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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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Please Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. Also, 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.

Aquafornia news SJV Water

Allensworth residents feel abandoned by company that makes water out of thin air

Allensworth is one of the testing grounds for a hydropanel that creates drinking water out of thin air. But two years into the program, community members say the hydropanel company has left them high and dry while many of the hydropanels have broken down. Allensworth has struggled with arsenic-laced groundwater for decades. In 2021, Source Global, the company behind the hydropanels, installed two in Allensworth to test out the technology. Each panel generates about a gallon of drinking water per day by condensing water vapor in the air into liquid form.  In 2022, a philanthropic organization bought 1,000 hydropanels to be installed throughout the Central Valley. Allensworth now has about 42 panels, according to Source Global.

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Water is life. It’s also energy — whether you like dams or hate them

The rain and snow that have drenched California and much of the American West over the last few months — at least relative to some of the hellishly dry years we’ve gotten recently — are a blessing not just for water supplies, but for energy. Or maybe they’re a curse (for energy, not for water). It depends on whom you ask. Much of the electricity powering our lights and refrigerators and cellphones comes from rivers, their once free-flowing waters backing up behind dams and trickling through hydropower turbines.

Aquafornia news New Times San Luis Obispo

LA Superior Court rules on Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin boundaries

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge confirmed that the Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin is one connected basin—not separate subbasins—allowing for the groundwater adjudication to move forward following a year and a half of delays and litigation. … The Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin is one of California’s 21 critically overdrafted basins that was required under the 2014 California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to create a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) and corresponding groundwater sustainability plan.

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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 Sacramento Bee

Sacramento catches a break on water conservation in new rules

Sacramento and cities across California caught a break from the state’s water regulator this week after the agency faced criticism that its water conservation rules were too complicated and costly to meet. Regulators at the State Water Resources Control Board proposed new conservation rules Tuesday that would ease water savings requirements for urban water suppliers and will ultimately lead to less long-term water savings than initially planned. Under the new rules, the city of Sacramento would have to cut its overall water use by 9% by 2035 and 14% by 2040, far less than an initial proposal that would have required it to cut back water use by 13% by 2030 and 18% by 2035.

Aquafornia news Ag Net West

Additional $205 million in funding for Sites Reservoir

Congress has given the green light for a significant boost to the Sites Reservoir Project, based on a recommendation from the Bureau of Reclamation. A total of $205.6 million in federal funds is being allocated. The money comes from the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, which helps enhance water systems across the country. It marks the largest single award in the history of the WIIN Act for a storage project. … The Sites Reservoir aims to bolster water supplies across California while also supporting native wildlife during droughts. This project will add 1.5 million acre-feet of storage, significantly enhancing the state’s water flexibility and reliability during dry years. Last summer, the project received $30 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making the total federal contribution to date $439.3 million.

Aquafornia news Audubon Magazine

A California wetland program’s flood of new funding lifts hopes for shorebirds

… For millennia seasonal wetlands dotted California’s Central Valley … But as farms and towns have taken over the landscape, nearly all those shallow, ephemeral water bodies have disappeared, leaving avian migrants with scant options for pit stops. With shorebirds rapidly declining along the Pacific Flyway, conservationists and landowners have joined forces to help turn the tide. Launched in 2014, BirdReturns runs via reverse auctions … Since its inception, the program—jointly run by Audubon California, The Nature Conservancy, and Point Blue Conservation Science—has paid more than 100 farmers a total of $2 million to flood 60,000 acres throughout the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Buoyed by a recent $15 million grant from the state, the program is poised to greatly expand its reach.

Aquafornia news The Washington Post

New study: How the Flint water crisis set schoolchildren back

School-age children affected by the water crisis in Flint, Mich., nearly a decade ago suffered significant and lasting academic setbacks, according to a new study released Wednesday, showing the disaster’s profound impact on a generation of children. The study, published in Science Advances, found that after the crisis, students faced a substantial decline in math scores, losing the equivalent of five months of learning progress that hadn’t recovered by 2019, according to Brian Jacob, one of the study’s authors. The learning gap was especially prevalent among younger students in third through fifth grades and those of lower socioeconomic status. There was also an 8 percent increase in the number of students with special needs, especially among school-age boys. 

Aquafornia news Harvard Law School

Blog: Supreme Court tackles water rights in the West in Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado

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. On March 20, the Court will consider Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado, a tangled case involving water rights to the Rio Grande, a 1,896-mile river that begins at the base of the San Juan Mountains and runs into the Gulf of Mexico. The case, which has been in litigation for more than a decade, centers around a 1939 compact between the three states over how to apportion the river’s waters.

Aquafornia news Reuters

After destructive floods, EU sues Greece for failing to revise risk plans

The European Commission said on Wednesday it was taking Greece to the EU’s top court for failing to revise its flood risk management plans, a key tool for EU countries to prepare themselves against floods. The action comes five months after the worst rains in Greece flooded its fertile Thessaly plain, devastating crops and livestock and raising questions about the Mediterranean country’s ability to deal with an increasingly erratic climate. Under EU rules, countries need to update once in six years their flood management plans, a set of measures aimed to help them mitigate the risks of floods on human lives, the environment and economic activities. Greece was formally notified by the Commission last year that it should finalise its management plans but the country has so far failed to review, adopt or report its flood risk management plans, the Commission said in a statement.

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 SJV Sun

California Farm Water Coalition announces new leadership

The California Farm Water Coalition announced Thursday Greg Johnson has been elected as its next president. Johnson owns Far West Rice in Durham. Johnson succeeds Bill Diedrich as president, who served in the role for the last eight years. Along with Johnson, the Coalition also announced that Imperial Valley farmer Gina Dockstader has been elected Vice President. Fresno County farmer Wayne Western of Hammonds Ranch has been elected as the secretary and treasurer of the board. Brett Lauppe and Jeff Sutton also join the board as new members. The organization’s returning directors are Peter Nelson, Mark McKean and Diana Westmoreland.

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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.