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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Humans have greatly altered earth’s terrestrial water cycle
with the majority of fresh water being used for agriculture.
Irrigation changes spatial and temporal water availability and
alters mosquito abundance and phenology. Previous studies
evaluating the effect of irrigation on mosquito abundance and
mosquito-borne disease have shown inconsistent results and
little is known about the effect of irrigation on variability
in mosquito abundance. We examined the effect of irrigation,
climate and land cover on mosquito abundance and human West
Nile virus (WNV) disease cases across California.
A study examining the benefits and drawbacks of building
groundwater recharge basins near rural communities is underway
in Merced, Madera, Tulare and Fresno counties. The two-year
study is a spinoff of an earlier feasibility study focused
solely on Fresno County, and both are spearheaded by the
California Water Institute at Fresno State University.
“Floodplains and groundwater recharge do not know geographic
boundaries,” the institute’s interim director Laura Ramos wrote
in an email. “Sometimes the best recharge area for Madera
County might be in Merced County. So it was important to us to
look at a larger geographical area.”
The global water and wastewater treatment market is expected to
reach half a trillion dollars by the end of this decade,
according to Statista. Much of it now involves harsh chemicals
and uses a lot of energy, but companies like Xylem, Veolia and
Boston-based startup Gradiant are trying to reduce both costs
and energy while eliminating chemicals. “We take highly
contaminated wastewater which contains solvents, which contains
dissolved salt, which contains organics, and we eliminate the
entire liquid waste,” said Prakash Govindan, co-founder and
chief technology officer at Gradiant. Gradiant’s technology
mimics how nature creates rain. Wastewater is heated and pumped
into a humidifier and mixed with ambient air. As the two
interact, they are heated into vapor, leaving the contaminants
behind. Using a proprietary technology, the vapor is
transferred to a column with cool clean water. When the two
mix, the air cools and drops fresh water, like rain falls from
a cloud. The process, according to Gradiant, cuts traditional
costs in half.
The Delta Conservancy’s report on their 2023 Delta Drought
Response Pilot Program reveals mixed results in testing
drought-resistant field management practices in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The program involved 61 projects
across 18,450 acres, where Delta farmers tried various water
conservation methods, like crop changes, reduced irrigation,
and creating bird habitats by flooding fields. Key
findings include that water savings were inconsistent,
especially in low-elevation areas, while higher elevations
showed more potential. Factors like crop type, soil, and local
flooding also influenced results. The report suggests that
future water conservation efforts need to balance water savings
with environmental goals, like supporting wildlife.
Cal Water’s 2025-2027 Infrastructure Improvement Plan is making
progress in downtown Visalia. The project includes replacing
48,965 feet of aging water main, installing new treatment
sites, and upgrading facilities to expand their delivery
capabilities. Improving existing wells and locating sites for
new wells are also planned. Cal Water’s current efforts in
downtown Visalia also include a new 975,000-gallon water
storage tank and booster station, which will be the fifth water
storage tank in the city. “This particular project is due
to be completed and online by middle of September,” said
Stephen Johnson, district manager for Cal Water. “Right now,
we’re just doing the finishing touches on the project.
The California Department of Water Resources and the city of
Stockton are letting people know the water color change is on
purpose and not to be alarmed. A dye, which according to
scientists is harmless to people, boats and the environment,
will be used to test the water as scientists examine harmful
algal blooms at the lake. McLeod Lake’s water may turn
pink or purple during the testing, according to the city of
Stockton. The lake was selected by the state as one of the
study sites because of the impact of those harmful algal blooms
in the area, particularly during drought years.
Western states have seen several water-related tragedies in
recent weeks, including three Utah hikers who lost their lives
in California on Friday. Some of the deaths were related to the
late summer monsoons and the flash flooding that follows. Grand
Canyon flash flood Heavy rain hit the Colorado River valley
last Wednesday initiating a flash flood that took the life of
one hiker and left several others stranded on Thursday. The
National Park Service said the body of Chenoa Nickerson was
recovered following the flash flood. It was reported that
Nickerson was swept into the water and was found by a
commercial river trip three days after she went missing.
… In the Sierra Nevada Mountain range three Utahns
drowned after being caught in a whirlpool while rappelling near
Tulare County, California, last Friday afternoon, according to
the Tulare County Fire Department.
