water pollution

‘End of an era:’ Russian River watchdog stepping back

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The record heat that last month barreled into the final days of winter in California ushered in the sounds of summer along the lower Russian River. Beachgoers laughed and splashed as kayakers and paddleboarders paraded between the banks, all of them beckoned to the water weeks earlier than most years.

Still, the soundtrack was music to Brenda Adelman’s ears.

The 86-year-old activist has for more than half her life fought to clean and protect the Russian River, serving as a chief watchdog and champion for the 1,500-square mile watershed.

At the outset of her work in the early 1980s, the lower river was still used by Santa Rosa as the primary way to dispose of its wastewater. That is no longer the case in large part due to unrelenting pressure from Adelman and allies at that time, whose broader legacy over the ensuing decades would include greater public recognition and regulatory care given to the river — a lifeblood for residents, visitors and farms alike, and a sensitive refuge for wildlife.

The Russian River Watershed Protection Committee, the nonprofit Adelman launched and led through that era, made its mission in holding local and state government accountable for the river’s health and restoration.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/04/08/russian-river-nonprofit-to-fold-as-brenda-adelman-looks-back-on-five-decades-of-environmental-activism/

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Trial begins in chemical runoff case against tire manufacturers

Margaret Attridge, COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

A chemical additive in car tires is leaching into rivers and other waterways, killing protected fish species, lawyers for a conservation group and a fishing trade association told a federal judge during a bench trial in San Francisco, California, Monday.

After a three-day trial, the judge will determine whether tire manufacturers — including Bridgestone America, Goodyear Tires and Michelin North America — are violating the Endangered Species Act by harming protected and endangered fish species like coho salmon, steelhead trout and Chinook salmon.

The plaintiffs claim the tire manufacturers make or distribute products that contain an additive called 6PPD, a chemical that ultimately transforms into 6PPD-quinone when it reacts with ozone. As the tire interacts with the environment and roads, 6PPD-quinone leaches onto hard surfaces. When it rains, the chemical falls into rivers and other waterways, where it can kill fish in a matter of hours, they add.

After exposure, fish start displaying symptoms of urban runoff mortality syndrome, causing them to lose equilibrium and die within a few hours. Even if they’re transferred to non-polluted water before they die, they don’t recover from the syndrome, the plaintiffs say.

Read more at https://courthousenews.com/trial-begins-in-chemical-runoff-case-against-tire-manufacturers/

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An aging Guerneville treatment plant is behind January wastewater spill

Anna Armstrong, PRESS DEMOCRAT

An estimated 5.5 million gallons of wastewater, including untreated sewage, overflowed early this month from a Guerneville treatment plant into the lower Russian River over three days, making for the largest such spill in the river in more than four decades.

Despite the absence of major flooding, a series of heavy storms managed to inundate the intake system of the aging Neeley Road wastewater plant that has been linked to a series of weather-related spills over the years. The fallout led water and public health officials to issue advisories closing beaches along more than 13 miles of the lower river and a 40-mile stretch of the Sonoma Coast.

The last of those closures wouldn’t be lifted until the beginning of the following workweek, after days of testing to determine the water was safe for contact.

State water quality regulators in Santa Rosa say they are looking into the spill and will determine if any enforcement action is warranted, including potentially a fine.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/01/17/russian-river-sewage-spill-guerneville-plant-sonoma-county/

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Rep. Jared Huffman says House investigation of Point Reyes ranching deal driven by ‘partisan opportunists’

John Beck, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Jared Huffman weighs in on the House committee investigation launched by Republicans and the clouded future of the settlement to end most seashore ranching.

When Rep. Jared Huffman was named the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources in December, he summoned a sports analogy to describe how he might face challenges down the road. “I believe we are better prepared than ever to tackle what lies ahead next Congress,” he said. “This is a team sport, and I am excited and ready to lead this team.”

But this past week, he learned that in committee politics, like in sports, there are trick plays you never see coming. Not long after waking up Thursday morning, Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he was blindsided by the announcement of a sweeping investigation into the controversial deal to end most ranching in Point Reyes.

Launched by committee chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican former football player from Arkansas, it was a partisan shot fired directly into Huffman’s own backyard. An attempt to wrestle control of the 71,000-acre park that has been the focus of intense debate, it will likely prolong a battle many thought had finally been resolved — love it or hate it — after The Nature Conservancy brokered a deal to pay ranchers on 12 out of 14 Point Reyes farms around $30 million to leave the leased land their families had been farming long before the peninsula became a national park in 1963. The agreement, announced Jan. 8, in the final weeks of the Biden administration, was embraced by all parties involved in several years of closed-door mediation, including the three environmental groups that had sued the park in 2022, alleging environmental violations by the ranches.

