Devastating floods are almost annual occurrences in the West and
in California. With the anticipated sea level rise and other
impacts of a changing climate, particularly heavy winter rains,
flood management is increasingly critical in California.
Compounding the issue are man-made flood hazards such as levee
stability and stormwater runoff.
Antioch is investing in its water supply future. A new $110
million desalination plant is being built in Antioch. With
construction underway at an existing water treatment facility,
the new desalination plant will service the needs of Antioch’s
population of more than 115,000 people, as well as help to
improve its water supply reliability, city officials say.
… The primary reason for the need for the desalination
plant is due to increased salinity in the water supply. The
city of Antioch derives much of its water source from the San
Joaquin River …
In an effort to protect Highway 37 from rising sea levels, a
new state study calls for elevating the route onto a causeway
within the next two decades. Presenting its findings this
month, Caltrans said its preferred solution is to build a
30-foot-high, four-lane causeway along the current alignment of
the highway, a 21-mile corridor connecting Highway 101 in Marin
County to Interstate 80 in Vallejo. The plan would include a
pedestrian and bicycle path and might include an extension of
SMART train service between Novato and Suisun City. The
announcement was celebrated by project proponents who say the
causeway is the only way to adapt the highway to the threats
from rising water and improve wetland habitats in San Pablo
Bay.
This week’s rain has been a welcome sight for those dealing
with the impacts of the Mosquito Fire. The early season
moisture has helped to significantly dampen fire activity over
the last several days. Estimates and measurements show
that anywhere from 1 to 2.5 inches of rain has fallen over the
burn region since Sunday morning. But as that rain runs
down the steep canyons and into Placer County’s many waterways,
ash and debris from the fire’s burn area can easily end up in
the water supply system. Andy Fecko, general manager of
the Placer County Water Agency, said plans to keep that water
supply safe began the night the fire was first reported near
Oxbow Reservoir.
[Colorado State University professor Stephanie] Kampf and her
team set out to determine whether more wildfires are burning at
high elevations. The answer is unequivocally yes. And the
consequences are dramatic: Snow in wildfire-burned areas is
melting 18 to 24 days earlier than average….And the snowpack
is critical to the health of Western people and ecosystems:
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),
it contributes 20% to 90% of surface water used for
agriculture, energy production, aquatic species habitat and
more.
Most residents of Puerto Rico still don’t have electricity or
water days after Hurricane Fiona caused floods and landslides.
The widespread damage, just five years after Hurricane Maria
destroyed much of the territory’s infrastructure, revealed how
unprotected the island’s 3.2 million residents are as climate
change makes hurricanes more powerful and rainy. … Latinos
are disproportionately affected by climate-driven extreme
weather … Latinos have a long history of climate and
environmental activism against pollution and climate change.
That includes pushing for fair emissions reduction
policies in California and equitable hurricane
assistance in Texas.
This is the fourth video in our series explaining how the Kern
River operates, who owns it and where its waters go. In this
video, we look at the “intertie,” which marks the end of the
river as it meets the California Aqueduct west of Bakersfield.
This highly unassuming looking piece of infrastructure was
built to regulate the occasionally massive floods that barrel
out of the Sierra Nevada mountains. And while it hasn’t been
used since 2006, the intertie features prominently in ongoing
state hearings over whether there’s available water on the Kern
River.
Many farmers across California are in the middle of tomato
harvesting right now. However, instead of the usual drought
concerns, recent rains are causing a different issue: too much
water. Paul Sanguenetti’s family has been farming outside
Stockton for more than 150 years. He’s in the middle of his
tomato harvest but he says due to threatening storms, it’s a
race against time before his crops start to turn. … This
could impact millions of tons of tomatoes and could lead to
higher prices for consumers in an attempt to recover from
shortages. As for farmers… Sanguenetti says crop insurance
won’t be much help for making a profit because all it does is
create a return from the losses.
The state has granted $40 million to River Partners to greatly
expand the floodplain restoration it has demonstrated at Dos
Rios Ranch. The nonprofit will identify rivers from Stanislaus
to Kern counties that could benefit from this work. It seeks to
enhance wildlife habitat while providing room for floodwaters
to spread…The $40 million was approved in early September by
the California Wildlife Conservation Board. It is separate from
the $5 million announced in June toward making Dos Rios a state
park in the coming years.
