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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The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
On Tuesday, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors unanimously
adopted a temporary 45-day moratorium on the approval of new
agricultural water well permits in the Yolo Subbasin
Groundwater Agency’s focus areas. … On Oct. 7, a public
hearing will be held by the board to consider whether to extend
the 45-day moratorium. According to county counsel Phil
Pogledich, the next extension could be for 10 months and 15
days. … The steady increase in conversion of dry-farmed
or unirrigated lands to perennial crops in the focus areas has
raised concerns. The moratorium will temporarily halt the
issuance of new agricultural well permits in the focus
areas.
As the National Weather Service scrambles to hire up to 450
people to restore deep cuts by the Department of Government
Efficiency, potential applicants are being asked to explain how
they would advance President Donald Trump’s agenda if hired. A
posting from the weather service’s parent agency seeking
meteorologists asks applicants to identify one or two of
Trump’s executive orders “that are significant to you, and
explain how you would help implement them if hired.” It’s among
screening questions added to government job applications as
part of a “merit hiring plan” that Trump announced at the
outset of his second term.
… Even as Native peoples and their allies celebrated at the
mouth of the Klamath, more work lies ahead to restore the rest
of the basin. Wetlands need restoration to impound phosphorus
that pours from extinct volcanoes and prevent the growth of
deadly algae. … Two other dams, Link River and Keno,
still bar salmon from reaching their farthest nurseries. …
The damage from removing wetlands from Upper Klamath Lake and
some of its tributaries, providing an all-you-can-eat buffet of
phosphorus for toxic algae that suffocates the fish, continues
to reverberate.
On Aug. 30, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator
Lee Zeldin signed a final action that withdrew proposed
revisions to the EPA’s Meat and Poultry Products Effluent
Limitations Guidelines (ELG) for wastewater discharged by meat
and poultry processing and rendering facilities. The
agency determined that existing federal wastewater regulations
under the Clean Water Act are effective compared to the
proposed changes. Zeldin stated in his remarks how withdrawing
the proposed revisions would advance the Trump Administration’s
effort to lower food costs for American families and farmers.
Three million gallons of acidic mine drainage flooded into the
Animas River basin 10 years ago, turning the southern Colorado
river a mustard yellow and making international headlines.
Caused by federal contractors working to treat pollution from
the Gold King Mine, the accidental release of water laden with
heavy metals prompted the creation of a Superfund site and a
reckoning with lingering environmental harms from the area’s
mining legacy, including hundreds of abandoned mines high in
the San Juan mountains. A decade later, community members and
Environmental Protection Agency staff are still grappling with
the long-term cleanup of the area’s mines and tailings piles.
A simmering feud over management of one of North America’s
longest rivers reached a boiling point when the U.S. Supreme
Court sent western states and the federal government back to
the negotiating table last year. Now the battle over waters of
the Rio Grande could be nearing resolution as New Mexico, Texas
and Colorado announced fresh settlement proposals Friday
designed to rein in groundwater pumping along the river in New
Mexico and ensure enough river water reliably makes it to
Texas. New Mexico officials say the agreements allow water
conservation decisions to be made locally while avoiding a
doomsday scenario of billion-dollar payouts on water
shortfalls.
CalTrout is thrilled to announce that we have launched a new
statewide Science Program. This initiative identified as a top
priority in our Strategic Plan, demonstrates our enduring
commitment to build our conservation, restoration, and policy
work on a strong scientific foundation, a commitment that will
fortify our mission to revitalize waters for resilient wild
fish and a better California. CalTrout has a strong foundation
of scientific monitoring and science-informed restoration work
already in place across the state, and this new initiative will
enable us to dedicate further resources to enhance our existing
portfolio of projects.
… While beach erosion occurs naturally over time, in Southern
California (and elsewhere), the process is speeding up due to
climate change, which contributes to sea level rise and
intensifies storms and waves along the coast. Now, the
county plans to spend $5.1 million in an attempt to slow the
disappearance of popular coastlines at three beaches through
“living shoreline” projects. The projects will “use native
plants to restore dunes and shoreline habitats that naturally
protect the coast from rising seas and stronger storms,”
according to a news release from the Los Angeles County
Department of Beaches and Harbors.
Amid tense negotiations over the Colorado River’s future,
Nevada leaders came together Thursday to focus on the state’s
strategy to meet the climate and drought crisis threatening
Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, whose
district falls within the boundaries of Lake Mead and half of
the Hoover Dam, brought together regional water and hydropower
leaders to highlight mounting needs the state faces during her
third annual Southern Nevada Water Summit at the Springs
Preserve.
