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Announcement

Water Education Foundation Honors SJV Water Founder & Journalist Lois Henry
Henry is third recipient of Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism

Lois Henry, a journalist who launched SJV Water as a nonprofit news site devoted to covering water in the San Joaquin Valley, was named the 2024 recipient of the Water Education Foundation’s Rita Schmidt Sudman Award for Excellence in Water Journalism.

Henry said she was honored to receive the award, which acknowledges outstanding work that illuminates complicated water issues in California and the West.

“I’m grateful and humbled to receive this recognition,” Henry said. “Water is such an arcane and politically rife topic. We really strive to explain what’s happening in layman’s terms and walk an unbiased line. So, it’s exciting to know our work has hit the mark and provided value to our readers.”

Announcement

Last Call for Tickets to Oct. 30 Water Summit & Coveted Sponsor Spots
Registration Closes Friday for Foundation's Premier Annual Event

Registration closes Friday for our 2024 Water Summit, set for next Wednesday, Oct. 30, in downtown Sacramento with conversations focused on our theme, Reflecting on Silver Linings in Western Water.

Get your ticket to our premier annual event by Friday at 5 p.m. Foundation members can take advantage of a $100 discount on registration!

LAST CALL FOR SPONSORS! This event is a prime networking opportunity for the water professionals in attendance and general sponsorship opportunities are still available, but this Thursday is the deadline to grab a coveted sponsor spot! View details of the various sponsorship levels and benefits here.

Water News You Need to Know

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Proposition 4, the bond measure for water and environmental projects, takes wide lead

A $10-billion California bond measure to finance water, clean energy and other environmental projects was leading by a wide margin in Tuesday’s election. Proposition 4 called for spending $3.8 billion for water projects, including those that provide safe drinking water, water recycling projects, groundwater storage and flood control. An additional $1.5 billion would be spent on wildfire protection, and $1.2 billion would go toward protecting the coast from sea level rise. Other money would be used to create parks, protect wildlife and habitats, fight air pollution, address extreme heat events and fund sustainable agriculture.

Related articles:

Aquafornia news CalMatters

California election results: Resistance state braces for Trump 2.0

… Californians now face a repeat of Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021 — another four years of governance consumed by combative showdowns between the state’s Democratic leadership and Washington, D.C., possibly distracting from or even setting back progress on addressing California’s own problems. … Across state government, officials have been gaming out a response to “Trump-proof” California. Gov. Gavin Newsom and his budget team are developing a proposal for a disaster relief fund after the former president repeatedly threatened to withhold emergency aid for wildfire recovery from California because of its water policy. In 2019, as the Trump administration narrowed federal water protections, California adopted even more expansive state regulations that developers complained made it more complicated and costly to get building permits. 

Other election-related water articles:

Aquafornia news Los Angeles Times

Invasive mussels could harm California Delta ecosystem, add to water costs

The recent discovery of a new type of invasive mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is raising concerns that the non-native species could cause major ecological harm and inflict costly complications for the infrastructure California relies on to deliver water across the state. … After finding the golden mussels in O’Neill Forebay, state workers have begun surveys to determine the extent of the infestation in the State Water Project system, including the California Aqueduct, which transports water pumped from the Delta to cities and farmlands. The increased monitoring and maintenance that will be required is expected to have an economic impact for the State Water Project, increasing water delivery costs, said Tanya Veldhuizen, manager of the Department of Water Resources’ Special Projects Section.

Related article:

Aquafornia news SJV Water

Lawsuit accuses Friant Water Authority of holding secret meetings that resulted in massive fees pinned on a handful of Tulare County irrigation districts

The legal fracas over who should pay to fix the sinking Friant-Kern Canal grew Friday when three Tulare County irrigation districts sued the Friant Water Authority for imposing steep fees on the districts approved through allegedly secret communications and serial meetings. In a suit filed Nov. 1 the Terra Bella, Saucelito and Porterville irrigation districts also seek to declare the fees, up to $295 million approved in a special meeting held in August, void. “We are hoping that Friant will go back and re-do that board meeting, and if they do, that the outcome will be different,” said Sean Geivet, general manager for the three districts. “The unlawful tactics of Friant’s leadership need to cease because my three middle-sized districts can’t continue to function on an uneven playing field.” He said the districts have documents that show the fees were approved illegally.

Other groundwater article:

Online Water Encyclopedia

Aquapedia background Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Wetlands

Sacramento National Wildlife RefugeWetlands are among the world’s most important and hardest-working ecosystems, rivaling rainforests and coral reefs in productivity. 

They produce high levels of oxygen, filter water pollutants, sequester carbon, reduce flooding and erosion and recharge groundwater.

Bay-Delta Tour participants viewing the Bay Model

Bay Model

Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bay Model is a giant hydraulic replica of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It is housed in a converted World II-era warehouse in Sausalito near San Francisco.

Hundreds of gallons of water are pumped through the three-dimensional, 1.5-acre model to simulate a tidal ebb and flow lasting 14 minutes.

Aquapedia background Colorado River Basin Map

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

The most recent version of the Salton Sea was formed in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through a series of dikes and flooded the seabed for two years, creating California’s largest inland body of water. The Salton Sea, which is saltier than the Pacific Ocean, includes 130 miles of shoreline and is larger than Lake Tahoe

Lake Oroville shows the effects of drought in 2014.

Drought

Drought—an extended period of limited or no precipitation—is a fact of life in California and the West, with water resources following boom-and-bust patterns. During California’s 2012–2016 drought, much of the state experienced severe drought conditions: significantly less precipitation and snowpack, reduced streamflow and higher temperatures. Those same conditions reappeared early in 2021 prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom in May to declare drought emergencies in watersheds across 41 counties in California.