Nine people were arrested by state wildlife police on suspicion
of poaching, selling animals on the black market and other
offenses after a sprawling investigation by the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife, the agency said. Eight men
were arrested on suspicion of poaching white sturgeon from
Sacramento Valley waterways, the department said last week. A
ninth man was arrested on suspicion of selling Dungeness crab
and red abalone on the black market.
California is deploying cutting-edge technology that can ‘see’
underground water. A giant electrified ring suspended from
a helicopter will make a never-before-seen picture of a world
beneath our feet. Wells in the Valley are running dry. Drilling
deeper is more expensive and sometimes still fails to find
water. When it does, water quality is often worse, containing
minerals like arsenic.
Microplastics are a pathway for pathogens on land to reach the
ocean, with likely consequences for human and wildlife health,
according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
The study, published today in the journal Scientific Reports,
is the first to connect microplastics in the ocean with
land-based pathogens. It found that microplastics can make it
easier for disease-causing pathogens to concentrate in
plastic-contaminated areas of the ocean.
A Democrat lawmaker from the central San Joaquin Valley wants
to put cash in the hands of eligible farmworkers to help them
deal with the devastation of California’s drought.
Proposed by State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from
Sanger, Senate Bill 1066 would allocate $20 million
to create the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot
Project, a state-funded project that would provide
unconditional monthly cash payments of $1,000 for three years
to eligible farmworkers, with the goal of lifting them out of
poverty.
Rather than planning for droughts and ensuring that minimum
water quality objectives are achieved in critically dry years,
the proposed voluntary agreement appears to be a “plan to fail”
to protect the Delta in future droughts. Droughts are a
fact of life in California, even as climate change is making
them worse. The Governor’s Water Resilience Portfolio
recognizes the need to improve drought preparedness, requiring
that the State to be able to protect fish and wildlife during a
six year drought …
A proposed California desalination plant that would produce 50
million gallons of drinking water per day failed a crucial
regulatory hurdle on Monday, possibly dooming a project that
had been promoted as a partial solution for sustained drought.
The staff of the California Coastal Commission recommended
denying approval of the Huntington Beach plant proposed by
Poseidon Water … [and] said the project was more
susceptible to sea-level rise than was understood when it was
first proposed more than two decades ago.
Miguel Rocha, P.E., was selected as the Bureau of Reclamation’s
chief of dam safety. Rocha will oversee the Dam Safety Program,
which evaluates existing dams for safety concerns and
implements proactive solutions for dams across Reclamation. In
this new role, Rocha oversees responsibility for Reclamation’s
360 high hazard potential dams. Failure or improper operation
of a high hazard potential dam could result in loss of life or
significant economic loss.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality has reversed
three key Trump administration changes that govern how federal
agencies implement the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). The rule, published on April 20, 2022, finalizes what
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) called “Phase One”
of their effort to review and revise the Trump administration’s
July 2020 overhaul of the NEPA regulations, and follows a
proposed rule that CEQ issued for public comments last fall.
The Long Beach Water Commission may upgrade the city’s water
shortage level next week, which would bring with it new
restrictions on when residents can water
landscaping. Updating the city’s water shortage stage
comes as California heads toward its third straight year of
drought. The proposal to go to Stage 2, which would limit
landscape irrigation to two days per week year-round, would
take the city back to water conservation rules not seen since
June 2016.
Water resources are declining in many regions of the world. Due
to climate change, increased air temperatures, and reduced
precipitation, we will face a decline in water resources in the
future. … Lampinen et al investigated soil and
plant data and evapotranspiration for irrigation management of
walnut trees in California, USA. Fernandes-Silva, by
examining the effect of different irrigation regimes (dryland
irrigation with 30% and 100% water requirement) on yield and
WUE of olive, reported that crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is
the most influential parameter in changes in fruit yield.
