“Infrastructure” in general can be defined as the components and
equipment needed to operate, as well as the structures needed
for, public works systems. Typical examples include roads,
bridges, sewers and water supply systems.Various dams and
infrastructural buildings have given Californians and the West
the opportunity to control water, dating back to the days of
Native Americans.
Water management infrastructure focuses on the parts, including
pipes, storage reservoirs, pumps, valves, filtration and
treatment equipment and meters, as well as the buildings to
house process and treatment equipment. Irrigation infrastructure
includes reservoirs, irrigation canals. Major flood control
infrastructure includes dikes, levees, major pumping stations and
floodgates.
The series of storms that have hit California since the
beginning of the year is translating to additional water for
millions of Californians. The State Water Project is
proactively working to move and store as much of the surplus
water from these storms as possible. The State Water Project
(SWP) is making additional water available to its contractors
(public agencies and local water districts) that have the
ability to take delivery of the water in their own system,
including through groundwater recharge. Known as “Article 21
water,” this water does not count toward formal SWP allocation
amounts. This water is available only under certain conditions:
when there is no place to store this water in the SWP
reservoirs; when there is a demand for this water from the
south of Delta contractors above their allocated amount; and
when there is available pumping and conveyance capacity within
the SWP.
California’s climate whiplash has been on full display in the
San Joaquin Valley this winter as the region has shifted from
managing three years of drought impacts to enduring
widespread flooding following a series of intense atmospheric
rivers. Our Central Valley Tour at
the end of April is your best opportunity to
understand both the challenges and opportunities of water
management in the region. The 3-day, 2-night tour tour
weaves around and across the entire valley to give you a
firsthand look at farms, wetlands and major
infrastructure such as Friant Dam in the Sierra Nevada
foothills near Fresno and San Luis Reservoir in the
Coastal Range near Los Banos, the nation’s largest off-stream
reservoir and a key water facility serving both the State Water
Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Looking out from a downtown San Francisco rooftop, Epic
Cleantec co-founder and CEO Aaron Tartakovsky says you can
actually see the future of recycled water. “This is not
theoretical, it’s happening right now. It’s happening here,
it’s happening in the Chorus building, where we’re going to be
operating that system. And it’s happening in a third building
over here,” says Tartakovsky, pointing a short distance away.
Epic Cleantec is harnessing the used wastewater from high-rise
buildings, and giving it a second life, with a dizzying array
of technologies. … At the heart of the system lies a
control center that monitors everything from the amount of
energy being saved to the amount of wastewater being recovered.
Ryan Pully is the director of water reuse operations.
Places in the United States where the water table is inching
higher — along the coasts, yes, but also inland, in parts of
the Midwest — are already beginning to experience problems with
infrastructure. Cracks in aging and poorly maintained pipes are
being inundated, leaving plumbing unable to carry away
stormwater and waste. Pavement is degrading faster. Trees are
drowning as the soil becomes soupier, starving their roots of
oxygen. During high tides and when it rains, groundwater is
even reaching the surface and forming temporary ponds where
there never used to be flooding. … In the San Francisco Bay
Area, rising groundwater threatens to spread contamination that
can evaporate and rise into the air inside homes, schools, and
workplaces.
The California Department of Water Resources is using the
winter storms to claim that the proposed Delta Conveyance
project would help ensure a more reliable water supply for the
State Water Project in light of how climate change will alter
seasonal patterns of rain and drought. In reality, the
benefits of the conveyance project are speculative at
best. The Delta Counties Coalition demonstrated for over
15 years that resources slated for the tunnel would be better
spent on sustainable, resilient water infrastructure around the
state (such as groundwater recharge, storage, recycled water
expansion, desalination) instead of further increasing reliance
on Sacramento River freshwater flows, which is in direct
conflict with a Delta Reform Act requirement to reduce reliance
on the Delta. -Written by Oscar Villegas, chair of the Yolo
County Board of Supervisors; and Patrick Kennedy, a member
of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and Delta
Counties Coalition.
The crashing waves can be a calming force on the California
coast but the mighty Pacific Ocean is nothing to turn your back
on. Reina Sharkey’s daughter lives along a stretch of
sand in Seal Beach where the frequent “King Tides” and storms
have forced the city to give them a winter wall of sand.
“I can’t see the ocean because of that hill there,” said
Sharkey. The city said that the berms are a necessary
safety measure to protect the nearby homes from the surf and
high tides. … The sea levels are rising because of
Thermal Expansion, a product of climate change. The process has
caused ice to melt into the ocean, which in turn caused the sea
levels to rise and making higher waves, flooding in low-lying
areas, washed-away roads and coastal erosion will become more
common.
Tuesday, the House Committee on Natural Resources discussed the
increased need for water storage in California and the rest of
the western United States given the highly above average
precipitation after years of drought. The Subcommittee on
Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held a hearing on long-term
drought and the water storage issues throughout the reasons to
discuss the situation and possible solutions.
… Bourdeau, the Vice Chair of the San Luis and
Delta-Mendota Water Authority … [and] a director for
Westlands Water District … noted that farmers throughout
the Central Valley have spent billions of dollars to put drip
irrigation systems in place, among other water-saving measures,
to go along with the conservation efforts from municipal water
users. But without proper water storage solutions, the
nation’s future could be imperil if the Valley’s food
production wanes.
For the first time in 46 years, the United Nations convened a
global conference on water, creating new impetus for
wide-ranging efforts to manage water more sustainably, adapt to
worsening droughts and floods with climate change, and
accelerate solutions for the estimated 2 billion people around
the world who live without access to clean drinking water. The
conference this week in New York brought together about 10,000
participants, including national leaders and scientists, with a
focus on addressing the world’s many water problems and making
progress toward a goal of ensuring clean drinking water and
sanitation for all people.
