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Topic: Central Coast

Overview November 11, 2018

Central Coast

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Aquafornia news May 27, 2022 NBC Los Angeles

Map: Where the California drought just got worse

An already grim situation just got worse for California in this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report. ‘Exceptional drought’ expanded in parts of California’s agricultural Central Valley in this week’s report. That is the most severe of the weekly update’s four drought categories. The area includes portions of Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa and Tuolumne counties. The flat region that dominates the central part of the state has some of the most productive farmland in the country, including miles of crop fields with fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables.

Related articles: 

  • FOX 5 San Diego: California adopting more aggressive water conservation rules; what to know
  • Ventura County Star: Camarillo, Thousand Oaks restrict outdoor watering to once weekly as drought continues
  • Best Best & Krieger LLP: State Water Resources Control Board Adopts Emergency Drought Regulation
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 26, 2022 ABC7 San Francisco

California moves to curb harmful tire pollutant collecting in Bay, threatening wildlife

If you think about the pollution your car causes, chances are you’re not thinking about the tires. And probably even less about a faraway creek, where a Coho Salmon is dying. But researchers at the University of Washington and elsewhere … say as the rubber wears away from car tires during everyday driving, it spreads tiny micro particles, including a destructive chemical called 6PPD. … Now, with information gathered in part by the [San Francisco Estuary] Institute, the State of California is stepping in, laying the groundwork for potential regulations to curb the toxic tire pollution.

Related article: 

  • Department of Toxic Substances Control: California proposes requiring tiremakers to consider safer alternative to chemical that kills coho salmon  
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Aquafornia news May 26, 2022 & the West

Weighing the consequences of losing carbon-free energy in California

Old environmental arguments over the consequences of nuclear power had seemed almost resolved in California. Antinuclear sentiment was intensified by the 33-year succession of accidents, from Three Mile Island in 1978 to Chernobyl in 1986 to Fukushima in 2011, severely diminished their appeal. California was getting ready to wave goodbye to its last nuclear plant. Up Close We explore the issues, personalities, and trends that people are talking about around the West. The political realities of 2022 and the need to reduce carbon emissions might change things.

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 California Trout

Blog: Sustaining steelhead populations in the Bay Area’s backyard

Central California Coast steelhead historically thrived in Bay Area waters, but today, populations are collapsing with only a fraction of their historical abundance remaining, according to CalTrout’s SOS II Report. California Trout, along with our partners at California Department of Fish and Wildlife, San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD), Trout Unlimited, and others such as California State Parks, private landowners, and NOAA Fisheries- the federal agency tasked with managing steelhead and salmon nationwide- are determined to improve this system for the overall health of the watershed and for its inhabitants — both fish and people. 

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 Mercury News

PG&E is beginning to bury its electrical power lines

Etched in dirt, a narrow furrow is the only clue that the grasslands of Lime Ridge Open Space will soon be restored to their original splendor, cleared of dangerous power lines that could ignite nearby subdivisions. The undergrounding project, costing $3.75 million a mile, represents the beginning of a 10,000-mile-long effort by Pacific Gas and Electric to bury the state’s distribution lines to cope with the growing risk of winds and wildfires linked to global warming. The utility long resisted calls to bury its power lines as being too costly. 

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 Discover Magazine

La Niña lives! — and that’s bad news

For two winters in a row, La Niña has steered desperately needed rain and snow storms away from the U.S. Southwest, exacerbating a decades-long drought that has shriveled reservoirs and spurred horrific wildfires. Now, hopes that the climate pattern would relent and allow moisture to rebound next winter have suffered a serious blow. La Niña — Spanish for “the girl” — persisted through April, and there’s a 61 percent chance she’ll stick around for a third winter, according to the latest monthly update from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Related articles: 

  • ABC Salt Lake City: The Summer 2022 Outlook is in! What should Utahns expect?
  • Associated Press – Santa Fe: Rain, snow slow New Mexico fire, but hot, dry weather looms
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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 The San Francisco Examiner

As Bay Area faces prolonged drought, recycling and desalination are the only two real options

Despite being surrounded by water, Bay Area residents are routinely told during dry years to take shorter showers, let lawns brown and slow the rush of water from their taps. But as climate change prolongs drought and challenges local water supply, regional water managers are warning that none of those actions will be enough. Many say the time has come to invest in technically feasible, though politically and environmentally complicated alternatives like purifying wastewater and sucking salt out of seawater to bolster stores.

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 The Associated Press

Explainer: How cities in the West have water amid drought

As drought and climate change tighten their grip on the American West, the sight of fountains, swimming pools, gardens and golf courses in cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Albuquerque can be jarring at first glance. Western water experts, however, say they aren’t necessarily cause for concern. Over the past three decades, major Western cities — particularly in California and Nevada — have diversified their water sources, boosted local supplies through infrastructure investments and conservation, and use water more efficiently. 

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2022 The Sacramento Bee

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: California bans watering of ‘non functional’ lawns around businesses as drought persists

Californians can expect to see more yellow grass around hospitals, hotels, office parks and industrial centers after water regulators voted Tuesday to ban watering of “nonfunctional” turf in commercial areas. The State Water Resources Control Board also moved to order all the state’s major urban water providers to step up their conservation efforts. The moves are the strongest regulatory actions state officials have taken in the third year of the latest drought.

Related articles: 

  • New York Times: California Approves New Water Restrictions Amid Worsening Drought
  • Los Angeles Times: California bans watering ‘non-functional’ grass in some areas, strengthening drought rules
  • San Francisco Chronicle: California orders water suppliers to mandate restrictions. Here’s how much further they could go
  • San Diego Union-Tribune: State tightens drought rules as S.D. officials fear higher water rates
  • SJV Sun: Calif. officials ban watering “useless” grass over drought worries
  • Manteca Bulletin: State edict - Say goodbye green grass
  • Regional Water Authority: Statement - Local Water Providers Support Emergency Conservation Regulations
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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Noozhawk

Report examines history of debris flows in southern Santa Barbara County

The bulldozers are back at Randall and East Valley roads this month, working on the final phase of the Montecito’s newest debris basin — a giant bowl designed to trap boulders and fallen trees and help protect the downstream homeowners on San Ysidro Creek from catastrophic debris flows. When it is finished in late August, the $10 million Randall Road basin will be the fifth on Montecito’s deadly creeks.

