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 Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed a new leader of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, installing
Neil Jacobs. … Dr. Jacobs, an atmospheric scientist and
meteorologist who has stressed a strong desire to improve the
accuracy of U.S. weather forecasting models, is generally
respected across NOAA, which oversees much of the federal
climate research that the administration has targeted for deep
cuts. At the same time, he has faced criticism and rebuke
for his tenure during President Trump’s first term.
More than 100 engineers, utility leaders, scientists, and
public officials came together in the wake of January’s
catastrophic Los Angeles firestorms to identify innovative
strategies and emerging technologies that could build more
resilient infrastructure, recognizing the broader challenges of
growing climate and disaster risks. … The resulting
report, “Innovation Opportunities for a Resilient L.A.,”
emphasizes that no single strategy is sufficient. Instead, Los
Angeles must pursue a mix of approaches, from upgrading
infrastructure to improving coordination across agencies.
… Climatologists are forecasting a 71% chance of another
La Niña this fall, which could lead to more drought conditions
and potentially higher-than-normal wildfire danger.
… While the latest data suggests that a La Niña may
impact us, it remains unclear whether it will be a weak or
moderate one. … [Bill Patzert, research scientist and
oceanographer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory] predicted
that the best-case scenario is that we get a series of
spaced-out storms over the next few months. So, even if
rainfall is below normal again, if it’s spread out, and any
potential fuels are damp enough, we won’t see another round of
major wildfires this season.
Under a new program developed by Arizona’s water department,
West Valley housing developers have access to a new water
provider. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs announced that EPCOR is
the first company operating in Arizona to receive an
Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply, or ADAWS.
ADAWS went into effect in November and serves as a pathway for
providers to prove they have enough water to last an area for
100 years. … Hobbs said the alternative designation
allows water companies to prove they have an adequate supply
from a variety of sources — in EPCOR’s case, a combination of
groundwater and sources like Lake Pleasant and the Colorado
River.
A Palo Alto environmental nonprofit recently acquired 668 acres
of farmland in the Pajaro River Valley with the hopes of
returning parts of the property to its former wetland
landscape. The property, situated along the Upper Pajaro
River on the border of Santa Clara and San Benito counties, was
formerly a privately owned farm along with two ranches used for
livestock grazing and vegetable crops. … POST
[Peninsula Open Space Trust] crafted its vision for the site’s
restoration with the hopes of making the surrounding watershed
— and the communities it feeds into — more resistant to the
effects of flooding.
Some of the biggest names in the American food world are
rallying to stop California from banning common nonstick
cookware, saying the proposal will hurt restaurants and home
cooks. … Proponents of the bill argue that there are
already many nonstick cookware products that are made without
PFAS. They have also argued that the environmental damage from
manufacturing PFAS products and disposing of them significantly
harms the environment, including drinking water
sources.
California state prosecutors are taking Sable Offshore to
court, accusing the oil company of repeatedly discharging dirt
and other material into coastal streams and wetlands without a
permit as it rushed to bring a pipeline and an offshore
drilling platform back online. … The lawsuit accuses
Sable of digging around the idle pipeline it is seeking to
repair and reopen without first seeking a permit from the
Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. … The
work, called “pig and dig” operations, risks damaging the
“sensitive aquatic and riparian habitat” by discharging dirt
and vegetation in violation of state water quality rules,
according to the complaint.
The six bathrooms that will be in a
184,000-square-foot data center that Related Digital
is building out for CoreWeave in Cheyenne are going
to use more water than the data center’s cooling
systems. That’s according to Related Companies CEO Jeff
Blau, who was in Cheyenne Tuesday to break ground on the $1.2
billion facility. … “What are the two complaints you
hear about, you hear about water consumption. Neighborhoods and
communities are concerned that we’re going to use up all the
water,” he said. So, the $1.2 billion data center that Related
Digital is developing isn’t going to use any water.
… There are several ways to get energy from deep within the
Earth. Hydrothermal systems tap into underground hot water and
steam to generate electricity. These resources are concentrated
in geologically active areas where heat, water and permeable
rock naturally coincide. In the U.S., that’s generally
California, Nevada and Utah. … Some geothermal fluids
contain valuable minerals; lithium concentrations in the
groundwater of California’s Salton Sea region could potentially
supply battery manufacturers. … Despite its challenges,
geothermal energy’s reliability, low emissions and scalability
make it a vital complement to solar and wind.
The human right to water is often framed in terms of pipes,
treatment plants, and funding. Far less attention is paid to
governance and who gets to decide on the rules that shape water
quality, price, and reliability. Now, writing in Nature Water,
Kristin Babson Dobbin and co-authors shed light on how local
democracy influences the right to water. … By analysing
over 2,400 community water systems in California, Dobbin et al.
show that ‘water democracy’ — the extent to which residents can
vote for their water system’s governing board — is linked to
measurable differences in performance.
