Set against the context of unprecedented demand for water
supply solutions, Brownstein and WestWater Research brought
together water industry and finance leaders for the second
annual Sustainable Water Investment Summit. The World Resources
Institute’s latest data helps articulate the scale of the
demand for water supply reliability, sustainability and
innovation: by 2050, an additional billion people will be
living in arid areas and regions with high water stress, and by
2050, around 46% of global GDP is expected to come
from areas facing high-water risk (up from 10% currently).
Given these realities, it’s unsurprising that diverse interests
are now converging to meet the challenges of ensuring a
resilient and accessible water future. Polls find that 63% of
global companies now undertake water-related risk assessments,
and 1,100 CEOs have annual performance reviews tied to results
around water goals.
What if the looming calamities of climate change, plastic
pollution, the energy crisis and our whole environmental
doom-scroll are symptoms of just one malady and it’s something
we actually can fix? That’s right, the planet is fighting a
single archvillain: Waste. Americans live in the most wasteful
civilization in history. … Waste is so deeply embedded in our
economy, products and daily lives that it’s hard to see
clearly, or to see at all. … How is it “normal”
that 40% of what our industrial farm and food system
produces ends up as garbage? … The average American
throws out three times more trash today than in 1960. Pin much
of that garbage growth on plastic waste, so pervasive now that
tiny bits of it are in food, water, beer and even human hearts,
lungs and newborn babies’ poop. -Written by Edward Humes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist. His latest book, “Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our
Waste and Heal Our World,” will be published in April.
The Gila River Indian Community says it does not support a
three-state proposal for managing the Colorado River’s
shrinking supply in the future. The community, which is located
in Arizona, is instead working with the federal government to
develop its own proposal for water sharing. The tribe is among
the most prominent of the 30 federally-recognized tribes that
use the Colorado River. In recent years, it has signed
high-profile deals with the federal government to receive big
payments in exchange for water conservation. Those deals were
celebrated by Arizona’s top water officials. But now, it is
diverging from states in the river’s Lower Basin — Arizona,
California and Nevada. Stephen Roe Lewis, The Gila River Indian
Community’s Governor, announced his tribe’s disapproval of the
Lower Basin proposal at a water conference in Tucson, Ariz.,
while speaking to a room of policy experts and water
scientists.
The European Commission said on Wednesday it was taking Greece
to the EU’s top court for failing to revise its flood risk
management plans, a key tool for EU countries to prepare
themselves against floods. The action comes five months
after the worst rains in Greece flooded its fertile
Thessaly plain, devastating crops and livestock and raising
questions about the Mediterranean country’s ability to deal
with an increasingly erratic climate. Under EU rules,
countries need to update once in six years their flood
management plans, a set of measures aimed to help them mitigate
the risks of floods on human lives, the environment and
economic activities. Greece was formally notified by the
Commission last year that it should finalise its management
plans but the country has so far failed to review, adopt or
report its flood risk management plans, the Commission said in
a statement.
A new study by Cal State Fullerton researchers shows evidence
of two epic floods that occurred within the past 500 years in
Southern California during the Little Ice Age. Their
research is the first-ever, land-based, flood-event evidence
from 1450 to 1850 — a documented period of above-average
wetness in Southern California, said Matthew E. Kirby,
professor of geological sciences. According to scientists,
floods — not earthquakes — represent California’s single most
significant socioeconomic natural hazard risk.
… Climate models predict that the frequency of
large flood-producing precipitation events will increase in the
21st century due to climate change.
California citrus farmers are finding ways to adapt to the
changing landscape, as the challenges of this production year
come to light. Amid the harvest of California navels,
mandarins, and other specialty varieties, two industry leaders
share their perspectives on the prospects of the industry.
… Jim Phillips, President and CEO of Sunkist, expressed
similar concerns regarding production but also emphasized the
current state of affairs regarding the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). California citrus farmers need the
support of the legislature regarding water access, as the issue
is outpacing almost every other concern for growers, said
Phillips. Both Bates and Phillips noted that the
substantial amount of rainfall and snowpack over the past two
winters are supporting growers in the fight for water access.
A powerful winter storm buried the Sierra last weekend, with
wet weather continuing for days in the Bay Area and Central
Coast. Thunderstorms Wednesday drenched Salinas, dropping
an entire inch in just 25 minutes. After historic weather last
year, intense California storms have persisted this winter,
with strong downpours causing widespread flooding in San Diego
and damaging landslides in places like Los Angeles. Many
ingredients contribute to extreme storm activity, but
scientists agree that climate change is already amping up
winter rains — and may bring even wilder weather in the
future.
California has set ambitious climate goals, including phasing
out the use of fossil fuels and becoming carbon neutral by
2045. Our guest today is here to talk about the role nature can
play in meeting those goals. Laurie Wayburn is the co-founder
and president of the Pacific Forest Trust and the chair of the
California Natural and Working Lands Expert Advisory Committee.
She was also the lead author of a recent report suggesting the
state should invest “as much in nature-based climate solutions
as it has in clean energy and transportation.” With proper
forest management, California could capture 400 million tons of
carbon each year, lower wildfire risk and vastly improve flood
protection in the state.
This month, several wildlife conservation groups petitioned the
California Fish and Game Commission to list these owls as
endangered or threatened under the California Endangered
Species Act. … [Chair of the environmental studies department
at San Jose State University Lynne] Trulio’s speciality is
urban species, and she’s contributed to the research that
underpins Santa Clara County’s habitat conservation plan on
burrowing owls. But before that she was also the lead scientist
for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, one of
the largest tidal wetland restoration projects on the West
Coast. “One of the things that drove the effort was the
fact that there were endangered species” in wetlands, said
Trulio. She said it took years to change the perception of the
wetlands as a dumping ground and to get a ballot measure to
fund its preservation.
