Aquafornia

Funding for a state drinking water program, vital to many communities throughout the San Joaquin Valley that struggle with groundwater contamination and scarcity, is secure for one more year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three budget bills into law on Friday. The Safe and Affordable Fund for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) program has $171 million to pay for emergency supplies when homes, or entire communities, go dry, and fund efforts to identify long-term water solutions throughout the state. The funding came after a harrowing ride through the legislature this summer. SAFER was all but gutted in the spring, with $68 million. That is less than half of its previous annual funding of $130 million. But a broad coalition of organizations came together to get the program over the finish line at the end of August.

New research finds only a small portion of the nation’s rivers may be able to maintain today’s diversity of fish and other aquatic wildlife as the climate warms. The study, published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, mapped waterways across the Lower 48 to identify places that could give species more options as temperatures and water conditions change. … Some Western waterways stand out. Mountain rivers in Idaho and Montana and headwaters of the Colorado River system are among the more resilient areas identified by researchers. Desert rivers in New Mexico, Arizona and southern Nevada are more vulnerable, where water is already scarce and a warming climate is putting additional pressure on freshwater ecosystems. … Dams and other barriers can leave fish with fewer options as warming water pushes them toward cooler or more suitable habitats.

Other rivers and habitat news:

• The New York Times: Salmon are thriving after Klamath dam removals, study finds
• Oroville Mercury-Register (Calif.): Oroville Salmon Festival celebrates return of chinook salmon on Saturday​
• The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.): Rescued Healdsburg mink returns to the wild along Russian River

Kings County groundwater agencies are now in a race to head off mandatory state pumping limits, which could be imposed by the end of 2027. Water managers are scrambling to get a new, unified groundwater plan to the state Water Resources Control Board by April 2027 that they hope regulators will approve. But Water Board staff  has already begun writing its own mandatory pumping plan for the region expected to be released next summer.  Given the severe subsidence, or land sinking, in the Tulare Lake subbasin, which covers most of Kings County, the state plan will likely include stringent pumping limits. Or even pumping moratoriums, as a recently released state plan could impose on farmers in the neighboring Tule subbasin. 

Other groundwater news:

• King City Rustler (Calif.): Water efficiency program expands to rural residents across Salinas Valley

A federal public health agency has for the first time found hydrogen sulfide in outdoor air near the Tijuana River reached levels that could harm people’s health, concluding in a draft report released Wednesday that short-term exposure to the gas at those levels is a public health hazard. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which works alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based its findings on air monitoring at four sites. … Much of the shift followed research by UC San Diego atmospheric chemist Kimberly Prather. Her team, drawing on residents’ knowledge, identified the Saturn Boulevard crossing as a primary source of the gas. There, sewage and industrial waste spill from culverts onto rocks below, creating turbulence that releases hydrogen sulfide into the air.

Related:

• KPBS (San Diego): Feds confirm exposure to some levels of Tijuana River odors can lead to health effects
• Courthouse News Service: Feds find Tijuana River pollution poses public health hazard in San Diego
• UC San Diego: News release: New federal health assessment of Tijuana River valley air pollution builds on UC San Diego findings

The water crisis in England and Wales – which has seen the countries facing widespread drought and utility companies fined for polluting rivers and seas – has been decades in the making. It has emerged as a result of underinvestment, ageing infrastructure, fragmented oversight and governance decisions that allowed financial and operational risks to accumulate outside public view. While Canada and the US have mostly avoided the privatisation approach adopted in the devolved nations of England and Wales, recent infrastructure failures indicate that some of these same governance and accountability issues are beginning to surface. The situation is more than just a warning about privatisation of water. It shows what can happen when governments defer, delay and leave tough conversations and oversight until failures are widespread.

A Yuma desalting plant would be restored under federal legislation introduced by Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, Republican state government leaders said late last week. The GOP Arizona State Legislators announced their support for the bill they said would authorize $19 billion to increase the water supply for people living in the Colorado River basin. Republicans say the bill, the Colorado River Basin Water Security and Infrastructure Act, would develop additional water. One way the bill would help is to direct the U.S. Department of the Interior to restore the Yuma Desalting Plant within 180 days and authorize $1 billion for the project. The plant would allow treated agricultural drainage water to reduce the amount of Colorado River water that must be delivered from the U.S., Republican leaders said.

Other Colorado River management news:

• KTAR (Phoenix): With Colorado River cuts looming, Peoria commits $104 million to bolster water supply
• Summit Daily (Frisco, Colo.): How to survive a drought emergency: Lessons learned from a ‘miserable’ year for the Colorado River basin

Gilbert leaders want strict rules on data centers, making it as hard as possible for the massive server farms to set up shop in town. Councilmembers were expected to take up those new rules in September. However, a town spokesperson said the new rules won’t be addressed until sometime in October or November. The move comes amid pushback from residents across the Valley and the country about data center development raising concerns about pollution, water and energy use. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called for a halt to new data center development in late August, citing Colorado River water cuts, and a new state law in June that put a three-year moratorium on tax breaks for data center development.

Other data center water use news:

• The Fresno Bee (Calif.): Data center moratorium extended in Tulare County, as community calls for permanent ban
• Utility Dive: California tightens oversight of data center energy use, grid costs
• Laramie Boomerang (Wyo.): Opinion: It’s Wyoming leaders’ chance to define responsible data center development

The invasive golden mussel has been found at Lake Del Valle in Livermore, prompting restrictions for boaters, the East Bay Regional Park District announced Monday. Under the new restrictions, watercraft launched at Lake Del Valle face a mandatory 30-day quarantine before entering any other waters in the district’s jurisdiction — unless they return with an intact boat band, a seal proving the vessel hasn’t been launched elsewhere. … Golden mussels can clog pipes, damage water infrastructure, crowd out native species, trigger harmful algae blooms and degrade water quality. The park district said that until this week, Contra Loma Reservoir in Antioch was the only other body of water in the district where golden mussels had been found.

Related:

• SFGate: Golden mussels spread to East Bay’s Lake Del Valle for the first time
• KGET (Bakersfield, Calif.): Invasive golden mussels detected in Lake Del Valle, prompting boat quarantine
• NBC Bay Area (San Jose, Calif.): Discovery of golden mussels at Lake Del Valle prompts quarantine on boats
• Pleasanton Weekly (Calif.): Golden mussels detected at Lake Del Valle in Livermore; boating restrictions put in place

Suisun Marsh is a rich and vibrant environment, teeming with growth and wildlife. DWR is harnessing that natural productivity to explore a new approach to ecosystem improvement – one that works with the marsh’s ability to produce the food and habitat native species need to thrive. This approach involves strategically managing wetlands to produce and export tiny, shrimp-like organisms called zooplankton that super-charge the food web to the benefit of native fish species. It involves adjusting water levels, tracking food web production and modeling how that food moves through Suisun Marsh. … Its value is cumulative, with benefits that extend across the ecosystem — from improving ecological conditions to deepening the collective understanding of how the Delta functions and how it can be best managed for the future.