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Aquafornia
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 The Center Square

Sewage from Mexico entering its 10th decade of contaminating San Diego coastline

On Sept. 7, 1993, the San Diego City Council declared a state of emergency regarding the discharge of raw sewage it said was coming from Tijuana, Mexico, and polluting the international border. More than 30 years later, the San Diego City Council renewed the state of emergency on Feb. 27 over an ongoing issue that has been traced back to 1934. In the past five years, the International Boundary and Water Commission stated that more than 100 billion gallons of untreated sewage, industrial waste and urban runoff have been discharged into the Pacific Ocean from the Tijuana River.

Aquafornia news Marin Independent Journal

Marin County waterfalls flush as rain keeps coming

With a solid winter of rain in the hills, it’s peak waterfall season in Marin County. The only question is which cascade to see first. For Ian McLorg, chief park ranger with Marin County Parks, Dawn Falls is the first that comes to mind. The approximately three-quarter-mile trail to the falls is in the Baltimore Canyon Preserve. “Dawn Falls, especially after some good rain, is a pretty spectacular waterfall,” McLorg said. To access Dawn Falls Trail, he suggested entering via Crown Road in Kentfield and hiking the Southern Marin Line Fire Road. “A short jaunt from the trailhead at Southern Marin Line Fire Road, you just head as if you’re going towards Corte Madera, and the Dawn Falls Trail drops off to your left down the fire road,” McLorg said. “That one is a great one to see this time of year.”

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

Monday Top of the Scroll: Historic California dam removal, meant to help salmon, sees massive die-off

Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are believed to have died this week at the site of a historic dam removal project on the Klamath River, after an effort to restore salmon runs on the newly unconstrained river went awry, the Chronicle has learned. The dead chinook salmon were among the first hatchery fish released on the Klamath since four hydroelectric dams were breached near the California-Oregon border, to allow the river to flow freely again and ultimately help fish flourish. … The salmon die-off, discovered downstream of the 173-foot Iron Gate Dam, is thought to be the result of trauma the small fish experienced when they went through a tunnel at the dam’s base, which had been opened to allow the river to pass and dam demolition to proceed. … “No one, especially those in my program who work night and day to keep fish alive, wants to see something like this happen,” said Jason Roberts, an environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re going to learn from it. We need to do better.”

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

After years of rapid growth, California’s almond industry struggles amid low prices

For much of the last decade, almonds have been such a lucrative crop that growers and investment firms have poured money into planting new orchards across vast stretches of California farmland. Now, the almond boom has fizzled and the industry has entered a slump. Prices have dropped over the last several years, and the state’s total almond acreage has started to decrease as growers have begun to tear out orchards and plant other crops. … Over the last decade, the almond boom coincided with growing concerns about water in California. When growers and investment companies bought land and drilled wells to pump groundwater in the Central Valley, the expanding nut orchards locked in long-term water demands and added to the strains on the state’s declining aquifers. Wenger said he thinks it’s possible that if some of these orchards come out of production, groundwater levels could rise in places.

Aquafornia news Casper Star Tribune

Water watch: Wyoming Legislature moves to ease anxiety over Colorado River curtailment

One the most closely watched water bills in the Wyoming Legislature this session moved decisively through committee this week in a sign of hope for some of the state’s water-dependent industries. The bill, SF 66, seeks to address heightened anxiety around the Colorado River, whose diminishing flows have set off a scramble by its seven user states to draft new rules and contingency plans ahead of a 2026 deadline from the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency charged with overseeing water management in the west. In the meantime, the amendments aim to provide a sense of security to junior water rights entities who depend on water transfers, including municipalities, trona mine operators and oil refineries in the Green River Basin.

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

California blizzard batters Tahoe, Mammoth, Sierra

The most powerful California blizzard of the season pounded the Sierra Nevada with gusts of up to 190 mph, while heavy snow Sunday forced the closure of key roads to the Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Mountain areas. A rare blizzard warning was extended through Monday morning for the Lake Tahoe area, and until Sunday night for the Mammoth Mountain area. … The crest of the Sierra overall is expected to get 6 to 10 feet of snow; Mammoth Lakes, 2 to 4 feet; and the Tahoe Basin, 3 to 6 feet. Snow has been falling steady at about 2 inches per hour, with intermittent rates of 3 to 4 inches per hour, the weather service said, which should peak late Saturday. The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab had received 3 feet of snow by Saturday morning, and expected several more feet by Monday morning.