When Americans turn on their faucets, they shouldn’t have to
think about infrastructure. A well-run system for clean
drinking water ought to be the bare minimum of what the
government delivers. But virtually every part of the country is
struggling with aging pipes, which are wasting billions of
gallons of water every day. Some utilities are losing as much
as half or more of their water supply to leaks. Worse, most
states don’t know the scale of the problem and are doing little
to find out, threatening their residents’ wallets and their
health. This issue is mostly hidden — until there is a serious
problem. Water main breaks, for example, can tear up roads and
damage property. These occur somewhere in the country every two
minutes, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In July 2019 a group of Sacramento firefighters spray painted
the inside of a city water tank, causing “floating debris” and
damage that cost taxpayers over $65,000. As punishment, two of
them received a two-day unpaid suspension. The firefighters had
just graduated from the academy, and spray painted their
academy number on the inside of an East Sacramento water tank,
according to a Dec. 21, 2021, disciplinary letter, obtained
from a California Public Records Act request by The Sacramento
Bee. … But this time the new firefighters, with help from two
captains, spray painted the inside, causing “floating debris”
to surface in the drinking water that serves nearby businesses
and homes. The city did not discover the floating debris until
a year and a half after the fire fighters spray painted it.
Testing found no contamination, city spokesman Tim Swanson
said.
For more than 100 years, the Los Angeles Aqueduct has endured
earthquakes, flash floods and dozens of bomb attacks as it
wends and weaves through the canyons and deserts of the eastern
Sierra Nevada. But earlier this month, record storms
accomplished the unthinkable when floodwaters undermined a
120-foot-long section of aqueduct in Owens Valley, causing its
concrete walls to crumble. “We’ve lost the aqueduct!” a
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power inspector told his
superiors by cellphone. As he spoke, chocolate-colored runoff
and debris undercut the aqueduct just west of Highway 395 and
the community of Olancha. It was the first time in history
that the 200-mile aqueduct had been breached by extreme
weather, threatening water deliveries to 4 million ratepayers
in Los Angeles.
Marin Municipal Water District is seeking a $200,000 federal
grant to study the possibility of building a brackish water
desalination plant on the Petaluma River. The district’s board
voted 4-0 on Tuesday, with Jed Smith abstaining, to
retroactively authorize an application to the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation for the study. The district submitted the grant
application in late February. While the district has studied a
desalination plant on San Francisco Bay in the past, officials
said a plant in brackish water on the Petaluma River is a newer
concept that has not been examined.
Proponents of the removal of four dams from the Klamath River
in Northern California and Southern Oregon announced March 23
that work has begun on the project. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission’s approval last fall cleared the way for
the the Klamath River Renewal Corp., which has been
pushing removal of the dams for more than a decade to help
endangered fish, to team with California and Oregon in
accepting transfer of the project license from energy
company PacifiCorp and start the dam removal process.
… The project is funded by $200 million from PacifiCorp
and $250 million from a California water bond passed in
2014. The three larger dams are to be removed next year
with removal of all four dams completed by the end of 2024;
however, the restoration of the 38 mile reach of river impacted
by the dams will take longer.
On the heels of one of California’s wettest winters on
record, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that he will roll
back some of the state’s most severe drought restrictions and
dramatically increase water supplies for agencies serving 27
million people.
The president of one of the world’s largest insurance brokers
warned Wednesday that climate change is destabilizing the
insurance industry, driving up prices and pushing insurers out
of high-risk markets. Aon PLC President Eric Andersen told a
Senate committee that climate change is injecting uncertainty
into an industry built on risk prediction and has created “a
crisis of confidence around the ability to predict loss.”
Doris Padilla, 65, stood almost catatonic Thursday outside her
mud-covered house on Florence Street in Pajaro, unable to begin
the grueling work of rebuilding. Unlike the neighbors busying
themselves shoveling contaminated mud and debris and moving
waterlogged furniture and carpets out of their homes, Padilla
just couldn’t move. She waited outside her house for her son to
come home from work and start cleaning up. … Monterey County
authorities Thursday morning lifted evacuation orders for the
flood-ravaged farm town, allowing residents to return to their
homes in most cases for the first time since they were forced
to flee in the middle of the night March 11 after a levee
failed upriver and inundated their community.
On an abandoned golf course, overgrown with shrubs and saw
grass, you can hear the rushing water from 100 yards away. Near
Hole 4, past the little bridge and crumbling cart paths, what
looks to be a waterfall comes into view, pouring down through
the brush and into the creek below. Except the torrent of water
gushing up through the mud isn’t from a spring-fed stream or a
bubbling brook. It is spewing from a broken city water line. As
residents had to boil their tap water and businesses closed
because their faucets were dry, the break at the old Colonial
Country Club squandered an estimated five million gallons of
drinking water a day in a city that had none to spare.
Crews have begun working on removing four dams on the Klamath
River which tribes and other groups have lobbied to take down
for decades. The early removal work involves upgrading bridges
and constructing roads to allow greater access to the remote
dams, which are expected to be fully down by the end of 2024.
The dam removal on the 38-mile stretch of the river comes after
an agreement between the last dam owner PacifiCorp, California,
Oregon, the Yurok Tribe, the Karuk Tribe and a multitude of
environmental organizations, with the goal of restoring salmon
populations. The Klamath River Renewal Corporation held a news
conference on Thursday giving an update on their work in
dismantling the dams and restoring habitats.
The costs of California’s relentless winter storms keep rising.
And outside of the human toll — with at least 28 people killed
since January — the price will be measured in billions. The
“bomb cyclone” that lashed San Francisco on Tuesday was the
latest in an epic series of extreme weather events to hit
California since New Year’s Eve. It blew out windows from
skyscrapers, flung barges into a historic bridge, sent trees
tumbling across roads, knocked down power lines, and threatened
a major freeway as the waterlogged hillside beneath it started
to collapse….The price tag for all this
mayhem — road repairs, damaged homes, lost
crops — won’t become clear for months. But the early
estimates are sobering.
