The San Francisco Bay (Bay) drains water from 40 percent of
California. This includes flows originating from the Sierra
Nevada mountain range and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers
that make their way down through Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta
through the Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
The Bay is the largest harbor on the U.S. Pacific Coast and
covers about 400 square miles with an average depth of 14 feet.
Its deepest point is 360 feet at the Golden Gate.
Every year, more than 67 million tons of cargo pass through the
Golden Gate. The Bay also supports commercial bait shrimp,
herring and Dungeness crab fisheries.
The Bay is a vital estuary and a key link in the Pacific Flyway,
and millions of waterfowl use the shallow portions of the bay as
a refuge each year.
Brown lawns and dirty cars will soon be the norm in the South
Bay. San Jose’s largest retail water provider on Wednesday
announced new rules aimed at increasing water conservation as
the state’s drought grows more serious — chief among them a
limit on watering lawns and landscaping to no more than two
days a week, and a ban on washing cars at home.
The move to end mining in a Tri-Valley lake became official
this week. Alameda County planning commissioners on Monday
approved plans for restoring the Eliot Quarry, where more than
a century of rock mining in the unincorporated area between
Livermore and Pleasanton will eventually be turned into lakes
surrounded by open fields and recreation trails. … [T]he
project will include the planting of native trees and shrubs,
creating passages for fish, and reducing the amount of
groundwater lost to San Francisco Bay by deepening the lake so
it can hold more water.
Marin Municipal Water District will soon study the idea of
returning the long-gone water pipeline to the upper deck of the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. It’s a smart move if the district
can locate another agency to sell them additional water. They
also should understand times have changed in the past 55 years.
Installing a new, hopefully permanent, pipeline won’t be the
snap it was in 1977. -Written by Dick Spotswood.
Using drinking water to keep our parks luscious and green isn’t
uncommon in San Francisco, but it’s something the city is
working to change. Golden Gate Park currently uses its own
groundwater wells to irrigate the park, which has water quality
permitted for drinking water standards. The Panhandle uses
water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
(SFPUC). By summer 2022, barring any delays, the water used for
irrigation and lake fill would instead come from a recycled
water system that’s currently under construction to replace the
current watering system.
In Los Angeles, people have been hearing about the dangers of
drought for decades. But in this land of infinity pools and
backyard putting greens — better suited for rattlesnakes and
scrub — water never seems to run out. Yet little Redwood Valley
in Mendocino County, which gets a bountiful 38 inches of rain
in an average year and sits near the headwaters of the Russian
River, has been devastated by this year’s drought. Each
resident has been told to use no more than 55 gallons per day —
enough to fill a bathtub and flush a toilet six times.
… When it comes to the impact of drought, location is
key.
San Francisco Bay may be one of the most famous stretches of
waterway in the world, but when it comes to federal spending,
it’s recently been one of the most overlooked. Hundreds of
millions of dollars flowed to other areas like Puget Sound and
the Chesapeake Bay during the Trump years. … This week,
Speier took a big step towards turning the tide. Pushing
through a $125 million Bay Restoration bill in the House. The
money would be spread out over five years, and target projects
that could be key to the Bay’ survival.
This report describes the Delta Landscapes Primary Production
project, which quantifies how landscape change in the Delta has
altered the quantity and character of primary production.
Combining historical and modern maps with simple models of
production for five dominant plant and algae groups, we
estimate primary production across the hydrologically connected
Delta. We evaluate changes in primary production over time
(between the early 1800s and early 2000s), between wet and dry
years, and with future targets for landscape-scale
restoration.
Before last year’s devastating fire season, Gov. Gavin Newsom
directed firefighters to clear huge lines of trees and shrubs
near more than 200 communities to help stop or slow a potential
blaze. Much of the work was done in the Bay Area. These widely
promoted fuel breaks, a centerpiece of the governor’s
billion-dollar strategy to protect California from catastrophic
wildfire, however, have had limited success, according to data
reviewed by The Chronicle.