A committee of San Francisco supervisors Thursday challenged
Mayor London Breed’s assertion that the city understands the
risk of climate change-related flooding in the Bayview-Hunters
Point neighborhood. Members of the Government Audit and
Oversight Committee reviewed a June report from the San
Francisco Civil Grand Jury that confirmed what Bayview-Hunters
Point residents have been saying: The city is not acting fast
enough on how sea level rise could surface legacy toxic
contamination and spread it in neighborhoods near the Cold
War-era naval shipyard.
Tyree Johnson loved his apartment that overlooked the Pacific
Ocean — until it started to crumble down a cliff into the sea.
For 15 years, he could enjoy sunsets over the water from his
back porch in Pacifica, a few miles southwest of San Francisco.
Pods of dolphins swam by and hang gliders floated overhead. But
all that splendor came with a risk: The bluffs were weakening
and ocean was gnawing away below.
A tantalizing storm headed for California this weekend could
help fight the Mosquito Fire — now the state’s largest wildfire
of the year — while providing a brief respite from a years-long
drought….Some meteorologists and climatologists believe the
rains will deliver slight relief from a drought that’s parched
the state, left acres of farmland barren and lowered
reservoirs. Still, even the most optimistic observers warn that
the benefits will be temporary, and the dry period is far from
over.
Deadly floods in Pakistan. Scorching heat and wildfires in the
US West. Torrential rains in Australia and Indonesia. A
megadrought in Brazil and Argentina. As climate change pushes
weather disasters to new extremes, it’s La Nina, an atmospheric
phenomenon, that has been the driver behind the chaos since
mid-2020. And now the planet stands on the cusp of something
that’s only happened twice since 1950 – three years of La Nina.
Another year of La Nina means the world is hurtling toward $1
trillion in weather-disaster damages by the time 2023 wraps up.
Day after day, week after week, the United States faces a
barrage of climate extremes: wildfires in California. Drought
on the Great Plains. Flooding in Florida. Yet assembling those
puzzle pieces into a clear picture often can be difficult. It’s
a problem the Interior Department and NOAA aim to address with
a new website that provides data on real-time extreme event
conditions as well as risk profiles at the national, state and
local levels. A key feature is a running tally of
climate-juiced hazards — such as droughts, wildfires and floods
— and the number of U.S. residents facing these threats. The
website is constantly updating these figures, but it also
provides historical data for context.
Toxic waste lurking in the soil under West Oakland
neighborhoods is the next environmental threat in this
community already burdened by pollution. The stability of
buried contamination from Oakland’s industrial past relies on
it staying in place in the soil. But once the rising waters of
San Francisco Bay press inland and get underneath these pockets
of chemicals and gases, a certain amount of that waste will not
stay in place. Instead, it will begin to move. More than 100
sites — colorless gases in dirt under schools, flammable
chemicals buried in shallow soil near parks, petroleum in
pockets of groundwater from iron manufacturing — lie in wait.
Flash flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Kay has caused
waterfalls in the arid Death Valley. The influx of water into
Death Valley, which is the hottest and driest place on the
planet, comes with Hurricane Kay’s downgraded tropical storm,
causing torrential rain over the area on September 10,
according to the U.S. National Park Service. Badwater Road
is fully closed, and the CA-190 highway is closed from the
CA-136 junction to Stovepipe Wells Village after floodwater
caused significant damage to the road surface.
Ocean and atmospheric conditions tell us that La Niña—the cool
phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate
pattern—currently reigns in the tropical Pacific. It’s looking
very likely that the long-predicted third consecutive La Niña
winter will happen, with a 91% chance of La Niña through
September–November and an 80% chance through the early winter
(November–January). 91%! That’s very high. Why so confident?
The first reason is that La Niña is already clearly in force in
the tropical Pacific.