The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
… announced it has finalized its appraisal of Cal Am,
the private utility water provider for the Monterey Peninsula,
to buy it out in what could be a friendly—but likely
hostile—attempted takeover. It will most certainly end up in
court—Cal Am has repeatedly said it’s not for sale—but this is
nonetheless a long-awaited moment. On Monday April 3, at
5:30pm in the Monterey City Hall council chambers, the district
will host a public presentation outlining the methodology
its consultants used in the appraisal, followed by a Q&A.
But regardless, the die will have already been cast: the
district’s statement notes that while the presentation is
occurring, “it is expected that an offer to purchase the system
will be made to Cal Am on or about the same time.”
Los Angeles County is on track to capture enough stormwater
this year to quench the year-round water needs of more than a
quarter of the county’s residents. It’s good news, but there is
still a lot of work to do to meet local water use goals. [LA
County’s principal stormwater engineer Sterling] Klippel says
LA County gets about a third of its water from those [local]
aquifers while the rest is imported either from Northern
California or from the Colorado River. But the City of LA’s
goal is to flip that equation by 2035, using two-thirds local
water and cutting Southern California’s dependence on imported
water. [Bruce Reznik, head of the nonprofit LA Waterkeeper]
says the local infrastructure is just not set up for that yet.
Rivers are one of the most dynamic water cycle components of
the earth surface and hold fundamental economic and ecological
significance for the development of human societies, ecosystem
sustainability, and regional climate. Yet, their natural
balance has been threatened by a wide range of anthropogenic
stressors and ongoing climate change. With increasing demands
for economic and social development, human disturbances in the
form of dam construction, aquaculture, and irrigation have
resulted in large-scale and rapid transformations of river
channels.
Floating solar panels placed on reservoirs around the world
could generate enough energy to power thousands of cities,
according to a study published last week in the journal Nature
Sustainability. Called floating photovoltaic systems, or
“floatovoltaics,” these solar arrays function the same way as
panels on land, capturing sunlight to generate electricity.
… The new research shows this buoyant technology has the
potential to create vast amounts of power and conserve
water—without taking up precious space on land. … A
handful of countries are already answering that question by
using floating solar panels in a limited capacity… California
plans to test a similar idea in which solar panels will
be placed above irrigation canals.
The March 16 Coastal Climate Resilience Symposium at the
Seymour Marine Discovery Center focused on the role of
insurance and nature-based solutions in reducing the risks of
flooding and other natural disasters, which are being
exacerbated by climate change and rising sea levels. Coastal
scientists, insurance industry experts, and representatives of
state and federal agencies came together at the meeting to
address challenges and opportunities for building coastal
resilience to climate change. The flooding from a levee breach
in nearby Pajaro served as a somber reminder of the urgency of
the issues they had gathered to discuss.
Atmospheric river-fueled storms have hammered the network of
hundreds of levees in coastal counties near the San Francisco
Bay — from the agricultural fields of Monterey County to urban
places like San Leandro, Walnut Creek and Richmond to more
rural parts of the North Bay. At least two major levees, in
Salinas and Pajaro, have failed since New Year’s Eve. The levee
breach along the Pajaro River, which divides Santa Cruz and
Monterey counties, left the entire town of Pajaro in a deluge
of water. More than 3,000 residents could be displaced for
several weeks. The disastrous flood submerged a significant
acreage of agricultural land there, and the mostly lower-income
Latino community now faces overwhelming economic and housing
uncertainty.
In 2014, Proposition 1 set aside $2.7 billion to fund the
“public benefit” portions of water storage projects through the
Water Storage Investment Program. Water storage for the
environment played a crucial role in determining how much
funding the projects would receive. One of these projects,
Sites Reservoir, offers a novel approach to storing water to
benefit freshwater ecosystems when they need it most. We talked
to Jerry Brown, executive director of the Sites Project
Authority, to learn more about plans for the reservoir and its
ecosystem water budget.
The medieval church of Sant Romà disappeared from view in the
1960s, when the town of Vilanova de Sau, an hour north of
Barcelona, was flooded to create a reservoir. In the past three
decades, its spectral belltower has broken the surface several
times, serving as a punctual reminder of Spain’s fragile water
resources. But today the church’s tower, its nave and the
building’s foundations are all exposed. The bare, steep ridges
of the Sau reservoir show how far its levels have receded, and
the cracked earth around the remaining pool of water is trodden
by tourists attracted by the ghost village’s reappearance.
Drought in Spain’s northeast reached “exceptional” levels last
month, menacing access to drinking water for 6 million people
in the Barcelona metropolitan area.
Thousands of people in the rural San Joaquin Valley have been
forced to leave their homes as rivers and creeks have swelled
from recent storms, putting neighborhoods and farms under water
— and more wet weather looms. The flooding was most severe
in Tulare County, where over the weekend scenes played out of
residents being plucked from high water by rescuers in boats,
dairy workers rustling cattle out of swampy fields, and
backhoes pouring dirt to repair storm-damaged
levees…. The widespread flooding comes as severe storms
continue to pound the region while huge volumes of water from
California’s highest peaks pour out of the nearby Sierra
Nevada. The river channels and extensive berms and levees
designed to corral floodwaters have been overwhelmed.
Most U.S. residents don’t need to worry about the safety of
their tap water, but millions of Americans are still exposed to
contaminants every year. It can take a water crisis to
highlight where drinking water infrastructure is failing. One
of the most devastating water crises in recent memory was the
lead contamination in Flint, Michigan’s drinking water in 2014.
As of January 2023, nine years after the initial contamination,
residents are still dealing with the effects. And last year, a
water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi left many of the city’s
150,000 residents without potable water, a problem that
persists today. Here, drinking water experts from the
EPA, academia, and advocacy groups weigh in on what you need to
know about your tap.
