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 Vik Jolly.
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This alert provides an overview of the ongoing implementation
of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). It
details the status of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs),
recent and pending actions by the State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB or State Board) concerning probationary
designations, developments regarding fee and reporting
exclusions, SGMA-related litigation, and pertinent legislative
activity. … The outcomes of current and future
probationary proceedings, particularly for critically
overdrafted basins, alongside the results of pending
litigation, will have far-reaching implications for groundwater
management across California. The SWRCB’s upcoming decision
regarding the Chowchilla Subbasin may offer a precedent for
other basins that demonstrate substantial GSP improvements and
proactive engagement.
A new paper in Science of the Total Environment, co‑authored by
researchers from several USGS Mission Areas and Centers,
including the California Water Science Center, finds
fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides at every sampling site
across five Sacramento Valley wildlife refuges. Because levels
stayed high even far from crops, scientists are probing what
this means for pollinators. … Even though National
Wildlife Refuges are designed to protect biodiversity, this
study shows they are not immune to pollution. The findings
highlight the need for stronger efforts to manage pesticide
use, both inside and outside protected areas, to ensure the
health of these important ecosystems.
From a small California winery to a large-scale energy project
in China, floating photovoltaics—or “floatovoltaics”—are
gaining in popularity. Commonly installed over artificial water
bodies, from irrigation ponds and reservoirs to wastewater
treatment plants, floating solar projects can maximize space
for producing clean energy while sparing natural
lands. But where there is water, there are waterbirds.
Little is known about the impacts—positive or negative—floating
solar projects may have on birds and other wildlife. A paper
from the University of California, Davis, published in the
journal Nature Water, is among the first to outline key
considerations to better align renewable energy and
biodiversity goals.
Every day, Rancho Palos Verdes inches closer to destruction.
The beleaguered Southern California city, which is southwest of
downtown Los Angeles and hugs the waterline between Redondo
Beach and San Pedro, is quite literally sliding into the ocean,
sometimes at a rate of 4 inches per
week. … Recently, though, the rate of failure has
slowed somewhat, giving new hope to those on the edge. And it’s
thanks to an unlikely ally: drought. At a May 6 city
council meeting, Rancho Palos Verdes geologist Mike Phipps
explained that the land movement across much of the peninsula
has stabilized (or at least decelerated) recently. “Mr. Phipps
believes this is largely due to significantly below-average
rainfall through April,” according to a news update on the
meeting from the city’s website, which added that
“winterization measures” last fall and “ongoing dewatering
efforts” have also contributed to the slowdown.
… With New Mexico water sources expected to become
increasingly strained by more demand and shrinking supplies
from a hotter, drier climate, the relationship between oil and
gas and its wastewater has sparked a major policy debate in the
past few legislative sessions and in the (New Mexico Water
Quality Control Commission’s) rulemaking. The state’s oil
and gas production generates billions of gallons of wastewater,
which is extremely salty and can include radioactive materials
and heavy metals from underground; chemicals used in the
fracking process; or cancer-causing or toxic compounds mixed in
from the oil and gas, such as benzene. Gov. Michelle Lujan
Grisham has floated using treated oil and gas wastewater in
manufacturing and other industries in her Strategic Water
Supply proposals, but lawmakers stripped produced water from
the final bill.
With communities across Northern California expected to see
rising temperatures, you may be tempted to take a dip in a
local river, lake or stream. Resist that urge, experts say.
Local waterways are seeing chilly, fast-flowing water due to
spring snowmelt, according to the National Weather Service and
other agencies. … “The melting snowpack is creating
cold, higher flows,” Dave Gabbard, PG&E vice president of
power generation, said in the release. “We encourage everyone
recreating in or near water to be situationally aware and have
a plan to quickly and safely escape in case of changing water
flows and cold temperatures.”
Windsor residents and business owners now have until May 21 to
weigh in on a proposed hike to water and sewer rates — a delay
prompted after two council members missed this week’s
vote. The Town Council had been scheduled to approve the
rate increases Wednesday but postponed the decision because
members JB Leep and Tanya Potter were absent. The vote is now
set for May 21. If approved, the new rates would raise a
typical household’s monthly water bill by $3.24 and wastewater
bill by $8.82, bringing average monthly totals to $38.85 for
water and $94.07 for sewer service. Those estimates are based
on single-family homes using about 6,000 gallons of water and
3,000 gallons of wastewater per month. The plan also calls for
continued rate increases through 2029 — annual increases of 6%
for water in 2026, 2027 and 2028, followed by a 5% hike in
2029.
