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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It’s no secret Lake Mead has seen a decline in recent years —
it currently sits at about 32% full capacity — but the larger
water system that feeds the reservoir is also strained. How the
critical resource will be managed in the years to come is up
for debate and will be a topic at the Colorado River Water
Users Association Conference this week in Las Vegas.
… Current rules that have been in place for Colorado
River management since 2007 expire in 2026, but the seven
states in talks for the next phase have not yet come to an
agreement.
An underground wastewater leak that likely started weeks ago
has spilled about 20 million gallons of sewage into a Contra
Costa County marsh near the bank of the Sacramento–San Joaquin
Delta, officials said Tuesday. Staffers with the Delta Diablo
Sanitation District had been looking for a leak after noticing
reduced inflow into their treatment plant, but they weren’t
able to visually identify the spillage until around 3:30 p.m.
Monday. The leak, coming from a pipe that carries wastewater
from a storage center along its Mouse Trap-like journey to the
treatment plant, has deposited nearly 1 million gallons of
waste into the nearby marsh between Port Chicago and Pittsburg
every day since it started. “At a location such as this one
that’s subterranean, that’s in a marshland area, it was
difficult to identify on a visual basis,” said Vince De Lange,
the general manager of Delta Diablo Sanitation.
Central Valley growers fed up with reduced water allocations
and pumping penalties are seeking answers from state Water
Resources Control Board officials at a workshop Thursday in
Visalia. The Punjabi American Growers Group, formed in
2020, is sponsoring the event, where the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and its implications for
farming operations are on the agenda. All farmers are invited
to attend. “We are answering questions on behalf of our
members, but this really needs to be done by the state,” said
Jasbir Sidhu, co-founder of the Punjabi American Growers Group.
“Since SGMA passed, the outreach has not been done and a lot of
people have questions and concerns. What we’re trying to do is
build a bridge between the government and farmers.”
Lake Oroville in California last month saw one of the biggest
water-level changes the reservoir has ever experienced in
November. A bomb cyclone brought dangerous weather conditions
across the Pacific Northwest last month, causing power outages
for more than a half-million people and killing at least two.
Several atmospheric rivers pummeled California at about the
same time. A bomb cyclone occurs when a storm’s pressure drops
quickly, which intensifies the storm and ramps up wind gusts.
Atmospheric rivers are a “long, narrow region in the
atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the
water vapor outside of the tropics,” according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The deluge contributed
to a sudden rise in several California reservoirs, including
Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir.
Democrat Adam Gray captured California’s 13th Congressional
District on Tuesday, unseating Republican Rep. John Duarte in
the final U.S. House contest to be decided this year. Gray’s
win in the farm belt seat that cuts through five counties means
Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with
Democrats holding 215 seats. Gray won by a margin of less than
200 votes, with election officials reporting Tuesday all
ballots had been counted. … Gray, a former legislator,
was critical of state water management and put
water and agriculture at the top of his issues
list. He also said he wants improvements in infrastructure,
renewable energy and education.
California farmers could soon be caught up in a political fight
between Sacramento and Washington. State Democrats want $25
million to sue the Trump administration. Water
policy is among the issues. “I think you’re going to
see the State of California be very vigorous in defending the
values that we’ve already implemented into our water policies,”
Democratic Assemblymember Steve Bennett of Ventura said.
Bennett served on the Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee
during the previous legislature. It is unclear what federal
water policy will look like under the second Trump
Administration, but Bennett is preparing for the possibility of
significant changes.
It’s all but certain that 2024 will be Earth’s warmest year on
record, surpassing 2023 as the previous record holder. While
this troubling milestone measures global average temperatures,
a new study from the Columbia Climate School found that
unexplained extreme heat wave hot spots are popping up in
specific areas worldwide. Calling it “a striking new
phenomenon,” the study’s authors write, “Distinct regions are
seeing repeated heat waves that are so extreme, they fall far
beyond what any model of global warming can predict or
explain.” According to the study, “The large and unexpected
margins by which recent regional-scale extremes have broken
earlier records have raised questions about the degree to which
climate models can provide adequate estimates of relations
between global mean temperature changes and regional climate
risks.”