The drama was high on the Tulare Lake bed Saturday as flood
waters pushed some landowners to resort to heavy handed and, in
one instance, illegal tactics, to try and keep their farm
ground dry — even at the expense of other farmers and some
small communities. Someone illegally cut the banks of Deer
Creek in the middle of the night causing water to rush toward
the tiny town of Allensworth. The levee protecting Corcoran had
its own protection as an armed guard patrolled the structure to
keep it safe. At the south end of the old lake bed, the
J.G. Boswell Company had workers drag a piece of heavy
equipment onto the banks of its Homeland Canal to prevent any
cuts that would drain Poso Creek water onto Boswell land.
Heavy rain this week turned the Los Angeles River flood-control
channel into a raging torrent, and with new storms expected on
Monday, emergency officials are keeping a wary eye on a
well-known stretch that has long been vulnerable to flooding.
Glendale Narrows is a lush seven-mile section of rumbling
runoff between Griffith Park and downtown that attracts
numerous sightseers and bicyclists. But despite its Instagram
appeal, the narrows is a flood manager’s nightmare. It remains
one of the few areas along the World War II-era channel that
has a soft bottom due to its high water table. As a result, it
is prone to erosion and buildups of sediment, vegetation and
debris that could back up flows dumped by major storms.
California is an elemental maelstrom branded as a
laid-back idyll; a “beautiful fraud” as environmentalist
Marc Reisner put it. The pitch has
faltered in recent years, as first wildfires and now
torrential rains have claimed lives, wrecked
infrastructure and displaced whole towns. Yet the atmospheric
rivers deluging the state today may offer a silver lining of
sorts later this year, during California’s summer blackout
season. Risk of wildfires is one factor that can prompt
electricity shutoffs in California during the summer. A more
prosaic reason is that hot evenings can raise demand for air
conditioning just as the sunset switches off the state’s
vast, but variable, solar energy, pushing the grid to its
limits. -Written by Liam Denning, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist
covering energy and commodities.
Pacific Gas & Electric says it intends to keep the gates open
at Scott Dam from now on in deference to seismic safety
concerns, meaning Lake Pillsbury in Lake County will never
completely fill again, even in a wet year like this one. The
utility usually closes the dam gates in April, allowing spring
runoff and snowmelt to raise the water level for summer
recreation and water releases during the later, drier parts of
the year. But the company says updated seismic analysis of the
dam suggested a higher level of risk than previous evaluations,
prompting a change in operations. Instead, more water will be
allowed to flow into the Eel River this spring instead of
keeping it behind the dam.
San Diegans are facing a tidal wave of rate increases in coming
years for so-called drought-proof water — driven in large part
by new sewage recycling projects coupled with the rising cost
of desalination and importing the Colorado River. While many
residents already struggle to pay their utility bills, the
situation now appears more dire than elected leaders may have
anticipated. The San Diego County Water Authority recently
announced that retail agencies should brace for a massive 14
percent spike on the cost of wholesale deliveries next year….
Officials on the wholesaler’s 36-member board are anxiously
exploring ways to temper such double-digit price hikes, even
contemplating the sale of costly desalinated water produced in
Carlsbad.
California’s bedrock environmental law has helped protect
residents, wildlife and natural resources from pollution and
other negative effects of development countless times since
then-Gov. Ronald Reagan put it on the books more than half a
century ago. But the California Environmental Quality Act,
better known as CEQA, sometimes is weaponized by competing
businesses, labor unions and anti-development neighbors who
aren’t necessarily motivated by environmental concerns.
… Supporters say the law has blocked or forced changes
for hundreds of projects that would have worsened air, water
and soil pollution…. Witnesses spelled out those competing
realities during an all-day hearing Thursday before the Little
Hoover Commission which, for the first time, is studying
whether to recommend changes to the environmental law.
After more than a year of wrangling, California American Water
Co. has agreed in principle to sign an agreement to purchase
water from a major expansion of a Monterey Peninsula water
recycling project that when completed will provide for
thousands of acre-feet of additional water. Evan Jacobs,
external affairs manager for Cal Am, confirmed Thursday that
what was agreed upon was a filing made by the state Public
Advocates Office that gave Cal Am a portion of what it wanted.
The filing still must be approved by the California Public
Utilities Commission, or CPUC, but it’s the first time all
sides have agreed in principle since September of 2021. The
Public Advocates Office helps to ensure Californians are
represented at the CPUC by recommending solutions and
alternatives in utility customers’ best interests.
A Nestlé plant in the Valley has an issue: it wants to produce
a lot of “high-quality” creamer. But it might not have enough
water to do so. The company’s solution could allow factories to
drain Arizona’s groundwater and could threaten the quality of
city tap water, according to water experts. The massive food
and drink producer announced last year it would be building a
nearly $700 million plant in Glendale, but has since run into
issues with its water provider EPCOR. The amount of wastewater
Nestlé projected to need turned out to be too much for the
Canada-based utility.
In the wake of flooding caused by a breach of the Pajaro River
levee around midnight between March 10 and 11, the Pajaro/Sunny
Mesa water systems were put on a “do not drink” order on March
11, just before 1pm. That means even boiling the water,
filtering it or otherwise treating it will not necessarily make
it safe. That’s not because the water is known to be unsafe—it
hasn’t been tested yet—it’s just that it might be. Judy
Varela with Pajaro/Sunny Mesa says that three wells have been
impacted by the flooding, and it’s not known if any of the
floodwaters have seeped down the well shafts and into the
groundwater supply, and it’s also not yet known what
contaminants, if any, are in those floodwaters.
The “Big One” may be inevitable, but California lawmakers face
a major undertaking in preparing for future earthquakes which
cannot be predicted. In a joint state Senate and Assembly
hearing on preparing for catastrophic earthquakes, in light of
the Turkey and Syria disasters, experts told state leaders that
bigger plans to prepare for a disaster are needed beyond small
programs. … The state must also consider how vulnerable
its massive and complicated water infrastructure is to
earthquakes. Many levee systems are in dire need of upgrades to
survive floods, let alone a major quake. [Evan Reis of the U.S.
