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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Can Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado agree to a new
apportionment of the Rio Grande’s waters without the U.S.
government’s approval? The Supreme Court of the United States
is set to hear a case next week that may affect access to water
for millions of Americans — and set a precedent that could
impact millions more, as increased usage and climate change
further strain supply of the precious resource. … If
[the court sides with the states], the government might be
understood to have less weight to throw around in other
negotiations, such as the one that is also happening about the
Colorado River.
In early February 2024 the Mountain Counties Water Resources
Association adopted new forest management principles with the
goal of solving the ongoing problem and severe effects of
California’s mega wildfires. “Over 100 years of
suppressing wildfires and changing climate have produced
overgrown forests and catastrophic mega wildfires that are
impacting communities, degrading California’s headwaters’ water
quality, water infrastructure and forest resources in Sierra
Nevada watersheds, (ultimately) creating a toxic smoke health
hazard throughout the state,” MCWRA’s website
reads. “These severe mega wildfires release tons of
greenhouse gases and eliminate the ability of forests to absorb
and store atmospheric carbon,” the website continues.
You may have heard that various kinds of invasive plants and
animals create problems for species that are native to an area.
In the case of the quagga mussel, which only grows to the size
of a thumbnail, its effects extend beyond the natural ecology
and into the built environment. … Rick Boatner, the
invasive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, says the invasive mussels are what’s known as
filter feeders. “They’re removing the lowest part of the food
web out of the water system, the phytoplankton and stuff like
that,” Boatner said. “So now you will not have the food needed
for our salmon fry and steelhead trout species…”
The Kern subbasin, composed of 22 water entities across the
valley portion of Kern County, is working on a groundwater
sustainability plan its members hope will be accepted by the
State Water Resources Control Board after the subbasin’s
initial plan was deemed inadequate. Currently the subbasin has
two main objectives. One is partnering with Self-Help
Enterprises to assist with the administration of a program to
fix domestic wells harmed by over pumping. The other is
gathering support among the 22 entities to participate in the
Friant-Kern Canal subsidence study. Proposed partnership: Under
the proposal, Self-Help would assist with subbasin’s well
issues in several ways.
A network of artificial streams is teaching scientists how
California’s mountain waterways — and the ecosystems that
depend on them — may be impacted by a warmer, drier climate.
Over the next century, climate change is projected to bring
less snowfall to the Sierra Nevada. … In a new study,
University of California, Berkeley, researchers used a series
of nine artificial stream channels off Convict Creek in Mammoth
Lakes, California, to mimic the behavior of headwater streams
under present-day conditions and future climate change
scenarios.
In the near future, recycled wastewater could account for 30%
of the drinkable water in the East county. The water would go
through several purification steps at a new facility being
built in Santee. More than 10 years and $950 million after the
project began, the East County Advanced Water purification is
just a few years away from opening. The facility will provide
water to East County in a sustainable way. Before, much of the
water used in East County homes was released back into the
ocean. By the end of 2026, 11.5 million gallons of purified
water will be treated and released daily.
NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR (German Aerospace
Center) have agreed to jointly build, launch, and operate a
pair of spacecraft that will yield insights into how Earth’s
water, ice, and land masses are shifting by measuring monthly
changes in the planet’s gravity field. Tracking large-scale
mass changes – showing when and where water moves within and
between the atmosphere, oceans, underground aquifers, and ice
sheets – provides a view into Earth’s water cycle, including
changes in response to drivers like climate change.
Although pesticides can rid your home of cockroaches or farm
fields of unwanted insects, they also can harm fish and
potentially even people, according to a new study from Oregon
State University. At high concentrations, these commonly
used pyrethroid pesticides, bifenthrin, cyfluthrin and
cyhalothrin, act as a neurotoxin for pests. … At low
concentrations, the pyrethroid pesticides disrupt fish’s
endocrine system, which produces hormones. The scientists
wanted to better understand how short of an exposure would harm
fish.
Plans to build a water pump station in Novato are drawing
opposition from neighbors. The North Marin Water District is
considering building the station at “Site 2,” a parcel on a
city-owned greenway that borders Arroyo San Jose Creek near
Ignacio Boulevard and Palmer Drive. … Opponents say the pump
station will be an eyesore in the creek’s promenade area.
Household leaks waste nearly 1 trillion gallons of water
nationwide every year, enough to provide water to over 11
million homes. During Fix a Leak Week (March 18 to March 24),
the Department of Water Resources (DWR) encourages everyone to
find and fix leaks inside and outside their home to save water.
Leaks are not just a household problem – parts of California’s
water delivery infrastructure are aging and developing leaks
too. This aging infrastructure can cause significant water loss
and hinder our ability to deliver water efficiently. DWR is
committed to repairing them to maintain our infrastructure and
protect California’s valuable water supplies for future
generations.
California regulators this week proposed delaying new rules
aimed at reducing how much water people use on their lawns,
drawing praise from agencies that said they needed more time to
comply but criticism from environmentalists who warn that the
delay would damage the state’s already scarce supply. Last
year, California proposed new rules that would, cumulatively,
reduce statewide water use by about 14%. Those rules included
lowering outdoor water use standards below the current
statewide average by 2035. On Tuesday, regulators proposed
delaying that timeline by five years, until 2040. The State
Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to vote on the rules
later this year. The state would not punish people for using
too much water on their lawns.
