California Water Views

On October 23, 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $276 million in available funding for California water infrastructure projects. When combined with the $269 million it announced on October 8, 2024, that raises the total to $545 million announced this month.

The funding comes through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides for $50 billion in investments in water infrastructure throughout the country. The October 23 announcement is part of a total of $3.6 billion in available funding, which is designated to particular states ...

The 2024 legislative session ended on August 31, 2024, meaning the legislature passed all bills for this year. All of the bills are currently with Governor Newsom. He has until September 30 to sign or veto any bills. Any bills not signed by September 30 will be vetoed through a ‘pocket veto.’

This session was a busy one for bills affecting the water sector with at least nine bills passed impacting water and sewer systems in California. The bills cover a wide range of topics, including fines for violating State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) orders, Proposition 26 and 218 requirements for water-related fees, Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requirements, and the California Water Plan. … 

On April 2, 2024, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the California Water Plan Update 2023 (CWP 2023 Update). DWR’s press release dubs the plan “A Roadmap to Water Management and Infrastructure for a Water Resilient Future.” Resiliency is one of the key focuses for the CWP 2023 Update, as its chapter on objectives is entitled the “Roadmap to Resilience.” The plan is focused on the vision that “All Californians benefit from water resources that are sustainable, resilient to climate change, and managed to achieve shared values and connections to ...

Deadlines are upcoming related to the multi-district per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) litigation. The relevant settlements are with DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva (collectively, DuPont) and 3M, parties who allegedly manufactured various PFAS chemicals. The currently-pending settlements cover $1.185 billion for DuPont and $10.5-$12.5 billion for 3M.

The litigation is focused on alleged contamination of drinking water caused by DuPont’s and 3M’s alleged manufacture of PFAS chemicals. PFAS are a family of manmade chemicals that are used due to beneficial ...

Providing affordable, safe and reliable water service in California is becoming increasingly challenging. Water service providers must deal with aging infrastructure, increasingly stringent water quality regulations and the threat of more frequent and extreme weather events, such as fires, drought and flooding, due to climate change. Smaller water service providers may struggle with adapting their operations to comply with changes in water quality requirements. These systems, which often rely on a single water source, are less resilient in dealing with contamination or ...

Despite efforts to stem increasing cyber threats to water systems around the nation, on October 13, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew cybersecurity mandates put in place by the Biden administration after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals July decision to place the mandates on hold while court actions continued.

In an attempt to harden clean water and wastewater treatment facilities from cyberattacks, the administration issued an interpretive memorandum in March 2023, that mandated adding cybersecurity assessments as a regular part of ...

On September 28, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its rule requiring reporting of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). According to EPA’s press release, the rule is intended to “provide EPA, its partners, and the public with the largest-ever dataset of [PFAS] manufactured and used in the United States.”

EPA’s new rule is part of its PFAS Strategic Roadmap, the Biden Administration’s plan to address PFAS, a family of man-made chemicals that are becoming well-known and well-studied based on their ubiquity and resistance to breaking down naturally.... 

In recognition of California’s seventh annual Water Professionals Appreciation Week, we would like to take a moment to highlight the essential role of water professionals and local public water agencies in providing water and wastewater services to our communities. Not just this week, but throughout the year, we appreciate the dedication of the highly trained operators, technicians and other specialists who have continued to make sure our communities have safe and reliable water, wastewater and recycled water services amidst a drought and pandemic. … 

Commonly known as “forever chemicals” due to their ability to persist in the environment, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an emerging contaminant of concern that the United States Environmental Protection Agency is currently promulgating regulations to address. The long-awaited adoption of an enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level for PFAS will bring sweeping changes and challenges to public water systems across the country. We provide insights on the on-going PFAS rulemaking process and what it might mean for the water industry … 

On January 6, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its Final Rule, listed at 88 FR 986, updating the maximum civil monetary penalties that may be assessed for violations of environmental statutes. This annual update is required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. This is the seventh annual adjustment under that act.

The update is designed to reflect inflation in order to maintain the deterrent effect of statutes providing civil monetary penalties, and is based on a formula that factors in the consumer price ...

At a board meeting on April 26, 2022, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (“the Met”) announced it would be requiring reductions in water usage from retail water suppliers that are dependent on water from the State Water Project. The reduction, which the Met took as a result of the severity of the state’s current drought, will apply to six million Californians covering Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties. The impacted retail water suppliers are Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Three Valleys Municipal Water District, Upper San Gabriel ...

Join us on March 29, 2022, when we will participate in the 2022 Annual AGWT-AGWA California Groundwater Issues Conference in Lakewood, CA, hosted by American Ground Water Trust and Association of Ground Water Agencies.

We will be providing a presentation entitled “The New Endangered Species ‘Protection’ Requirements for Steelhead Trout Will Impact Water Managers’ Options and Groundwater Sustainability Plans.” During this session, we will discuss how the new California endangered species listing will affect operations from Santa Maria, in the central ...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced two public meetings via webinar to cover a comprehensive overview of its most recent Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule ("UCMR"), UCMR 5. The two meetings will be held on March 16^th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm and March 17th from 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm (eastern time). The meetings will be identical, and EPA has posted links to sign up for either of the webinars on its website. The webinars are currently first-come, first-served, and sign-up space for them is limited. EPA has stated that it may schedule additional webinars if there is ...

During this 4^th annual Water Professionals Appreciation Week, Nossaman would like to acknowledge all of California’s essential water sector professionals. Not just this week, but every week of the year, they work on the front lines to provide this essential resource to all of our communities and serve as stewards for the environment.

Water Professionals Appreciation Week was created in 2017 to highlight the important role of water industry professionals and local public water agencies in ensuring safe and reliable tap water, wastewater and recycled water for California. Now ...

President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump could mean big changes for federal treatment of issues affecting water service providers, as well as how such issues are addressed in California, where Governor Newsom will presumably now have an ally in the White House. At both the state and federal levels, legislators are still working to address the impact of COVID-19 on public health and the economy, while pursuing existing policy goals that may have been put on hold due to the challenges created by the pandemic.

To navigate these new changes, please join us on December 3, 2020 ...

Please join me as I moderate “PFAS: Updates on the Regulatory Landscape” on July 29th, from 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. PT, during the 2020 Summer Virtual Conference, hosted by the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA).

Participants will come away from this session with important information about...

As California businesses remain closed and residents stay at home under shelter-in-place orders, water utilities are at the frontlines ensuring continued access to safe drinking water. Still, it seems that no industry is immune to COVID-19’s economic impacts. A recent analysis prepared for the American Water Works Association and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies estimates that revenue shortfalls for the water industry could result in a $32.7 billion reduction in nation-wide economic activity, with significant impacts on private sector jobs and investment in ...