Today Californians face increased risks from flooding, water
shortages, unhealthy water quality, ecosystem decline and
infrastructure degradation. Many federal and state legislative
acts address ways to improve water resource management, ecosystem
restoration, as well as water rights settlements and strategies
to oversee groundwater and surface water.
Just as California is preparing its electrical grid to provide
90% clean energy by 2035, our state leaders must also look to
future investments in water infrastructure. The need for a safe
and reliable source of water will continue well into the
future, underscoring the need for investing in a modern
infrastructure system today. Much of California’s water
infrastructure system was constructed decades ago, and while
reliable, it is not infallible. On Sept. 6, the Metropolitan
Water District (MWD) of Southern California began emergency
repairs on its Upper Feeder pipeline, requiring millions of
Southern Californians to suspend outdoor watering for up to 15
days. -Written by Jennifer Capitolo, executive director
of the California Water Association, a leading trade
association that represents more than 90 regulated water
utilities across California serving more than 7 million
customers.
Thanks to a law in California signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this
past June, there could be much less plastic waste in
California within a decade, serving as a potential pilot for
this legislation being enacted elsewhere. The landmark
legislation requires that all packaging in the state
be compostable or recyclable by 2032, and sets guidelines for
increasing the levels of recycling of plastic packaging in the
state by the same year. By signing SB 54 into law, Newsom seeks
to hold polluters responsible, shifting the burden of
responsibility for plastic pollution from consumers to the
plastics industry.
The state kicked Madera County groundwater plans back for a
redo on Thursday, noting, in particular, that they had set
water levels so low it could endanger hundreds of domestic
wells. The plans also all but ignored ongoing damage to roads,
bridges and canals caused by sinking land, subsidence, opting
mostly to “monitor” the situation. That isn’t good enough,
according to Department of Water Resources staff, who reviewed
the Groundwater Sustainability Plans as part of the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act. SGMA requires over pumped aquifers
be brought into balance by 2040. The seven Madera subbasin
groundwater sustainability agencies, which submitted four
plans, now have 180 days to correct the problems and resubmit
their plans.
State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, on Wednesday declared the last
week of September as Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Week in
recognition of the rivers playing a critical role in the
state’s economy and environment. The proclaimed week will kick
off Sunday and was established from Senate Concurrent
Resolution 119. Dodd said the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Conservancy and Delta Protection Commission have both been
vital in protecting the expanse formed by the Sacramento and
San Joaquin rivers.
The clock is ticking for the Colorado River, but solutions on
how to save the river basin, which provides water to 40 million
people in seven states and Mexico, still appears to be elusive,
at least from the federal government. However, proposed
solutions are starting to bubble up through Colorado
agriculture’s community, including projects that received
funding to address drought this week from the Colorado Water
Conservation Board.
Arizona farmers this year benefitted from mitigation water that
otherwise would have cut their Central Arizona Project
irrigation deliveries to zero. They won’t be so fortunate next
year. When the Bureau of Reclamation issued its first-ever
Tier 1 restriction of Colorado River water from Lake Mead,
Arizona’s farmers faced the elimination of their surface water
supplies from the Central Arizona Project (CAP) for 2022. That
portion of CAP surface water, known as the “ag pool,” is part
of a 512,000-acre-foot cut Arizona faced under the restrictions
as part of the Drought Contingency Plan, an agreement designed
to preserve water in the Colorado River system.
Most parents take extra precautions to protect their children
from toxic chemicals — from locking cabinets of cleaning
supplies to scrutinizing ingredient labels. But some toxic
chemicals are near impossible to limit their exposure to.
California can change that. Perfluoroalkyl and
polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are a class of
over 9,000 industrial compounds that are added to
everyday products to repel stains, water or oil. … Commonly
referred to as “forever chemicals,” they do not break down in
the environment — ever. … According to the nonprofit
Environmental Working Group, these chemicals may be
contaminating the drinking water of up to 200 million
Americans.
-Written by Rebecca Fuoco, science communications
officer at the Green Science Policy Institute; and Arlene
Blum, founder and executive director of the Green Science
Policy Institute and a research associate in the Cell and
Molecular Biology Department at UC Berkeley.
Funding from Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly’s
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs law will be used to provide
more safe drinking water across the state. … Over
$32,000,000 will be provided towards Arizona projects through
the Environmental Protection Agency.
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein, both
Democrats, introduced legislation last Thursday to
formally recognize the Tule River Tribe’s reserved water
rights. Senate Bill 4870, which also quantifies the
amount of water from the south fork of the Tule River that
Tribe has rights to and provides up to $568 million in funding,
was referred to the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs. The legislation would finalize a
multi-decade effort by the Tule River Tribe to provide clean
drinking water As California and the West continue to
experience a historic megadrought, the bill would help provide
water security to Tule River citizens “now and for generations
to come,” Padilla said in a statement today.
Thirty-one years ago, supervisors in San Francisco passed a
landmark piece of legislation as a signal of the city’s
commitment to the environment and conserving water. Any
new buildings that were bigger than 40,000 square feet and
located in designated zones on the city’s west and east sides
would be required to have “purple pipes.” These pipes, which
are literally required to be the color purple, would be
installed to transport waste to a recycled water plant.
… Over the last three decades, San Francisco has seen
more than 70 structures go up with dual-plumbing systems that
separate potable from recycled water. … But there’s just
one problem. … San Francisco never built a recycled water
treatment plant for these buildings.
The Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) turns 30
this year. We asked three experts—Jeanne Brantigan of The
Nature Conservancy, Samantha Arthur of the National Audubon
Society, and Catherine Hickey of Point Blue Conservation
Science—to explain what the CVPIA is and why it’s so important
for birds. Can you explain a little bit about dedicating water
for wildlife refuges under CVPIA? When did it start, and why
has it been so significant for California? Samantha
Arthur: Congress passed the act in 1992. It recognized the
importance of the Central Valley’s rivers for migratory birds,
fish, and other wildlife—and the need to make protection and
restoration of fish and wildlife a coequal purpose of the
Central Valley Project (CVP), along with other uses, including
agricultural, municipal, industrial, and more.
Congress could kill the Delta tunnel. Under legislation
introduced by Congressman Josh Harder and co-sponsored by
Congressman John Garamendi, the Army Corps of Engineering would
be banned from issuing a required permit the state needs to
build the $16 billion Delta Conveyance project known simply as
the Delta Tunnel. The Corps has a pivotal role in the project
given the water that would be diverted is stored behind Shasta
Dam. Shasta Dam is part of the federally built and operated
Central Valley Project whose water is sold to the
Metropolitan Water District in the Los Angeles Basin as
well as large corporate farms in the western part of Kern
County and several Bay Area cities.
The battle for California’s water supply is scheduled to take
center stage at the nation’s capitol on Monday, as Central
Valley Congressman Josh Harder is set to take the strongest
step yet to stop the state’s proposed giant water tunnel from
gaining ground. … The Delta, fed by the Sacramento and San
Joaquin Rivers, collects and moves water to more than 27
million Californians and is vital to 750,000 acres of
farmland. A scaled-down single tunnel, which is supported
by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would bypass the central Delta and funnel
water south, which according to state officials, would
modernize aging water infrastructure.
A new study from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
Western States Water Council (WSWC) and Airborne Snow
Observatories, Inc. points the way to accelerating how
knowledge and technology are transferred to and from public
agencies and environmental organizations. … In this
latest paper, the team outlines a path for how to protect
environmental resources by not only offering technical
solutions, but by developing strategic relationships and
fostering a culture of organizational support. Two water case
studies – the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) and the
Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) – are used to highlight
how effective knowledge and technology transfer can be
done.
Severe drought continues to impact California, and many
residents need immediate relief. As summer winds down,
Northstate communities are battling the lowest water levels of
the year as is typically the case in September, and 2022 being
the driest year on record, in the 139 year history of data
keeping in Redding, has only exacerbated the problem. The
Shasta County Department of Resource Management received a
grant of over $2.4 million in July from the state Water
Resources Control Board to be used through 2024. Relief efforts
made possible by this grant include bottled water delivery,
well deepening, repairs and replacement.
Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide on a bill that would give
supplemental aid to farmworkers affected by a drought that is
taking a heavy toll on farms. Senate Bill 1066,
introduced by Valley Democrat Melissa Hurtado, passed the
Legislature and went to Newsom’s desk on Sept. 6. … The
California farmworkers drought resilience pilot project would
allocate $20 million in monthly cash payments of $1,000 for the
next three years for eligible farmworkers. With climate
change and natural disasters becoming more common, Hurtado
joined a group of legislators last year asking Gov. Newsom to
prioritize farmworkers in a guaranteed basic income pilot
program.
California has set an ambitious goal of protecting 30% of the
state’s lands and waters by 2030. We spoke with CalTrout’s
legal and policy director Redgie Collins about a promising but
underutilized tool that could help protect water bodies
throughout the state: The Outstanding Natural Resource Waters
(ONRW) designation. As Collins says, “You can designate all the
land you like, but in order to preserve any ecosystem,
freshwater is critical.” There’s a lot of interest in
identifying and protecting Outstanding National Resource Waters
in the West. What is this designation and what does it
accomplish? Is it the same as Wild and Scenic?
As temperatures took a turn for the sweltering last week,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of bills intended
to protect state residents from extreme heat. First up was
AB 1643, from possible future Assembly speaker Robert Rivas,
D-Salinas. It creates an advisory committee to study the
effects of extreme heat on workers, businesses and the economy.
Then there was AB 2238 from Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, D-Arleta,
to create a heat warning and ranking system akin to the one
used for measuring hurricanes.
Responding to concerns of Gov. Gavin Newsom and
environmentalists, the California Air Resources Board has
bolstered its climate roadmap with several new strategies,
including offshore wind development, climate-friendly housing
construction, cleaner aviation fuels and reducing miles
traveled. … The air board’s move to strengthen the
scoping plan builds off Newsom’s call for more stringent
climate measures that he pushed the Legislature to pass
before the session ended last week. The governor’s push for
more action to address climate change comes as the state faces
more extreme heat, drought and wildfires.
The California rice industry is trumpeting a support program to
help ag businesses suffering from drought. California Rice
Commission CEO Tim Johnson said the $75 million drought grant
program approved by the state legislature will help ag support
businesses that directly serve farmers. … California
rice growers planted about 250,000 acres of rice this year.
This is about half of what the industry typically plants each
year, Johnson said.
For a century, California’s San Joaquin Valley has been known
as “the food basket of the world.” The 27,500-square mile
region currently produces over $34 billion worth of food each
year, a productivity made possible only by its large-scale
irrigation projects and unrestrained groundwater pumping. In
2015, however, California passed the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), making it last Western
state to regulate its groundwater — and bringing the San
Joaquin Valley into compliance with the law will require
retiring over 500,000 acres of its farmland in the next 20
years. While SGMA’s regulations are for the greater good —
achieving sustainable water use in an increasingly
unpredictable climate — they are likely to have negative
effects on the ground.
In August 2022, the 2022 California legislative session closed
with various relevant legislative measures either moving to the
Governor’s desk for signature or failing in committee. Below is
a small highlight of relevant legislation concerning water
rights, agriculture, and local agency procedure. While certain
bills passed the California Legislature, they must now be
presented to Governor Newsom, who has until September 30th to
sign any of the bills passed below. … Bills That
Passed Out of the California Legislature: SB 1205 – Water
Availability Analyses … AB 1757 – Carbon Sequestration
… AB 2449 – Brown Act …
In mid-August, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans
to tackle the state’s ongoing water crisis. California is in
the midst of a drought, which some are now referring to as “the
end of the dream.” Water shortages in the West are
unfortunately becoming part of everyday life, thanks in large
part to climate change. Newsom’s plan appears to be moving the
state in the right direction by focusing on increasing the
supply of water available for residents’ wide-ranging purposes.
However, his administration should be doing more to leverage
the power of markets and market pricing, strategies noticeably
absent from new proposals. -Written by James Broughel, a senior research
fellow at the Mercatus Center.
Lower water levels at Lake Powell and rising temperatures in
the Colorado River are contributing to dangerously low
dissolved oxygen levels below Glen Canyon Dam, causing concern
for the health of the trout fishery located near Lees Ferry.
The Bureau of Reclamation works with the U.S. Geological Survey
to closely monitor water quality conditions and is working with
partners and stakeholders to better understand potential
effects. Fish native to the Colorado River, such as humpback
chub and razorback sucker, are generally located farther
downstream where low dissolved oxygen levels are remedied by
riffles and runs, which aerate the water.
California lawmakers punted on a proposal to rein in
agricultural groundwater pumping as drought continues to grip
California and more than a thousand domestic wells have run
dry. A bill by Assemblymember Steve Bennett, a
Democrat from Santa Barbara, would have added hurdles to obtain
a permit to drill an agricultural well. Though the bill cleared
the Senate on Monday, Bennett elected to not bring it up for a
final vote in the Assembly before the Legislative session timed
out Wednesday night. He said California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
office told him the bill was no longer viable because of
changes made.
At first glance, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new water supply strategy
might suggest the projects he is proposing will create about 7
million acre-feet of new water, but a closer reading shows
that’s not quite true. If every proposed storage facility is
built, and the proposed water recycling and desalination
projects are also eventually completed, Newsom’s water supply
strategy will add about half that much. Even so, his plan is
timely and much needed, but making it happen will require
unprecedented compromises from California’s powerful
environmentalist lobby. -Written by Edward Ring, co-founder of
the California Policy Center, a libertarian think tank,
and the author of “The Abundance Choice – Our Fight for
More Water in California.”
California, with an economy that ranks as the world’s
fifth-largest, embarked this week on its most aggressive effort
yet to confront climate change, after lawmakers passed a flurry
of bills designed to cut emissions and speed away from fossil
fuels. Legislators approved a record $54 billion in climate
spending and passed sweeping new restrictions on oil and gas
drilling as well as a mandate that California stop adding
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2045. … [A]s
record-breaking heat, drought and wildfires have battered the
state, [Gov. Gavin] Newsom has faced increasing pressure
to do more.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the National Center for
Atmospheric Research — the campus in Boulder that’s a hub for
scientists studying climate change and water — on Wednesday.
… she and Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse promoted Democrats’
recent climate and tax package. The new law… includes $4
billion for water conservation efforts along the Colorado
River. The aid comes as reservoirs on the river have dropped to
unheard-of levels, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has
announced cuts that will limit water supplies to some
lower-basin states and Mexico. Asked how the federal
government should intervene in the tense negotiations between
the watershed states, Pelosi stressed that Congress would look
to the states to lead the way.
California legislators passed the state’s most sweeping and
aggressive climate change package ever Wednesday night,
narrowly agreeing to the final pieces hours before they
adjourned for the year. They approved measures that will
require the state to become carbon-neutral by 2045, produce 90%
of its electricity from clean sources by 2035, create safety
zones around oil wells near homes and draft rules for carbon
capture technology, which aims to pull emissions from the air
and inject it underground.
New funding from the California Department of Water Resources
promises to help a struggling Tulare County town clean up its
water and turn on its taps. Tooleville, a rural community of
about 200 people at the base of the Sierra Nevada, has only
intermittently had water since its second well recently failed
– the latest victim of California’s intensifying megadrought.
… Even when the well produces water, it’s often contaminated
with unsafe levels of nitrates, a byproduct of nearby
agriculture cultivation that can reduce oxygen levels in the
blood.
California’s water affordability crisis has been simmering for
years as water rate increases have outpaced inflation,
rising 45% between 2007 and 2015 alone. By September 2021,
nearly 650,000 residential and 46,000
business accounts owed more than $315 million in unpaid
water and wastewater bills. Latino and Black
communities have been hit the hardest, with higher average
debt. About half a million account holders had their water shut
off for unpaid bills in 2019, according to state
data. California lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Monday and
Tuesday to offer assistance: A bill that creates a new
state program to help low-income Californians … pay
their water and sewage bills is now expected to be sent to Gov.
Gavin Newsom for his signature.
Over the past decade, California has gone from being the state
with the least groundwater regulation to adopting a law that
serves as an international model. How the state implements its
landmark groundwater law during California’s worst drought on
record could inform global climate change adaptation practices
for generations. The Golden State has one shot over the
course of the next 20 years to bring its depleted aquifers into
balance and achieve sustainability. Californians are counting
on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act to get the state
there. -Written by Samantha Arthur, working lands
program director at Audubon California; and Ngodoo Atume,
a water policy analyst at Clean Water Action. Arthur and
Atume serve on the Groundwater Leadership Forum.
The two-street town of Tooleville finally saw significant
progress in a decades-long quest for clean drinking water this
week when the state Department of Water Resources (DWR)
announced $7.2 million in funding for an interim connection
project. Tooleville will be hooked up to the nearby city of
Exeter’s water system, something advocates and Tooleville
residents have been asking for since the 2010s.
… Tooleville has been plagued by contaminated water for
decades. Most residents rely on bottled water. And the ongoing
drought has resulted in surrounding farmers pumping more
groundwater, dropping Tooleville’s water table and repeatedly
drying up its two aging community wells.
Millions of dollars in federal funding is beginning to flow
into the drought-stricken Klamath Basin that will be used for a
variety of projects to improve water quality, irrigation
efficiency and stabilize populations of endangered fish. The
U.S. Department of the Interior previously earmarked $162
million over five years for the basin. It comes from the $1.2
trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021. Officials
announced the rollout of $26 million Tuesday, Aug. 23, calling
it an “historic” investment for the region that has endured
decades of conflict over water management for farms, ranches
and several species of endangered fish.
The climate and social spending package boosted funding levels
for Western drought mitigation projects to an unprecedented
level — one that water advocates in the region say the U.S. may
never see again. But how the Interior Department decides
who gets what water from the dwindling resources in the
West, particularly in the Colorado River Basin that is
facing a drought crisis, could make or break the historic
funding, experts say. The budget reconciliation bill
signed Aug. 16 by President Joe Biden provides $4 billion
for Western drought and water projects.
California lawmakers are ratcheting up calls for “urgent
action” by the U.S. Justice Department to investigate potential
water crimes as the state battles “dire” supply shortages and
drought. The bipartisan group told U.S. Attorney General
Merrick Garland that, along with ongoing concern about possible
“drought profiteering” and water theft, worry is building that
“fraud and market manipulation” is constraining already
severely limited water availability. … [F]our state lawmakers
including Democratic Senator Melissa Hurtado and Republican
Assembly Member Suzette Valladares … raised concerns
that large landowners could be using questionable groundwater
data from private consulting firms to manipulate small farmers
into selling their land.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative Democrats had the opportunity
to alleviate the state’s twin crises of drought and wildfire by
including resources for ongoing funding, prescribed burning and
water storage in this year’s budget. These solutions are not
new, but they require political will. In light of the haunting
memories of past catastrophic wildfires, this year’s budget
will miss an opportunity. Sacramento failed to learn from its
past mistakes. The proposed budget provides $258 million – a
reduction from a proposed $1 billion – for wildfire prevention
and response efforts and $3 billion for drought, but lacks any
water storage commitment. Critical details are lacking, with
discussions ongoing. -Written by Vince Fong, a Republican representing
Bakersfield in the state Assembly.
This past month was a major setback for California’s diverse
freshwater ecosystems. Drought preparedness bill AB 2451,
representing real hope for water scarcity, likely failed, and
Governor Newsom introduced a Water Supply Strategy that is an
important step but inadequate for the protection of freshwater
ecosystems – especially in the face of the ongoing climate
crisis. Here at CalTrout, we balance the needs of fish, water,
and people. We recognize that the California we know and love
is a functionally altered landscape.
As part of ongoing efforts to help small communities address
water supply challenges amid extreme drought and build water
resilience for the future, the Department of Water Resources
(DWR) announced its eighth round of funding through the Small
Community Drought Relief Program. In coordination with the
State Water Resources Control Board, the program will provide
$40 million to 15 projects in Butte, Humboldt, Lake, Madera,
Mariposa, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, Sierra, Tehama,
Trinity, Tulare, Ventura and Yolo counties. Of the selected
projects, 12 will directly benefit disadvantaged communities to
implement long-term solutions such as pipeline replacement,
well installation, and infrastructure upgrades to improve water
resilience and water quality.
Pure Water Oceanside has been awarded a $9.9 million grant
following a recommendation by the office of U.S. Interior
Secretary Deb Haaland, it was announced Tuesday. The funding
will be awarded via the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART:
Title XVI WIIN Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects funding, a
statement from the city read. Oceanside is one of 25 applicants
named for this funding.
At a White House ceremony on Tuesday, President Biden signed
the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, fulfilling one of
the key promises of his campaign by committing unprecedented
federal resources to the fight against climate change. … The
IRA allocates $369 billion over 10 years for energy security
and climate relief, $64 billion for extending the Affordable
Care Act and $4 billion to address the water crisis in the
western states. … Other grant programs offer
billions to improve quality of life in these communities by
establishing urban forests and parks, for community resilience
and water supply projects in communities that lack reliable
domestic water supplies.
Sen. Mark Kelly relied on numbers to persuade key
Democrats this summer, including pivotal negotiator
Sen. Joe Manchin, to squeeze $4 billion more into the tax,
health, and climate bill to address severe drought in the
West. Kelly (D-Ariz.) and a handful of other Western
senators knew they needed upwards of $5 billion in the package
for drought, but the starting point in negotiations was $1
billion. The former astronaut and naval aviator had to explain
to some of his colleagues that “the math just didn’t work,” he
said in an interview last week. … Along with fellow
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Colorado’s Michael
Bennet, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Kelly
ultimately secured $4 billion in the package (Public Law
117-169), which President Joe Biden signed earlier this week.
Gubernatorial administrations since Arnold Schwarzenegger have
prioritized the battle against climate change. We’ve taken
issue with the costs and effectiveness of many of those
policies, but our biggest beef has centered on the issue of
resilience. California can do little to change the entire
Earth’s climate, but it can enable the state to adapt and
become resilient in the face of warming conditions. That
concept is particularly crucial when it comes to the
availability of water, which is the lifeblood of our society —
especially given our generally arid conditions.
On a tour of increasingly parched California on Thursday, U.S.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited a water recycling
project in Irvine to tout her department’s allocation of more
than $310 million to combat a western “megadrought” fueled
largely by climate change. Joined by Rep. Katie Porter
(D-Irvine) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille
Calimlim Touton, Haaland stood before heavy equipment at the
Syphon Reservoir Improvement Project and said she felt
“overjoyed” to announce the funding of 25 water recycling
projects, 20 of which are in California…. Another water
official, however, voiced frustration over how the federal
government awarded assistance, and said there needed to be a
“new paradigm” for grants in the face of recurring drought.
Environmental justice groups today applauded California
Governor Gavin Newsom’s action on health and safety buffer
zones for oil and gas wells while at the same time warning that
the Governor’s overreliance on carbon capture will lock in
fossil fuel infrastructure. Governor Newsom has asked the state
legislature to end neighborhood oil drilling as part of a
climate package he’s aiming to pass before the end of the
year’s legislative session on August 31, according to a
press statement from VISION (Voices in Solidarity Against Oil
in Neighborhoods), a coalition of climate
and environmental justice groups.
Northern California is home to nearly four million people, from
downtown Sacramento to mountain towns to small farming
communities. Of those four million, approximately 600,000 are
living in disadvantaged communities. For the past decade, the
Legislature and Governor have implemented various policies to
support disadvantaged communities in California, ensuring these
communities have access to reliable, clean water when they turn
on the tap. This dynamic was particularly vivid with the
recognition of a Human Right to Water (HR2W) in 2012, making
California the first state to enact legislation recognizing
“safe, clean, affordable, and accessible” water as a human
right.
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.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Groundwater provides about 40
percent of the water in California for urban, rural and
agricultural needs in typical years, and as much as 60 percent in
dry years when surface water supplies are low. But in many areas
of the state, groundwater is being extracted faster than it can
be replenished through natural or artificial means.
The bill is coming due, literally,
to protect and restore groundwater in California.
Local agencies in the most depleted groundwater basins in
California spent months putting together plans to show how they
will achieve balance in about 20 years.
Our Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the workshop was held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23.
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.
The Water Education Foundation’s Water 101 Workshop, one of our most popular events, offered attendees the opportunity to deepen their understanding of California’s water history, laws, geography and politics.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the state, the one-day workshop held on Feb. 20, 2020 covered the latest on the most compelling issues in California water.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona
governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful,
provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most
high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including
groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of
California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former
California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to
work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and
the Delta tunnels plan.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Low-income Californians can get help with their phone bills, their natural gas bills and their electric bills. But there’s only limited help available when it comes to water bills.
That could change if the recommendations of a new report are implemented into law. Drafted by the State Water Resources Control Board, the report outlines the possible components of a program to assist low-income households facing rising water bills.
One of our most popular events, our annual Water 101 Workshop
details the history, geography, legal and political facets
of water in California as well as hot topics currently facing the
state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop on Feb. 7 gave attendees a
deeper understanding of the state’s most precious natural
resources.
Optional Groundwater Tour
On Feb. 8, we jumped aboard a bus to explore groundwater, a key
resource in California. Led by Foundation staff and groundwater
experts Thomas
Harter and Carl Hauge, retired DWR chief hydrogeologist, the
tour visited cities and farms using groundwater, examined a
subsidence measuring station and provided the latest updates
on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
McGeorge School of Law
3327 5th Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95817
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.
Spurred 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.
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.
One of our most popular events, Water 101 details the history,
geography, legal and political facets of water in California
as well as hot topics currently facing the state.
Taught by some of the leading policy and legal experts in the
state, the one-day workshop gives attendees a deeper
understanding of the state’s most precious natural resource.
McGeorge School of Law
3285 5th Ave, Classroom C
Sacramento, CA 95817
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.
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.”
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.
As part of the historic Colorado
River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for
thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below
sea level.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act sets standards for drinking
water quality in the United States.
Launched in 1974 and administered by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the Safe Drinking Water Act oversees states,
communities, and water suppliers who implement the drinking water
standards at the local level.
The act’s regulations apply to every public water system in the
United States but do not include private wells serving less than
25 people.
According to the EPA, there are more than 160,000 public water
systems in the United States.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at some of
the pieces of the 2009 water legislation, including the Delta
Stewardship Council, the new requirements for groundwater
monitoring and the proposed water bond.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at California
groundwater and whether its sustainability can be assured by
local, regional and state management. For more background
information on groundwater please refer to the Foundation’s
Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking,” in California. Much of the information
in the article was presented at a conference hosted by the
Groundwater Resources Association of California.
This issue of Western Water looks at the political
landscape in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento as it relates to
water issues in 2007. Several issues are under consideration,
including the means to deal with impending climate change, the
fate of the San Joaquin River, the prospects for new surface
storage in California and the Delta.
This printed issue of Western Water examines water
infrastructure – its costs and the quest to augment traditional
brick-and-mortar facilities with sleeker, “green” features.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
This printed issue of Western Water discusses low
impact development and stormwater capture – two areas of emerging
interest that are viewed as important components of California’s
future water supply and management scenario.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A
Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues related to complex water management
disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances
Fisher.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes
extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of
dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern
day issues.
