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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Native American tribal leaders with a stake in the Colorado
River Basin have regular meetings with top Interior Department
officials, can claim progress toward major water rights
settlements, and often appear on panels at key conferences with
federal and state leaders. It’s a significant improvement
compared to decades of exclusion of Indigenous people on
decisions over the 1,450-mile-long river that supports 40
million people across seven states. But it’s also not enough,
according to officials from some of those tribes — who argue
their role still falls short of equal footing with states.
The good news is that the San Joaquin Valley has managed to
store a little more groundwater since the drought of 2016. The
bad news is that it is hard to keep account of what’s working
and what’s not. On Tuesday, the Public Policy Institute of
California, a nonprofit policy research organization, released
an update report on the replenishment of groundwater in the San
Joaquin Valley, one of the areas of the state that is heavily
dependent on groundwater. The report also identified those
basins best suited to accept water recharge operations, with
the highest number being in the eastern and southern regions of
the valley.
Evidence is stacking up against the state in one of multiple
lawsuits over last year’s devastating floods in Merced County.
One of the most stunning new pieces of evidence is a string of
12 emails from Merced County staff that went ignored by the
state for more than four months before last year’s floods. The
lawsuit was filed against the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife (CDFW) on behalf of the City of Merced, a local
elementary school and 12 agricultural groups. All the
plaintiffs took significant damage from flooding after water
backed up in clogged waterways and broke through, or overtopped
creek banks and levees. The flooding came primarily from
Bear Creek and Black Rascal Creek, both of which have flooded
before. Flooding from Miles Creek also damaged nearly every
home in the small, rural town of Planada.
The Klamath Water Users Association, along with the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation and other plaintiff appellants asked a Ninth
Circuit appeals panel Wednesday morning to reverse summary
judgment from a case that confirmed the bureau and other actors
must comply with the Endangered Species Act when operating the
Klamath Irrigation Project. Managed by the Bureau of
Reclamation, the Klamath Irrigation Project supplies water to
over 225,000 acres of farmland and two wildlife refuges in the
Klamath Basin along the Oregon-California border. The project,
however, decimated the local Chinook and Coho salmon
population, which the Yurok tribe rely on to survive. Dams are
currently being removed from the upper Klamath Basin, allowing
the river to flow freely for the first time in 100 years. In a
victory for the fish and the tribe, U.S. District Judge William
Orrick ruled in 2023 that the federal government must follow
its own laws, such as the Endangered Species Act…
Plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit over the Kern River filed a
petition asking the California Supreme Court to review an order
that tossed out an injunction many had anticipated would
guarantee a flowing river through Bakersfield. Specifically,
the petition asks the Supreme Court to direct the 5th
District Court of Appeal to explain why it stayed the
injunction that had required enough water in the river to keep
fish in good condition. The Supreme Court petition was filed
June 11. The 5th District issued what’s known as a “writ of
supersedeas” May 3 setting aside the injunction and staying all
legal actions surrounding the injunction, which had been issued
by Kern County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pulskamp last fall.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is demanding the U.S.
Air Force and Arizona National Guard take action as
concentrations of toxic “forever chemicals” are increasing in
the groundwater in a historically contaminated area on Tucson’s
south side. The EPA found the pollution came from the nearby
military properties and ordered them to clean up the
contamination. High concentrations of PFAS, or per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances, were detected in Tucson’s
groundwater near the Tucson International Airport at the
National Guard base and at a property owned by the U.S. Air
Force. The contaminants threaten the groundwater extracted at a
water treatment run by Tucson Water in the Tucson Airport
Remediation Project area, known as TARP. That water was
intended for drinking, the EPA said in its May 29 order.
In the Golden State, we pride ourselves on our future-facing
environmental values and our climate leadership. At the same
time, nearly 1 million residents, primarily in disadvantaged
communities, are without access to clean drinking water, and
California cities such as Los Angeles, Long Beach and Fresno
are burdened year after year by some of the dirtiest, most
polluted air in the nation. This glaring duality underscores
the failure of our current legal framework to ensure the
fundamental rights of all Californians to clean air, water and
a healthy environment. It’s time for a change. It’s time for
California to enshrine this right into our state constitution.
