Tulare Lake

Widespread Increase in Atmospheric River Frequency and Impacts Over the 20th Century

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | December 11th, 2025

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long, narrow regions of atmospheric moisture transport that provide water resources to many regions, but can also cause hazards such as extre

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are long, narrow regions of atmospheric moisture transport that provide water resources to many regions, but can also cause hazards such as extreme rainfall and moist heatwaves. Despite their importance, there is uncertainty about how the frequency and impacts of ARs may be changing with time. Our study extends the global record of AR activity back to 1940. We find that the frequency of ARs has increased broadly across the midlatitude regions, rather than shifting polewards as observed in recent decades. This increase in AR frequency leads to more rain and snow associated with these features in both the mid‐ and high‐latitudes. We also find that there is an increase in humid heatwaves associated with ARs over the same period

Wildfire Induces Changes in Receiving Waters: A Review With Considerations for Water Quality Management

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | September 15th, 2022

Wildfires have increased in frequency in many ecosystems, with implications for human health and the environment, including water quality. Increased fire frequency and ur

Wildfires have increased in frequency in many ecosystems, with implications for human health and the environment, including water quality. Increased fire frequency and urbanization also raise the prospect of fires burning into urban areas, mobilizing pollutants few have considered to date. As a result, water quality managers lack information to anticipate, respond to and potentially mitigate wildfire impacts. Here, we reviewed the scientific literature to assess wildfire effects on response endpoints of a conceptual model linking fire to water quality, quantifying response directionality, magnitude and duration. Physically, water yield, sediments, and temperature all increased post-fire. Chemically, nutrients, ions, organic chemicals, and metals increased in burned watersheds, sometimes by orders of magnitude over pre-fire or reference conditions. In select cases, post-fire concentrations exceeded aquatic life criteria or drinking water standards, at times even in the finished drinking water. Biological assemblages commonly declined after post-fire runoff events. The duration of effects was less than 5 yr for most endpoints (e.g., metals) on average following fire, although effects did extend 15 yr or more in some individual cases. We found only a few studies on pollutants mobilized from wildfire impacted urban areas with benzene contamination in drinking water and high metal concentrations in ash prominent exceptions. Overall, this review provides a resource for understanding wildfire impacts on water quality endpoints, with the goal of informing the response of managers and other decision makers to this growing problem.

Willingness to Pay to Protect Wetlands and Reduce Wildlife Contamination from Agricultural Drainage

Springer | December 2nd, 1991

This chapter presents the results of a survey of the general population in California regarding their willingness to pay for alternative programs to protect and expand we

This chapter presents the results of a survey of the general population in California regarding their willingness to pay for alternative programs to protect and expand wetlands as well as reduce wildlife contamination in the San Joaquin Valley (Valley). The results of 803 completed interviews from 1,573 successfully contacted households indicate that Californians would pay $154 each year in higher taxes to purchase water to prevent a decrease in wetland acreage from 85,000 acres to 27,000 acres. This value rose to $254 to provide foran increase in wetland acreage to 125,000 acres with an associated 40 percent increase of bird populations. California households would pay $313 each year in additional taxes to implement agricultural drainage programs that would reduce waterbirds exposure to contamination from 70 percent to 20 percent exposure. The water management implication of these results is that Californians value clean water supplies for refuges at over $3 billion a year.