“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 House passed a sweeping water infrastructure bill Monday
that could help curb flooding, slow coastal erosion and restore
struggling ecosystems, in a rare show of bipartisanship as
election season heats up. Lawmakers approved the “Water
Resources Development Act of 2024,” which would authorize the
Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with 12 new water
infrastructure projects and study 159 more potential projects.
The vote was 359-13. The biennial legislation directs the Army
Corps’ work on flood control, navigation and ecosystem
restoration and has historically been popular among Republicans
and Democrats.
In November, California voters will decide whether to approve
of a bond that would fund state climate initiatives.
Legislators announced the $10 billion bond will appear on the
November ballot as Proposition 4 earlier this month. Dozens of
environmental groups advocated for it, especially in light of
state budget cuts made earlier in the year that impacted
climate programs. Many advocates are optimistic
voters will approve of the bond, citing a PPIC survey
published earlier this month that found 59% of California
voters would likely vote “yes.” … The bond would fund a
wide range of the state’s climate efforts. Its main focus areas
include state water projects (like those aimed at ensuring safe
drinking water for all Californians), reducing wildfire risks,
coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, sustainable
agriculture, protection of biodiversity, air quality and
equitable access to outdoor spaces.
Four large agricultural water districts have kicked in an
initial $580,000 to pay for water projects in several
communities dotting the vast farming areas of western Fresno
County. The funding amount will remain the same until the
districts revisit the program in three years. The four
districts – Central California Irrigation District, Firebaugh
Canal Water District and the Columbia and San Luis canal
companies – are members of the San Joaquin River Exchange
Contractors Water Authority, which covers 240,000 acres from
about Newman down to Firebaugh mostly in Fresno
County. Together they have funded the new Community
Infrastructure Program, which will focus primarily on projects
benefiting the disadvantaged communities of Mendota, Firebaugh,
Gustine, Dos Palos, Los Banos and Newman. However, nonprofits,
community organizations and local governments may apply for
funding as well.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced a
$14.8 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
(WIFIA) loan to Palmdale Water District (PWD) in Southern
California. The agency said the loan will assist the district’s
regional advanced water augmentation program to expand the
water supply by and establish a drought-proof drinking water
supply for more than 125,000 residents. “We are grateful to the
EPA for awarding this loan for our Pure Water Antelope Valley
Demonstration Facility,” said PWD General Manager Dennis
D. LaMoreaux. “It gives us the funds needed to build a project
that will enable us to be more drought-proof, have local
control of our water, and improve the groundwater quality and
quantity.”
Western lawmakers are urging the Bureau of Reclamation to
increase the amount of money it spends on water recycling
projects, citing rising construction costs. California Sen.
Alex Padilla (D) and Rep. Grace Napolitano (D) on Friday
pressed the Biden administration to raise the per-project cap
on federal funding for water recycling by $10 million, up from
its current $30 million limit. “As the West continues to
recover from the impacts of long-term drought while also
preparing for inevitable future droughts, it is imperative that
the federal government continues to invest in local water
supplies to meet the demands of recycled water in the West,”
the lawmakers wrote in a Friday letter to Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.
A roundly castigated proposal to build a holding reservoir
above Isabella Lake in order to pump water up from the lake and
run it back down through turbines for power – known as pumped
energy storage – is back. And it brought friends.
There are now three pumped energy storage proposals in Kern
County, including the old-now-new-again Isabella proposal. That
proposal and another for a project near Rosamond are undergoing
review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for
preliminary permits. FERC is seeking public comments on both
proposals through Aug 12. A third proposal, for a project in
the mountains above Gorman (though it’s listed as
Tehachapi) has an approved preliminary permit from FERC.
The United States Bureau of Reclamation has recommended a $6
million grant to a coalition of local water and wastewater
agencies to develop reused water infrastructure in the region.
If approved by Congress, the North San Diego Water Reuse
Coalition will use the funds to support its Regional Recycled
Water Program: 2020 Project, which seeks to increase water
reuse in the region through expanded recycled water
infrastructure. The project includes connecting the coalition’s
recycled water systems, installing new pipelines, and
increasing recycled water storage capacity.
