The once rather unknown Los Angeles River has been constantly making news the last few years, especially since a bunch of kayakers paddled down the waterway in 2008 to show the river was indeed navigable. That splashy feat countered the Army Corps of Engineers contention that most of the river was unnavigable, and thus ineligible for some Clean Water Act protections. Finally in 2010, the EPA’s declared the L.A. River navigable.

Wish you’d been one of the intrepid original kayakers? It’s too late for that — but on the upside you can now become an L.A. kayaker with relative ease now, thanks to a new Paddle the LA River pilot program. Launched today in the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, this program allows the public to go on guided kayak and canoe trips!

Stay at your computer click-ready, because starting tomorrow at 7 am, tickets will go on sale online — and will be very limited, since only 10 people are allowed per trip, and only two trips are happening a day, and the only days the trips will be offered are Saturdays and Sundays between August 13 to September 25. But if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, you’ll get a chance to paddle around between Balboa Blvd and Sepulveda Dam within the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area. The cost per ticket — which includes not just the trip itself but also the educational info about the river’s environment and wildlife from guest speakers — is $50.

Scared of the water? Go on a river walk instead with nonprofit Friends of the Los Angeles River. These 90-minute walks will be led by a docent, who’ll school you on river revitalization, access, and recreation as kayakers and canoers splash on by. The walks cost just $10 with an RSVP to contact@folar.org or 323-223-0585.

Earlier: A Pictorial Ode to the L.A. River

Photo of river activist Joe Linton paddling down the L.A. River in 2008. (via LA Creek Freak)

>> Plastic bags are officially banned in Long Beach starting today — at least in the big stores. And paper bags will cost you 10 cents each — so remember to BYOB! In case you’ve forgotten, a plastic bag ban also went into effect for the unincorporated areas of L.A. County last month. Here’s how we’re doing on plastic bag bans in L.A County cities. Earlier: Got extra reusable bags? Drop them off at Santa Monica’s Share A Bag spots.

And soon you can expect:

>> Birth control sans copays. Insurers now have to cover birth control with no copays — which I think is big green news. Fewer unplanned pregnancies means fewer baby Americans means fewer resources needed. Earlier: Single and happy? Five single bloggers that make solo living fun.

>> Less trees and better views at Yosemite. Of course, hacking down trees for sightseeing purposes is a plan that’s proving controversial.

>> Less Chromium 6 — a.k.a. the Erin Brokovich chemical — in California tap water. California set the nation’s first public health goal for this carcinogen at 0.02 ppb — an unenforceable limit, but one that’s hoped to, you know, become enforceable. LA Times reports: “Environmentalists praised the new state goal, saying they hoped it would pressure state and federal officials to set enforceable standards for the metal and other drinking water contaminants.”

Photo by Fire Monkey Fish

>> Canoe and Kayak down the L.A. River! According to LA Times, “Tickets for the Los Angeles River adventure are expected to go on sale as early as July 8, and promoters are promising a ride like no other. The route through the San Fernando Valley’s Sepulveda Basin flood control channel will take customers along a 3-mile stretch of river where the water is 10 to 15 feet deep and edged with willows, sycamores and slanted concrete walls a stone’s throw from the 101 and 405 freeways.”

>> Carpool/walking tours of the L.A. River are still happening once a month! The next one on Sun., July 17 takes you from Elysian Valley to Long Beach, with stops for tacos in Boyle Heights and raspados in Bell. Earlier: A Pictorial Ode to the L.A. River.

>> Los Angeles River selected for ‘Urban Waters’ Project. According to LAist, “The project, ‘intended to reconnect urban communities with their waterways,’ will run in alignment with President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative ‘which calls on agencies to support innovative community efforts to provide safe, healthy and accessible outdoor spaces.’”

I have yet to learn to surf — and am slightly ashamed that my sister, who lives in Missouri, has actually learned to surf before me. I comfort myself with the knowledge that I still get to enjoy the beach far more often than she does (though I suspect this is why I never actually make time to learn to surf) and that Southern California has much better International Surfing Day events!

The annual event — which celebrates surfing and raises awareness about ocean-related environment issues — happens worldwide on June 20. And this time, about 150 events ranging from beach cleanups to surf clinics are happening at beaches around the world. A half dozen or so of those events are in Southern California. How many are in Missouri? That would be zero!

Check International Surfing Day’s event page to find a beach party near you. From an otter Rock and Roll Surf Contest for kids in Oregon to a surf art fundraiser in Washington DC, there are a whole variety of events happening — many with prizes, giveaways, and fun socializing.

Can’t find a festivity near you — or can’t take a random Monday off work to hang out at the beach? Celebrate by taking advantage of the blue-green nonprofit Surfrider Foundation’s special membership deal. Donate $25, and you’ll get an International Surfing Day T-shirt, a bar of all natural surf wax, and a one-year subscription to SURFING Magazine.

>> Santa Monica’s “A Tale of Two Carrots.” The city by the beach’s made a trio of videos about sustainability — one focusing on how eating local can even address water issues like water conservation and pollution. The other two videos talk about green energy and the value of trees.

>> Dow Chemical pollutes water, asks famous environmentalist for clean water video, rejects video. At Grist, Anne Lappe writes about how she was asked by Dow Chemical to create a 60-second video for a virtual conference on water sustainability:

In the video I submitted, which you can watch below, I stress that one of the greatest threats to clean water is chemical contaminants — and that Dow Chemical has a long history of water pollution. The PR representative emailed to say “unfortunately we can’t use your video,” but that she would be happy to include me, still, if I would consider re-recording it. When we discussed what that would mean she said, no “fingerpointing”; they wanted a “positive, inclusive discussion.”