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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Trees are critical infrastructure. Water them amid drought

The lowly sidewalk tree often stands invisible. We rest in its shade, bask in the scent of springtime flowers, and we don’t notice it until it’s gone. But the tree works hard. It captures and filters stormwater runoff and helps replenish groundwater. It cleans our air and cools our neighborhoods. It improves our mental health. It saves lives. With Southern California officials clamping down on outdoor water use amid worsening drought, the message is clear: It’s fine for lawns to go brown, but we need to keep trees alive and healthy.

Related article: 

  • Los Angeles Times: Best California native plants for when summer heats up
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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Mercury News

Heat wave this week will intensify fire danger for Bay Area, Northern California

A pre-Memorial Day heat wave will prime the Bay Area for another dry fire season, roasting the region’s landscape with some of the hottest weather so far in 2022 and pushing temperatures in some cities close to 100 degrees. A month ahead of the official start of summer, high temperatures could climb 5 to 20 degrees above normal on Tuesday and Wednesday for much of the Bay Area — a pre-Memorial Day blast of hot weather that prompted a heat advisory for the entire Central Valley and a red flag warning for a broad swath of Northern California stretching from Vallejo to Redding…. Already, California’s drought has depleted reservoirs and contributed to some of the state’s largest fires on record in recent years.

Related article: 

  • CNN: California drought and heat continue as severe storms hit central US
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Aquafornia news May 24, 2022 Mercury News

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: Newsom calls for increased water conservation, warning of mandatory statewide restrictions

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday warned major water agencies to show better conservation results or face mandatory statewide water restrictions as California heads into its third summer of severe drought. The threat is a sign of Newsom’s growing impatience with the state’s failure to reduce urban water use, as he has requested since last year. In fact, people have been using more. … Newsom also said the state will closely monitor the situation over the next 60 days, and he told the agencies to submit water use data more frequently to the state and to step up outreach and education efforts to communicate the urgency of the crisis to the public.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom says California could get mandatory water restrictions as drought crisis deepens
  • Los Angeles Times: Newsom urges aggressive water conservation and warns of statewide restrictions
  • The Guardian: California threatens ‘mandatory water restrictions’ if people don’t cut back
  • Chico Enterprise-Record: Chico, Oroville enter new phase of water conservation
  • Associated Press: Californians could see mandatory water cuts amid years-long drought, Gov. Newsom says  
  • City News Service: Newsom warns of statewide watering restrictions if local drought efforts fall short
  • Malibu Times: Outdoor watering restrictions cause panic
  • WaterWorld: Inland Empire Utilities Agency adopts drought resolution
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Aquafornia news May 23, 2022 The New York Times

Has California’s fire season begun?

More than half a dozen wildfires broke out across California in a 48-hour span late last week, an unsettling picture of what’s to come as temperatures warm and drought conditions worsen this summer….Today and tomorrow, gusty winds, low humidity and unseasonably hot temperatures are creating high fire risk across an inland swath of California between Redding and Sacramento.

Related articles: 

  • Southern California News Group: Riverside County fire officials ban outdoor burning amid megadrought, early wildfire season
  • East Bay Times: Containment rises for two fires burning in Northern California
  • KMPH: Heat Advisory issued as Valley braces for its first triple-digit temperatures of the year
  • USA Today: Fighting fire with fire: Controlled burns remain essential as US wildfires intensify
  • Patch: CA Fire Danger Elevates Amid Hot, Gusty Weather; 4 Blazes Burn
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 20, 2022 The Washington Post

High winds, heat boost fire threat as California faces long season

Fire danger is on the rise in California, as warm, dry and windy weather heralds a potentially long and difficult season. For several consecutive years, increasingly extreme, climate-change fueled wildfires have devastated parts of the state. The area of greatest concern late this week is in Northern California, where strong northerly winds will combine with dry vegetation in the Sacramento Valley…. The risk of fast-spreading blazes may ease this weekend, but officials have expressed serious concerns about the months ahead as the entirety of California contends with a historically severe drought that has turned many areas into a tinderbox.

Related articles: 

  • Courthouse News Service: Heat, winds stoke fears of wildfire in Northern California
  • San Francisco Chronicle: Parts of the Bay Area will be under a red flag warning starting Thursday, signaling a critical wildfire threat
  • KRON4-San Francisco: Wildfire season is on the way, says Santa Rosa Fire Dept.
  • Sonora Union Democrat: Forecasters issue red flag warning for western Tuolumne County
  • Klamath Falls Herald & News: Private forestland deal wins acclaim, though doubts remain
  • ESRI: Tribe maps where to burn to restore Northern California forest to balance
  • Arizona Republic: Forests often regenerate after wildfires. Why the climate crisis could change that
  • World Economic Forum: US wildfires threaten nearly 80 million properties as climate risks grow
  • Scientific American: If Sea Ice Melts in the Arctic, Do Trees Burn in California?
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Aquafornia news May 20, 2022 The Conversation

Blog: Grim 2022 drought outlook for Western US offers warnings for the future as climate change brings a hotter, thirstier atmosphere

Much of the western U.S. has been in the grip of an unrelenting drought since early 2020. The dryness has coincided with record-breaking wildfires, intense and long-lasting heat waves, low stream flows and dwindling water supplies in reservoirs that millions of people across the region rely on. … One driver of the Western drought has been persistent La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific since the summer of 2020. … The other and perhaps more important part of the story is the hotter and thirstier atmosphere, caused by a rapidly warming climate.

Related articles: 

  • Benito Link: California starts its third year of drought with a record dry spell
  • KABC Sacramento: CA Drought Update–60% Of Golden State In Extreme Drought
  • Fox 40-Sacramento: New wastewater project to help farmers, conservation
  • CBS Sacramento: ‘We’re Really Facing A Catastrophe’: Bay Area Artist’s Billboards In Oroville Blast California’s Struggles
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 20, 2022 SJV Water

Blog: Drought, groundwater restrictions and – oh yeah, drought – pervade talk at annual Kern water summit

Local and state water leaders were practically upbeat two years ago at the last in-person Water Summit put on by the Water Association of Kern County. At least as upbeat as California water folks typically get. They advocated for new ideas, radical partnerships and solutions that could benefit both ag and environmental interests. That was then. Facing a third year of punishing drought and the bleak realities of new groundwater restrictions, the vibe at this year’s summit was more “in the bunker” than “in it together.”

