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 Interim Director Doug Beeman.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Please Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. Also, 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.
Republican Asm. Juan Alanis of Modesto is pressing for more
accountability in the state water board’s drought regulations.
His new bill would require the board to perform a comprehensive
economic study on the potential impacts of each emergency
regulation before renewing it. Last month the
board readopted an emergency drought regulation along
California’s northernmost rivers for the fourth year in a row.
Local farmers and ranchers have unsuccessfully pleaded with the
board for years to carefully consider the broader economic
impacts of the regulation.
Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables has suspended the
permitting process for its three proposed geothermal plants
near the Salton Sea, citing transmission interconnection
challenges, permitting delays and the lack of state-backed
offtake agreements. The projects — Black Rock, Morton Bay and
Elmore North — would have added 357 megawatts of renewable
energy to California’s grid. The decision comes after months of
regulatory proceedings with the California Energy Commission
and transmission studies with the Imperial Irrigation District.
The suspension halts what had been expected to be a significant
economic driver for Imperial County.
A conversation with Anecita Agustinez (state tribal policy
advisor, California Department of Water Resources) about water
governance and expertise around challenging policy
issues. Anecita Agustinez has served as (the
DWR’s) tribal policy advisor since August 2013. Agustinez
has over 30 years of advocacy experience on behalf of
California’s Native American tribes. She provides policy
support and recommendations regarding tribal issues to the
director and chief deputy director and has been actively
engaged with our projects and programs, assisting with tribal
consultation and development of the DWR Tribal Consultation
Policy.
California American Water announced the completion of a
$560,000 water storage tank rehabilitation project in Monterey.
This investment in critical infrastructure, a tank with
80,000-gallon capacity, will help ensure continued safe, clean
and reliable water service for customers and communities. The
Aguajito Tank project included extensive improvements to
enhance its long-term performance and resilience. These
upgrades included interior and exterior coating to prevent
corrosion and leaks, minimizing potential service
interruptions.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is
experimenting to see how the state’s only native sunfish fares
after being reintroduced in Sacramento ponds. The department
recently stocked 3,000 juvenile Sacramento perch – from M4
Aquatics, a Livermore-based hatchery – into a pond at Granite
Regional Park for fishing. … Sacramento perch were once
abundant within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Clear Lake
in northern California. But have been displaced from their
historical range due to habitat modification and competition
from non-native sunfish that were introduced into California in
the early 20th century.
… Once carrying the promise of affordable and durable
materials, PFAS are now at the center of a widespread
contamination crisis. Developed in the 1940s by private
corporate actors, PFAS rapidly became used across industries
because of their resistance to heat and water. However, over
six decades after their widespread use, hidden research by
their developers was brought to light by one of the most famous
trials in PFAS in history. Now, there is incontestable evidence
collected over decades that links PFAS with the development of
over 13 serious conditions, including several types of cancers
and neurodevelopmental disorders. More concerningly, the extent
of the contamination crisis is so severe that out of every 100
Americans, over 97 have traceable amounts of PFAS in their
blood. –Written by Nathan Sharp, CFO at Environmental Litigation
Group, P.C.
As more waterways contend with algae blooms and pollution
caused by minerals from agricultural runoff and industrial
manufacturing processes, new methods to remove pollutants like
phosphate, copper and zinc are emerging. … A specialized sponge
created by researchers at Northwestern University that works to
slurp up pollutants, and then release them as desired, may
present a reusable, low-cost solution. The sponge, coated
with nanoparticles that have an affinity for pollutants, can
collect metals like zinc and copper, as well as phosphate, and
in previous iterations has successfully pulled lead from water,
and microplastics and oil from lakes and oceans. It then
releases these valuable resources when it is exposed to
different pH’s.
Several feet of snow is anticipated to blanket California’s
mountains this week, prompting the National Weather Service to
warn of “the strongest storm of the season” so far in the
Sierra Nevada. A powerful low-pressure system will move toward
Cape Mendocino on Thursday, farther south than many previous
storms this winter. The proximity of the storm means its cold
front will remain intact as it moves from Lake Tahoe toward
Mammoth Mountain and Yosemite National Park on Thursday
afternoon. Heavy snow is expected along this cold front, with
hourly accumulations of 2 to 4 inches and intense winds
creating periods of “zero visibility,” according to the weather
service.
Nearly 170,000 people live in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra
Madre at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, and many are
potentially in the path of debris flows. Heavy rainfall
expected on Thursday and Friday has triggered warnings about
fire-scarred hillsides unleashing torrents of mud, boulders and
debris from the torched slopes. The National Weather Service
issued a flash flood watch for late Thursday, with the greatest
risks in areas burned by the Eaton, Palisades, Franklin, and
Bridge fires. In Santa Barbara, people in the Lake Fire’s burn
areas were told to prepare to evacuate as a storm approaches
today.
Meta has become the latest global technology company to
participate in an innovative water replenishment initiative
aimed at addressing water scarcity in the Colorado River Basin.
Through a new partnership with FIDO Tech, Meta will provide
funding for the deployment of FIDO AI, an advanced leakage
detection system, across 300 kilometers of clean water pipeline
network in the City of Farmington. This initiative, set to run
for ten years, is expected to reduce water loss and enhance
local water resilience. The project is part of FIDO Plus, an
award-winning partnership model under Water United—a newly
established public-private coalition focused on developing
watershed-level solutions for water scarcity.