Resiliency Council] said the water grid is highly
vulnerable because the pipes that transport water between
regions travel a long distance and often cross fault
lines.
An unfinished section of the new Friant-Kern Canal suffered a
“severe breach” at Deer Creek in Tulare County Friday night as
the normally dry creek swelled with rain and snowmelt and
overran its banks into the construction zone. “This was worse
than the one before,” said Johnny Amaral, Chief Operating
Officer of the Friant Water Authority, at the authority’s
executive committee meeting on Monday. “We haven’t gotten a
handle on it yet but it’s tough to do anything out there right
now with what we’re expecting tomorrow.”
Lake Powell is currently close to 180 feet below full pool and
coming off a summer last year where several boat ramps were
closed and owners were advised to retrieve their houseboats
from the docks. Releases from a couple of upstream reservoirs,
including Flaming Gorge, were made last summer to help the
nation’s second largest reservoir and its Glen Canyon Dam,
which provides power generation to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New
Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska. A Monday briefing
from the drought integrated information center of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there is wet relief
on the way for Lake Powell, which typically gets its maximum
flows well into July.
Solano County supervisors are scheduled Tuesday to receive an
update on the latest Delta tunnel project. “The Delta
Conveyance Project is the latest iteration of an isolated
conveyance by the state Department of Water Resources to remove
freshwater flows from the Delta for use in central and Southern
California,” the staff report to the board states. “The (Delta
Conveyance Project) includes constructing a 45-mile long,
39-foot diameter tunnel under the Delta with new diversions in
the North Delta that have a capacity to divert up to 6,000
cubic feet (of water) per second and operating new conveyance
facilities that would add to the existing State Water Project
infrastructure.”
Still reeling from storms that inundated neighborhoods, forced
rescues and damaged roads, storm-battered California is bracing
for another atmospheric river that threatens even more flooding
Monday. More than 17 million people remain under flood watches
across California and Nevada early Monday as the storm makes
its menacing approach – the 11th atmospheric river to hit the
West this winter season. The new storm, arriving on the heels
of another atmospheric river, could exacerbate flooding and
damage in some places. Already, those in the central and
northern parts of California are crowding into shelters and
dealing with flooded neighborhoods, along with mudslides,
dangerous rushing rivers, collapsed bridges and unusable roads.
With back-to-back storms to hit California in the coming days,
state officials are scrambling to make strategic releases from
key reservoirs in hopes of preventing a repeat of the flooding
that killed nearly two dozen people in January. At least 10
rivers are forecast to overflow from the incoming “Pineapple
Express” storm, which is expected to drop warm, heavy,
snow-melting rain as it moves from the Central Coast toward the
southern Sierra beginning Thursday night into Saturday. Among
them are rivers that flooded at the start of the year, when
nine atmospheric river storms pummeled the state. The waterways
include the Cosumnes River near Sacramento, where more than a
dozen levee breaches sent floodwaters onto roadways and
low-lying areas, trapping drivers and contributing to at least
three deaths along Highway 99.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would cut funding for
coastal resilience projects almost in half, eliminating more
than half a billion dollars of state funds this year that would
help protect the coast against rising seas and climate change.
The cuts are part of Newsom’s proposed $6 billion in reductions
to California’s climate change programs in response to a
projected $22.5 billion statewide deficit. California’s coastal
resilience programs provide funding for local governments to
prepare coastal plans and pay for some projects that protect
beaches, homes and infrastructure at risk from rising sea
levels. Greenhouse gases are responsible for warming the
planet, which melts ice and causes sea levels to rise.
Northern California could be in for a new atmospheric
river storm by the end of the week, potentially blasting the
Bay Area with substantial rain, and the Sierra with even more
heavy snow, but likely not as fierce as the wet storms that
wreaked damage across the region at the start of the year,
forecasters say…. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at
UCLA and the Nature Conservancy, said Sunday
evening that an atmospheric river could be a concern
regarding the state’s snowpack, which on Friday reached
its highest level this century for the start of
March. Such rain-on-snow events — when heavy rain
falls on snow in higher elevations — could result in
snow melting faster, flooding downstream areas, overwhelming
rivers and overloading buildings with heavy
slush, weather experts say.
The megadrought that’s plagued the US West for years has
impacted everything from the food Americans eat to their
electricity supply. And while extreme weather can sometimes
trigger wet winters like this one, in California and the rest
of the region, the long-term future remains a very dry one. In
this episode of Getting Warmer With Kal Penn, we
explore what the future of water in the West may look
like. In Nevada, Penn investigates the lasting impacts of the
Colorado River Compact, the 1922 agreement that doles out water
rights to the seven states along its path. Overly optimistic
from the start, the system is now on the verge of collapse as
water levels in key reservoirs approach dead pool-status.
Folsom Dam has some cosmetic cracks in its newer spillway but
officials say there is nothing to worry about. The Army Corps
of Engineers has awarded a $16.6 million contract in January
for construction on rods within hydraulic cylinders of the
Folsom Dam auxiliary spillway gates that control the flow of
water and began cracking after the completion of the spillway’s
construction in 2017, according to Tyler Stalker, a
spokesperson for the corps. Construction will start in
2025, officials said, and is expected to be completed by 2027.
The spillway’s construction costs totaled $900 million and
includes an 1,100-foot approach channel that funnels water from
Folsom Lake into the spillway, according to the corps’ website.
Stalker said cracking in coatings that are used to protect
steel structures from corrosion is not unusual, and it does not
indicate broken or failing system components.
Crews with the El Dorado Irrigation District are working to
clear snow and debris from the flumes and canals that deliver
water to its customers throughout the latest round of winter
weather. Matt Heape, a hydro operations and maintenance
supervisor for the district, said the focus Tuesday was taking
care of a 22-mile canal system. … To do that, he
explained, crews used snowcats to get to remote, wooden
locations, sometimes having to snowshoe in further to reach the
canals and the surrounding walkways. Much of the day
included clearing walkways, plowing snow and keeping systems
clear, Heap said.
