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Water news you need to know

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 Chris Bowman.

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Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: California rolls out permanent water restrictions for cities, towns

Drought or no drought, California water regulators are pushing ahead with a new conservation policy that could force some communities to cut water use upward of 30% permanently — though on more lenient terms than originally proposed. The first-of-its-kind regulation is intended to help the state confront chronic water shortages as climate change makes for hotter, drier weather. The initial draft of the regulation, released last year, was widely criticized for asking roughly 400 cities and water agencies to cut back too much too quickly. The cost of compliance was also a concern. Acknowledging the burden, the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday unveiled a revised set of rules that would allow some communities to use more water than originally planned as well as extend deadlines for meeting the conservation mandates.

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Aquafornia news E&E News by POLITICO

States grapple with how to grow in drying West

Across the parched West, there are signs the region’s decades-long population and housing boom is confronting the realities of dwindling water supplies. These have come in recent months from court rulings and executive edicts alike, as states crack down on the potential for new users to draw from already oversubscribed aquifers and surface waters. The skeleton of a would-be subdivision outside Las Vegas illustrates the coming constraints, stymied by a lack of water to support the new community. Water shortages also forced difficult decisions in other places, such as new restrictions in the Phoenix suburbs and a Utah town that halted all new construction for more than two years until it could secure a new well.

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Aquafornia news KPBS - San Diego

New state bill aims to force companies to clean up pollution in the Tijuana River

Still water in the Tijuana River Valley reflects the chirping birds who live there, giving the impression it is as nature made it — until you see the floating trash and smell the stagnant, polluted water. For decades, activists tried to clean up the Tijuana River’s watershed as it flowed from Tijuana into San Diego’s coastal waters, which are contaminated with both human and industrial waste. A recent study from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that coastal pollution is also transferring to the air. “This is nothing short of an environmental and public health crisis, and it has been made worse by the fact that California companies are part of the problem,” said State Senator Steve Padilla Monday, while announcing SB 1178, a bill to address cross-border pollution.

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Aquafornia news Ag Net West

California citrus farmers anticipate a good year despite several challenges

California citrus farmers are finding ways to adapt to the changing landscape, as the challenges of this production year come to light. Amid the harvest of California navels, mandarins, and other specialty varieties, two industry leaders share their perspectives on the prospects of the industry. … Jim Phillips, President and CEO of Sunkist, expressed similar concerns regarding production but also emphasized the current state of affairs regarding the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). California citrus farmers need the support of the legislature regarding water access, as the issue is outpacing almost every other concern for growers, said Phillips. Both Bates and Phillips noted that the substantial amount of rainfall and snowpack over the past two winters are supporting growers in the fight for water access.

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Aquafornia news Law360

Tire companies seek exit from salmon-harming chemical suit

A dozen tire companies are asking a California federal judge to toss a suit claiming a rubber additive is harming protected salmon, arguing that the litigation stretches the Endangered Species Act “beyond its breaking point” and that regulation of the substance belongs with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, not in courts. 

Aquafornia news Newsweek

Before and after pictures show key difference in Nevada snowpack

Photos recently shared by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Las Vegas revealed a key difference in snowpack levels between this year and last year. After years of drought, an abnormally wet winter produced more than a dozen atmospheric rivers that brought a deluge of rain and snow to the region. A similarly wet winter has happened this year, with multiple atmospheric rivers bringing torrential downpours to California, Nevada, and other western states. However, despite the storms, the region’s snowfall hasn’t been as impressive as it was last year. 

Aquafornia news The Independent

Giant sequoias thriving in UK and could grow as tall as California’s, study finds

Giant sequoia trees, imported to the UK 160 years ago, are flourishing despite the dramatically different climate to their native California, a new study has found. The huge trees, which are declining in numbers in California due to increasing heat, are now adapting well to the UK’s climate and growing taller, a study conducted by UCL researchers says. “The growth here in the UK seems to be suited to our wetter climate, so there’s far less chance of water stress here than in the Sierras in California,” lead author of the study and professor of geogrpahy, Mat Disney, told The Independent.