I’ve spent my whole life near San Francisco Bay. But the amount
of time that I’ve actually spent out on the water has been
minimal — a few ferry rides, a dinner cruise or two, a trip to
Alcatraz and back in grade school. That’s it. I like to blame
my yacht-less friends, who have been amazingly inconsiderate
over the decades and never bought fancy sailboats to take me
out on the water. The real reason, of course, is that I’d never
explored some relatively inexpensive ways to explore this
area’s most famous feature. Turns out it’s pretty easy to
do, especially if you like to paddle.
Islais Creek is an unassuming waterway along San Francisco’s
eastern industrial shoreline, meandering its way inland and
providing a natural border between The City’s Bayview and
Dogpatch neighborhoods. There’s a nice little park there,
tucked under a bridge, that locals visit. But it’s not the kind
of place most people think about much. Environmentalists
and urban planners, on the other hand, think about it a lot.
Here’s why: Rising sea levels and flooding.
Water Audit California sued the City of St. Helena this week
over its management of water. The watchdog group says the city
is violating its “public trust” responsibilities relating to
the Napa River and its aquatic habitat. It cites the city’s
policies on groundwater pumping, well permitting, and water
consumption by vineyards and wineries.
Zone 7 directors have approved spending $2 million to design a
facility to treat potential human health threats in Cope Lake’s
water should chemicals accumulate above legally acceptable
levels. Those chemicals are called per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAs and PFOAs), which are found in consumer
products, such as cookware, food packaging and stain
repellents. They make their way into drinking water sources.
Routine maintenance repairs on a portion of water system pipes
along Cordilleras Creek left some San Mateo County residents
concerned water was being wasted as the state enters a drought.
… The Cordilleras Creek, one of two creeks running through
Redwood City, also cuts through Redwood High School where
[Redwood City resident Rudy] Tureillo works as a
custodian. Typically the creek is “bone dry,” Tureillo said,
but starting Wednesday, June 9, staff at the school noticed it
was flowing strong.
The Marin Municipal Water District has taken the first steps
toward building an emergency water pipeline across the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for the first time in nearly 50
years to avoid potentially running out of water next summer.
The district said Friday that it has hired a consulting firm,
Woodard & Curran, to find potential water rights holders in the
Central Valley willing to sell their allotments. This water
could be pumped across the bridge via the pipeline and into
Marin’s water system should the drought stretch into winter.
After two decades at the helm of the California State Coastal
Conservancy, Sam Schuchat retires on June 25. His
replacement is yet to be named. But the emotional and political
intelligence he brought to the job will be missed. In the
coming years, Schuchat says he hopes to spend more time riding
his bike and playing music, not to mention travelling post
shelter-in-place. But he also expects to keep his finger on the
pulse of the California coast and to delve more deeply into
national climate change work.
A hacker accessed the computer system of a Bay Area water
treatment plant in January and deleted programs the plant used
to treat drinking water, a senior intelligence official
confirmed Thursday. NBC News
first reported Thursday that the unidentified hacker
used a former plant employee’s username and password to gain
entry to the unidentified Bay Area water treatment facility on
Jan. 15.
Unlike most Bay Area cities, Morgan Hill gets 100 percent of
its water from underground wells. And that’s a big reason why
the city became the first in Santa Clara County to issue
mandatory water use restrictions. … The mayor said he
enjoys his green grass as much as the next person, but said
mandatory watering cutbacks to just two days a week and only in
the early morning or late evening hours mean it won’t look lush
for long.
Mayor London Breed could announce a new city attorney within
weeks, following the San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s
Wednesday decision to formally recommend the city’s top lawyer,
Dennis Herrera, as the agency’s next general manager. Breed
nominated Herrera to the position in April, months after the
FBI charged the previous general manager, Harlan Kelly, with
allegedly accepting bribes from a city contractor and permit
consultant. Kelly resigned in November.
The state’s decision this week to cut off Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta access to thousands of farmers and water
agencies highlights the need for serious and immediate
conservation throughout the Bay Area and California. It’s been
obvious for months that the state faces its most serious water
shortage since the historic 2012-16 drought. Bay Area water
agencies should be imposing mandatory water restrictions on
users now.