A break in Yountville’s recycled-water main serving the
Vintner’s Golf Club and various vineyard ponds east and west of
the Napa River has led to an emergency $1 million repair
project, approved by the Town Council last week. The main
in question is a 6-inch PVC pipe, first installed in 1977, that
runs across the floor of the Napa Valley from the Yountville
wastewater treatment plant west of Highway 29. It reaches as
far as the Clos du Val Winery pond past the Silverado Trail, to
the east, Yountville’s public works director John Ferons said
at the council meeting. As such, the water line also runs below
the Napa River, which is where the leak was discovered about
two weeks ago. Yountville town staff discovered the leak at
noon Feb. 15 because a low-flow alarm went off, and workers
shut off the pumps to investigate the pipes, according to a
staff report.
South Bay reservoirs are handling the recent rain quite well
due in part to a delicate dance water managers have been doing
to make sure they catch as much water as possible. … To make
room for future storms, Valley Water has been strategically
releasing water from reservoirs, which is part of the reason
why the county average for reservoir capacity right now is only
50%. Valley Water said the winter rain so far still isn’t
enough to call off the drought emergency. … The Sierra
snowpack is also looking robust. Experts say the hope now is
that the Sierra stays cold for the next few weeks to keep the
snowpack intact. The goal is for the snowpack to begin melting
in mid-spring in time for the runoff to refill the reservoirs
again.
As drought-weary Californians watched trillions of gallons of
runoff wash into the Pacific Ocean during recent storms, it
underscored a nagging question: Why can’t we save more of that
water for not-so-rainy days to come? But even the rare
opportunity to stock up on the precious resource isn’t proving
enough to unite a state divided on a contentious idea to siphon
water from the north and tunnel it southward, an attempt to
combat the Southwest’s worst drought in more than a millennium.
The California Department of Water Resources said such a tunnel
could have captured a year’s supply of water for more than 2
million people. The proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
administration — one that would cost $16 billion to help 27
million water customers in central and southern California — is
spurring fresh outrage from communities that have fended off
similar plans over four decades, including suggestions to build
other tunnels or a massive canal.
The California State Water Resources Control Board can’t be
forced to evaluate the “reasonableness” of locally issued
permits to discharge treated wastewater, a state appeals court
ruled, because state law doesn’t impose this obligation on the
agency. The Los Angeles-based Second Appellate District on
Monday overturned a trial judge’s order for the agency to
evaluate the reasonableness of the permits that were renewed in
2017 by its regional board in LA, allowing four treatment
plants to discharge millions of gallons of treated wastewater
in the LA River and the Pacific Ocean every day. LA
Waterkeeper, an environmental watchdog, had challenged the
permits arguing the regional board and the state board should
have considered better uses of the water, such as recycling,
rather than dumping it in the ocean.
January’s relentless storms brought power outages, floods,
landslides and falling trees. But Santa Cruz residents had one
critical resource they never had to worry about — clean
drinking water. … Santa Cruz draws drinking water from
multiple surface water sources. It’s a complex system and it
keeps the operators on their toes, especially during storms.
… Loch Lomond Reservoir, which is held by the Newell
Creek Dam, holds about one year’s worth of drinking water
supply. That supply, which workers sometimes refer to as “the
lake,” can be pulled in for treatment as needed, but operators
try to use other sources first. “We kind of look at the lake as
it’s a reserve for the dry years,” said Ben Curson, a water
treatment operator.
After weeks of record-breaking rainfall have seen freeways
flood, hillsides collapse and the dry concrete gutter of the
Los Angeles River transform into a raging torrent, you may have
assumed that California’s water-shortage woes were beginning to
ease. With many areas receiving their usual annual rainfall in
just three weeks, surely the multiyear megadrought is finally
abating. Sadly, no. Decades of building concrete gutters –
driven by the mindset that stormwater is a threat to be
banished, not an asset to be stored – have meant that the vast
majority of that rain was simply flushed out into the ocean. Of
the billions of gallons that have fallen on the LA area, only a
tiny fraction were absorbed into the ground.
A new report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute
details the beneficial local economic impacts that would be
generated by the removal of Scott and Cape Horn Dams, two aging
dams on the Eel River that are part of the hydroelectric Potter
Valley Project. The report estimates dam removal would create
between 1,037 and 1,332 local jobs and would boost the regional
economy to the tune of $203 million to $278 million. In
addition to boosting the local economy, dam removal is crucial
for healthy fish populations, clean water, and Tribal cultural
practices. Located on the Eel River 20 miles northeast of
Ukiah, the Potter Valley Project includes two Eel River dams, a
diversion tunnel that moves water out of the Eel River
watershed and into the East Branch of the Russian River, and a
powerhouse.
Last century, California built dozens of large dams, creating
the elaborate reservoir system that supplies the bulk of the
state’s drinking and irrigation water. Now state officials and
supporters are ready to build the next one. The Sites Reservoir
— planned in a remote corner of the western Sacramento Valley
for at least 40 years — has been gaining steam and support
since 2014, when voters approved Prop. 1, a water bond that
authorized $2.7 billion for new storage projects. Still,
Sites Reservoir remains almost a decade away: Acquisition of
water rights, permitting and environmental review are still in
the works. Kickoff of construction, which includes two large
dams, had been scheduled for 2024, but likely will be delayed
another year. Completion is expected in 2030 or 2031.
Scientists have warned for decades that due to climate change
water levels are rising throughout the Bay Area. The first
place excess water will show up is underground. As we saw from
recent storms, shallow groundwater can cause flooding in
streets and low-lying areas and can overwhelm wastewater
systems. Local planners and policy makers are analyzing how the
region should adapt to the problem of a rising water table and
how to design buildings, freeways and sewer infrastructure in
response. In our next installment of “Climate Fix: Rethinking
Solutions for California,” a collaboration between the KQED’s
Forum and Science teams, we’ll discuss what’s happening with
groundwater levels as the Bay Area prepares for sea level rise
in the next several decades. Have you experienced flooding in
your home and how did you handle it?
