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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A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding
claims to water in the Colorado River basin is closing in on a
settlement with more than a dozen parties, putting it on a path
to piping water to tens of thousands of tribal members in
Arizona who still live without it. Negotiating terms outlined
late Wednesday include water rights not only for the Navajo
Nation but the neighboring Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute
tribes in the northeastern corner of the state. The water would
come from a mix of sources: the Colorado River that serves
seven western states, the Little Colorado River, and aquifers
and washes on tribal lands. The agreement is decades in the
making and would allow the tribes to avoid further litigation
and court proceedings, which have been costly.
California fails to capture massive amounts of stormwater
rushing off city streets and surfaces that could help supply
millions of people a year, according to a new analysis released
today. The nationwide report, by researchers with the Pacific
Institute, ranks California ninth nationwide among states with
the most estimated urban runoff. … The analysis reports
California sheds almost 2.3 million acre-feet of precipitation
from pavement, roofs, sidewalks and other surfaces in cities
and towns every year. If it were captured and treated, that
would be enough to supply more than a quarter of California’s
urban water use, or almost 7 million Southern California
households each year.
In the heart of California, at the place where two great rivers
converge beneath the Tule fog, lies the linchpin of one of the
largest water supply systems in the world. [T]he Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta … is also the site of a bitter,
decades-long battle over a proposed plan known as the Delta
Conveyance Project — a 45-mile tunnel that would run beneath
the delta to move more water from Northern California to
thirsty cities to the south. State officials say the
tunnel is a critical piece of infrastructure that would help
protect millions of Californians from losing water supplies in
the event of a major earthquake or levee break.
… Opponents say the tunnel is a boondoggle that would
further imperil the delta’s fragile ecosystem, which has
already been eroded by heavy water withdrawals for agriculture
and cities.
Water diversions to Los Angeles—and away from Mono Lake—began
just after noon on January 31. With the turn of a control
wheel, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) opened
the aqueduct, sending Mono Basin water into the Mono Craters
tunnel and on a 300-mile journey down the aqueduct system.
… On April 1, the maximum limit on water exports will
increase nearly fourfold. Will DWP choose to maintain the same
export level as recent years? Or will it choose to quadruple
its water diversions—and push Mono Lake’s level
downward? This year is also shaping up to be the year for
action on the California State Water Resources Control Board’s
rules that govern the DWP diversions, and the flaws that have
become visible over the 30 years since those rules were set
forth.
Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the
Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on
Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, introduced the Low-Income
Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) Establishment Act,
legislation that would establish a permanent, nationwide water
assistance program to help families afford their water
bills.
Audubon California and partners released their San Francisco
Bay Eelgrass Habitat Suitability Model, a powerful new tool
that highlights future-resilient locations within the bay most
suitable for restoration of eelgrass, a linchpin species for
long-term bay health. The project was developed as a
collaboration between Audubon California, Merkel & Associates,
Inc., and Dr. Katharyn Boyer (Interim Director, Estuary and
Ocean Science Center, San Francisco State University), funded
by a grant from the California Ocean Protection Council.
… San Francisco Bay hosts an estimated 17% of
California’s eelgrass. Eelgrass (Zostera marina)
plays a critical role in the marine food web and bay ecosystem.
Not only does it provide home and food to a vast quantity of
marine life, including waterbirds like Surf
Scoters, Buffleheads, and Western Grebes - its
dense growth along the seafloor traps sediment and substrate, a
crucial factor in preventing coastal erosion.
Pain and hurt continue to linger through the Pajaro community
as the anniversary of the devastating floods approaches. On
Tuesday, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved the
final rollout plan for the $10 million allocated directly to
help survivors. … Six million dollars will be allocated
for individual households and $4 million for small businesses.
Residents who sustained damages to property can qualify for up
to $15,000 dollars, and small businesses up to $85,000. All
residents, regardless of citizenship status, will be able to
apply in person for aid. The county, ultimately decided how
much would be dispersed on a case-by-case basis.
Green groups are pushing the Ninth Circuit to revive their
petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
craft new, stronger Clean Water Act regulations for the large
animal feeding facilities …
The cause of Santa Barbara County’s biggest offshore sewage
spill in recent memory — north of one million gallons — remains
the subject of an ongoing investigation, the county supervisors
were told in an informational briefing this Tuesday
morning. The supervisors were most interested in figuring
out why it took six days for its Department of Public Health to
get the news of a leak that was first detected late Friday,
February 16.
When rain falls anywhere in Santa Rosa, Windsor, Rohnert Park,
Cotati, or Sebastopol, the water will make its way to the
Laguna de Santa Rosa. Sitting at the bottom of the greater
Santa Rosa plain, the Laguna is the largest freshwater wetlands
complex on the northern California coast. In 2011, it was
designated a Wetland of International Importance. Yet how many
locals could find it on a map? To be fair, parts of the Laguna
have been altered and obscured by decades of development.
Sebastopol dumped its sewage there until 1978. Restoration work
has been underway since the 1990s, and December 2023 saw the
release of the first-ever comprehensive restoration plan for
the entire Laguna, designed to guide its continued recovery.
Growing your food can be a wonderful and fulfilling activity to
connect with nature, improve your health and well-being, and,
oh yeah, save water. California grows more than 400
agricultural commodities, which translates into over one-third
of the vegetables and almost three-fourths of the country’s
fruits and nuts. Regardless of your view on commercial
agriculture, one thing is true, California has prime weather
for growing a wide range of edible plants in your backyard,
balcony, or indoor window sill. Sometimes, gardening is
easier said than done. And more often than not, when we think
about water efficiency and conservation, we think about
removing turf and installing beautiful native landscapes. This
is certainly a wonderful endeavor and can supply a needed
habitat for beneficial pollinators, improve soil health,
support local ecology, and save water.
