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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… Each and every American owns our public lands. They provide
so much: wildlife habitat, clean water and energy, food and
timber, solace and recreation and more. Balancing these values
is the job of the Bureau of Land Management, for both current
and future generations. It’s not easy, but it is vital to
get that balance right. Our challenges are urgent and growing,
including bigger, hotter wildfires, longer droughts, invasive
weeds and watersheds struggling with less water. This comes as
visitors seek recreation and renewal at record rates — …
roughly 82 million annual visitors. We work hand in hand with
the public, and while most agree that we have a shared
responsibility to manage public lands for their health and with
an eye toward the future, we often hear diverse ideas on how
best to get there. —By Tracy Stone-Manning,
director of the Bureau of Land Management
Anew study suggests that hydropower generation across the
continental United States is likely to increase with climate
change, although certain regions may experience drier
conditions and decreased production. The study, published on
August 8 in Environmental Research Letters, shows that while
warmer temperatures will bring more rain instead of snow in the
Pacific Northwest, reducing winter snowpack, hydropower
generation is still projected to rise in most areas. This shift
will require water managers and grid operators to adjust how
and when dams produce electricity.
Stockton’s McLeod Lake is looking pretty in pink this week. The
splash of color is part of a study being conducted by the
California Department of Water Resources, which is dumping
pinkish dye into the water to figure out why the lake has
become a hot spot for harmful algae. Hazardous algal blooms,
which can be toxic to humans, pets and aquatic life, popped up
in McLeod Lake in 2020 and 2022 but — curiously — not this
year. So scientists are using the dye to record the flow of
water, which they’re hoping will answer the question of why the
algae spreads some years but not others. Crews started dumping
the rhodamine dye into the water Monday and will complete the
study by Friday, according to a news release.
About 70% of Sierra meadows are degraded, with diminished
capacity to hold water or store below-ground carbon. Similarly,
vast tracts of forest where dead and dense tree stands
predominate are vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire,
counteracting their carbon benefits. CalTrout is developing a
new approach to meadow and forest health in the Sierra Nevada –
we are transforming meadow and forest restoration efforts into
quantifiable carbon, water, and energy benefits on a landscape
scale. This differs from traditional approaches which address
only one or two primary causes of ecological degradation
limited to the immediate project area, neglecting efficient use
of restoration byproducts, facilitation of atmospheric
carbon-reduction, and connecting local communities with
sustainable energy resources. CalTrout recently received
funding from the Sierra Meadows Partnership to start
implementing this bold initiative through a pilot program in
the Glass Mountains.
Arvind Kumar and his husband Ashok Jethanandani … [have]
spent the last 20 years volunteering at Lake Cunningham Park in
their East San Jose neighborhood — working to undo years of
neglect and unsafe water. For the last five years they’ve
focused on stinkwort, a sticky, camphor-smelling invasive
species native to southern Europe, northern Africa and
southwestern Asia that is irritating to the touch. Now, their
hard work restoring the park to its former glory is getting a
boost thanks to $850,000 in federal funding from Congressmember
Jimmy Panetta and the dedication of San Jose Councilmember
Domingo Candelas. The money will be used to further the lake’s
rehabilitation by funding flood prevention, water filtration
and restoration of the water’s nutrients — which advocates said
will improve equity in the historically disenfranchised part of
the city.
On the heels of an environmental study that found lead-tainted
water in public housing developments in Watts, Los Angeles
Mayor Karen Bass has called on the city’s housing authority and
largest water utility to conduct further testing for the potent
neurotoxin. The discovery of lead-contaminated tap water in
Watts, home to three of Los Angeles’ 13 major public housing
complexes, has jolted city leadership and raised serious
questions about the age of the plumbing that serves low-income
residents. Although California banned the installation of lead
pipes in 1985, the average home in Watts is nearly 77 years
old, which makes the South L.A. neighborhood more likely to
contain corroded lead plumbing.
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists compiled one year’s
worth of soil and sediment erosion quantities occurring after
large California wildfires between 1984 and 2021. Scientists
found that postfire erosion has accelerated over time,
particularly in northern California, likely reflecting both the
increase in wildfire in the state and the frequency of wet
water years. In addition, scientists found that 57% of postfire
erosion by mass occurred upstream of reservoirs. This research
helps planners understand the degree to which postfire erosion
has impacted watersheds and can inform management actions to
minimize the effects of runoff on clean water storage.
The plan to build California’s first new major reservoir in
decades advances as the state considers whether to issue a
water-right permit for the proposed Sites Reservoir, an
off-stream water storage project that could store up to 1.5
million acre-feet annually. The California State Water
Resources Control Board last week began a public hearing
process on the project’s water-right permit application.
Hearings will continue through October. Representatives of
agriculture, water districts and government agencies spoke at
the first session Aug. 19 and urged the state water board to
approve the water-right permit to advance the project.
The largest dam removal project in American history finished
today along the California-Oregon border. Four hydroelectric
dams along a 240-mile stretch of the Klamath River provided
clean electricity, and a lake, to the area’s homes and farms
for decades. The river has returned to its natural channel for
the first time in a century. Native tribes, including the
Yurok, in the area had been pushing to get rid of the dams for
years, claiming they led to poorer water quality and the
disappearance of local salmon, a species integral to tribal
culture. But non-tribal residents of the area are upset
about the dams being gone — because their once idyllic
lake-side homes are now simply on a field.