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Aquafornia news CBS - San Francisco

Long-planned Sites Valley reservoir moves toward construction

As California enjoys a second robust winter in a row, calls for additional water storage may soon be getting an answer. A new reservoir is something voters approved funding for years ago, and while progress has been slow, there are hopes that it may finally be moving ahead. “Nothing has been built like this in California for more than 30 years,’ said Executive Director of the Sites Reservoir Authority Jerry Brown. It’s been nearly 70 years since California took a look at the Sites Valley, and saw the potential for a reservoir that could have been as large as Shasta. The plan now is for something not quite that large, but still massive. … Brown insists the long, slow push to create new water storage is moving ahead, and the payoffs, he says, will be as large as the new lake. It will not dam a river, which is good for fish. Instead, water will be pumped up out of the valley.

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Aquafornia news LAist

How you can help refill LA’s aquifers by capturing stormwater at home

Recently, we dove deep on how every time rain falls in Southern California, gigantic pieces of infrastructure come to life in an effort to sequester as much of the stormwater as possible. Water agencies implement dry wells, dams and spreading grounds the size of neighborhoods to give each drop a chance to percolate deep into the soil and refill our overdrawn reservoirs. The problem is we’ve all but run out of room for spreading grounds, and while the water agencies are implementing other options, you can make a difference at the household level as well. All you need is a shovel, some rocks and a tiny patch of land. The goal is simple: you want to slow down water and give it a chance to sink into the earth.

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Aquafornia news Ag Net West

LandFlex helping improve sustainable groundwater usage, but needs additional support

Transitioning towards sustainable groundwater usage is becoming more accessible for farmers and Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) through involvement in the LandFlex Grant Program. The Department of Water Resources (DWR), which developed the program, prioritizes access to those living in rural areas with critically overdrafted basins. LandFlex provides farmers with resources to comply with requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) while increasing availability of groundwater to surrounding local communities. With depleting underground water availability, the DWR hopes to accelerate sustainable groundwater usage immediately, rather than SGMA’s goal of groundwater sustainability by 2040.

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Aquafornia news The Guardian

‘We are the guinea pigs’: Arizona mining project sparks concerns for air and water

… [Denise] Moreno Ramírez wasn’t surprised when she heard an Australian mining company, South32, planned to open a manganese, zinc, lead and silver operation in the same area where her family had worked. … The grasslands, woodlands, swamps and prairies of south-east Arizona’s Sky Islands are home to more than 100 species of large mammals: the greatest number north of Mexico. Residents from the borderlands area have long dealt with the health impacts of pollution linked with earlier industrial activity, including mining – from lupus to cancer. And in spite of it all, they have managed to preserve a patch of one of the most biodiverse, and imperiled, ecosystems in the world. … The lithium boom has received the bulk of attention amid calls to electrify everything – but another mineral, manganese, has been earmarked by the US as a critical element to ramp up the production of electric vehicle batteries.

Aquafornia news Las Vegas Review-Journal

Snorklers count endangered Nevada fish outside Las Vegas

Kevin Guadalupe walked along the banks of the stream as Montana Stevens, outfitted in snorkel gear, popped his head out of the water to report how many fish he’d seen. “Two adults, two juveniles,” … Both were among the group of surveyors from several different agencies who recently snorkeled while inching forward in essentially a flat crawl in the warm, shallow streams and springs that comprise the headwaters of the Muddy River, about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas near Moapa. The count showed that the population of the fish, which only exists in these waters — about six miles worth of streams and springs in the Southern Nevada desert — appears to be stable and similar to the numbers over the past few years.

Aquafornia news Orange County Register

Ocean water from San Diego could stabilize south OC supply, boost desal

Ocean water desalinated at a controversial plant in Carlsbad soon could be stabilizing supplies for south Orange County residents served by Moulton Niguel Water District, who now depend on fluctuating allotments from the Colorado River and Northern California to keep their taps flowing. In exchange, western San Diego County residents could see some relief from their soaring water bills if south O.C …

Aquafornia news NBC - Palm Springs

New wetlands play important role for wildlife and health at Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is shrinking. The sea formed about 120 years ago when a Colorado River levee burst, creating an extremely large body of water and a thriving resort town. But as agriculture runoff and evaporation impacted water quality, the sea slowly became toxic, turning the once vibrant area into a ghost town. However, local groups are working together to change that narrative. The Sonny Bono Salton Sea Wildlife Refuge is an example of what life at the sea looks like when its supported and managed. At sunrise, coyotes run along berms, snowy egrets forage for food and thousands of snow geese travel as a noisy flock. Award-winning wildlife photographer Paulette Donnellon spends her time capturing life at the refuge.