Calling the state’s review of the Kern subbasin’s newest
groundwater plan “cursory,” a representative of the agencies
that wrote the plan detailed how it will protect drinking
water wells, improve water quality and restore the water table
during a workshop held Monday. This was the first of two public
workshops to discuss Kern’s groundwater plan. The next will be
held Thursday, Aug. 29, at 5:30 p.m. at Hodels in Bakersfield.
It will be in person only with no online access. The
stakes are very high as the subbasin is facing possible
probation by the state Water Resources Control Board at a
hearing set for Feb. 20, 2025.
Heat-related mortality is on the rise in the United States,
where high temperatures have caused or contributed to the
deaths of more than 21,500 people since 1999, new research has
found. The last seven years in particular have been marked by a
surge in heat-related deaths, including 2,325 deaths in 2023 —
the planet’s hottest year on record, according to a study
published Monday in the medical journal JAMA. While
previous research had not portrayed a clear trend in
heat-related mortality in the U.S. — and in fact showed a
slight downward trend from 1975 to 2018 — the latest paper
is the first to demonstrate a clear uptick from 2016 to 2023.
Researchers said the current trajectory is likely to continue
due to climate change.
A federal report this week linked high levels of fluoride in
other countries to lower IQs in children, adding new evidence
in the long-simmering debate over adding fluoride to public
drinking water systems. The report from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services’ National Toxicity Program concluded
with “moderate confidence” that a collection of non-U.S.
studies associated higher levels of fluoride with lower IQ in
children. The report evaluated a collection of previous studies
completed on populations in Canada, China, India, Iran,
Pakistan and Mexico. The review examined total fluoride
exposure from all sources, so it did not solely measure health
effects of drinking fluoridated water. But experts say it will
likely generate debate among anti-fluoride groups who are
pushing for ballot measures and other actions to ban public
water fluoridation in local communities.
… Cotton wasn’t the only minor crops among Fresno’s
cornucopia of commodities to do well in 2023. … [Ryan
Jacobsen, CEO, Fresno County Farm Bureau] also serves as
president of the board for Fresno Irrigation District. He knows
water issues in his county. He said 2023 had the potential to
be even greater for farmers as the previous year was beset by
drought, and 2023 saw record rain and snowpack. “It’s important
to look at what water means to our county,” he said. “You
obviously had exaggerations of water supply from 2022 into
2023.”According to Jacobsen, the late season water availability
greatly aided in the planting of fall lettuce – a transition
for growers as lettuce harvest is ending in the Salinas Valley
but has not yet started in the deserts of southern California
and southwest Arizona.
… Four giant dams on the Klamath are being razed as part of
the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, a victory for
the tribes who have led a decades-long campaign to restore the
river. This week, as the final pieces are demolished, a
240-mile stretch of the Klamath will flow freely for the first
time in more than a century — and salmon will get their best
shot at long-term survival in the river. “The salmon are going
to their spawning grounds for the first time in 100 years,”
said Ron Reed, 62, a member of the Karuk tribe who has been
fighting for dam removal for half his life. “There’s a sense of
pride. There’s a sense of health and wellness.”
For more than 15 years, a pair of sewage treatment plants in
eastern Tijuana have presented an opportunity – and a
challenge. The plants, Arturo Herrera and La Morita, raised
hopes for a major wastewater reuse effort in the city – for
irrigation, construction and industrial use. … But
without a network of pipes to deliver the plants’ discharge,
most of that highly treated wastewater has gone
unused. … Today, as Tijuana faces growing water
shortages, authorities with the Baja California water agency,
CESPT, are studying a solution: piping the plants’ discharge to
a spot just upstream from A.L. Rodriguez Dam, for storage and
eventual delivery to a plant that would convert it to drinking
water. The project would be one of the first in Mexico that
involves what engineers call “indirect potable reuse.”
