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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 California State University, Fullerton

New study: CSUF research reveals evidence of epic southern California floods during Little Ice Age

A new study by Cal State Fullerton researchers shows evidence of two epic floods that occurred within the past 500 years in Southern California during the Little Ice Age. Their research is the first-ever, land-based, flood-event evidence from 1450 to 1850 — a documented period of above-average wetness in Southern California, said Matthew E. Kirby, professor of geological sciences. According to scientists, floods — not earthquakes — represent California’s single most significant socioeconomic natural hazard risk. … Climate models predict that the frequency of large flood-producing precipitation events will increase in the 21st century due to climate change. 

Aquafornia news Oaklandside

Harmful algae detected in Lake Merritt water samples

A rusty red color in Lake Merritt that left lake stewards scrambling to sample the water on Mar. 7 has tested positive for the same algae that caused the devastating harmful algal bloom in 2022.  On Friday, lake stewards sent water samples to labs run by the California Department of Public Health and San Francisco Bay Regional Water Control Board. Unofficial field testing initially detected no harmful algae. However, lab testing confirmed over the weekend the presence of Heterosigma akashiwo, a type of algae often associated with harmful blooms.  Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when certain types of algae grow rapidly and release toxins, lower oxygen levels, and cause other changes in water quality that can kill fish and other marine creatures. 

Aquafornia news SJV Water

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: Second San Joaquin Valley groundwater subbasin recommended for state takeover

The Friant-Kern Canal was called out specifically as one of the reasons the state should take over pumping in the Tule groundwater subbasin in Tulare County. The recommendation was contained in a recently released staff report to the Water Resources Control Board. While the report stated groundwater management plans covering the subbasin didn’t adequately address subsidence and continued depletion of the aquifer and degradation of water quality in general, it also noted the significant harm to the Friant-Kern Canal, which brings water 152 miles south from Millerton Lake to Arvin. Excessive overpumping caused land beneath a 33-mile stretch of the Friant-Kern Canal to collapse, creating a sag that reduced the canal’s carrying capacity south of Pixley by 60%.

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Aquafornia news CalMatters

‘Simply catastrophic’: California salmon season to be restricted or shut down — again

California’s fishing industry is bracing for another bad year as federal managers today announced plans to heavily restrict or prohibit salmon fishing again, after cancelling the entire season last year.  The Pacific Fishery Management Council today released a series of options that are under consideration, all of which either ban commercial and recreational salmon fishing in the ocean off California or shorten the season and set strict catch limits. The council’s decision is expected next month; the commercial season typically begins in May and ends in October. … [P]opulations are now a fraction of what they once were — dams have blocked vital habitat, while droughts and water diversions have driven down flows and increased temperatures, killing large numbers of salmon eggs and young fish.

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Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

As water rates soar, legislators seek funding for assistance

In California and across the country, household water rates have been rising as utilities invest to upgrade aging infrastructure, secure future supplies and meet treatment standards for clean drinking water. As monthly water bills continue to increase, growing numbers of customers have been struggling to pay. New federal legislation would establish a water assistance program to help low-income families pay their bills and prevent shutoffs of water service. The bill, introduced by Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, would make permanent a federal program that Congress authorized in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provided more than $1 billion in assistance, but it’s expiring.

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Aquafornia news Las Vegas Review-Journal

‘Closer’ to normal: What Rockies snowpack could mean for Lake Mead

Monday marked a key cutoff time by which Colorado River states had been tasked with proposing a consensus-based plant for long-term water conservation in the overtaxed system. But with the arrival of that deadline, set by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, no such agreement was on the table. Instead, the river system’s two main contingents — the Upper and Lower basins — submitted their own competing plans. The proposals pertained to an upcoming update of the rules — known as the 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages — that govern where, when and how much the seven basin states must conserve water from the 1,450-mile river.

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Aquafornia news Capitol Weekly

Podcast: How working forests can fight wildfire and floods – while slowing climate change

California has set ambitious climate goals, including phasing out the use of fossil fuels and becoming carbon neutral by 2045. Our guest today is here to talk about the role nature can play in meeting those goals. Laurie Wayburn is the co-founder and president of the Pacific Forest Trust and the chair of the California Natural and Working Lands Expert Advisory Committee. She was also the lead author of a recent report suggesting the state should invest “as much in nature-based climate solutions as it has in clean energy and transportation.” With proper forest management, California could capture 400 million tons of carbon each year, lower wildfire risk and vastly improve flood protection in the state.

