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Leaders and Experts

Aquafornia news February 3, 2023 Water Education Foundation

Announcement: 2023 Water Leaders Class examines ways to leverage green infrastructure to help manage California’s water

Twenty-two early to mid-career water professionals from across California have been chosen for the 2023 William R. Gianelli Water Leaders Class, the Water Education Foundation’s highly competitive and respected career development program. This Water Leaders cohort includes engineers, lawyers, resource specialists, scientists and others from a range of public and private entities and nongovernmental organizations from throughout the state. The roster for the 2023 class can be found here. The Water Leaders program, led by Foundation Executive Director Jennifer Bowles, deepens knowledge on water, enhances individual leadership skills and prepares participants to take an active, cooperative approach to decision-making about water resource issues. Leading experts and top policymakers serve as mentors to class members.

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Aquafornia news February 3, 2023 Capital Public Radio

Winter storms in California will become more intense as climate change accelerates, study finds

An estimated 32 trillion gallons of water — in the form of rain and snow — came down on California in a series of nine back-to-back atmospheric rivers between late December and mid-January.  To put this in perspective, that amount is just shy of the quantity of water held within Lake Tahoe, one of the deepest lakes in North America. The lake has, on average, about 37 trillion gallons of water.  These storms were destructive and deadly, claiming the lives of at least 20 people, and the estimated cost is likely to end up being in the billions. And new research is revealing these storms will likely become larger and drop even more rain than what we have experienced so far this winter. Dr. Ruby Leung, an atmospheric scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, joined CapRadio’s Vicki Gonzalez to discuss what this means for California’s future.

Related article: 

  • KTVU – Oakland: Too much rain, snow could have flooding consequences 
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Aquafornia news February 2, 2023 Fresh Water News

Calls grow for statewide water conservation standards in Colorado; some cities skeptical

With the Colorado River crisis deepening and the warming climate continuing to rob streams and rivers of their flows, talk in Colorado has resumed about how to limit growing water demand statewide for residential use. A new report commissioned by the Common Sense Institute and written by Colorado water veterans Jennifer Gimbel and Eric Kuhn, cites the need for broader conservation measures such as removing non-functional turf in new development, among other things. … “We have to do more with less,” said Kuhn. He cited projected statewide population growth of 1.6 to 1.8 million new residents by 2050, most along the Front Range, but also the probability that the warming climate will make less water available, particularly from the Colorado River.

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Why epic California rains might not prevent a dangerous fire season ahead

It’s something of a Golden State paradox: Dry winters can pave the way for dangerous fire seasons fueled by dead vegetation, but wet winters — like the one the state has seen so far — can also spell danger by spurring heaps of new growth that can later act as fuel for flames. Experts say it’s too soon to know with certainty what the upcoming fire season has in store. The atmospheric rivers that pounded California in January have left the state snow-capped and wet, which could be a fire deterrent if soils stay damp. But if no more rains arrive — or if other, less predictable factors such as lightning storms and heat waves develop later in the year — all that progress could go out the window.

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2023 Scientific American

Opinion: How water finally became a climate change priority

Last year, the world watched as punishing heat and drought killed people in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and floods destroyed parts of Pakistan and the Philippines. This year, we’ve seen torrential rain drowning sections of coastal California. These events underscore the devastating role water can play in a changing climate, something I have been studying for the last two decades. … Last year, the Sixth IPCC report showed clearly that climate change is causing water insecurity. The report, which comes from the United Nations, also showed how the extremes of water—floods, shortages and droughts—are linked to the natural water cycle. 
-Written by Vidhisha Samarasekara, a strategic program director at the International Water Management Institute. 

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2023 Berkeley News

New research: With rapidly increasing heat and drought, can plants adapt?

At a time when climate change is making many areas of the planet hotter and drier, it’s sobering to think that deserts are relatively new biomes that have grown considerably over the past 30 million years. Widespread arid regions, like the deserts that today cover much of western North America, began to emerge only within the past 5 to 7 million years. Understanding how plants that invaded these harsh deserts biomes were able to survive could help predict how ecosystems will fare in a drier future. An intensive study of a group of plants that first invaded emerging deserts millions of years ago concludes that these pioneers — rock daisies — did not come unequipped to deal with heat, scorching sun and lack of water.

