The Sacramento Valley, the northern part of the Central Valley,
spreads through 10 counties north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin
River Delta (Delta). Sacramento is an important agricultural
region, growing citrus, nuts and rice among many other crops.
Water flows from the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the region’s
two major rivers — the Sacramento and American – and west into
the Delta. Other rivers include the Cosumnes, which is the
largest free-flowing river in the Central Valley, the lower
Feather, Bear and Yuba.
The Sacramento Valley attracts more than 2 million ducks and
geese each winter to its seasonal marshes along the Pacific
Flyway. Species include northern pintails, snow geese, tundra
swans, sandhill cranes, mallards, grebes, peregrine falcons,
heron, egrets, and hawks.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, a local nonprofit accused
Sacramento County of violating the Clean Water Act by dumping
raw sewage and other pollutants into local waterways. The
California Coastkeeper Alliance alleges waste has been
illegally dumped into the Mokelumne River, Dry Creek, Morrison
Creek, the American River and the Sacramento River by the
Sacramento Sewer District. The suit claims the dumping is
“ongoing and continuous” and poses health risks to those who
come into contact with sewage.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently
vacated a summary judgment previously granted to the city of
Vacaville, California, in a citizen suit brought under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). California
River Watch v. City of Vacaville questioned whether a
drinking water provider could have RCRA liability as a
transporter of waste due to the presence of a contaminant in
the drinking water which was not introduced by the provider and
which did not cause the drinking water to fail applicable
federal and state drinking water standards.
In an effort to expand Corning’s water services, the city is
applying for a Small Community Drought Relief of $22,322,250
through the Department of Water Resources. Corning is applying
for this grant to fund three wells and extend water mains and
laterals within the municipality’s sphere of influence, which
is to Viola Road west across Interstate 5, north to Finnell
Avenue and east across Interstate 5.
Well users around Glenn County are approaching a water crisis
due to ongoing drought conditions. Groundwater supplies are
running lower and lower as many residential wells are drying up
while others are reporting serious water supply issues. In
response, a meeting was held Thursday evening to not only
address the issue but bring forth options for residents in
Orland to connect to a municipal water line.
This week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation initiated a Folsom
Power Bypass to reduce river water temperatures and protect
salmonids as spawning season begins on the Lower American
River. A power bypass allows Reclamation to access and release
cold water below the power unit penstocks at Folsom Reservoir,
thereby reducing river water temperatures to benefit rearing
steelhead and spawning fall-run Chinook salmon. This is
especially critical given that the LAR this summer was operated
to a temperature of 71° F due to the extremely dry hydrology
and low Folsom Reservoir storage.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) have announced a
joint effort at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Butte County
to aid in offsetting impacts to spring-run and fall-run Chinook
salmon resulting from this year’s extreme drought conditions.
Under this joint initiative, CDFW and DWR are taking a two-part
approach supporting Feather River salmon populations to guard
against impacts observed during the state’s last multi-year
drought, as well as protect against impacts observed in recent
years due to a nutrient deficiency.
Governor Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 36 authored by
Assemblyman Gallagher (R-Yuba City) and co-authored by Senator
Nielsen (R-Tehama). The legislation helps fast-track
construction of the Paradise Irrigation District (PID) water
intertie and the Paradise sewer project, and is supported by
the Town of Paradise, the Paradise Irrigation District and the
State Building and Construction Trades Council of
California.
One day in early October, a group of University of California,
Merced, students went to the campus Smart Farm, augurs in hand,
to explore the soil for the best spots to locate moisture
sensors. They were not looking in the root zone to monitor how
much water is available but instead for areas lower in the soil
to study how irrigation and stormwater can travel far enough
beneath the plants to recharge the groundwater below.
It’s bad enough that we are in the middle of one of the worst
droughts in Lake County’s modern history. There is only one
boat ramp on Clear Lake that is usable right now and the water
level is getting lower by the day. Now the Rumsey Gauge
readings are all screwed up. The most recent reading shows that
the lake is lower than it was during the record year of 1977,
but is that a true reading? The problem is that the Rumsey
Gauge which is located at Vector Control’s dock in Lakeport, is
now on dry ground because of the lake level falling.
Gain a deeper understanding of the state’s biggest
watershed relied on by millions for drinking water during our
Northern California Tour this Thursday. And don’t miss the Oct.
28 Water Summit where you will hear Karla Nemeth, director of
the California Department of Water Resources, and
others discuss the drought now gripping California, what is
being done in the short-term and what longer-term projects and
partnerships are aiming to make the state more sustainable.
Minor draft adjustments were made Monday as the Advisory
Committee behind the Paradise Sewer Regionalization Project met
to discuss principles of agreement going forward. The committee
is made up of Paradise Mayor Steve Crowder and Vice Mayor Jodi
Jones as well as Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge and Vice Mayor
Kacey Reynolds. For the project, both Paradise and Chico are
working with design firm HDR, which aids in engineering,
architecture and related elements.
The city is looking to secure grant funding to help fund three
wells and extend water mains and laterals with the
municipality’s sphere of influence. City staff Tuesday will ask
for council permission to apply for a Small Community Drought
Relief of $22,322,250 through the Department of Water
Resources. Corning’s sphere of influence is to Viola Road west
across Interstate 5, north to Finnell Avenue and east across
Interstate 5. Staff recommends the council approve applying for
this grant.
While the event laid idle in 2020, over 90 vendors revived it
this year. These farmers, artists, cooks and other vendors come
from as far as Sacramento and Oregon, to as near as the
community park’s backyard. … Jessanna Levitsky was
selling produce from her farm, Heartbeat Farm, all day, but
says the drought didn’t make it easy. Her domestic well has run
dry and her family now depends on their agricultural well to
both grow and live. It means less water going to the olive
trees and less produce being harvested.
Climate Central, an independent organization of scientists and
journalists who research and report on climate science,
released new visualizations and data that show how rising sea
levels from climate change could impact Sacramento. One of the
graphics projects dramatic flooding at the state Capitol
Building in the next hundreds of years if carbon pollution
continues to go unchecked and, in turn, causes a 4-degree
Celsius increase in global temperature. Climate Central also
released an interactive map of Sacramento, depicting areas in
the region that would flood in the future due to rising sea
levels. But these visuals do not consider one important element
— levees.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today honored
the Regional Water Authority (RWA) with the national 2021
WaterSense® Partner of the Year Award for its dedication to
helping consumers and businesses save water, even with the
challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This is
the second WaterSense Award for RWA, which in 2016 earned a
WaterSense® Excellence in Education and Outreach Award for its
outstanding efforts to educate Sacramento-area residents about
water efficiency and the WaterSense brand.
Like a human fingerprint, California’s Sacramento Valley is
truly unique. On the leading edge of ecological and economical
sustainability, it’s also an exceptional place to live,
work, and raise a family. The Sacramento Valley joins together
a world-renowned mosaic of natural and human abundance:
productive farmlands, teeming wildlife refuges and managed
wetlands, the largest salmon runs south of the Columbia River,
dynamic rural and urban communities, and life-giving rivers and
creeks that support it all. – Written by Curtis Knight, executive director of Cal
Trout; Jeff McCreary, director of operations for Ducks
Unlimited Western Region; Tim Johnson, president and CEO of the
California Rice Commission; and David Guy, the president of the
Northern California Water Association.
A landslide along the shore of Lake Shasta, likely caused
by the rapidly falling lake level, has knocked out
water service to hundreds of Jones Valley area residents.
Meanwhile, Shasta County Public Works Department officials are
trying to repair water lines and pumps broken by the landslide,
but they have hit supply ordering delays and shortages caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic. … The land above the pump station
began to slump in September and work in the area was
interrupted by the Fawn Fire, which burned in the area for more
than a week…
The nation’s firefighters spent a record 69 days this year at
their highest level of alert, the dreaded level 5, rushing from
one drought-driven wildfire to the next. Now they’re finally
getting at least somewhat of a break. Last week, federal fire
managers downgraded the National Preparedness Level to 3 after
a handful of September storms smacked the Pacific Northwest and
residual rain fell in California’s far north.
A new campaign online, on billboards and over the airwaves is
aimed at urging California residents to avoid a deadly mistake
involving trees that has been learned from previous droughts.
The new campaign from the Regional Water Authority and the
Sacramento Tree Foundation is titled “Stress your lawn, save
your trees.” The focus of the campaign is to educate the
public that lawns can handle less water but that
drought‐stressed trees can be lost forever if they do not
receive enough moisture.
Congress approved a government funding bill last week that
threw $80 million at the Sites Reservoir in California in order
to keep the project on track. The project is meant to hold 1.5
million acre-feet of water for the state to be used during
droughts for agriculture, community usage and environmental
need, said a press release issued Tuesday by the organization
behind the Sites Reservoir.
As California officials brace for a possible third year of
drought — Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of
Water Resources, recently warned of “a worst-case scenario” for
2022 — the drought disaster is already in full force for many
Californians. With underground water tables plummeting, more
than 700 residents have notified the state that their wells
have gone dry this year — a 700% increase from 2020. They’re
being forced to use bottled water, install storage tanks in
their yards and wait for new wells to get drilled. They’re
learning, the hard way, to be patient.
Sacramento is now officially in its longest dry spell ever,
breaking a record that stood for more than 140 years. Thursday
marked 195 consecutive days without measurable rainfall (0.01
inch or more) downtown, the National Weather Service’s
Sacramento office said this week. It last rained more than a
trace amount on March 19. The previous record of 194 days
happened from March to November of 1880, the weather service
said.