A new bill aimed at bringing relief to farmworkers affected by
the drought is now one step closer to becoming law. The
bill, introduced by Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D–Sanger), aims
to provide financial assistance to farmworkers struggling to
afford basic necessities. Wednesday it passed in a state senate
committee, four to one. Senate Bill 1066 aims to create a
program called the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience
Pilot Project. The project is a state-funded supplemental pay
program that would give eligible farmworkers $1,000 for three
years.
The Delta Science Program is excited to release the 2022-2026
Science Action Agenda (SAA). Developed by and for the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta science community, the 2022-2026
SAA builds on the progress of the 2017-2021 iteration to
prioritize and align science actions to meet management needs,
foster collaboration and coordination, and guide science
funding. It will serve as a roadmap for the allocation and
integration of investments through research, time, and
resources.
A total of nine people have been arrested after an
investigation into a large suspected sturgeon poaching
operation along Sacramento Valley waterways. The California
Department of Fish and Wildlife says the investigation started
as two separate cases, but a connection between the suspects
led them to uncovering the larger operation.
A powerful agency that is a vital source of water for millions
of Californians has left its employees exposed to harassment,
engaged in unfair hiring practices and allowed employee housing
in blistering desert outposts to deteriorate, a state audit
found. Auditors launched their review after a Times
investigation last year found a pattern of complaints alleging
harassment and bullying of women at the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California, which operates the sprawling
242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct system that delivers drinking
water to households and businesses in Southern California.
New guidelines were released in early April for a federally
funded program meant to help low income families pay their
outstanding water bills. The Low Income Household Water
Assistance Program is part of an emergency effort to respond to
the economic impacts caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In
California, the Department of Community Services and
Development is the designated agency responsible for overseeing
the program. The finalized state plan defines the scope of the
program and how it will be implemented.
As warm spring winds whip the Eastern Plains, sapping soils of
moisture, and the state’s reservoirs sit at below-average
levels, water managers got more bad news Tuesday: this two-year
drought cycle could continue through the summer and into the
fall leading the state into its third year of below-average
snowpack and streamflows and high wildfire danger. Looking
ahead the weather pattern known as La Niña, which has created
the intense drought of the past two years, is likely to
continue, according to Peter Goble, a climate specialist with
Colorado State University’s Colorado Climate Center.
Climate change is worsening the already significant threat of
flooding in California’s farm country, and state officials said
Thursday that as much as $30 billion may be needed over three
decades to protect the region, an increase from five years ago.
Every five years, flood protection plans are updated for the
Central Valley, where about 1.3 million people live at risk in
floodplains. State officials released a draft of the latest
update that calls for investing in levees, maintenance and
multi-benefit projects that recharge aquifers and support
wildlife while enhancing flood protection.
Mired in an extreme drought, California lawmakers on Thursday
took the first step toward lowering the standard for how much
water people use in their homes — a move that won’t be enforced
on individual customers but could lead to higher rates even as
consumption declines. California’s current standard for
residential indoor water use is 55 gallons per person per
day…. The California Senate voted 28-9 on Thursday to
lower the standard to 47 gallons per person per day starting in
2025; and 42 gallons per person per day beginning in
2030. The bill has not yet passed the Assembly, meaning it
is still likely months away from becoming law.
Big Day of Giving is in just two weeks, but you can
make a donation now to help the Foundation
continue its work to enhance public understanding about the
most important natural resource in California and the West —
water. Big Day of Giving is an annual 24-hour online
event aimed at raising funds for nonprofits and highlighting
the good work they do. You can make your
Big Day of Giving donation from now until midnight
May 5.
A group of business interests that have been historic
cheerleaders for a Monterey Peninsula desalination project has
written a letter to officials at Pure Water Monterey, the
provider of potable recycled water along the Monterey
Peninsula, questioning the adequacy of source water for it and
a planned expansion of the project, questions Pure Water
Monterey says it has already answered. The Pure Water Monterey
project is key to helping solve the Peninsula’s chronic water
shortages as state regulators have significantly scaled back
the amount of water that can be pumped from the Carmel River.