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2023 Los Angeles Times

How do you track an atmospheric river? Climb aboard this highflying reconnaissance jet

The interior of the plane looked like a cross between a private luxury jet and a space mission control room. The Gulfstream IV cruised at 43,000 feet, high above a seemingly peaceful layer of thick clouds that stretched to the horizon. Crew members in blue jumpsuits stared at computer screens that revealed their hidden target miles below: a powerful atmospheric river that was churning across the Pacific Ocean toward California, bearing torrential rains and fierce winds. Soaring more than 1,000 miles northeast of Hawaii, the specially equipped hurricane-reconnaissance jet “Gonzo” was preparing to drop dozens of data-collecting devices into the heart of the storm. By capturing the equivalent of a CT scan, the crew would help to predict when and where the rains would hit. And how hard.

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Aquafornia news January 31, 2023 Arizona Daily Star

Feds may alter Colorado River forecast methods slammed as too rosy

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is considering altering its monthly Colorado River forecasting methods in the face of criticism from experts inside and outside the agency that predictions have been too optimistic. Changing forecast methods could have major ramifications in how the bureau manages the river, water experts say. Larger cutbacks in water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada and California could possibly be triggered, for example. The agency will consider starting to base its forecasts on the past 20 years of flows into Lake Powell, compared to the 30 years it uses now, a bureau official told the Arizona Daily Star.

Related article: 

  • Associated Press: Pressure to count Colorado River water lost to evaporation as drought mounts
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Aquafornia news January 31, 2023 Aspen Journalism

What happens to spring runoff in the weeks after peak snowpack? Colorado scientists are trying to find out.

Water managers in the Colorado River basin are gaining a better understanding that what happens in the weeks after peak snowpack — not just how much snow accumulated over the winter — can have an outsize influence on the year’s water supply. Water year 2021 was historically bad, with an upper basin snowpack that peaked around 90% of average but translated to only 36% of average runoff into Lake Powell, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It was the second-worst runoff on record after 2002. One of the culprits was exceptionally thirsty soils from 2020’s hot and dry summer and fall, which soaked up snowmelt before runoff made it to streams. … But according to the paper, in 2021, “rates of snowmelt throughout April were alarming and quickly worsened summer runoff outlooks which underscores that 1 April may no longer be a reliable benchmark for western water supply.”

Related article: 

  • Axios: Colorado’s wet winter is a drop in the drought bucket 
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Aquafornia news January 31, 2023 Daily Californian

Berkeley Lab investigating potential domestic lithium source in Imperial Valley

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center and Energy Storage Center are currently studying the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area, or SS KGRA, in Southern California’s Imperial Valley as a potential domestic source of lithium for the United States. The lithium is located in hot, salty water thousands of feet below the Salton Sea, according to Meg Slattery, a PhD student at UC Davis. It is expected to offer the most sustainable source of lithium on Earth, said Will Stringfellow, research engineer at Berkeley Lab, in an email.

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Aquafornia news January 31, 2023 YourCentralValley

How much water flows from the Sierra to the Central Valley? NASA reveals

Experts from NASA say a previously unmeasured underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water that enters the highly-productive Central Valley farmland each year. The NASA study shows an average of four million acre-feet of water is delivered through the soil and fractured rocks under California’s Sierra Nevada mountains to the Central Valley annually. Federal officials say the Central Valley encompasses only 1% of the nation’s farmland but produces 40% of the country’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts annually – but that is only possible because of the intensive groundwater pumping for irrigation as well as river and stream flows captured in reservoirs. However, experts say growers who are pumping more water than can be replenished by natural sources are causing the ground level to sink and requiring wells to be drilled deeper and deeper. 