In 2023, amid record-breaking rain and snow, two prisons in the
southern San Joaquin Valley faced a serious risk of flooding.
But neither prison, California State Prison, Corcoran or the
Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, had a robust evacuation
plan on hand and ready for the looming disaster. Instead,
the prisons developed a joint plan to transfer roughly 8,000
incarcerated people to other state prisons within 11 to 14 days
— or longer. Wheelchair-bound individuals, the plan stated,
would take six days to evacuate. And department buses intended
to shuttle people to safety could take up to a day to arrive.
The floods that year ultimately did not reach the prisons, but
the threat they posed illustrated how California’s
90,000-prisoner corrections system has failed to prepare for
natural disasters. That’s according to a report issued last
week by an independent agency that oversees the department’s
disciplinary process and internal investigations.
The Trump administration is proposing a jaw-dropping $609
million cut to the massive Central Utah Project, which supplies
water to millions of people in northern Utah. … “The Budget
provides $1.2 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation and the
Central Utah Project. The Budget reduces funding for programs
that have nothing to do with building and maintaining water
infrastructure, such as habitat restoration. Instead, the
Budget focuses Reclamation and the Central Utah Project on
their core missions of maintaining assets that provide safe,
reliable, and efficient management of water resources
throughout the western United States,” the reduction item says.
Federal scientists will no longer update a list of weather
disasters that cause billions of dollars in damage, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.
The list had been growing dramatically in recent years, a sign
of both extreme weather and increasing development across the
country. It is on a growing list of scientific datasets
that NOAA says scientists will no longer update or that the
administration will decommission entirely. The agency said the
existing disaster records, stretching from 1980 through 2024,
will remain accessible. Without updates to the database, it
could become harder for the country to assess the ways climate
change, building patterns and population trends are exposing
Americans to weather hazards.
Friday and Saturday are shaping up to be the hottest days so
far this year across much of Northern California. Just two days
later, valley and coastal rain and Sierra
Nevadasnow could be back in the
forecast. It’s part of an unsettled spring weather
pattern that continues across the West
Coast. … Rainfall totals will depend on the
trajectory of the storm. If it moves inland quickly, little to
no precipitation will fall in the Bay Area. If the storm
remains over the ocean, it will pick up more moisture and could
deposit a tenth to a half-inch of rain in parts of the Bay
Area. This wet scenario may also yield a half-foot of snow in
the northern Sierra.
Governor Newsom today announced that the California Department
of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is upgrading 21 fish hatcheries to
boost the state’s salmon and trout populations and protect
hatcheries from the impacts of climate change. The project
helps build the California salmon and trout supply, which are
central to the health of California’s biodiversity but also
indigenous peoples, communities, and the state’s
multimillion-dollar fishing industry. … The “Climate
Induced Hatcheries Upgrade Project” launched today was first
funded with $15 million in emergency drought funding in 2021.
Since that funding was allocated, CDFW has been working with
leading hatchery and hydrology consultants to identify specific
concerns with regard to water quality and quantity, fish
rearing and water supply infrastructure and operational
inefficiencies at the hatcheries.
Interior Department employees are preparing for notices of
layoffs as soon as next week, as the Trump administration
appears to ready further cuts at bureaus and agencies that have
already seen hundreds of employees voluntarily leave their
posts. Interior indicated in mid-April that it would pursue
staff reductions — continuing efforts initiated by the
so-called Department of Government Efficiency to slash
executive branch agencies — when it issued staffers a list of
“competitive areas” that could be subject to cuts.
… Interior declined to detail how many of its employees
— which numbered more than 69,000 individuals in September 2024
— have already accepted early retirement offers or enrolled in
the “deferred resignation program.” But according to
individuals with knowledge of reductions at
the Bureau of Reclamation, for example,
reductions have reached as many as 25 percent of the agency, or
1,400 people.