The ongoing water distribution dispute between the City of
Tehachapi and the Tehachapi Cummings County Water District has
escalated, with both parties taking their grievances to social
media. The conflict, which began three years ago, centers on
the allocation of water from the California State Water
Project. … City Manager Greg Garrett claims that the majority
of water from the SWP is being allocated to agriculture,
leaving the city with insufficient resources for residents and
future developments. … In contrast, Thomas Neisler,
general manager of the water district, insists that the city’s
goals can be met without additional SWP water.
Deep in the Piedmont Hills, Gregg Semler and Casey Leblanc are
checking up on what could be described as the Bay Area’s newest
and smallest hydroelectric power plant. … The team installed
the miniaturized turbine in a pipeline connecting part of the
East Bay Municipal Utility District’s water distribution
system. It takes the place of the normal water pressure
regulator, housed in a small building next door. But instead of
just controlling the flow, they say it harnesses it to produce
electricity, spinning the turbine-driven generator.
Seeking to prevent the California State Water Resources Control
Board from stepping in to regulate groundwater in critically
overdrafted subbasins, local agencies are working to correct
deficiencies in their plans to protect groundwater. With
groundwater sustainability agencies formed and groundwater
sustainability plans evaluated, the state water board has moved
to implement the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
or SGMA. … Under probation, groundwater extractors in
the Tulare Lake subbasin face annual fees of $300 per well and
$20 per acre-foot pumped, plus a late reporting fee of 25%.
SGMA also requires well owners to file annual groundwater
extraction reports.
Last year’s snow deluge in California, which quickly erased a
two decade long megadrought, was essentially a
once-in-a-lifetime rescue from above, a new study found. Don’t
get used to it because with climate change the 2023 California
snow bonanza —a record for snow on the ground on April 1 — will
be less likely in the future, said the study in Monday’s
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
… UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t part
of the study but specializes in weather in the U.S. West, said,
“I would not be surprised if 2023 was the coldest, snowiest
winter for the rest of my own lifetime in California.”
Six tribes in the Upper Colorado River Basin, including two in
Colorado, have gained long-awaited access to discussions about
the basin’s water issues — talks that were formerly
limited to states and the federal government. Under an
agreement finalized this month, the tribes will meet every two
months to discuss Colorado River issues with an interstate
water policy commission, the Upper Colorado River Commission,
or UCRC. It’s the first time in the commission’s 76-year
history that tribes have been formally included, and the timing
is key as negotiations about the river’s future intensify.
… Most immediately, the commission wants a key number:
How much water goes unused by tribes and flows down to the
Lower Basin?
A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration
Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national
forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water.
“Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely
critical to any agricultural commodity production in the
American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a
letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31
members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for
several efforts related to water conservation, including
promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice
eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation
Reduction Act.
A study led by NASA researchers provides new estimates of how
much water courses through Earth’s rivers, the rates at which
it’s flowing into the ocean, and how much both of those figures
have fluctuated over time—crucial information for understanding
the planet’s water cycle and managing its freshwater supplies.
The results also highlight regions depleted by heavy water use,
including the Colorado River basin in the United States, the
Amazon basin in South America, and the Orange River basin in
southern Africa.
State water management officials must work more closely with
local agencies to properly prepare California for the effects
of climate change, water scientists say. Golden State
officials said in the newly revised California Water
Plan that as the nation’s most populous state, California
is too diverse and complex for a singular approach to manage a
vast water network. On Monday, they recommended expanding the
work to better manage the state’s precious water resources —
including building better partnerships with communities most at
risk during extreme drought and floods and improving critical
infrastructure for water storage, treatment and distribution
among different regions and watersheds.
It’s the most frustrating part of conservation. To save water,
you rip out your lawn, shorten your shower time, collect
rainwater for the flowers and stop washing the car. Your water
use plummets. And for all that trouble, your water supplier
raises your rates. Why? Because everyone is using so much less
that the agency is losing money. That’s the dynamic in
play with Southern California’s massive wholesaler, the
Metropolitan Water District, despite full reservoirs after two
of history’s wettest winters. … Should water users be
happy about these increases? The answer is a counterintuitive
“yes.” Costs would be higher and water scarcer in the future
without modest hikes now.
A steady stream of water spilled from Lake Casitas Friday, a
few days after officials declared the Ojai Valley reservoir had
reached capacity for the first time in a quarter century. Just
two years earlier, the drought-stressed reservoir, which
provides drinking water for the Ojai
Valley and parts of Ventura, had dropped under 30%.
The Casitas Municipal Water District was looking at emergency
measures if conditions didn’t improve, board President Richard
Hajas said. Now, the lake is full, holding roughly 20 years of
water.
