At its April 12, 2024, meeting, the Delta Stewardship Council
unanimously elected Council Member Julie Lee as chair and
Council Member Gayle Miller as vice chair. “As the chair of
this Council, I realize these are very big shoes to fill,” Lee
said. “I fully commit to you to do my very best to ensure that
the Council continues to fulfill its mission.” Chair Lee’s
election took effect immediately, and pursuant to the Delta
Reform Act, she may serve in that capacity for no more than
four years. Her current term on the Council expires on February
3, 2026. Prior to being appointed to the Council by Governor
Gavin Newsom in 2022, Lee served the Office of Governor Jerry
Brown and the following California state agencies: Government
Operations Agency, Building Standards Commission, Department of
Transportation, Department of Personnel Administration, Highway
Patrol, and Department of Corrections.
State Sen. Anthony J. Portantino, who represents Pasadena, has
authored a bill mandating the study of microplastics’ health
impacts in drinking water. The Senate Environmental Quality
Committee approved the bill this week. By filing SB
1147, Portantino seeks to emphasize the need for further
research and action in addressing the pervasive presence of
microplastics in various environmental elements.
… The bill’s provisions include a requirement for all
water-bottling plants producing bottled water for sale to
provide an annual report to the State Department of Public
Health’s Food and Drug branch on microplastic levels found in
their source water. This data, as mandated by the bill, aims to
enhance transparency and consumer awareness regarding the
presence of microplastics in bottled water, a product consumed
widely across California.
California WaterBlog is a long-running outreach project from
the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, a research center
dedicated to interdisciplinary study of water challenges,
particularly in California. We focus on environmentally and
economically sustainable solutions for managing rivers, lakes,
groundwater, and estuaries. This week, for UC Davis Give Day
(April 19-20) we’re sharing a little about the Center and the
work we do. I’m Karrigan Bork, the Center’s Interim Director,
helping out while Director Andrew Rypel is on sabbatical, and
I’ll be your guide for this brief tour through the “Shed”. If
you would like to donate to help the Center continue important
work, I’ve shared our giving link below.
… Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) recently conducted a study … finding that more
intense atmospheric rivers are more likely to occur in
succession within a short period of time. … California’s
winter climate is largely defined by these atmospheric rivers –
long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transfer water
vapor from the tropics, most commonly associated with the West
Coast coming from the Pacific Ocean. When they make landfall,
they can release massive amounts of rain and snow.
With private investors poised to profit from water scarcity in
the west, US senator Elizabeth Warren and representative Ro
Khanna are pursuing a bill to prohibit the trading of water as
a commodity. The lawmakers will introduce the bill on Thursday
afternoon, the Guardian has learned. “Water is not a commodity
for the rich and powerful to profit off of,” said Warren, the
progressive Democrat from Massachusetts. … Water-futures
trading allows investors – including hedge funds, farmers and
municipalities – to trade water and water rights as a
commodity, similar to oil or gold. The practice is currently
limited to California, where the world’s first water futures
market was launched. So far, the market hasn’t taken off,
dampened by the reality that the physical trade of water in the
state has been limited. After a couple of wet years in
California, the price of water futures has also plummeted.
There is no need to wait to show your love for the Water
Education Foundation! Starting today, you can donate to our
Big Day of Giving campaign and help us
reach our fundraising goal of $15,000 by May 2. Big Day of
Giving is a 24-hour online fundraising marathon for
nonprofits. Donations will benefit our programs and
publications across California and the West. Here are
just a few things your donation will help us accomplish in
2024: Expand Project
WET teacher training workshops to benefit
K-12 students throughout California. Update
our Layperson’s
Guide to Water Recycling at a time when the
drought-weary West is looking to stretch its water
supplies. Continue free access to our Western Water news
coverage and daily water newsfeed known as Aquafornia. Provide
scholarships for our tours, events and
workshops so everyone can learn about
the West’s most critical natural resource.
