In general, regulations are rules or laws designed to control or
govern conduct. Specifically, water quality regulations under the
federal and state Clean Water Act “protect the public health or
welfare, enhance the quality of water and serve the purposes of
the Act.”
As implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
(SGMA) gets underway, questions are emerging about what it will
mean for lands protected under the Williamson Act, California’s
chief farmland preservation policy. For nearly 60 years, the
Williamson Act has helped protect 16 million acres—roughly half
of the state’s crop- and rangelands—from development. But as
SGMA’s limitations on groundwater extraction go into effect—and
as warmer, more intense droughts begin to push land out of
irrigation–the context within which the program operates is
shifting. In July, we gathered a group of agriculture, solar,
and county stakeholders to explore the interplay between the
Williamson Act and SGMA in the San Joaquin Valley. Here is what
we learned.
Drought-pummeled lawns across Los Angeles County will be a
little bit thirstier for 15 days in September when officials
suspend outdoor watering in several areas to repair a leaking
pipeline, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California announced Monday. The emergency repair will shut
down the 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline — which delivers water
from the Colorado River to Southern California — from Sept. 6
to 20, the MWD said. The leak was discovered this year, and the
pipeline has been operating at reduced capacity under a
temporary fix while officials designed a more permanent
solution.
Where does the water go? The Kern River’s abrupt stop,
practically mid-channel, can be jarring. The full river
suddenly goes dry just outside Bakersfield leaving a dusty
channel snaking through the heart of town. Why? Where does all
that water go? Who owns it? How does it all work? Our video
project, “Law of the River,” answers those questions and
more as we look at the river’s history, how it operates, who
owns the water and what the future may hold. This is the
first in a series of videos that will look at each stop along
the way for Kern River flows.
This year, 45 separate bills were introduced in the California
State Legislature aimed at amending the California
Environmental Quality Act. The sudden enthusiasm for changing
CEQA appears to stem from the recent controversy related to UC
Berkeley enrollment that erroneously blamed our state’s
landmark environmental law for the university’s poor planning.
… CEQA has also protected our region’s natural treasure,
the San Francisco Bay itself, from being filled. In 2001,
environmental review led the Board of Supervisors to reject a
proposed runway expansion at SFO after analysis showed it would
cause extensive harm to the Bay. -Written by Aaron Peskin, San Francisco District 3
Supervisor and member of the Bay Conservation and Development
Commission and the San Francisco Bay Restoration
Authority.
The graphic below seems to apply to any bureaucracy, with
larger bureaucracies showing this tendency more strongly.
In this vortex conception of management, one can often make
more progress from the periphery than from the center of power.
The center spins rapidly, always changing directions, but
moving little in space. Those in the periphery can go a
greater distance. Being in the center is more exciting
and prestigious, but not necessarily more productive. This
analogy came to me while working in the Washington, DC area,
where I encountered an abundance of very smart hard-working
people, who seemed to accomplish little due to opposition from
a high density of very smart hard-working people. Almost all
innovations in water and water management come from the
periphery.
Jared Blumenfeld, California’s top environmental regulator and
a key climate adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom, will leave the
administration at the end of the month, Newsom announced
Friday. Newsom, a Democrat, appointed Blumenfeld as secretary
of the California Environmental Protection Agency on his first
day in office in 2019. Blumenfeld will become president of the
Waverley Street Foundation, a $3 billion climate initiative
funded by Laurene Powell Jobs. As head of the state’s
environmental agency, he was responsible for departments that
regulate air pollution, water use, recycling, toxic substances,
pesticides, environmental health hazards like extreme heat.
Erin Brockovich made her name decades ago as an environmental
activist who exposed corporate wrongdoing that polluted
drinking water. So she felt a bit defensive when a television
reporter asked how her name landed on a list of water guzzlers
during a dire California drought. At one point last year, she
received a $1,700 bill for two months of water and fines. Ms.
Brockovich ultimately decided she had to get rid of her lawn, a
central part of the backyard oasis she had built over more than
two decades living in Agoura Hills, a suburb of large homes
with immaculate yards about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los
Angeles. She replaced 3,100 square feet of grass with high-tech
artificial turf.
Marin officials might amend the county’s general plan to permit
denser housing in environmentally sensitive areas and areas
lacking water and sewer service. The Board of Supervisors and
the Planning Commissioners held a joint meeting Tuesday to
discuss changes to the general plan to allow more housing. The
county is under a state mandate to zone for 3,569 more
residences in the unincorporated areas over eight years,
beginning in 2023. The general plan allows development to occur
only at the lowest end of the density range in the Ridge and
Upland Greenbelt, the Baylands Corridor, areas with sensitive
habitat and areas without water or sewer connections.
In an opinion published on July 27, 2022, the First District
Court of Appeal considered the application of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to a public agency’s
administration of annual water allocations pursuant to an
established authority. The appellate court reviewed the grant
of a writ petition filed by the County of Mono and the Sierra
Club (collectively, “County”), who sought to require the City
of Los Angeles (City) to comply with CEQA before reducing
deliveries of irrigation water to certain lands leased by
agricultural operators in Mono County.
Western states that rely on the Colorado River Basin for their
water supplies face a Tuesday deadline to tell the Bureau of
Reclamation how they plan to cut back during the crushing
drought that has shrunk the river. But as that date nears, the
consequences for failure remain a key unknown. Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Touton announced in June that states in
the Colorado River Basin need to propose how to conserve
between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet of water before a
mid-August deadline, when the agency releases its 24-month
projections for water levels in lakes Powell and Mead…
With California enduring historic drought amplified by global
warming, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday released a new plan to
adapt to the state’s hotter, drier future by capturing and
storing more water, recycling more wastewater and desalinating
seawater and salty groundwater. The governor’s new water-supply
strategy, detailed in a 16-page document, lays out a series of
actions aimed at preparing the state for an estimated 10%
decrease in California’s water supply by 2040 because of higher
temperatures and decreased runoff. The plan focuses on
accelerating infrastructure projects, boosting conservation and
upgrading the state’s water system to keep up with the
increasing pace of climate change.
You can now register for the in-person return of the
Foundation’s 38th annual Water
Summit, a one-day conference highlighting the
latest information and perspectives on water resources in
California and the West. The event includes an evening
reception along California’s largest and longest river, the
Sacramento River, for an opportunity to network with speakers
and other attendees from a variety of backgrounds. Find more
details about our Water Summit along with our fall tours and
Water Leaders Alum Reunion.
The next “big thing” in California water development may not be
soaring 300-foot high dams. Instead, it may be intentionally
diverting winter storm runoff to flood almond orchards
northeast of Ripon and vineyards near Manteca and similar
permanent cropland throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Proactive
recharging of groundwater using California’s immense acreage of
permanent crops such as almond orchards and grape vineyards
could emerge as a pivotal and critical component of a plan to
meet water demands as well as address hydrology patterns
expected to be modified by climate change.
The Glenn Groundwater Authority (GGA) is encouraging residents
to conserve water at home, work and on the farm to help the
local groundwater basin. … The GGA is the Groundwater
Sustainability Agency managing the Glenn County portion of the
Colusa Subbasin, which covers the area generally south of Stony
Creek, east of the coast ranges, west of the Sacramento River,
and north of the Glenn-Colusa County line.
Michael Jones ducked under an idle sprinkler and strode across
the sandy soil where he planned to plant drought-resistant
crops, hoping to save water amid the driest period in more than
1,200 years. … A company known as Renewable Water Resources
(RWR) aims to drill a series of deep wells on a nearby ranch it
owns and pipe the water more than 200 miles north to a Denver
suburb, where sprinklers rotate on manicured lawns. The
firm recently sought $10 million from Douglas County to
kickstart its project. … If the state engineer’s office,
its water court, and federal regulators were to approve RWR’s
plan, it would mark the first time that private investors could
ship water from an aquifer in one part of the state to a
community in another.
[At the California State University Monterey Bay’s student
union] Chants of “No Cal Am, save our water,” could be heard
from the parking lot, as around 50 people representing or
supporting the grassroots organization, Citizens for Just
Water, protested outside the building before the meeting
started. Tensions were equally high inside, as residents
shouted over Cal Am representatives, criticizing them and the
proposed desalination project. But despite the agitation, Cal
Am’s Manager of External Affairs Josh Stratton said the
public’s vocal frustration was exactly what the organization
was expecting when they decided to hold the forum.
On Wednesday, Kern’s Congressmen Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield)
and David Valadao (R-Hanford) sent a letter to the Interior
Secretary requesting documents related to her review of the
2019 Biological Opinions. The opinions determined operations
for the Central Valley Project and California State Water
Project did not jeopardize endangered species. Valadao
noted if the review ended with a reversal of the decision, it
would be detrimental for our local economy and Valley farmers.
On Monday, Republican members of Congress continued their fight
when it comes to the biological opinions that help determine
water deliveries from the federal Central Valley Project and
State Water Project, sending a letter to Secretary of the
Interior Deb Haaland expressing their “grave concerns” over the
process to reconsider those biological opinions. The California
Republican Congressional delegation said the reconsultation
process of 2019 biological opinions developed by the Trump
administration will decrease the amount of water delivered to
the San Joaquin Valley.
In another promising sign that residents are taking calls for
conservation to heart, Angelenos in July achieved an 11%
reduction in water use — more than any other July on record,
officials announced this week. The report from the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power comes as drought continues to sap
supplies across the region. But while July’s conservation
surpassed the record 9% reduction achieved in L.A. in June,
officials urged residents to keep going.
A major hiccup during the early construction stages of San
Diego’s Pure Water sewage recycling system will cost the city
at least $20 million — and potentially much more if it delays
completion of the interdependent system’s other key components.
Constant flooding of a site off Morena Boulevard where a
contractor is trying to build a large sewage-pump station has
forced the contractor to halt work while city officials make
plans to build a large dam-like structure around the area being
flooded. The need to build the dam not only will delay
construction of the pump station and swell its cost from $110
million to $130 million. … The additional costs may be
passed on to the city’s 275,000 sewer and water
ratepayers
Officers in rural Siskiyou County, fueled by racial prejudice
and drug fear-mongering, are stopping the county’s small
population of Asian American drivers at 12 times the rate of
other drivers, according to a new lawsuit in federal court.
County supervisors are also restricting Asian American
residents’ access to water and illegally placing liens on their
property, in a policy “designed to drive a disfavored racial
minority from the county,” the suit said. It was filed
Wednesday in Sacramento by the American Civil Liberties Union
and Asian Americans Advancing Justice as a proposed class
action on behalf of the county’s 1,200 Asian American
residents.
The San Joaquin Valley is California’s largest agricultural
region, but it’s facing an uncertain future. A combination of
persistent drought and the rollout of California’s Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act will increase regional water
scarcity in the coming decades. Water scarcity will have a
major effect on land use: At least half a million acres are
projected to come out of irrigated production in the San
Joaquin Valley by 2040. This raises a thorny question: What
happens to all this newly fallowed land? -Written by Andrew Ayres, a research fellow of
the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center;
and Caitlin Peterson, associate director of the
Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center.
Poseidon Resources, the company that built and operates the
Carlsbad seawater desalination plant, is in violation of its
California Coastal Commission permit for the restoration of
wetlands habitat at the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in
South San Diego Bay. A permit the commission approved April 30,
2021, required Poseidon to start the restoration work by Oct.
30, 2021, according to a staff report prepared for next week’s
Coastal Commission meeting. The work has not started, although
it is on track to begin this fall.
The prospect of being sent to California’s “groundwater cop”
strikes dread in the hearts of most water managers. But for
John Vidovich, having the Tulare Lake subbasin come under the
glare of the State Water Resources Control Board may be the
only way to end an irrigation practice by the J.G. Boswell
Company that he says is wasteful, abusive and contributing to
the sinking of an entire town. Boswell, which has not responded
to requests for comment, pumps large amounts of groundwater
into massive shallow ponds for later irrigation, something
Vidovich, who runs Sandridge Partners, has complained about for
years.
Tribal leaders stood proudly in front of a row
of flags from the 10 Indigenous communities whose
lands converge with the Colorado River. They spoke about their
status as equal players in the future of the Colorado and the
role they will play in the high-stakes negotiations to set
new management protocols for the river that more than
40 million people depend upon for their lives and livelihoods.
… They were part of tribal delegations
from throughout the Colorado River Basin gathered in Las
Vegas in December 2021 during the annual meeting of
the Colorado River Water Users Association.
The federal government, multiple states and a slew of
conservation groups are urging a California federal judge not
to pause his ordering vacating Trump-era Endangered
Species Act regulations …
As a native of the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs where it
hardly ever rains, Joaquin Esquivel has always known that water
is precious. His uncle often took him to the Salton Sea, and he
had family served by a well. He carries that respect for
the resource as chair of California’s State Water Resources
Control Board. … At the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom,
who declared a drought last year, the board has adopted
emergency regulations requiring residents to cut back water
use, such as turning off fountains and not watering decorative
grass at commercial sites.
State officials have denied a request by Southern California
municipal water districts for more water to mitigate wildfire
risk. The agencies had worked with the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California to ask the California
Department of Water Resources to allocate 26,300 more acre-feet
of water under the health-and-safety exception to drought
rules, using the rationale that the exception should include
supplies to reduce wildfire hazards by irrigating vegetation in
high-risk areas. … Residents and officials should reduce
risk by hardening structures with fire-resistant materials,
creating defensible space and putting in place fuel management
programs, the letter recommended.
Adam Wraight pulled a blue sewage “warning” sign out of the
sand near Imperial Beach Pier on Thursday morning, replacing it
with the more ominous yellow and red placard telling beachgoers
that waters were officially closed. … Shorelines from
the border up through Coronado were closed to swimming Thursday
as the result of a pipeline that ruptured in Tijuana near
Smuggler’s Gulch over the weekend. Sewage has been spilling
over the border into the river’s estuary for days, but it’s
just now making its way to the ocean and floating up the coast
on surging northward currents.
A California state agency didn’t waive its permitting authority
over four hydroelectric projects when it allowed the project
developers to withdraw water quality certification applications
that didn’t comply with state law …
Several hundred ranchers, grape growers, tribes, landowners and
community water suppliers, including the city of Healdsburg,
were barred Friday from exercising some of their rights to
water from the Russian River amid tightening supplies in an
unrelenting drought officials say is likely to get worse. The
third round of curtailments imposed by the State Water Resource
Control Board was prompted by drastic reductions in Eel River
water diversions, which are critical to boosting diminishing
storage in Lake Mendocino, which in turn feeds the Russian
River. The water board also formally suspended a new voluntary
sharing arrangement that allowed some of those with older,
“senior” water rights to share water with those whose rights
have been curtailed.
Water is the lifeblood in the parched San Joaquin Valley,
sustaining endless acres of trees, seeds and pastures that feed
a hungry nation. But a controversial pipeline sits empty, as
dry as dust, caught in an angry feud between two of
California’s largest land barons, Silicon Valley developer and
farmer John Vidovich and Pasadena-based longtime cotton king
J.G. Boswell Company. Vidovich needs the pipe to move water.
The Boswell Company wants it blocked, saying it threatens the
company’s own water supplies, which run through a canal over
the pipeline’s underground route.
The shell of the “All American,” an 85-foot boat that went up
in flames in June, floated in an industrial area of the
Sacramento River for the last six weeks with no one to claim
it. On Wednesday morning, the ship finally left the river. A
barge loaded with construction equipment moored beside the boat
and began dismantling it, ripping off pieces of wood to be
transported to a waste facility. Sacramento County leaders hope
that extraction marks just the beginning of their new push to
clear the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of dozens of abandoned
boats cluttering up waterways … and are asking state
lawmakers pass a bill that would set aside $25 million to seed
the cleanup work.
Small Valley communities are drying up. The latest town to find
itself waterless is Tooleville, east of Exeter on Highway 65.
In the middle of July, with temperatures soaring and the
intense Valley summer in full swing, residents of the town
found the well they rely on was delivering just a dribble where
it was working at all. With the aid of Self-Help Enterprises,
the town is now dependent on a pair of water tanks and costly
daily deliveries of trucked-in water.
For four years, thousands of soil samples and paint chips taken
from homes, schools, parks and parkways near the former Exide
battery facility have been stored inside shipping containers at
a Superfund site. Without consulting local officials or
residents, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control
transported the samples to the Stringfellow facility, an Inland
Empire quarry that once served as an industrial dumping ground
— one that leaked toxic chemicals into groundwater and soil
over several decades.
As I wrote this, news arrived that Sen. Joe Manchin — the
coal-loving Democrat from West Virginia — finally agreed to
support a climate bill that would potentially cut
planet-warming emissions by some 40% by 2030. It will be a huge
step forward (fossil fuel-friendly provisions aside) if it
makes it through Congress, but it won’t do much to ease the
West’s desiccation anytime soon. That gives the collective
users of the region’s water no choice but to cut our
consumption, and fast. -Written by Jonathan Thompson, a contributing
editor at High Country News and author
of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became
the Battlefront of American Public Lands.
Knowing they are targets, farmers in southern Arizona and
California who receive irrigation water from the Colorado River
are discussing a plan that could go a long way toward meeting a
federal conservation mandate in the drying basin. With key
reservoirs Mead and Powell at record lows and despite the
continued decline of the Salton Sea, federal officials are
demanding historic cuts in water use next year, on the order of
2 million to 4 million acre-feet, or roughly one-third of the
river’s recent annual flow.
Los Angeles residents have continued to reduce water usage at a
steady pace to offset a historic drought, and those efforts
appear to be working, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
officials said at a council committee meeting Thursday.
Officials projected an 11% reduction in water use for the month
of July compared to the previous two Julys. That topped a 9%
reduction in the month of June, the lowest water use for any
June in Los Angeles since 1970. The report updating water
supply conditions and drought response actions was presented to
the Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and River
Committee on Thursday.
A proposed fee system to manage irrigated land in Madera County
has sparked a successful protest, leaving one groundwater
agency unfunded and at least one farmer claiming the process
was done with minimal notice. … Three newly formed
groundwater sustainable agencies — Chowchilla Subbasin, the
Madera Subbasin and the Delta Mendota Subbasin — are left with
no funding for four ongoing groundwater projects required under
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. It’s the
County of Madera that oversees the land, said Stephanie
Anagnason, director of water and natural resources for Madera
County.
EPA is poised to announce a new rule that would require states
to oversee more than 1,000 water utilities’ cybersecurity
plans, according to a top White House official. Anne Neuberger,
deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging
technology, said at an event hosted by the Center for a New
American Security that EPA will be issuing a rule “shortly” to
expand the regular reviews to include cybersecurity as threats
at facilities mount across the country.
The Public Policy Institute of California is sparking new
conversations around innovative alternatives to keep farmland
in production and avoid devastating environmental and health
impacts from fallowing as much as a million acres of land under
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. PPIC has embarked
on the first major research endeavor to investigate options for
keeping farmers farming and for the complex policymaking needed
to finance and expedite a suite of farming practices and
regulatory restructuring. The hope is it would build some
flexibility into California’s highly specialized agricultural
system.
Rural residents in Tulare County are more likely to be exposed
to harmful water than a third of the state’s population and the
State Water Board has been slow to flow funds into areas to fix
failing water systems. A report by the California State Auditor
last month revealed Tulare County was among nine counties in
the state that represented almost 90% of Californians
vulnerable to water systems with poor water quality.
The San Joaquin Valley is California’s agricultural heartland
and at the center of the state’s water challenges. As the
region brings its groundwater basins into balance under the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), over half a
million acres of irrigated farmland may need to come out of
production. At a virtual event last week, PPIC researchers and
a panel of local experts moderated by Ellen Hanak, director of
the PPIC Water Policy Center, discussed how to manage this
massive transition while reaping the greatest benefits from
idled land and mitigating air quality concerns.
The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority in eastern Kern
County has signed a “letter of intent” to buy the rights to 750
acre feet of state water for $6,396,000 from a State Water
Project contractor in Kings County. The purchase is part of the
authority’s plan to bring that overdrafted groundwater basin
into balance. The seller is Utica J.L.J. LLC, which purchased
the Jackson Ranch and is developing a truck stop and industrial
center on 400 acres at Utica Avenue and Interstate 5, just
south of Kettleman City.
California counties can’t seek to unwind a state-federal
settlement of a lawsuit over hydroelectric licensing at the
US’s largest earthen dam, but they can challenge the adequacy
of a report a state agency uses without running afoul of
federal law preemption, a divided California Supreme Court
ruled Monday. In so doing, the justices in part reversed an
appellate ruling that the Federal Power Act preempts state
court challenges to an environmental impact report conducted to
comply with the federal Clean Water Act. … Concerns
about the Oroville Dam’s stability were magnified following a
spectacular failure of the dam’s spillway after heavy rains in
2017, which led to evacuations downstream.
The owner of an aging gas-fired power plant along California’s
southern coast won’t be required to pay fines for some water
pollution it causes through 2023, state water officials voted
Tuesday. The Redondo Beach Generating Station is one of four
coastal power plants that were set to close in 2020 but had
their operating lives extended to 2023. The state is keeping
them open in an effort to avoid power blackouts on hot summer
days when there may not be enough renewable energy available as
people crank up their air conditioners.
On January 28, 2022, the Department released eight Incomplete
determinations on groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs)
developed by local agencies to meet the requirements of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). These basins
were given 180 days to address deficiencies and resubmit their
revised GSPs to the Department for review. The revised
GSPs in response to the Incomplete determination have
been resubmitted to the Department and are now posted
on the DWR
SGMA Portal. These plans are open to public comment for 60
days after the posted date.
In case you missed the memo: Glossy green lawns fed by
sprinklers arcing water into the sky just don’t work anymore in
these days of lingering drought. … Water districts are
offering rebates for removing lawns, but many won’t give you
money for installing artificial turf (which keeps water from
flowing into the ground, potentially killing trees and
beneficial micro-organisms in the soil) or a bunch of rocks and
a couple of cacti. Instead, you must include drought-tolerant
plants and an efficient way to keep them watered, such as drip
irrigation.
As California’s prolonged drought continues, the State is at a
crossroads. Recent headlines have been dominated
by devastating wildfires and a growing number of the
State’s poorest communities without water. These
catastrophic conditions demand answers and solutions from our
leaders. … With the cost of living continuing to climb,
the San Joaquin Valley’s most vibrant sector – agriculture –
cannot continue to feed our communities, state, nation, or the
world, if we do not have the most basic resource necessary to
grow food, water. -Written by William Bourdeau, executive vice
president of Harris Farms, director of the Westlands Water
District, and chairman of the Valley Future
Foundation.
A billboard in St. George urges residents to use less water —
“Utah is in a drought.” … Lake Powell and Lake Mead (as
well as crucial upstream feeder dams) have reached record lows.
Our aquifers are simultaneously being depleted. Snowpack is, on
average, lower than historic levels, and even in a good snow
year, it is melting too fast. Less water is available than ever
before, as documented by The Denver Post’s Conrad
Swanson’s Colorado River crisis story in July.
As California enters yet another year of a continued drought,
cities and counties across the state implemented water
restrictions in the hopes of reducing strain on the states
water sources. According to the state, banning the watering of
non-functional lawns will save hundreds of thousands of
acre-feet of water a year. In April, Contra Costa
Water District asked users to reduce water usage by
15%. The district proposed a temporary drought surcharge
of up to 15% starting in July.
The state Supreme Court allowed local governments and
conservation groups Monday to ask the state for further safety
measures and environmental safeguards at the Oroville Dam
despite federal authority to license the facility, where a
breach and spill forced 188,000 people to evacuate their homes
in 2017. The ruling will not interrupt operations at the
nation’s tallest dam, a 770-foot structure on the Feather River
in Butte County…. Oroville Dam, which stores water for
millions of Californians, is operated by the state under a
federal license whose 50-year term expired in 2007, but it has
remained open under annual licensing agreements since then.
Leasing for new oil and gas drilling on federal land in central
California is temporarily blocked under a
settlement announced Monday between the state and the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management. … Fracking is the process of
injecting a high-pressure mix of mostly water with some sand
and chemical additives into rock to create or expand fractures
that allow oil and gas to be extracted. It’s a controversial
practice due to concerns about the injected chemicals
contaminating groundwater.
Governor Gavin Newsom convened local water leaders this past
Friday, for the second time in recent months, to call for their
continued action to drive down urban water use and help
Californians make permanent changes to adapt to a hotter and
drier future. Preliminary numbers that reflect 95 percent of
the population show that Californians cut back on water use by
7.5 percent overall in June this year compared to June 2020.
The increase in conservation comes a month after Governor
Newsom directly called on local water leaders to step
up their work to ensure all Californians are doing their
part to save water.
A Sonoma County wine executive and his business have reached a
$925,000 settlement with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s
Office following an environmental complaint that accused them
of causing significant damage to streams and wetlands while
constructing a vineyard in 2018 near Cloverdale, county
District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced Friday. Deeply ripping
apart the terrain, tearing down trees and pushing them down
streams without permits under the county’s Vineyard & Orchard
Site Development Ordinance, and lacking permits for grading
roads and installing culverts were among acts that Hugh Reimers
and Krasilsa Pacific Farms, LLC were accused of in August
2019.
Illegal marijuana grows in the once-quiet Antelope Valley are a
threat to California’s environmental goals and the safety of
Californians. These operations have caused an increase in human
trafficking, assaults, and robberies and are responsible for
the murders of at least five people living in our high desert
community. … While the secluded forests of Northern
California are still popular for these sites, more and more
criminals see an opportunity in the sprawling desert–vast
amounts of sparsely populated space, lots of sun, and the
presence of law enforcement is not as prevalent. The only thing
lacking is water, but determined growers simply steal what they
need.
Will the fifth time be the charm for California’s decades-long
effort to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that more
Northern California water can be transported to Southern
California? Don’t count on it. Last week, the state Department
of Water Resources released a draft environmental impact report
on the latest iteration of the 57-year-long effort to change
the Delta’s role in water supply, a 45-mile-long tunnel
officially named the “Delta Conveyance.” The 3,000-page
document immediately drew the responses that have accompanied
past versions — big municipal and agricultural water agencies
were in favor of it because it would, they hope, increase water
deliveries south of the Delta, and environmentalists were
against it, saying it would further damage the Delta’s already
bruised ecosystem. -Written by Dan Walters, columnist for CalMatters.
The White House is making more than $1 billion available to
states to address flooding and extreme heat exacerbated by
climate change. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to announce
the grant programs Monday at an event in Miami with the head of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other officials.
The competitive grants will help communities across the nation
prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.
… she is expected to address extreme weather events
across the country, including the flooding in Kentucky and
Missouri and the wildfires in California.
Yesterday, Secretary Deb Haaland’s Chief of Staff killed off
any hope of a negotiated settlement of pending claims against
the Trump administration for financial misconduct,
environmental depredation, and violation of tribal
sovereignty and fishing rights in California’s Trinity
River. Even though the Trinity River has sustained the
Hupa People since time immemorial. For over a year, the Hoopa
Valley Tribal Council made repeated and urgent written requests
to meet with the Secretary to settle litigation the Tribe filed
in August 2020 against Secretary Haaland’s predecessor,
David Bernhardt. All requests went unanswered.
Democratic-led states, tribes, and conservation groups will not
see a Trump-era water rule declared invalid before the Ninth
Circuit decides the issue or the EPA issues a new rule, a
federal judge in California ruled. The plaintiffs wanted the US
District Court for the Northern District of California to
resume their lawsuit over the Clean Water Act Section 401
Certification Rule issued in 2020 that they said unlawfully
restricted states’ and tribes’ ability to reject water
polluting projects. But Judge William Alsup questioned the
point of moving forward when the Environmental Protection
Agency said it would “eviscerate” the rule anyway.
Nearly a million Californians have unsafe drinking water and
the agency charged with helping them is ill-equipped to do
so. That’s according to a new state audit of the
California Water Resources Control Board, which says 920,000
residents are at increased risk of liver and kidney problems —
and even cancer — because they get water from systems that fail
to meet contaminant standards for safe drinking water. The
auditor says more than 800 water systems in the state are in
that “failing” category, a number that has more than doubled in
the last year.
San Luis Obispo County began selling water purchased by county
residents to out of county water purveyors in 2008 and 2013,
without returning the funds to local property owners as
required by law, according to a recent SLO County Grand Jury
report. … Promoted by then-Public Works Director Paavo Ogren
and Supervisor Bruce Gibson, the Board of Supervisors approved
the sale of excess county water in 2008 and 2013, to out of
county purveyors. However, instead of returning the $6.3
million from the sale of the water to area taxpayers, Ogren
placed the funds in the District Zone General Fund.
A new Fresno EOC program is offering as much as $2,000 to help
low-income residents pay past-due water and sewer
bills. But you need to act quickly to receive the one-time
grants, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-served
basis. The program ends in August 2023. Fresno EOC
officials say the grants are for households that are in danger
of losing or have lost their water services. According to
the State Water Resources Control Board, about half a million
Californians have had water shutoffs since 2019 due to
nonpayment.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance July
26 for place-based projects using $132 million in
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds being distributed
via its National Estuary Program. The NEP, which started in
1987, funds water quality and ecological integrity recovery
projects at 28 estuaries along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific
coasts, plus Puerto Rico, considered to be of “national
significance.” … Local program directors detailed
funding plans in a statement, including building defenses in
California’s Santa Monica Bay area against sea level rise …
Farmers and water managers may need to do more to engage with
lawmakers from outside the Central Valley before the state
Legislature can be persuaded to make important investments in
water storage and other infrastructure projects, members of
Kern’s Sacramento delegation told an audience Tuesday of the
Water Association of Kern County. The three locally
elected representatives — Assemblyman Vince Fong and state
Sens. Shannon Grove and Melissa Hurtado — made the request
in the context of their frustration with big-city, coastal
lawmakers they said misunderstand how things work in not only
the water world but in-state energy production as well.
The federal government will channel $43 million into efforts to
purchase and distribute locally grown food from California’s
underserved farmers and producers, U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack announced Wednesday in Woodland. …Vilsack also
highlighted several initiatives that will provide relief to
farmers over the coming years. Congress recently provided USDA
with $10 billion to distribute to farmers struggling due to
climate-related disasters — funds that could be especially
useful in the Golden State, where wildfires burn for months
every year.
Here we go again. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration revived
the Delta tunnel project Wednesday, unveiling a downsized
version of the controversial, multibillion-dollar plan to
re-engineer the fragile estuary on Sacramento’s doorstep that
serves as the hub of California’s over-stressed water-delivery
network. After three years with little to no public activity,
the state released an environmental blueprint for what’s now
called the Delta Conveyance — a 45-mile tunnel that would
divert water from the Sacramento River and route it under the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta so that it can be shipped to farms
and cities hundreds of miles away.
Local farmers may soon be forced to bite the bullet and find
ways to use significantly less water in 2023 — potentially for
a lot longer. This drastic measure may come as a result of an
emergency water conservation effort to prevent further
depletion of the Valley’s main source of water, the Colorado
River. If less water flows down the Colorado River, the
consequences could be catastrophic for the two reservoirs —
lakes Mead and Powell — that feed into the so-called basin
states. For example, if water levels in Lake Mead continue
dropping, it could bring water and hydropower to a grinding
halt, all due to a relentless drought over two decades.
Reading the headlines about water issues in Arizona can be
disconcerting. Our state is now more than 20 years into an
historic drought with conditions projected to worsen in the
coming years. We can no longer rely on the water resources
that once seemed abundant. Dwindling Colorado River supplies
coupled with inadequate groundwater regulation in large parts
of Arizona have put the entire state in a tough
position. But this is not a reason to despair – or to
panic. We don’t need to discourage growth or declare that
Arizona is closed for business because of the water challenges
we face. Written by Jaime A. Molera, former Arizona state
school superintendent, partner of Molera Alvarez, and the
Arizona director for The Western Way, a nonprofit organization
that builds support for market-driven solutions to
environmental challenges.
California’s Gold Rush is known for making many people rich and
inflating the population of the then-young state, but it also
resulted in the creation of the nation’s first environmental
law. As gold mining went from individuals with gold pans raking
the bottom of creek beds to industries using the latest
technologies to strip precious ores from California’s
hillsides, the impact on the surrounding environment became
more severe. Hydraulic mining was a growing form of industrial
mining, in which high-pressure water would blast out of water
cannons, known as monitors, into hillsides to wash away dirt
and rocks to uncover the gold beneath.
The towering trees of Yosemite National Park have long held a
treasured place in the American psyche, whether the ancient and
majestic sequoias, the Ponderosa pines with their
snake-patterned bark, or the acorn-laden black oaks, the
lifeblood of many Native American cultures. … With more
than 140 million trees killed in California by drought and
plagues of beetles over the past decade — 2.4 million of them
in Yosemite alone — forestry experts describe the state’s
forests as wounded and extremely vulnerable. Now, as the state
suffers another severe drought, Yosemite seems perennially
under siege by fire and smoke.
In 1998, as nations around the world agreed to cut carbon
emissions through the Kyoto Protocol, America’s fossil fuel
companies plotted their response, including an aggressive
strategy to inject doubt into the public debate…. Nearly 25
years later, the reality of a changing climate is now clear to
most Americans, as heatwaves and wildfires, rising sea levels
and extreme storms become more common…. [Yet] Even as surveys
show the public generally has become more concerned about
climate change, a sizeable number of Americans have become even
more distrustful of the scientific consensus.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the
finalized drought plan Tuesday with the stipulation that it
would be a living document that develops as conditions change.
Water and Resource Conservation Director Kammie Loeser was
joined by Assistant Director Christina Buck to deliver a series
of presentations on water with the first focus surrounding a
major analysis project that has occurred over the past six
months. In December, the county hired an outside consulting
firm to do a large-scale analysis of drought conditions in
Butte County. The board received its initial presentation from
the group in April and the draft study was released in
May.
A favorite San Francisco Bay Area spot for sleeping under
towering redwood trees is temporarily shutting down its
campground again this summer because of California’s historic
drought. Portola Redwoods State Park said Tuesday that its
campground facilities with 55 sites and four group sites will
be closing Aug. 5 and not reopening for the remainder of the
season because of low flows on its main water source, Peters
Creek. (The campground closes every winter, from Nov. 1 to
April 1.) … Portola Redwoods had similar closures in
2014, 2015 and 2021 due to drought
conditions, McKenna said.
More water will flow into farms and cities on the Valley’s east
side after a decision by the federal government to increase the
supply streaming down canals. On July 20, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation (USBR) announced it will increase the water supply
delivered to contractors along the eastern side of the Valley
to 30%, doubling the original allocation of 15% announced in
February. The amount of Class 1 water, for contractors with
first rights for water deliveries, was confirmed by Friant
Water Authority, which operates the Friant-Kern Canal, in a
July 22 update on its website.
California’s state auditor blasted the agency responsible for
helping poor communities fix their tainted water systems
Tuesday, saying the it has tied up the process in red tape and
forced nearly 1 million residents to wait months or years for
help. Acting State Auditor Michael Tilden said the State Water
Resources Control Board takes an average of 33 months to
approve grants and loans requested by these communities to
clean up water systems contaminated by excess amounts of
nitrate, arsenic and other dangerous chemicals.
… Nitrate, the result of farm fertilizer seeping into
the water supply, can cause numerous health issues for infants.
Excessive levels of arsenic can cause problems with skin and
circulatory systems, and elevate the risk of cancer.
This wealthy Los Angeles suburb is famed for its celebrity
residents and meticulously landscaped homes. After a crackdown
on water use, it is now gaining renown for having some of the
brownest lawns in America. “My kids are asking me, what is
going wrong with this grass?” said Siran Galstian, whose once
verdant lawn is dying. “I have tears in my eyes, because I love
the grass and they like playing in it.”
The latest blow in an ongoing water war between two Kings
County agricultural titans may put control of the entire
region’s groundwater into state hands. The J.G. Boswell Farming
Company and Sandridge Partners, controlled by John Vidovich,
have been scuffling over water in court, on ditch banks and
even in the air with accusations on both sides of various types
of water skulduggery. On July 22, the Southwest Kings
Groundwater Sustainability Agency, controlled by Vidovich,
voted to approve the region’s groundwater plan subject to an
addendum that state representatives warned — during the meeting
– could nullify the plan and lead to state control over
groundwater.
The federal government is conducting a review of four dams on a
Maine river that could result in a lifeline for the last wild
Atlantic salmon in the U.S. The last of the wild salmon live in
a group of rivers in Maine and have been listed under the
Endangered Species Act since 2000. One of the rivers is the
Kennebec River, where Brookfield Renewable U.S. owns dams. …
The review comes as the Biden administration is also eyeing
changes to dams in other parts of the country. The
administration released reports earlier this month that said
removing dams on the lower Snake River in eastern Washington
may be needed to adequately restore salmon runs in the Pacific
Northwest.
Contentious comments by representatives of the city of
Tehachapi and Golden Hills Community Services District have
been made at meetings of the local water board for a number of
months. Generally, board members don’t respond. But at the July
20 meeting of the Board of Directors of Tehachapi-Cummings
County Water District, some directors didn’t hold
back. … In June, Golden Hills and the city told
directors they believe 75 percent of all water imported from
the State Water Project by the local water district should be
allocated on a first priority basis to M&I use, presumably
leaving 25 percent of the water for agriculture.
A new tax on lithium extraction in California will go into
effect next year, charging companies for each metric ton of
lithium mined out of the Salton Sea. This tax will charge
companies anywhere from $400 to $800 dollars per metric ton of
extracted lithium. 80% of the money will go to the county the
lithium was mined in and 20% will go toward Salton Sea
renovation projects. Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia says the tax
is about making sure the citizens of Imperial get their fair
share.
As stakeholders negotiate the current crisis on the Colorado
River, we believe the representatives of the states of the
Upper Basin – our states – are making a dangerous argument.
Their premise is simple. With deep cutbacks needed, the Upper
Basin states argue that their part of the watershed already
routinely suffers water supply shortages in dry years. … Our
review of those data suggests that, on average, overall Upper
Basin use is slightly greater in dry years,
and less in wet years.
Three San Joaquin Valley water agencies are gearing up to spend
$10 million each in grant funding from the state Department of
Conservation to retire or repurpose farmland. Valley agencies
that have received grants so far include the Kaweah Delta Water
Conservation District, Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater
Sustainability Agency (GSA) and Madera County.
… Estimates are that 100,000 acres of farmland will need
to be taken out of production if the subbasin is to comply with
state law and reach groundwater sustainability, said Reyn
Akiona, watershed coordinator for the Tule subbasin.
One of the most famous attractions at Hearst Castle in San
Simeon is the marble-framed outdoor Neptune pool. While severe
drought is causing California State Parks to implement water
restrictions at the castle, they say the iconic pool will
remain full, even as most irrigation stops and portable toilets
replace bathrooms. California State Parks, which operates and
preserves the Hearst estate, turned off much of the water at
there earlier this month amid the statewide drought.
In late 2020, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched
the first water futures market, called the Nasdaq Veles
California Water Index Futures. This market allows financial
speculators to literally gamble on the price of water. But how
does that actually work? And what are the consequences? … In
California, as in other western states, rights holders can sell
or lease the rights to use the water to others. The index
that Nasdaq Veles created is a single number that estimates the
prevailing price of water in California. This number changes as
water prices change. It’s based on an algorithm and a
supposedly representative list of transactions — both of which
Nasdaq Veles keeps confidential.
People often have strange ideas about how water works.
Even simple water systems can be confusing. When water
systems become large complex socio-physical-ecological systems
serving many users and uses, opportunities for confusion become
extreme, surpassing comprehension by our ancient Homo sapien
brains. When confused by conflicting rhetoric, using numbers to
“follow the water” can be helpful. The California Water
Plan has developed some such numbers. This essay presents
their net water use numbers for 2018, by California’s
agricultural, urban, and environmental uses by hydrologic
region.
The drought in the west has gotten so bad that bodies, World
War II boats and other artifacts have resurfaced at Lake Mead,
about 30 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. As the water dries up,
so-called “water cops” are going after anybody who’s wasting
it. Water waste investigators with the Las Vegas Valley Water
District patrol the roads and neighborhoods every day to hunt
for violations like broken sprinklers and excess watering.
Sacramentans can get paid up to $3,000 for saving water in the
form of replacing their grassy yards with drought-tolerant
landscaping. Summer weather in Sacramento exacerbates ongoing
drought conditions in the region, and the city has been
promoting a program that incentivizes residents to switch to a
“drought-tolerant landscape” in their yards. But what
exactly is xeriscaping and what can it look like in California?
The Bureau of Land Management is welcoming public comments on a
Wild and Scenic River Eligibility Report, which identifies
segments of northwest California rivers and streams that might
be eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic
Rivers System. The BLM will use the eligibility report in
developing the Northwest California Integrated Resource
Management Plan (NCIP), a land use plan that will guide
management of BLM public lands in northwest California for the
next 20 years.
The ink is barely dry on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act and here comes more legislation to redo what has been the
most significant change in California water law in over 100
years. The California Department of Water Resources has not
finished evaluating Groundwater Sustainability Plans submitted
by local agencies under SGMA, which established a cooperative
framework to protect California’s groundwater resources. But
already legislation—Assembly Bill 2201 by Steve Bennett,
D-Ventura—seeks to change SGMA in ways that would bring
unnecessary confusion and disruption into the
process. -Written by Danny Merkley, director of water
resources for the California Farm Bureau; and Jack
Gualco, president of The Gualco Group Inc.
[T]he alkali flats that are emerging from [Mono] lake’s
surface, ghost white, aren’t just another nod to the uniqueness
of this ancient place. They’re a sign of trouble. Amid
a third year of drought, the sprawling lake on the
remote east side of the Sierra Nevada is sharply receding, and
the small towns and wildlife so closely tied to the water are
feeling the pinch. … The drought bearing down on Mono Lake
and the rest of California picks up on a two-decade run of
extreme warming and drying. It’s a product of the changing
climate that has begun to profoundly reshape the landscape of
the West and how people live within it.
As the California drought continues to impact agriculture as
well as the lives of residents, local government bodies have
requested regular updates on water resources. Once again, the
Butte County Board of Supervisors will hear the latest updates
regarding the drought, groundwater and water-related activities
within the county. In December, the board contracted Luhdorff
and Scalmanini Consulting Engineers to create an analysis of
drought impacts on the county in 2021.
With three consecutive years of drought reducing state and
federal water project reservoirs to historic lows, the State
Water Resources Control Board on Wednesday readopted measures
for the Delta to protect drinking water supplies, prevent
salinity intrusion and minimize impacts to fish and the
environment. The State Water Board decision updating an
emergency curtailment and reporting regulation authorizes staff
to determine the amount of water available to certain right
holders during the drought, preserving drinking water for 27
million Californians and the irrigation supply for more than
three million acres of farmland.
There we were, 19 of us on the stony shore of the Tuolumne
River, feeling a bit stranded like the crew of Gilligan’s
Island. Our “Finding Common Water” rafting excursion was
planned around “no water Wednesday,” when river releases are
held back for water conservation and infrastructure
maintenance. The trip’s goal: Get off our desk chairs and onto
rafts, out of the ordinary and into an extraordinary setting —
a hot, highly regulated, wild and scenic river — to push
us out of our comfort zone and get to work on addressing real
water problems.
I have lived in Las Vegas and have worked in the development
industry for 30 years. Since day one, water has been an
important issue. The current volume of Lake Mead compared to
years prior is clear evidence there is a serious water issue.
Residents, businesses and all those who depend on the Colorado
River should be paying close attention to the facts and
focusing on conservation policies that will help ensure we
utilize our water in the most responsible way possible to
preserve our future. -Written by Nat Hodgson, CEO of the Southern
Nevada Home Builders Association.
Exeter officially put an end to their drinking water warning
after swapping well 6’s production that included high nitrate
levels with well 9 that was recently rehabilitated. The
drinking water warning due to high levels of nitrates from well
6 in Exeter has been lifted. Women who are pregnant and infants
could safely drink the city’s water as of July 14, ending the
two month warning period. The warning was lifted after the
city’s alternative well – well 9 – became fully operational. It
had been undergoing rehabilitation work to prepare for high
demand in the summer months. While well 9 was offline, all
other wells had to remain online in order to meet peak hour
water pressure demands.
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires
groundwater users to bring their basins into balance over the
next two decades. In the San Joaquin Valley, this will mean
taking more than 500,000 acres of agricultural land out of
intensive irrigated production. Among other issues, this could
potentially lead to air quality impacts if the lands become new
sources of dust, especially windblown dust, which can have
numerous negative short- and long-term health and environmental
impacts. In addition, the changing climate may exacerbate risks
as warmer temperatures can dry out soils and increase dust
emissions.
A company operating a sand-mining facility in Alameda County
will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle charges
that it discharged untreated wastewater into Alameda Creek last
year, officials with the state Water Resources Control Board
(WRCB) said Thursday. Mission Valley Rock must pay nearly the
statutory limit after it allegedly discharged 41,000 gallons of
untreated wastewater from its Sunol facility in March. The
total settlement is $368,940. According to the WRCB, Mission
Valley Rock failed to properly decommission a pipeline, which
then ruptured, depositing several inches of sediment in the
creek bed and along the bank.
The Biden-Harris administration today announced that the
Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has
awarded $3.4 million in funding from President Biden’s
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for cooperative agreements with
the Washoe Tribe of California and Nevada and the Tahoe
Regional Planning Agency to combat the spread of aquatic
invasive species in Lake Tahoe. The funding represents a
historic effort dedicated to restoring the Lake Tahoe Basin
ecosystem and emphasizes the Administration’s commitment to
inclusive engagement with Tribes, partners and
stakeholders.
A lot has been said about the drought’s effect on water
supplies for cities and farms, but little is said about how
Delta fish are faring. Freshwater inflow to the Delta was
about half of normal in April through June 2022 because of the
State Water Board Order approving the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) and the Bureau of Reclamation’s Temporary
Urgency Change Petition (TUCP) for Delta
operations. With some of this limited Delta inflow going
to water users during April, May and June, little was going to
the fish. The State Water Board granted the TUCP because
Central Valley reservoir storage was so low at the end of
winter in this third year of drought.
A new policy brief from the Public Policy Institute of
California is recommending cost-effective water storage
investments as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is seeing less
inflow. It also offers a damning picture of the thirty-year
shift in how the Golden State divvied up water, largely pitting
fish species against millions of its residents. The institute –
a nonpartisan think tank – initially published the brief in
early spring, focuses on the Delta that supplies water to about
30 million residents and over six million acres of
farmland.
Boaters and river users are being asked to help keep our area
waterways clean during these hot months. The city of Sacramento
is kicking off its annual “Keep Our Waters Clean” campaign to
help protect the Sacramento and American Rivers. The two
rivers are the primary drinking water source for the
region. The department is asking boaters to keep engine
oil and fuel out of the water and keep boat bilges clean of
contamination as well. Anyone on or along the river is
also asked to use restrooms and pick up after pets to keep
human and animal waste out of the water.
Cities across California are tightening water restrictions as
the drought drags on. But those restrictions are not hitting
people equally. While some neighborhoods are turning brown and
dusty, others are as lush as they’ve ever been. Caleigh Wells
from member station KCRW reports.
Widely used insecticides that harm bees and songbirds would
face far-reaching restrictions in California under regulations
proposed by the state’s pesticide agency. The new limits would
be among the nation’s most extensive for agricultural use of
neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides used to kill
plant-damaging pests like aphids. The highly potent pesticides
have been shown to harm bees, birds and other creatures. Aimed
at protecting bees that pollinate crops, the California
Department of Pesticide Regulation’s proposed rules would
restrict four closely-related neonicotinoid chemicals:
imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin and dinotefuran.
Limiting the size of new swimming pools in and around Las Vegas
might save a drop in the proverbial bucket amid historic
drought and climate change in the West. Officials are taking
the plunge anyway, capping the size of new swimming pools at
single-family residential homes to about the size of a
three-car garage. Citing worries about dwindling drinking water
allocations from the drying-up Lake Mead reservoir on the
depleted Colorado River, officials in Clark County voted this
week to limit the size of new swimming pools to 600 square feet
(56 square meters) of surface area.
The lake at the Park at River Walk is fast disappearing, as are
the Truxtun Lakes and some other city-owned water features.
Blame the drought. The City of Bakersfield Water Resources
Department has cut off flows to city-owned recreation and water
recharge facilities to hold on to what little surface water
it’s receiving from the dwindling Kern River for drinking
water, according to Daniel Maldonado, a water planner with the
department. … Local resident Calletano Guiterrez understood
the city has to contend with the drought but hoped at least
some water could be set aside for what he said he and his
family have come to love about Bakersfield.
As models predict another La Niña for the coming winter, which
could lead to another dry year, leaders of water agencies and
other groups from across California and the western United
States met Tuesday to discuss how best to get commerce and
industry to use less water. While residential water use has
declined, commercial and industrial users need retrofits, new
equipment and new ways of doing business when it comes how much
liquid “gold” they consume. One thing meeting attendees agree
on is that it will take more than financial incentives to push
enterprises to make the switch. They will need to be convinced
that shifting to new systems will increase efficiency,
production and more.
Utahns’ water consumption habits have drawn national scrutiny
in recent weeks, sometimes to an embarrassing degree. The Great
Salt Lake sank to a record low for the second time in less than
a year, with its plight grabbing the attention of The New York
Times and CBS. HBO’s John Oliver famously took Utah to task
this summer for its dwindling water resources and a video of
Gov. Spencer Cox calling on people to “pray for rain.” Cox has
been quick to defend his home state amid all the negative
press, pointing out in a Twitter thread earlier this month the
major steps taken to save the Great Salt Lake from further
decline.
The Clark County Commission approved a new measure to mitigate
the falling water level of Lake Mead on Tuesday, limiting
residential pool sizes in the Las Vegas area. The
commission Tuesday unanimously approved a new ordinance
prohibiting the Las Vegas Valley Water District from serving
residents with pools with a total surface area of over 600
square feet. The new code will only apply to single-family
residential customers who received a pool permit for their
“pool(s), spa(s), and/or water feature(s)” after Sept. 1, 2022.
Seizing a generational opportunity to leverage unprecedented
state funding to combat drought and climate change, the State
Water Resources Control Board provided an historic $3.3 billion
in financial assistance during the past fiscal year (July 1,
2021 – June 30, 2022) to water systems and communities for
projects that bolster water resilience, respond to drought
emergencies and expand access to safe drinking water. The
State Water Board’s funding to communities this past fiscal
year doubled compared to 2020-21, and it is four times the
amount of assistance provided just two years ago. The marked
increase also comes as a result of last year’s $5.2 billion
three-year investment in drought response and water resilience
…
Satellite imagery can show which households in Southern
California are likely following watering rules during the
drought — and which ones are failing to comply. Data from the
Sentinel-2 satellite isn’t coming from a local water agency,
but from a hobbyist. Ben Kuo likes using high-tech tools to
understand natural disasters. … The free, publicly
available data allows users to zoom in to view a specific house
and see how wet the yard is. A dry lawn might show up orange on
the satellite data. A household that’s flouting drought
restrictions with lots of damp grass will show up blue.
As drought conditions persist and with the potential for
another dry winter due to La Niña, some good news: the
California State Water Resources Control Board learned
Wednesday reservoirs in the northern and central parts of the
state have more water than at this time last year. State Water
Project reservoirs across Northern and Central California
remain below historical averages after three consecutive years
of drought. But with a combination of people cutting water use,
curtailments, farmers fallowing fields and a focus on storage,
the reservoirs in the State Water Project are either above or
near where they were last year.
The Board of Supervisors will consider new standards for well
permits at their meeting Aug. 9 in response to California case
law to protect rivers and other “public trust resources,”
according to a July 11 press release. The county will hold a
public hearing on the proposed amendment to the county’s well
ordinance, which would create new guidelines for Permit
Sonoma’s evaluation of environmental impact to drill new or
replacement groundwater wells. The ordinance may effect
approximately one-third of well permit applications sent to
Permit Sonoma and new wells may be subject to hundreds of
dollars in fees and new equipment based on the proposal.
A citizen suit action was filed by an environmental
organization alleging the public water system was potentially
subject to the RCRA “imminent and substantial endangerment
provisions” because the groundwater it utilized contained
hexavalent chromium. The hexavalent chromium in the groundwater
likely originated from a release at a wood treating facility
known as the Wickes site. The environmental organization
California River Watch (“CRW”) concluded that the hexavalent
chromium from the Wickes site migrated through groundwater to
the Elmira Well Field (“Well Field”). The City of Vacaville
(“City”) allegedly drew a significant amount of its water from
the Well Field.
The rollout of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act (SGMA) is altering the state’s agricultural landscape. As
groundwater sustainability measures are implemented and water
scarcity increases, at least half a million acres are projected
to come out of irrigated production in the San Joaquin Valley,
the state’s agricultural heartland. Rather than widespread land
idling—which comes with unintended consequences such as dust,
weeds, pests, and soil degradation—a switch from summer
irrigated crops to winter crops produced with limited water
(including winter cereals and forage crops, among others) might
keep some of this land in production.
After completing degrees from Cornell University, University of
Michigan, and the University of New Mexico, Dr. Jon Rosenfield
returned to the Bay Area in 2002, where he worked as a
postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Peter
Moyle. He researches and is a tireless advocate for the
Central Valley’s native salmon, steelhead, and smelt species.
Dr. Rosenfield went on to The Bay Institute where he worked for
over ten years to protect fisheries, becoming one of the
region’s leading experts on the importance of freshwater flows
from the Delta for the sustainability of the Bay’s ecosystem
and fish populations.
The water news in California has been grim. As PPIC Water
Policy Center senior fellow Jeff Mount says, “we’re in year
three of a miserable drought”—with “miserable” being the
operative word. We sat down with Mount, senior fellow Alvar
Escriva-Bou, and center director Ellen Hanak to discuss recent
water news. We’re in year three of a serious drought. How
different is it from last year? Jeff Mount: One difference is
that the State Water Board has been very proactive. They
announced curtailments earlier and they are moving much more
quickly than last year. They have the right authorities to deal
with the drought.
The seven Colorado River basin states have until mid-August to
come up with a plan to drastically cut their water use. Federal
officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the river’s giant
reservoirs from declining to levels where water cannot be
released through their dams and hydropower production ceases.
If state leaders fail to devise a plan, they could face a
federal crackdown.
Pittsburg water customers will soon see a 5% increase in their
water rates for each of the next five years as a result of
council action this week. Paul Rodrigues, city finance
director, cited increases in the cost of energy and raw water,
and the need to make capital improvements – at a $76.5 million
price tag – in the water treatment plant as reasons for the
increases. Both commercial and residential customers will be
affected, but seniors will pay less, seeing only a 2% increase
each year.
The heavy storms that soaked the Bay Area last October ended
fire season and brought hope — dashed during dry winter months
later — that the state’s drought might be ending. But while
millions of people were celebrating the downpour the week
before Halloween, the rains also caused an environmental
headache in the East Bay, overwhelming a wastewater treatment
plant and sending 16.5 million gallons of partially treated
sewage into San Francisco Bay. On Monday, state regulators and
the East Bay Municipal Utility District, a government agency
that operates the plant at Point Isabel in Richmond, agreed to
settle the case in a deal that requires the district to pay
$816,000 for violations of clean water rules.
A California federal judge on Monday dismissed strict liability
claims from a proposed class action alleging Northrop Grumman
Corp. discharged dangerous chemicals into a California
community, but gave the plaintiffs the opportunity to file an
amended complaint. In the order, U. S. District Judge Fernando
M. Olguin said the court was skeptical that the proposed class,
led by Jed Behar, sufficiently alleges that Northrup was
engaged in “ultrahazardous activity” in its use and disposal of
the chemicals. Judge Olguin, however, declined to dismiss
Behar’s bid for punitive damages and restitution, saying that
punitive damages are a remedy, and not a claim that …
Solvang commercial, industrial and institutional water system
customers will face steep financial penalties if they don’t
immediately cut back their water usage at least 20%. City
Council members on July 11 unanimously adopted a drought
ordinance update that clarifies rate tier penalties in relation
to declared drought stages. The city has been in a Stage 2
drought stage since August 2021.
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a 15-year plan for
several drought-stricken wildlife refuges along the Oregon and
California border against challenges by agribusiness and
conservation groups alike. The three decisions by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals mark a stalemate in a century-old
water war in the Klamath Basin, where a federal irrigation
project to support farming began in 1906 and the nation’s first
wildlife refuge was established in 1908. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service’s 2017 Comprehensive Conservation Plan drew
fire from agribusiness for regulating farming practices in the
Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, while
conservationists argued the restrictions did not go far enough.
The city of American Canyon has filed a lawsuit asking a court
to force the city of Vallejo to provide drinking water to
certain areas of American Canyon under a 1996 service agreement
that Vallejo has sought to limit because of severe drought.
American Canyon filed its lawsuit last week in Napa County
Superior Court, which alleges that Vallejo breached the water
service agreement between the two cities by failing to provide
water to the Canyon Estates development, a new water delivery
location for Vallejo that American Canyon said was “designed
and constructed with Vallejo’s oversight and approval.”
Yesterday Max Gomberg had his last day at the State Water
Resources Control Board. He sent this on his last day, and
cc’ed me. With his permission: Hello everyone: I am
sharing my parting thoughts because I believe in facing hard
truths and difficult decisions. These are dark and uncertain
times, both because fascists are regaining power and because
climate change is rapidly decreasing the habitability of many
places. Sadly, this state is not on a path towards steep cuts
in greenhouse gas emissions reductions, massive construction to
alleviate the housing crisis, quickly and permanently reducing
agriculture to manage the loss of water to aridification, and
reducing law enforcement and carceral budgets and reallocating
resources to programs that actually increase public health and
safety.
The Marin Municipal Water District took a deeper look at some
of the more complex and expensive options on the table for new
supply: desalination plants and recycled water. The district
board and consultants with the Jacobs Engineering firm held
discussion Tuesday on the preliminary cost estimates, water
yields and challenges of building desalination plants and
expanding the district’s recycled water system.
A small fish called the Delta Smelt has been a big topic for
farmers in California, as the state cites its 2016 Delta Smelt
Resiliency Strategy for limiting the amount of water from the
Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta, earmarked for agriculture. Wade
Crowfoot, California Natural Resources Agency Secretary, spoke
during the Western Food and Ag Issues Summit hosted by
Agri-Pulse. He says although the state of California is bound
by the federal Endangered Species Act to protect the fish, the
agency is working towards a more encompassing solution.
California’s historic drought may leave the state with the
largest amount of empty farmland in recent memory as farmers
face unprecedented cuts to crucial water supplies. The size of
fields intended for almonds, rice, wine grapes and other crops
left unworked could be around 800,000 acres, double the size of
last year and the most in at least several decades, said Josue
Medellin-Azuara, an associate professor at University of
California Merced.
On July 1, 2022 a panel of the Ninth Circuit issued a
superseding opinion in California River Watch v. City of
Vacaville, Appeal No. 20-16605, withdrawing its previous
opinion in the same case and reaching the opposite result. The
case is a rare example of a court reversing itself, and has
important implications for water suppliers in California and
nationwide. In California River Watch, the plaintiff
sought to impose RCRA liability on a water supplier based on
the presence of hexavalent chromium in the water it supplied to
customers, despite the fact that the water complied with the
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for chromium established under
the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Damon Ayala patrols the streets of drought-stricken Los Angeles
every day, inspecting the sidewalks. Each time he sees a
puddle, he stops. He is part of the city’s Department of Water
and Power team, which looks into hundreds of community
complaints filed by neighbors each week about water waste.
… Ayala’s patrol comes as California and the western
United States are in the grip of a severe, years-long drought.
… With reservoirs and rivers at historic lows, Los
Angeles authorities have brought in water restrictions,
such as limiting lawn irrigation to as little as eight minutes,
twice per week.
To be clear, there are good reasons to end construction of new
gas stations, which, beyond fueling climate change, also have a
tendency to become costly environmental cleanup sites
themselves. The underground storage tanks they use can
contaminate soil and groundwater and pose risks to drinking
water supplies for years after they close. A statewide 2021
assessment by the State Water Resources Control Board found 136
improperly abandoned underground fuel storage tank facilities,
many of them old gas stations, including a dozen in
disadvantaged communities and within 1,000 feet of a municipal
water supply well.
A year after receiving funding from the Budget Act of 2021, the
Department of Water Resources (DWR) has successfully awarded
more than $440 million to date in drought relief assistance to
small and urban communities to address water supply challenges
and help build local resilience. The Budget Act of 2021
allocated $500 million in total drought-relief funds to DWR
following extreme dry conditions and Governor Newsom’s
statewide drought emergency declaration.
Three San Joaquin Valley water agencies are gearing up to spend
$10 million each in grant funding from the state Department of
Conservation to retire or repurpose farmland. Valley agencies
that received grants so far include the Kaweah Delta Water
Conservation District, Pixley Irrigation District Groundwater
Sustainbility Agency (GSA) and Madera County. SJV Water will
look at how each agency plans to use its $10 million in
separate articles.
More than 70 countries have committed to reaching net-zero
emissions by 2050, while President Biden has vowed to reduce
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50 to 52 percent below 2005
levels by 2030. But two big reports released Thursday
underscore the steep challenges facing Biden and other world
leaders as they seek to slash planet-warming emissions in the
crucial coming decades. The first study, conducted by the
independent research firm Rhodium Group, finds that the United
States is on track to reduce emissions 24 percent to 35 percent
below 2005 levels by 2030 — significantly short of Biden’s
target — absent additional policy action.
Orange County needs a unified approach to water conservation
and drought as California faces the driest 22-year period in
over a thousand years, the Orange County Grand Jury recommended
in a new report published late last month. The June 22 Grand
Jury report stated that Orange County water providers need to
“consolidate their resources and establish a unified voice to
lead the County more efficiently in its water policies and
planning.” Orange County has two water supply agencies:
Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) and Orange
County Water District (OCWD).
Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Los
Angeles County, accusing officials of violating state
environmental laws when they approved the Los Angeles River
Master Plan last month. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles
Superior Court on Wednesday, seeks to bar the county from
developing any new river project without first conducting a
review of “all foreseeable significant impacts to the
environment that the master plan will authorize.” The suit was
filed by LA Waterkeeper and the Center for Biological
Diversity.
American agriculture is going to have to do without three
things that it has long taken for granted, according to a
recent article by Chloe Sorvino, who leads food and agriculture
coverage for Forbes. Those things are cheap energy, free water,
and a reliable climate…. Permanent crops are obviously
more vulnerable than annual ones. If the latter are plowed
under or the land for them is fallowed, there is always next
year. But trees and vines take a certain number of years to
mature and produce. To say that water in California is
free is simply not true.
After a long back-and-forth on Tuesday afternoon, all but one
Mendocino County supervisor approved a draft of a water hauling
ordinance created by concerned community members. The
ordinance draft will move on to the planning commission for
review, despite lingering questions around how to fund it.
Board Chair Ted Williams voted against the ordinance because of
those concerns. The ordinance’s purpose is to protect the
county’s groundwater resources by regulating the sale and
transport of groundwater from private wells.
There has been a reasonable amount of recent activity related
to management (or lack thereof) of plastic waste. Two
more developments this month have me wondering whether we might
be near the proverbial tipping point in our approach to
managing plastics. First, California enacted a fairly sweeping
statute, S.B. 54, that will impose extended producer
responsibility requirements on producers of plastics.
Visitors to Hearst Castle can expect to see some changes as
California combats its worst drought in years. California State
Parks is implementing stage 3 of its drought contingency plan
in an effort to cut back on water use at the former San Simeon
estate of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. It’s the
highest stage in State Parks’ drought contingency plan for the
Castle. The agency’s efforts mirror how the entire state of
California has worked to reduce water consumption during the
driest megadrought in the West in 1,200 years.
David Schmalz here, thinking about the Seaside Basin, which,
along with the Carmel River and recycled water from Pure Water
Monterey, is one of three major water sources serving residents
in the Monterey Peninsula. Water is a highly complex
topic on the Peninsula and in the county at large, and
what follows is no exception. Still, it’s important: water
facilitates life, and its availability, or lack thereof,
changes the world we live in. It’s one fundamental reason we
can, or cannot, build much-needed housing. I’m thinking
about the Seaside Basin for this reason: recent decisions made
by the Seaside City Council, as it relates to that water
supply, will have an impact on housing in the city in a major
way.
The Bay Area’s largest water agencies on Tuesday were expected
to assess their current drought situations and possibly discuss
further restrictions on water use. Valley Water in the South
Bay, which supplies water for thousands in the Santa Clara
Valley, will report that between June 2021 and May 2022,
customers used 3% less water compared to 2019. That’s far short
of the 15% reduction goal set by the district’s board.
Damon Ayala … is a member of the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power’s water conservation response unit, and he
spends his days patrolling the streets of L.A. looking for
homes and businesses in violation of the new drought rules. The
restrictions went into effect June 1 and include the city’s
strictest-ever outdoor watering limitations…. During a board
meeting Tuesday, DWP officials announced that demand for water
from city residents plummeted 9% in June compared with the same
month last year. It was the lowest water use for any June on
record.
The agency managing the East County Advanced Water Purification
(AWP) program took another step toward legally confiscating a
sewage pumping station that now belongs to the city of San
Diego. Earlier this month, the Joint Powers Authority for AWP
filed a complaint in San Diego Superior Court asking the court
to grant the JPA eminent domain rights for the station, located
at the western border of Santee, on Mission Gorge Road next to
the west-bound ramp for SR 52.
A company operating a sand mining facility in Alameda County
must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle allegations
it discharged untreated wastewater into Alameda Creek last
year, officials with the State Water Resources Control Board
said Thursday. Mission Valley Rock Company must pay nearly
the statutory limit after it allegedly discharged 41,000
gallons of untreated wastewater from its Sunol facility in
March 2021.
In a 6-3 decision last week, the Supreme Court restricted the
Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to curb climate
pollution from power plants. … The decision leaves intact the
EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and even
allows it to regulate power plants on a case-by-case basis. The
greater significance of the case, rather, may be the new inroad
it creates for challenges to environment and water
protections…. Hesitancy on the part of federal agencies
could be damaging for U.S. water issues, many of which cut
across state boundaries. James Eklund, an environmental lawyer
and architect of the Colorado Water Plan, said that ambitious
action by the Bureau of Reclamation has been central to
averting the worst water shortages in the American West.
Even here, in the scorching summer heat of Altadena, Seriina
Covarrubias’ front yard feels cool and inviting under the
dappled shade of a magnificent elm tree. … More than
thirsty birds have flocked to her garden since she tore
out her lawn and replaced it with mostly drought-tolerant
plants native to Southern California. Other wildlife has
returned, including lizards, ladybugs, praying mantises, bees
and caterpillars. … Two years before the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California declared a water shortage
emergency and ordered outdoor watering limited to two days
a week, the couple knew they wanted to install plants that
could endure the heat with little watering.
Farmers along the Lower Colorado River in Southern Arizona and
Southern California are bracing for severe reductions next year
in their river water supplies — cuts they say could lead to
widespread crop production cutbacks, major economic dislocation
and, possibly, food shortages. “Mass fallowing” is a prime
concern among representatives of several big irrigation
districts along the river. The concern is growing as farm,
city, state and federal officials seek to negotiate a
compromise solution to carry out cuts in water use across the
entire Colorado River Basin that were ordered last month by the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Historically, the relationship between the North San Joaquin
Water Conservation District and the East Bay Municipal
Utilities District has been tense at times, hindering the
opportunity to collaborate on regional projects. The tension,
NSJWCD attorney Jennifer Spaletta said, was over EBMUD building
the Camanche and Pardee reservoirs and ending up with senior
water rights along the Mokelumne River. But over the last two
decades, the two agencies have worked to resolve their issues,
and ultimately came to the mutual understanding that they
needed to work together in order to solve future water supply
challenges.
Ask and ye shall receive — at least partially. And the Friant
Water Authority is hopeful there’s more to come. FWA announced
on Friday the Bureau of Reclamation has increased its 2022
water allocation for Friant Division Class 1 contractors from
15 to 20 percent. FWA added as in the past two years, Friant
Division Class 2 contractors continued to received 0 percent,
“which continues to reflect the hydrology for the 2022 water
year is very dry.”
The Bureau of Reclamation last week revised its data on the
amount of water stored in Lake Powell, with a new, lower tally
taking into account a 4% drop in the reservoir’s total
available capacity between 1986 and 2018 due to sedimentation.
Bureau data on the reservoir’s water-storage volume showed a
loss of 443,000 acre-feet between June 30 and July 1 — a 6%
drop in storage from 6.87 million acre-feet (which is 28.28% of
live storage based on 1986 data) to 6.43 million (26.46% of
full).
Californians are starting to save water, but not enough to meet
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for conservation in the face of one of
the worst droughts in recorded history. Urban water use fell
3.1% in May compared to the 2020 baseline set by the governor,
according to figures released Friday by the State Water
Resources Control Board. While that’s well short of the 15%
call issued by Newsom last July, it does show that Californians
are beginning to heed the governor’s call for reduced
consumption. Water use actually rose in March and April
… preliminary results for June show that water usage
fell by nearly 8% compared with two years ago.
The governor of our state and the state legislature are getting
into the act of exercising never-before-seen public control of
privately owned groundwater wells. Assemblyman Steve Bennett
(D-Ventura) and representatives from Community Water Center
(CWC) are sponsoring legislation that would change the way new
and expanded water wells are approved in California, and
focusing on areas that are experiencing rapid decline in
groundwater reserves. … Bennett’s bill, AB 2201, took a step
forward last week as it survived a fight in a California state
Senate committee. -Written by Jim Shields, editor and publisher of the
Mendocino County Observer and district manager of the
Laytonville County Water District.
With a megadrought draining water reserves in the West, states
are looking for alternatives to handle water rights, many of
which were set more than 100 years ago when water supplies were
far more abundant. Back then, just posting a sign next to a
water diversion was enough to be considered a right, one which
could still be honored now. But the climate crisis is now
straining those rights. There just isn’t enough water in
California to satisfy what’s been allotted on paper.
With the City Council passing an ordinance declaring a stage II
moderate water shortage Tuesday night, Red Bluff residents will
be asked to cut back on their water usage. City water customers
must refrain from landscape watering except between 9 p.m. and
8 a.m., equip any hose with a shutoff nozzle and promptly
repair all leaks in plumbing fixtures, water lines and
sprinkler systems. Residents will be prohibited from hosing off
sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes, washing vehicles
with hoses not equipped with a shutoff nozzle …
In a significant course-correction, a Ninth Circuit panel
recently revisited its prior opinion in California River Watch
v. City of Vacaville, (14 F.4th 1076 (9th Cir. 2021)
(“Vacaville I”)), where the Court previously held the City of
Vacaville (“City”) could be liable for transporting a solid
waste (hexavalent chromium) in its drinking water supply simply
due to that contaminant being present in groundwater withdrawn
for water supply purposes. On a denial of a rehearing en banc,
the same three-judge panel who issued the Vacaville I opinion
issued a new order and opinion withdrawing and superseding the
former opinion, now affirming summary judgment in favor of the
City.
As water interests in the Colorado River Basin prepare to
negotiate a new set of operating guidelines for the
drought-stressed river, Amelia Flores wants her Colorado River
Indian Tribes (CRIT) to be involved in the discussion. And she
wants CRIT seated at the negotiating table with something
invaluable to offer on a river facing steep cuts in use: its
surplus water. CRIT, whose reservation lands in California
and Arizona are bisected by the Colorado River, has some of the
most senior water rights on the river. But a federal law
enacted in the late 1700s, decades before any southwestern
state was established, prevents most tribes from sending any of
its water off its reservation.
A state appellate court has reversed a judge’s ruling that
would have required the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power to conduct an environmental review before making annual
decisions about deliveries of water on pastureland it owns east
of Yosemite. The city agency on Thursday said the previous
ruling had “set an impossible standard” as it faces the complex
challenges of servicing ratepayers and meeting environmental
requirements in a time of drought, dwindling snowpack and
changing water availability.
Since November 2020, investigators with the California
Department of Fish and Wildlife have installed GPS trackers on
cars, conducted nighttime stakeout surveillance operations,
spied on Facebook accounts and traced wire transactions
connected to what they describe as a major investigation into
the state’s caviar black market. The 18-month effort paid off:
Eight people have been arrested this year on suspicion of
illegal fishing and other violations, and prosecutors in Contra
Costa County are preparing to file criminal charges against
several others, according to court records. Authorities have
identified people believed to be illegally fishing sturgeon
from the Carquinez Strait and Sacramento River, as well as
middlemen who buy the roe, convert it into caviar, and sell it
to customers under the counter.
When the flood protection plan for Sacramento was conceived and
constructed, the aim was to divert Sacramento River flood flows
away from the city. The plan was successful, but it did not
provide much for the needs of fish that migrate through
the floodplain to connect with the river channel. … Fast
forward to a warm summer day in 2022 as officials with federal,
state, local agencies and Native American tribes gathered to
break ground on the second phase of the largest floodplain
salmon rearing habitat restoration in California history.
Dubbed the “Big Notch” Project, the $190 million effort
(partially funded by Reclamation) aims to improve 30,000-acres
of floodplain habitat in the Yolo Bypass in Yolo County.
California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced
financial support to four urgent drought relief projects in
Humboldt, Los Angeles, Modoc, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties
through the Small Community Drought Relief Program. In
coordination with the State Water Resources Control Board, DWR
awarded $2 million in funding to support four projects that
will improve drought resilience and address local water needs.
Two environmental groups asked a judge to block a permit for a
314-acre housing development in Chico, California, arguing that
federal officials failed to consider its effect on seasonal
wetlands …
Until recently, I felt the same numb, dumb rage over the oceans
of unnecessary plastic packaging that inevitably accompany 98.7
percent of all purchases I make. Yes, we live in an unsafe
world, but do we really need to put condoms on absolutely
everything? … This past week, enviros scored a massive
victory for sanity and common sense when Governor Gavin Newsom
signed SB 54, which mandates the reduction of such plastic
production by 25 percent by the year 2032. This bill also
requires all one-time-use plastics be made of recycled
materials by that date. It doesn’t outright outlaw Styrofoam,
but comes pretty damn close. -Written by Santa Barbara Independent Executive Editor Nick
Welsh.
Farmers and cities on the east side of the Valley may get more
water than they originally thought. Friant Water
Authority, which operates the Friant-Kern Canal, said in a
recent memo on its website it is confident its contractors will
not only get the 15% allocation of surface water deliveries
announced in February but that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
will likely increase the amount to 20%, possibly as early as
this week. … Better snow and rainfall in the
Sacramento area late in the spring has allowed the Bureau of
Reclamation to budget more water to be delivered to the San
Joaquin Exchange Contractors …
Between talk of a widely reviled Coal Train and continued
uncertainty over Pacific Gas & Electric’s Potter Valley
hydroelectric plant, the future of the Eel River has been a
source of profound anxiety over the past year. But there’s some
good news with the announcement that 5,620 acres of remote
wilderness along 11 miles of the river between Lake Pillsbury
and the Potter Valley Project are now permanently under a
conservation easement held by the Mendocino Land Trust.
Farmers in southern Tulare County on June 30 soundly rejected a
proposed land fee that would have helped pay a lump sum
settlement of $125 million toward fixing the Friant-Kern
Canal, which has sunk because of excessive groundwater pumping.
The Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency agreed in
2020 to pay a portion of the cost to repair the canal to Friant
Water Authority. … The settlement agreement between
Eastern Tule and Friant laid out two payment options. The GSA
would either pay a lump sum of $125 million by the end of 2022,
or $200 million over the next decade through pumping fees
charged to its farmers.
The next six weeks, California pistachios will be on close
watch around how much–if any, the current drought in the state
is affecting its growth or “nut fill.” … So while some
growers are located in areas with good groundwater and/or are
receiving some supply of surface water, others have zero
surface water and also limited sources of groundwater.
… At the same time, the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA) is starting to be implemented. This
legislation, which passed in 2014, requires that all
groundwater basins in California be sustainable and agencies
were formed to ensure compliance with the act.
As Southern California faces the most challenging drought in
its history, two new studies highlight the value and
wide-ranging success of Metropolitan Water District’s Turf
Replacement Program, which gives cash rebates to residents who
swap their water-guzzling lawns for more water-efficient
California Friendly and native plants. One study found
that for every 100 homes that converted their yards using a
rebate, an additional 132 nearby homes were inspired to convert
their own grass without receiving a rebate to help fund the
projects. This “multiplier effect” more than doubled the value
of Metropolitan’s investment in making Southern California more
sustainable.
After more than 20 years, a June letter to Southern California
water officials might spell the end for the Poseidon Water
company’s desalinated dreams in Huntington Beach, once and for
all. The fatal blow came in May, from within the Hilton
in Costa Mesa, where California Coastal Commissioners
unanimously rejected Poseidon’s bid to build a desalting plant
by the AES generating station in the city’s south end. In
striking the project down, commissioners cited what would be
higher water rates, marine life loss, and impacts to poor
households already living near industrial areas, from a project
that would have taken 100 million daily gallons of seawater,
desalted half of it, and discharged the other half back as
saltier brine.
California and six other Western states have less than 60 days
to pull off a seemingly impossible feat: Cut a multi-way deal
to dramatically reduce their consumption of water from the
dangerously low Colorado River. If they don’t, the federal
government will do it for them. A federal Bureau of Reclamation
ultimatum last month, prompted by an extreme
climate-change-induced drop in water levels at the nation’s
largest reservoirs, reopens years of complicated agreements and
political feuds among the communities whose livelihoods depend
on the river. The deadline represents a crucial moment for the
arid Southwest, which must now swiftly reckon with a problem
that has been decades in the making.
California’s once-abundant salmon runs are on the verge of
collapse. That’s a tragedy, but this story is bigger than the
extinction of an iconic fish that once fed millions of people
and was the basis of thriving commercial, tribal and sport
fisheries. … Our salmon are flirting with extinction because
they’re not getting the cold water they need to survive.
… Although they were aware of the growing water crisis,
state and federal water managers have drawn down reservoirs
rapidly over the past three years, leaving cold water — indeed,
any water — in short supply. Why? To provide water to a small
subset of commercial growers. -Written by Tom Stokely, a member of the board of
the California Water Impact Network, a nonprofit working
for the equitable distribution of water resources.
Monterey Peninsula water officials are reporting that not only
did they meet the obligation to provide the agreed-upon amount
of water from the Pure Water Monterey water recycling project,
they were able to bank more than 100 acre-feet in groundwater
reserve. Pure Water Monterey — a project of Monterey One Water,
the area’s wastewater service provider — takes recycled water
that has been treated to a potable level and in a joint effort
with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District injects
it into the Seaside Groundwater Basin for later
extraction.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW),
Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) and State Water Resource
Board (SWRCB) announced in a press release on July 1 that it
would be collectively authorizing enforcement teams for the
2022 cannabis growing season. … This effort is funded by
Proposition 64 which enables these government agencies to focus
on protecting “priority watersheds and areas with sensitive
habitat and/or threatened or endangered species.” … The water
streams of California, and the wildlife that depends on them,
suffer when illegal cannabis grow operations divert
water.
A lawsuit accusing Vacaville of endangering its residents with
tap water polluted with hexavalent chromium — the
cancer-causing chemical made infamous in the film “Erin
Brockovich” — was dismissed Friday by a federal appeals court,
which said the city merely carried the water in its pipes and
isn’t responsible for contamination caused by others. The city
was sued in 2017 by the environmental group California River
Watch, which said Vacaville had failed to inspect or clean up
the water it had piped in from wells near a former
wood-processing plant whose owners had dumped the chemical into
the ground for many years.
Managers of California’s most
overdrawn aquifers were given a monumental task under the state’s
landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: Craft viable,
detailed plans on a 20-year timeline to bring their beleaguered
basins into balance. It was a task that required more than 250
newly formed local groundwater agencies – many of them in the
drought-stressed San Joaquin Valley – to set up shop, gather
data, hear from the public and collaborate with neighbors on
multiple complex plans, often covering just portions of a
groundwater basin.
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.”
For more than 20 years, Tanya
Trujillo has been immersed in the many challenges of the Colorado
River, the drought-stressed lifeline for 40 million people from
Denver to Los Angeles and the source of irrigation water for more
than 5 million acres of winter lettuce, supermarket melons and
other crops.
Trujillo has experience working in both the Upper and Lower
Basins of the Colorado River, basins that split the river’s water
evenly but are sometimes at odds with each other. She was a
lawyer for the state of New Mexico, one of four states in the
Upper Colorado River Basin, when key operating guidelines for
sharing shortages on the river were negotiated in 2007. She later
worked as executive director for the Colorado River Board of
California, exposing her to the different perspectives and
challenges facing California and the other states in the river’s
Lower Basin.
As California slowly emerges from
the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, one remnant left behind by
the statewide lockdown offers a sobering reminder of the economic
challenges still ahead for millions of the state’s residents and
the water agencies that serve them – a mountain of water debt.
Water affordability concerns, long an issue in a state where
millions of people struggle to make ends meet, jumped into
overdrive last year as the pandemic wrenched the economy. Jobs
were lost and household finances were upended. Even with federal
stimulus aid and unemployment checks, bills fell by the wayside.
As California’s seasons become
warmer and drier, state officials are pondering whether the water
rights permitting system needs revising to better reflect the
reality of climate change’s effect on the timing and volume of
the state’s water supply.
A report by the State Water Resources Control Board recommends
that new water rights permits be tailored to California’s
increasingly volatile hydrology and be adaptable enough to ensure
water exists to meet an applicant’s demand. And it warns
that the increasingly whiplash nature of California’s changing
climate could require existing rights holders to curtail
diversions more often and in more watersheds — or open
opportunities to grab more water in climate-induced floods.
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.
Voluntary agreements in California
have been touted as an innovative and flexible way to improve
environmental conditions in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
and the rivers that feed it. The goal is to provide river flows
and habitat for fish while still allowing enough water to be
diverted for farms and cities in a way that satisfies state
regulators.
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.
Shortly after taking office in 2019,
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on state agencies to deliver a Water
Resilience Portfolio to meet California’s urgent challenges —
unsafe drinking water, flood and drought risks from a changing
climate, severely depleted groundwater aquifers and native fish
populations threatened with extinction.
Within days, he appointed Nancy Vogel, a former journalist and
veteran water communicator, as director of the Governor’s Water
Portfolio Program to help shepherd the monumental task of
compiling all the information necessary for the portfolio. The
three state agencies tasked with preparing the document delivered
the draft Water Resilience Portfolio Jan. 3. The document, which
Vogel said will help guide policy and investment decisions
related to water resilience, is nearing the end of its comment
period, which goes through Friday, Feb. 7.
It’s been a year since two devastating wildfires on opposite ends
of California underscored the harsh new realities facing water
districts and cities serving communities in or adjacent to the
state’s fire-prone wildlands. Fire doesn’t just level homes, it
can contaminate water, scorch watersheds, damage delivery systems
and upend an agency’s finances.
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
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.
Dates are now set for two key
Foundation events to kick off 2020 — our popular Water 101
Workshop, scheduled for Feb. 20 at McGeorge School of Law in
Sacramento, and our Lower Colorado River Tour, which will run
from March 11-13.
In addition, applications will be available by the first week of
October for our 2020 class of Water Leaders, our competitive
yearlong program for early to mid-career up-and-coming water
professionals. To learn more about the program, check out our
Water Leaders program
page.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
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.
The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.
These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.
We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:
