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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Marin County and Novato are disputing a state water board’s
contention that they are doing too little to prevent the
discharge of fecal bacteria into the Petaluma River. The San
Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board notified both the
county and Novato in January that they are out of compliance
with a program that it adopted in 2019 to reduce the level of
fecal bacteria in the river. Both jurisdictions, however,
contend that they are not required to comply with the program
because the scheme has not yet been incorporated into their
municipal storm sewer system permits, which are issued by the
State Water Resources Control Board.
Five possible alternatives to the tire antidegradant 6PPD have
been identified, following a comprehensive preliminary analysis
completed by a consortium of 30 tire manufacturers March 25.
California’s State Water Board is wrestling with what terms to
set for water conservation regulation for urban areas. This
regulation implements state policy designed to Make
Conservation a California Way of Life. But the only way to make
that vision equitable is to ensure the needs of low-income
communities are taken into account. Unfortunately, the Water
Board is considering making it too easy to slow-walk
investments in conservation, not only in low-income
communities, but also in wealthy places like Beverly Hills that
use significantly more than their fair share. The proposed
regulation currently under consideration means that 72% of
Californians will not need to save a single additional drop
until 2035. -Written by Kyle Jones, Policy & Legal Director
at the Community Water Center.
In the Records Room of the CalEPA building in Sacramento are
some of the most important documents in the entire state of
California. Some date back to 1914. “Our files are organized in
ascending order,” explained Matthew Jay, an analyst with the
State Water Resources Control Board. “The oldest documents are
at the bottom and so you can see that some of the stuff is all
typewritten and in a lot of cases, handwritten.” … The
papers are what’s known as water rights – the backbone of life
in California and its multitrillion dollar economy. Water
rights are official documents validating who has the authority
to take water, from where, and how much of it.
With chronic water shortages afflicting the Colorado River,
discussions about how to cut usage have increasingly focused on
a thirsty crop that consumes an especially large share of the
river’s water: hay that is grown to feed cattle and produce
beef and dairy products. In a new study, researchers found that
alfalfa and other cattle-feed crops consume 46% of the water
that is diverted from the river, accounting for nearly
two-thirds of agricultural water use. The research also shows
that agriculture is the dominant user of Colorado River water,
accounting for 74% of the water that is diverted — about three
times the combined usage of all the cities that depend on the
river. The study presents the most detailed analysis of its
kind to date, including extensive data on where the river’s
water goes across seven Western states and northern Mexico.
… Over the next several years, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.,
the current owner of the Potter Valley Project, is planning to
retire the hydroelectric plant and remove two dams on the Eel
River that provide water for the facility. With power
production shut down, tunneling water into the Russian River
won’t be necessary. … The Potter Valley Project provides a
portion of the water supply for large swaths of Mendocino and
Sonoma counties. … Scores of vineyards here are tethered
to water rights that are subject to restriction when river
levels drop. During the recent drought, hundreds of
water-rights holders were forced to stop pumping — a
scenario many believe was a preview of a future where the Eel
River doesn’t continue to supplement the Russian.
As winter conditions wind down, the beginning of April is
always the most important time for California’s water managers
to take stock of how much snow has fallen in the Sierra
Nevada. This year, something unusual happened. After years
of extreme drought and several very wet flood years, the Sierra
snowpack, the source of one-third of the state’s water supply,
is shockingly average this year: 104% of normal on
Friday. And more is on the way.
Last call to register for our Water 101 Workshop, an
annual daylong course on California water hosted at McGeorge
School of Law in Sacramento! View an agenda here for
our popular workshop that details the history, geography, and
the legal and political facets of water in California. Plus,
workshop participants are invited to grab one of the few
remaining seats on the optional groundwater tour on April 4.
Find more details and register
here today! And see what else we have on tap this
spring!
… The season typically runs from May to October, but
California Chinook salmon populations have declined so severely
in recent years that fishery authorities are considering
whether to adopt severe restrictions this season or impose a
ban on fishing altogether for the second consecutive year.
… [Many salmon fishers lay] much of the blame on
California water managers, who [they say] send too much
water to farms and cities and deprive rivers of the cold flows
salmon need to survive.
A generational issue for the families living in San Lucas
continues as they’ve gone decades without drinking water. Soon
federal, state, and local leaders will secure nearly a million
dollars to build a pipeline to King City. … Plants not
growing, animals dying, young children unable to bathe, this is
the reality for those living in the unincorporated South
Monterey County town of San Lucas.