… Russian Riverkeeper and a statewide group called the
California Coastkeeper Alliance teamed up to sue Sonoma County
over the way it approved new well permits. “There was no
oversight whatsoever with groundwater permitting,” said
California Coastkeeper Executive Director Sean Bothwell.
”They were really just handing them out without any
analysis whatsoever, of whether groundwater was impacting
surface flows in Sonoma County.” Last week, Superior Court
Judge Bradford Demeo ruled that Sonoma County had failed to
uphold the Public Trust Doctrine, an implied duty of officials
to protect vital public resources. If the decision stands,
Sonoma and other counties will have to determine the impact of
wells on nearby surface water flows before granting a permit.
“I think it’s a landmark case,” said Bothwell. ”I do
think that it’s eye opening and counties will look at it and,
hopefully, be proactive.”
Irrigators cut off water to a huge portion of the Imperial
Valley’s half-million acres of farmland earlier this month
after the federal government approved a long-awaited program
designed to bolster water levels on the Colorado River. The
conservation agreement, authorized Aug. 12 by the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation and the Imperial Irrigation District, pays
farmers to stop irrigating forage crops such as alfalfa for a
period during the summer. Farmers participating in the “deficit
irrigation” program will be compensated to sacrifice one or two
hay cuttings without—they hope—killing the perennial crops.
Some of the Central Valley’s largest water organizations are
pushing for specific rule that will lead to lower water
supplies to be changed this year. Westlands Water
District, the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, the
Friant Water Authority and the State Water Contractors sent a
letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California
Department of Water Resources (CDWR) asking them to revise how
they manage a rule that impacts pumping in the Sacramento
Delta. … The water groups are targeting the Fall X2 provision
for the 2024 water year, which is detailed in the biological
opinions that govern the Central Valley Project and the State
Water Project.
Water restrictions on the Mexican border town of Reynosa appear
to be easing as Mexican authorities are working to send
additional supplies to the region, according to
reports. The mayor of Reynosa, Carlos Peña Ortiz, has
requested a meeting with authorities of the Comision Nacional
del Agua (CONAGUA) who are responsible for the supply of water
from the Rio Grande to the region, according to a post by
the government of Reynosa on X. On Aug. 20, Texas state Rep.
Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, announced that Reynosa was enacting
water restrictions due to long-standing drought and a lack of
water supplies in the Rio Grande.
The main pipeline providing water to the Grand Canyon National
Park has failed after a series of breaks, leading to a sudden
and sweeping shutdown of overnight hotel stays during one of
the busiest times of the year for the famous tourist
destination. Water restrictions will run throughout the Labor
Day holiday when hotels are near or at capacity. It’s an
unprecedented outcome, even for a pipeline with a long history
of frequent failures. Since July 8, the park has faced
challenges with its water supply, and no water is currently
being pumped to either the canyon’s south or north rims,
officials said.
Aquatic biologists plan to conduct a reclamation project on
South Mesa Creek in Montrose County during the week of
September 16. The project will apply a piscicide called
rotenone to the creek along P16 road to remove non-native
cutthroat trout. The project goal is to restore native Colorado
River cutthroat trout within the creek. [Colorado Parks and
Wildlife] crews (along with help from the Bureau of Land
Management) will conduct removal efforts of non-native fish.
Historically, Yellowstone cutthroat trout were stocked into
South Mesa Creek and reproduced with the native Colorado River
cutthroat, creating hybridized cutthroat trout, according to
Eric Gardunio, a CPW Area Aquatic Biologist. CPW says that
Colorado River Cutthroat Trout now occupy only about 11% of
their historic habitat. The project aims to remove the
hybridized cutthroat trout and restock the creek with native
Colorado River cutthroat trout.
In Colorado, you’re never too far from Rocky Mountain snowmelt,
so it’s no surprise that an annual competition for the state’s
best-tasting water ended in a three-way tie. However, after a
sudden-death sip-off, Denver took home the gold. The taste
test, held at the American Water Works Association Rocky
Mountain Section conference in Keystone, pitted eight
submissions from around the state against one another. Bronze
and silver also went to Front Range cities. Louisville took
second and Broomfield took third.
Irrigators have failed to persuade the Oregon Court of Appeals
that a water transfer between a Klamath basin ranch and a
wildlife refuge was unlawful. The appellate court has
determined the Oregon Water Resources Department didn’t violate
state water law by authorizing the temporary transfer of 3,750
acre-feet of water from an Oregon ranch in 2021. Though much of
the transferred water ended up in California, the transaction
didn’t have to comply with standards for out-of-basin
transfers, the appellate ruling said. “It is undisputed that
the Upper Klamath Basin is a hydrological basin within both
Oregon and California,” the ruling said.
What does it mean to do the greatest good for the greatest
number? When the Los Angeles Aqueduct opened in 1913, it
rerouted the Owens River from its natural path through an
Eastern California valley hundreds of miles south to LA,
enabling a dusty town to grow into a global city. But of
course, there was a price.
A career building and maintaining California’s water and
wastewater treatment systems may be unglamorous, failing to
spring to mind — at least it did for me — when young people
contemplate their future careers. However, the state faces a
looming shortage of workers in these critical roles. It is
imperative to support local, state and federal policies that
help fill them. Some 17 million workers will be retiring
from infrastructure jobs during the next 10 years, taking their
skills and institutional knowledge with them, as the workforce
ages. According to a US Water Alliance report, approximately
one-third of water utility operators are eligible to retire
during the next decade. In 2018, Brookings projected that water
utilities must fill 9,200 water treatment positions annually.