California’s water authorities will spend $15 million in three
crucial water management zones within the drought-ravaged
southern Central Valley. The hub of agricultural
production in the Golden State, the Central Valley has also
faced the most dire impacts from another historic drought, as
thousands of wells went dry last year and many communities
faced a total lack of safe drinking water. The state’s
authorities say they are releasing funds to begin projects to
prevent such hardship in future droughts. The Department of
Water Resources along with California Natural Resources
Secretary Wade Crowfoot came to the small city of Parlier on
Thursday to announce three grants totaling $15 million to
improve water infrastructure in the region.
Among the homes and businesses severely damaged by flooding
along the Carmel River on Jan. 9 was a critical steelhead trout
facility protecting the endangered fish that have suffered
because of over-pumping of the river to provide drinking water
for the Monterey Peninsula. Operated by the Monterey Peninsula
Water Management District, the Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing
Facility in Carmel Valley was designed in the early 1990s and
came online in 1996 to rescue federally listed endangered
steelhead trout that have been cut off from upstream spawning
grounds. The over-pumping has turned parts of the river into
ponds that trap the steelhead.
For three weeks after Christmas, California was pounded with a
series of nine atmospheric river storms. The drenching rains
replenished reservoirs that had been seriously depleted during
three years of severe drought. But they also caused flooding
from the Central Valley to Santa Barbara, triggering mudslides,
sinkholes and power outages, and left 22 people dead. Along the
coast, big waves ripped a 40-foot hole in the Capitola Wharf,
destroyed facilities at Seacliff Beach State Park, flooded
homes, wrecked businesses and caused millions of dollars in
erosion. For the past 55 years, Gary Griggs, a Distinguished
Professor of Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, has studied big
storms, sea level rise and California’s changing coastline.
UCSC’s longest-serving professor, he is one of the nation’s
experts in the ways oceans reshape the land.
Only weeks ago, Angelenos watched as trillions of gallons of
precious stormwater poured into the region’s concrete
waterways, slid down slick pavement and washed out to sea.
After so many months of drought-related water restrictions, it
seemed to many like a missed opportunity. While officials say
they’re making progress when it comes to capturing more of the
county’s stormwater, a new report from watchdog group Los
Angeles Waterkeeper has focused on the plan’s sluggish progress
so far, and calls for improved metrics and a more proactive
approach, among other recommendations. The Safe Clean
Water Program — passed by Los Angeles County voters in
2018 as Measure W — allocates $280 million annually to
projects aimed at capturing and cleaning stormwater when it
falls.
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation traveled to
rural Ecuador to work with scientists from the
Corporacion Electrica del Ecuador (CELEC) in assessing an
unusual and catastrophic geohazard: the collapse of a
132-meter-tall (433 foot) lava dam on the Rio Coca, which
triggered massive erosion along the river that has damaged
critical infrastructure (roads, buildings, pipelines) and cut
off transportation corridors to local communities. Before
2020, the Rio Coca cascaded over a lava dam as the famous San
Rafael waterfall, Ecuador’s tallest. Over several months, a
large sinkhole formed just upstream of the waterfall. The river
re-routed through the sinkhole on February 2, 2020,
undercutting the lava dam (which collapsed in 2021) and
triggering major retrogressive erosion that has been migrating
upstream for the past three years…
L.A. County voters passed Measure W back in 2018. Since then,
the tax on impermeable pavement helps fund stormwater capture
projects across the region. Now, more than four years later, a
new report finds that the Safe Clean Water Program — which is
made up of multiple committees that review and approve funding
for projects — has helped significantly in: Clearing a backlog
of city and county projects to improve local water quality and
infrastructure Distributing more than $1 billion to primarily
fund such projects The report is from environmental non-profit
L.A. Waterkeeper.
It was exactly the sort of deluge California groundwater
agencies have been counting on to replenish their overworked
aquifers. The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential
Pacific storms to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the
Sierra Nevada at a near-record pace while runoff from the
foothills gushed into the Central Valley, swelling rivers over
their banks and filling seasonal creeks for the first time in
half a decade. Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in
one of the state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an
opportunity to capture stormwater and bank it underground.
… The barrage of water was in many ways the first real
test of groundwater sustainability agencies’ plans to bring
their basins into balance, as required by California’s landmark
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The run of
storms revealed an assortment of bright spots and hurdles the
state must overcome to fully take advantage of the bounty
brought by the next big atmospheric river storm.
It was exactly the sort of deluge
California groundwater agencies have been counting on to
replenish their overworked aquifers.
The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential Pacific storms
to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the Sierra Nevada at
a near-record pace while runoff from the foothills gushed into
the Central Valley, swelling rivers over their banks and filling
seasonal creeks for the first time in half a decade.
Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in one of the
state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an opportunity to
capture stormwater and bank it underground. Enterprising agencies
diverted water from rushing rivers and creeks into manmade
recharge basins or intentionally flooded orchards and farmland.
Others snagged temporary permits from the state to pull from
streams they ordinarily couldn’t touch.
Managers of California’s most
overdrawn aquifers were given a monumental task under the state’s
landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Craft viable,
detailed plans on a 20-year timeline to bring their beleaguered
basins into balance. It was a task that required more than 250
newly formed local groundwater agencies – many of them in the
drought-stressed San Joaquin Valley – to set up shop, gather
data, hear from the public and collaborate with neighbors on
multiple complex plans, often covering just portions of a
groundwater basin.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
When you oversee the largest
supplier of treated water in the United States, you tend to think
big.
Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California for the last 15 years, has
focused on diversifying his agency’s water supply and building
security through investment. That means looking beyond MWD’s
borders to ensure the reliable delivery of water to two-thirds of
California’s population.