Related article:

  • ABC 23 – Bakersfield: Kern County Water Summit looks for solutions to California’s drought
  • Western Farm Press: Watering the valley of the future
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Aquafornia news May 20, 2022 ABC7 San Francisco

California drought: How CA coastal communities are working to conserve, combat saltwater intrusion

For Executive Pastor Mark Spurlock, expanding classroom space at the Twin Lakes Christian School in Aptos has been addition by subtraction. At least when it comes to saving water. Following development offset rules outlined by the Soquel Creek Water District, the school engineered water-saving solutions to offset the new space they were building including replacing lawn areas with a drought-friendly plaza that catches and diverts water routed from nearby rooftops. … To better understand seawater intrusion, Duncan says the layman can think of the Santa Cruz area’s aquifer as a giant bathtub with mountain watershed on one side, and ocean on the other.

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Aquafornia news May 19, 2022 KCBX - San Luis Obispo

Newsom proposes beaver funding

Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing funding to support what he calls a “creative climate solving hero” – the North American Beaver. The rodent is known to help restore drought-stricken areas of California by restoring wetlands and groundwater basins. The governor is initially requesting more than $3 million in the next few fiscal years to support and maintain a beaver restoration program within the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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Aquafornia news May 18, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Study finds mysterious DDT chemicals in California condors

In a sophisticated chemical analysis published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology, the team found that DDT-related chemicals were seven times more abundant in coastal condors than condors that fed farther inland. Looking at the birds’ coastal food sources, researchers found that dolphin and sea lion carcasses that washed ashore in Southern California were also seven times more contaminated with DDT than the marine mammals they analyzed along the Gulf of California in Mexico.

Related article: 

  • Audubon: Absent for More Than a Century, California Condors Soar Above the Redwoods Again
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Aquafornia news May 18, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

Scientists have just learned an amazing new fact about California redwood trees

California’s towering redwoods have been around for thousands of years, but the trees are still yielding some surprises about what makes them so resilient. UC Davis scientists recently discovered that redwoods have two different types of leaves … The trees’ peripheral leaves, like those on most trees, are food producers that convert sunlight into sugar through photosynthesis. But the axial leaves serve an entirely different role, researchers found — absorbing water. … [T]he study is further evidence of the big trees’ ability to adapt to environmental changes — including drought.

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Aquafornia news May 18, 2022 The Pew Charitable Trusts

Blog: Water shortages threaten development in more western cities

As the Western United States endures an ongoing megadrought that has spanned more than two decades, an increasing number of cities, towns and water districts are being forced to say no to new growth. There’s just not enough water to go around. Last month, the California Coastal Commission urged San Luis Obispo County to stop all new development requiring water use in the communities of Los Osos and Cambria. 

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Aquafornia news May 17, 2022 Santa Barbara News-Press

$230 million settlement reached in 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill lawsuit

A settlement has finally been reached in the seven year-lawsuit regarding the 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill. Plains All American Pipeline has agreed to pay $230 million to fishers, fish processors and shoreline property residents who are members of two classes in a class-action lawsuit filed against the company.  The lawsuit was filed after a corroded pipeline spilled an estimated 15,000 barrels of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean in 2015. 

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2022 Press Telegram

8.5 million gallon Carson sewage spill caused by corroded pipe, sewer cover, report says

Five months after 8.5 million gallons of raw sewage spilled from a ruptured mainline in Carson, an independent engineer’s report has pinpointed its cause and offered practical advice for the county agency responsible. … The rupture was primarily caused, the report said, by corrosion of both a 48-inch diameter, 1960s-era concrete pipe and a sewer cover at the intersection of 212th Street and South Lynton Avenue. … Another contributing factor in the failure, the report said, was a rain event on Dec. 30. 

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2022 San Luis Obispo Tribune

Lopez Lake boat ramp is closing before the summer season: ‘There’s just no water’

If you were hoping to go boating on Lopez Lake after Memorial Day, there might be a small kink to your plans. The San Luis Obispo County Parks and Recreation Department has announced it is closing the popular South County lake’s boat launch ramp on Monday, May 16, due to low lake levels. Park Ranger Miles Tuinstra told The Tribune on Friday the closure was due to the lake’s dropping water levels.  “We’ve kept it open as long as we can,” he said. “There’s just no water.” 

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2022 Pasadena Star News

Opinion: We are the problem in California’s housing shortage

Everything everyone — by which I mean the wrong ones, the NIMBYs — says about housing in Southern California is always wrong. … Fact: Take your average Southland single-family homestead, raze it and replace it with an eight-unit apartment building, and you’d be … saving water. That’s because, even in our xeriscaped age, unless you have Astroturfed your entire yard, your landscaping uses a lot more water than your sinks, shower and dishwasher do.
-Written by Larry Wilson, a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board.

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Aquafornia news May 13, 2022 Monterey County Weekly

Monterey has four affordable housing projects in the works, but not enough water to give

On May 17, the Monterey City Council will discuss four city-owned properties it hopes to turn into affordable housing, and will be asked to wrestle with some challenging questions about how to move forward with making them a reality. At the top of that list is water, or the lack thereof: The city has 5.2 acre-feet of water annually it can allocate to the projects. But dedicating all the water to one or more of the projects, City Manager Hans Uslar says, would hinder the city’s ability to give water to public works projects….

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2022 Los Angeles Times

‘May gray’ and ‘June gloom’ are disappearing

Locals call it May gray and June gloom. … The featureless marine-layer stratus clouds occur at low levels of the atmosphere, and they generally don’t produce any rain, although they’re capable of producing drizzle or mist. More important, they serve as a natural heat shield for heavily populated coastal Southern California, efficiently reflecting the sun’s rays back into space. … Scientists are studying the ways that climate change may be chipping away at the coastal marine layer. A study published in 2018 found that the frequency of coastal stratus clouds had declined by 20% to 50% since the 1970s … 

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2022 Woodland Daily Democrat

Woodland City Council implements 20% water use reduction

The Woodland City Council received an update on the city’s planned water supply for 2022 and adopted a resolution implementing stage two of Woodland’s water shortage contingency plan. “The state of California is in the third year of a drought and issued a governor’s executive order in March 2022 requiring urban water suppliers to implement at least stage two of their water shortage contingency plans,” the city staff report stated. “Stage two of the WSCP implements a goal of reducing water use by 20%.”

