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 Doug Beeman.
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The federal government is expected to restrict Arizona’s water
supply even more in the coming months due to the megadrought,
heading into the new year. However, no one knows exactly what
that will mean, but we do know the three-decade drought is
shrinking the Colorado River with no end in sight.
… Buckeye’s population is currently at about 75,000 but
sits on 600 square miles of open land with plans to develop
about every last inch, but satisfying thirsty mouths is a drop
in the bucket compared to watering thirsty crops.
.. Buckeye does a leg up, thanks to an underground aquifer
up to a thousand feet deep. Every drop is closely monitored and
replenished by law.
Expansion of sustainable irrigation (i.e., using sustainable
water resources to irrigate water-limited croplands) can
increase food production, while neither depleting water stocks
nor encroaching upon nature. Yet, there is a mismatch in timing
of water availability and of irrigation needs in many
geographies, necessitating temporary water storage. We quantify
global volumes of water that requires temporary storage to be
leveraged for an expansion of sustainable irrigation and
discuss options to provide that storage. While dammed
reservoirs are crucial for today’s irrigation, dams alone will
not suffice to fully leverage sustainable water resources in
the future and while creating major impacts on nature and
people. This highlights the urgent need for alternative
solutions to water storage and demand side approaches to food
security.
To the Ute Mountain Ute, grappling with its water supply is an
ongoing challenge. Despite having senior water rights dating
back to 1868, when the Kit Carson Treaty created the
reservation, the tribe received none of its rightful water for
decades as non-Native settlers dammed rivers and diverted
flows. And like many tribes across the Southwest, it still
struggles to properly quantify and settle some of the water
claims already validated by a long stream of court decisions.
Even when tribes have been able to secure their water rights,
they have often lacked the expensive infrastructure for getting
it to their reservations, which means their water gets used,
without payment, by non-native groups.
With Governor Newsom’s recent pledge to invest $8 billion in
water infrastructure, carbon-friendly concrete is increasingly
in the mix in Department of Water Resources’ (DWR)
infrastructure projects. This includes efforts to modernize
California’s largest water delivery system, the State Water
Project (SWP). … The cement industry produces about 7%
of carbon emissions globally (about double the emissions from
global air travel.) Over half of these emissions are from the
chemical alteration of materials during production. The
remaining emissions are from the burning of fossil fuels to
generate the high temperatures needed to make concrete.
Researchers around the globe agree: the Earth is getting warmer
and warmer, extreme weather such as heat waves and long
droughts increase the risk of wildfires. The group Wildfires in
the Anthropocene at the Pufendorf Institute connects
researchers from across Lund University who study fires from
different perspectives: climate change, health, environmental
security, fire safety and biodiversity. Every year, the
wildfire season grows longer in California, fires in the Amazon
and Australia are increasing dramatically and this
summer, large fires took hold of southern Europe.
These more extreme and unpredictable fires occur more
frequently and are more difficult to fight.
A new film about the transfer of water from the high desert to
Los Angeles – called “Without Water” – has just been released
on the internet. The film highlights the struggle between the
community around Long Valley, which is between Mammoth and
Bishop California – and the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power. The D-W-P has court permission to terminate longstanding
water leases and limit irrigation water in Long and Little
Round valleys. Matt McClain, campaign manager the Keep Long
Valley Green Coalition, said that would endanger wildlife,
fish, cattle grazing, tourism and Native American cultural
sites. So advocates are asking for at least 2.8 acre feet of
water per year going forward.
Three of California’s biggest water suppliers, including the
city of San Francisco, have reached a deal with the state that
calls for reducing their immense consumption of river water but
not as much as the state had initially demanded. The
compromise, announced Thursday, is the latest breakthrough in a
years-long effort by state regulators to protect flows in
California’s once-grand but increasingly overdrawn rivers. The
toll on the waterways, where as much as 90% of the water is
pumped to cities and farms, has been exacerbated by drought,
leaving fabled runs of salmon and other plants and animals at
risk of perishing. … But whether Thursday’s deal, known
as “voluntary agreements,” will meaningfully increase river
flows — and protect fish and wildlife — remains uncertain.
The state of California on Thursday sued the manufacturers of a
class of chemicals known as “forever chemicals” that are found
in a variety of consumer items including food packaging and
cookware and are linked to cancer and other illnesses. The
chemicals at the heart of the lawsuit are perfluoroalkyl and
polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as
PFAS. They are resistant to environmental degradation,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
the Environmental Protection Agency, and hundreds of scientific
studies. They have also been found in the bloodstreams of
98% of people tested, as well as in wildlife, fish, water
— including rivers, lakes and nearshore waters — and soil.
For some in Pixley, the needs for a place to worship and for
reliable water are both affecting everyday life, and they hold
nearly equal value among some. … California is in a
prolonged drought, which only adds to Pixley’s problems.
The community is one of nearly 400 in California whose
water systems rated as “failing”. State emergency grants
and water-focused legislation offer solutions, but communities
face a long road ahead as California enters a fourth year of
drought and running water becomes harder to guarantee in some
places.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Vice Chair
Cynthia Kurtz told a City committee she predicted the
implementation of more mandatory water reductions by next year
as the region faces the challenges of climate change
and extended drought. Kurtz knows Pasadena’s water
situation well. She served as Pasadena City Manager twice, most
recently stepping down as Interim City
Manager in August. According to the U.S. Drought
Monitor, the first three months of 2022 have seen record dry
weather, and pushed nearly 94% of California into
severe drought conditions.
