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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A pilot project from a team of oil industry veterans could save
one of California’s key clean energy resources from terminal
decline. On Thursday, the Oklahoma City-based GreenFire Energy
announced that they had restored new life to a defunct well in
The Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal power station — and
one that has been in a state of slow, decades-long collapse.
… The reason for the decline: the ferocious pace at
which conventional forms of geothermal energy can use up water.
… GreenFire’s next-gen system, which sits atop a well
that had also been largely abandoned for lack of pressure,
takes an approach that produces power without losing water.
At Tuesday’s board of supervisors meeting, Public Works
director, John Diodati said the contaminated water event was
rare and unusual. “For over the last 50 years, we’ve treated
Lopez water for the five cities and this is the first boil
notice,” said Diodati. … On April 30th, a boil water notice
was issued because water samples from the Lopez Lake water
distribution system showed a presence of E. coli. A second
round of tests displayed higher levels of coliform bacteria,
not E. coli. The notice was lifted after the drinking water
supply was tested and confirmed safe. Testing to find the cause
of the contaminated water is expected to take 30 days to
complete. Starting on May 7, the Five Cities water supply will
be treated with free chlorine — a stronger water disinfectant
— until May 28.
An experimental technology now in testing holds the promise of
revolutionizing California’s depleted water supply. California
spends billions to store water, pump water and recycle water.
But even with climate change bearing down, one strategy is a
tougher sell: desalinating water and pulling it from the sea.
Just ask Tim Quinn, Ph.D., who spent four decades as one of the
state’s top water managers. “Every step in traditional
desalination is hugely fraught with controversy,” Quinn said.
There are roughly a dozen desalination plants operating in
California, including the massive Carlsbad plant at San Diego.
But approval of new plants is typically met with fierce
opposition from many environmental groups. Now, Quinn and his
colleagues, at a startup called OceanWell, believe they have a
system that’s much safer for the environment.
Thinning of forests, generally undertaken to reduce dangers
from wildfire and restore the forest to a more natural state,
also can create more mountain runoff to mitigate drought
effects in the central Sierra Nevada region that relies on
snowpack. In fact, researchers from the College of Agriculture,
Biotechnology & Natural Resources at the University of Nevada,
Reno found that the quantity of additional water produced by
thinned forests can be so significant that it might provide
further incentive for forest managers to undertake prescribed
burning or tree-removal using heavy equipment and hand crews
with chainsaws. Water yields from thinned forests can be
increased by 8% to 14% during drought years, found the study
undertaken by Adrian Harpold … and recently published in
Water Resources Research.
The overarching water myth in our part of our state is one of
massive entities — MWD, LADWP — controlled by criminally
wealthy Kings of California with unholy power straight out of a
film noir plot. Ordinary people who dare question the way that
water works need to be told, once again, “Forget it, Jake. It’s
Chinatown,” and move on to fairer fights with organizations
that aren’t so rich and gigantic that they are unassailable.
When you live in Altadena, the water with which you irrigate
your yard and brush your teeth does not come from anyone living
very large. It comes from one of three tiny,
ancient-for-California water companies that have so few
resources that when disaster strikes, there is no bucks-up
bureaucracy to bankroll a big fix. –Written by Whittier Daily News opinion columnist Larry
Wilson.
It seems there is always something happening related to Valley
Water’s Pacheco Reservoir project. In April, the Sierra Club
and others submitted comments about the draft Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) for geotechnical investigations. On May
21st, the California Water Commission will discuss progress to
date on the project to help them decide whether to allocate
additional funding. Then, on June 10th or 24th the Valley Water
Board of Directors will receive an update on the project which
will focus on how Pacheco fits into their Water Supply Master
Plan (WSMP), and on their progress on finding project
partners. Our letter on the Draft EIR for geotechnical
investigations asked for additional information about
access to the approximately 200 exploration locations, many of
which will be accessed off-road by vehicle or by
helicopter.
Tulare County Board of Supervisors made its annual trip to
Sacramento to advocate for issues important to the county. The
two days of meetings were held on April 22-23, immediately
before the 2025 California State Association of Counties
Legislative Conference. … “We talked to everybody about
kind of the same issues,” (Supervisor Larry) Micari said,
explaining that the main focus of the advocating effort was
water. “The biggest thing that we talked about is the
Airborne Snow Observatories,” he said. … “There’s talk
of them reducing funding, so we spoke to them to try to get
that funding to stay, and to actually increase it,” he
said.