Related articles: 

  • Fast Company: Lawns are terrible for the environment. California’s water restriction
  • Los Angeles Times: California drought - How L.A.’s watering restrictions work
  • Fox 40 Sacramento: Roseville renews efforts to conserve water
  • Patch – Marin County: Marin Water Among State’s Efficiency Leaders: Report
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 UC Riverside

New research: UCR ecologists work toward post-fire rebirth of healthy landscapes 

The worst fire impacts this year are predicted to hit Northern California’s higher elevation forests and Southern California’s chaparral-clad mountainous National Forest lands. To aid recovery, UC Riverside ecologists are collaborating with the US Forest Service to target these spots with new post-fire ecological restoration strategies. Wildfires are becoming more ferocious, damaging, and expansive in the West. California just weathered its worst two years ever in terms of total acres burned. And conditions are no better this year, with the Golden State having its driest winter on record.

Related article: 

  • Cronkite News: Arizona forest health - Stressed by drought & pests, trees are losing resilience to changing climate  
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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 KSBY - San Luis Obispo

Carrizo Plain wildflowers severely limited due to ongoing drought

A lack of rainfall across the Golden State and the Central Coast is limiting blooms and leaving some tourists disappointed about what’s missing at Carrizo Plain National Monument. Aside from increasing drought conditions, 2022 started off with the driest first three months of the year in the last century, limiting the number of wildflowers able to germinate. … This lack of blooms is not only due to the dry start to 2022 but also a buildup of several years of drought.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: California urban water use rose 19% in March despite drought

Despite official calls to increase conservation amid worsening drought, urban water use across California increased by nearly 19% in March, according to the State Water Resources Control Board. The startling conservation figure was among a number of grim assessments water officials offered reporters Tuesday in a California drought outlook. Others included critically low reservoir levels and major shifts in the water cycle due to climate change. … The increase was even greater in the South Coast Hydrologic Region, which is home to more than half the state’s population. In this region, which includes Los Angeles, urban water use increased 26.9%.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: California drought - Water usage jumps 19% in March despite Newsom’s plea for savings
  • Mercury News: California drought - State ignores Gavin Newsom’s conservation goal, increases water use
  • Sacramento Bee: Water use grows during California drought, flouting Newsom’s call for conservation
  • The Guardian: California water use leaps 19% in March, amid one of the driest months on record
  • CalMatters: How bad is water use in California? March is the worst so far, up 19%
  • CBS Sacramento: California Water Use Up Dramatically in March
  • ABC 7 Sacramento: Despite pleas for conservation, California’s March water usage jumped nearly 19%
  • KTVU San Jose: Enforcement officers poised to crack down, fine water wasters in South Bay
  • Sacramento Bee: California wants you to stop using so much water, but Sacramento has a long way to go
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Aquafornia news May 10, 2022 Ventura County Star

Ventura agrees to lease its State Water Project supply. Here’s why

Ventura has struck a 20-year deal with a Riverside County water wholesaler that would save the city millions of dollars in costs to maintain its rights to imported state water. Under the agreement approved last month, the city would lease its share of imported water to the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency in Beaumont, an arrangement that would reap $1.1 million this year and cover nearly half of the $2.27 million it will owe to keep its state water entitlement. San Gorgonio would increase its share of the costs starting next year. 

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Aquafornia news May 10, 2022 CalMatters

Opinion: California crises abound, but they won’t be debated

Throughout the state, water agencies are telling Californians that they must seriously curtail lawn watering and other water uses. We can probably scrape through another dry year, but were drought to persist, its impacts would likely be widespread and permanent. … It didn’t have to be this way. We could have built more storage to capture water during wet years, we could have encouraged more conservation, we could have more efficiently captured and treated wastewater for re-use and we could have embraced desalination.
-Written by Dan Walters, CalMatters columnist.  

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Aquafornia news May 10, 2022 Mercury News

“Water cops” likely this summer as Santa Clara County misses drought goal by large margin

If you waste water in Santa Clara County, water cops could soon be on the way. Since last summer, Santa Clara County residents have been asked to cut water use by 15% from 2019 levels to conserve as the state’s drought worsens. But they continue to miss that target — and by a growing amount. In March, the county’s 2 million residents not only failed to conserve any water, but they increased use by 30% compared to March 2019, according to newly released data…. Santa Clara Valley Water District … is proposing to hire water enforcement officials to issue fines of up to $500 for residents … wasting water ….

Related articles: 

  • Los Angeles Times: Lessons in adapting to California drought and water scarcity
  • ABC 7 Los Angeles: Garcetti to give update on LADWP watering restrictions, conservation efforts amid California drought
  • NBC Los Angeles: What Are LA’s Water Conservation Plans? Mayor to Announce LADWP’s Next Steps
  • Bay City News – Benicia: Benicia adds mandatory 30% water cutbacks after city pipeline break
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 Bloomberg

Fire suppression fueled California’s destructive 2020 wildfires: Study

The 2020 wildfires that incinerated a record 4.3 million acres in California harken to centuries past when huge swaths of the state burned annually, researchers have found, but today’s climate-driven conflagrations are far more destructive to the environment and human health. “California is in for a very smoky future, and the continued resilience and even persistence of numerous terrestrial ecosystems is not assured,” concluded a new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography …

  • New York Times: Why Climate Change Makes It Harder to Fight Fire With Fire
  • UC Davis News: New research: California’s 2020 wildfire season
  • Nevada Appeal: Officials – Nevada can expect rough wildfire season
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 Paso Robles Daily News

Land Conservancy completes conservation project near Lake Nacimiento

On Dec. 21, 2021, The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County completed three contiguous conservation easements on the Attiyeh Ranch near Lake Nacimiento. The easements permanently protect a whopping 7,682 acres of oak woodland, annual grasslands, and chaparral, as well as significant freshwater resources and wildlife habitat.

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Aquafornia news May 6, 2022 The Business Journal

Blog: Doubling down on Diablo Canyon nuclear plant could ease energy, water woes

[D]esalinization … draws in saltwater and, utilizing reverse osmosis, purifies the water to a consumable standard. Around the globe, countries have adopted desalinization as a considerable part of their water portfolio. … California is shockingly behind the curve when it comes to embracing the practice. .. Rather than removing [Diablo Canyon Power Plant] from the region, we should double down on production and build an additional site to power a mega-sized desalinization plant.
-Written by Assemblymember Devon J. Mathis. 

