A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Director Vik Jolly.
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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
The days of huge, unused swaths of public and commercial lawns
appear to be numbered in California and the Metropolitan Water
District is offering an incentive to hasten their demise, at
least in Southern California: A whopping $7-per-square-foot
rebate to businesses, schools and other public institutions
that replace their thirsty lawns with sustainable landscapes
containing native and/or drought-tolerant plants …. thanks to
a $30-million grant from California’s Department of Water
Resources and $96 million from the federal Bureau of
Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Basin System Conservation and
Efficiency Program.
In the more than four decades since I started at the L.A.
Times, we’ve never had a reporter cover water with the depth
and persistence of Ian James. California’s story is often the
story of water — who’s got it, who doesn’t and who will find
our next acre-foot. Ian is a former foreign correspondent who
has written about everything from novel water solutions like
reclaiming sewage, to the intersection of H2O with wildlife and
farms. Essential Cal talked to Ian about his work.
… The August meeting of the California Water Commission
featured an in-depth presentation on the Department of Water
Resources’ (DWR) draft Best Management Practices for addressing
land subsidence in California. These practices are designed to
help local groundwater sustainability agencies better
understand the causes of subsidence, how to monitor it
effectively, and strategies for managing its impacts.
… Subsidence is one of the six sustainability indicators
required to be managed under SGMA.
Salt marshes, critical buffers against coastal erosion, rely on
a net gain of sediment to maintain their elevation and
resilience as sea levels rise. A new study examines how two
different sediment delivery routes—wave-battered marsh edges
and meandering tidal creeks—combine to shape the future of
these vital ecosystems. Focusing on Whales Tail Marsh in
South San Francisco Bay, which features both an eroding
bay-facing edge and a major tidal creek, researchers deployed
net-deposition tiles and oceanographic sensors to track when,
where, and how sediment moved into and through the marsh.
California lawmakers are scrambling to finalize a last-minute
deal that would extend the state’s landmark greenhouse gas
reduction program – known as cap and trade – through
2045. At the center of this year’s reauthorization fight
are a number of controversial concessions that former Gov.
Jerry Brown gave to various industries – including oil and gas
– when the Legislature last renewed the program in 2017.
… The twist? There’s no bill. And even if the text of
legislation comes out by the Wednesday deadline to introduce
it, opponents argue that such a critical policy should not be
rushed through at the last minute.
Tribal leaders, Delta farmers, conservationists and
environmental justice advocates rallied for the imperiled
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta on the west steps of the
Capitol last Friday. As they held signs proclaiming “Pro Delta
Means No Tunnel” and “Stop the $100 Billion Delta Tunnel,” they
called on lawmakers to defend the state’s water rights,
environmental protections and public due process from Gov.
Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders’ attempts to bypass all of
those via new trailer bills benefiting Big Ag and water
agencies in Southern California. –Written by columnist Dan Bacher.
The Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board finalized a
settlement agreement on Aug. 13, outlining a $850,000 payment
from the California Department of Transportation and the North
Tahoe Public Utility District for the July 18, 2024 sewage
spill in Carnelian Bay, Calif. … The July 18, 2024 spill
occurred when a subcontractor working on a Caltrans Hwy
28/North Lake Blvd project punctured a sewer force main that is
owned and operated by NTPUD. The punctured main is the main
pipeline in the collection system for transporting raw sewage
out of the Lake Tahoe area.
… The mission of the agency [the Forest Service], established
during the Theodore Roosevelt presidency, was to steward and
preserve the nation’s forests, protect the water
quality and flow of rivers that supplied water to
downstream communities, and ensure an orderly process for
supplying timber. … The Trump administration has issued
a raft of orders aimed at increasing logging, mining, and oil
and gas production on public lands. … [N]ow the Roadless
Rule—the federal policy that prohibits road building,
reconstruction, and timber harvesting on 58.5 million acres of
public lands—is itself under fire. In June, Secretary of
Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced that her agency will
rescind the rule.
… The Royal Oaks Community is one of hundreds that dot
California’s Central Valley and Central Coast, an area which
single-handedly produces over 25 percent of the nation’s food.
Much of the region’s piped water infrastructure ranges from
contaminated to nonexistent. … Enter Community Water
Center, a non-profit organization that has been working in
rural California for two decades. … For the past five years
they have provided a free bottled water program to households
living with contaminated water, supported by California state
funding. But since the increase in ICE activity, the program
has faltered. … [D]espite water being delivered to their
doorsteps, community members are now afraid to partake.
