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The West Coast’s most important estuary is dying, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has hastened its demise.
As he took office two years ago, Newsom promised to generate voluntary agreements among farmers, environmentalists and government officials on the rules for allocating water that flows through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. One year ago, in a CalMatters op-ed, he said again that agreements were the way forward to “protect, restore, and enhance … the Delta.”
Not only have no voluntary agreements emerged, but conditions in the delta have grown so dire that in March the National Marine Fisheries Service estimated that high water temperatures could kill 90% of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River this year.
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RACHEL BECKER
CalMatters
California is poised to issue the worldâs first guidelines for microplastics in drinking water despite no data on how plentiful they are in the state, no scientific agreement on how to test water for them and little research on their health risks.Â
The pieces of plastic â smaller than an ant, some so tiny they can be seen only with a microscope â have contaminated wildlife and human bodies through their food, air and water.
Under a 2018 state law, California must require four years of testing for microplastics in drinking water, and the state must consider guidelines to help water providers and consumers determine what levels may be safe to drink.
Premature or precautionary? California is first to tackle microplastics in drinking water.
Photo by Cole Brookson courtesy of Rochman Lab
California is about to set the world’s first health guidelines for microplastics in drinking water. Yet no one agrees how to test water for the tiny bits of plastic, or how dangerous they are.
This story originally appeared in CalMatters.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
Pictured above: Microplastics collected in the San Francisco Bay Area are identified and labeled for research in a lab headed by Chelsea Rochman, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. California is about to set the world’s first guidelines for microplastics in drinking water.
Huge gaps exist in scientific knowledge, but California is about to set the world’s first health guidelines for microplastics in drinking water. Yet no one agrees how to test water for the tiny bits of plastic, or how dangerous they are.