A proposal to change some of the goals of California’s
$90-million farmland retirement program has literally stopped
numerous projects in their tracks. … The program
always included “benefits to disadvantaged communities” as part
of a laundry list of goals, including reducing groundwater use;
helping move regions toward groundwater sustainability;
increasing long-term repurposing of marginal ag lands; and
supporting drought relief; among others. But Dec. 20, the
(Department of Conservation) proposed changes stating that each
project must include “meaningful” benefits for disadvantaged
communities.
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors today seemed content
to embrace the philosophy of “Don’t let the perfect be the
enemy of the good” as its five members unanimously approved a
plan that aims to achieve one of our region’s longest-held
goals: the demolition and removal of two dams on the upper Eel
River. Specifically, the board approved a memorandum of
understanding among a collection of federal, state, tribal and
local agencies, who together have crafted a plan for a new
Eel-Russian diversion facility associated with the
decommissioning of PG&E’s Potter Valley Project, a defunct
hydroelectric project comprising those two dams — Cape Horn Dam
and Scott Dam — plus a diversion tunnel and power plant.
Nevada’s water supply outlook is in trouble after snowpack in
the state fell below normal for this time of year, following
disappointing snowfall and persistently warm temperatures. Most
of Nevada’s water supply starts as snowfall that accumulates in
the mountains during the winter before melting in the spring,
meaning substandard snowpacks can leave the state with a weak
water supply. February marks the half-way point of the snow
accumulation season in Nevada, but conditions have trended in
the wrong direction since New Year’s Day, according to the
Department of Agricultural Natural Resources Conservation
Service’s water supply outlook report.
Several Southern California beaches are closed after 80,000
gallons of sewage spilled into the ocean in Ventura County,
officials announced. The spill occurred near Perkins Road at
Ormond Beach in Oxnard. … The Oxnard Wastewater Treatment
Plant notified the Ventura County Environmental Health Division
of the spill on Friday, according to the county’s press
release. A spill report filed with the California
Governor’s Office of Emergency Services states that the spill
occurred on Thursday at around 8:35 p.m. and was caused by an
overflow at the plant. The spill has since been “halted and
contained,” according to the county.
University of Arizona researchers say vegetable farmers are
more concentrated in Yuma County than car manufacturing is
around Detroit. According to their new study, Yuma agriculture
and associated businesses contributed $4.4 billion in economic
activity to Arizona in 2022. Professor George Frisvold said
perfect climate, water and labor availability make Yuma unique.
… Frisvold said Yuma produce generated about $275 million in
sales in Arizona alone. He said Yuma uses about
two-thirds of an acre foot of water to sell $1,000 worth of
vegetables. “The average for the entire Colorado
basin, Lower Basin and Upper Basin is more than double what
Yuma is using,” Frisvold said.
Sweetwater Authority, which supplies drinking water to roughly
200,000 customers in Chula Vista and surrounding communities,
learned last month that its main reservoir contains levels of a
toxic industrial chemical that could require expensive
treatment or necessitate decommissioning the reservoir
entirely. The elevated chemical finding came as part of a
year-long testing process required by the Environmental
Protection Agency, or EPA. An earlier sample taken late last
year found PFAS levels high enough to require public
notification. Samples taken last month found even higher levels
of one chemical, PFOA, that the EPA has designated a “hazardous
substance” posing “a substantial danger to the public
health.”
… A piece of border wall President Donald Trump started in
his first term is almost finished. Built as a bridge over the
river for patrolling border agents, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, or CBP, designed this particular piece of wall like
the entrance to a castle. One thousand feet of 30-foot-high
steel gates cut across the notoriously polluted river’s
concrete channel. Border agents are supposed to raise the gates
before it rains. If they fail – say the power goes out,
the gates won’t open and border agents can’t lift them manually
– the force of billions of gallons of rainwater mixed with
Tijuana sludge would smash against the wall-turned-dam, causing
the raging river to back up over its levees and consume
downtown Tijuana.
A small regional park in the lush redwoods of the lower Russian
River basin, described by one local as an “ancient magical
forest,” is set to quadruple in size. San Francisco-based Save
the Redwoods League announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay
$24 million for 1,517 acres of wooded lands near Guerneville,
which it plans to transfer to the adjacent Monte Rio Redwoods
Regional Park and Open Space Preserve.
Recreational boating has been closed on Lake Tulloch due to an
invasive mussel threat. … Due to their rapid reproduction and
ability to adhere to submerged surfaces, golden mussels pose a
hazard to water sources by blocking conveyance infrastructure
and intake pipelines. They have the potential to upset the
natural equilibrium by displacing sport fish and native
species. They are hard to get rid of once they are out there.
The minuscule mussels may live in water for a long time as
larvae. On boats or other watercraft, they may be carried with
ease in live wells, bilges, ballast tanks, engine systems,
plumbing, or any other compartment.
San Francisco Baykeeper, California Sportfishing Protection
Alliance, Restore the Delta, and Friends of the River today
filed a lawsuit against the US Fish and Wildlife Service and
the Secretary of the US Department of the Interior for failing
to deliver a legally required initial determination whether or
not to list the San Francisco Bay’s population of White
Sturgeon as a threatened species. … White Sturgeon
are North America’s largest freshwater fish. … (T)he state
plans to build new diversions—including Sites Reservoir and the
Delta Tunnel—which represent an imminent threat to the White
Sturgeon, as well as other native fish, including Central
Valley Chinook Salmon that support the state’s coastal salmon
fishery.
