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 Doug Beeman.
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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.
Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, is Monday. What’s
in store for the upcoming season of beach days and barbecues in
Southern California? To start with, it will be dry. That’s not
just because California’s Mediterranean climate means rain
mostly falls during a few wet winter months, but because the
state is in its third year of drought…. Major reservoirs
statewide were at 76% of average levels this week, with the
long, hot summer months still ahead….This month, 59.64% of
the state is categorized as being in extreme drought, the
second-worst category, with just 0.18% in exceptional drought —
but then this is May, not July.
California water regulators strengthened the state’s drought
rules this week, ordering local suppliers to take steps to
reduce water usage to stretch limited supplies this summer.
Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that more stringent statewide water
restrictions could come if the state doesn’t make more progress
on conservation soon. … As part of the new rules, the state
also banned the use of drinking water for irrigating grass that
is purely decorative at businesses and in common areas of
subdivisions and homeowners associations. Here is a
breakdown of what is going on:
A state program aimed at retiring and repurposing farmland
could get $60 million – more than doubling its current funding
– under Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget. The Multibenefit Land
Repurposing Program was created with $50 million from the 2021
state budget. The program helps pay for farmland to be taken
out of production and repurposed to less water intensive uses.
Farmers in the San Joaquin Valley have pumped groundwater for
crops without limits for generations. But groundwater levels
are plummeting …
California’s vast network of surface water reservoirs is
designed to hold carryover storage from year to year to ensure
water is available for urban, agricultural and environmental
purposes during dry months and years. But climate change has
begun to affect our reliance on historical weather patterns to
predict California’s water supply, making it even more
difficult for water managers to manage drought conditions and
placing a greater emphasis on better precipitation forecasting
at longer lead times. Learn about efforts being made to
‘get ahead of the storms’ through new science, models and
technology at our special one-day workshop June 9 in
Irvine, Making
Progress on Drought Management: Improvements in Seasonal
Precipitation Forecasting.
The water level in Lake Mead — the nation’s largest reservoir —
dropped below 1,050 feet elevation for the first time last
week, a critical milestone that signals more stringent water
cuts are around the corner for the Southwest…. As of Tuesday,
Lake Mead’s level was around 1,049 feet above sea
level…. If the lake’s water level is expected to stay
below 1,050 feet by January 2023, the more significant Tier 2
shortage would be implemented. Additional cuts — each tier with
rising impact on agriculture and municipal water use — are
expected if Lake Mead continues to fall.
If you think about the pollution your car causes, chances are
you’re not thinking about the tires. And probably even less
about a faraway creek, where a Coho Salmon is dying. But
researchers at the University of Washington and elsewhere
… say as the rubber wears away from car tires during
everyday driving, it spreads tiny micro particles, including a
destructive chemical called 6PPD. … Now, with
information gathered in part by the [San Francisco Estuary]
Institute, the State of California is stepping in, laying the
groundwork for potential regulations to curb the toxic tire
pollution.
Each year, Lake Shasta brings in locals and tourists from all
over, especially for Memorial Day weekend. Businesses on Lake
Shasta are dealing with low lake levels and short staffing but
despite the challenges, they still expect a good holiday
turnout. … With a three-year drought, lake levels are
front-of-mind for many frequent lake visitors, but
there is good news. Lake levels are currently
about 120 feet below full pool and expected to drop 155 feet
later this summer, but that’s still 30 feet higher than we saw
last year. Matt Doyle, general manager of Lake Shasta Caverns,
said businesses around the lake are very hopeful for this
year’s summer.
Tribes and environmental groups are challenging how the state
manages water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a
major source for much of California, arguing the deterioration
of the aquatic ecosystem has links to the state’s troubled
legacy of racism and oppression of Native people. A group of
activists and Indigenous leaders is demanding that the state
review and update the water quality plan for the Delta and San
Francisco Bay, where fish species are suffering, algae blooms
have worsened and climate change is adding to the
stresses.
[On the southeast side of California’s Central
Valley] farmers are pumping unreliable groundwater to make
up the difference, hoping their already struggling wells don’t
go dry … Others will rip up their trees and leave their
fields fallow. … About 100 miles away, on the northwest
side of the Central Valley, the situation could not be more
different. Even during an unprecedented drought, the almond and
pistachio farmers around the city of Los Banos will get around
75 percent of a normal year’s water … The startling contrast
is the result of an obscure and contentious legal agreement
known as the exchange contract …
A well-known Sonoma County vineyard executive is facing a
multi-million-dollar state fine for allegedly removing trees
and destroying a small wetland on a rural patch of land east of
Cloverdale. Hugh Reimers and Krasilsa Pacific Farms could be on
the hook for up to $3.75 million in fines for allegedly cutting
down trees, grading, ripping and other activities near
tributaries to Little Sulphur Creek, Big Sulphur Creek and
Crocker Creek in the Russian River Watershed … In a complaint
filed May 9, the Water Board accused Reimers and Krasilsa
Pacific Farms of also failing to abide by a 2019 cleanup and
abatement order, which required them to restore the streams and
wetlands.