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Aquafornia news Willits News

Opinion: Reclaiming and recycling water is a great idea

In 2019, the city of Ukiah completed three of the four phases required to build a water recycling system, often referred to as the purple pipe project. The fourth phase is currently underway. As of now, the city produces about 1,000-acre feet of recycled water annually, which it uses for agricultural irrigation, parks, the golf course, schools, and industrial needs (things like dust control). Although it is rare for me to praise government projects, this one is a good one. The project reduces the amount of water pumped from aquifers, rivers, and lakes. It meets state water conservation objectives, promotes a healthy agriculture sector, and improves fish habitat. It’s a win all around.
-Written by Dick Selzer, a real estate broker who has been in the business for more than 45 years.  

Aquafornia news Washington Post

Analysis: See how much winter temperatures have warmed in your city since 1980

As another winter nears its close, we bid farewell to the season of merriment, good cheer and inane arguments about global warming. If you think global warming is nonsense, winter offers many cold things to gesture at. “Behold,” you will say, brandishing a snowball, “global warming is a lie.” If, on the other hand, you’re terrified of global warming, you might startle at its shadow. A single unseasonably mild day becomes just more proof that the world is ending. Fortunately, we don’t need to depend on people’s fears and vague intuitions to know how winter is changing. For that, we have high-resolution temperature data. In fact, I can tell you that in 86 percent of the contiguous United States, winters are trending warmer since 1980.

Aquafornia news CNN

Friday Top of the Scroll: California’s biggest snowstorm of the year will paralyze travel with blizzard conditions

An extremely-dangerous winter storm has arrived in California and will unload feet of snow, powerful winds and rare blizzard conditions in the mountains through the weekend. The storm will bury California under its biggest snowfall of the year, posing a significant danger to travelers – but provide a huge boost for the state’s water supply and tourism. … The storm currently hitting the Sierra, will be factored into the April snow survey. The April survey is viewed as the most consequential since officials use the measurement to forecast the state’s water resources for the rest of the year. The survey showed snowpack was 70% of the April average. Millions of people in the West depend on a melting snowpack in the warmer months for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water.

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Aquafornia news The New York Times

Courts give states new power to protect groundwater

After years of dangerous decline in the nation’s groundwater, a series of developments in Western states indicate that state and federal officials may begin tightening protections for the dwindling resource. In Nevada, Idaho and Montana, a string of court decisions have strengthened states’ ability to restrict overpumping of groundwater. California is considering penalizing local officials for draining their aquifers. And the White House has asked scientists who focus on groundwater to advise how the federal government can help. 

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Aquafornia news Western Water

How volunteer ‘streamkeepers’ influence water policy across the West

When residents of the Yuba River watershed northeast of Sacramento saw a stretch of the emerald-green river suddenly turn an alarming reddish-brown on a recent winter day, they knew immediately who to call. Though water quality concerns are the purview of federal, state and county environmental agencies, they alerted the local South Yuba River Citizens League, confident its volunteers could get to the scene quicker and investigate the discoloration faster than any regulator. … The league is among dozens of volunteer organizations that monitor the health of their local waterways and native fish populations across California and the West.

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Aquafornia news Inside Climate News

Federal data reveals a surprising drop in renewable power in 2023, as slow winds and drought took a toll

U.S. utility-scale renewable electricity generation fell in 2023 due to weather patterns that reduced output from wind farms and drought that affected hydropower. Data released by the Energy Information Administration shows a decrease of 0.8 percent compared to the prior year. This is a stunning result, considering that utility-scale renewables have been a fast-growing part of the electricity mix and are a crucial resource for the country’s transition away from fossil fuels. … Hydropower plants generated 239,855 gigawatt-hours, down 5.9 percent from 2022. The main reason for the decrease was a drop in water levels at hydroelectric dams in areas experiencing drought.

Aquafornia news Northern California Water Association

Watch: State leaders get birds eye view of Sacramento Valley floodplains

… In an effort to demonstrate the power of proper floodplain management, the Floodplain Forward Coalition came together with the conservation touring company, EcoFlight, to show media, legislative staff and California Natural Resources Secretary, Wade Crowfoot, how the floodplains are working in the Sacramento Valley and demonstrate how we can provide more benefits to people and wildlife with an increase in investment and permitting from state leaders.

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