Recycled wastewater is not only as safe to drink as
conventional potable water, it may even be less toxic than many
sources of water we already drink daily, Stanford University
engineers have discovered. … The engineers found that,
after treatment, potable reuse water is cleaner than
conventional drinking water sourced from pristine-looking
rivers. In most rivers, someone upstream is dumping in their
wastewater with much less treatment than occurs in potable
reuse systems. Conventional wastewater treatment plants just
aren’t equipped to deep clean. This leaves many organic
contaminants, such as chemicals from shampoos and medicines,
floating down river and straight into a drinking water plant.
As a society, what do we do when too little water has been
promised to too many people? What should we be doing
differently? In the United States, there is perhaps no
better to place to turn for answers to these questions than the
Klamath Basin. The Klamath Basin watershed is considered one of
the most complicated areas for water governance in the United
States owing to its transboundary location (the basin crosses
the Oregon-California border), its history of complex
litigation and persistent inter-institutional (and
interpersonal) conflict, and more than 60 different groups of
people who have an interest in the basin’s water
allocation.
Two decades of the Southwest megadrought have marked Arizona’s
driest period in 1,200 years. With climate change in full
swing, greenhouse emissions well above pledged targets and the
state facing cutbacks to its share of dwindling Colorado River
water, many wonder: Is drought the new normal? In an ideal
world, drought would be as simple as the settings on a hair
dryer: more heat, more evaporation. But it’s not an ideal
world, and less so every day, thanks to climate change, rising
water demand — and changing land use.
Marin County residents and visitors can once again watch the
natural spectacle of endangered coho salmon making their annual
return to their spawning grounds in Lagunitas Creek this
winter. The rainfall this month was enough to signal the
red-and-silver salmon to make their way from Tomales Bay —
where they have been holding these past weeks — to begin the
long journey against the currents of the creek.
The question addressed in this blog comes from a new PPIC
report that calls for reforms in management of environmental
water stored behind dams in California. The report shows it is
possible to manage water in ways that are compatible with
maintaining a natural ecosystem in streams below and above dams
(Null et al. 2022). An appendix to this report focuses on
fishes (Moyle et al. 2022). It provides information on how dams
and reservoirs affect native fish populations and supports the
need for improved water management to avoid future extinctions.
The last time San Luis Obispo ran critically short of water,
the city pumped heavily from wells along Los Osos Valley Road.
The aquifer was so overtaxed by residents and farmers that the
ground sank, resulting multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements
over damaged businesses and homes. Since the 1990s, the city
has adopted a series of water measures — including rebates for
more efficient fixtures, upgrading the sewer plant to deliver
treated water to landscaping, and building a pipeline
delivering water from Lake Nacimiento…. The city is
currently leading the Groundwater Enhancement Project, which it
described as “an initiative to to ensure responsible use of
groundwater in the San Luis Obispo Valley Groundwater Basin.”
Gov. Spencer Cox announced this month that all new water rights
in the Great Salt Lake Basin are on pause, given the lake’s
crisis situation. The move sounds big, sweeping and dramatic —
it applies to the lake’s main tributaries that drain nearly
10,000 square miles in Utah. Still, it’s hard to say how much
of a difference it will make for the Great Salt Lake, which has
continued to shrink after hitting another record low over the
summer, almost entirely due to Utah’s water diversions. The
governor’s current suspension only applies to new water right
applications and does not interfere with existing ones. New
water rights would be the most junior with the lowest priority
anyway. And in periods of drought, junior water right holders
sometimes don’t get to divert any water at all.
The U.S. Geological Survey announced today it has signed a
cooperative agreement with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute, or MBARI, to develop portable robotic DNA samplers
capable of independently monitoring for living threats in the
rivers and streams without constant support from
researchers. With new investments from President Biden’s
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the partnership will help
advance detection of invasive species, pathogens and parasites
which cause ecological and economic damage to aquatic systems.
These organisms can wreak havoc on our waterways, threaten
commercial and recreational fishing industries and promote the
spread of zoonotic diseases that can impact humans.
If challenger Eric Averett maintains his lead over incumbent
Phil Cerro for a seat on the powerful Kern County Water Agency
board, it may prove just how effective a campaign statement can
be. Averett said he tried to withdraw his name from the ballot
after belatedly learning Cerro would run. But he missed the
deadline to have his name removed, Averett told SJV Water in
September. He vowed not to campaign – dropping out of the race
in spirit – and said he would support Cerro. But when Averett
filed his paperwork to run, he did one thing Cerro didn’t, he
submitted a campaign statement.
By foot, horse, and canoe, European explorers centuries ago
undertook years-long expeditions to document the length and
breadth of major rivers. Today, satellites make the first pass
of discovery. Though rivers meander and melting glaciers birth
new lakes annually, the world’s major drainages have largely
been mapped. Yet one fundamental dimension remains largely a
mystery: the rise and fall of water bodies globally. Accurately
measuring, at low-cost, the weekly changes in rivers, lakes,
and wetlands would allow scientists to observe how much water
moves through them. Land-based gauges do some of this work. But
where gauges are scarce — Alaska, Africa, Asian headwaters —
these numbers are inaccurate or unknown.