The current water year, which began Oct. 1, has been wetter
than usual, with the Russian River watershed accumulating 119%
of the yearly average rainfall, totaling 49.38 inches since
October. In the past, we might have celebrated our good fortune
and watched lake levels rise only to watch much of it sent
downriver to the Pacific Ocean as reservoirs reached an
inflexible upper threshold. Today, we get to continue enjoying
that ample rainfall long after summer sunshine arrives. Grant
Davis With almost a decade of data under its belt, the Russian
River Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations program has been
making great strides by demonstrating the viability of this
strategy to operate reservoirs more effectively using modern
technology and forecasting. -Written by Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma
Water.
Insurers in California have sounded the alarm: A warming
climate has dramatically raised the risk of devastating
wildfires, and with it the cost of providing coverage. But now
a Peninsula lawmaker says those insurance companies should
credit the state and homeowners for the work done to reduce our
vulnerability to wildfires. State Sen. Josh Becker, a Menlo
Park Democrat, has introduced a bill that would require
insurers to consider the state’s efforts to thin flammable
brush and trees as well as property owners’ steps to make their
homes more fire resistant, such as covering vents and clearing
vegetation. Those efforts would need to be incorporated into
their risk modeling to determine coverage decisions and costs.
Four years ago, over 97% of Big Basin Redwoods State Park in
Santa Cruz County burned during the state’s worst wildfire
season in recorded history. Last year, unprecedented winter
storms caused an estimated $190 million in damages to coastal
parks. And at Seacliff State Beach, also in Santa Cruz County,
storms flooded the campground and destroyed the beach’s
historic pier. Climate change and the resulting severe
wildfires, extreme storms and rising sea levels are
increasingly threatening our beloved state parks. … To
address this unprecedented threat, we need to create
climate-resilient state parks that can prepare for, adapt to
and recover from climate impacts. -Written by Rachel Norton, the executive director
of the California State Parks Foundation.
President Biden has approved California’s request for a major
disaster declaration to support recovery efforts from a string
of February storms that drenched much of the state with
historic rainfall and mountain snow and resulted in numerous
deaths, officials announced Sunday. Nine California counties —
Butte, Glenn, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa
Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sutter and Ventura — will receive federal
aid as a result of the declaration, which also includes funding
for statewide hazard mitigation efforts, officials said. “
Erica Gies has always cared deeply about water. … Today, Gies
is an award-winning independent journalist and author who has
covered sustainability and water in outlets like The New York
Times, Scientific American, Nature, The Economist, and National
Geographic … River Partners sat down with Gies recently to
talk about bringing back floodplains, the importance of native
seeds and plants in restoration, what California is doing—and
what it could be doing—in managing water, and how optimistic
she is that we can thrive in an era of weather whiplash.
The Foundation’s Central Valley
Tour at the end of April is nearing capacity and
while there’s still some space on the tour, there’s
another very exciting opportunity on the horizon this summer
to engage directly with groundwater experts from
California and across the world. Toward Sustainable
Groundwater in Agriculture: June 18-20 The
3ʳᵈ International Groundwater Conference Linking Science &
Policy returns to San Francisco for the first time
since 2016 and you won’t want to miss this opportunity to hear
about the latest scientific, management, legal and policy
advances for sustaining our groundwater resources in
agricultural regions around the world. Learn how you can
attend, sponsor
or
exhibit at this amazing event!
An interdisciplinary team of scientists and researchers from
University of California, Davis, are studying agave plants in
the Golden State as farmers are turning to the crop as a
potential drought-tolerant option of the future. The research
is centered on studying agave genetics, virus susceptibility,
pest control, soil management and crop productivity, said Ron
Runnebaum, a viticulture and enology professor who is leading
the team of researchers at the newly formed UC Davis Agave
Center. … Agave plants don’t require much water and
their hardy leaves are fire resistant. The crop can be used as
a fiber, distilled into spirits or converted into a sweetener.