New research backs up the concerns of people who live near the
Tijuana River and have long complained that foul air wafting
from the polluted waterway is making them sick — irritating
their eyes and noses, making breathing difficult and causing
headaches. The study indicates they’re being exposed to high
levels of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide. … The study,
published Thursday in the journal Science, tracked air
pollution emanating from a foamy, churning section of the river
where water falls from culverts.
Northern Water has halted some design and construction
contracts and is cutting back its multibillion dollar, two-dam
supply project after its biggest customer said it was pulling
out, officials said, as they detailed how the budget for their
decades-long ambition suddenly jumped to $2.69 billion from $2
billion. Four design-and-build contracts for the Northern
Integrated Supply Project, meant to serve growth in 15
communities and water agencies, were pulled from the bidding
process for at least three to four months while engineers
consider how costs could be cut.
The world is running out of fresh water and now companies are
using the high pressure of the ocean depths to push seawater
through a membrane leaving salt behind. This month Scientific
American reports a breakthrough in strategy of how to apply
reverse osmosis without huge energy costs or negative
environmental issues by allowing it to “happen naturally” using
technology that harnesses pressure hundreds of meters
underwater. … One such company with big but achievable
pipe dreams for the California coast is San Francisco-based
OceanWell, who announced a pioneer project called Water Farm1
(WF-1) with six Los Angeles-area water agencies this month.
As highly-invasive golden mussels spread across California
waterways, officials are urging boaters to take thorough
precautions to avoid introducing the species to unaffected
waters over the busy Labor Day weekend. It’s also a good idea
to contact the body of water you plan to visit to get the
latest information before heading out there, according to the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife. … The freshwater
mollusks threaten the state’s water infrastructure by clogging
pipes and power systems.
… Weeks into their journey, the paddlers had passed through
the lower river banks where, in 2002, tribes and
environmentalists witnessed an ecological and cultural
catastrophe known as the Klamath River Fish Kill. Hundreds of
thousands of dead adult salmon and steelhead trout washed
ashore, sparking a movement for dam removal and restoration of
the river. The movement would lead to a decadeslong fight and
eventually a $200 million settlement with the dam’s owners,
PacifiCorp, which acknowledged the dams were too costly to
maintain and didn’t contribute to water supplies or help with
flood control.
… OneShoreLine, a county-wide agency working to address sea
level rise, flooding and coastal erosion, recently installed a
monitoring system in Pescadero to help residents figure out
just how flooded the road is and whether it’s too dangerous to
drive. Before OneShoreLine intervened, the only way residents
could guess if the road was safe enough to cross was by looking
at an old marker, a metal sign with a white line painted on it.
… The [Resource Conservation District] is trying to
get homeowners along Pescadero Creek Road to agree to a kind of
radical solution: if each one gives up a little bit of their
property and allows the RCD to plant willows and add rocks, it
will stabilize the shore.
Southern California businesses, schools, homeowners
associations and other institutions that choose to replace
grass with more sustainable landscaping will receive additional
financial assistance to help with the effort, the Metropolitan
Water District announced Thursday. Beginning Monday, the water
agency will more than double its turf replacement rebate for
non-residential property owners, increasing it from $3 per
square foot to $7 — the highest amount offered regionwide. The
increase comes as the agency aims to boost water conservation
efforts and adapt to climate change.
A coalition of leading water experts recently announced the
launch of the Groundwater Demand Management Network, a new
statewide initiative designed to create a comprehensive
community of practice for managing California’s critical
groundwater resources. … With California facing
increasing water scarcity and the ongoing implementation of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, the Network aims to
connect groundwater managers, agricultural producers, municipal
water suppliers, and other partners to share knowledge, tools,
and strategies for sustainable water use.
The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) has approved $21.7
million in grants to support 16 habitat protection and
restoration projects in 11 counties across California. …
Among the awards is a $559,000 acquisition by California
Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to protect 120 acres
near Bridgeville in Humboldt County. The property includes a
rare peat fen wetland — a sensitive, permanently saturated
natural wetland community ranked as “critically imperiled” —
along with mixed evergreen hardwood and riparian forest. The
fen provides a cold-water source for endangered summer
steelhead trout in the Van Duzen River.
A state project that would build a tunnel to divert water from
the Delta to other regions of California is the “key” to
modernizing the state’s water projects and providing water to
millions of Californians, according to a recent study by the
California Department of Water Resources. But local water
agencies disagree, calling the project potentially damaging to
the local ecosystem. … The DWP has pushed back
against these concerns, and others, in a fact sheet that seeks
to address common questions about the tunnel project.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will open up public comments
on Friday on its plan to repeal a 24-year-old rule that
prohibits road construction and timber harvesting on 91,000
square miles of federal Forest Service land. … The
National Parks Conservation Association said throwing out the
rule would allow for increased oil and gas leasing and other
harmful development on public lands that can destroy or disrupt
habitats, increase erosion and worsen sediment pollution in
drinking water.
