A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday by veteran journalist Matt Weiser.
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Please Note: The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here, and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
The water beneath a large swath of Phoenix isn’t fit to drink.
A plume of toxic chemicals has tainted the groundwater for
decades, and it’s now at the center of a bitter fight over how
the aquifer should be cleaned up and what should happen to the
water in the future.
According to a draft of the Utah Regional Water Conservation
Plan, the Lower Colorado River South region … is slated to
reduce water use 14%, to 262 gallons per capita by 2030 and
ultimately 22%, with 237 gallons per capita by 2065. … New
laws and ordinances may be passed to help enforce reduced water
use.
Many Californians might ask, “Didn’t we already pay for that?”
The answer is that while California has indeed started to make
critical investments in these crucial areas,we’re still playing
catch-up after failing for decades to adequately invest in
basic infrastructure.
Why would a Valley lawmaker who authored a bill to save jobs,
irrigate farms, and ensure communities receive clean water,
then vote to pass a different bill which denies all of that?
When the salmon are healthy, the world is healthy. That means
the waters are clean and fast-running and the bottom gravel is
clean. It means the rivers … are pouring as they should into
our oceans, bringing nutrients and sediments into the salt- and
fresh-water interplay.
I’ve spent half a day tormented by a problem that has already
tormented me many times before in my career: Where can one find
a Colorado River Basin map that is accurate? It seems like such
a simple task, but as others have noted before, it is an
ongoing problem. The list of problem areas is long, and many
seem to have a strong political motivation.
A massive marine heat wave that caused record warming of ocean
waters off the West Coast five years ago, sending salmon
numbers crashing and malnourished sea lions washing up on
beaches across California and other Pacific states, is back,
scientists said Thursday.
Recently, the Sacramento Press Club hosted a panel discussion
on the future of California water featuring Secretary Wade
Crowfoot, Metropolitan General Manager Jeff Kightlinger, and
State Water Contractors General Manager Jennifer Pierre.
An idea to pipe water from Paradise to Chico took its first
step Wednesday, when the Paradise Irrigation District board
signed off on a feasibility study for the proposal. The plan
might seem far-fetched at first glance, but it would solve a
couple of problems.
According to a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson,
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument has identified existing
groundwater wells construction contractors can use. In
addition, the contractor has proposed drilling new wells along
the border for the wall project. Currently, the construction
contractor estimates needing about 84,000 gallons of water per
day for the project.
However, this is brackish water. For a few months we will see
it in the Colorado below Morelos Dam, reminding us of the river
that once flowed there. It is agricultural drainage that comes
from farms in southwestern Arizona that use the Colorado River
to irrigate in the desert.
A 10-acre island in Isleton, an hour south of Sacramento in the
California Delta’s fresh-water Seven Mile Slough, is changing
hands for $1.195 million. (SF’s median condo price is about
$1.25 million.) The buyer is Thai Tran, who owns a mini-chain
of Vietnamese pho restaurants in Sacramento, and listing agent
Tony Wood of KW Commercial says Tran and his family plan to
transform the property into a destination.
Groundwater in Ventura County had a severe talk about
reductions as the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency held
its fourth workshop about the future. The proposed new plan
will commence in 2020 and will start slow but will ramp up and
reduce groundwater pumping in the area significantly.
There’s a lot of confusion and concern about what will happen
once the city of Ventura no longer discharges millions of
gallons of water into the Santa Clara River Estuary. … To
help residents get a better understanding of how Ventura’s
wastewater operations work, and to help answer those questions,
city officials opened up its facility to the public last week.
Construction has begun on the first phase of a five-year, $180
million flood control protection project for the historic Upper
Llagas Creek watershed, from Gilroy to north Morgan Hill. …
Funds for the project are from Measure B, the Safe, Clean Water
and Natural Flood Protection Program, as well as other state
and federal sources.
Tucson’s below average rainfall for August, which is typically
the wettest month during monsoon season, might mean it’s time
to face the music and prepare for a potential short-term
drought, according to local weather experts.
Hopefully, the Board of Supervisors’ approval of a study on
construction in the San Geronimo Valley watershed is a strong
step forward to ending more than a decade of costly studies and
lawsuits.
DWR is currently overseeing five habitat restoration projects
in Suisun Marsh. In October 2019, one of these projects, the
Tule Red Tidal Habitat Restoration Project – which converts
approximately 600 acres of existing managed wetland into tidal
habitat – is expected to finish construction.
Over the past 200 years, California has lost 97% of its wetland
habitat. The Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, part of the UC’s
Natural Reserve System, represents about 3% of what remains of
California’s coastal wetlands. Due to a century of draining for
land use and land development, the marsh has dwindled to 230
acres.