In parts of southern California that have been severely
drought-stricken for months, residents are bracing for a storm
that could drop a year’s worth of rain — and cause dangerous
flash floods. The extreme weather is forecast as Tropical Storm
Kay moves northward after making landfall in Mexico as a
Category 1 hurricane Thursday afternoon. Kay was downgraded to
a tropical storm Thursday evening, but was still packing winds
of 70 mph with even stronger wind gusts. Those powerful,
damaging winds are threatening to push already high
temperatures across California even higher, extending a brutal
heat wave that’s fueled raging wildfires, strained the state’s
energy grid and prompted officials to urge residents to
conserve energy use in the hopes of avoiding rolling power
outages.
With much of California baking under a record-breaking
September heat wave, it seems hard to believe that the weather
could get any more unusual. However, as soon as Thursday,
Southern California and other parts of the Southwest may
contend with another extreme event. Remnants of Hurricane Kay —
the storm is currently about 200 miles southwest of Mexico’s
Baja California — are forecast to bring substantial rainfall
and possible flooding to the region Friday and Saturday. Some
areas, particularly in interior Southern California, could see
multiple inches of rain.
California is no stranger to extreme weather. It typically
comes in the form of severe drought and wildfires, but a new
study suggests the Golden State should also be preparing for a
mega storm it hasn’t seen the likes of since 1862. UCLA climate
scientist Daniel Swain joined Stephanie Sy to discuss how the
potential storm could flood parts of the state with 30 days of
continuous rain.
In 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) published a report
detailing the catastrophic physical, social and economic
impacts of a historically and scientifically plausible winter
storm on California. New research modeling how warming
temperatures could intensify such a storm is resonating
strongly in a summer of historic rainstorms. … Recently,
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain revisited the ARkStorm
scenario taking the influence of a warming atmosphere into
account. His analysis of the “plausible worst case
scenario” for a future megaflood revealed that climate change
had already doubled the risk of catastrophic floods in
California, a risk that will continue to increase as warming
continues in coming decades.
A science journalist and author whose new book highlights
efforts to reshape how we think about and work with water will
provide the keynote address at the Foundation’s 2022 Water
Summit on Oct. 27 in Sacramento. Author Erica
Gies, whose new book is titled Water Always Wins: Thriving
in an Age of Drought and Deluge, explores what she
calls “Slow Water” innovations that can potentially offer
resilience to the increasing severity of droughts and floods
brought on by climate change.
The Dallas area is still reeling from record-breaking downpours
that triggered flash floods across northeastern Texas last
week. The event swamped houses, submerged vehicles and prompted
hundreds of emergency rescues. At least one death has been
reported so far. The sheer volume of rain was stunning, with
some locations receiving more than a foot. But the deluge was
all the more surprising because Dallas has been choked by
severe drought for months. It’s a phenomenon often referred to
by scientists as “weather whiplash.” And Texas isn’t the only
place it’s happened this summer. Monsoon rains triggered flash
floods in Arizona and New Mexico in the past week, even as the
Southwest continues to suffer under a decades long drought.
The California water authorities wanted to examine a much
bigger and more powerful version of the rainstorms the state
often gets in winter. The milder ones replenish water supplies.
But the strong ones cause devastating flooding and debris
flows. And the really strong ones, like those that
have hit the Pacific Coast several times over the past
millennium, can erase whole landscapes, turning valleys and
plains into lakes.
A four-year project to repair and upgrade the levee system
along portions of the Santa Ana River running between Riverside
and Jurupa Valley will begin next month, enhancing flood
protection for thousands of homes and businesses, officials
announced today. The Riverside County Flood Control & Water
Conservation District, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, will be overseeing the $36 million rehabilitation
effort, which is scheduled to start in mid-September. …
According to Uhley, the improved levee network will translate
to greater flood control protections for roughly 4,300
structures, most of them residential properties in Riverside
and Jurupa Valley.
The Central Valley Joint Venture (CVJV) recently released a
video highlighting the scientific work and partnerships that
contribute to the recovery of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds
and other bird species that utilize the Pacific Flyway.
Shot in the Sacramento Valley, the video is packed with
incredible visuals of the region’s landscape and the many
different birds that travel to the area in the winter
months. The video includes interviews with the partners
managing land and water resources, implementing habitat
projects and conducting scientific studies to maximize habitat
for the Flyway species, including NCWA board member Nicole
Montna Van Vleck.
