Greetings from the wetlands of Los Angeles. Last week, Newsweek reported that LA’s 2024 rainfall is currently over 15.3” (194% of average), putting Seattle’s 12.9” (86% of average) to absolute shame. I haven’t seen a sprinkler run since 2023!
The most recent showers came last weekend, with rainfall totals ranging between .5” and 1.5” in the flats and 2.5” up in the mountains. It was, I believe, the second or third consecutive rainy weekend, and the folks at 404 by LA Times did a fun little statistical breakdown of the weekday vs weekend rain data:
Even if the rain didn’t screw up your outdoor weekend festivities, it may have interfered with any spontaneous beach trips you may have wanted to take during the beginning of the week’s mini-heatwave. Until a couple of years ago, I didn’t realize what a bad idea it was to go swimming after a storm, but it is in fact not a great idea—much like the story my neighbor told me in passing about a woman who accidentally ingested droplets of water from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland and then lost 15 pounds over the course of a prolonged and torturous intestinal infection, thinking about splashing around in befouled water is a real buzzkill. This is particularly true of Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey, which is consistently rated as one of the filthiest beaches in California (likely because it’s in a harbor, which restricts water circulation). Right now it has a “dry grade” of a C and a “wet grade” of an F, the latter of which is pictured as a red face with x’ed out eyes and a wobbly mouth—very convincing! Don’t sip from the Mother!
Speaking of drinking the water, CalMatters recently reported on the new federal regulations limiting PFAS in drinking water, and what that means for California. PFAS are “forever chemicals” known to cause health problems like cancer, heart disease, birth defects and a range of other issues; they’re already inside of all of our bodies and bloodstreams (and dust, and food, and apparently in Arctic ice?!) and we can’t get rid of them BUT it would be obviously great to stop pumping more of them into everything we buy and consume. To tackle PFAS on a water-supply level, the state will have to create treatment systems, eliminate contaminated wells, and find other ways to source our water, which could cost anywhere between $1.5 and over $3 billion. Per the report:
“Some money will come in from the polluters, some money will come in from low interest loans or loans in general. And then some money will have to come from the customer,” said Mike Alvord, director of operations and maintenance for the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, which serves more than a quarter million people.
Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, announced $1 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help fund testing and treatment for public water suppliers and private well owners, part of a $9 billion package to tackle emerging contaminants.
“The only level that is truly protective would be zero,” said Jamie DeWitt, an Oregon State University professor of toxicology and member of an EPA science advisory board. But given the costs and the technology available, Dewitt said, “This is the best we’re going to get right now.”
Dewitt added, “Maybe the costs today seem really high, but if you spread those costs out over a lifetime, then it’s lower than the anticipated health care costs we may experience from higher exposure levels of those particular (chemicals).”
Cool, cool. Nothing stressful here.
But what of the weather? This weekend: no rain, partial clouds, low 70’s on Saturday and high 70’s on Sunday. Next week: mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain on Tuesday and Thursday, low 60’s, sounds lovely to me.
— Tess
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I moved to Long Beach after being a lifelong East-of-Fairfax Angeleno, and now I live less than a mile from a beach where you could not pay me to swim regularly.
not one scintilla of PFAs! someday 🙏