Thursday marks the final day of the water year in California,
and it was one for the record books — and not just because much
of the state saw less than 50% of average rainfall.
… California received about 24 inches of water during
the water year that began Oct. 1, 2020, according to the
8-station index. It’s 46% percent of the average, which is
about 51.4 inches and is drier than any of the years that
produced the last prolonged drought that began roughly in 2011.
Registration is now open for the Foundation’s Water Summit,
hosted this year as an engaging virtual experience on the
afternoon of Oct. 28, followed by an optional
in-person reception during an open-air cruise along the
Sacramento River. With the theme, Pivoting Today’s Pain into
Tomorrow’s Gain, the online event will examine what’s
being done to get through the drought now gripping California
and highlight some of the innovative programs, projects
and partnerships aimed at addressing the challenges.
After a lengthy public hearing Tuesday, the Butte County Board
of Supervisors voted 3-1 to support a proposed water district
in the northwest county. The Tuscan Water District would cover
102,000 acres stretching from Butte Valley, north and west to
the Tehama and Glenn county lines, excluding Cal Water’s Chico
Division. The district name refers to the aquifer beneath the
area. The area is almost entirely dependent on groundwater, and
to meet the provisions of a recent state law, the amount that
is pumped will have to be reduced.
Another year of drought means another year of reduced harvest
for California rice. Farmers slashed planting by 20% in the
spring due to water shortages, which amounts to about 100,000
acres of idle rice fields. … Butler’s Sutter Basin Corp,
in Robbins, cut production by 1,000 acres. The fallowed land
was never planted, and the soil dried out in the sun.
… Cal Rice spokesman Jim Morris said water issues have
been among the challenges. He said cutbacks have impacts
throughout the Sacramento Valley.
[Siskiyou] county has attempted to restrict access to
irrigation water on the grounds that it’s being wasted on weed,
which many Hmong farmers grow to eke out a living from the
otherwise barren land in Mount Shasta Vista. To the Hmong,
mostly first- and second-generation refugees from Southeast
Asia, it’s felt like an attempt to drive them out of a
conservative and majority-white county, the latest chapter in
a long legacy of anti-Asian racism dating back to
California’s gold rush.
The water alongside the Clearlake Keys home of Michelle Figuera
and her family normally would be above her head — she thinks
about 10 feet deep. Instead, the canal is dry, clogged with
invasive plants that lie in a vast, tangled mass — their
tendrils reaching up and over the edge of the wooden dock,
which now rests on land. During two years of drought, the water
level in Clear Lake has fallen dramatically, retreating from
the shoreline and rendering boat docks useless around the lake,
including many public launches.
Joe was a top-notch engineer and he wanted those he mentored to
be the same. He was known to pull out a report, point to a
number, and ask, “where did this come from?” He was essentially
making sure we understood the information, and could replicate
it in the future. Many times, he would give out an assignment,
knowing we were not aware of all that had to be done, but
making us think through the problem and ask questions in order
to get the job done correctly. … Joe died on September
3, 2021, at the age of 95. His days of working full time were
long behind him, but he never lost sight of his family.
For a year I have been tracking the progress of a Butte County
proposal to form a new water district. Named “Tuscan,” a name
that brims with ripe fruit and Italian luxury, the form of the
proposed district promises a bountiful harvest to two large
landowners—absentee corporations, in fact. It also promises to
leave Butte County’s water coffers empty and its aquifers dry.
A big construction project is underway in an effort to protect
fish in the American River, especially as they struggle to
survive a serious drought. Crews are working on the Sacramento
Water Forum’s habitat restoration project on the Lower American
River at Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael. Workers carved
out a new alcove for young Chinook salmon and steelhead trout
to grow and hide from predators, and they moved lots of gravel
to the area for the adult fish to use when laying eggs.
The Butte County Department of Water Resources has opened
several locations for residential well owners who need water to
pick up potable water in Chico and Oroville. Butte County said
it will verify residents are using the water for household uses
only. On July 20, the Butte County Board of Supervisors adopted
a resolution proclaiming a local emergency due to increased
reports of residential wells going dry from drought conditions.
The proclamation has given the county increased access to
resources to assist with dry wells.
In 2013 the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors
adopted an Integrated Water Resources Master Plan, since
updated in 2015 and 2020. Meanwhile water demand has declined
since 2013. Three factors affected that: 1. New conservation
trends; 2. The 2014-16 drought; 3. Slower development growth.
In 2013 the master plan predicted water demand of 50,000-59,000
acre-feet of water. However, the most current estimate for 2025
is 34,740 acre-feet of demand.
Californians reduced their water use at home by a meager 1.8%
statewide in July compared to last year, even after Gov. Gavin
Newsom urged residents to conserve 15% and drought continues to
spread across the state. Officials today warned water
providers south of the Delta who rely on state water
allocations — already slashed to 5% this year — to brace for
the possibility of zero supply next year.
As California’s drought deepens, Sacramento residents are
falling short of meeting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for water
conservation — at least so far. Area residents reduced water
usage by an average of 6% last month, compared to August 2020,
according to data released this week by the Sacramento Regional
Water Authority. That compares with the 15% voluntary goal
announced by Newsom in an executive order in July.
Sacramento County Regional Sanitation District (Regional San)
and Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD) serve a 400-square
mile service area, providing public infrastructure and
municipal services to protect and enrich the daily lives of
more than 1.6 million Sacramento County residents. Over his
career, Prabhakar Somavarapu, former general manager of both
districts, oversaw one of the largest infrastructure projects
in Sacramento’s history, the $2 billion EchoWater Project…
The Bureau of Reclamation is collaborating with Natural
Resources Conservation Service to make federal funding
available to improve the efficiency of agricultural water use
throughout California. The projects funded through this
partnership will help communities build resilience to drought
through the modernization of water infrastructure and efficient
use of water resources.
Almonds in California are no longer sustainable at current
levels. That’s the consensus of recent headlines describing the
prolonged historic drought — and increasing restrictions on
water use — currently impacting the state’s $6 billion industry
and its efforts to produce 80 percent of the world’s
almonds. The U.S. Drought Monitor is showing California
to be slowly approaching 90% of the state categorized as being
in ‘extreme’ drought —especially in the Central Valley.
The Foundation’s virtual journeys will whisk you away to
explore California’s key rivers and water regions this
fall from the Sacramento River to the headwaters in the
Sierras. Plus, our annual Water
Summit will feature water managers and other
water experts who are dealing with the “new normal” as
unprecedented drought and wildfires challenge the status
quo.
New groundwater agencies in the Sacramento Valley are currently
finalizing plans to manage their groundwater basins for
long-term balance, as required by the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA). Successful stewardship demands good
information not only about groundwater conditions, but also
about surface water availability. To help build shared
understanding of surface water for agriculture—the valley’s
main water-using sector—we produced a new dataset showing how
access to this vital resource varies across irrigated farmland
in the Sacramento Valley and the Delta.
To fill the post of chief agricultural negotiator at the United
States Trade Representative’s office, the Biden administration
dipped into California’s hot, dusty, drought-plagued San
Joaquin Valley and plucked out an almond-industry lobbyist.
… Biden is favoring the $6 billion almond industry at a
particularly fraught time in its history. The ever-expanding
groves of California’s Central Valley churn out nearly 80
percent of the globe’s almonds. -Written by Mother Jones reporter Tom
Philpott.
A few months before his retirement in October 2021, Ariel
Rubissow Okamoto asked Ted Sommer, lead scientist for the
California Department of Water Resources, to reflect on his
accomplishments and hopes for the future. Sommer is a leading
researcher on native fishes, and has published more than 60
research articles in peer-reviewed scientific publications
since 2001.
Drought. Wildfires. And, for the country as a whole,
temperatures worse than the Dust Bowl. In a further bit of
evidence of the reality of climate change, California has just
experienced its hottest summer on record, according to data
released this week by the federal government. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average
temperature in California reached 77.3 degrees from June to
August. That topped the previous record of 76.5 degrees in
summer 2017.
The bustle of birds and insect pollinators is the first thing
you notice at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, about 100 miles
northeast of San Francisco in the Capay Valley, where Judith
Redmond and her partners started farming four decades ago.
… Farmers have always labored at the mercy of the
elements, but climate change has brought overlapping calamities
of wildfires, drought, prolonged heat waves and power
outages.
Environmental groups failed to justify blocking the federal
government from funding groundwater pumping in the Sacramento
River Valley pending a preliminary injunction hearing, a
federal court in California ruled. There’s no evidence that
pumping will immediately occur without injunctive relief,
according to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of California. And even if it did happen, there’s no evidence
irreparable harm would occur between that time and the
preliminary injunction hearing, Judge William B. Shubb said
Tuesday.
A brutal summer of record heat and punishing drought has
claimed yet another California victim: the majestic,
snow-covered slopes of Mt. Shasta. Just as the impacts of
global warming have revealed themselves in extreme wildfire
behavior and plunging reservoir levels, climate change is now
altering the skyline of far Northern California and wreaking
havoc on communities surrounding the dormant volcano.
The Central Valley’s rice fields and wetlands are widely
heralded as key rest and refuel stops for millions of migratory
birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. The rice fields
provide more than 50% of the diet for the ducks and geese
during their fall and winter migration. To view rafts of
waterfowl feeding on public wildlife areas or seeing thousands
of geese taking flight from a rice field are indicators of a
healthy environment and visual examples of how vital the
Central Valley is to the Flyway. -Written by Jeff McCreary, director of operations for the
Western Region, Ducks Unlimited, and Tim Johnson, president and
CEO of the California Rice Commission.