Cannon Michael has been re-elected as the chairman of the San
Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. The San Luis &
Delta-Mendota Water Authority announced Michael’s re-election
on Monday. The big picture: Michael is the president
of family-owned Los Banos farming operation Bowles Farming
Company. He also serves as the chair of the Henry Miller
Reclamation District, as a board member of the Water Education
Foundation and as an advisory board member of the Public Policy
Institute of California.
A pair of new state bills are looking to crack down on some of
the polluters fueling the cross-border sewage crisis that has
hobbled access to San Diego County’s southernmost beaches for
decades. Senate Bill 1178 and Senate Bill 1208, introduced on
Monday by State Sen. Steve Padilla, add regulations to water
discharges for large corporations, as well as prevent water
authorities from issuing additional permits for waste releases
into areas in the Tijuana River system.
Countries, regions, and river basins globally are struggling to
provide and manage flows in rivers for ecosystems. One
approach, of many, is a Functional Flows approach, because it
seeks to provide a range of streamflows over the year and
between years to support fundamental functions of river
ecosystems and the ecosystem services for society. … The
approach also involves a process for balancing multiple human
and ecological objectives for river systems through broad
engagement of multiple interests. In their challenge to
maintain riverine ecosystem services, Chile and California can
benefit from this dynamic approach to managing instream flows.
A Saudi Arabian farm previously permitted to pump unlimited
amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa for dairy cows overseas
has stopped irrigating its crops on state land in Arizona’s
Butler Valley, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Thursday.
Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department announced after a
recent inspection Fondomonte had stopped pumping water in the
Butler Valley groundwater basin and has begun to take steps to
leave the property. Hobbs took full credit for the outcome,
saying it was a result of her move to terminate and decline to
renew Fondomonte’s leases on state land in the area, part of a
broader crackdown from Hobbs and her Democratic attorney
general Kris Mayes.
Water conservation is a top issue for cities across the
Southwest. Now, Phoenix continues plans to reduce water use and
prepare for the future. Phoenix City Council approved a water
conservation ordinance for “big water users” this week. “It is
Phoenix making sure that when a large volume user comes along,
there is a sufficient benefit,” said Sarah Porter, director of
the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU. It only impacts new
developments. Under the ordinance, companies that use more than
250,000 gallons of water per day will have to submit water
conservation plans to the city. This could impact some
hospitals, resorts, and manufacturers. Then, companies that use
more than 500,000 gallons of water per day need to submit a
conservation plan and ensure 30% of their water usage comes
from recycled water.
Nearly $20 million in federal community project funds for 14
San Gabriel Valley projects, and $1.67 billion for Southern
California water infrastructure were a step closer to reality
after a House of Representatives vote this week, according to
the Rep. Grace Napolitano’s office. The $19.6 million was money
Napolitano secured in this year’s congressional spending bills,
she said. The 14 projects include: $5,500,000 for the San
Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority’s San Gabriel Basin
Restoration Fund…
With nature providing plenty of water – finally – this year,
and groundwater regulation well underway, water managers,
farmers and others turned their focus to infrastructure at
Thursday’s Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern
County. Early in the day’s line up of speakers, Edward Ring,
senior fellow with the California Policy Center, captured the
audience’s attention with an extensive cost-benefit analysis of
the Delta Conveyance project, a tunnel that would take
Sacramento River water beneath the ecologically sensitive
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta 45 miles to be exported south. His
conclusion: the project has a whopping price tag for a
“dribble” of water.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has mapped
out the state over the last few years to gain a better
understanding of its groundwater basins. The department has
been using new technology combined with helicopters to create a
database about what lies below. Out of sight, out of mind, many
people might not think about the water that could lie below our
feet, but the DWR knows groundwater is critical to California.
The state has 515 basins that can hold up to five times more
groundwater than all surface water combined. However, state
officials need to learn more about these basins. With phase one
of their airborne electromagnetic survey project done, they’re
one step closer.
As water supplies come under more stress across the West, some
states are seeing increased legal activity related to water
rights. Bloomberg has reported some states, including Utah, are
setting up specific water courts, or judges who deal mainly in
water law. Colorado has had this kind of a setup for more than
50 years. Holly Strablizky is a water referee for
the Water Court in Colorado. The Show talked with her
about what her job entails.
National Groundwater Awareness Week is next week, and in the
spirit of promoting groundwater knowledge, the Department of
Water Resources (DWR) is excited to announce that its
innovative groundwater mapping project is complete and will
provide critical information about our underground water
supply. The
Statewide Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Survey Project has
now completed surveys in all high-and-medium-priority
groundwater basins in California. AEM surveys use
state-of-the-art helicopter-based technology to scan the
earth’s subsurface to depths of up to 1,000 feet, like taking
an MRI of the earth, to visualize the aquifer structures
beneath our feet. You can see the AEM equipment in action in
this DWR video: DWR’s Airborne
Electromagnetic (AEM) Surveys: The AEM Method
(youtube.com).
With National Groundwater
Awareness Week approaching and 2024 marking
the 10ᵗʰ anniversary of the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act in California, upcoming Water Education Foundation
tours and events will help you gain a deeper understanding of
groundwater fundamentals. Join us April 5 for our
annual Water
101 Workshop, which includes a session that
will provide an overview of the state’s groundwater
resources, its importance in the state’s water supply, its
history of use and overuse and the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). Learn what other topics will be covered
and register
here. Workshop participants can also join
the Groundwater
Tour the day before the workshop. And in
April, our three-day Central Valley
Tour will have a strong focus on groundwater as it
moves through the San Joaquin Valley.