Related article: 

  • Nature: New research - Global water resources and the role of groundwater in a resilient water future
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Aquafornia news January 31, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: States miss deadline for agreement on Colorado River water

The seven states that depend on the Colorado River have missed a Jan. 31 federal deadline for reaching a regionwide consensus on how to sharply reduce water use, raising the likelihood of more friction as the West grapples with how to take less supplies from the shrinking river. In a bid to sway the process after contentious negotiations reached an impasse, six of the seven states gave the federal government a last-minute proposal outlining possible water cuts to help prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels, presenting a unified front while leaving out California, which uses the single largest share of the river. The six states — Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — called their proposal a “consensus-based modeling alternative” that could serve as a framework for negotiating a solution.

Related articles: 

  • New York Times: How Colorado River cuts could affect California
  • Colorado Sun: Six western states agreed on a plan to dramatically cut their Colorado River use. California is the lone holdout.
  • Las Vegas Review-Journal: Most Colorado River states agree on water cuts
  • Ark Valley Voice: Bennet Addresses Colorado Water Congress Amid Critical Colorado River Negotiations
  • The Hill: Why California, other western states face growing pressure to reduce water consumption  
  • KUNC – Greeley, Colo: Federal pressure mounts as states attempt to break Colorado River standoff
  • CNN: A showdown over Colorado River water is setting the stage for a high-stakes legal battle
  • Bloomberg: Opinion: The Colorado River Needs the Feds to Step In ASAP
  • Jfleck@Inkstain: Deadpool Diaries - Trapped, again, in a world we never made
  • Steamboat Pilot: State officials approve 2023 Colorado Water Plan
  • Roll Call: Colorado River states still fractured over water cuts
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Aquafornia news January 30, 2023 Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Newsom’s CA budget cuts come at expense of climate change

Just six months ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his administration were boasting a budget surplus of $97.5 billion. Today, thanks to a falling stock market and a weakened tech sector, California has an apparently unforeseen budget deficit of $22.5 billion. Cuts must be made. But Newsom’s proposed cuts seemingly come at the expense of climate-related projects, a curious decision from a governor who often speaks about how confronting climate change is one of his key priorities. Unsurprisingly, his actions do not meet the weight of his words. Newsom’s budget proposal, ironically released on the heels of an atmospheric river that unleashed catastrophic flooding across the state, suggests slashing approximately $6 billion dollars from climate-related projects, including $40 million that had been promised to floodplain restoration projects in the San Joaquin Valley.

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Aquafornia news January 30, 2023 California WaterBlog

Blog: DNA unveils new freshwater fish species in California

No doubt you have watched a crime show where DNA analysis reveals the identity of a victim or criminal. Or, you have read accounts of how Neanderthal genes are part of our DNA. It is still astonishing to think that such uses of DNA did not exist until the Human Genome Project, finished about 20 years ago at the cost of millions of dollars. Even more astonishing is that low-cost methods of examining the genome of any animal or plant are now available. … Moyle’s first venture into the genomic world, with postdoc Jason Baumsteiger as his guide, was to explore the genome of California roach (Hesperoleucus symmetricus), a small fish endemic to much of central and coastal California. They found that the single species recognized when they started was actually five species (Baumsteiger et al. 2019).

Related article: 

  • Interagency Ecological Program: Adventures in Bay-Delta Data: The other smelt – what about Wakasagi? 
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Aquafornia news January 30, 2023 Associated Press

Monday Top of the Scroll: As Colorado River talks continue, emails show tension over water use

Competing priorities, outsized demands and the federal government’s retreat from a threatened deadline stymied a deal last summer on how to drastically reduce water use from the parched Colorado River, emails obtained by The Associated Press show. … Reclamation wanted the seven U.S. states that rely on the river to decide how to cut 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water — or up to roughly one-third — on top of already anticipated reductions. … California says it’s a partner willing to sacrifice, but other states see it as a reluctant participant clinging to a water priority system where it ranks near the top. Arizona and Nevada have long felt they’re unfairly forced to bear the brunt of cuts because of a water rights system developed long ago, a simmering frustration that reared its head during talks.