Two more ambitious lawsuits would be hard to image: in 2017 the
cities of Oakland and San Francisco filed separate public
nuisance lawsuits against five of the world’s biggest energy
companies, seeking to hold them responsible for the local
effects of sea level rise. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court
declined to throw the suits out of court, although the cases
still face many daunting obstacles ahead.
At Crocker Amazon Park in the Excelsior, six acres of formerly
underutilized land owned by the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission has been turned into an urban farm through the
efforts of People Organizing to Demand Environmental and
Economic Rights, known as PODER. The urban community
agriculture project, dubbed Hummingbird Farm, provides organic
food as well as medicinal plants, and serves as a community and
education hub in particular for young people.
California is known for its history of natural disasters, and
in the Silicon Valley, two potential calamities — drought and
earthquake risk — are converging to dry up water supplies in
the hub of the state’s tech economy. In a meeting on Wednesday,
board members of the Santa Clara Valley Water District voted
unanimously to declare a water shortage emergency — in part
because a key county reservoir had to been drained to reduce
earthquake risks highlighted by federal regulators.
Creeks and springs at Point Reyes National Seashore haven’t
completely dried up but they’re looking parched enough that
park staff set up three large troughs last week to ensure tule
elk herds get enough water to make it through what could be an
unprecedented drought. The 250-gallon troughs at the south end
of the Tomales Point Tule Elk Reserve will stay in place at
least until rains return next winter, National Park Service
officials said.
With a worsening drought gripping the West and wildfire season
looming, California is bracing for the most severe heat wave of
the year — one that promises to tax the state’s power supplies
while also offering a grim preview of challenging months to
come. The heat wave will bring triple-digit temperatures to the
valleys and inland regions of Southern California as well as
many parts of the rest of the state, heightening fire risks. It
comes as parts of Northern and Central California are turning
to water restrictions as the drought rapidly alters the
landscape.
California is rolling out a fresh strategy to keep its economy
afloat — releasing 17 million salmon into the San Francisco
Bay. Millions of Chinook salmon raised in hatcheries will
bypass California’s drought-stricken riverbanks to be released
directly into colder, downstream sites in the San Francisco
Bay, in an attempt to maximize their survival rate amid some of
the most extreme environmental conditions the state has ever
faced.
Higher bills will soon be on the way for the roughly 1.4
million people who get their water from the East Bay Municipal
Utility District, but at least for now they won’t be required
to cut their water use despite the drought. Beginning July 1,
the agency will charge customers 4% more for both water and
sewer services. And a year later, on July 1, 2022, the rate
will climb another 4%. The district’s board of directors
unanimously approved the rate increases at its meeting Tuesday
as part of the $2.25 billion budget it adopted for the next two
fiscal years.
One of the largest water districts in the San Francisco Bay
Area announced mandatory restrictions Wednesday and declared a
water shortage emergency, signaling the seriousness of drought
conditions across the region and state after two consecutive
dry winters. The Board of Directors for Santa Clara
Valley Water District, which serves 2 million customers,
unanimously approved a resolution requiring customers to reduce
water use by 15% compared with 2019 levels. The board is also
urging Santa Clara County to proclaim a local emergency.
Officials are raising the prospect of a permanent water
pipeline over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge as a potential
drought-fighting strategy for Marin County. … [Ben]
Horenstein, the general manager of the Marin Municipal Water
District, was among the participants of a teleconference on
drought and wildfires organized by Assemblyman Marc Levine on
Wednesday. … For Marin, Horenstein said, the focus now
is on promoting as much conservation as possible through
mandatory water use restrictions and rebates for
water-efficient appliances and landscaping.
California’s drought is accelerating the start of the 2021
wildfire season — and intensifying the pressure on PG&E
Corp. to prevent more mega-fires of the sort that drove the
state’s largest utility into bankruptcy. Pacific Gas and
Electric Co. executives said Wednesday they’ve begun gearing up
for wildfire season weeks earlier than usual, including putting
helicopters in the air to practice for PG&E’s “public
safety power shutoffs.”
