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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 SJV Water

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Court ruling against bond financing for controversial delta tunnel won’t impede project, state says

A recent court ruling may have thrown a wrench in the state’s funding plans for the controversial and expensive Delta Conveyance Project – a tunnel to move Sacramento River water 45 miles beneath the ecologically sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In January, the Sacramento Superior Court denied the state Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) request to finance the project through bonds. Tunnel opponents hailed the ruling as a blow to the project. But state staff say the ruling will not impede funding. DWR has appealed the case and is still planning on using bonds to pay for the project if it comes to fruition.

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Aquafornia news The New York Times

Just how wet has California’s rainy season been?

On Sunday, California’s rainy season officially comes to an end. … So, how did this wet season stack up? As of Tuesday, California had received slightly more rain than usual this winter — 104 percent of the average, according to state data. The state’s snowpack, which accumulates in the Sierra Nevada and typically provides 30 percent of the state’s water supply for the year, is at 101 percent of normal for this time of year. The state’s reservoirs are at an even higher 116 percent of their normal levels, in part because they are still benefiting from the back-to-back “atmospheric rivers” that slammed California last winter.

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Aquafornia news SJV Water

Kings County farmers suffer sticker shock over proposed fees even as state takeover looms

Kings County growers are organizing to stop a set of groundwater and land fees they say will wipe out small farmers, even as the drumbeat of a looming state takeover grows louder. Managers of the Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), which covers the northern tip of Kings County, have been holding a flurry of meetings asking farmers to approve the fees – a combination of $95-per-acre-foot of water pumped and $25-per-acre of land  – at its April 23 meeting. That is after April 16, when the state Water Resources Control Board will hold a hearing to decide whether to put all of Kings County, known as the Tulare Lake groundwater subbasin, into probation for failing to come up with an adequate plan to stop over pumping.

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Aquafornia news Colorado Sun

Colorado River tribes take harder stance on basin negotiations

If federal officials want tribal support for Colorado River deals, they need to pay tribes to conserve, protect their future water use and include them in negotiations, tribal leaders said Wednesday at a conference in southwestern Colorado. Basin states and the federal government are negotiating a new set of operating rules to replace existing drought-response agreements that expire in 2026. Tribes weren’t included when the agreements were originally negotiated in 2007. Basin officials should not make the same mistake again, tribes say. … Compensating tribes for not using their water, and for choosing to cut back on the water they do use, is another key point [for the tribes.]

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Opinion: California has to conserve water. Why is Sacramento dragging its heels?

On the heels of two wet winters, it’s easy to forget how close some parts of California came to running out of water a few short years ago. But this climate amnesia will not help us prepare for the next inevitable drought. … the water board is about to trample the hard-won work that’s been done so far by allowing water utilities until 2035 or later to implement meaningful reductions. … Because the water board’s latest plan for implementing efficiency standards has such an extended timeline, water will inevitably become even more expensive, including for low-income households and communities. 
-Written by Robert Hertzberg, a former speaker of the Assembly and former majority leader of the state Senate; and Assembly member Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), running to replace Adam Schiff in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

‘Humbling, and a bit worrying’: Scientists fail to fully explain record global heat

Deadly heat in the Southwest. Hot-tub temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean. Sweltering conditions in Europe, Asia and South America. That 2023 was Earth’s hottest year on record was in some ways no surprise. For decades, scientists have been sounding the alarm about rapidly rising temperatures driven by humanity’s relentless burning of fossil fuels. But last year’s sudden spike in global temperatures blew far beyond what statistical climate models had predicted, leading one noted climate scientist to warn that the world may be entering “uncharted territory.” … [R]esearchers are scrambling to explain why 2023 was so anomalously hot. Many theories have been proposed, but “as yet, no combination of them has been able to reconcile our theories with what has happened,” Schmidt wrote.

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Aquafornia news CA Natural Resources Agency

News release: 2024 Salton Sea Management Program annual report submitted to State Water Board

The California Natural Resources Agency has submitted its 2024 Annual Report on the Salton Sea Management Program (SSMP) to the State Water Resources Control Board, prepared in compliance with Order WR 2017-0134. The report provides specific updates on the SSMP’s activities in 2023 and planning for future projects, ongoing partnerships to help the SSMP meet its goals, community engagement, and next steps. English and Spanish versions of the report can be found at www.saltonsea.ca.gov under the Featured Documents heading.