The inalienable rights of life, liberty, safety and happiness
guaranteed in the state constitution are under threat by a
climate crisis that negatively impacts the health and
well-being of all Californians. -Written by Terry Tamminen and James Strock, former
secretaries of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
Alan Lloyd, who also contributed to this piece, is also a
former secretary of the California EPA.
… Last year, Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg)
introduced a pivotal piece of legislation to enhance drought
preparedness and climate resiliency for North Coast watersheds.
Supported by a coalition of organizations and Tribal Nations,
and co-sponsored by CalTrout, AB 1272 promises a better future
for North Coast communities and the iconic species that live
there. North Coast communities are deeply connected to
salmon populations and rivers. Declining salmon numbers due to
severe droughts and water management challenges have led to the
closure of salmon fishing in 2023 and again this year.
Some $253 million helped Angelenos pay back utility bills from
March 2020 through December 2022, city officials announced on
Wednesday, June 12. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember
Heather Hutt, state Environmental Protection Agency Secretary
Yana Garcia, Water Resources Control Board Chair Joaquin
Esquivel, and officials with the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power and L.A. Environment and Sanitation celebrated
the distribution of federal funding at a news conference.
Officials said the aid was automatically applied to about
204,500 DWP customer accounts. The California Water and
Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program was the source of the
funds, administered by the state water board using federal
American Rescue Plan Act funds.
A contentious proposal to amend California’s Constitution to
enshrine environmental rights for all citizens has been delayed
for at least another year after it failed to gain traction
ahead of a looming deadline. ACA 16, also known as the green
amendment, sought to add a line to the state Constitution’s
Declaration of Rights affirming that all people “shall have a
right to clean air and water and a healthy environment.” The
single sentence sounds straightforward enough, but by the start
of this week, the proposal had not yet made it through the
state Assembly or moved into the state Senate. Both houses
would need to pass the proposal by June 27 in order to get it
on voter ballots this fall. … The [Chamber of
Commerce] said compliance costs could lead to economic
impacts for businesses, communities and local governments. …”
Fireworks were already popping between board members of a key
Tulare County groundwater agency recently over an 11th hour
attempt to rein in pumping in the severely overdrafted area.
The main issue at the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability
Agency (GSA) meeting June 6 was whether to require farmers in
subsidence prone areas to install meters and report their
extractions to the agency, which is being blamed for almost
single handedly putting the entire subbasin in jeopardy of a
state takeover. … In the end, the Eastern Tule
board voted 6-0 to require all landowners in the subsidence
management area along the canal to meter their wells and report
extractions by January 1.
California is among nine U.S. states and territories selected
to receive $60 million in federal funding as part of a
significant effort to build a nationwide climate-ready
workforce. The investment from the U.S. Department of Commerce
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will
support job development efforts in coastal and Great Lakes
communities around the country, including $9.5 million to
establish the Los Angeles County Climate Ready Employment
Council at Long Beach City College. … U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Gina Raimondo [said in a statement,] “Climate
change accelerates the need for a new generation of skilled
workers who can help communities address a wide range of
climate impacts including sea level rise, flooding, water
quality issues and the need for solutions such as renewable
energy.”
Chemical and manufacturing groups sued the federal government
late Monday over a landmark drinking-water standard that would
require cleanup of so-called forever chemicals linked to cancer
and other health risks. The industry groups said that the
government was exceeding its authority under the Safe Drinking
Water Act by requiring that municipal water systems all but
remove six synthetic chemicals, known by the acronym PFAS, that
are present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of
Americans. The Environmental Protection Agency has said that
the new standard, put in place in April, will prevent thousands
of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious
illnesses.
Working together to support local Tribal farmers, the
Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Santa Rosa Rancheria
Tachi Yokut Tribe have expedited two water transfers to meet
immediate water supply needs and to address long-term demands
north of the Tulare Lake area. Working with the Tulare Lake
Irrigation District, DWR and the Tachi Yokut Tribe entered into
a contractual agreement to institute both a temporary and
permanent transfer of water resulting in over 600-acre feet of
additional water for the area.