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Aquafornia news The Coast News Group

Escondido hires new consultant for Lake Wohlford Dam replacement

A new consulting firm is taking over construction management services for the city’s Lake Wohlford Dam Replacement Project. The Escondido City Council unanimously approved hiring GEI Consultants, Inc. for $12.9 million to continue construction management services for replacing the 129-year-old dam. Lake Wohlford Dam was first constructed with earth and rock in 1895 to a height of 76 feet. About 30 years later, the dam was raised to 100 feet using a slurry hydraulic fill process. In 2007, during a routine seismic evaluation of the dam, the California Division of Safety of Dams determined that the hydraulic fill section could liquefy and fail in the event of a greater than 7.5-magnitude earthquake along the Elsinore Fault. In response, the city lowered the water level of Lake Wohlford to prevent surpassing the original dam height of 76 feet.

Aquafornia news California Department of Parks and Recreation

News release: Division of Boating and Waterways offering grants for quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention programs

California State Parks’ Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) today announced the availability of grant funding to prevent the further spread of quagga and zebra mussels into California’s waterways. Funded by the California Mussel Fee Sticker (also known as the Quagga Sticker), the Quagga and Zebra Mussel (QZ) Infestation Prevention Grant Program expects to award a total of up to $2 million across eligible applicants. 

Aquafornia news California State University, Fullerton

New study: CSUF research reveals evidence of epic southern California floods during Little Ice Age

A new study by Cal State Fullerton researchers shows evidence of two epic floods that occurred within the past 500 years in Southern California during the Little Ice Age. Their research is the first-ever, land-based, flood-event evidence from 1450 to 1850 — a documented period of above-average wetness in Southern California, said Matthew E. Kirby, professor of geological sciences. According to scientists, floods — not earthquakes — represent California’s single most significant socioeconomic natural hazard risk. … Climate models predict that the frequency of large flood-producing precipitation events will increase in the 21st century due to climate change. 

Aquafornia news Oaklandside

Harmful algae detected in Lake Merritt water samples

A rusty red color in Lake Merritt that left lake stewards scrambling to sample the water on Mar. 7 has tested positive for the same algae that caused the devastating harmful algal bloom in 2022.  On Friday, lake stewards sent water samples to labs run by the California Department of Public Health and San Francisco Bay Regional Water Control Board. Unofficial field testing initially detected no harmful algae. However, lab testing confirmed over the weekend the presence of Heterosigma akashiwo, a type of algae often associated with harmful blooms.  Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when certain types of algae grow rapidly and release toxins, lower oxygen levels, and cause other changes in water quality that can kill fish and other marine creatures. 

Aquafornia news SJV Water

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: Second San Joaquin Valley groundwater subbasin recommended for state takeover

The Friant-Kern Canal was called out specifically as one of the reasons the state should take over pumping in the Tule groundwater subbasin in Tulare County. The recommendation was contained in a recently released staff report to the Water Resources Control Board. While the report stated groundwater management plans covering the subbasin didn’t adequately address subsidence and continued depletion of the aquifer and degradation of water quality in general, it also noted the significant harm to the Friant-Kern Canal, which brings water 152 miles south from Millerton Lake to Arvin. Excessive overpumping caused land beneath a 33-mile stretch of the Friant-Kern Canal to collapse, creating a sag that reduced the canal’s carrying capacity south of Pixley by 60%.

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Aquafornia news CalMatters

‘Simply catastrophic’: California salmon season to be restricted or shut down — again

California’s fishing industry is bracing for another bad year as federal managers today announced plans to heavily restrict or prohibit salmon fishing again, after cancelling the entire season last year.  The Pacific Fishery Management Council today released a series of options that are under consideration, all of which either ban commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the ocean off California or shorten the season and set strict catch limits. The council’s decision is expected next month; the commercial season typically begins in May and ends in October. … [P]opulations are now a fraction of what they once were — dams have blocked vital habitat, while droughts and water diversions have driven down flows and increased temperatures, killing large numbers of salmon eggs and young fish.