A new USU study has shed light on how mountain streams in the
Upper Colorado Basin respond to the compounded disturbances of
wildfire, extreme precipitation and debris flows. The study,
led by Utah Water Research Laboratory graduate student Paxton
Ridgway, USU Professor Belize Lane, and a team of researchers
from USU, Simon Fraser University, and the U.S. Geological
Survey, explored the intricate dynamics that govern river
morphology following wildfire, extreme precipitation and debris
flows. The team utilized an array of methodologies including
repeat field surveys, time-lapse photography, and remote
sensing data. … UWRL doctoral candidate Haley Canham
established the hydrologic monitoring equipment following the
2020 Grizzly Creek Fire wildfire, the focal point of the
research in a steep mountain stream affected by wildfire,
monsoon storms and debris flows throughout Glenwood Canyon,
Colorado.
As regions around the world invest billions in new
infrastructure to overcome increasing water scarcity, better
guidance is needed to facilitate cooperative planning and
investment in institutionally complex and interconnected water
supply systems. This work combines detailed water resource
system ensemble modeling with multiobjective intelligent search
to explore infrastructure investment partnership design in the
context of ongoing canal rehabilitation and groundwater
banking in California. Here we demonstrate that severe
tradeoffs can emerge between conflicting goals related to water
supply deliveries, partnership size, and the underlying
financial risks associated with cooperative infrastructure
investments.
Artificial intelligence technology is guzzling water and energy
in California and around the globe, yet most tech companies
have not been forthcoming about the actual environmental costs
of their applications, my colleague Melody Petersen reports.
That’s a huge problem, as their energy and water consumption
will undoubtedly strain supplies and drive up demand for
climate-warming oil, gas and coal — all while leaving users in
the dark about their true contributions. By some
estimates, ChatGPT uses about 16 ounces of water for as little
as 10 queries, while AI-generated answers from Google use up to
8.9 watt-hours of electricity per request, Petersen reported.
But when she pressed for details, both companies clammed up.
The forces behind the relentless land movement plaguing Rancho
Palos Verdes appear to be more complicated, and possibly more
widespread, than originally thought — forcing the city to once
again rethink how it can limit some of the mounting damage.
Officials confirmed a very deep and active landslide plane —
previously considered dormant — during exploratory drilling
this summer, a discovery that has upended emergency efforts
aimed at stabilizing the Portuguese Bend area. … City
officials last week voted to move ahead with a pilot plan to
drill vertical wells into the deeper landslide, with the aim of
pumping out groundwater — known to be the impetus for the land
movement — while continuing to study the extent and
characteristics of the deeper slip plane.
California water officials plan to dye McLeod Lake in downtown
Stockton starting Monday to study the cause of the waterfront’s
notorious harmful algae, a city news release said. Through
Friday, crews plan to use a Port of Stockton boat to apply the
dye and gather data between Weber Point and Interstate 5, the
release stated. Depending on conditions, the lake may turn a
pink or purplish color from the harmless rhodamine dye, it
stated. The California Department of Water Resources aims
to find the cause of harmful algae blooms by using the dye
to observe water flows in the lake and San Joaquin River.
A northern California community is questioning the length of
time for a school district to report elevated levels of lead
across multiple schools’ drinking fountains and faucets,
reports USA Today. “We are putting systems in place to ensure a
lack of effective communication does not occur again, and that
school communities receive quick notice when this kind of
testing is taking place on their campuses,” the Oakland Unified
School district wrote in a letter to families last week.
However, staffers at affected schools – including Frick United
Academy of Language – noted the lead testing had taken place
between late March and June, although the results were released
only in August. Of the 1,083 fixtures tested, nearly 200
contained lead levels above the district’s limit of 5 parts per
billion (ppb).
… Beneath the surface of nearby streams, fires can also cause
a silent upheaval – one that affects populations of creatures
that are important indicators of the water’s health. …
When fires move from nature into neighborhoods, however, they
encounter a drastically different set of fuels. Urban
conflagrations consume a mix of synthetic and natural
materials, including homes, vehicles, electronics and household
chemicals. This creates a unique set of problems that
can have far-reaching consequences for waterways and the
creatures that call them home. … I study how human actions on
land affect the chemistry and ecology of surface water systems,
including an important group of stream dwellers: benthic
macroinvertebrates. These tiny creatures, which include
mayflies, stone flies and caddis flies, are not only food
sources for fish and other stream life but also serve as
nature’s own water quality monitors.
– By Lauren Magliozzi, environmental engineering
researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder