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.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to
Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of
California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the
authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a
faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of
California water rights.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides
background information on water rights, types of transfers and
critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in
1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on
groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River
transfers and the role of private companies in California’s
developing water market.
Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced
fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.
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 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Groundwater is an in-depth,
easy-to-understand publication that provides background and
perspective on groundwater. The guide explains what groundwater
is – not an underground network of rivers and lakes! – and the
history of its use in California.
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.
For more than 30 years, the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta has been embroiled in continuing controversy over the
struggle to restore the faltering ecosystem while maintaining its
role as the hub of the state’s water supply.
Lawsuits and counter lawsuits have been filed, while
environmentalists and water users continue to clash over
the amount of water that can be safely exported from the region.
Passed in 1970, the federal National Environmental Policy Act
requires lead public agencies to prepare and submit for public
review environmental impact reports and statements on major
federal projects under their purview with potentially significant
environmental effects.
According to the Department of Energy, administrator of NEPA:
California has considered, but not implemented, a comprehensive
groundwater strategy many
times over the last century.
One hundred years ago, the California Conservation Commission
considered adding groundwater regulation into the Water
Commission Act of 1913. After hearings were held, it was
decided to leave groundwater rights out of the Water Code.
Federal reserved rights were created when the United States
reserved land from the public domain for uses such as Indian
reservations, military bases and national parks, forests and
monuments. [See also Pueblo Rights].
The federal government passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973,
following earlier legislation. The first, the Endangered
Species Preservation Act of 1966, authorized land acquisition to
conserve select species. The Endangered Species Conservation Act
of 1969 then expanded on the 1966 act, and authorized “the
compilation of a list of animals “threatened with worldwide
extinction” and prohibits their importation without a permit.”
California’s Legislature passed the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1972, following the passage of the
federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act by Congress in 1968. Under
California law, “[c]ertain rivers which possess extraordinary
scenic, recreational, fishery, or wildlife values shall be
preserved in their free-flowing state, together with their
immediate environments, for the benefit and enjoyment of the
people of the state.”
The legal term “area-of-origin” dates back to 1931 in California.
At that time, concerns over water transfers prompted enactment of
four “area-of-origin” statutes. With water transfers from
Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water for San Francisco
and from Owens Valley to Los Angeles fresh in mind, the statutes
were intended to protect local areas against export of water.
In particular, counties in Northern California had concerns about
the state tapping their water to develop California’s supply.
It would be a vast understatement to say the package of water
bills approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger last November was anything but a
significant achievement. During a time of fierce partisan battles
and the state’s long-standing political gridlock with virtually
all water policy, pundits at the beginning of 2009 would have
given little chance to lawmakers being able to reach compromise
on water legislation.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most
significant environmental laws in American history, the Clean
Water Act (CWA). The law that emerged from the consensus and
compromise that characterizes the legislative process has had
remarkable success, reversing years of neglect and outright abuse
of the nation’s waters.
In January, Mary Nichols joined the cabinet of the new Davis
administration. With her appointment by Gov. Gray Davis as
Secretary for Resources, Ms. Nichols, 53, took on the role of
overseeing the state of California’s activities for the
management, preservation and enhancement of its natural
resources, including land, wildlife, water and minerals. As head
of the Resources Agency, she directs the activities of 19
departments, conservancies, boards and commissions, serving as
the governor’s representative on these boards and commissions.
Two days before our annual Executive Briefing, I picked up my
phone to hear “The White House calling… .” Vice President Al
Gore had accepted the foundation’s invitation to speak at our
March 13 briefing on California water issues. That was the start
of a new experience for us. For in addition to conducting a
briefing for about 250 people, we were now dealing with Secret
Service agents, bomb sniffing dogs and government sharpshooters,
speech writers, print and TV reporters, school children and
public relations people.