Today, there are hundreds of hatcheries in the Northwest run by
federal, state and tribal governments … The fish they send to
the Pacific Ocean have allowed restaurants and grocery seafood
counters to offer “wild-caught” Chinook salmon even as the fish
became endangered. The hatcheries were supposed to stop the
decline of salmon. They haven’t. The numbers of each of the six
salmon species native to the Columbia basin have dropped to a
fraction of what they once were, and 13 distinct populations
are now considered threatened or endangered.
The Biden administration’s ambitions to crack down on “forever
chemicals” — touted as an administration priority — are facing
headwinds from key industries that say they could be unfairly
punished and held liable for contamination they did not create.
Members of the water and waste sectors are ramping up pressure
on Congress and EPA to shield them from an upcoming proposal as
the agency makes progress on addressing PFAS
contamination.
Gobs of oily tar continue to slip past containment booms and
drain into the Smith River, nearly a month after an overturned
trailer spilled 2,000 gallons of the hot asphalt binder onto
U.S. 199 between Hiouchi and Gasquet. Spokesperson Eric
Laughlin with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Office of Spill Prevention and Response confirmed with the
Outpost that the toxic goop is actively leaking into the Smith
River, and that the agency received new reports of the material
traveling downstream on Friday.
Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, is maneuvering against a bill
that seeks higher flows on local rivers. Assembly Bill 2639
would set a Dec. 31, 2023, deadline for the State Water
Resources Control Board to complete its plan for tributaries to
the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. They include the Stanislaus,
Tuolumne and Merced rivers. The decision would follow decades
of wrangling over whether fish should get more water on the
lower rivers at the expense of farms and cities.
It is mid-May, and a couple of days ago, the Hermits Peak Fire
in northern New Mexico reached 299,565 acres in size,
surpassing the 2012 Whitewater-Baldy Fire as the state’s
largest wildfire on record. … It is mid-May, and a dozen
other fires have already charred tens of thousands of acres
across the West … It is mid-May, and the spring winds have
been relentless … It is mid-May, and the temperature in
Phoenix has reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit two days in a row.
Everyone boating in Lake Tahoe already goes through a process
of “Clean, Drain, Dry” protocols prior to launching to keep
invasive species out of the big, beautiful lake. But what about
other vessels in the lake like paddle boards, electric
surfboards, kayaks, and canoes? … For pristine
waters that have no invasive species, such as Echo Lakes,
Angora, and Fallen Leaf lakes, even Lake Tahoe is considered a
threat from the Eurasian watermilfoil, curlyleaf pondweed, and
Asian clams currently found in Big Blue.
In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order outlining
the temporary strategies for California to manage the ongoing
drought. Within this order, he outlined rules for counties,
cities and other public agencies as it relates to new wells or
alterations to an existing well. One rule requires farmers and
ranchers to get written verification from their local
groundwater sustainability agency that the new well or
alterations “would not be inconsistent with any sustainable
groundwater management program” for the area.
During the 2021 runoff year (April 1, 2021–March 31, 2022), the
Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) was allowed to
export up to 16,000 acre-feet of stream diversions from the
Mono Basin because Mono Lake was above 6380 feet above sea
level on April 1, 2021. Yet, only 13,300 acre-feet of water was
taken, consistent with the low reservoir requirements in DWP’s
water licenses, which were amended last year by the California
State Water Resources Control Board. The new licenses contain
an overall minimum level of 11,500 acre-feet of storage for
Grant Lake Reservoir, with a minimum of 20,000 acre-feet for
July–September.
Old environmental arguments over the consequences of nuclear
power had seemed almost resolved in California. Antinuclear
sentiment was intensified by the 33-year succession of
accidents, from Three Mile Island in 1978 to Chernobyl in 1986
to Fukushima in 2011, severely diminished their appeal.
California was getting ready to wave goodbye to its last
nuclear plant. Up Close We explore the issues, personalities,
and trends that people are talking about around the West. The
political realities of 2022 and the need to reduce carbon
emissions might change things.
Californians can expect to see more yellow grass around
hospitals, hotels, office parks and industrial centers after
water regulators voted Tuesday to ban watering of
“nonfunctional” turf in commercial areas. The State Water
Resources Control Board also moved to order all the state’s
major urban water providers to step up their conservation
efforts. The moves are the strongest regulatory actions state
officials have taken in the third year of the latest drought.
