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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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
… 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.