Máyala Wáta, also called Meeks Meadow, is proceeding with
lodgepole pine removal through a grant from the California
Tahoe Conservancy. The conifer thinning will take place over
200 acres of the area, which will help restore the area’s water
levels and culturally significant plants to the Washoe tribe.
Meeks Meadow is the center of the Washoe homelands and was
identified as a priority habitat for protection in the area. In
1997, the U.S. Forest Service and Washoe tribe signed a
memorandum of understanding that expressed a common line of
action—protecting and restoring the area. Since then, different
restoration efforts have been made in the area, but this
promises to be one of the largest thanks to the $600,000 grant
received from the California Tahoe Conservancy. Combined with
$1 million in federal funds, the project will include cutting
down conifers to protect water levels and soil quality for
culturally significant plants, as well as thinning the
surrounding forest for fuel reduction. Overall, the project
spans 283 acres of the land.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has passed a local
emergency proclamation allowing county officials to pursue
state and federal funds to help cover an estimated $2.6 million
in damage caused by November’s record-breaking rainstorm.
… Beginning Nov. 20, the four-day category 4 atmospheric
river storm dumped over 13 inches of rain in Santa Rosa, as
recorded at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. Other
parts of the county received over 20 inches of rain, according
to the National Weather Service. The volume of rainfall
surpassed weather records going back to 1902, according to the
weather service. The Russian River reached minor flood stage by
early Nov. 23, rising to 34.6 feet, but its rapid rise sent
county officials and residents scrambling to tow trailers and
evacuate as flooding extended beyond expectations.
An investigation conducted by a regulatory agency that oversees
regional waterways refutes various claims about water pollution
at two Upvalley waste management sites. The “investigation
report,” released Monday by the California Regional Water
Quality Control Board’s San Francisco Bay Region, responds to
complaints lodged between October 2022 and November of this
year about operations at Clover Flat Landfill south of
Calistoga and the Upper Valley Disposal and Recycling Facility
on Whitehall Lane south of St. Helena. Based on inspections,
water testing, interviews and document reviews, the water board
concluded “that further investigation or pursuit of additional
enforcement against Clover Flat Landfill or the Upper Valley
Facility regarding the complaints is unwarranted.”
At least one-quarter of all nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in
California’s Salton Sea air basin come from soil, according to
a study from the University of California, Davis. Using
isotopic analysis, the study found that annual total soil
emissions for the basin averaged 11 tons per day, which is 10
times larger than the state’s current inventory for soil
NOx emissions in the region. The work was published
in the Nature journal Scientific Reports. The study highlights
the need to better understand and account for emissions from
agricultural soils in order to comply with state and federal
air quality regulations and to improve air quality in rural
Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley and other agriculturally
active regions in warm climates.
A Stockton neighborhood was left with a gross and smelly
situation as dozens of salmon got stuck in Pixley Slough. The
fish are now dying and rotting. Some neighbors say seeing and
smelling the fish near their homes and children’s school is
frustrating. Others say this happens every year and
something should be done. KCRA 3 reached out to the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife to find out more. CDFW
officials said that during this time of year, the Chinook
salmon return to spawn and sometimes they take a wrong turn
ending up in the Pixley Slough.
A collective cheer is in the air as many environmentalists,
wildlife enthusiasts, Alameda County officials and residents
celebrate news that funding to remove the last man-made barrier
to fish passage in Alameda Creek has been secured. Claire
Buchanan, Bay Area Senior Project Manager for California Trout
(CalTrout), a non-profit agency focused on ensuring healthy
waters and resilient fish populations in the state, said a new
$4.3 million grant will be used to lower a PG&E gas
pipeline that spans the creek about 12 miles upstream from the
creek’s terminus into the bay. Known as the Sunol Valley Fish
Passage Project, it is the last of 16 fish passage projects in
the Alameda Creek watershed completed in the last 20 years.