Parts of northern Texas, mired in a drought labeled as extreme
and exceptional, are flooding under torrential rain. In a
drought. Sound familiar? It should. The Dallas region is just
the latest drought-suffering-but-flooded locale during a summer
of extreme weather whiplash, likely goosed by human-caused
climate change, scientists say. Parts of the world are lurching
from drought to deluge. The St. Louis area and 88% of Kentucky
early in July were considered abnormally dry and then the skies
opened up … Earlier this month, Death Valley, in a
severe drought, got a near record amount of rainfall in one
day, causing floods, and is still in a nasty drought.
A levee was breached Monday in a small town near the
Arizona-New Mexico state line, forcing the evacuations of 60
people after a weekend of flash floods across the American
Southwest that also swept away one woman who is still missing
in Utah’s Zion National Park. In Duncan, a rural Arizona town
located about 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Phoenix, weekend
rains overwhelmed a dirt-barrier levee built more than a
century ago to contain the Gila River, putting the town under
inches of water. As many as 60 residents have evacuated, Fire
Chief Hayden Boyd said. Water had already begun to recede, but
more needed to before the town is safe to return to, Boyd
added.
Firebaugh, Calif., sitting right on the San Joaquin River, is a
great place to raise a family, says city manager Ben Gallegos.
He’s lived in this Central Valley community for most of his
life. But now he’s preparing the city for a force of nature
potentially more destructive than the fires and drought
Californians are used to — a megastorm. They form out at sea as
plumes of water vapor thousands of miles long. As they reach
land, they dump rain and snow for weeks at a time, causing
devastating flooding.
Even as drought makes the headlines in the western United
States, new research warns that public officials should also be
planning for a an opposite risk: catastrophic floods. A massive
winter rain and snow storm could hit California this century,
with widespread damage to the country’s most populated state.
That’s according to a new study from researchers at the
University of California, Los Angeles. The Pacific coast is no
stranger to heavy rainfall, but climate change is strengthening
the plumes of tropical moisture that can hit California like a
firehose. At the same time, the nature of precipitation is
changing – it’s falling more as rain than snow, which means
rivers rise faster than usual in the winter. Together, the two
trends are a major threat.
In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains … [t]he clock is
ticking for Las Vegas, a college town and economic hub for
ranchers and farmers who have called this rural expanse of the
Sangre de Cristo mountain range home for generations. It has
less than 30 days of drinking water left. Events have been
canceled in an effort to discourage more people from coming to
town. Residents are showering with buckets in hopes of
salvaging extra water for other uses. Restaurants are worried
they may have to cut back on serving their signature red and
green chile dishes. The three universities that call Las Vegas
home are coming up with conservation plans as the school year
kicks off.
Monsoon rains are causing a flash flooding threat to linger
over a large swath of the Western U.S. following several
flooding events overnight. Flash flood events were reported
over the desert Southwest Saturday night into Sunday morning,
with Moab, Utah, experiencing flooding that spilled from
streets to businesses and mud piling up on storefronts. In
New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns National Park, more than 100
people were evacuated after being stuck for hours due to
impassable roadways. More than 12 million people from
Arizona to Louisiana were under flood alerts on Sunday morning.
There are images from the record 1986 Russian River flood that
those who lived through it recall. … It was the worst flood
in modern history on the lower Russian River, an area prone to
breaching its banks as the accumulated runoff from a
1,485-square-mile watershed squeezes through a narrow passage
in the Coast Range, en route to the Pacific Ocean. … Now
climate scientists say that one of the big mega-disasters
awaiting California is a sequence of 1986-style storm systems
occurring back-to-back-to-back-to-back across the state over
the course of about 30 days.