Earlier:
>> The Yes Men give Dow free green PR help at its “clean water” events
>> Drink B’eau-Pal: Yes Men ‘help’ Dow Chemical profit from Bhopal disaster

>> New York actors love their water. Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, and other celebs speak out to keep New York’s water safe from fracking.

>> Seafood fraud faces new hurdles. Since Oceana’s recent report about how a lot of seafood — including species in peril — often mislabeled, a new bill to stop this fraud called the Commercial Seafood Consumer Protection Act’s been moving forward in the U.S. Senate.

>> Seven seas’ worth of books for World Oceans Day. KPCC’s Molly Peterson provides a rundown of her faves — including Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening.”

We waste about half our food in America, and that wasted food accounts for about 2 percent of annual energy consumption in the U.S. Now comes news that the water used to produce the food we throw away is about 1.5 times the amount of water we use in our homes!

That study, conducted by the Waste & Resources Action Programme and WWF — is actually for U.K. homes. But “the problem is unlikely to be restricted to the UK,” according to New Scientist. Titled “The Water and Carbon Footprint of Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK,” the study shows the huge impact of the food we throw away:

Our research has found that the water footprint of avoidable food waste is 6,200 million cubic metres per year representing nearly 6% of all our water requirements. In per capita terms, this is 243 litres per person per day, approximately one and a half times the daily average household water use in the UK. A quarter of this water footprint represents water used to grow and process food here in the UK, i.e. water from the UK‟s rivers, lakes and aquifers.

This week happens to be World Water Week — a time when people are hopefully fixing leaks and adopting water-wise habits. Want to try a World Water Week resolution? Try to reduce your food use for the rest of the year. My best food waste reducing tip is this: Get a smaller fridge. It sounds counterintuitive, but it works!

Earlier:
>> Film review: Blue Gold — Who owns your water?
>> Film review: FLOW — Make clean water a human right

Photo by Nick Saltmarsh

Written and directed by Chris Perry and produced within the collaborative animation curriculum at Hampshire College where Chris is an associate professor, “The Incident at Tower 37″ tells the story of a battle over water — between a corporation that dries up a waterbody and the ecosystem that’s being destroyed.

Although that description makes the film sound like a David and Goliath story, the actual film is much more human — or perhaps fishy — in scale. In “The Incident at Tower 37,” the battle happens between one human — presumably a very small cog in a gigantic corporate wheel with many many more water towers — and a few tiny fish affected by the water siphoned off by the tower.

The two sides fight — and leaves one side dead. And unlike most such battles in real life, the fish win — though the result is hardly a happy victory. Here’s how Chris Perry puts it in an interview with TakePart:

The ending is truly a Pyrrhic victory for the lead fish. He achieves his original goal, but not without great loss. I do think there is a seed of hope at the end: even despite the tragedy, the fish knows humans are capable of seeing them as the intelligent creatures they are.

Enjoy the film. And happy World Water Day, everyone.

Next week’s a good week to eat out — and enjoy a glass of tap water in celebration of World Water Day. That’s because UNICEF’s Tap Project‘s teamed up with restaurants across the country to allow diners an easy way of helping to address the world water crisis. From March 20 to March 26 at participating restaurants, a glass of good old H2O will cost you a buck — with the money going to projects that make clean water available to those who don’t yet have it.

I love how this UNICEF project not only draws attention to the world water crisis, but also encourages people to opt against bottled and for tap water — and appreciate the privilege of having access to clean water all the time, practically for free. The money you give this year will go specifically go to projects in Togo, the Central African Republic and Vietnam.

Find participating restaurants near you on the UNICEF Tap Project site. In the L.A. area, I especially recommend Hugo’s Restaurant and Magnolia, both dining spots that support sustainable,local food. Eat locally, act globally.

Believe it or not, Fix A Leak Week actually has a mascot loo — at least in Arizona, where the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association’s teamed up with the EPA’s WaterSense program to push Fix A Leak Week with a 4-mile race on March 19, during which runners will not be allowed to drink water so that the state can conserve the precious resource. Just kidding! The race — dubbed “We’re For Water” — will simply get people “in shape for finding and fixing leaks” like the mascot loo in the promo video above.

I’m actually visiting Arizona this week — but will sadly be leaving before the race and fair. Whether or not you’re in Arizona, this is the week for fun green experiments — like dropping a bit of food coloring into your toilet tank to see if the hues seep out into the bowl pre-flush. That experiment could pay off with a lot of money saved. According to the EPA, “Easily corrected household leaks can increase homeowners’ water bills by 12 percent.” Follow the agency’s tips for discovering and fixing leaks — and save on your water bill in the months to come.

Celebrated annually since 1993, World Water Day’s organized by the UN Water group, which will hold its main event in Cape Town this year. But the day can be celebrated everywhere at events are happening around the world. Find a green-and-blue get-together near you on the UN’s official World Water Day 2011 website.

In L.A. the celebrations are happening early. An all-day World Water Day event’s happening at the Natural History Museum as part of its monthly Sustainable Sunday series this weekend. For the cost of regular admission to the museum, you get to enjoy a free greywater workshop from noon to 4 pm, film screenings of FLOW at 11 am and 1 pm, a community art project, and more. It all happens at the Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles, from on Sun., March 13, from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm.

You can celebrate the day online too. Surfrider Foundation, for example, is focusing on saving water with a World Water Day photo challenge. Simply upload a photo of yourself holding up a sign with your water-saving tip to Surfrider’s Flickr Group. If your photo’s selected as one of Surfrider’s favorites, you’ll get a pair of Levi’s Water Less jeans.

Surfrider’s also put together a list of 15 water-saving tips. Most green LA girl readers will have implemented many of them, but perhaps World Water Day can be your chance to start working on the more challenging tips — like replanting your lawn or yard with climate adapted plants. What will you be doing on World Water Day?