For much of California, the arrival of September has brought
extreme, scalding temperatures. Sunday was the hottest day in
Los Angeles in nearly 11 months, according to AccuWeather.
Temperatures in the Inland Empire and the Sacramento region
soared into the triple-digits over the long weekend. And in the
next few days, dangerous heat waves are projected for large
swaths of the state, weather officials warn.
First came the asparagus field. Then came the melons. And now
Joe Del Bosque is considering the unthinkable: tearing out a
sprawling almond orchard bursting with healthy, nut-producing
trees. … Two decades of almost unrelenting growth
vaulted almonds into the upper ranks of California agriculture.
Now, though, the state’s $6 billion-a-year industry is
being humbled by a devastating drought. Farmers have
slowed the pace of new orchard plantings and, in a few cases,
have plowed up trees still capable of bearing almonds.
The Bureau of Reclamation selected 20 projects to share $3.1
million in applied science grants to develop tools and
information to support water management decisions. These
projects in 11 western states include improved water data,
modeling and forecasting capabilities.
A proposed water district in northwestern Butte County won a
split-vote endorsement from the Butte County Water Commission,
after a lengthy public hearing. The commission voted 6-3 to
recommend the Board of Supervisors support formation of the
Tuscan Water District. Even though the vote was just advisory,
there were two hours of public comment. When the supervisors
take up the matter Sept. 14, their action will also just be
advisory, as the Local Agency Formation Commission is the
entity that will determine whether the district is formed.
As reservoirs across California meet historic lows, we are
again faced with the reality of not enough water for the
environment, farms and people. … As our climate
continues to change, we can expect more of the same, and
possibly worse if we don’t make some meaningful changes to how
we manage water in California. We need to advance water
recycling projects, increase conservation and develop more
capacity to store water. One key part of the solution is the
construction of Sites Reservoir.
At the end of the growing season, as the Sacramento Valley
transitions from summer to fall, we shift from the agronomic
season to the bird season as waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and
other birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway begin to arrive
as part of their annual migration. Birds and other species
using the Pacific Flyway are reliant upon varied land uses in
the Sacramento Valley that include ricelands and managed
wetlands (both privately managed wetlands and public refuges
and state wildlife areas) to meet their habitat needs.
It’s too early to say if Sonoma County and surrounding areas
will get enough rain this winter to revive the parched
landscape and replenish dwindling water supplies, but it
doesn’t look good. “The tilt is toward a drier than normal
winter,” said Brian Garcia of the National Weather Service. …
Don’t expect the kind of above-normal rainfall that would be
typical of an El Niño weather pattern. The opposite is
more likely: below normal rainfall common to La Niña conditions
…
Tucked between two mountain ranges in Northern California’s
Siskiyou County, the Shasta Valley is as complex as it is
impressive. … The dearth of knowledge is perhaps most
pronounced when it comes to what scientists call the
hydrogeology of the groundwater basin –– how exactly water
moves through the volcanic rock below the ground. The movement
of that water is the economic linchpin of the valley, with
cattle ranchers, alfalfa farmers, cannabis growers, and others
all depending on it. And thousands of residents also depend on
the groundwater for their homes.
Driving between her northern Central Valley rice fields with
the family dog in tow, fifth-generation farmer Kim Gallagher
points out the window to shorebirds, egrets and avocets
fluttering across a thousand-acre sea of green flooded in six
inches of water. … The nearly 500,000 acres of sushi
rice grown in the Sacramento Valley each year serve as the
wetland habitat for thousands of migrating birds along the
Pacific Coast. Yet the crop also uses more water than most, and
about half of the product is exported to countries including
Japan and South Korea.
Substantial work occurs in the Sacramento Valley every year on
projects to develop and enhance habitat for the region’s
terrestrial and aquatic species. In-stream salmon
recovery projects, Pacific Flyway habitat improvements,
floodplain reactivation and many other types of habitat
projects all require environmental permits to be
implemented. There is general recognition that the work
necessary to acquire these permits greatly increases the time
and cost to get the projects done.
There was an unusual twist at Wednesday’s gubernatorial recall
debate in Sacramento: A Democrat participated for the first
time. And that Democrat, 29-year-old millionaire Ventura County
real estate investor Kevin Paffrath, jump-started the hour-long
debate with some unusual ideas. Paffrath, who has never held
elective office, proposed to solve California’s water shortages
by building a pipeline to the Mississippi River…. As
California falls deeper into an extraordinary drought, all
three GOP candidates threw shade on Newsom approach of
encouraging conservation. It was one of their most detailed
debate exchanges about water policy to date, yet yielded few
ideas for immediate action.
The Sacramento City Council voted on Tuesday to declare a Stage
2 ‘Water Alert’ meant to help reduce the pressure on the Folsom
Reservoir and Lower American River amid the state’s ongoing
drought. During a meeting Tuesday evening, city council also
voted to support the Regional Water Authority’s resolution
calling for a 15% voluntary water conservation from
residents. The decision is in alignment with Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s request in July for residents and businesses to
voluntarily curb water use as the state’s drought
conditions worsen.
There are a number of ways to analyze the behavior of wildland
fires using data that is easily available. The amount of
moisture in the live and dead vegetation is a critical factor
in determining how readily it will burn, because it has to be
cooked off before the grass, brush, or woody vegetation will
vigorously combust. The amount of precipitation over days,
weeks, months, and years affects how wildfires burn. The map
above depicts precipitation during the 30-day period ending
August 23, 2021.
The Solano Resource Conservation District hosted the first
three-day Solano Water Institute for Teachers early this month
at various sites throughout Solano County and at Lake
Berryessa. The new teacher workshop provided 27 Solano County
educators with knowledge, skills and tools to help them teach
watershed science and land preservation from a locally relevant
perspective. The Solano Water Institute featured presentations
from nine local and state experts on water resources, open
spaces and climate change with conversations integrating
Project WET, an award-winning environmental education
curriculum created by the Water Education
Foundation.
A scramble is on in the Sierra to seize on favorable weather
conditions and keep the flames of the Caldor Fire out of the
Lake Tahoe basin. The 9-day-old blaze that has already
destroyed 447 homes and consumed more than 114,000 acres is now
the “No. 1 priority in the nation” for firefighting resources,
Cal Fire Director Thom Porter said on Monday. He warned that
the fire was “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe region,
even after crews were encouraged by the progress of getting the
fire 9% contained by Monday evening.
The City Council Tuesday will discuss whether Corning needs to
declare stage one drought conditions in the city, which would
require asking residents to reduce their everyday water usage
by 15 percent. The city’s staff is asking the council to
implement the voluntary measure. The city will encourage
residents to use native plants or water-conserving vegetation,
use efficient landscaping systems, water during the evening and
early morning to reduce evaporation and practice water-reducing
methods in households.
The Paradise Irrigation District says it will now more closely
monitor its free water fill station to the drought. … The
district says in more closely monitoring the station that is
only open to PID customers, people who are picking up water now
must register inside the office, include their service address
name and vehicle information.
Jessica Law became executive director of the Water Forum in
January. In 1993, the City and County of Sacramento launched
negotiations to figure out how to ensure reliable water
supplies and safeguard the environmental needs of the Lower
American River. In 2000, 40 different agencies signed the Water
Forum Agreement, which has guided the organization’s work ever
since.
Sacramento’s American River Parkway gets more than five million
visits a year—that’s even more than Yosemite—but this year, the
nature area has suffered more destructive brush fires than ever
before. Parkway advocates came face to face with politicians,
firefighters and those who manage the area to demand more
protection.
California is in a dire situation. Most of our state’s major
reservoirs are precariously close to being effectively empty.
We are less than two months away from the new water year when
we start to replenish water supplies. Drought is to be expected
in California. But are we as prepared as we could be? Were we
ready for this year? We would be unquestionably better off if
we had more storage capacity to save more water in advance of
droughts. The proposed Sites Reservoir project would fill that
role. -Written by Jeffrey P. Sutton, general manager of the
Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority.
A 7-year-old Tehama County boy has died after contracting a
rare but severe brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a lake in
Northern California, his family said. … There have been
only 10 cases of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM,
reported in California since 1971, according to the Tehama
County Health Services Agency. Health officials recommend if
anyone has had nasal exposure to warm freshwater in the last 10
days and develops symptoms to consult a doctor immediately.
Firefighters face extreme fire conditions and strong wind
gusts this week as they battle several major wildfires
burning throughout Northern California. Almost
10,300 firefighters were working North State fires as of
Monday, including the recently-ignited Morgan Fire burning east
of the small Tehama County town of Mineral near the
570,000-acre Dixie Fire. Dixie was the largest of the fires,
which altogether burned through 821,415 acres as of Monday
morning. Thousands of residents are still under evacuation
orders.
Only one water storage project remains a possibility in
California seven years after voters approved a bond to build
more dams. Sites Reservoir is the last proposed project
standing. State Senator Jim Nielsen of Red Bluff has spent
years fighting to build Sites Reservoir in Northern California.
It’s a $5-billiion project creating 1-point-8 million acres
feet of water storage.
Signs of drought proliferate across the American
West. California is rationing water for farmers in the state’s
Central Valley. Salmon are dying en masse in the
Pacific Northwest as river temperatures climb. Lake Mead,
on the border of Nevada and Arizona, is drying up. …
Groundwater is the source of drinking water for half of
Americans, and nearly all of the country’s rural communities.
… But groundwater has become dangerously depleted in places
where pumping has exceeded the rate at which aquifers are
naturally replenished.
In California’s water world, long dominated almost exclusively
by men, women are blazing a path — sometimes straight to the
top. … Karla Nemeth [director of California’s Department
of Water Resources] … said law and engineering
backgrounds used to be strictly prioritized in water, but the
field is opening up to other disciplines and collaborative
skills. Nemeth, arguably one of the state’s most powerful water
leaders, helms DWR, which manages California’s water resources,
infrastructure and systems.
With more critical wildfire weather looming, PG&E Corp. has
warned it might shut off power to thousands of Northern
Californians late Tuesday. Pacific Gas and Electric Co.,
already under investigation in connection with the massive
Dixie Fire, said it might impose a blackout Tuesday
night to 39,000 homes and businesses in 16 counties stretching
from Mendocino to Yolo. About two-thirds of the affected
customers would be in Butte and Shasta counties.
CalTrout’s Central Valley 2021 field season (Oct 1, 2020 –
April 1, 2021) marked the much-awaited second year study of
large-scale Fish Food export. For some brief background, the
Fish Food export program is CalTrout’s novel management
practice for transferring benefits of winter-flooded habitat
that juvenile salmon can not get to, back to fish wedged
between the river levee system. The Fish Food program is the
compliment to the Nigiri Project. With Nigiri, we bring fish
onto the floodplain, and with Fish Food, we bring the
floodplain back to the fish.
A controversial construction project at McKinley Park in East
Sacramento is expected to be finished in early October. The
city built a 6-million gallon water vault underground at the
park to hold stormwater during heavy rain. The $32 million
project is supposed to prevent stormwater from going into East
Sacramento’s combined sewer system and cause flooding.
The City of Roseville is going underground to tap into drinking
water as its primary source dries up during the drought. They
have a plan to supply water to more than 50,000 homes. For
years, Roseville relied almost exclusively on surface water
from Folsom Lake for drinking water. But that can be tricky and
near impossible, considering previous and current droughts —
plus studies showing the impacts of climate change.
California just closed the books on its hottest July on record,
a whopping 5.3 degrees above normal. It was the latest in a
rash of record-setting months over the past year, as the state
saw its hottest July, June, October, September and August in
history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. NOAA data shows that the average monthly
temperature in July was 80 degrees, 5.3 degrees above normal,
or the average temperature from 1901 to 2000. June’s average
temperature was 75 degrees, 6.8 degrees above normal.
An extremely rare brain-eating amoeba infected a child who was
swimming in a California lake, health officials said. A child
under the age of 10 was diagnosed with primary amebic
meningoencephalitis, a rare infection caused from brain-eating
amoeba and known as PAM, the Tehama County Health Services
Agency said. … Health officials did not say what lake or
identify the child. The infection is extremely rare, and there
have only been 10 cases reported in California since 1971,
according to the health agency.
The circumstance we find ourselves in today is a prime example
of why we need to build Sites Reservoir now. Just a few years
ago, in 2017 and 2019, we experienced a series of atmospheric
river events that produced so much runoff that it overtopped
our flood control system … If Sites Reservoir had been in
place during that time, not only could we have avoided many of
those flooding impacts, but we also would have captured and
stored much of this excess runoff for use in a dry year like we
are currently experiencing. -Written by Robert Cheng, assistant general
manager of the Coachella Valley Water District, and Charley
Wilson, executive director of the Southern California
Water Coalition.
Located in California’s Central Valley, the Sacramento National
Wildlife Refuge Complex is made up of six individual National
Wildlife Refuges including Sacramento, Colusa, Delevan, Butte
Sink, Sutter and a long stretch of the Sacramento River from
Red Bluff south to Princeton. The complex adds up to 10,819
acres and was originally established by Franklin D. Roosevelt
on Feb. 27, 1937, as a Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. Waterfowl
using the Pacific Flyway to migrate currently and historically
used the area as a winter refuge. Written by Kevin
Deacon, a recent graduate of Tuleyome’s California Naturalist
Certification course, and Kristie Ehrhardt, Tuleyome’s
Land Conservation and Stewardship Program Manager.
There will undoubtedly always be some folks who believe the
myth that building new dams and reservoirs will be a silver
bullet that solves California’s water supply challenges.
The reality, of course, is that California already has
constructed nearly 1,400 dams and reservoirs, and compared to
the excessive and unsustainable demand for water in our state,
new dams and reservoirs provide little water – at high
cost. And of course, most dams and reservoirs have had
devastating impacts on our native fish and wildlife, and the
Tribes, fishing jobs, and communities that depend on their
health.
Water conservation is on everyone’s mind in California
agriculture, especially this year. One staple crop that may
have potential for future water savings is rice. Netafim, who
invented drip irrigation, is now applying that technology to
rice, which is typically grown through flooding. Here’s chief
sustainability officer John Farner.
The West Nile virus was once associated with higher humidity
and moisture, conditions that help mosquitoes thrive. But a
growing body of research has found that drought conditions –
such as those being felt across the American west – could
amplify its effects. States are already on alert. California
reported its first death of the year in July. By the end of
that month, the state’s department of public health (CDPH) had
documented the virus in 4 people, 94 dead birds, 563 mosquito
samples, 10 chickens and 1 horse.
The Redding City Council approved the 2021 Water Transfer
Agreement with the city of Shasta Lake. The approval, given at
the council’s meeting on Tuesday night, paves the way for the
sale of up to 120 acre-feet of Redding’s water to Shasta Lake
at a cost of $328 per acre-foot.
Two droughts in the last decade mean a rough ride for ranchers
who are selling off cows to survive. The cost of meat is sky
high during COVID but that money is being spent on the supply
chain in the form of labor at meatpacking plants. It’s not
trickling down to meat producers. But now the drought is drying
up animal feed. … Casey Stone and his family operate
Yolo Land and Cattle Company in the hills of Esparto. They run
more than 600 cows and calves and manage 7,500 acres. Two
droughts in the last 10 years and multiple wildfires are
hitting hard. Stone is about to sell off 30 to 40 percent
of his herd.
California regulators cut off thousands of farmers from their
main irrigation supplies Tuesday, banning them from pulling
water from the state’s main rivers and streams as the drought
worsens. The State Water Resources Control Board, following
hours of debate and comment, voted 5-0 to impose an “emergency
curtailment” order covering the rivers of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta watershed — essentially the entire Central
Valley. It’s the most dramatic step taken to date by state
regulators since the drought was officially declared in most of
California’s counties — and surpasses any of the moves made
during the previous drought.
As California grapples with the effects of an ongoing drought,
UC Berkeley researchers are studying changes in the magnitude
of streamflows and drought-induced tree mortality in order to
advise climate change policy.
There is a rare opportunity to view a historic town that’s been
underwater since the 1950s. At the Folsom Lake State Recreation
Area, visitors are now able to see artifacts from the town that
used to be a mining destination. The rock walls and parts of
the buildings are usually under 60 feet of water, but low water
levels are making the ruins visible.
Flanked by a hazy backdrop of Lake Oroville with the nearby
Dixie Fire creating a smoke-filled sky, federal and state
politicians representing the north state gathered above the
Hyatt Power Plant at Oroville Dam for a press conference
Tuesday to criticize, in their words, the state’s “gross
mismanagement” of water, wildlands and power.
After tabling the topic at a previous meeting, the City Council
will discuss an emergency resolution Tuesday that would create
a temporary emergency water usage policy for unincorporated
area residents without water. The initial residential water
rate for water made available will be $10 per every 1,000
gallons of water plus a $25 monthly administration fee. Some
property owners in the county’s unincorporated areas have told
the city their wells have gone dry. The Tehama County Board of
Supervisors and Corning City Council have approved temporary
water-sharing policies.
California is in the grip of another extreme drought. The
consequences can be seen all over the Sacramento region and,
unfortunately, the worst is yet to come. We expect to see water
levels in the American River this fall that may reach historic
lows. This will be difficult not only for people who enjoy
recreating in our scenic river corridor, but also for the
salmon, steelhead and other native species that need water to
survive and reproduce. That’s why we’re urging everyone in the
Sacramento region to start conserving water in earnest. -Written by Ralph Propper, president of the
Environmental Council of Sacramento, and Tom Gray, general
manager of the Fair Oaks Water District.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of
Water Resources (DWR) today released the next versions of two
computer models that simulate operations of the State Water
Project (SWP) and the Central Valley Project (CVP). Water
managers use the models – CalSim II and CalSim 3 – to examine
project operations under various assumptions for hydrologic
conditions, project facilities and regulatory
requirements.
The Bureau of Reclamation launched a new web portal today that
provides real-time drought-related information and details of
drought actions taken in collaboration with stakeholders and
partners. The science-based web portal is designed to increase
public and media understanding of drought conditions and the
all-of-government efforts to mitigate these conditions by the
Biden-Harris administration.
A review of 170 years of water-related successes in California
suggests that most successes can be traced directly to past
mistakes. California’s highly variable climate has made
it a crucible for innovations in water technology and
policy. Similar water imperatives have led to advances in
water management in other parts of the world. A close
look at California’s water model suggests that “far-sighted
incrementalism” is a path to progress.
The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (Regional
San) has completed a significant upgrade to its wastewater
treatment facility that serves the Sacramento region. The new
Biological Nutrient Removal project (BNR) is now operational,
virtually eliminating ammonia from the region’s treated
wastewater.
No other region in the country is warming faster than the
western United States when it comes to increasing daytime
highs, a trend that became apparent with the unprecedented and
record-shattering heat wave that took over the Pacific
Northwest earlier this summer. Heat has been building all
across the west this year. In June, Idaho, Utah, Arizona,
Nevada and California all had record heat statewide. Salt Lake
City had its warmest June in 74 years of records with an
average temperature of 80.2 F, which is 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit
above normal.