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Aquafornia news May 5, 2022 Press Democrat

AccuWeather long-term Northern California forecast includes potential for dry lightning, continued drought next fall

With more than 1.1 million acres across the drought-afflicted West already charred, 2022 is shaping up to be another year of extremely intense fire activity … the prospect of dry lightning associated with tropical storms off the coast of Mexico in mid- to late-summer and continued dry La Niña conditions heading into fall and early winter — and perhaps beyond. That could mean a potential fourth year of abnormally low rainfall and the threat of lightning-sparked wildfires like those in August 2020 that ravaged the region and much of California. 

Related articles:

  • CNN: Drought expands in the Southwest, worsening the region’s fire risk and water crisis 
  • Monterey Herald: Big Sur - Cal Fire officials discuss wildfire preparedness
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Aquafornia news May 5, 2022 Long Beach Post News

Water Commission votes to cut rates to align with court ruling

Long Beach Water Department customers will be seeing a small decrease in their monthly bills after the city’s water commission voted Wednesday to lower rates after the city’s legal defeat over transferring excess revenue from the department into its general fund. The 2.54% decrease will result in a savings of about $2 per month for most residential customers for the rest of the fiscal year that ends in September. Lauren Gold, the department’s public information officer, said the reduction will result in a loss of about $3 million for the department.

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Aquafornia news May 5, 2022 SJV Water

State funding helps pay for valley groundwater projects

Multiple San Joaquin Valley groundwater projects got a significant shot of state funding this week to kickstart recharge, and other, projects. On Monday, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced $150 million was awarded to 20 agencies through its first round of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant Program. That includes almost $84 million for 11 agencies in the San Joaquin Valley.

Related article: 

  • San Luis Obispo Tribune: California awards money to Paso Robles groundwater basin
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Aquafornia news May 4, 2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune

New state bill could require ‘blue carbon’ to offset coastal development

Public developments on the California coast would be required to capture carbon in wetlands or other natural systems under an Assembly bill that calls for projects to add “blue carbon” measures to their mitigation plans.  Blue carbon refers to coastal habitat such as wetlands, marshes, kelp forests and eelgrass beds that capture and store carbon in soil, plant matter and the sea floor.  AB 2593, authored by Assemblymember Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, would require projects on public lands to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions by building or contributing to blue carbon projects.

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Aquafornia news May 4, 2022 Dana Point Times

Bipartisan legislation supports desalination research, projects

New legislation that U.S. Reps. Mike Levin and Nancy Mace introduced late last month could provide more grant funding to the study and advancement of desalination technology, benefiting endeavors including the proposed Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Dana Point. If enacted, H.R. 7612, or the Desalination Research Advancement Act, would increase the number of research grants the Bureau of Reclamation is authorized to fund, raising the cap from $5 million to $20 million per year through the 2026 fiscal year.

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Aquafornia news May 4, 2022 Los Angeles Times

La Niña may be sticking around, bad news for California

Heat waves. Severe drought. Extreme wildfires. As Southern California braces for unprecedented drought restrictions, long-range forecasts are predicting a summer that will be fraught with record-breaking temperatures, sere landscapes and above-average potential for significant wildfires, particularly in the northern part of the state. … Unlike its wetter and better known sibling, El Niño, La Niña typically brings dry winters to Southern California and the Southwest. 

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Aquafornia news May 3, 2022 NBC Bay Area

Bay Area fire danger: Did April rain make a difference?

After the driest start to the year across much of Northern California, April saw the return to near average rainfall for areas north of San Francisco – this after many areas missed out on nearly 7 to 15 inches inches of rain from January through March. While the April rain totals weren’t much, it appears the rain and the cooler temperatures have made a short term positive change when it comes to Bay Area fire danger and drought conditions. 

Related article: 

  • NBC San Diego: San Diego County Braces for Wildfires in a Time of Drought
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Aquafornia news May 2, 2022 The Washington Post

Monday Top of the Scroll: La Nina may enter rare third year. What that means.

Meteorologists are monitoring the potential for a “triple-dip La Niña,” an unusual resurgence of cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific. While such a phenomenon might seem remote, La Niña plays an enormous role in our weather stateside. In addition to helping juice up tornado season in the spring, La Niña has been known to supercharge Atlantic hurricane season when it sticks around into the summer and fall. La Niña is back. Here’s what that means.

Related articles: 

  • Fox 5 San Diego: What La Niña means for California this summer
  • Oregon Public Broadcasting: Climate scientist says we’re not measuring the right things to predict drought 
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Aquafornia news May 2, 2022 San Luis Obispo Tribune

Los Osos and Cambria must stop new development, CA says

The California Coastal Commission wants San Luis Obispo County to immediately halt all new water-using development, including housing, in Los Osos and Cambria. … The Coastal Commission also sent a letter on the same day to the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) notifying that it had violated the California Coastal Act over more than three decades due to its water extractions from wells in the San Simeon and Santa Rosa creek aquifers … 

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Aquafornia news May 2, 2022 Mercury News

Newsom: $1.4 billion desalination project should be approved by California Coastal Commission

Citing California’s worsening drought conditions, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday made a powerful new push for a controversial $1.4 billion desalination plant on the state’s coastline. The proposed oceanfront facility in Huntington Beach has been under debate for more than 20 years, and its fate could set a course for other desalination plants on the state’s coast. The California Coastal Commission is scheduled to take a final vote on the project in two weeks. … Newsom said a no vote by the full commission to kill the project would be “a big mistake, a big setback.”

Related article: 

  • CalMatters: Newsom takes stance on prickly enviro issues
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Aquafornia news April 29, 2022 San Bernardino Sun

Prado Dam patriotic mural near Corona loses legal protection, but could be repainted

A colorful, widely visible, but graffiti-marred mural on a flood-control dam near Corona that celebrated the nation’s bicentennial no longer enjoys the protection of a court order. But officials say a plan is in the works to replace the patriotic image on Prado Dam, which was originally created with toxic lead paint. The fate of the mural near the 91 and 71 freeways has been uncertain since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the dam, announced plans to begin removing the gigantic painting in spring 2015.

Related article: 

  • Monterey Weekly: Long-needed Pajaro levee upgrade gets funding, but there is one more step.
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Aquafornia news April 29, 2022 California Department of Water Resources

New release: DWR awards $22 million to address drought impacts and support small communities statewide

Following the driest three-month stretch in the state’s recorded history and with warmer months ahead, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced its seventh round of grant awards for local assistance through the Small Community Drought Relief program. In coordination with the State Water Resources Control Board, DWR has selected 17 projects … 14 will directly support disadvantaged communities, including three Tribes, and will replace aging infrastructure, increase water storage, and improve drinking water quality and supply.