Climate scientists from UCLA and the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have released a paper at Science
Advances that studied how climate change could affect
California in a way that most people would not expect. While
California is known for its Mediterranean climate and frequent
droughts, even megadrought conditions, what the public doesn’t
remember is the potential for severe flooding within the
state. Daniel Swain, UCLA climate scientist and climate
scientist Xingying Huang, formerly of UCLA and now with NCAR,
studied a potential Arkstorm Scenario 2.0, modeled after the
original Arkstorm Scenario 1 that was created in 2010 led by
the U.S. Geological Survey and an interdisciplinary team of
researchers.
Cliffs along California’s northernmost coast have been eroding
faster than the more populated bluffs of Southern California —
one of many conclusions highlighted in a new map and study that
analyzed, for the first time with high-resolution data, every
cliff along the state’s long and varied shoreline. The study,
conducted by researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, also identified hot spots in areas both north
and south: The rate of cliff collapse was more than 16 feet per
year in places such as the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Big Sur,
Point Arguello and Martins Beach just south of San Francisco.
It starts to rain, and it doesn’t stop. Day after day after
day. The rivers keep rising. Mud, ash and burned logs from
recent wildfires clog the rapidly-rising channels. Levees
overtop or burst. Dams strain or buckle. Neighborhoods are
submerged. Flood waters wash over freeways. Entire California
cities are cut off from each other. By the time the waters
recede, dozens are dead and the damage is in the
billions. It might be hard to wrap your head around a
doomsday flooding scenario as California struggles through one
of the worst droughts ever recorded. But a growing number of
scientists say climate change — the same catastrophe that’s
drying up the West — is also increasing the risk of nightmarish
flooding across much of the state.
Every year, Imperial Beach residents board up their windows and
shovel ocean sand off streets left underwater during high
tide. Researchers have been testing technology
that warns the city in time to prepare for the
arrival of powerful waves and, most recently, digging
groundwater wells to track flooding. The community can
also play a significant role in reducing Imperial Beach’s
flooding problems, researchers at San Diego State University
said last week. How residents can get involved is what the
researchers are hoping to find out.
Devastating wildfires and droughts are not the only natural
catastrophes that California will continue to face. According
to new research published on Friday, a disastrous megaflood
could bring so much water to some areas of the state that it
could completely drown entire stop signs on a neighborhood
street. Scientists say it’s part of an investigation into
a “plausible worst case scenario.” Their research, published in
Science Advances, focused on two extreme flooding scenarios:
one based on recent historical climate data and another that’s
based on the projected climate for the end of this century,
from 2081-2100.
Explore the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic
landscape while learning about the issues associated with a
key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
Travel along the San Joaquin River to learn firsthand about one
of the nation’s largest and most expensive river restoration
projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
Land and waterway managers labored
hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly
rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their
water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing
some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore
the state’s major floodplains.
Biologists have designed a variety
of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the
benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking
studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon
smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their
river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because
the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment
on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth
and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
USACE Sacramento District has a proven track record of facing
challenges head-on. When 2020 brought with it the Novel
Coronavirus, the District responded quickly to address the
needs of a rapidly changing work environment…This year marked
the start of major construction on the [American River Common
Features] project, and the pandemic hit just as crews were
mobilizing, meaning both USACE and its contractors faced
unexpected public impacts.
This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.
The islands of the western
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are sinking as the rich peat soil
that attracted generations of farmers dries out and decays. As
the peat decomposes, it releases tons of carbon dioxide – a
greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere. As the islands sink, the
levees that protect them are at increasing risk of failure, which
could imperil California’s vital water conveyance system.
An ambitious plan now in the works could halt the decay,
sequester the carbon and potentially reverse the sinking.
Many of California’s watersheds are
notoriously flashy – swerving from below-average flows to jarring
flood conditions in quick order. The state needs all the water it
can get from storms, but current flood management guidelines are
strict and unyielding, requiring reservoirs to dump water each
winter to make space for flood flows that may not come.
However, new tools and operating methods are emerging that could
lead the way to a redefined system that improves both water
supply and flood protection capabilities.
California is chock full of rivers and creeks, yet the state’s network of stream gauges has significant gaps that limit real-time tracking of how much water is flowing downstream, information that is vital for flood protection, forecasting water supplies and knowing what the future might bring.
