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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… Last week, the East Bay Municipal Utility District
announced a record-breaking fall salmon run in the Mokelumne
River … According to EBMUD, over 20,000 salmon have already
returned to spawn in the river this year, a figure not seen in
80 years of record-keeping. … Yet salmon observers
across the state say the record-breaking numbers are unlikely
to be a step toward large, more sustainable salmon populations.
Instead, the salmon in the Mokelumne this year could just be
the fleeting appearance of progress in developed, modern river
systems that don’t prioritize the fish’s success.
About 3 miles east of Bombay Beach, and a half-mile back from
the Salton Sea’s receding shoreline, the crunchy exposed playa
gives way from a mostly empty white landscape to more and more
native vegetation, and then suddenly a few shallow ponds
appear, surrounded by dense vegetation. The Bombay Beach
wetlands are an unexpected side effect of the shrinking sea,
and Audubon California is eyeing this phenomenon as at least a
partial solution to the complex issues at the Salton Sea.
Proposals abound aimed at mitigating the effects of the sea’s
quickly receding shoreline, from importing water from Mexico’s
Sea of Cortez (still just an idea) to the state’s 4,000-acre
habitat restoration along the sea’s southern edge (nearing
completion).
Two of the San Diego County Water Authority’s smallest
customers — avocado and citrus farming communities in North
County tired of paying ever-rising water rates to urbanize San
Diego — were prepared to leave quietly in search of cheaper
water elsewhere. These water divorce proceedings began
back in 2020. But at the 11th hour, the Water Authority started
pulling out all the stops to keep them in line, and all hell
broke loose. The Water Authority leaned on powerful friends at
the State Capitol and former enemies in Los Angeles, where the
biggest water supplier in the world lives: the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California. The Water
Authority also turned to the courts, dropping a 360-page
lawsuit against its defectors, Rainbow Municipal Water District
and Fallbrook Public Utilities District, and a little-known
organization that gave them permission to leave: the Local
Agency Formation Commission or LAFCO.
Congratulations to Bakersfield for boldly moving forward with
new flows for the Kern River. This piece adds perspective from
up north in our Great Central Valley. Winters and Davis in the
1990s were where Bakersfield has been in recent decades. Putah
Creek’s channel courses through Winters and Davis. (Putah, by
the way, is really a river with about half the typical flow of
the Kern!) With no guaranteed flows for lower Putah Creek since
construction of Monticello Dam and the filling of Lake
Berryessa in the 1960s, our waterway’s habitat was dwindling
and public access was shabby. Deep into a 1980s drought, our
creek’s alarm went off. Children at Davis’ summer camp saw fish
flapping in the mud. Parents were appalled, the city of Davis
was embarrassed and those who value nature were dismayed. Dirt
bikes could roam 20 miles of dried channel. -Written by Joe Krovoza, the former chair of the
Putah Creek Council.
Everyone from policymakers to armchair warriors has a theory on
the best way to solve the Colorado River crisis. Soon they’ll
have a chance to test out their ideas. The Colorado River’s
flow is dropping — it’s about 18% lower in the 21st century
than it was in the 20th century — and that’s a big deal to the
40 million people who depend on it for water across the West.
But solving the crisis gets complicated, quickly. That’s where
a team of researchers at the University of California,
Riverside, think they can help. They’ve developed a new way of
looking at water-saving efforts across the enormous basin, and
they’re turning it into an interactive map and dashboard that
everyone can use.
… A series of hydroelectric dams had altered the Klamath’s
flow more than a century ago, creating an unnatural system that
left fish and people high and dry. … But the
6,500-member Yurok Tribe and its neighbors in the Klamath River
Basin still had cause to celebrate: They had won a 20-year-long
struggle to demolish four decommissioned hydroelectric dams in
the middle basin. That massive project, the largest in U.S.
history, is ongoing and expected to be completed sometime in
early 2025.
… In May, with Nevada facing increasingly severe water
problems, a state legislative committee was considering a
proposal backed by environmentalists and water managers that
would have made it harder in some parts of the state to get new
permits to pump water.. … [A Kansas] aquifer is running
out of water, fast. But the board hasn’t slowed down the
pumping. In a country where the value of land often depends on
access to water, powerful interests in agriculture, heavy
industry and real estate draw vast amounts of water out of the
ground.
In early 2020, while the rest of the Sacramento region headed
to their homes to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic, a long line
of construction equipment under contract by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Sacramento District was instead heading to the
jobsite. The first of eight dikes bolstering the west and south
shores of Folsom Lake, Dike 8, gradually rose three and a half
feet at the southern tip of the lake. Contracted workers donned
safety vests, boots, and something new—the face mask—while work
continued on Dike 8. … Folsom Dam is not just one structure;
it’s made up of a main dam, two wing dams (left and right), the
Mormon Island Auxiliary Dam, and the eight dikes. Dike 8 was
the first of all this infrastructure to be raised 3.5 feet, but
far from the last. All of these components are scheduled to
undergo a similar raise by 2028
Imperial Beach wants more residents to start using rain
barrels. That’s the goal behind a new set of guidelines adopted
by the city last week, which officials hope will ultimately
help shore up the city’s aging infrastructure against rising
sea levels. Rain barrels are tanks that collect and store
rainwater for future use. They can help users conserve drinking
water and save money on irrigation. They also have the added
advantage of reducing the amount of rainfall that flows into
the city’s stormwater collection system.
The Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) and Lucia Mar
Unified School District teamed up for a construction project
that aims to help recharge the Santa Maria Valley Groundwater
Basin and reduce flooding. Will Clemens, OCSD general
manager, said that the stormwater capture and groundwater
recharge project is crucial for environmental and safety
reasons because once the project is completed, flooding won’t
overwhelm Oceano’s streets and residents.
California Forever, a group of Silicon Valley titans hoping to
create a new city in a rural area 60 miles northeast of San
Francisco, has faced local resistance from the day it launched
this summer with a splashy website and promises to “bring back
the California Dream.” … [A recent public meeting]
concerned California Forever’s proposal to fund a study on
upgrading the county’s water infrastructure. Many cities in
Solano County get their water largely from the notoriously old
and unreliable North Bay Aqueduct. California Forever
approached the water authority about funding a study on a
replacement to serve both their city and existing ones in
Solano County. In a press release, the group called it a
“win-win” and a “free lunch” for the community.
Nevada and other states in the Colorado River Basin continue to
face a water crisis. Drought has stretched on for more than two
decades and is compounded by the effects of climate change.
Last year, Lake Mead dipped to an all-time low. Can human
intervention make a difference? Can we get more desperately
needed water from the clouds to the ground? FOX5 went on a
journey seeking an answer to that question up to Mt. Potosi
where a cloud seeding generator is located. Cloud seeding is
something that’s been done for decades but the generator, which
specifically targets Red Rock Canyon, was only set up last
fall. It all started with one Blue Diamond resident’s idea.
In the immediate aftermath of a sewage spill at Carmel Valley
Ranch on Aug. 6 and then another on Aug. 16, California
American Water officials were out on the scene right
away, seeking to contain the overflow. Paperwork moves
much slower. Months later, in response to a notice of violation
issued on Oct. 26 by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board, Cal Am has filed a technical report explaining
what the utility believes happened. … According to the
water board’s findings, “Due to the proximity of the storm
drain to the manhole and the County [Environmental Health
Bureau of the Monterey County Health Department]’s observation
that sandbags were not effective in stopping the overflow from
entering the storm drain, Central Coast Water Board staff
assume that up to 1,200 gallons of sewage discharged to the
storm drain.”
When Californians talk of lakes, they usually mean reservoirs,
the 1500 or so artificial bodies of water behind dams.
Alternately, they may be referring to the 4,000 or so natural
lakes in the Sierra Nevada or to one of the few large natural
lakes in the state, such as Lake Tahoe or Clear Lake. But some
of the most interesting lakes in the state draw our attention
mainly when demand for water threatens to dry them up. These
are terminal lakes, that mostly depend on seasonal rain or snow
melt to maintain them as lakes. They are called terminal lakes
because water flows into the basins through streams, but leaves
mostly by evaporation or sinking into underground aquifers.
Each lake has its own unique chemistry and other
characteristics, although most are highly productive so are
important to migratory waterfowl and invertebrates.
Four recently announced federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
grants for water projects in the region all included one
notable common denominator — they all got help in their
application process through a special Colorado River District
program made possible by a voter-approved tax measure in 2020.
On Nov. 15 the Department of Interior announced $51 million in
funding via the Bureau of Reclamation for 30 new environmental
water resource projects in 11 states. The projects focus on
water conservation, water management and restoration efforts
that will result in significant benefits to ecosystem or
watershed health, the Interior Department says. Interior
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Michael Brain visited
Grand Junction at the time of the funding announcement to
highlight recipients of funding in Colorado.
Lake Mead could drop to its lowest point ever in 2025, new
projections have estimated. The latest “most probable”
projections from the Bureau of Reclamation estimate that Lake
Mead could reach water levels as low as 1,040.77 feet in
September 2025. This is the lowest the lake has ever been.
It has reached this point before, in July 2022. It is the
lowest the reservoir has been since it was first constructed in
the 1930s.
Aquafornia is off for the Thanksgiving weekend. We will
return with a full slate of water news on Monday, Nov. 27.In
the meantime, follow us on Twitter for breaking
news and on Facebook and
LinkedIn for
Foundation-related news. We are grateful for our readers!
Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!
An agreement signed on Tuesday between local leaders and the
Army Corps of Engineers cleared the way for construction to
begin next year on a replacement for the ailing Pajaro River
levee. The long-awaited project will provide 100-year flood
protection for the communities of Pajaro and Watsonville,
compared to the eight- to 10-year protection of the current
structure. The signing ceremony at Watsonville City Hall
came 57 years after Congress first authorized rebuilding the
inadequate levee system, directing in the Flood Control
Act of 1966 that the work be done “expeditiously.” The
levee’s failure in March, which flooded the town of
Pajaro and drove thousands from their homes, spotlighted a
federal funding system that prioritized flood control projects
in rich communities over disadvantaged ones.
If anyone thought a recent court order mandating 40% of the
Kern River’s flow remain in the river for fish was the end of
the story, think again. Agricultural water districts are
striking back. … at what they say is an historic water
heist by the city of Bakersfield. On Tuesday, a coalition
of ag districts filed a motion to stay and a motion
for reconsideration of Kern County Superior Court Judge
Gregory Pulskamp’s injunction and implementation order
requiring water in the river. The group, including Kern Delta
Water District, Kern County Water Agency and the North Kern,
Buena Vista and Rosedale-Rio Bravo water storage districts
contend, among other things, that the implementation order was
rushed by … not affording them due process.
California’s 280,000 acres of mountain meadows dotting the
Sierra Nevada are more than pretty rest stops along arduous
alpine trails. They also act like giant water sponges,
filtering water and slowing it down as runoff barrels down
mountainsides. Yet more than 50,000 acres of meadows are
in need of restoration. US Forest Service ecologist Karen
Pope said California has some of the best meadows in the world,
and likens them to “nature’s speed bumps” for their ability to
moderate water flows for downstream users. Their
restoration is part of a bigger picture, encapsulated in the
Department of Water Resources’ strategic Water Plan, which
acknowledges climate change as an “urgent threat” and calls for
focusing on the state’s watersheds, water systems and
communities.