In another vivid example of California’s ongoing drought and
water crisis, the water level is so low at Folsom Lake that
Gold rush era relics that typically are submerged are now
visible on dry land. … For more than a century before
the Folsom Dam was built, the current lake floor in Northern
California was used for gold mining and farming. Settlements
were destroyed when the reservoir was filled in the mid-1950s,
but some old foundations and artifacts remain on the lakebed.
Rural communities suffering from failing infrastructure and low
capacity often miss out on important funding opportunities
because the methods used by state agencies to determine
eligibility are inadequate for rural forested areas, new study
finds. Pockets of wealth (around a lake shore or golf-course
development, for example) raise the median household income
(MHI), which can mask the poverty of nearby communities.
In the town of Happy Valley, residents are dealing with a
crisis. California is experiencing an extreme drought, and
Happy Valley says there is a meager amount of water left in the
community. Coleen Wogoman, a resident of Happy Valley said
their small farm, Wogoman’s Farm, is struggling to stay afloat
as the lack of water striking hard for her family and their
livestock. A mix of emotions is expressed from Wogoman as she
looks upon her farmland and home for over 15 years.
The State Water Resources Control Board on Friday released an
“emergency curtailment” order that would cut thousands off from
rivers and streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river
watersheds. The five-person board still has to vote on the
order Aug. 3, and it would take effect about two weeks later.
This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.
All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.
As if California’s dire dry season wasn’t already difficult,
thieves are making matters even worse. Illegal pot growers are
stealing water anywhere they can get it. That’s why the Nevada
County Sheriff’s Office has a warning that investigators are
cracking down. … But beyond stealing water, the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife is also finding the
illegal grows lead to large environmental impacts due to poor
cultivation practices and waste contaminating water
resources.
With the North State’s drought reaching historically severe
levels, thousands of Shasta County residents from Happy Valley
and Redding to Palo Cedro could face water shortages by the end
of summer. The lack of rain and snowfall this past year
has left officials scrambling to find new sources of water to
get through the dry season. …”We will absolutely, completely
run out of water…. We will not have enough water to get
through the year,” [Bella Vista Water District General Manager
David] Coxey said.
Los Angeles received less than half its average rainfall last
year, most of the state is in a drought emergency, and Governor
Gavin Newsom has asked all residents to reduce their water
usage by 15%. But a stroll through any well-watered
neighborhood in Southern California would suggest otherwise.
… So far in Southern California, the golf courses are
almost as green as they were when it rained a lot a couple
years ago. Some Northern California communities have
already issued mandates to cut back water use, and some
homeowners have seen their wells run dry.
It doesn’t look like much now, a dry and dusty valley
surrounded by the modest mountains of California’s Coast Range.
These barren, brown hills an hour northwest of Sacramento will
be the future home of Sites Reservoir, one of the few major
water projects to be built in California since the 1970s.
California taxpayers are helping pay for Sites, which would
hold more water than Folsom Lake, through a $7.1 billion bond
they approved during the 2014 election.
California’s ongoing drought and predicted heatwave is causing
overly warm and low level waters and threatening to kill off
the entire populations of already endangered species like the
chinook salmon. Negotiations between the State Water Resources
Control Board and the federal Bureau of Reclamation approved a
plan for managing water levels. However, experts predict that
releasing water into the irrigation system this early will
disrupt salmon spawning season and could kill as many as 88% of
the salmon in the river.
The third and final Flood Walk, sponsored by Sustainable
Solano, took 12 participants on a journey through the
marshlands, by the docks and through some residential areas in
Suisun City. All are spots that could be affected by flooding.
… Sustainable Solano is a grassroots movement to unite people
in working toward a future that is ecologically regenerative,
and economically and socially supportive of local
communities.
The shade in Cesar Chavez Plaza provides a refuge for people
during the rising, record-breaking heat in downtown Sacramento.
Staying cool is critical during a heat wave — as is staying
hydrated. But for Sacramento’s over 5,000 unhoused
people, accessing that drinking water isn’t always
straightforward. And while Sacramento has 297 drinking
fountains, they don’t always provide cold water, for
example. Jeffrey Milner, who is unhoused, said he’s
gotten water from people near the downtown library branch and
from people giving away water at Cesar Chavez.
On the surface, the city of Folsom would seem to be water rich.
Perched at the foot of Folsom Lake, where snowmelt funnels into
the Sacramento Valley, the city taps into large intake pipes
plumbed deep into Folsom Dam’s inner face to send cool water to
nearby homes and businesses. That easy access is turning
into a mirage. After two dry winters, the reservoir has
shriveled to its second-lowest level for July in nearly 50
years. It’s lower than it was in July 2014 and July 2015, when
the last drought was raging, California ordered mandatory water
cutbacks, and Folsom residents had to swallow a 32% reduction
in usage.
Millions of waterfowl and other birds are going to have a tough
year due to the ongoing drought in the West. Not only is there
less water for ducks and geese, but the agriculture fields
these migrating birds depend on for food will be significantly
smaller, which means less waste grain. … That
potentially can negatively impact Pacific Flyway waterfowl
flights and hunting this year. Farmers report only 25
percent of the fields usually flooded in autumn will have
water. With reduced water, ducks and geese are impacted. They
concentrate more and diseases and bacteria can spread more
readily, including bird botulism.
The Tehama County Board of Supervisors approved an emergency
resolution Tuesday that would allow residents with dry wells to
purchase water directly from the county. Though not in the
original agenda for the meeting, Chief Administrative Officer
Bill Goodwin added the item as an addendum, which consisted of
a presentation on why the resolution would be necessary. County
administration has been looking at different wells within its
jurisdiction to obtain the water from. Initially, the county
looked toward the well at Ridgeway Park but discovered the
water was non-potable and for irrigation only.
On June 24, Yolo County released a report on a recent design
charrette for the Tule Canal in the Yolo Bypass. The two-day
virtual workshop included 71 participants from a wide swath of
stakeholders — farmers, policy makers, landowners, hunters,
conservation scientists, educators, engineers and ecologists.
Led by consultants Robert Suarez and Teal Brown Zimring, with
generous funding from the State Water Contractors and
Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, the executive summary and
full report are now available on Yolo County’s Delta e-library:
As the waters of Folsom Lake recede to levels rarely seen, the
remnants of a long-ago abandoned, flooded Gold Rush village are
reemerging. Visitors can now see building foundations, bricks,
broken pottery and rusty nails that were all once part of
Mormon Island. The town was settled in the late 1840s by
prospectors. By 1853, it had a population of more than
2,500 settlers, according to California archives. What was left
of the town got flooded in 1955 when Folsom Dam was built.
For more than 60 years, California officials and experts have
discussed expanding the Sacramento River bypass and levee
system. … In summer 2020, contractors broke ground on
the first project to expand that capacity, the Lower Elkhorn
Basin Levee Setback (LEBLS) project. The California Dept. of
Water Resources is leading the design, construction and
permitting of the $103-million project, which will widen the
Sacramento Bypass and the east side of the Yolo Bypass.
Climate change and worsening drought could be to blame for …
increased sightings of yellow jackets, a predatory type of wasp
with stingers that can sting repeatedly and even kill people
who are allergic to its venom. When the natural landscape
“turns to toast” as a result of drought conditions, carnivorous
yellow jackets have a harder time finding their primary food
source: insects. In turn, yellow jackets become attracted to
irrigated green gardens and lawns full of insects to hunt…
Groundwater, a subject of growing concern, will be discussed
Tuesday during the Tehama County Board of Supervisors meeting.
Clay Parker, the groundwater commissioner and Red Bluff
councilman, will be delivering a report to the board with an
update on the Groundwater Sustainability Plan and the Domestic
and Agricultural Well Ad Hoc Committee. … The committee is
still in early development, although the agenda report said an
ordinance is expected to be brought before the board by the end
of the year.
Although 41 of California’s 58 counties are in drought
conditions, legislators are debating bills, such as Senate Bill
9 and Senate Bill 10, that address the construction of housing
to meet the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation. Between
2023 and 2031, the state mandate for the nine-county Bay Area
is 441,000 units, representing an expected population increase
of 1,102,500. The allocation for Los Angeles County is
1,327,000 housing units to accommodate an expected population
increase of 3,317,500. The state’s propensity to accept the
RHNA numbers ignores our drought conditions. -Written by Rick Johnson, a retired 40-year
veteran of the San Francisco water department.
The city of Sacramento, invoking its water shortage contingency
plan, asked residents Wednesday to reduce consumption by 10% as
California’s drought intensifies. City Manager Howard Chan
moved the city into Stage 1 of its contingency plan, which
mandates a 10% cut by city government and a voluntary call to
residents and businesses to do the same, according to spokesman
Carlos Eliason. If additional measures need to be taken, they
would require action by the City Council.
[A]s a result of this year’s harsh drought conditions, we
expect hydroelectric generation in California to be lower in
2021 than it has been in recent years. In the first four months
of 2021, hydroelectric generation in California was 37% less
than in the same four months in 2020 and 71% less than during
those months in 2019. According to our Short-Term Energy
Outlook, hydroelectric generation in California this year will
be 19% less than last year, decreasing from 16.8 million
megawatthours (MWh) in 2020 to 13.6 million MWh in 2021.
Driving through the Sacramento valley an hour north of
California’s capital, most travelers notice nothing but a few
cows grazing on grass scorched brown by the heat. But Jerry
Brown, the executive director of the Sites Reservoir Project,
sees the future of California’s water system….Sites is just
one of hundreds of new projects being urgently pushed by
districts, whose officials see that climate change is
irrevocably changing their water equation.
Earlier posts here like this one by Grant Lundberg and this one
by David Guy have done a great job of describing the virtues of
floodplain restoration. The profound dedication of people
like Julie Rentner and Jacob Katz inform and energize the work
of the entire Floodplain Forward coalition that I’m proud to be
part of. But moving beyond plans to actually get work
done on the ground is a task that needs broad support.
Sprinkled along the foothills of California’s Central Valley
stand the iconic blue oak woodlands. Towering up to 80 feet
tall and some reaching over 400 years old, the trees are home
to one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the
state. But extreme drought and wildfires are forcing the
woodlands into an uncertain future. A new study conducted by
U.S. Geological Survey researchers found that the historic
drought of 2012-2016 alone caused nearly 490 square miles of
tree cover loss — or the reduction of leaves and branches — in
the blue oak woodlands.
A coalition of Delta-based groups has sent a
formal Petition for Reconsideration to the State
Water Board opposing the Board’s June 1 order to relax water
quality standards for Delta operations of the Central Valley
Project and the State Water Project. The Temporary Urgency
Change Order (TUCO) was issued by the Water Board on June 1,
2021 … The coalition’s petition shows that 4.5
million acre-feet of water will be delivered to state and
federal water contractors (including about 10 percent for
Central Valley wildlife refuges), based on Water Board
information.
Record-setting heat and drought gripping the western United
States are exposing a potentially severe risk to the nation’s
long-term power supply, and experts warn that grid operators
lack sufficient tools to plan and carry out a defense.
… Persistent drought also threatens power from
hydroelectric dams in the West, a critical resource for
California during extended heat waves. Water levels are so low
at Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir, that
officials are considering shutting down a hydroelectric plant
there.
The Glenn County Board of Supervisors approved an interim
ordinance Tuesday that puts a temporary stoppage on the
drilling of new agriculture water well permits in Glenn County.
The moratorium, which took place immediately Tuesday, lasts for
45 days. County staff stated in the public hearing Tuesday that
California is going through a drought and Glenn County and
other areas of California are seeing the effect on water
wells.
When discussing the drought, the question of which crops use
the most water comes up a lot. A Pacific Institute analysis of
California Department of Water Resources data sheds light on
the state’s top 10 water-intensive crops in 2015, the most
recent year for which the department has published water-use
estimates. … The analysis ranked pasture first among
California’s top 10 most water-intensive crops …, followed by
nuts and alfalfa…
In a few weeks, officials say, [Lake Oroville's] water levels
are likely to dip even lower – forcing them to shut down one of
the state’s largest hydroelectric power plants for the first
time since it was built in 1967. Amid a historic megadrought,
the climate crisis and energy crisis in California are about to
collide, and set off a vicious cycle. The state’s diminishing
water supply is cutting down hydropower, and California is
relying more on fossil fuels as extreme summer heat drives up
electricity use.
A muddy flavor in your tap water lately may not be the product
of your imagination. An algae bloom is causing water
sourced from the Sacramento and American rivers to impart a
“musty” taste to tap water. The bacterial bloom generates
something called geosmin, which is harmless for consumption but
is easily detectable due to its earthy smell and taste.
Severe water restrictions like these are not merely a serious
economic threat to farming operations; they are also a
contributor to rising food prices. Without adequate water
supplies, many farmers simply refrain from farming. And that’s
not a good thing in a state like California, which grows nearly
half the country’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Almost all
agriculture is thirsty, of course, but California agriculture
is especially thirsty. Growing a single almond requires more
than one gallon of water, while growing a single avocado
requires 60 gallons! Obviously, a major drought is not helpful.
Drought may be the sneakiest of natural disasters. Although
human history teems with people engulfed by abrupt aridity —
the Akkadians of four millenniums ago, the Maya in the ninth
and 10th centuries A.D., the Great Plains farmers of the 1930s
— even today drought is a poorly appreciated phenomenon. …
The American West is once again facing drought, one of the
worst on record. Across a vast region encompassing nine states
and home to nearly 60 million people, the earth is being wrung
dry. -Written by Farhad Manjoo, NY Times opinion columnist.
Something is off about Sacramento’s water. It smells and tastes
a little “earthy,” residents are saying — an effect of
compounding climate change crises: extreme heat, little to no
precipitation and a historic drought that has gripped the
region for the better part of a decade. Up and down the state
of California, rivers, streams and reservoirs are drying up. In
Sacramento, that has led to an increase in the concentration of
geosmin in its drinking water, one of two organic compounds
that give soil its characteristic smell.
California, like the rest of the world, must wrestle with a
hard truth: Our climate has changed. As we face another
water-shortage crisis, we must acknowledge a sobering reality:
We’re not in a drought. This is our new normal. And we need to
adapt. It’s becoming increasingly clear that we can’t solve our
drought, or the myriad other environmental crises, without
protecting our ecosystems. And we can’t protect our ecosystems
without acknowledging that this work is globally connected. -Written by Assembly Member Laura Friedman,
D-Glendale; LA-based environmental and social policy
advisor Rosalind Helfand; and Mike Young, political and
organizing director of the California League of Conservation
Voters.
It might be tempting to shrug at the scorching weather across
large swaths of the West. This just in: It gets hot in the
summer. But this record-setting heat wave’s remarkable power,
size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists
and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the
routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.
These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly
called “heat domes” are relatively common in later summer
months. This current system is different.
Water in a key California reservoir will fall so low this
summer that its hydroelectric power plant will be forced to
shut down for the first time, officials said Thursday,
straining the state’s already-taxed electric
grid. An unrelenting drought and record
heat, both worsened by the changing climate, have pushed the
water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville to deplete
rapidly. As a result of the “alarming levels,” officials will
likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the
first time since it opened in 1967…
In this blistering year in California, drinking water wells are
going dry in increasing numbers, rekindling memories of the
historic drought of 2012 to 2016, when more than 2,600 wells
across the state stopped producing water. So many wells went
dry in 2014 in the town of East Porterville that Tulare County
supplied portable public showers. California is not yet to that
level of emergency…. But because the trend lines do not look
promising, government agencies and nonprofit groups are
preparing for a difficult summer in which thousands of wells
could fail.
Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would help
hundreds of thousands of Californians who have fallen behind on
their water bills and are at risk of being disconnected from
water service cleared a key committee on Wednesday.
… Sen. Dodd’s legislation comes as the State Water
Resources Control Board heard results of a survey that found
water debt in California climbed to about $1 billion. The
survey estimated 12% of California households are behind on
their water bills with an average debt of $500 per
household.
Instead of turning on the faucet to fill her pots to cook
dinner, Maria Olivera turns to her drums of state issued water
sitting next to the stove at her home in Tooleville.
… Tooleville spans all of two dusty dirt roads at the
edge of the Friant-Kern Canal, where the blue hue of flowing
water is just out of sight over raised levees. Along with it,
the basic human right of having clean drinking water. Nitrates
from farming fertilizers have rendered the water undrinkable in
Tooleville, and the community is dependent on biweekly water
deliveries.
Severe drought highlights the need for greater investment to
improve aging California water facilities, and increases calls
for allocation of federal and state resources to tackle the
problem. A national coalition that includes the California Farm
Bureau urged U.S. Senate leaders last week to take action to
address the shortcomings of aging water infrastructure, and to
include “a broad range of water uses” in any federal
infrastructure legislation.
The seriousness of California’s drought is being driven home to
thousands of farmers in the Central Valley. State regulators
warned 6,600 farmers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
watershed on Tuesday that they’re about to lose the right to
pull water from the estuary’s rivers at some point this summer.
The watershed covers a major swath of the Central Valley.
Dangerously hot temperatures across the US south-west will
continue to climb this week, reaching higher than 120F (49C) in
some areas, exacerbating the region’s already-dire drought
conditions and increasing the risk of new fire
ignitions. Extreme heat will be felt across much of Utah,
along with southern and central California, Nevada and
Arizona. More than 48 million people across the west are
now under heat advisory watches or warnings …
The California water board has approved a plan for water
releases into the Sacramento River that could kill off an
entire run of endangered chinook salmon and put at risk another
population that is part of the commercial salmon fishery. …
Because the [Bureau of Reclamation’s] plan involves releasing
water to irrigation districts earlier in the season, the river
will be lower and warmer during salmon spawning season and
could result in killing as many as 88% of endangered winter-run
chinook eggs and young fish.
California never has enough water to meet all demands and even
when supplies are relatively robust there’s a triangular
competition over their allocation. Farmers, municipal users and
environmental advocates vie for shares of water that has been
captured by California’s extensive network of dams and
reservoirs. … When California experiences one of its
periodic droughts and reservoirs shrink from scant rain and
snowfall, its perpetual conflict becomes even sharper. -Written by Dan Walters, a CalMatters columnist
Farmers are concerned for their crops as dry conditions has
worsen throughout the Central Coast. Earlier this year, it
started off a major storm. Ever since, farmers have not seen
much rainfall. According to the National Weather Service, the
‘extreme drought’ conditions has expanded throughout Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo County.
Normally at this time of year, workers at Lake Oroville’s two
marinas are preparing for a deluge of visitors eager to spend
the summer lazing on houseboats, zipping across the water on
speed boats or cruising the sprawling lake’s rocky nooks and
coves in search of salmon. But this spring, after two years of
scant rainfall, they’ve pulled about 130 houseboats out of the
shallower reaches of the marinas and are closing boat launch
ramps as the lake recedes, likely to record-low levels by the
fall…Three of the lake’s five boat launch ramps have already
closed, a fourth may close Monday and the last is expected to
be shut down in weeks…
With the harshest dry year in recent memory, the Sacramento
River Settlement Contractors (Settlement Contractors) are
working closely with federal and state agencies, as well as our
conservation partners, to continually improve our operations
and serve water for multiple benefits, including water for
cities and rural communities, farms, birds, fish, and
recreation.