Read more at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/jared-huffman-house-investigation-point-reyes-ranches/

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Balancing protein in your diet could improve water quality

Kat Kerlin, UC DAVIS NEWS

Eating Too Much Protein Adds to Nitrogen Pollution in U.S. Waters

…when a body takes in more protein than it needs, excess amino acids break it down into nitrogen, which is excreted mostly through urine and released through the wastewater system. This brings additional nitrogen into waterways, which can result in toxic algal blooms, oxygen-starved “dead zones” and polluted drinking water.

Balancing how much protein you eat with the amount your body needs could reduce nitrogen releases to aquatic systems in the U.S. by 12% and overall nitrogen losses to air and water by 4%, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

Protein consumption in the United States, from both plant and animal sources, ranks among the highest in the world. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, said that if Americans ate protein at recommended amounts, projected nitrogen excretion rates in 2055 would be 27% less than they are today despite population growth.

The study is the first to estimate how much protein consumption contributes to excess nitrogen in the environment through human waste. It also indicates that coastal cities have the largest potential to reduce nitrogen excretions headed for their watersheds.

“It turns out that many of us don’t need as much protein as we eat, and that has repercussions for our health and aquatic ecosystems,” said lead author Maya Almaraz, a research affiliate with the UC Davis Institute of the Environment. “If we could reduce that to an amount appropriate to our health, we could better protect our environmental resources.”

Read more at https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/balancing-protein-your-diet-could-improve-water-quality

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Friends of Gualala River launch new lawsuit targeting logging on North Fork

Chris McManus, INDEPENDENT COAST OBSERVER

As part of its Salmonid and Watershed Restoration Project, Friends of Gualala River has launched a new lawsuit, this one focused on the Gualala River’s North Fork in the watershed’s northwest corner, the only hydrologic area of the watershed that is not temperature impaired.

The suit was filed last Wednesday in Alameda Superior Court against the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Water Resources Control Board and Gualala Redwood Timber, LLC, seeking to stop Gualala Redwood Timber’s “Far North” timber harvest plan, No. 1-20-00150 MEN.

The new suit comes as FoGR is continuing to fight Gualala Redwood Timber’s “Dogwood III” THP. Judge James Donato on Tuesday issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on that timber harvest plan while he continues to consider a longer restraining order in the federal case brought by FoGR and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The newest lawsuit against the water boards is part of systemic reform FoGR is seeking to hold state agencies involved in the review of timber harvest plans accountable for their roles in the process. Previous lawsuits have targeted CalFire, the final reviewer and approver of timber harvest plans in California.

Read more at https://gualalariver.org/press/friends-of-gualala-river-launch-new-lawsuit-targeting-logging-on-north-fork/

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Petaluma River cleanup plan approved

Will Carruthers, NORTH BAY BOHEMIAN

On May 10, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly signed off on a plan meant to reduce pollution in the 146-square-mile Petaluma River Watershed.

That’s right. Although the problem is rarely discussed, the Petaluma River has been listed as “impaired” by excessive levels of bacteria since 1975.

The bureaucratic document approved by the EPA is known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). It sets levels of acceptable waste discharge from various sources in an attempt to lower the levels of fecal bacteria found in the watershed until the water is deemed clean.

While preparing the TMDL, scientists from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board tested water from throughout the watershed for Fecal Indicator Bacteria to determine the amount of waste from warm-blooded mammals that has seeped into the water. Although indicator bacteria themselves are not dangerous, scientists use the strains to detect potentially dangerous levels of contamination in the water.

In a report accompanying the TMDL, water board staff identified 12 sources of pollution, which they then lumped into three general categories: human waste, animal waste and municipal stormwater runoff. In tests conducted between 2015 and 2016, water board scientists found bacteria tied to humans, horses, cows and dogs throughout the Petaluma River and its tributaries.

When asked in late 2019 about the levels of E. coli discovered in the Petaluma River, Farhad Ghodrati, an environmental scientist with the San Francisco Bay board, said the test results showed “some of the highest concentrations we have seen in the region.”

At the same time, Dr. Celeste Philips, who then served as Sonoma County’s Health Officer, warned Petaluma River users against drinking the river water or using the water for cooking due to the levels of E. coli. “Adults and children should wash hands/shower and towel dry after swimming; rinse off pets after they come into contact with the water,” Philips added.

Read more at https://bohemian.com/petaluma-river-cleanup-plan-approved/

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