Welcome to Monitor Notes, a weekly roundup of news items, event announcements, and updates on past Bay Area Monitor articles.
Troubled Waters
State officials are considering big changes to increase water flows through the Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries — the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced rivers. What does that mean for you? The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission gets most of its water from the Tuolumne, and the agency serves 2.7 million people in San Francisco and three sister counties. Find out which ones in a Water Deeply article breaking down the policy battle over how much water should be left in critical rivers. It finds far-reaching ramifications for Bay Area business and residential water users, as well as vulnerable salmon populations. Then, head upstream for our previous coverage on restoring salmon spawning sites.
On the Air August 24th
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is hosting a scoping meeting Friday in San Francisco to discuss prep for an environmental impact report. The report is necessary to adopt an “expedited Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT) implementation schedule” required by Assembly Bill 617, legislation that put industrial cap-and-trade facilities on an upgrade timetable. Cleaning up neighborhood air pollution is a big Bay Area priority, which Leslie Stewart wrote about when covering the Air District’s community health protection program. Friday’s air meeting details are circulating here.
Through the Roof
Seen the new 5.4-acre park atop San Francisco’s Salesforce Transit Center? Not only is it providing open space to the “East Cut” neighborhood, it’s changing the way graywater is used in commercial projects. After clearing regulatory hurdles, the center’s architects hatched plans to irrigate the park using graywater from transit center sinks. In a new article, Fast Company describes these innovative water features and other aspects of the green social hub, some of which the Monitor’s Aleta George explored when reporting on park activation in urban communities.
What’s the Big Idea?
Got a plan to improve Bay Area transportation? You have until September 6 to submit it to MTC and ABAG. Their request for “transformative projects” exceeding $1 billion is part of the Horizon initiative to suss out future challenges and opportunities the Bay Area may face. Click here for submission info and criteria. Keep in mind, the agencies don’t want ideas adopted in other Plan Bay Area iterations, the planning of which we’ve covered. Hint: aerial trams weren’t in Plan Bay Area 2040.
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