The Sacramento Superior Court has ruled in favor of the State
Water Board’s 2018 Bay Delta Plan update, denying all 116
claims by petitioners. In December 2018, the State Water
Resources Control Plan adopted revised flow
objectives for the San Joaquin River and its three major
tributaries, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced rivers. The
new flow objectives provide for increased flows on the three
tributaries to help revive and protect native fall-run
migratory fish populations. The Board also adopted a revised
south Delta salinity objectives, increasing the level of
salinity allowed from April to August. Several petitions
were filed in several counties challenging the Board’s
action.
… A windswept county in the Sacramento Valley — whose
entire population of 22,000 people is just one-third of Palo
Alto’s — may soon be known for something else: the largest new
reservoir anywhere in California in the past 50 years. Last
weekend, President Biden signed a package of bills that
included $205 million in construction funding for Sites
Reservoir, a proposed $4.5 billion project planned for the
rolling ranchlands west of the town of Maxwell, about 70
miles north of Sacramento. … The make-or-break moment
for Sites is a series of hearings scheduled to run from June to
November in which the State Water Resources Control Board will
analyze fisheries studies and other documents and decide
whether to award it the water rights to move forward.
Snowfall this week in the Rockies has improved the water
picture for the Colorado River, but one expert says she’s not
counting her chickens before they’re hatched. Current
information on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s website shows
that snowpack levels in the Upper Colorado River Basin are at
110% of normal for this time of year. That’s an improvement
over March 1 when it was at 101%. … important weeks are
still ahead, even though the snowpack peak is typically
measured on April 1 each year.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council is considering three
options for the ocean salmon season, set to begin May 16. The
federal council that manages water from California, Oregon and
Washington state came up with two options that would entail a
short salmon season, and it’ll come with small harvest limits
for both commercial and sport fishing. The last option includes
closing off the ocean fisheries for the second consecutive
year. Last year, commercial and recreation salmon fleets in
California were left anchored following the PFMC’s decision to
cancel the 2023 fishing season due to years of drought, low
river level and dry conditions affecting the Chinook salmon
populations in the Klamath and Sacramento rivers.
California enjoyed a second consecutive winter of above-average
precipitation this year, and many are hoping that will
translate to another relatively calm fire season. But that’s
far from a sure thing, even though the outlook for the next few
months is good, experts say. In 2023, about 320,000 acres
burned statewide due to wildfires, well below the five-year
average of 1.7 million acres. Storms that winter played a part:
Rain revitalized a landscape parched by years of drought and a
colossal Sierra Nevada snowpack provided additional moisture as
it melted through the warmer months. … The Northern
California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s
four-month outlook issued March 1 calls for minimal
fire activity across Northern California from March through
May.
After decades of advocating, tribal members cheered as a blast
at JC Boyle Dam this year kicked off the process of drawing
down the reservoirs behind three Klamath River dams. The
removal is expected to restore the river and reopen spawning
habitat that salmon haven’t been able to reach for more than a
century. OPB science reporter and editor Cassandra Profita
brings us the perspective of the tribes living along the
Klamath River: what the country’s largest dam removal project
means to them and their hopes for the future.
This half-hour special dives into the troubles and triumphs at
the Salton Sea. The sea is the largest body of water in
California. It formed after a levee at the Colorado River burst
in the early 1900s, and after the levee was fixed, it cut off
the flow of fresh water. Since then, the sea has become
polluted with chemical runoff from nearby farms. It’s also
slowly evaporating. The chemical-filled water releases gases
that trigger asthma in nearby communities, and toxic dust from
around the shoreline acts as an irritant as well. Despite
all of the negatives, there are a few positives. New wetlands
are forming as the sea slowly pulls away from the shoreline,
playing host to thousands of migrating birds. Developing
wetlands make the sea an important stop along the Pacific
Flyway.
The United States suffers the world’s second-highest toll from
major weather disasters, according to a new analysis — even
when numbers are adjusted for the country’s wealth. The report
released late last month by Zurich-based reinsurance giant
Swiss Re, which analyzed the vulnerability and damages of 36
different countries, suggests that weather disasters may become
a heavy drag on the U.S. economy — especially as insurers
increasingly pull out of hazardous areas. Those disasters are
driving up insurance rates, compounding inflation and adding to
Americans’ high cost of living. … Some insurers have
stopped offering home insurance policies in California, which
has seen numerous large wildfires in the past few years.
In a Sacramento office building, university students carefully
scan pieces of paper that underpin California’s most
contentious and valuable water disputes. One by one, they’re
bringing pieces of history into the digital era, some a century
old and thin as onion skin. The student workers are beginning
to digitize the state’s water rights records, part of a project
launched by the state’s water regulator earlier this year. It
may seem simple, but scanning two million musty pages is part
of a $60 million project that could take years. The massive
undertaking will unmask the notoriously opaque world of
California water. Right now, it’s practically impossible to
know who has the right to use water, how much they’re taking
and from what river or stream at any given time in the state.