San Luis Obispo has been recognized for its water conservation
program that reduced the city’s water use greatly over the past
decade. The Alliance for Water Efficiency, a nonprofit
organization based in Chicago, awarded the city a platinum
status award for its compliance with the organization’s Water
Conservation and Efficiency Program Operation and Management
Standard. Cities can implement certain water-saving techniques
outlined in the standard — such as a water shortage or drought
plans, public information tactics, water waste ordinances,
landscape efficiency programs and better water metering
practices — to achieve a higher award from the Alliance for
Water Efficiency.
An effort toward a public takeover of the private water utility
California American Water has taken years to get to this point.
Activists asked voters to approve a ballot measure to that end
in 2005, and it failed. They tried again in 2014, and lost
again. They prevailed in 2018 with the passage of Measure J,
which compelled the Monterey Peninsula Water Management
District to acquire Cal Am’s local system “if and when
feasible.” More than five years later, the matter has moved to
the courts. In October 2023, the board of the water district
determined that yes, it was feasible—and that it would pursue
acquisition of Cal Am’s system. Because the utility company had
rejected the public district’s previous offer of $449 million
to buy it, the district would proceed by filing an eminent
domain case.
When Allison Dodds hit the slopes at June Mountain Ski Resort
this past winter the mountain looked a little different than it
had in past years. Not only was there extra snow from 2023’s
historic precipitation, but there was also extra space between
the trees, making it easier for her to maneuver (and shred) her
way down the mountain. Why the extra space? Over the past
two years, CalTrout and Inyo National Forest have been working
together to restore and remove infested and dead whitebark pine
trees on June Mountain. Dodds works as a Project Manager for
CalTrout’s Sierra Headwaters region, and she leads the June
Mountain Forest Health Project. After a century of fire
suppression, forests across the state have become densely
packed and overloaded with dead wood that is primed to burn
intensely and causes fires to spread quickly.
A powerful winter storm system is expected to hammer California
later this week, bringing 5 to 10 feet of new snow between
Thursday and Sunday to the Sierra Nevada, white-out conditions
and the potential for extended highway closures. … Snow will
begin falling Thursday, and become most extreme on Friday at
amounts of 2 to 4 inches an hour, posing “near to impossible”
conditions for drivers … The powerful blizzard is the latest
and most dramatic example of a winter that started slow but has
steadily increased, improving California’s water picture with
every passing week, and all but guaranteeing that there will be
few, if any water restrictions this summer for most communities
in the state.
Negotiations among the seven states that share the
drought-stricken Colorado River have stalled ahead of a March
target date to propose new operating plans for the waterway, as
officials split over which states should absorb the brunt of
cuts triggered by the region’s ongoing drought. The states —
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the Upper Basin and
Arizona, California and Nevada in the Lower Basin — are now
expected to submit separate plans to the Biden administration
early next month, rather than a single cohesive plan, according
to representatives of states from both regions. “If there
is interest in getting to a seven-state consensus compromise,
all seven states have to actually compromise and recognize this
is a massive problem that needs solving, not a party primary or
campaign rally,” J.B. Hamby, chair of the Colorado River Board
of California, told E&E News.
Arizona’s Auditor General has released a scathing report,
criticizing the State Land Department for leasing land to a
Saudi-owned company in western Arizona at cheap rates. The
company, Fondomonte, used the land — and the groundwater
beneath it — to grow alfalfa for dairy cattle in the
Middle East. State Auditor General Lindsey Perry says the Land
Department’s practices for valuing the land it leases don’t
align with what’s recommended. In addition, state law requires
the department to conduct a mass appraisal of its properties at
least once every 10 years to determine its agricultural rental
rates. But the last one was done in 2005. This resulted in $3.4
million less in revenues going into the land trust that
provides revenues for K-12 education and other beneficiaries.
Recreational and commercial fishermen are holding their breath
for this Friday’s California Department of Wildlife’s annual
Salmon Information Meeting to be held by webinar only. Although
the escapement of fall-run salmon in the Sacramento River Basin
exceeded the minimum of 122,000 returning hatchery and natural
spawners, 133,638 returners fell short of the projected
spawning escapement of 164,964 salmon. The 2023 salmon closure
below Cape Falcon in Oregon throughout California was
devastating to commercial salmon fishermen along with coastal
communities due to the loss of economic activity by
recreational anglers. According to the Golden State Salmon
Association, Central Valley salmon have provided over $2
billion in economic activity to communities in California and
Oregon along with 23,000 jobs in California and half that again
in Oregon.
Senators agree more research is needed to understand how
microplastics affect human health, but they’re split on what
actions should be done in the meantime. During a joint hearing
Tuesday of two Environment and Public Works subcommittees, Sen.
Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) urged lawmakers to move “with
caution.” “We have to be careful that we’re not getting ahead
of, as we would say, the science and burden these
municipalities that are trying to meet today’s regulations,”
said Mullin, ranking member of the Chemical Safety, Waste
Management, Environmental Justice and Regulatory Oversight
Subcommittee.
The money, drawn from the Inflation Reduction Act and the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help pay for wildfire
prevention projects in central Oregon, the Klamath River Basin
and around Mount Hood. The three regions are among 21 “priority
landscapes” across the West made up of a mix of tribal, state,
federal and private land that the U.S. Forest Service considers
faces a high risk for wildfires. … Wildfire prevention
efforts around Mount Hood are focused on its watersheds that
provide drinking water to more than one third of the state’s
residents, including the Bull Run watershed, which supplies
drinking water to nearly a million people in the Portland area.