals have come into conflict. Environmental advocates say a single-minded focus on food safety has forced growers of salad greens to strip vegetation from around their fields, harming wildlife and polluting streams and rivers.

Joe Creek has been a biological desert for decades. This small and unassuming stream flows north out of the Red Buttes Wilderness in Siskiyou County, California, and passes below the abandoned Blue Ledge Mine, after which its otherwise pristine water turns into a toxic brine as acidic as vinegar where only algae survives.

“Given how low the rivers already are in Massachusetts, it would be harmful to permit municipalities to withdraw significantly more water from the ground than they currently are, because the rivers could run dry and fish would die,’’ said Rob Moir, director of the Ocean River Institute, an environmental advocacy group in Cambridge. Read the full story

At Santa Rosa's Regional sewer plant, ponds covered with fast-growing aquatic plants are being used to help clean toxics and pollutants out of the water as part of the wastewater treatment process. But there's another, very different benefit those plants can offer as well. While showing off the FAB project at the treatment plant, Caden Hare explained that the effort to develop on site energy generation was driven in part by the needs of the facility itself. Read the story and hear audio clips

The awards ceremony was held at the Fresno Art Museum Wednesday morning. Seven women were recognized for their contributions to the 31st district by Assemblyman Henry T Perea, as well as the community water center, which is an organization led by eight women. Among the others recognized, was a member of the Fresno League of Women Voters' Board of Directors. Also honored, an Edison High School student who's very active on campus, while maintaining good grades.