A letter California Asm. Josh Hoover posted to social media
Thursday provides insight into how State
Parks implemented their 30-day quarantine to
eradicate the invasive golden mussel at Folsom Lake, Lake
Natoma and Auburn’s Lake Clementine. Two weeks ago, Hoover sent
a letter to State Parks and the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation saying both agencies were not prepared in
their mussel response to balance the needs of boaters and
businesses who rely on the recreation industry. California
State Parks’ letter to Hoover on Monday says the
state department received a letter (from the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation) March 31 to protect waterways by April 15.
Mexican diplomats say climate change has hindered them from
settling a massive water debt to the United States, which is
bringing economic hardship to South Texas farmers. But a former
U.S. federal official on Thursday offered a different
explanation. “One of the issues that we see is that
domestic problems in Mexico are affecting what’s happening in
the United States,” said Maria Elena Giner. “Water is owned by
the (Mexican) government, yet they really don’t have good
control of the reservoirs. The states are becoming much more
active in opposing any water deliveries.” … Giner, who
has followed Mexican politics since the Carlos Salinas de
Gortari administration of 1988-1994, said Mexico has invested
in developing agriculture but not in making water management
more efficient.
A large swath of southern San Luis Obispo County was ordered to
boil its drinking water last week after bacteria was discovered
in Lopez Lake’s water distribution pipeline. Residents of
Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, Oceano, Avila Beach
and other unincorporated areas of the South County had to to
boil drinking water for up to four days depending on where they
lived. … The county discovered the bacteria at five
routine testing sites in the Lopez water distribution system on
April 29. After a second round of tests, the county issued a
boil water notice on April 30 — which lifted for some residents
on May 2 and others on May 3. … On Thursday, the county
shared additional details of what led to the unprecedented boil
water notice for Five Cities residents. Here’s what happened.
House Republicans added a provision to their sweeping tax cut
package authorizing sales of hundreds of thousands of acres of
public lands in Nevada and Utah, prompting outrage from
Democrats and environmentalists who called it a betrayal that
could lead to drilling, mining and logging in sensitive areas.
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee adopted
the land sales proposal early Wednesday morning. The initial
draft had not included it amid bipartisan opposition. The land
sale provision was put forward by Republican Reps. Mark Amodei
of Nevada and Celeste Maloy of Utah. The parcels could be used
for economic development, mining and infrastructure projects
such as the expansion of an airport and a
reservoir in Utah, according to local
officials and plans for the areas.
EPA’s political leaders have hedged on reorganization plans for
its stand-alone research office, but the office’s managers are
already warning staff of halting lab research and reassigning
key duties. In an email sent Thursday morning to all staff in
the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, one
of the Office of Research and Development’s four research
centers, center Director Wayne Cascio and deputy Kay Holt
wrote, “Lab research will wind down over the next few weeks as
we will no longer have the capability to acquire supplies and
materials.” … CPHEA oversees multiple research
divisions, from climate science to pollutant assessments. One
of its divisions is the embattled Integrated Risk Information
System, or IRIS, which conducts chemical risk assessments that
industry lobbyists have for years challenged for overstating
the dangers of certain substances.
A Long Beach oil field will soon be restored to roughly 156
acres of public wetlands. City leaders and oil operators came
together Thursday at the groundbreaking ceremony on the Synergy
Oil Field, where privately owned oil operations have been
ongoing for over 60 years. “We are shutting down an oil field
that’s been here since the late 20’s and we are doing a
complete wetlands restoration project, to about 156 acres,”
John McKeown, CEO, Synergy Oil & Gas said … with
publicly accessible wetlands, walking trails, habitat
restoration, and a nature center focused on environmental
education. … It’s part of a broader effort to restore
the Los Cerritos Wetlands. Another 103 acres are set to be
restored through the Southern Los Cerritos Wetlands Restoration
Project in Seal Beach—led by the Los Cerritos Wetlands
Authority.
Residents who live in the Remen Tract neighborhood — an
unincorporated plot of land located within Pleasanton — have
depended on temporary fire hoses connected to fire hydrants for
months as their main source of water for their homes. These
temporary connections, according to neighbors and a city
spokesperson, were installed as a remedy for a main waterline
that broke in August 2024. After previously notifying the
residents, the city removed its fire hose connections last
Wednesday — mainly due to safety concerns regarding the rest of
the city’s water supply — leaving those six homes and residents
without water. … And what was more surprising to
… residents who live in that neighborhood was the city
informing them it will not be fixing their waterline, leaving
many scrambling to figure out how or if they should pay for
those repairs.