… Sandhill cranes were once almost extinct in the eastern
U.S. Today, they’re making a comeback. These large
waterbirds disappeared across much of their breeding range in
the early 20th century as wetlands were drained for
agriculture. … Laws such as the Clean Water Act, and programs
that protect and restore wetlands and grasslands, such as the
USDA Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, have played an
important part in this species’ recovery. Hunting
regulations and migratory bird treaties have also been
key.
… NAU [Northern Arizona University] and University of
California Berkeley scientists working along the region’s Eel
River have discovered a micro-scale nutrient factory that keeps
rivers healthy and allows salmon to thrive. The scientists’ new
study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
reveals how a partnership between algae and bacteria works like
nature’s clean-nitrogen machine, turning nitrogen from the air
into food that fuels river ecosystems without fertilizers or
pollution. The hidden nutrient factory boosts populations of
aquatic insects, which young salmon rely on for growth and
survival.
California lawmakers have approved SB 72, a sweeping water
management bill designed to set statewide water supply targets
and strengthen long-term planning. The measure, authored by
Senator Anna Caballero, passed the Assembly [last] week and now
heads to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature. Backed by
water agencies, counties and environmental and business groups,
SB 72 would enhance the California Water Plan, require regional
planning and collaboration across stakeholders, and codify
supply goals to help drought-proof the state.
Congressman Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06) has joined with colleagues
from seven western states to reconstitute the Colorado River
Caucus, which he will co-chair with Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse of
Colorado. … Initially launched as a bipartisan effort by
members of the 118th Congress in 2023, the 12-member Colorado
River Caucus includes representation from Arizona, California,
Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Colorado.
Kern farmers will likely avoid state sanctions thanks to the
latest revision of the region’s groundwater plan that
substantially increased drinking water protections and
eventually gained state approval – with some required tweaks.
State Water Resources Control Board staff recommended on Friday
that the Kern subbasin be moved back under oversight of the
Department of Water Resources provided water managers fix three
outstanding issues.
A sweeping plan to remove two century-old dams on Northern
California’s Eel River promises to revive native fish runs –
but it also raises alarms for the wildlife that has come to
rely on the soon-to-vanish Lake Pillsbury. … PG&E’s
own environmental filings warn that the disappearance of Lake
Pillsbury may leave the [tule] elk stranded in thick sediment
or searching for new forage grounds once the water is gone.
… Against these losses stands a well-documented
ecological gain: the restoration of a free-flowing Eel River
and its native salmon and steelhead.
House lawmakers will hear from senior Army Corps of Engineers
officials Wednesday on the status of federal water
infrastructure studies and projects. The Transportation and
Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment
hearing will focus on the Army Corps’ implementation of
projects to reduce flooding and improve navigation that
Congress approved under the Water Resources Development Act.
… The hearing, “Water Resources Development Acts
Implementation: Review and Oversight of Past Provisions,” comes
as Democrats have accused the agency of delaying construction
of dam repairs and other infrastructure projects in blue
states, including Washington and California.
Golden mussels pose a growing threat to California’s waterways
and infrastructure. … Dr. Pam Marrone is the co-founder of
the Invasive Species Corporation, a Davis-based company seeking
to find environmentally-friendly solutions to control invasive
species. The company created a product called Zequanox that
successfully eradicates non-native zebra and quagga mussels,
and is now adapting that product for the newest aquatic
invader. Marrone spoke with Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez about
her experience in biocontrol, and her company’s work to get rid
of the golden mussel for good.
…[A] government whistleblower and other witnesses in a recent
state trial alleged that cleanup operations after some of the
largest fires in state history were plagued by mismanagement
and overspending — and that toxic contamination was at times
left behind in local communities. Steven Larson, a former state
debris operations manager in the California Governor’s Office
of Emergency Services, failed to convince a jury that he was
wrongly fired by the agency for flagging those and other issues
to his supervisors. … [T]he little-discussed trial provided a
rare window into a billion-dollar public-private industry that
is rapidly expanding.
California American Water Co. is asking a court to dismiss a
lawsuit filed by Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
that seeks to take over the investor-owned utility’s
distribution system – an eminent domain proceeding. The water
district filed a counter motion on the same date as Cal Am’s
filing – Aug. 20 In the 24-page Cal Am filing – a motion for
summary judgment – attorneys for Cal Am cite numerous
reasons why a Monterey County Superior Court judge should rule
in favor of Cal Am on the water district’s eminent domain
claim.
California’s digital backbone, sustained by a vast
constellation of data centers, is at a
critical juncture. Once operating quietly behind the
scenes, these facilities have been thrust into the spotlight
due to the convergence of two forces: surging demand for
digital services and the escalating impact of climate change.
… Water shortages make traditional cooling techniques
increasingly difficult to justify.
