Support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and Multi-Benefit Recharge Projects and Actions to Achieve

On June 14, 2022, ECOS submitted a letter of support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and multi-benefit recharge projects and actions to achieve.

Below is the content of the letter.

Subject: Support for the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Authority’s (CGA) Demand Management and Multi-Benefit Recharge Projects and Actions to Achieve

We understand that CGA is working to secure funding for implementation of the multi-benefit recharge and demand management Projects and Actions identified in the CGA Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP).

ECOS appreciates CGA’s initiative to make progress towards basin sustainability, environmental uplift, and shallow well protection.

If a letter of support from ECOS will be of value in assisting CGA in obtaining grant funding for these Projects and Actions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are committed to support environmentally beneficial efforts to return the Cosumnes subbasin to sustainability.

We note that the amount of annual groundwater pumping in the subbasin is based on estimates because of the low number of wells with actual pumping metered data available to the GSAs. Given the current condition of the subbasin and the need to rely in part on demand management to reach sustainability, we support efforts to increase the number of metered wells and other actions the GSAs pursue to improve the reliability and accuracy of groundwater pumping information utilized in the management of the Cosumnes subbasin.

We also appreciate the development of the CGA Citizen Advisory Committee. We have identified ECOS representative Neil Dubrovsky to serve on the committee. Neil has extensive groundwater expertise and experience and is particularly familiar with public sources of groundwater monitoring data that may prove useful as projects are developed.

ECOS recognizes the ongoing, complex effects of climate change on the environment and people
in the Cosumnes and Greater Sacramento regions, and California as a whole. We believe that action is needed now and that time is of the essence. Collaborative efforts that address both demand management and multi-benefit recharge, as well as implementation of real time monitoring networks, offer the best chance for timely improvements to basin sustainability, environmental uplift, and shallow well protection.

We look forward to working with CGA in its journey toward returning the Cosumnes subbasin to sustainability.

Click here to view the letter in full.

Q&A with Alberto Ayala, Director of Sacramento’s Air Quality District, SacTown Magazine, June 4, 2022

Alberto Ayala discusses “the growing threat of wildfire smoke, the urgent need to move away from fossil fuel engines, the “scary” results from a new study about the impact of air pollution on our brain health, and why we need to rethink transportation as we plan for a better post-pandemic world.”

On transportation:

“I wrote an essay five years ago, in which I pointed out that of the 40 biggest cities in the country, Sacramento and Las Vegas were the only two without any protected bike lanes and with no imminent plans to build them, whereas cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago were racing to build hundreds of miles of protected bike lanes. And now five years later, we’re not much better off. And for reasons I don’t completely understand, the city just has not made that a priority when clearly, active transportation like biking and walking is going to be one of the ways that we move toward cleaner air. . . [and] where is the investment in transit? And how are we helping our public transit be the innovative transit of the future where you actually meet the needs of transportation for people?”

On the difference between ozone pollution and particle pollution:

“In Sacramento, like most urban regions, the most chronically difficult pollution problem is ozone pollution, not so much particle pollution, but clearly wildfires are changing that. Particle pollution is the smoke that you see from something like a wildfire, or the soot that comes out of a diesel truck. That black smoke is essentially a collection of these particles that come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Ozone pollution, in contrast, is the result of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic emissions often from the combustion of fossil fuels—fuel that burns in an internal combustion engine like in a gasoline car. In the presence of sunlight, they basically cook up in the atmosphere, and then they lead to ozone, also known as smog. So the difference is here we’re talking about gases, not particles.”

Click here to read the full article.

Letter to SacCounty Supervisors re Air Quality from ECOS, 350 Sac, CCL, and Sierra Club

June 10, 2022

ECOS, 350 Sacramento, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Sacramento, and Sierra Club Sacramento Group have submitted a letter to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors regarding the quality of the air in our region. With this letter, we urged the Board to discuss air quality as an agenda item in an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting, and to develop actions to address the issues raised in the American Lung Association report referenced in our letter.

Below is an excerpt.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors should support policies that reduce emissions by encouraging walking- biking- and transit-based communities. Most critically, the Board needs to exercise its land use authority to shift priorities from sprawl development to infill to support these modes of transportation and reduce vehicle miles traveled. This would decrease automobile exhaust, the largest source of local ozone and particulate pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Click here to read the letter in full.

Consider the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct developed by the American Institute of Certified Planners

June 8, 2022

The code contains aspirational principles, rules of conduct, and procedures for enforcement of the rules. The aspirational principles are meant to apply to all those who participate in the planning process — planners, advisory bodies, decision-makers, etc. Planning is a tough job. While planners, especially staff planners in local jurisdictions, may aspire to “continuously pursue and faithfully serve the public interest” their work is directed and approved by politicians who may have widely diverging concepts of the public interest. Take a look at the principles below. For additional info see https://planning-org-uploaded-media.s3.amazonaws.com/document/add38c5d-71d4-4915-92d6-650140adf7fbAICP-Code-of-Ethics-and-Professional-Conduct-2021.pdf.

Section A: Principles to Which We Aspire

  1. People who participate in the planning process shall continuously pursue and faithfully serve the public interest.
  2. People who participate in the planning process shall do so with integrity.
  3. People who participate in the planning process shall work to achieve economic, social and racial equity.
  4. People who participate in the planning process shall safeguard the public trust.
  5. Practicing planners shall improve planning knowledge and increase public understanding of planning activities.

We’ve Got to Stop Requiring Parking Everywhere, Farhad Manjoo, NYTimes, Jun 2, 2022

Now California, the state that in many ways set the standard for America’s car-dependent lifestyle, could be on the verge of reforming parking statewide. One bill moving through the state Legislature would prohibit cities from enforcing most minimum parking requirements near public transit, while a competing bill would give developers greater leeway in avoiding the rules. I hope legislators in my state adopt the former. . .

Click here to read the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/opinion/california-parking.html?smid=em-share