That network of stream gauges got a big boost Sept. 30 with the signing of SB 19. Authored by Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), the law requires the state to develop a stream gauge deployment plan, focusing on reactivating existing gauges that have been offline for lack of funding and other reasons. Nearly half of California’s stream gauges are dormant.
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.
The Colorado River Basin’s 20 years
of drought and the dramatic decline in water levels at the
river’s key reservoirs have pressed water managers to adapt to
challenging conditions. But even more extreme — albeit rare —
droughts or floods that could overwhelm water managers may lie
ahead in the Basin as the effects of climate change take hold,
say a group of scientists. They argue that stakeholders who are
preparing to rewrite the operating rules of the river should plan
now for how to handle these so-called “black swan” events so
they’re not blindsided.
The majestic beauty of the Sierra
Nevada forest is awe-inspiring, but beneath the dazzling blue
sky, there is a problem: A century of fire suppression and
logging practices have left trees too close together. Millions of
trees have died, stricken by drought and beetle infestation.
Combined with a forest floor cluttered with dry brush and debris,
it’s a wildfire waiting to happen.
Fires devastate the Sierra watersheds upon which millions of
Californians depend — scorching the ground, unleashing a
battering ram of debris and turning hillsides into gelatinous,
stream-choking mudflows.
New 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.
This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour.
Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
The whims of political fate decided
in 2018 that state bond money would not be forthcoming to help
repair the subsidence-damaged parts of Friant-Kern Canal, the
152-mile conduit that conveys water from the San Joaquin River to
farms that fuel a multibillion-dollar agricultural economy along
the east side of the fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Just because El Niño may be lurking
off in the tropical Pacific, does that really offer much of a
clue about what kind of rainy season California can expect in
Water Year 2019?
Will a river of storms pound the state, swelling streams and
packing the mountains with deep layers of heavy snow much like
the exceptionally wet 2017 Water Year (Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30,
2017)? Or will this winter sputter along like last winter,
leaving California with a second dry year and the possibility of
another potential drought? What can reliably be said about the
prospects for Water Year 2019?
At Water Year
2019: Feast or Famine?, a one-day event on Dec. 5 in Irvine,
water managers and anyone else interested in this topic will
learn about what is and isn’t known about forecasting
California’s winter precipitation weeks to months ahead, the
skill of present forecasts and ongoing research to develop
predictive ability.
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway
repairs.
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.
The Colorado River Basin is more
than likely headed to unprecedented shortage in 2020 that could
force supply cuts to some states, but work is “furiously”
underway to reduce the risk and avert a crisis, Bureau of
Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told an audience of
California water industry people.
During a keynote address at the Water Education Foundation’s
Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento, Burman said there is
opportunity for Colorado River Basin states to control their
destiny, but acknowledged that in water, there are no guarantees
that agreement can be reached.
Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.
And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.
We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop
of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad
sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and
climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs was the focus of this tour.
Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
Every day, people flock to Daniel
Swain’s social media platforms to find out the latest news and
insight about California’s notoriously unpredictable weather.
Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the
Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, famously coined the
term “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge” in December 2013 to describe
the large, formidable high-pressure mass that was parked over the
West Coast during winter and diverted storms away from
California, intensifying the drought.
Swain’s research focuses on atmospheric processes that cause
droughts and floods, along with the changing character of extreme
weather events in a warming world. A lifelong Californian and
alumnus of University of California, Davis, and Stanford
University, Swain is best known for the widely read Weather West blog, which provides
unique perspectives on weather and climate in California and the
western United States. In a recent interview with Western
Water, he talked about the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, its
potential long-term impact on California weather, and what may
lie ahead for the state’s water supply.
Atmospheric rivers are relatively
narrow bands of moisture that ferry precipitation across the
Pacific Ocean to the West Coast and are key to California’s
water
supply.
This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River
where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand
is growing from myriad sources — increasing population,
declining habitat, drought and climate change.
The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in
the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin
states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this
water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial
needs is the focus of this tour.
Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries
through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the
issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of
California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State
Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour
participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the
Oroville Dam spillway.
Participants of this tour snaked along the San Joaquin River to
learn firsthand about one of the nation’s largest and most
expensive river restoration projects.