As California slowly emerges from
the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, one remnant left behind by
the statewide lockdown offers a sobering reminder of the economic
challenges still ahead for millions of the state’s residents and
the water agencies that serve them – a mountain of water debt.
Water affordability concerns, long an issue in a state where
millions of people struggle to make ends meet, jumped into
overdrive last year as the pandemic wrenched the economy. Jobs
were lost and household finances were upended. Even with federal
stimulus aid and unemployment checks, bills fell by the wayside.
A government agency that controls much of California’s water
supply released its initial allocation for 2021, and the
numbers reinforced fears that the state is falling into another
drought. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Tuesday that most
of the water agencies that rely on the Central Valley Project
will get just 5% of their contract supply, a dismally low
number. Although the figure could grow if California gets more
rain and snow, the allocation comes amid fresh weather
forecasts suggesting the dry winter is continuing. The National
Weather Service says the Sacramento Valley will be warm and
windy the next few days, with no rain in the forecast.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes, pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded ecosystems.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.
Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was
appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the
United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees
myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to
sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado
River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other
rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be
named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the
commission’s 129-year history.
The San Joaquin Valley, known as the
nation’s breadbasket, grows a cornucopia of fruits, nuts and
other agricultural products.
During our three-day Central Valley Tour April
3-5, you will meet farmers who will explain how they prepare
the fields, irrigate their crops and harvest the produce that
helps feed the nation and beyond. We also will drive through
hundreds of miles of farmland and visit the rivers, dams,
reservoirs and groundwater wells that provide the water.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
New water storage is the holy grail
primarily for agricultural interests in California, and in 2014
the door to achieving long-held ambitions opened with the passage
of Proposition
1, which included $2.7 billion for the public benefits
portion of new reservoirs and groundwater storage projects. The
statute stipulated that the money is specifically for the
benefits that a new storage project would offer to the ecosystem,
water quality, flood control, emergency response and recreation.
It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the
Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is
first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan
for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors,
California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water
levels in Lake Mead before
they run too low.
If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level,
the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and
Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by
320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1
million households in one year.
Get a unique view of the San Joaquin Valley’s key dams and
reservoirs that store and transport water on our March Central
Valley Tour.
Our Central Valley
Tour, March 14-16, offers a broad view of water issues
in the San Joaquin Valley. In addition to the farms, orchards,
critical habitat for threatened bird populations, flood bypasses
and a national wildlife refuge, we visit some of California’s
major water infrastructure projects.
One of the wettest years in California history that ended a
record five-year drought has rejuvenated the call for new storage
to be built above and below ground.
In a state that depends on large surface water reservoirs to help
store water before moving it hundreds of miles to where it is
used, a wet year after a long drought has some people yearning
for a place to sock away some of those flood flows for when they
are needed.
Contrary to popular belief, “100-Year Flood” does not refer to a
flood that happens every century. Rather, the term describes the
statistical chance of a flood of a certain magnitude (or greater)
taking place once in 100 years. It is also accurate to say a
so-called “100-Year Flood” has a 1 percent chance of occurring in
a given year, and those living in a 100-year floodplain have,
each year, a 1 percent chance of being flooded.
Mired in drought, expectations are high that new storage funded
by Prop. 1 will be constructed to help California weather the
adverse conditions and keep water flowing to homes and farms.
At the same time, there are some dams in the state eyed for
removal because they are obsolete – choked by accumulated
sediment, seismically vulnerable and out of compliance with
federal regulations that require environmental balance.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven
Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The
Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming
and the country of Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch
map, which is suitable for framing, explains the river’s
apportionment, history and the need to adapt its management for
urban growth and expected climate change impacts.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
Dams have allowed Californians and others across the West to
harness and control water dating back to pre-European settlement
days when Native Americans had erected simple dams for catching
salmon.
This printed issue of Western Water examines water
infrastructure – its costs and the quest to augment traditional
brick-and-mortar facilities with sleeker, “green” features.
Everywhere you look water infrastructure is working hard to keep
cities, farms and industry in the state running. From the massive
storage structures that dot the West to the aqueducts that convey
water hundreds of miles to large urban areas and the untold miles
of water mains and sewage lines under every city and town, the
semiarid West would not exist as it does without the hardware
that meets its water needs.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses low
impact development and stormwater capture – two areas of emerging
interest that are viewed as important components of California’s
future water supply and management scenario.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
groundwater banking, a water management strategy with appreciable
benefits but not without challenges and controversy.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
changed nature of the California Water Plan, some aspects of the
2009 update (including the recommendation for a water finance
plan) and the reaction by certain stakeholders.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
It’s no secret that providing water in a state with the size and
climate of California costs money. The gamut of water-related
infrastructure – from reservoirs like Lake Oroville to the pumps
and pipes that deliver water to homes, businesses and farms –
incurs initial and ongoing expenses. Throw in a new spate of
possible mega-projects, such as those designed to rescue the
ailing Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the dollar amount grows
exponentially to billion-dollar amounts that rival the entire
gross national product of a small country.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
They are located in urban areas and in some of the most rural
parts of the state, but they have at least one thing in common:
they provide water service to a very small group of people. In a
state where water is managed and delivered by an organization as
large as the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California,
most small water systems exist in obscurity – financed by
shoestring budgets and operated by personnel who wear many hats.
This issue of Western Water looks at water
infrastructure – from the large conveyance systems to the small
neighborhood providers – and the many challenges faced by water
agencies in their continuing mission of assuring a steady and
reliable supply for their customers.
Chances are that deep within the ground beneath you as you read
this is a vast network of infrastructure that is busy providing
the necessary services that enable life to proceed at the pace it
does in the 21st century. Electricity zips through cables to
power lights and computers while other conduits move infinite
amounts of information that light up computer screens and phone
lines.
This issue of Western Water explores the question of whether the
state needs more surface storage, with a particular focus on the
five proposed projects identified in the CALFED 2000 ROD and the
politics and funding issues of these projects.