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Aquafornia news April 29, 2022 Los Angeles Times

Friday Top of the Scroll: Why some SoCal neighborhoods face dire water cuts while others escape restrictions

Major water restrictions are about to take effect in areas ranging from Rancho Cucamonga to Thousand Oaks, and Baldwin Park to North Hollywood. But many nearby areas will escape the mandatory one-day-a-week watering limits — among them Santa Monica, Long Beach, Torrance and Beverly Hills. Why? The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has targeted these first-ever water restrictions for areas that rely heavily or entirely on the State Water Project — a Northern California water supply that officials say faces a real risk of running dry. 

Related articles: 

  • New York Times: California’s new water restrictions - What to know 
  • Sacramento Bee: Southern California gets drastic water cutbacks amid drought. What’s next for Sacramento
  • Los Angeles Times: Sweeping water restrictions will change life in Southern California - A guide
  • Los Angeles Times: Cloudy skies and cool temperatures but no rain as drought persists, forecasters say
  • KRCR-Redding: Cal Water applies to enter stage two of its water shortage contingency plan
  • The Packer: Water woes hit hard in Southern California
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Aquafornia news April 28, 2022 The Hill

Opinion: Droughts are ravaging the US — it’s time to get serious about water recycling

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last month that nearly 60 percent of the U.S. is experiencing some level of drought, including severe conditions that threaten wildfires, heatwaves and low precipitation. States along the Colorado River Basin have entered into agreements to reduce their demands on the dwindling river, including recycling local water to make up the difference. This Water Week, we’re focused on a series of remaining actions that will help unleash the full potential of water recycling across the United States.
-Written by Craig Lichty, client director and vice president for Black & Veatch and president of the WateReuse Association; and Patricia Sinicropi, the executive director of the WateReuse Association.

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Aquafornia news April 28, 2022 Monterey County Weekly

The state says the Peninsula must build, but also holds back on water

Right on time, the Monterey Peninsula, along with the rest of the region, learned on April 21 how many new housing units the state not only expects, but will require, it to plan to build between 2023 and 2031. Historically, for the Peninsula, this has been as awkward as a relationship between local and state government can get. The local governments here agree they need to add housing, yet the region, served by water utility California American Water, remains under a cease and desist order from the state that has, for years, barred adding new water connections.

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Aquafornia news April 28, 2022 KCRA -Sacramento

How farmers can rebuild CA’s groundwater supply through ‘Ag-MAR’

During drought years, California relies heavily on its groundwater supply. As droughts become longer and more intense with climate change, it’s becoming more important than ever to “bank” excess surface water during stormy weather patterns in order to provide some long-term insurance. … [Dr. Helen Dahlke, a hydrology expert at UC Davis] and a team of researchers recently shared findings from their study showing how California’s 8 million acres of farmland could be tapped as one way to help get water back into the ground through a process called ‘Ag-MAR.’

Related articles: 

  • Northern California Water Association: AEM Groundwater Surveys Help Water Resources Managers Prepare for Dry Years
  • ABC 7 San Francisco: Coyote Valley restoration project recharging South Bay’s groundwater amid CA’s drought
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Aquafornia news April 27, 2022 Santa Ynez Valley News

Solvang to invest $10M into wastewater treatment plant

Solvang will invest another $10 million into its wastewater treatment plant, including tooling that could support future wastewater recycling, after the council voted unanimously Monday to support the least expensive of four potential options. … During its goal planning sessions, the council directed staff to explore the feasibility of producing and delivering recycled water. 

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 Los Angeles Times

April storms make only small dent in California’s drought

The late-season burst of snow and moisture that blanketed Northern California in April helped make a small dent in drought conditions, experts said, but the majority of the state is still far below where it needs to be as it heads toward the hot, dry months of summer. Several storms arrived weeks after the final snow survey of the season on April 1, in which state officials reported that statewide snowpack had dwindled to just 38% of average for the date after a bone-dry start to the year.

Related articles: 

  • Los Angeles Times: Record heat wave bakes Southern California
  • Associated Press: Heat is On - What to Expect as Temperatures Rise in San Diego
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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 Stanford News

Blog: Massive conservation effort

One of the most ambitious conservation efforts ever, California’s 30×30 initiative aims to protect plant and animal life across 30 percent of the state’s most critical land and water by 2030. Gov. Gavin Newsom has described the plan as an important step toward ensuring community well-being, equity, and economic sustainability while staving off mega wildfires, droughts, and other climate change-driven threats. Stanford University experts have informed 30×30 through their participation in public outreach sessions, meetings with the plan’s leadership and a letter of support signed by faculty members from all seven of the university’s schools.

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 Reuters

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: California desalination plant hits regulatory hurdle

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.

Related articles: 

  • Orange County Register: Coastal Commission staff says Poseidon’s ocean-to-tap water plant should not be built
  • Associated Press: Report urges California panel to deny desalination plant
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Aquafornia news April 26, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

Bigger ‘bomb cyclones’ could deluge Bay Area in coming decades, climate study finds

Extreme storms like the massive bomb cyclone that drenched the San Francisco Bay Area last October are likely to become more powerful in the coming decades as climate change alters atmospheric conditions. The Bay Area could see between 26% and 37% more water from these mega-storms by the end of the century, according to a new study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory commissioned by the city. … Even though each mega-storm could pack more rain, other climate change studies suggest water will overall be more scarce. 

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2022 San Luis Obispo Tribune

Can the Paso Robles wine industry continue to thrive as groundwater levels fall?

New data and reports now show that the Paso Robles groundwater basin is being severely depleted — with unsustainable amounts pumped throughout the entire last decade. As a result, it is now considered a critically overdrafted groundwater basin in need of management to ensure the long-term sustainability of the water source…. Blame for the status of the groundwater basin is tossed around between lack of regulation from local politicians and overpumping from vintners…. But vintners and local industry leaders interviewed by The Tribune said placing the blame on the wine industry is oversimplifying a complicated issue.