The San Joaquin River was the focus of one of the most
contentious legal battles in California water history,
ending in a 2006 settlement between the federal government,
Friant Water Users Authority and a coalition of environmental
groups.
In a state with such topsy-turvy weather as California, the
ability of forecasters to peer into the vast expanse of the
Pacific Ocean and accurately predict the arrival of storms is a
must to improve water supply reliability and flood management
planning.
The problem, according to Jeanine Jones, interstate resources
manager with the state Department of Water Resources, is
that “we have been managing with 20th century
technology with respect to our ability to do weather
forecasting.”
Work crews repairing Oroville Dam’s damaged emergency spillway
are dumping 1,200 tons of rock each hour and using shotcrete to
stabilize the hillside slope, an official with the Department of
Water Resources told the California Water Commission today.
The pace of work is “round the clock,” said Kasey Schimke,
assistant director of DWR’s legislative affairs office.
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.
A hydrograph illustrates a type of activity of water during a
specific time frame. Salinity and acidity are sometimes measured,
but the most common types
are stage and discharge hydrographs. These graphs show how
surface water flow responds to fluxes in precipitation.
Prado Dam – built in 1941 in
response to the Santa Ana
River’s flood-prone past – separates the river into its
upper and lower watersheds. After the devastation of the
deadly Los
Angeles Flood of 1938 that impacted much of Southern
California, it became evident that flood protection was woefully
inadequate, prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
construct Prado Dam.
Contrary to popular belief, “100-Year Flood” does not refer to a
flood that happens every century. Rather, the term describes the
statistical chance of a flood of a certain magnitude (or greater)
taking place once in 100 years. It is also accurate to say a
so-called “100-Year Flood” has a 1 percent chance of occurring in
a given year, and those living in a 100-year floodplain have,
each year, a 1 percent chance of being flooded.
California’s seasonal weather is
influenced by El Niño and La Niña – temporary climatic conditions
that, depending on their severity, contribute to weather that is
wetter or drier than normal.
El Niño and La Niña episodes typically last nine to 12 months,
but some events may last for years. While their frequency can be
quite irregular, El Niño and La Niña events occur on average
every two to seven years. Typically, El Niño occurs more
frequently than La Niña, according to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
This 30-minute documentary, produced in 2011, explores the past,
present and future of flood management in California’s Central
Valley. It features stories from residents who have experienced
the devastating effects of a California flood firsthand.
Interviews with long-time Central Valley water experts from
California Department of Water Resources (FloodSAFE), U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood
Management Program and environmental groups are featured as they
discuss current efforts to improve the state’s 150-year old flood
protection system and develop a sustainable, integrated, holistic
flood management plan for the Central Valley.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster
should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
“Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an
earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks,
16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt
water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the
State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features
a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San
Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows
and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam
to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the
history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with
implementation.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to
Flood Management explains the physical flood control system,
including levees; discusses previous flood events (including the
1997 flooding); explores issues of floodplain management and
development; provides an overview of flood forecasting; and
outlines ongoing flood control projects.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an
excellent overview of the history of water development and use in
California. It includes sections on flood management; the state,
federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water
rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for
stretching the water supply such as water marketing and
conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a
section on the human need for water.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
explores the history and development of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery
system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes
the various CVP facilities, CVP operations, the benefits the CVP
brought to the state and the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect
gift for the water wonk in your life.
Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the
definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the
state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s
natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts
– including federally, state and locally funded
projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and
natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of
California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects,
wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the
text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water
projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado
River.
With the dual threats of obsolete levees and anticipated rising sea levels,
floodplains—low
areas adjacent to waterways that flood during wet years—are
increasingly at the forefront of many public policy and water
issues in California.
Adding to the challenges, many floodplains have been heavily
developed and are home to major cities such as Sacramento. Large
parts of California’s valleys are historic floodplains as well.
When people think of natural
disasters in California, they typically think about earthquakes.
Yet the natural disaster that residents are most likely to face
involves flooding, not fault lines. In fact, all 58 counties in
the state have declared a state of emergency from flooding at
least three times since 1950. And the state’s capital,
Sacramento, is considered one of the nation’s most flood-prone
cities. Floods also affect every Californian because flood
management projects and damages are paid with public funds.