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Aquafornia news Modesto Bee

River restoration increases southwest of Modesto CA

Just south of Dos Rios Ranch, a much-praised effort at river restoration, another such project is taking root. It will add about 380 acres of floodplain and other habitat to the 1,600 acres at Dos Rios. They are near the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin rivers, about eight miles southwest of Modesto. The state-funded project, totaling about $20.8 million, is on the former Hidden Valley Dairy. Annual feed crops are giving way to oaks, cottonwoods, willows and other native plants. The floodplain will take on high river flows that otherwise could threaten nearby Grayson and downstream towns. The standing water could recharge the aquifer below for use during droughts. The place could offer food and shelter to fish, birds, mammals and other creatures.

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Aquafornia news Voice of San Diego

As city and county officials were mired in confusion, local nonprofits led the flood relief response

As floodwaters receded from the streets of southeastern San Diego on Jan. 22, two things began to happen. Several local nonprofits — not trained in disaster response — set up a victim assistance center at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA. At the same time, county and city officials had a series of extreme miscommunications that delayed the opening of a government-run assistance center within city limits for nearly two weeks, according to letters obtained by Voice of San Diego.  Normally in the wake of a disaster, government officials open what they call a Local Assistance Center near the disaster site. These assistance centers connect survivors with government and non-government resources. A survivor could get anything from a new driver’s license to food or unemployment benefits. 

Aquafornia news San Francisco Chronicle

California’s extreme storms are being amped up by climate change

A powerful winter storm buried the Sierra last weekend, with wet weather continuing for days in the Bay Area and Central Coast. Thunderstorms Wednesday drenched Salinas, dropping an entire inch in just 25 minutes. After historic weather last year, intense California storms have persisted this winter, with strong downpours causing widespread flooding in San Diego and damaging landslides in places like Los Angeles. Many ingredients contribute to extreme storm activity, but scientists agree that climate change is already amping up winter rains — and may bring even wilder weather in the future.

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Aquafornia news SJV Sun

Cannon Michael re-elected as board chair for San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority

Cannon Michael has been re-elected as the chairman of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority.  The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority announced Michael’s re-election on Monday. The big picture: Michael is the president of family-owned Los Banos farming operation Bowles Farming Company. He also serves as the chair of the Henry Miller Reclamation District, as a board member of the Water Education Foundation and as an advisory board member of the Public Policy Institute of California.

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Aquafornia news Cal Coast News

SLO receives $6.6 million grant to clean up contaminated groundwater

The California State Water Resources Control Board issued a $6.6 million grant for a city of San Luis Obispo project intended to clean up contaminated groundwater. Presently, the city does not use groundwater for its drinking water supply. SLO’s potable water supply comes from Whale Rock Reservoir, Santa Margarita Lake and Nacimiento Reservoir.  City officials have sought to diversify the water supply in an attempt to achieve “greater drought and climate change resiliency.” Previously, contamination from tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, served as a barrier to doing so. PCE is a toxic chemical produced by dry cleaning and industrial activities, which took place in the city decades ago. The cleanup project will consist of the city building two new groundwater supply wells that are expected to be fully operation in 2026. 

Aquafornia news Fox 5 - San Diego

California State Senator Steve Padilla announces new bills to rein in companies contributing to South Bay sewage

A pair of new state bills are looking to crack down on some of the polluters fueling the cross-border sewage crisis that has hobbled access to San Diego County’s southernmost beaches for decades. Senate Bill 1178 and Senate Bill 1208, introduced on Monday by State Sen. Steve Padilla, add regulations to water discharges for large corporations, as well as prevent water authorities from issuing additional permits for waste releases into areas in the Tijuana River system.