Related articles: 

  • NBC Bay Area: Central Valley farmer’s bold water experiment setting example for California
  • Popular Science: Why NASA is monitoring California’s groundwater crisis 
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Aquafornia news April 22, 2022 Palo Alto Weekly

A defense against drought: District eyes water-purification plant as key to recycling increasingly scarce water

Valley Water is looking for ways to not only conserve but also reclaim the precious crystal-clear liquid. In December, the agency’s board of directors approved an agreement to work with the city of Palo Alto to build an advanced water-purification facility in Palo Alto. The 6.4-acre plant would be located at the old Los Altos Regional Wastewater Plant at the eastern end of San Antonio Road.

Related article: 

  • The Log: Ventura Harbor Commission hears Ventura Water Pure presentation
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Aquafornia news April 22, 2022 The New York Times

How a California disaster inspired the first Earth Day

Happy Earth Day. As you probably know, April 22 is a day set aside for appreciating the environment and demonstrating support for laws that protect it. … But it was a massive oil spill in 1969 off the coast of Santa Barbara that ultimately served as a catalyst for Earth Day…. At the national level, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and President Richard M. Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Related article: 

  • E&E News: Research - Insects are dying off because of climate, farming
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Aquafornia news April 22, 2022 The Associated Press

California Senate OKs lower standard for indoor water use

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. 

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Aquafornia news April 21, 2022 Associated Press

Albedo effect - Trees burned in California fires could affect snowmelt

In a California forest torched by wildfire last summer, researcher Anne Nolin examines a handful of the season’s remaining snow, now darkened by black specks from the burned trees above. Spring heat waves had already melted much of the year’s limited snowfall across California and parts of the West when Nolin visited in early April. But she and her colleague are studying another factor that might’ve made the snow vanish faster in the central Sierra Nevada — the scorched trees, which no longer provide much shade and are shedding flecks of carbon.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: Climate change, wildfires making air quality in California worse, report finds
  • Arizona Republic: Proposal would create a $30 million fund to plant trees in areas suffering from heat
  • Science Daily: Climate change may actually accelerate ocean currents
  • Los Angeles Times: A Climate Voter’s Guide to The Los Angeles Mayoral Election
  • Inside climate News: What Does Climate Justice in California Look Like?
  • CNBC: Americans are fleeing climate change — here’s where they can go
  • SLO New Times: Central Coast fire safe councils, fire departments are mitigating fire risk using funds from the California Climate Investments Wildfire Prevention Grants Program
  • Agri-Pulse Communications: Study - As heat rises, California’s crops need more water
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Aquafornia news April 21, 2022 Point Reyes Light

In statewide campaign, water control board urges consolidation of districts

The ongoing drought and another year of unprecedented low rainfall have prompted the California State Water Resources Control Board to push for the consolidation of small public water systems across the state. In a letter sent on April 4, the water board asked North Marin Water District to consider partnerships or consolidations with small systems across West Marin and beyond.

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Aquafornia news April 21, 2022 Monterey Herald

Pure Water Monterey source water questioned by businesses

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.

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Aquafornia news April 21, 2022 Ventura County Star

Santa Paula to cover some residents’ unpaid water bills

Some Santa Paula residents with overdue water bills are getting a break thanks to a state grant for COVID-19 pandemic relief. The city is using $366,000 in funds from the State Water Resources Control Board through the California Water and Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program to cover overdue residential and commercial water bill payments as a result of the pandemic, according to a news release. 

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Aquafornia news April 21, 2022 Sacramento Bee

Thursday Top of the Scroll: CA weather – Winter storm in Sierra mountains, rain in valley

A strong storm inbound for Northern California will peak Thursday, blanketing the mountains with feet of snow that will make travel extremely hazardous if not impossible, according to the latest weather forecasts…. Rain and snow may put a small dent in California’s drought conditions, but storms this week and last week won’t be enough to bust it. Statewide snowpack as of Wednesday morning stood at just 30% of normal for the date, according to the Department of Water Resources.

Related articles: 

  • San Francisco Chronicle: Could April storms help save California from another drought year?
  • GV Wire: Fresno Poised for a Drenching, Carry Chains in Mountains
  • Siskiyou Daily News: April showers welcomed, but West needs more to overcome drought
  • Monterey Herald: Rare April storm with potential thunderstorms headed to Monterey Peninsula
  • Capital Press: More heavy snow, rain on the way in California
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Aquafornia news April 20, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle

Marine heat wave currently forming off California coast, federal forecasters say

Federal scientists have created a new tool for forecasting marine heat waves, and they say one is currently forming in the North Pacific Ocean not far from the California coast. The marine heat wave currently predicted to linger into fall is not expected to have the impact of “the blob” — the name for a period of high seawater temperatures that persisted along the West Coast from 2014 to 2016. But scientists say their new prediction models will help forecast similar extreme ocean warming events that are expected to increase in duration and intensity with climate change.

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Aquafornia news April 20, 2022 Christian Science Monitor

Microplastics: Citizen scientists on the hunt for nurdles

This 3-mile stretch of sand and tide pools beneath a fortress of 80-foot bluffs is a California tourism poster if there ever was one. Nothing disturbs the pristine, sunny view, except – once you’re aware of them – the nurdles. But you have to look close – on-your-hands-and-knees close – to see one. And once you do, you see another and another – so many that you may not think of this, or any beach, the same way again. Mark McReynolds is trying to bring into focus these tiny preproduction plastic pellets that manufacturers melt down to mold everything from car bumpers to toothpaste caps. 

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2022 Sacramento Bee

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: More heavy Sierra snow coming this week. What it means for California drought, fires

A pair of storms will reach Northern California this week, with lighter showers Tuesday intensifying to heavy April snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains later in the week….Spring snowfall has helped boost California a bit after an exceptionally dry January through March. But it’s still very unlikely to bust the drought, as the recent storms represent just a fraction of the snowpack lost to record-low precipitation earlier in the year, and the window for more heavy snow is quickly closing before summer heat arrives.

Related articles: 

  • NBC Los Angeles: Drought-stricken California to see spring rain, snow
  • Action News Now: Gov. Newsom visits Butte County Tuesday to discuss drought response
  • Visalia Times-Delta: Weather whiplash - California to see heavy spring snow, rain showers after dry winter
  • Tahoe Daily Tribune: Multiple feet of snow in forecast this week for Lake Tahoe
  • Record Searchlight: Photos - Spring storms hit drought-parched California
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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 San Francisco Chronicle Datebook

Review: 3 books tackle aspects of climate change, from hard science to the beauty of what’s being lost

As our planet wobbles toward its 52nd Earth Day on Friday, April 22, the global medical report is … not great. This month, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that if we don’t stop pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere ASAP, we’ll soon be living in hell. California had its driest first three months of the year in recorded history. Antarctic ice shelves are melting before our eyes. Three new books explore the perilous realities of life on Earth in 2022. 