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

As water rates soar, legislators seek funding for assistance

In California and across the country, household water rates have been rising as utilities invest to upgrade aging infrastructure, secure future supplies and meet treatment standards for clean drinking water. As monthly water bills continue to increase, growing numbers of customers have been struggling to pay. New federal legislation would establish a water assistance program to help low-income families pay their bills and prevent shutoffs of water service. The bill, introduced by Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, would make permanent a federal program that Congress authorized in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provided more than $1 billion in assistance, but it’s expiring.

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Aquafornia news Las Vegas Review-Journal

‘Closer’ to normal: What Rockies snowpack could mean for Lake Mead

Monday marked a key cutoff time by which Colorado River states had been tasked with proposing a consensus-based plant for long-term water conservation in the overtaxed system. But with the arrival of that deadline, set by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, no such agreement was on the table. Instead, the river system’s two main contingents — the Upper and Lower basins — submitted their own competing plans. The proposals pertained to an upcoming update of the rules — known as the 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages — that govern where, when and how much the seven basin states must conserve water from the 1,450-mile river.

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Aquafornia news Capitol Weekly

Podcast: How working forests can fight wildfire and floods – while slowing climate change

California has set ambitious climate goals, including phasing out the use of fossil fuels and becoming carbon neutral by 2045. Our guest today is here to talk about the role nature can play in meeting those goals. Laurie Wayburn is the co-founder and president of the Pacific Forest Trust and the chair of the California Natural and Working Lands Expert Advisory Committee. She was also the lead author of a recent report suggesting the state should invest “as much in nature-based climate solutions as it has in clean energy and transportation.” With proper forest management, California could capture 400 million tons of carbon each year, lower wildfire risk and vastly improve flood protection in the state.

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Aquafornia news Modesto Bee

River restoration increases southwest of Modesto CA

Just south of Dos Rios Ranch, a much-praised effort at river restoration, another such project is taking root. It will add about 380 acres of floodplain and other habitat to the 1,600 acres at Dos Rios. They are near the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers, about eight miles southwest of Modesto. The state-funded project, totaling about $20.8 million, is on the former Hidden Valley Dairy. Annual feed crops are giving way to oaks, cottonwoods, willows and other native plants. The floodplain will take on high river flows that otherwise could threaten nearby Grayson and downstream towns. The standing water could recharge the aquifer below for use during droughts. The place could offer food and shelter to fish, birds, mammals and other creatures.

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Aquafornia news Voice of San Diego

As city and county officials were mired in confusion, local nonprofits led the flood relief response

As floodwaters receded from the streets of southeastern San Diego on Jan. 22, two things began to happen. Several local nonprofits — not trained in disaster response — set up a victim assistance center at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA. At the same time, county and city officials had a series of extreme miscommunications that delayed the opening of a government-run assistance center within city limits for nearly two weeks, according to letters obtained by Voice of San Diego.  Normally in the wake of a disaster, government officials open what they call a Local Assistance Center near the disaster site. These assistance centers connect survivors with government and non-government resources. A survivor could get anything from a new driver’s license to food or unemployment benefits. 

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

California’s extreme storms are being amped up by climate change

A powerful winter storm buried the Sierra last weekend, with wet weather continuing for days in the Bay Area and Central Coast. Thunderstorms Wednesday drenched Salinas, dropping an entire inch in just 25 minutes. After historic weather last year, intense California storms have persisted this winter, with strong downpours causing widespread flooding in San Diego and damaging landslides in places like Los Angeles. Many ingredients contribute to extreme storm activity, but scientists agree that climate change is already amping up winter rains — and may bring even wilder weather in the future.

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Aquafornia news SJV Sun

Cannon Michael re-elected as board chair for San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority

Cannon Michael has been re-elected as the chairman of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority.  The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority announced Michael’s re-election on Monday. The big picture: Michael is the president of family-owned Los Banos farming operation Bowles Farming Company. He also serves as the chair of the Henry Miller Reclamation District, as a board member of the Water Education Foundation and as an advisory board member of the Public Policy Institute of California.

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