Attorney General Kris Mayes told La Paz County residents she’s
considering a lawsuit to stop corporate farms from overpumping
groundwater there and in Cochise County. Her investigators are
seeking examples of harm such as dry wells, cracked foundations
and dust on which to build a possible case using the state’s
nuisance laws, she said Thursday.
[Denise] Moreno Ramírez wasn’t surprised when she heard an
Australian mining company, South32, planned to open a
manganese, zinc, lead and silver operation in the same area
where her family had worked. … But this latest proposed mine
was alarming, she said, because Biden is fast-tracking
it in the name of the energy transition – potentially
compromising the mountain’s delicate ecosystems, many of which
have begun to be restored as mines have shut
down. … A growing network of Arizona residents say
that allowing the mine to proceed as planned could introduce a
grave new layer of environmental injustices.
…Conservationists say they worry that South32 is seeking to
use water irresponsibly amid long-term drought.
Residents at Friendly Acres Mobile Home Park were given bottled
water and warned about possible contamination in their
well during a March meeting organized by the Central Valley
Regional Water Quality Control Board and California’s Division
of Drinking Water. First reported by the Red Bluff Daily News,
the concern stems from alarming levels of per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances. Those man-made chemicals, called
PFAS, are used to make a huge number of modern products like
stain-resistant material, nonstick cookware, food packaging and
waterproof clothing. They’ve also been linked to health impacts
including cancer, liver and thyroid damage.
After another spate of late-spring rain, Los Angeles
County public health officials are warning people to stay
out of the water until at least Wednesday. The Department
of Public Health issued an ocean water quality rain advisory
for all Los Angeles County beaches due to the stormy weather.
… The warning stretches the entire LA coastline.
Colorado lawmakers are considering legislation to restore
protections to key waters and wetlands struck down by the U.S.
Supreme Court last year in a decision leaving more than half of
the nation’s water supply at risk of industrial pollution.
Margaret Kran-Annexstein, director of the Colorado chapter of
the Sierra Club, said House Bill 1379 is in sync with Colorado
voters, pointing to a recent survey which found nearly nine in
10 voters want to limit damage and pollution from development,
industry and mining on wetlands and streams.
An elected member of a Ventura County water board has pleaded
guilty to a felony charge of stealing water for his Oxnard
farm. Daniel Naumann, 66, admitted to one count of grand theft
of water, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said
in a Friday news release. As part of his plea agreement,
five other felony charges will be dropped, the Ventura
County Star reports. Naumann,
a Camarillo resident who is owner and operator of
Naumann Family Farms, was an elected board member of the United
Water Conservation District and an alternate board member of
the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency. … Despite
those roles, Naumann took nearly $30,000 in water between 2019
and 2021 using “diversion bypasses [that] were installed on two
commercial water pumps that irrigated Naumann’s crops,” the
release stated.
Some Bee colleagues and I recently took a tour of Westlands
Water District — the nation’s largest agricultural water
district, located on the western edges of Fresno and Kings
counties. … But facing the twin challenges of drought
and new state restrictions on groundwater use, Westlands
farmers and counterparts throughout the San Joaquin Valley are
considering a new money maker for their land: solar power.
Successful aquatic restoration traditionally comes from
extensive research and knowledge of the system, collaboration
among stakeholders, and thorough planning. But what if there
was another way to ensure restorations are creating the results
we want to see? With increasing effects of climate change,
urbanization, and other anthropogenic factors, aquatic
organisms, especially ones that are endangered, need successful
restorations more than ever to aid in their survival. One Ph.D.
student at UC Davis, Madeline Eugenia Fallowfield— or Madge,
says she’s studying the “power of positive thinking” to improve
the success of aquatic restoration projects.
Aquafornia is off Friday, March 29, in honor of César
Chávez Day, a state holiday in California. We’ll return
Monday with a full slate of water news. In the meantime, follow
us on Twitter where we post
breaking water news and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
A recent court ruling may have thrown a wrench in the state’s
funding plans for the controversial and expensive Delta
Conveyance Project – a tunnel to move Sacramento River water 45
miles beneath the ecologically sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta. In January, the Sacramento Superior Court denied
the state Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) request to
finance the project through bonds. Tunnel opponents hailed
the ruling as a blow to the project. But state staff say the
ruling will not impede funding. DWR has appealed the case and
is still planning on using bonds to pay for the project if it
comes to fruition.