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

News release: Recreational salmon seasons finalized for the California coast

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announces California recreational ocean salmon fishing season dates are now set for the remainder of 2022 and offer about the same number of open days as last year. Sport fisheries opened south of Point Arena on April 2 and the remainder of the coast will open May 1. Although anglers can enjoy an earlier start to the season than last year, there will be intermittent breaks in fishing opportunity in management areas north of Pigeon Point.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2022 ABC 10 Sacramento

Monday Top of the Scroll: Can late storms make up for the dry period in California?

More wet weather is on tap for the week as the Pacific storm track continues to favor a wetter weather pattern for Northern California. This is much-needed rain after Jan. and March 2022 ended as the driest on record for much of California. The pattern shift in mid-April brought much-needed rain and snow but not enough to catch up to big deficits that grew through the end of the wet season.

Related articles: 

  • Los Angeles Times: Late-season storms bring snow, skiers to Sierra Nevada
  • ABC News San Francisco: Ski resorts cheer as spring storm dumps snow in California
  • Siskiyou Daily News: Liz Writes Life - Snowpack at 16 percent
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Western Water January 16, 2020 Douglas E. Beeman Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Douglas E. Beeman

Water Resource Innovation, Hard-Earned Lessons and Colorado River Challenges — Western Water Year in Review
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK-Our 2019 articles spanned the gamut from groundwater sustainability and drought resiliency to collaboration and innovation

Smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire as viewed from Lake Oroville in Northern California. 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.

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Western Water October 10, 2019 California Groundwater Map Gary Pitzer

Recharging Depleted Aquifers No Easy Task, But It’s Key To California’s Water Supply Future
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: A UC Berkeley symposium explores approaches and challenges to managed aquifer recharge around the West

A water recharge basin in Southern California's Coachella Valley. To survive the next drought and meet the looming demands of the state’s groundwater sustainability law, California is going to have to put more water back in the ground. But as other Western states have found, recharging overpumped aquifers is no easy task.

Successfully recharging aquifers could bring multiple benefits for farms and wildlife and help restore the vital interconnection between groundwater and rivers or streams. As local areas around California draft their groundwater sustainability plans, though, landowners in the hardest hit regions of the state know they will have to reduce pumping to address the chronic overdraft in which millions of acre-feet more are withdrawn than are naturally recharged.

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Western Water September 26, 2019 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

Often Short of Water, California’s Southern Central Coast Builds Toward A Drought-Proof Supply
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Water agencies in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo counties look to seawater, recycled water to protect against water shortages

The spillway at Lake Cachuma in central Santa Barbara County. Drought in 2016 plunged its storage to about 8 percent of capacity.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.

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Announcement July 10, 2019

Explore a Scenic But Challenged California Landscape on Our Edge of Drought Tour
August 27-29 Tour Examines Santa Barbara Region Prone to Drought, Mudslides and Wildfire

Pyramid LakeNew to this year’s slate of water tours, our Edge of Drought Tour Aug. 27-29 will venture into the Santa Barbara area to learn about the challenges of limited local surface and groundwater supplies and the solutions being implemented to address them.

Despite Santa Barbara County’s decision to lift a drought emergency declaration after this winter’s storms replenished local reservoirs, the region’s hydrologic recovery often has lagged behind much of the rest of the state.

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Tour November 6, 2019 - 7:30am - November 7, 2019 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Central Coast Tour Highlights Dam Removal & River Restoration, Ocean Desal and Innovative Recycling Project Using Ag Runoff Explore Airborne Mapping of Seawater Intrusion on Central Coast Tour November 6-7 Central Coast Tour Explores Solutions to Water Resource Challenges That Offer Lessons for California

Central Coast Tour 2019
Field Trip - November 6-7

This 2-day, 1-night tour offered participants the opportunity to learn about water issues affecting California’s scenic Central Coast and efforts to solve some of the challenges of a region struggling to be sustainable with limited local supplies that have potential applications statewide.

  • Paul Sorensen Presentation
  • Keith Van Der Maaten Presentation
  • Andy Fisher Presentation
  • Jeff Cattaneo Presentation
  • Pure Water Monterey Presentation
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Western Water October 5, 2018 Douglas E. Beeman Douglas E. Beeman

What Would You Do About Water If You Were California’s Next Governor?
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Survey at Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit elicits a long and wide-ranging potential to-do list

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.

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Western Water May 4, 2018 Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Gary Pitzer

Novel Effort to Aid Groundwater on California’s Central Coast Could Help Other Depleted Basins
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Michael Kiparsky, director of UC Berkeley's Wheeler Water Institute, explains Pajaro Valley groundwater recharge pilot project

Michael KiparskySpurred by drought and a major policy shift, groundwater management has assumed an unprecedented mantle of importance in California. Local agencies in the hardest-hit areas of groundwater depletion are drawing plans to halt overdraft and bring stressed aquifers to the road of recovery.

Along the way, an army of experts has been enlisted to help characterize the extent of the problem and how the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is implemented in a manner that reflects its original intent.

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Aquapedia background December 29, 2016 Layperson's Guide to Flood Management

ARkStorm

Sacramento's K Street during the 1862 flood that inundated the Central Valley.ARkStorm stands for an atmospheric river (“AR”) that carries precipitation levels expected to occur once every 1,000 years (“k”). The concept was presented in a 2011 report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intended to elevate the visibility of the very real threats to human life, property and ecosystems posed by extreme storms on the West Coast.

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Western Water Excerpt August 16, 2016 Jenn Bowles

Outdated Dams: When Removal Becomes an Option
Summer 2016

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.

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Aquapedia background May 17, 2016 Layperson's Guide to Groundwater California Groundwater Map

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)

A man watches as a groundwater pump pours water onto a field in Northern California.A new era of groundwater management began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management plans with the state as the backstop.

SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the “management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.”

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Western Water Magazine March 4, 2016

Tapping the Ocean: What is the Role of Desalination?
Winter 2016

This issue looks at the role of ocean desalination in meeting California’s water needs today and in the future.

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Publication February 12, 2015

The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
A Handbook to Understanding and Implementing the Law

This handbook provides crucial background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook also includes a section on options for new governance.

  • Read the Handbook
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