Urbanization in the lower 12 miles of the creek in the Fremont
area has choked portions, preventing native Chinook salmon and
steelhead from traveling to upstream watersheds to spawn.
Previous large fish passage projects on the creek include the
installation of fish ladders at the Fremont BART station weir
and at the inflatable bladder dams near Niles, both done by the
Alameda County Water District (ACWD).
Jacobs started construction Monday on the $740 million Los
Angeles Groundwater Replenishment Project in the San Fernando
Valley, an L.A. Department of Water and
Power spokesperson said in an email. The Donald C.
Tillman Water Reclamation Plant will provide a
drought-resistant water source as climate change increasingly
threatens L.A.’s current supply. Once complete, the
Tillman facility will purify 25 million gallons of wastewater
daily to replenish the drought-stressed San Fernando Basin and
its aquifers. LADWP is spearheading the L.A.
Groundwater Replenishment Project in partnership with L.A.
Sanitation & Environment, with the ultimate goal of recycling
all its wastewater and expanding local water sources to 70% of
the city’s total supply by 2035. In recent years, the city has
been importing about 90% of its water, according to the Los
Angeles Times.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the city of Pittsburg,
California, Monday for approving a development, including a
massive data center, without considering and planning for its
environmental effects, including greenhouse gas emissions,
water usage, and harms to wildlife and surrounding wetlands.
The project site is on grassland and wetlands habitat with
nearby streams and other waterways. The area serves as an
important wildlife corridor for the region and is home to
red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, white-tailed kites, and other
raptors.
California officials announced Monday that state reservoirs are
on track to provide just 5% of the water requested by cities
and farms next year, a remarkably small amount of
water that could necessitate big water cuts — should the
projection hold. The grim estimate comes after what officials
described as a slow start to the wet season; however, the
allocation was calculated before storms over the past two weeks
gave a significant boost to reservoir levels. The state is also
trying to recover from a record hot summer that dried up rivers
and creeks and faces long-term forecasts suggesting
less-than-average precipitation for winter.
… Farmers, tribal leaders, city utility managers,
environmentalists, scientists, journalists, and a host of other
people will pack into a hotel ballroom at the Paris Hotel. Amid
the roughly 1,500 people in attendance, the spotlight will be
on seven. They’re the top water negotiators from the states
that share the Colorado River. At this Las Vegas family
reunion, those states are the kids coming home for the
holidays. They used to get along a little better in the good
times when the river and its reservoirs were full of water. But
now, times are tight. Climate change is sapping the river of
its water, and there’s less to go around. “The kids are
fighting and it’s really sad to watch,” said John Fleck, a
professor who teaches water policy and governance at the
University of New Mexico.
Utah will receive $50 million from the Inflation Reduction Act
to enhance ongoing conservation efforts and shepherd more water
to the Great Salt Lake, state and federal officials announced
Monday. … The state will also leverage an additional $50
million, officials said Monday, making for $100 million in
total investment aimed at ensuring the Great Salt Lake Basin
has an ongoing, resilient water supply. Some of the money will
help acquire more water through mechanisms like leases and
purchases, [said Joel Ferry, who heads Utah's Department of
Natural Resources] but much of it will go toward restoring
critical ecosystems like wetlands, removing invasive species
like phragmites from tributaries and improving dams.
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Elevated levels of radiation have been detected at the Albany
Bulb, an East Bay landfill that has been converted to an art
park popular with hikers and dog walkers. The radiation was
revealed after a “Gamma Radiation Walkover Survey” by a
hazardous waste specialist hired by the City of Albany to
sample the waste left over by a Richmond chemical plant that
operated there in the 1960s and ’70s. As first reported in the
Los Angeles Times, the test by GSI Environmental, Inc. revealed
10 spots that registered levels of gamma radiation high enough
to merit further measurements. … Blair Robertson,
spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board in
Sacramento, told the Chronicle that the board is aware of the
results of the report and is waiting for a work plan for
further testing to be drafted in conjunction with the
California Department of Public Health.