As California grapples with the multifaceted challenges of a
changing climate, the state finds itself at a critical
juncture, facing a convergence of environmental, demographic,
and climatic challenges that are reshaping its landscape and
testing the resilience of its communities. Amid these
challenges, water desalination is emerging as a promising
solution to the state’s enduring drought and water supply
issues. This process, which involves removing salts and
minerals from seawater or brackish water, offers a dependable
source of potable water without further straining traditional
freshwater resources. If done with proper planning and
collaboration across the public and private sectors, then
desalination technology has the potential to redefine our
relationship with one of our most precious resources.
This spring, the Bureau of Reclamation revealed damage to
the river outlet works system of Glen Canyon Dam. While there
is no structural risk to the huge dam on the Colorado River,
the incident drew attention to the dam’s antiquated
infrastructure and brought into question its ability to sustain
water releases from Lake Powell at lower elevations. At risk
are both the lower Colorado River Basin’s ecosystems—including
the Grand Canyon—and the 30 million people who rely on the
Colorado’s water. The damage was caused by a High Flow
Experiment Release in April, 2023, by cavitation, a process
that happens when water passing through pipes at high velocity
creates air bubbles that cause erosion. During the 2023
release, 3,500 CFS (cubic feet per second) of water was
released through the outlet works pipes for 72 hours.
The aim was to distribute sediment throughout the Grand
Canyon to maintain healthy beaches and riparian habitats.
To continue providing safe, clean, reliable tap water to
customers across the communities it serves, Cal Water yesterday
submitted Infrastructure Improvement Plans for its California
districts from 2025-2027 in its General Rate Case (GRC) filing
with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The
application also proposes a Low-Use Water Equity Program, which
would decouple revenue from water sales, to assist
low-water-using, lower-income customers. … Associated
rates set by the CPUC would become effective no sooner than
January 2026. In the plans, Cal Water proposes to invest more
than $1.6 billion in its districts from 2025-2027, including
approximately $1.3 billion of newly proposed capital
investments.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought
Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 would have the
state borrow $10 billion to pay for climate and environmental
projects — including some that were axed from the budget
because of an unprecedented deficit. California taxpayers would
pay the bond back with interest. A legislative analyst
estimated it would cost the state $650 million a year for the
next 30 years or more than $19 billion.
San Diego plans to pay an engineering firm $100 million over
the next decade to thoroughly evaluate the city’s aging dams
and create a strategy to prioritize and coordinate repairs and
possible rebuild projects. The strategic plan will include
proposals to shore up every dam, including cost estimates and
specific timelines. It will also evaluate safety risks and how
much each dam upgrade would boost reservoir capacity. … The
plan, which city officials call a long-term strategic phasing
plan, will also evaluate the accuracy of a loose city estimate
that the dams require a total of $1 billion in repairs and
upgrades. That $1 billion estimate includes $275 million to
build a new replacement for the Hodges Dam about 100 feet
downstream from the existing dam. … The city’s greater
attention to its dams is part of a statewide trend that began
after the near failure in 2017 of Sacramento’s Oroville Dam.
San Diego’s dams are among the oldest in the state and the
nation, with many nearing or surpassing the end of their useful
service lives, officials said.