A Red Bluff resident is speaking out against his local water
district. The resident, Dennis Hay, has three acres of land
that fall under the Proberta Water District territory. Hay
first received an invoice from the district in 2022, telling
KRCR there were no details on what the charge was for, and he’s
had no water ordered or delivered. The total for the most
recent invoice, he said, adds up to nearly $1,300. … Per
the California Water Code, a water district can charge for
water that has not been delivered as a standby charge if the
correct procedures are followed. Hay says he does not know if
the district billed him as a standby charge, adding that he is
not yet aware of how the invoice amount was calculated.
Environmental groups are demanding that the Trump
administration exercise the federal government’s authority to
curb wasteful water use in an effort to address the Colorado
River’s chronic water shortages. In a petition submitted
Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council and nine other
groups called for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to enforce a
provision of federal regulations stating that water deliveries
in California, Arizona and Nevada “will not exceed those
reasonably required for beneficial use.” … The petition
takes aim in particular at wasteful water practices in
agriculture. … Leaders of the groups that submitted the
petition … suggested in it that the government should also
consider wasteful water use in cities and industries.
A recently released technical report concludes that the sinking
of land in the Central Valley due to over-pumping of
groundwater, referred to as subsidence, has restricted the
amount of water the State Water Project (SWP) can deliver in a
year by 3 percent. By 2043, if no action is taken, the current
trajectory of subsidence, combined with climate change, could
reduce deliveries by 87 percent. … The technical report,
an addendum that builds on the Delivery Capability Report (DCR)
released in 2024, analyzed the capability of the SWP to deliver
water under both current and potential future conditions in the
year 2043. The new findings underscore the importance of
eliminating groundwater overdraft in the Central Valley and
repairing existing damage to the state’s main water-delivery
arteries.
… Assembly Bill 697 by Lori Wilson, a Democrat from the
Fairfield area, would allow state highway officials to
potentially harm three protected bird species and endangered
mice as workers add new lanes to a stretch of Highway 37 to
wine country. … The 21-mile highway connects Interstate
80 in Vallejo in Solano County to Highway 101 in Novato in
Marin County along the north San Pablo Bay. It cuts though some
of the state’s last remaining salt marshes,
which are threatened by sea level rise. … Wilson’s
measure would, during construction, waive certain protections
under the California Endangered Species Act for the endangered
salt marsh harvest mouse, as well as for three protected birds:
the California clapper rail, the California black rail and the
white-tailed kite.
Layers of snowpack melted rapidly in Colorado in April, which
could lead to less water supply in the summer and higher
wildfire potential, according to data from the National
Integrated Drought Information System. The federal data,
released on May 1, indicate that “substantial and rapid”
snowmelt occurred throughout broad swaths of Colorado between
April 10-17. Several weather stations maintained by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture logged record snowmelt during that
week, compared to the same period in prior years. … How
quickly snow melts, and when it happens, can impact water
availability during hot summer months and affect how likely
wildfires are to occur in a region. An area that’s seen rapid
snowmelt in early spring could have dried-out vegetation by
summer, a potential fuel for blazes.
A grassroots petition to save the Mad River Fish
Hatchery is gaining momentum, with nearly 2,000 signatures
collected as of Tuesday afternoon. Launched by local
fishing guide Tyler Belvin on Change.org, the
petition calls on state officials to reverse
the California Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s (CDFW) decision to shut down the hatchery this
summer. Located just outside of Blue Lake, the Mad River Fish
Hatchery has been part of the North Coast community for more
than 50 years. Belvin’s petition describes the hatchery as “a
cornerstone of our community,” emphasizing its role in
steelhead conservation, local recreation, and environmental
education. “Its closure would not only disrupt these crucial
activities,” the petition reads, “but would also significantly
impact recreational fishing and local traditions linked to our
river heritage.”