California is home to three of the most bacteria-ridden beaches
in the country, according to the Surfrider Foundation. The
nonprofit organization recently released its 2023 Clean Water
Report to “build awareness of issues that affect water quality
at the beach.” The report … highlights 10 beaches across the
United States and Puerto Rico where high bacteria levels
consistently exceed state health standards, putting public
health at risk. … [The nonprofit said in the report],
“Surfrider Foundation volunteers test beaches that are not
covered by agencies, and also monitor potential sources of
pollution, such as stormwater outlets, rivers and creeks that
discharge onto the beach.”
On Wednesday, June 12, the state of California officially opens
Dos Rios, the first new state park in more than a decade. It’s
a riparian forest restoration at the confluence of the San
Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers, in the Central Valley, about an
hour from San Jose—and the subject of Bay Nature’s Spring 2024
cover story, “The Everything Park,” by H.R. Smith. We dubbed
Dos Rios the Everything Park because a modern state park has an
astonishing number of jobs to do—among them groundwater
storage, wildlife habitat, and climate adaptation.
Amid the historic removal of dams on the Klamath River, the
Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation
announced the launch of a new fund to support projects in the
drastically changing Klamath Basin. According to a Tuesday news
release, the fund will support “grantmaking to bolster
community healing, Tribal self-determination, science and
restoration, storytelling, climate resilience, regenerative
agriculture, environmental stewardship, and more.” Starting
with $10 million, the foundations aim to support the health and
restoration of the basin and the communities that live in it.
At least 60% must go to tribes or Indigenous-led organizations,
according to the release, with a focus on climate resilience
and restorative justice projects.
… The Salton Sea region is facing economic pressure to become
a substantial domestic supplier of lithium, placing greater
challenges on lower-income communities that already face
significant disparities – yet contribute so much to the
prosperity and quality-of-life of others. … This year, state
leaders have a chance to place a climate bond on the
November ballot, which would give voters an opportunity to
approve important environmental protections and clean energy
projects. This bond can benefit all areas of the state, while
also providing $400 million to the Salton Sea region and $15
million to establish a conservancy. -Written by Silvia Paz, executive director of
Alianza Coachella Valley, and former chair of California’s
Lithium Valley Commission.
Water diversions can harm aquatic ecosystems, riparian habitat,
and beaches fed by river sediment. But the people who use water
don’t bear the cost of this ecological damage. “The public
pays for it,” says Karrigan Börk, a University of California,
Davis law professor who has a PhD in ecology. He is also
Co-Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy
Center and an Associate Director of the UC Davis Center for
Watershed Sciences. Börk presents a new solution to this
problem in a recent Harvard Environmental Law
Review paper. His idea was sparked by the fact that
developers are required to help pay for the burden that new
housing imposes on municipal services. To likewise link
water infrastructure and diversions with their costs to
society, Börk proposes requiring water users to pay towards
mitigating the environmental harm they cause. … …One
example is in the upper basin of the Colorado River, where
water users pay for their environmental
impacts.
Silicon Valley billionaires are still aggressively moving
forward with their attempt to create a utopian, sustainable
“city of yesterday” near San Francisco atop what they describe
as “non-prime farmland.” However, an accredited land trust now
claims California Forever’s East Solano Plan is intentionally
misleading local residents about the “detrimental harm” it will
cause ecosystems, as well as its potential to “destroy some of
the most self-reliant farmland and ranchland” in the state.
… [A]s CBS Sacramento first reported on June
7, Solano Land Trust’s executive director Nicole Braddock
contends California Forever’s aim “really goes against our
mission of protecting working farms, natural areas, land and
water Solano County.” Additionally, the influx of as many as
400,000 new residents would result in “a detrimental impact on
Solano County’s water resources, air quality, traffic,
farmland, and natural environment,” according to the trust’s
board of directors.