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Environmentalists push to add burrowing owl to endangered list

This month, several wildlife conservation groups petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to list these owls as endangered or threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. … [Chair of the environmental studies department at San Jose State University Lynne] Trulio’s speciality is urban species, and she’s contributed to the research that underpins Santa Clara County’s habitat conservation plan on burrowing owls. But before that she was also the lead scientist for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, one of the largest tidal wetland restoration projects on the West Coast. “One of the things that drove the effort was the fact that there were endangered species” in wetlands, said Trulio. She said it took years to change the perception of the wetlands as a dumping ground and to get a ballot measure to fund its preservation.

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Aquafornia news Fresno Bee

Cops: Missing woman swept away crossing California river

A search continues for a woman last seen being carried downriver in the Angeles National Forest, California sheriff’s officials said. The 59-year-old woman lost her footing while crossing a river near the Heaton Flats Trail at 9:51 a.m. Saturday, March 9, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Strong river currents swept her downstream, deputies said. She had been hiking with friends. … Some teams have been airlifted to search areas because of the rugged terrain and swift river currents, deputies said. The sheriff’s office encouraged hikers to use “extreme caution” when crossing rivers.

Aquafornia news USA Today

Monday Top of the Scroll: After another wet winter, is the West still facing a water crisis?

Time is running out for the West’s wet season, but recent storms have done wonders for the snowpack and the drought across much of the region, especially in California. ”The drought situation across the western U.S. has improved considerably as a result of a very wet winter,” Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist at Arizona State University, told USA TODAY. In fact, both California and Nevada are “essentially drought-free” at the moment, which is “really unusual,” he said. Elsewhere, the giant reservoirs of the Colorado River Basin, Lakes Mead and Powell, are now about one-third full. … Specifically, only about 25% of the western U.S. is currently in drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, which is down from 51% this time last year.

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Aquafornia news NPR

As a deadline approaches, Colorado River states are still far apart on water sharing

Ahead of a deadline next week, the seven states that share the Colorado River have revealed competing plans for how the river should be managed in the future. They’re split into two factions, with the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming on one side, and their Lower Basin counterparts—California, Arizona and Nevada—on the other. Those two camps have been at odds over water management many times over the past century. Now, with climate change shrinking the Colorado River’s supply, they’re under intense pressure to rein in demand. While the current guidelines for sharing the river don’t expire until 2026, the Biden Administration set a mid-March deadline for proposals for new guideline, in part because the upcoming election in November could bring a change of presidential administration that could complicate the implementation of new rules.

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Aquafornia news Bakersfield Californian

What once looked like a weak water year on the Kern River has grown stronger

What a difference a month makes. There has been some hand-wringing this winter regarding California’s 2024 water outlook, especially in the southern mountains and the Kern River Watershed. But new reports are pointing toward a much more favorable water year, including in the Kern River Basin, and by extension, Isabella Lake storage.

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Aquafornia news California WaterBlog

Blog: A functional flows approach for environmental flows in Chile

Countries, regions, and river basins globally are struggling to provide and manage flows in rivers for ecosystems. One approach, of many, is a Functional Flows approach, because it seeks to provide a range of streamflows over the year and between years to support fundamental functions of river ecosystems and the ecosystem services for society. … The approach also involves a process for balancing multiple human and ecological objectives for river systems through broad engagement of multiple interests. In their challenge to maintain riverine ecosystem services, Chile and California can benefit from this dynamic approach to managing instream flows.

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Aquafornia news Sacramento Bee

Opinion: Proposed CA water conservation rules put urban forests at risk

California officials are preparing new urban water conservation rules intended to help the state adapt to a drier future caused by climate change. In reality, the proposed restrictions are so great they could actually harm those adaptation efforts by sacrificing the tree canopy we have nurtured in our cities for generations. The “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” rule package, proposed by the State Water Resources Control Board, sets conservation targets unique to each urban water agency in the state. While conserving each and every year makes sense, so must the restrictions. A recent report by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found big flaws in the Water Board’s approach, describing the proposal as overly complex, expensive and unrealistic, with potential water savings amounting to a mere drop in the bucket statewide.
-Written by Jim Peifer, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Water Authority; and Victoria Vasquez, grants and public policy manager for California ReLeaf, which works to protect, enhance and grow California’s urban and community forests.​