California’s drought highlights the importance of an
appointment sitting on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk – filling the
final seat on the State Water Resources Control
Board. This is a critical agency appointment at a
critical time. The drought highlights many inequities in
California water policy. Disadvantaged communities in Stockton
face the prospect of a drought summer plagued by harmful algae
blooms in Delta rivers. Those algae outbreaks, which can
harm children and kill pets, are caused by excessive nutrients
and inadequate freshwater flow. -Written by Belinda Faustina, a strategic advisor
with Los Angeles Waterkeeper, and Barbara
Barrigan-Parilla, the executive director of Restore the
Delta.
After years of drought, salmon in Northern California are
facing extinction. Conservation groups in the region have
drafted a water management plan that, if adopted, would send
less water to Central Valley farmers and keep more cold water
for fish. Last week, fishery advocates in Northern
California submitted their temperature management plan to the
State Water Resources Control Board. They want to change water
operations in the Shasta, Trinity, Sacramento and Lower Klamath
Rivers so the region’s salmon runs have enough cold water to
survive.
A court of appeal invalidated a water district’s adopted rate
increases, concluding that the district failed to meet its
burden under Proposition 218 of establishing that the increases
did not exceed the cost of providing the water service. …
Following a hearing, the Board of Directors of the Florin
County Water District voted to increase its water rates by 50
percent. Data presented by staff at the hearing showed that
revenues would exceed expenditures in each of the four years
following the rate increase, culminating in a net profit of
almost $1.4 million in the fourth year.
Instead of being flush with newly melted snow, Folsom Lake is
the driest it’s been in springtime since the epic drought of
1977. Water levels are so low that temporary pumps probably
will be installed to help move water out of the stricken
reservoir. Water levels at Lake Oroville have plunged to
the point that its giant hydropower plant could be idled for
the first time ever this summer … [C]onditions are so
bad that major cities are drawing up conservation plans,
farmers have scaled back plantings and environmentalists are
angrily warning of massive fish kills.
During droughts organizations and stakeholders look for ways of
getting the most from every water drop. This is not an
exception in California where roughly 40 percent of all water
use (on average) is agricultural, 10 percent to cities and the
rest is uncaptured or environmental uses (mostly on the North
Coast). … Yet the notion that applied water in agriculture is
often wasteful is common in media drought coverage.
In the two decades since the SLEWS program began, high school
students, farmers and conservation volunteers have planted 142
miles of riparian hedgerow habitat. That is the equivalent of
driving from Sacramento to Reno. From the moment you left
downtown until you pulled into the Biggest Little City in the
World, accompanying you along the way would be a seemingly
infinite line of native trees, grasses, shrubs, and flowering
forbs all in a single row.
Drought conditions in California remain at record highs, with
most of the state now classified in “extreme” or “exceptional”
drought, reflecting conditions across the Southwest, according
to a new report from climate scientists. Much of the Bay
Area and the northern Central Valley have been included in the
most severe “exceptional drought” zone, along with much of
southeast California, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported.
The state Senate today approved legislation from Sen. Bill
Dodd, D-Napa, to help hundreds of thousands of Californians who
have fallen behind on their water bills and are at risk of
being disconnected from water service. … Sen. Dodd’s
legislation comes as the State Water Resources Control Board
heard results of a survey that found water debt in California
climbed to about $1 billion. The survey estimated 12% of
California households are behind on their water bills with an
average debt of $500 per household.
Salmon and steelhead in Northern California have been in
trouble for more than 100 years, primarily because of habitat
damage and loss resulting from human activities. Climate change
has only worsened these habitat problems. For the last 50
years, communities have worked to restore this habitat in hopes
of reversing the fortunes of these fish. Scientists and local
restoration communities are seeking new ways to maximize the
benefits of habitat restoration so that rivers and streams can
support healthy fish populations again.
I am now working through my third drought as the Director of
Water Quality for Northern California Water Association (NCWA),
where I have learned the importance of broadening my
perspective beyond my own tap in Roseville that brings
delicious American River water into my home. A pillar in NCWA’s
Strategic Plan and 2021 Priorities is to advance
multi-benefit water management that supports nature-based
solutions, which provide essential benefits for our economy,
health and quality of life …
While droughts are common in California, this year’s is much
hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly
from the reservoirs and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack that
feeds them. The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50%
lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay
Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the
University of California-Davis.
Migratory steelhead and Chinook salmon have access to six more
miles of historic spawning sites in a refurbished creek on
California’s Beale Air Force Base. All thanks to a unique
cooperative effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center
(AFCEC).
California farmers and ranchers are preparing for a difficult
growing season as the state faces drought conditions. The
California Board of Food and Agriculture met on Tuesday to
discuss ways to help farmers and ranchers, as well as to
discuss the proposed $5.1 billion included in the governor’s
budget to address drought challenges and water infrastructure.
After back-to-back dry years, the state’s water supply is
strained, forcing farmers like Joe Martinez in Solano County to
figure out ways to get the most out of their water.
At the May 20 meeting of the Placer County Water Agency
(“PCWA”) Board of Directors, the Board awarded 12 grants,
totaling over $3.6 million, to seven public water purveyors in
Placer County. The $3.6 million figure is the most ever
granted by PCWA in a single year. This is also the first
instance in which the grants were wholly funded with net
revenues from PCWA’s Middle Fork American River
Project (“Middle Fork Project”).
The driest year California has experienced since the 1970s will
have wide-ranging impacts in the West. In the Sacramento
Valley, a reduced water supply will lead to about a 20 percent
reduction in rice plantings. The loss of about 100,000 acres of
rice fields has implications well beyond the farm level. The
reduced plantings will impact rural communities that depend on
agriculture as their foundation. It’s also a concern for
wildlife, which greatly depend on rice fields for their
habitat.
Back when it first happened, we covered the Oroville Dam
near-disaster. Heavier-than-expected rainfall in California
back in early 2017 led to running the dam’s primary spillway at
much higher-than-normal levels. February 17, 2017, the
operators noticed something odd about the water flow down the
spillway, and when they turned off water flowing down the
spillway, it was made obvious that they had a major problem on
their hands. Several chunks of concrete were missing, and the
water had begun gouging into the earth beneath the spillway.
With California’s rivers running low after two consecutive dry
winters, state officials and local water agencies have pumped
out a steady stream of drought declarations and calls for water
conservation in recent weeks. It’s clear the Golden State is in
a drought and it could escalate to a crisis, but, you may be
wondering, just how bad is it?
Nearly half of the country — from the Pacific coast to the
Great Plains and upper Midwest — is experiencing moderate to
exceptional drought conditions. That’s expected to get worse
throughout the summer. … UCLA climatologist Park Williams:
“This drought is far from over. 2021 is shaping up to
potentially be the driest of all of the drought years in the
last century, and definitely one of the driest of the last
millennium.”
In response to the dry conditions in California,
the Regional Water Authority (RWA) Board of Directors
unanimously adopted a resolution on May 13 urging their urban
water providers to take actions, such as asking customers to
voluntary conserve and sustainably shifting to groundwater, to
help the environment of the Lower American River. The RWA
represents twenty (20) water providers serving two million
people in the Sacramento region.
The state’s extensive water system supplies cities and farms;
prevents pollution of lakes, rivers, and coastlines; protects
against floods; and supports freshwater ecosystems and the
forested headwaters that are a major source of water supply.
Many local, state, and federal agencies oversee this system and
raise revenues from a variety of sources. California spends
about $37 billion annually, with the lion’s share (84%) coming
from local water bills and taxes. The balance comes from state
(13%) and federal (3%) contributions.
In just a few weeks, California’s water conditions have gone
from bad to terrible. Sacramento residents have been asked to
cut water usage 10%. Their counterparts on the Russian River
are being told to reduce their consumption 20%. Farmers across
the Central Valley are letting fields lie fallow and
dismantling their orchards. Government agencies are warning of
massive fish kills on the Sacramento River. After
a warm spring dried up practically the entire Sierra
Nevada snowpack — and robbed California of enough water to fill
most of Folsom Lake — state and federal officials have been
forced to dramatically ramp up their drought response plans.
Governor Newsom’s recent emergency declaration confirms what
California’s agriculture industry has known for months. Drought
has returned to California, in what has become a recurring
theme of growing food in our state. Farmers and ranchers accept
the risks that come with their way of life and have fought hard
to be productive in one of the most heavily regulated
industries in the state. Agriculture continues to adapt to meet
evolving challenges and now more than ever consumers need to
buy California grown produce. -Written by Ian LeMay, president of the California
Fresh Fruit Association.
California’s new drought is worsening. After two severely dry
winters, reservoirs are shrinking, fire danger is rising and
water supplies are looking more tenuous. The past two years
have been the driest in nearly half a century, since 1976-77.
How did the state find itself in a new crisis just as the COVID
pandemic is fading? Scientists say California’s parched plight
largely comes down to two words: “atmospheric river.” An
increasing body of research is showing that the state’s water
supply each year depends almost entirely on a handful of big
make-or-break storms. And the last two winters, too few
arrived.
Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District is
pleased to announce that Kristin Sicke has been selected to
become the new general manager of the irrigation
district. The District’s primary mission is to provide
surface water for agricultural purposes in western Yolo County,
and is integral to monitoring and maintaining sustainable
groundwater supplies within the county.
In wetter times, these feathery beds of asparagus would produce
generations of tender green spears, reaching for the vast San
Joaquin Valley sky. [Last] Monday they were disked into the dry
dirt, their long lives cut short by unreliable and expensive
water. … With no guarantee of irrigation water this
summer, Del Bosque and other California farmers are making
tough choices, sacrificing one crop to save another. The
strategy is part of a larger and longer agricultural shift here
in the heart of California’s $50 billion agriculture industry:
Low-value, high-water crops are disappearing from the Golden
State.
As more of California sinks into extreme drought, Gov. Gavin
Newsom has asked the Legislature to appropriate billions of
dollars to address critical water needs. In the “May revise”—an
update to the budget proposal he initially submitted to the
Legislature in January—Newsom proposes to spend nearly $3.5
billion on water supply and resilience projects, with total
investment reaching $5.1 billion over multiple years.
With the driest year in memory, the water resources managers
and landowners in the Sacramento Valley are working hard to
serve multiple benefits throughout the region with limited
water supplies. This has required all hands-on deck and
creative management within the region as all surface water
supplies have been significantly reduced, with hundreds of
thousands of farmland acres idled throughout the region, urban
suppliers working with their citizens to implement various
conservation measures to reduce water use and there will
undoubtedly be challenges for domestic groundwater wells.
In the latest chapter of California’s unfolding drought, state
officials are planning to build a giant rock wall across a
river in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to save the
vital freshwater estuary from San Francisco Bay’s saltwater.
The emergency measure is a page from last decade’s drought when
the delta, a maze of sloughs and man-made channels east of the
Bay Area, was at risk of becoming too salty to provide water to
the nearly 30 million Californians who depend on it. As in
2015, the freshwater rivers that feed the 1,100-square-mile
delta have gotten so low that they no longer counter the
brackish flows that push in from the bay.
Even as California moves toward a full reopening from pandemic
restrictions next month, many counties are still in danger.
From drought. Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom extended
emergency drought orders to 41 counties across the state. …
All eyes are on a critical resource that can help fight
the effects of another dry summer: water.
Facing extended drought, diminishing snowpack, and depleted
aquifers, California water managers face a harsh reality: our
20th century water systems – essentially linear designs in
which fresh water is extracted, centrally treated, distributed
to users, returned as wastewater, and finally treated and
discarded – are breaking down. Although this approach has
served us well for decades, we can no longer sustain ourselves
with a paradigm that uses water once and throws it away. -Written by Peter Fiske, a scientist at
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and executive director of
the Department of Energy’s National Alliance for Water
Innovation.
Last week, the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA)
held their spring conference virtually. Keynote speakers
included Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of Natural Resources, and
Karla Nemeth, Director of the Department of Water
Resources. In his speech, [Crowfoot] discussed the Newsom
Administration’s priorities, calling this the ‘decade of
resilience’, and giving three principles for going
forward. He also discussed the Voluntary
Agreements. Director Karla Nemeth gave the Thursday
morning keynote speech, touching on the Department’s response
to drought, SGMA implementation, the Delta Conveyance Project,
and the water use efficiency regulations.
Yuba Water Agency’s board of directors today approved a $2
million loan to the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority to
complete the construction of a new levee near the Yuba
Goldfields that will bring a 200-year level of urban flood
protection to southern Yuba County. The 2.5-mile-long levee,
which will be fully complete in June, runs parallel to
Hammonton-Smartsville Road and extends to high ground near
Beale Air Force Base. The 200-year level of protection means
there is a 1-in-200 chance in any given year that a storm could
come along that is bigger than the levee is designed to handle.
Crystal Geyser bought the nearly 145,000 square foot bottling
plant in 2013. Since then, it’s been the target of protests by
local activists and members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
Opponents say if it ever started operating, it would draw down
too much water, and cause air and noise pollution. … They are
in the midst of suing the beverage company in an effort to get
a new environmental impact report.
More wildfires. Hotter days. Drought. Sea-level rise. Those
conditions are an increasing reality in California, which is
steadily becoming an altered state. But if the grimmest
predictions of experts about our state and climate change
become true, the conditions will become far worse.
A state appeals court has upheld California’s cleanup standards
for a cancer-causing chemical that was added to pesticides and
has polluted groundwater in the Central Valley, rejecting
challenges by manufacturers that may have to pay the costs. The
State Water Resources Control Board’s 2017 mandate for removing
nearly all TCP (1,2,3-trichloropropane) from drinking water was
contested by the California Manufacturers and Technology
Association, representing Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil, which
included the chemical in worm-killing fumigants widely used by
farmers through the 1980s.
With very little water to spare this drought year, water
districts struggling with limited or no supplies look to their
counterparts in other districts to negotiate water transfers to
add whatever flexibility they can. Districts on the west side
of the Central Valley, both north and south of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, face the prospect of receiving no
water from the Central Valley Project.
Delta smelt have nearly ceased to appear in “pelagic” fish
surveys carried out in their narrow geographic range in the
upper San Francisco Estuary. As trawl-generated index values
for delta smelt have declined over the past quarter century –
understand there is no reliable estimate of the size of the
delta smelt population — the chorus of voices advocating for
captive rearing and releases of the species has grown
louder.
Californians are gearing up for what could be another dangerous
wildfire season, particularly in light of significant drought
conditions. Grasses, shrubs, and forests are drying out early
due to a lack of precipitation, providing potential fuel for
wildfires. Red flag warnings—when high winds and low humidity
increase fire risk—have already been issued this year across
broad swaths of the state. Small spring wildfires have put
firefighters and communities on edge. Is the state prepared for
another bad wildfire season? And how much progress has been
made to improve the resilience of vulnerable communities and
headwater forests?
After seven years of controversy, Crystal Geyser Water Company
announced last week that it has given up on opening its Mount
Shasta facility. A representative for the company said Crystal
Geyser was “challenged every step of the way” since it
purchased the nearly 145,000 square foot facility in 2013.
California — already in the clutches of another drought
emergency — is looking over its shoulder at what happened
last time, anticipating the worst and evaluating the strategies
that worked and those that failed. So is California in a
better position to weather this drought? Some things are
worse, some better: Groundwater is still being pumped with no
statewide limits, siphoning up drinking water that rural
communities rely on. In northern counties, residents are
reliving the last disaster as water restrictions kick in again,
but in the south, enough water is stored to avoid them for now.
… The upshot is California isn’t ready — again.
Three options for replacing non-reinforced concrete pipelines
will be reviewed by Solano Irrigation District directors when
they meet Tuesday. The recommended option calls for replacing
the entire pipeline over 28 years at a cost of $73 million,
using a combination of financing and $2.3 million in annual
Rehabilitation and Betterment funding. The proposed 2021-22
Suisun Solano Water Authority Capital Improvement Program is
also on the agenda, as is the Gibson Canyon Improvement
District Storage and Hardening Capital Improvement Plan for
bond funding.
As California descends deeper into drought, state regulators
are planning to do something they’ve done few times in modern
history: order thousands of people, farms, and even cities and
towns that hold historic water rights to stop drawing water
from the rivers, lakes and ponds they rely on. The move is
intended to make sure the dwindling flows in California’s
waterways are reserved for those with the most senior water
rights, as well as for fish and other wildlife. Many of those
with lesser rights would have to turn to storage, groundwater
or another source, if they have it.
The city of San Francisco is reviving a long-simmering feud
with the state over water, filing a lawsuit Friday that charges
state regulators with trying to take away the city’s coveted
Sierra Nevada water supplies. The suit claims the state water
board is demanding the city forfeit too much water from the
Tuolumne River as part of a licensing deal for two dams in the
faraway basin. State regulators have said the water is needed
to maintain proper river flows and support struggling salmon,
but city officials contend the demands would leave Bay Area
residents and businesses vulnerable to water shortages.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to throw $11.8 billion of California’s
money at climate change and the hazards it poses to the state.
The governor’s gargantuan revised budget proposal, released
Friday, includes expenditures to fight and prevent wildfires,
combat sea-level rise, put more Californians behind the wheel
of an electric vehicle and speed up the transition to a
carbon-free electricity grid. Nearly half of his climate change
package — $5.1 billion — would go toward easing the effects of
California’s newly-declared drought and remedying long-term
water supply problems, such as crumbling canals.
We asked some colleagues for lessons that might be useful in
managing the California’s new drought. Here is a first sampling
of thoughts. … Katrina Jessoe. Agricultural and Resource
Economics, UC Davis: Climate models indicate that
California’s droughts will become more frequent and severe.
Warming temperatures will further reduce surface water
availability, by increasing evaporation from soil, reservoirs,
and irrigated land. While reductions in surface water supplies
will be costly to agriculture, residential users and the
environment, these costs could be substantially reduced through
the reallocation of scarce supplies. Supplying water to those
who value it most will not eliminate the costs of drought, but
will make them less painful.
El Dorado Irrigation District’s territory extends across the
county line to a small piece of Folsom — a total of 190 acres.
A developer is planning to turn that acreage into a
subdivision. Currently the property is all range land and there
is no request for water service. The earliest that water
service could be requested may not be until 2023. El Dorado
Irrigation District has been a multi-county agency since the
early 1980s, according to Jesse Saich, EID communications
manager.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) is forecasting another record almond
crop for California. The 2021 California Almond Subjective
Forecast estimates a three percent increase from last year’s
3.12-billion-pound crop. According to USDA-NASS, California
growers could be looking at a 2021 crop of 3.2 billion pounds.
If that number comes to fruition, it would be the largest
almond crop on record.
