Research in AV tries to remove arsenic from groundwater
Lancaster may have a new source of water
LANCASTER— Scientists will be at work on a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitoring well near Lancaster, where they are taking steps to test a new method of removing naturally occurring arsenic from groundwater.
Scientists and agency officials with the USGS and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works hope to improve the quality of groundwater pumped from beneath the Antelope Valley by filtering it through unsaturated alluvial deposits, according to the USGS.
If successful, the treatment will provide Antelope Valley residents and businesses with an additional source of drinking water, a resource in high demand because of over-drafting of aquifers throughout California.
The study, which began in July, involves pumping up to 800 acre-feet of water from a deep portion of the Antelope Valley groundwater system, according to the USGS.
An acre-foot can supply the household needs of one to two families of four for a year.
The water will be pumped into an acre-sized pond built for the study, where it will percolate through layers of gravel and sediment on its way to the water table. If scientists’ theories are right, naturally occurring arsenic in the groundwater will attach to oxides found on the surfaces of mineral grains and be removed from the water.
During this natural process, the quantity of water that can be treated at the site, and the long-term fate of arsenic in the environment will be studied and monitored over several years in the field experiment, and in a series of lab experiments.
Previous research conducted by the USGS has indicated this natural treatment process can reduce arsenic concentrations in water and make it suitable for use as drinking.
Researchers hope to have results by September 2013, according to the USGS.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A pair of small earthquakes rattled the South Bay and Westside overnight, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said today.
At 9:27 p.m., a magnitude 2.1 quake occurred in the San Pedro Channel, about 10 miles south of Long Beach. People reported feeling it in Long Beach, Inglewood and Pacific Palisades. It was centered on the Palos Verde Fault Zone, a rift that runs ashore in the Port of Los Angeles and runs along the northeastern side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula's hills.
Proposition 23 is a ballot measure that aims to suspend implementation of air pollution control law—AB 32.
In 2006, the California State Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger enacted an environmental law, AB 32, (also known as the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006) which requires greenhouse gas emissions in the state be cut to the levels that they were in 1990—(approx. 427 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) by 2020.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A Los Angeles-area wildfire exploded from 10 acres to 10,000 acres in about 25 hours and threatened 4,000 homes Friday afternoon, fire authorities said.
The fire, which began Thursday morning, damaged 15 homes,15 outbuildings and five commercial properties, but none were destroyed and no one had been injured, authorities said.
Authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Friday afternoon for the affluent Ventura County community of Hidden Valley, northwest of Los Angeles, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors today split 3-2 in favor of proposed state regulation of hydraulic fracturing to access oil and natural gas, known as “fracking.”
Senate Bill 4, sponsored by State Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, seeks a study of pumping a slurry into wells at high pressure to crack rock formations and release trapped oil and gas deposits. The bill also seeks to establish regulation of the practice.
The spread of the flu across the United States appears to have slowed in some areas, but officials won’t know for weeks whether the outbreak has peaked. According to reports by the Centers for Disease Control, the only states that aren’t reporting widespread flu activity are California, Hawaii, and Mississippi.
“Widespread” means that more than 50 percent of geographic regions in a state—counties, for example—are reporting flu activity. The term addresses the spread of the flu, not its severity.