San Franciscans: Brace yourselves for skyrocketing utility
rates. Combined water and sewer bills will increase by 8%
annually, tripling over the next 20 years. Hetch Hetchy
customers outside of San Francisco will get hit hard, too, and
the situation is likely to get much worse. The current rate
crisis is the result of decades of deferred maintenance, and
the failure to recognize and adapt to changing water use
patterns. Over many years, utility revenues were used to
subsidize general city services rather than to maintain and
upgrade the Hetch Hetchy Water System and wastewater
infrastructure. At the same time, per capita water use declined
and population growth slowed, reducing revenues. The San
Francisco Public Utilities Commission is now playing catch-up
on a massive infrastructure backlog. —written by Peter Drekmeier, policy director for the
Tuolumne River Trust and former mayor of Palo Alto
Today, U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA08) voted
to pass the “Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024″
(H.R.8812) in the House Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure by a bipartisan vote of 61 to 2. The full House
of Representatives is expected to take up the bill in the
coming weeks. “The biennial Water Resources Development Act
strengthens flood protection and our precious water resources
in communities across California and the country. This
soon-to-become law will upgrade our water infrastructure,
strengthen climate resiliency, and restore aquatic ecosystems
across the Bay Area and California Delta,” Garamendi
said. ”As a longstanding member of the House Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure, I secured key provisions in
the bill to support dredging the Mare Island Strait, enhance
environmental restoration efforts at Lake Tahoe, and expand the
Army Corps’ existing vessel removal authority to also include
abandoned and derelict vessels. I expect President Biden to
sign this bipartisan bill into law.”
A newly published report challenges the financial feasibility
of the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) as outlined by the
Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) released by the Department of Water
Resources’ (DWR). The report from Dr. Jeffrey A. Michael,
Director of Public Policy Programs at the University of the
Pacific, finds that DWR’s BCA is flawed and inflated, with
questionable assumptions, overvalued benefits and a failure to
consider major project risks and financial implications. At an
estimated cost of $20.1 billion, the DCP represents a
substantial financial commitment for water agencies amidst
growing financial constraints. The DWR’s BCA claims a
benefit-cost ratio of 2.2, suggesting the project’s economic
viability. However, Dr. Michael’s review concludes that this
ratio is inflated and unreliable due to unjustified optimistic
assumptions underlying the analysis.
A dam in southern Minnesota is in “imminent failure condition,”
according to local authorities, as communities across the Upper
Midwest continue to deal with major flooding from heavy
rains… The county added that they had first been
notified of “accumulating debris” at the dam Sunday. Workers
from Blue Earth County Public Works, the emergency management
agency, and the sheriff’s office are actively monitoring the
dam… The Blue Earth River cut around the west side of the
dam, emergency management said, carrying damaging debris in its
wake and causing power outages. In a Monday evening update, the
county noted that although there was a “partial failure on the
west abutment,” the “dam is still intact” and there are
currently no plans for a “mass evacuation.”
As the Bay Area’s drinking water is increasingly clouded with
particles from wildfires, atmospheric rivers, algae blooms and
chemical contaminants, the East Bay’s largest water district is
set to undertake the most ambitious infrastructure project in
the region to try to keep it clean. The East Bay Municipal
Utility District (EBMUD) is tackling nearly $1 billion in
infrastructure upgrades to help safeguard 1.4 million
residents’ drinking water supply. Officials hope to transform
the way it treats the Mokelumne River Watershed that feeds the
Pardee and Briones reservoirs. One of the biggest projects
began in fall 2021, when the 101-year-old agency began
conceptualizing a $420 million plan to add new pretreatment
facilities at its Walnut Creek Water Treatment Plant — and
smaller upgrades to the Lafayette plant nearby — to speed up
how quickly EBMUD can filter out the dirt, microorganisms,
algae, chemicals and other particles that are swept into
drinking water, 90% of which is sourced from Sierra Nevada
snowmelt.
A Sacramento County judge on Thursday ruled in favor of several
water districts and local governments over California’s planned
delta tunnel project that would divert water from Northern
California to the south of the state, saying that exploratory
work can’t continue until the state completes a necessary
certification process. The decision by Superior Court Judge
Stephen Acquisto is a win for the groups that had argued the
state Department of Water Resources hadn’t completed all
documentation required by the California Environmental Quality
Act and complied with the Delta Plan. The department had sought
to perform geotechnical work, like initial drilling and the
installation of monitoring equipment. … An attorney for the
groups argued at a May hearing that drilling holes, along with
other moves, did physically change the environment. That meant
it fell under the act’s purview, and the department didn’t yet
have the authority. On Thursday, Acquisto agreed.
… About a foot and a half of water had fallen across south
Florida — not the product of a hurricane or a tropical storm
but of a rainstorm, dubbed Invest 90L, a deluge that
meteorologists are calling a once-in-200-years event. It was
the fourth such massive rainfall to smite southeastern Florida
in as many years. … “Rain bombs” such as Invest 90L are
products of our hotter world; warmer air has more room between
its molecules for moisture. That water is coming for greater
Miami and the 6 million people who live here. … A massive
network of canals keeps this region from reverting to a swamp,
and sea-level rise is making operating them more challenging…
The majority of these canals drain to the sea during low tides
using gravity. But sea-level rise erodes the system’s capacity
to drain water — so much so that (South Florida Water
Management District) has already identified several main canals
that need to be augmented with pumps.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 included
more than $50 billion in funding for drinking water, wastewater
and stormwater management projects. It was a welcome federal
investment for many communities that have struggled to keep
water infrastructure in good repair in recent decades. And it
anticipates a growing need for water infrastructure funding as
existing systems age and climate change causes more extreme
weather. … Some states, including many in the West and
Southeast, are making extra investments in water infrastructure
using flexible funding from an earlier bill, the American
Rescue Plan Act… States’ approaches vary widely. Some
states, including Idaho, South Dakota and South Carolina, have
spent about 60 percent of their (State and Local Fiscal
Recovery Funds) funding on water, while others, including
California, Texas, Minnesota and New York, have used none.
It was the legislative session that could’ve been on water.
Everyone talked a good game. Gov. Katie Hobbs kicked off the
session warning lawmakers that if they didn’t act on water, she
would. Lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills on the subject —
more than anyone can remember in recent history. Some would
have upended statewide water policy. A handful could have
upended it for the better. Yet efforts to build broad support
for those few bills ran out of runway, and a long, draining
session ended in rushed chaos. -Written by columnist Joanna Allhands, Arizona
Republic
… In the past 12 years, California has endured two multi-year
droughts, including a stretch from 2020 to 2022 that was the
state’s driest three-year period on record. California also
experienced two of the wettest winters on record, fueled by a
parade of atmospheric rivers that caused flooding in Santa
Clara County and across the state. If we fail to invest in
infrastructure now, we all will face serious challenges with
disadvantaged communities bearing the worst through
unaffordable water and increased flooding. That’s why Valley
Water and the Association of California Water Agencies are
advocating for a Climate Resilience Bond to be placed on the
November ballot with two-thirds of the funding going to water
infrastructure. -Written by Rick Callender, Chief Executive
Officer of Valley Water, and Dave Eggerton, Executive
Director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
As the permitting battle over the proposed Sites Reservoir
Project in Northern California heats up, it’s become clear that
the project would further heat up the atmosphere as well. Just
as California has made bold commitments to achieve carbon
neutrality in the next few decades, the state seems ready to
approve a dam project that would put that progress in jeopardy.
A new report, “Estimate of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the
Proposed Sites Reservoir Project Using the All-Res Modeling
Tool,” created by a science team at my organization, Tell The
Dam Truth, exposes the climate impacts caused by this massive
dam and reservoir system. -Written by Gary Wockner, PhD, who directs Tell The
Dam Truth
Residents living below the Isabella Auxiliary Dam were thrilled
earlier this month with a temporary fix that finally dried up
excessive seepage from the dam that had been swamping septic
systems and breeding forests of mosquito-infested weeds around
their homes. The didn’t realize how temporary the fix would be,
however. After only 12 days without a river cutting through his
land, rancher Gerald Wenstrand woke up to see the seepage back
on Saturday.
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.
The proposed Sites Reservoir would
be an off-river storage basin on the west side of the Sacramento
Valley, about 78 miles northwest of Sacramento. It would capture
stormwater flows from the Sacramento River for release in dry and
critical years for fish and wildlife and for farms, communities
and businesses.
The water would be held in a 14,000-acre basin of grasslands
surrounded by the rolling eastern foothills of the Coast Range.
Known as Antelope Valley, the sparsely populated area in Glenn
and Colusa counties is used for livestock grazing.
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 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 the State Water Project provides
an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water
Project.
The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long
aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley
agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains
information about the project’s history and facilities.
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.