Devastating floods are almost an annual occurrence in the West
and in California. With the anticipated sea level rise and other
impacts of a changing climate, particularly heavy winter rains,
flood management is increasingly critical in California.
Compounding the issue are human-made flood hazards such as levee
instability and stormwater runoff.
Flood forecasting allows flood control managers to predict,
with a high degree of accuracy, when local flooding is
likely to take place.
Forecasts typically use storm runoff data, reservoir levels and
releases to predict the rise in river levels.
In Northern California the National Weather Service, in
cooperation with the state’s California-Nevada River Forecast
Center in Sacramento, forecasts flooding.
Yolo Bypass occupies a historic floodplain between Davis and
Sacramento, California.
With the city of Sacramento and other area communities prone to
flooding, the 59,000-acre Yolo Bypass helps offset that risk
while also providing habitat for wildlife. Managed by
California’s Department of Water Resources and a part of the
Sacramento River Flood Control System, bypass boundaries are
defined by constructed levees. The huge floodway is three-miles
wide in some parts.
Liability for levee failure in California took a new turn after a
court ruling found the state liable for hundreds of millions of
dollars from the 1986 Linda Levee collapse in Yuba County. The
levee failure killed two people and destroyed or damaged about
3,000 homes.
The collapse also had long-term legal ramifications.
The Paterno Decision
California’s Supreme Court found that, “when a public entity
operates a flood management system built by someone else, it
accepts liability as if it had planned and built the system
itself.”
Dams have allowed Californians and others across the West to
harness and control water dating back to pre-European settlement
days when Native Americans had erected simple dams for catching
salmon.
This printed issue of Western Water This issue of Western Water
looks at climate change through the lens of some of the latest
scientific research and responses from experts regarding
mitigation and adaptation.
This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the
Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at
improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying
California’s long-term water supply reliability.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues
associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the
water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of
whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they
might be provided.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses several
flood-related issues, including the proposed Central Valley Flood
Protection Plan, the FEMA remapping process and the dispute
between the state and the Corps regarding the levee vegetation
policy.
Levees are one of those pieces of engineering that are never
really appreciated until they fail. California would not exist as
it does today were it not for the extensive system of levees,
weirs and flood bypasses that have been built through the years.
This printed copy of Western Water examines climate change –
what’s known about it, the remaining uncertainty and what steps
water agencies are talking to prepare for its impact. Much of the
information comes from the October 2007 California Climate Change
and Water Adaptation Summit sponsored by the Water Education
Foundation and DWR and the November 2007 California Water Policy
Conference sponsored by Public Officials for Water and
Environmental Reform.
This issue of Western Water examines the extent to
which California faces a disaster equal to or greater than the
New Orleans floods and the steps being taken to recognize and
address the shortcomings of the flood control system in the
Central Valley and the Delta, which is of critical importance
because of its role in providing water to 22 million people.
Complicating matters are the state’s skyrocketing pace of growth
coupled with an inherently difficult process of obtaining secure,
long-term funds for levee repairs and continued maintenance.
Is the devastating flooding that occurred in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast an ominous warning to
California? That’s the question policymakers are facing as they
consider how to best protect lives, property and the integrity of
the state’s water supply from the forces of raging floodwaters.
This issue of Western Water analyzes northern California’s
extensive flood control system – it’ history, current concerns,
the Paterno decision and how experts are re-thinking the concept
of flood management.
Some time in the next month or two, slight, temporal changes in
the upper atmosphere will augur the beginning of the rainy
portion of California’s Mediterranean climate. The high pressure
and sunny days should gradually give way to rain and snow,
replenishing the vast reservoir that is the state’s precious
water supply.
For many of us in northern California, some of the hope and
optimism that fills each New Year’s eve was shattered on New
Year’s Day 1997 when rain from a series of huge tropical storms
began dumping what would eventually be a total of 25 inches of
rain over the region in eight days. People were riveted to their
televisions as the disaster, which took 9 lives, unfolded.
