San Francisco Estuary Blueprint 2022

San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) | September 8th, 2022

In the past few years, the San Francisco Estuary region has confronted epic wildfires, historic rainfall intensity and flooding, and chronic drought. The whiplash of thes

In the past few years, the San Francisco Estuary region has confronted epic wildfires, historic rainfall intensity and flooding, and chronic drought. The whiplash of these events has confirmed that climate change has already begun to impact human and wildlife communities from Sacramento to San Francisco, and beyond. Furthermore, a global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted regional planning and project implementation everywhere, presenting new challenges to traditional processes and creating an unfamiliar working landscape for resource managers. Finally, the pervasive, horrific violence against Black, Brown, and Asian and Asian-American people has amplified long-term calls for racial justice, galvanizing new commitments to address historic and present inequity through every thread of our social fabric. These events have set the context for the multi-stakeholder process that updates the San Francisco Estuary Blueprint.

San Francisco Estuary Blueprint 2022 (Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the San Francisco Estuary)

San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) | March 16th, 2022

Click here for the definition of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan)

Click here for the definition of a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan)

Shrinking lakes, air pollution, and human health: Evidence from California's Salton Sea

Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier) | January 7th, 2020

Due to increased water withdrawals and ongoing climate change, many inland lakes around the world are shrinking and dry lake beds can be significant sources of particulat

Due to increased water withdrawals and ongoing climate change, many inland lakes around the world are shrinking and dry lake beds can be significant sources of particulate matter air pollution. Using a natural experiment provided by the shrinking Salton Sea in California, this paper shows that each one-foot drop in lake elevation is associated with a 0.28 μg/m3 (2.6%) increase in PM2.5 concentrations. IV model results then show that Salton Sea-induced changes in PM2.5 over 1998–2014 led to increases in respiratory mortality of 1.4/yr.–15.6/yr. in the counties surrounding the lake, generating $13.2–$147.3 million in annual health costs.

Social Disparities in Nitrate-Contaminated Drinking Water in California’s San Joaquin Valley

National Institutes of Health (NIH) | September 1st, 2011

Social Vulnerability to Climate Change in California

California Energy Commission (CEC) | July 31st, 2012

The State of California faces a range of impacts from global climate change, including increases in extreme heat, wildfires, coastal flooding, and erosion. Changes are al

The State of California faces a range of impacts from global climate change, including increases in extreme heat, wildfires, coastal flooding, and erosion. Changes are also likely to occur in air quality, water availability, and the spread of infectious diseases. To date, a great deal of research has been done to forecast the physical effects of climate change, while less attention has been given to the factors that make different populations more or less vulnerable to harm from such changes. While disaster events may not discriminate, impacts on human populations are shaped by intervening conditions that determine the human impact of the event and the specific needs for preparedness, response, and recovery. In this study, the authors analyzed the potential impacts of climate change by using recent downscaled climate model outputs to create a variety of statistics and visualizations that show their distribution across the state. To understand how the population exposed to these impacts will be affected, social vulnerability – defined as the susceptibility of a given population to harm from exposure to a hazard, directly affecting its ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover, must be evaluated. The researchers developed a new climate vulnerability index to indicate the social vulnerability of a region’s population to climate?related harm. The index combines 19 indicators into one overall climate vulnerability score and includes factors specifically related to climate impacts, such as air conditioner ownership, childhood obesity, percentage of tree cover, pre?term births, workers in outdoor occupations, and others. The authors present a series of maps showing where social vulnerability to climate change is greatest, and where it intersects with the most severe projected climate change impacts. The most significant risk from climate change occurs where there are large groups of people exposed to a climate?related hazard and where there is high social vulnerability. Understanding vulnerability factors and the populations that exhibit these factors are critical for crafting effective climate change policies and response strategies. They are also important to the emerging study of climate justice, which is the concept that no group of people should disproportionately bear the burden of climate impacts or the costs of mitigation and adaptation.

State and green crimes related to water pollution and ecological disorganization: water pollution from publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities across US states

Palgrave Communications | August 1st, 2017

Green criminologists often refer to water pollution as an example of a green crime, but have yet to produce much research on this subject. The current article addressesÂ

Green criminologists often refer to water pollution as an example of a green crime, but have yet to produce much research on this subject. The current article addresses the need for green criminological analyses of water pollution problems, and draws attention to an overlooked issue: water pollution emissions from state owned public water treatment facilities or POTWs. Legally, POTWs may emit certain quantities and kinds of pollutants to waterways following treatment. This does not mean, however, that those emissions have no adverse ecological or public health impacts, or that those emissions cannot also be employed as examples of green crimes or green-state crimes. Indeed, from the perspective of environmental sociology and ecological Marxism, those emissions generate ecological disorganization. Moreover, POTW emissions contain numerous pollutants that generate different forms of ecological disorganization. The current study uses POTW emissions data drawn from the US EPA’s Discharge Monitoring Report system for 2014 to illustrate the extent of pollution emitted by POTWs in and across US states as one dimension of ecological disorganization. To contextualize the meaning of those data, we review US water pollution regulations, review the health and ecological impacts of chemicals emitted by POTWs, and situate those emissions within green criminological discussions of green crime and greenstate crimes.

Storing Water for the Environment: Operating Reservoirs to Improve California’s Freshwater Ecosystems

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | August 23rd, 2022

Large reservoirs like those that rim the Central Valley are essential for managing water in California’s highly variable climate. They provide multiple benefits includi

Large reservoirs like those that rim the Central Valley are essential for managing water in California’s highly variable climate. They provide multiple benefits including water supply, hydropower, flood management, and recreation. However, construction and operation of these reservoirs have also imposed significant environmental costs, including native fishes’ loss of access to high-quality habitat above dams and degradation of freshwater ecosystems below them. Moreover, regulatory uncertainty for water users is rising as these ecosystems decline. California needs a new approach for managing environmental water in its large reservoirs, particularly as the climate warms and droughts become more intense.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | September 7th, 2004

This chapter addresses the incorporation of environmental justice into the general plan. While environmental justice is not a mandatory topic in the general plan, ther

This chapter addresses the incorporation of environmental justice into the general plan. While environmental justice is not a mandatory topic in the general plan, there is a strong case for its inclusion. Federal and state anti-discrimination statutes, which have a long history, apply to planning as they do to other policy areas. As discussed below, environmental justice issues are often related to failures in land use planning. Planning policies that promote livable communities and smart growth can be tools for achieving environmental justice. In keeping with that idea, this chapter begins with a discussion of sustainable development. Sustainable development provides a context for understanding how environmental justice fits into land use planning. This chapter concludes with a discussion of transit-oriented development, which has important implications for environmental justice and sustainable development.

Sustainable Development and Environmental Justice

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | September 7th, 2004

This chapter addresses the incorporation of environmental justice into the general plan.  While environmental justice is not a mandatory topic in the general plan, there

This chapter addresses the incorporation of environmental justice into the general plan.  While environmental justice is not a mandatory topic in the general plan, there is a strong case for its inclusion. Federal and state anti-discrimination statutes, which have a long history, apply to planning as they do to other policy areas. As discussed below, environmental justice issues are often related to failures in land use planning. Planning policies that promote livable communities and smart growth can be tools for achieving environmental justice. In keeping with that idea, this chapter begins with a discussion of sustainable development. Sustainable development provides a context for understanding how environmental justice fits into land use planning. This chapter concludes with a discussion of transit-oriented development, which has important implications for environmental justice and sustainable development.

The Definition of Environmental Justice and the Designation of the California Office of Planning and Research as Coordinating Agency for Environmental Justice

State of California | November 18th, 2019