Aquafornia news Turlock Journal

Duarte brings Turlock $2.2 million for sewer, drainage projects

Rep. John Duarte (R-Hughson) was in Turlock, as well as other Central Valley communities, on Monday to deliver Community Project Funding checks — as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 — that totaled about $11 million. Turlock received $1.2 million for its Golden State Boulevard sewer-extension project, and $1 million for the city’s stormwater infrastructure project. … Turlock’s Golden State sewer-extension project focuses on extending an 18-inch diameter sewer main near Taylor Road. The extension, according to the city, will provide utility services to an unserved area of Stanislaus County currently on wells and septic tanks. The other project — the Positive Drainage Project — involves replacement and upsizing of 1,120 feet of pipe in the city to create a positive drainage system that would increase flood capacity and alleviate flooding concerns.

Aquafornia news PIRG

Blog: We’re campaigning for microplastic free waters

Plastic fragments have been found at the top of the Alps, in the deepest parts of our oceans and likely, in your local waterways. Some of this microplastic is in the form of nurdles. You may not be familiar with them, but these lentil-sized plastics pose a huge threat to our waters and wildlife. Nurdles, also called plastic pellets, are the building blocks of plastic manufacturing. At plastic factories, pellets that fall on the floor or get contaminated with dirt are sometimes washed down drains. Because they’re small and lightweight, nurdles are often spilled during transport too. … Plastic pellets are extremely difficult to clean up once they reach our waterways, and often polluters are not held accountable.

Aquafornia news Marin Independent Journal

MMWD explores projects to add storage capacity

The Marin Municipal Water District is taking a closer look at storage expansion projects that could increase capacity for billions of gallons of additional water to defend against drought. After several months of study, district officials and consultants are considering projects that could include raising dam heights and some possibilities for creating new dams. Each option would increase the storage capacity by about 20,000 acre-feet. The proposals include expansions of Alpine Lake, Kent Lake and the Soulajule and Nicasio reservoirs. The district is also looking at constructing new reservoirs in the areas of Devil’s Gulch, Halleck Creek and upper Nicasio. The proposals were presented to the water board at its meeting on March 19.

Aquafornia news Times of San Diego

Opinion: Homeowners overwhelmed by flooding can turn to a public insurance adjuster

As a homeowner, you invest a great deal of time, money, love, imagination, and hard work into your house and property.  Of course, you hope nothing will go seriously wrong. Still, you purchase homeowner’s insurance to give you peace of mind and to ensure you’re financially protected if your home and belongings are damaged by unpredictable events such as fire, vandalism, theft, or storms. Today, climate change is causing increasingly erratic weather patterns. Natural disasters, including severe storms and wildfires, are becoming more frequent and devastating. In 2023, nine “atmospheric rivers” pummeled the western United States, dumping record amounts of rain and snow. According to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, more than 32 trillion gallons of water drenched California, racking up $4.6 billion in damages.
-Written by John Petrov, a contractor and public insurance adjuster with over 25 years of experience in the construction industry.

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Aquafornia news CBS 8 - San Diego

Imperial Beach meeting on cross-border contamination

A special workshop on the binational sewage crisis was held Wednesday in Imperial Beach. The meeting featured a panel of experts from various government agencies and academic institutions. Dozens of concerned residents gathered at the special council workshop addressing the ongoing sewage crisis. They heard from the International Boundary and Water Commission shed light on cross-border sewage flows. … Scripps Institution of Oceanography offered valuable insights into the environmental impact of sewage contamination, while SDSU School of Public Health discussed risks associated with chemical and biological pollutants in water, air, and soil.

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Aquafornia news Mercury News

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Billions needed to fund upgrades to meet anticipated wastewater regulations

At least $11 billion would be needed to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities across the Bay Area if regulators impose anticipated stricter environmental rules, according to a regional water board that seeks to protect the San Francisco Bay. The upgrades at dozens of sewage treatment plants, needed to prevent toxic algae blooms and protect fish, would cost an average of $4,000 per household, and consumers may end up funding the improvements. The key culprit? Nitrogen found in urine and fecal matter, which feeds the growth of algae. 

