• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced a $60.4 million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support the city of Ventura’s large-scale water recycling program, VenturaWaterPure, according to a Nov. 19 statement from Carbajal’s office. VenturaWaterPure is estimated to produce 3,600 acre-feet of recycled water annually. The grant is the largest in a $125 million round of investments rolled out recently by the Biden-Harris administration to support large-scale water recycling projects, according to Carbajal’s office. Since its passage in 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has delivered more than $1 billion in funding to projects up and down the Central Coast of California. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is protecting the Central Coast’s access to clean water for generations to come through investments like the ones announced this week. I’m proud of my work delivering this landmark law for communities like Ventura, and I am grateful for the dedication of the Biden-Harris administration to continue rolling out these overdue investments in our infrastructure,” Carbajal said in the statement. “I will keep working in Congress to protect this law’s programs in the next administration.”
• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced bipartisan legislation that aims to reduce flood risks and bolster emergency preparedness by improving atmospheric river forecasting to more precisely predict the timing and location of these storms, according to a Nov. 20 statement from Padilla’s office. The Improving Atmospheric River Forecasts Act would require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a forecast improvement program within the National Weather Service. The legislation was introduced as the first significant atmospheric rivers of the season made landfall in the Pacific Northwest and along the Gulf Coast. Atmospheric rivers are hundreds of miles wide and can carry water vapor equivalent to multiple Mississippi Rivers, causing more than 80 percent of flood damage across the West, according to the statement. By 2090, atmospheric rivers exacerbated by climate change are expected to cost $2.3 billion to $3.2 billion in annual damages and increase in width by nearly 25 percent, according to Padilla’s office. More than 50 atmospheric rivers made landfall across the West Coast from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024. “For the past several years, California communities have witnessed firsthand the ongoing threat of destructive flooding caused by intense and frequent atmospheric river storms,” Padilla said in the statement. “California scientists have led the way in improving our understanding of these storms, and this bipartisan bill will strengthen forecasts to both reduce flood risks and bolster our water supply and drought resilience.”
• California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, in collaboration with the California Partners Project, hosted a Gender Equity Summit on women’s health and safety, according to a Nov. 21 statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. “When women are safe and supported, we thrive—and so do our families and communities,” Siebel Newsom said in the statement. “Today’s summit was about working collaboratively to create and uplift systems to ensure women’s health and safety. By bringing together diverse voices, we have the opportunity to catalyze meaningful action to create a more equitable future for women and their families.” Mental health intertwined with overall health emerged as a focal point, with discussions emphasizing that investments in women’s health and safety yield benefits for families and communities, according to the statement. During the summit, participants explored themes such as trafficking, the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women as a public health issue, tech-facilitated gender-based violence, toxic stress, intergenerational trauma, and engaging male allies in violence prevention.
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2024.