Related articles: 

  • Colorado Springs Gazette: Colorado River states facing new deadline on water usage reduction
  • Coyote Gulch Blog: What’s Up With #Water – January 17, 2023 — Circle of Blue @circleofblue
  • San Diego Union-Tribune: Column - Colorado River and Lake Mead are rising, but don’t get your hopes up
  • KLAS – Las Vegas: Law of the River - How the west was watered 
  • Jfleck at Inkstain: Deadpool Diaries: Can the Colorado River community walk, chew gum, and recite Homer’s Odyssey at the same time?
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Aquafornia news January 30, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Scientists are worried about a new risk to California’s snowpack

A flurry of storms unloaded historic amounts of rain and snow across California over the past month. The deluges, fueled by a parade of atmospheric rivers, filled reservoirs and have improved drought conditions across large swaths of the state. The Sierra snowpack has ballooned to more than double its usual size for this time of year. The snow will continue to replenish California’s water supplies as it melts during the warmer months. …Picturesque locales where Californians ski and enjoy other snow activities are burning in wildfires more often, undergoing long-lasting changes that make snowpack melt earlier. Snow can even melt in the middle of winter, before reservoir managers are ready to shift from flood control to water storage. 

Related articles: 

  • High Country News: In a warming world, California’s trees keep dying
  • Los Angeles Times: Cold weather arrives in Southern California, bringing snow in the mountains
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Aquafornia news January 27, 2023 Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Four new board members bring a range of experience to Water Education Foundation

Four new members bringing a wide range of water resource experiences and perspectives have joined the Water Education Foundation Board. … Joining the board as new members in 2023 are: Richard Aragon, director of finance for the Coachella Valley Water District and a 2017 alum of the Foundation’s Water Leaders program; Cheyanne Harris, a civil engineer with Brown and Caldwell, and a 2019 alum of the Water Leaders program; Ann Hayden, associate vice president of Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Resilient Water Systems Program; Andrea Abergel, manager of water policy for the California Municipal Utilities Association. Abergel, a member of the Water Leader Class of 2022, fills that class’ board position. 

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2023 Monterey Herald

Monterey County asks for state, federal help for key projects

With federal and state elected officials listening in, representatives from 10 Monterey County departments lobbied for assistance – financially and legislatively – for what they consider the top priorities for 2023. Homeless funding, reservoir improvements, clean drinking water, refurbishing all or parts of the historic jail in Salinas, a new health clinic in Marina, immigration reform and a reauthorization of the Farm Bill, a veterans home, and ensuring ongoing flood relief assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, or FEMA, were all selected as the most important projects that will need federal or state assistance, or both. Last week’s annual workshop was an opportunity for department heads to outline these needs for elected officials that included U.S. Congressman Jimmy Panetta, U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, state Sen. John Laird, state Assemblyman Robert Rivas and state Assemblywoman Dawn Addis.

Related article: 

  • Monterey Weekly: Monterey commentary - More than ever, floods show why we need to invest in our water infrastructure.
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Aquafornia news January 26, 2023 Water Education Foundation

Announcement: California water rights, history and groundwater among Water 101 Workshop topics

Don’t miss a once-a-year opportunity at our Water 101 Workshop to get a primer on California’s water history, laws, geography and politics. One of our most popular events, the annual workshop will be hosted at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento on Thursday, Feb. 23. California’s water basics will be covered by some of the state’s leading policy and legal experts, and participants will have an opportunity to engage directly with the guest speakers during Q&A sessions.

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Aquafornia news January 26, 2023 Modesto Bee

Opinion: Restore floodplains money in California budget, Gov. Newsom

What’s worse? Horrifying killer storms or slow death by drought? California’s climate can be extreme — drought or deluge. Both are deadly, each exacerbating damage caused by the other. Fortunately, some people are doing the necessary, innovative and difficult work to combat drought and deluge at the same time. Infuriatingly, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal abandons some of the most important flood-control, drought-fighting measures taking place in our state. He removed a $40 million allocation approved last year for floodplain restoration — work designed to reduce lethal flooding, store water underground, remove carbon from the atmosphere and create wildlife habitat. This comes on top of a decision two years ago to remove $60 million for other San Joaquin Valley floodplain projects.
-Written by Adam Gray, formerly representing Merced County and part of Stanislaus County in the California Assembly.​

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