That combination of traits could offer an alternative to
fallowing fields by switching from thirsty crops to one
requiring less water.
After being sanctioned by federal regulators for plowing up
protected wetlands on his California farm, a U.S. lawmaker is
now spearheading an effort to roll back federal water
protections — including the very same provisions that he once
paid penalties for violating. If the scheme is successful,
environmental groups say industrial polluters could more freely
contaminate wetlands, rivers, and other waters, harming both
the nation’s water resources and the communities depending on
them. It could also benefit the lawmaker spearheading the
attack, since he still owns the farm where he was found to be
destroying wetlands.
We gathered at Sierra Nevada Brewery on March 8 for our Annual
Meeting, and we continue to cherish the discussions and
insights shared during that event. Among the many highlights of
the gathering was a compelling address by Senator Alex Padilla,
whose remarks resonated deeply with our shared commitment to
safeguarding California’s water resources. Read the excerpt
from Chairman Bryce Lundberg’s introduction and watch Senator
Padilla’s address below.
Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) has launched a new multi-year
campaign called “The Ripple Effect” aimed at promoting water
sustainability and resilience in the community. Acting General
Manager David Reyes urged all PWP customers to become local
water stewards for Pasadena and the region by participating
in the campaign. “We invite every member of our
community to embrace their role as local water stewards,” said
Reyes. “Each one of us holds a vital place in shaping
Pasadena’s water future.” About one-third of
Pasadena’s water supply comes from local groundwater, with the
remaining two-thirds imported from other sources. PWP
emphasized that understanding where the community’s water comes
from helps foster a greater appreciation for
this critical resource.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has a new sales pitch for a tunnel to move
more water south from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
that past governors have tried and failed to build for five
decades. “The Delta conveyance is an adaptation project,” he
said last week in a snowy field in the Sierra Nevada, where a
winter that started out dry eventually delivered a
just-above-average snowpack that will soon melt into the
Sacramento River and its
tributaries. … Long-skeptical Delta lawmakers
aren’t convinced by the latest rationale. “He’s searching for a
reason,” said Representative John Garamendi, a Democrat
from the western part of the Delta.
California lawmakers want to establish the state’s position on
environmental health, taking a first step Monday in their
proactive approach to ensure processes for the state’s
environmental management remains secure, regardless of any
federal changes. … The Los Angeles Democrat is
propositioning a constitutional amendment that would enshrine
into law the Californian’s right to clean air, water and the
environment. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 16,
authored by Bryan, passed Monday out of the Assembly Natural
Resources Committee and into his chamber’s Appropriations
Committee. It must pass both houses by at least two-thirds and
then secure a majority vote at the polls.
Acronyms are so prevalent in the water industry that stringing
several together can form an impressive-sounding
sentence. That’s exactly what Hanford High School junior
Morgan Carroll did at an April 5 workshop in Sacramento called
Water 101 put on by the Water Education
Foundation. After winning a game of bingo no
less. The bingo game kept the audience of water managers and
government and nonprofit employees on its toes during a talk on
what could be a very dry topic, especially after lunch: The
role of regulatory agencies in state and federal water law.
… Part of being on the team is keeping tabs on current
events in the water industry. Students subscribed
to Aquafornia, the foundation’s daily
news summary, and found out about the workshop that way.
… This marked the second year in a row with above-average
snowfall and was a huge turnaround from conditions at the
beginning of 2024, when the snowpack across the state was
barely a quarter of the historic average. … The
relationship between snowfall and climate change is not as
simple as it might first appear. Though rising temperatures
will cause some would-be snow to fall as rain, this is partly
balanced out by the fact that precipitation will become more
intense overall, since warmer air can hold more water vapor.
Some parts of Alaska and Northern Canada have
seen increases in snowfall over the last 40 years; in
these frigid locales the amount of snow is more limited by cold
weather, which decreases the amount of moisture in the air. -Written by Ned Kleiner, a scientist and catastrophe
modeler at Verisk.