With Utah’s first-in-the-nation ban on fluoride in public
drinking water set to take effect Wednesday, dentists who treat
children and low-income patients say they’re bracing for an
increase in tooth decay among the state’s most vulnerable
people. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed the law against the
recommendation of many dentists and national health experts who
warn removing fluoride will harm tooth development, especially
in young patients without regular access to dental care.
Florida is poised to become the second state to ban fluoride
under a bill that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced
Tuesday he would sign soon. The Ohio and South Carolina
legislatures are considering similar measures.
A proposal by the Trump administration to reorganize the
Environmental Protection Agency targets divisions that house
its climate change offices as well as Energy Star, a widely
popular program designed to help lower energy costs for
American households. A chart of the proposed reorganization
reviewed by The Times on Tuesday showed plans for vast changes
to the Office of Air and Radiation, where the programs are
currently held, among several other divisions. … And
yet, perhaps the most dramatic cuts may be to the agency’s main
office devoted to understanding, tracking and combating climate
change, which is housed under the same division set for a
shuffle.
A tour bus filled with water experts, agency directors,
biologists, engineers and one news reporter traveled through
the Central Valley this spring, stopping at key infrastructure
sites where the San Joaquin Valley’s water is collected and
shipped to farms and cities. The tour offered a wealth of
information on water structures and districts covering about
20,000 square miles of the southern valley. The three-day
tour was put on by the Water Education
Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides
information and education on California’s byzantine water
world, from April 23 – 25. Starting in Sacramento, the
tour moved south to the San Luis Reservoir, which stores water
for both the state and federal systems. Along the way, water
managers and experts shared crucial information about how the
systems operate.
American River Trees (ART), a grassroots organization based
in Sacramento, arranged a walk Sunday morning to protest
a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) erosion
project. The USACE project, which aims to alleviate flood risk,
threatens the destruction of nearly 700 trees and miles of
habitat in the American River Parkway, according to ART. The
group walked during its protest a two-mile stretch of trail
from the Kadema Drive River Access to Larchmont Community
Park. ART says many trails, beaches and access to the
river’s edge will be lost, and USACE hasn’t sufficiently looked
into or incorporated less destructive alternatives.
… The organization said flood risk is exaggerated as the
stretch of river is relatively straight, has slower velocities
than downstream sites, and seepage walls in reinforced levees
are built to withstand water against them.
At its next regular meeting Wednesday, the Ukiah City Council
is expected to consider approving the contribution of another
$84,000 to another local entity for ongoing work related to the
Potter Valley Project. According to a staff report on the item
prepared for the May 7 meeting, the City Council will be asked
to approve a “financial contribution in the amount of $84,000
to the (Mendocino County) Inland Water and Power Commission for
consulting and legal services related to the Potter Valley
Project, and approve a corresponding budget amendment.”
… In an effort to continue the diversions in some form,
(Ukiah City Council administrative analyst Seth) Strader notes
that the IWPC, along with “the Round Valley Indian Tribes and
the Sonoma County Water Agency have submitted a proposal to
advance a regional solution for preserving flows in the Russian
River and improving Eel River fisheries.
The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Works is
temporarily changing how it disinfects water in the South
County after residents were put under a boil water notice late
last week. Around 50,000 residents in the Five Cities area were
told on April 30 to boil their water before use after a sample
from the Lopez Lake water system tested positive for E. coli,
the county said. It was the first time such a sample had
prompted a boil water notice for the distribution system, which
feeds much of the South County region. … Now, Public
Works is expected to temporarily change the disinfectant used
in the Lopez Project distribution system from chloramine
disinfection — which uses a blend of chlorine and ammonia — to
free chlorine, according to a news release.
Windsor residents could expect to pay more for their water and
sewer services come July, as the Windsor Town Council is
looking to raise rates by about $12 a month. And that’s just
next year. Rate hikes are expected to increase each year
through 2029. The Town Council will discuss the proposed rates
at its upcoming meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Town Council
chambers, 9291 Old Redwood Highway. Should the council approve
the rates, a typical Windsor household would expect to pay
$3.24 more per month for water and $8.82 more per month for
wastewater, bringing average monthly water bills to $38.85 and
average monthly sewer bills to $94.07. … The
council is also proposing subsequent rate increases over the
next four years.