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Aquafornia news The Associated Press

Tiny, endangered fish hinders Colorado River water conservation plan

Southern California’s Imperial Irrigation District, which supplies water to farmers who grow most of the nation’s winter vegetables, planned to start a conservation program in April to scale back what it draws from the critical Colorado River. But a tiny, tough fish got in the way. Now, those plans won’t start until at least June so water and wildlife officials can devise a way to ensure the endangered desert pupfish and other species are protected, said Jamie Asbury, the irrigation district’s general manager. 

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Aquafornia news The Hill

US West hydropower production plunged to 22-year low last year

Hydropower generation in the U.S. West plunged to a 22-year low last year — dropping 11 percent from the year before, according to a new federal data analysis. The total amount produced in the region amounted to 141.5 million megawatt-hours, or about 60 percent of the country’s total hydroelectricity output in the 2022-23 “water year,” per the data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). … On the other hand, a series of atmospheric rivers in California spurred an increase in hydroelectricity production in the Golden State — nearly doubling it in comparison to the previous water year, the analysis noted. 

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Aquafornia news Newsweek

California rain map shows cities to be hit hardest by ’significant’ storm

National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists shared a map on social media that reveals which Southern California cities will be hit hardest by an approaching storm expected to arrive this weekend. California has faced an abnormally wet winter as moisture-laden storms and atmospheric rivers dumped a deluge of rain and snow on the state, beginning in January. The excessive rainfall has resulted from a slew of atmospheric rivers that have battered the state this month. Last year, more than a dozen of them helped alleviate the state’s severe drought situation and replenished many of the state’s reservoirs, but the storms also caused devastating floods and landslides.

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Aquafornia news Bangor Daily News

How David Byrne came to be fascinated by the Penobscot River

No Mainer would assume that David Byrne — legendary frontman for the Talking Heads and endlessly inventive musician and artist — would be fascinated by the Penobscot River Restoration Project. … This Saturday he’ll be giving a talk and leading a panel discussion at the Waterville Opera House with local experts about the dam removal project in the lower Penobscot. … The project began in 1999 as a collaborative effort between many Maine organizations and businesses to better balance hydropower needs with restoring native fisheries and getting the river closer to its natural, pre-industrial state. Between 2012 and 2016, the Veazie Dam and Great Works Dam in Old Town were removed, and a bypass was constructed on the Howland Dam.

Aquafornia news Inside Climate News

Sinking coastal lands will exacerbate the flooding from sea level rise in 24 US cities, new research shows

Flooding could affect one out of every 50 residents in 24 coastal cities in the United States by the year 2050, a study led by Virginia Tech researchers suggests. The study, published this month in Nature, shows how the combination of land subsidence—in this case, the sinking of shoreline terrain—and rising sea levels can lead to the flooding of coastal areas sooner than previously anticipated by research that had focused primarily on sea level rise scenarios. … The study combines measurements of land subsidence obtained from satellites with sea level rise projections and tide charts, offering a more holistic projection of potential flooding risks in 32 cities located along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts.

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Aquafornia news YourCentralValley

With snowpack at normal, what’s the hold up with Ag water allocation?

The frustration for farmers continues to grow after recent news of recent water allocation numbers. The Bureau of Reclamation has announced a 35 percent federal allocation for Central Valley Project recipients, as the California Department of Water Resources has allocated 30 percent of State Water Project requests. The news comes as the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada sits at or near normal. … Joe Del Bosque of Del Bosque Farms … says he and other farmers were extremely disappointed with the recent numbers. He tells me with the current snowpack, and recent, and potentially incoming storms, the allocation should have been higher.

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Aquafornia news Herald and News

Water pumped from Tulelake through historic D-Plant to Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in four years

For the first time in four years, water is being pumped from Tulelake to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. The historic Pumping Plant D in Tulelake Irrigation District (TID) was constructed at the base of Sheepy Ridge in 1942. TID Manager Brad Kirby said the five massive pumps ran year-round for nearly 70 years. … In 2020, drought conditions and federal regulations rendered the plant inoperative. As of Monday morning, the D-Plant is up and running again, pumping water from the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge through Sheepy Ridge to the Lower Klamath refuge thanks to the efforts of TID, Ducks Unlimited and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

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