Santa Clara County on Wednesday became the most populous county
in California to impose mandatory water restrictions, saying
that the worsening drought poses a significant threat to the
local groundwater supplies that provide nearly half the
drinking water for 2 million residents. On a 7-0 vote, the
Santa Clara Valley Water District board declared a water
shortage emergency and set a target of reducing water use
33% countywide from 2013 levels, a year the state uses as
baseline.
When a historic drought gripped California and the Bay Area,
water managers came together to keep drinkable water in the
homes of vulnerable areas in Marin and Contra Costa Counties.
Two veterans of those efforts describe the dramatic process,
and consider lessons it offers for today’s imminent drought.
Normally, the biggest vegetable grower in Sonoma County,
Humberto Castañeda Produce, grows heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers,
corn, watermelons and other crops on 180 acres outside of Santa
Rosa. But this year, Humberto Castañeda and his son, Gabriel,
are farming only 17 acres after receiving a fraction of their
normal allotment of water from the city of Santa Rosa.
… The Castañedas are among countless farmers across the
state taking drastic measures to deal with the drought…
Five years ago Bay Area voters wisely approved Measure AA, a
nine-county, 20-year, $12 per parcel annual tax to restore San
Francisco Bay and guard against the threat of rising sea levels
due to global warming. … An estimated 355,000 Bay
Area residents live within a 100-year flood plain that includes
800 miles of roads and highways, 70 miles of critical rail
lines, 46 wastewater plants, 35 schools and 15 hospitals.
San Rafael Creek could be dredged — at least in part — next
summer. The Biden administration’s proposed budget sets aside
$6.75 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin
working on the $13 million project. The budget must be approved
by congressional committees and is expected to be finalized in
October, according to the city. Due to years of neglect and
minimal funding, the creek has not been fully dredged since
about 2003. It was partially dredged in 2011, but storms have
carried sediment into the channel and shoaled it to depths as
shallow as 2 feet in some parts…
Among the nearly one hundred development projects pending on
the county of Napa Current Projects website comes a sleeper of
a project likely to go unnoticed by Napa city residents and
businesses who will be most negatively impacted. The remote
vineyard development project, proposed deep in the
headwaters above Lake Hennessey, seeks to clear 156.8 acres of
existing vegetation including oak woodlands, foothill pine
communities, and grasslands in order to construct a vineyard in
the Conn Creek/Lake Hennessey watershed. -Written by Kellie Anderson, resident of Angwin.
In a major sign of California’s worsening drought, Santa Clara
County’s largest water provider announced Monday that it is
moving forward with plans to declare a water shortage emergency
and to urge cities and water companies that serve 2 million
residents in and around San Jose to impose mandatory water
restrictions. The move will be the first time since the
historic drought of 2012 to 2016 that Santa Clara County
residents will face mandatory restrictions as the county
becomes the most populous area in California to impose such
severe measures.
When the Palo Alto City Council publicly backed the Bay-Delta
Plan in 2018, it was swimming against the political tide. The
plan, formally known as the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Estuary plan, sets limits on how much water
agencies can siphon from the three tributaries of the San
Joaquin River. While it aims to protect salmon, steelhead and
other river species, it has also attracted intense opposition
and litigation from water districts that claim that the new
restrictions will undermine the reliability of their water
supply.
San Franciscans are pretty proud of their tap water.
Sourced from the Hetch Hetchy watershed in Yosemite National
Park, the complex supply system of reservoirs, tunnels,
pipelines, and treatment systems stretching from the Sierra to
San Francisco is uniquely almost entirely gravity fed. The San
Francisco Public Utilities Commission even boasts on its site
that their water is “among the purest water in the
world.” So the 2.7 million residents who benefit from the
supposed crème de la crème of tap water may be surprised to
learn that the water coming out of the faucets in SoCal has
been named the best tasting tap water in America, on qualities
including odor and “mouth feel.”
A gene-editing tool that has led to new cancer therapies and a
rapid test for COVID-19 is now helping scientists find
endangered species of salmon in the San Francisco Bay. The
CRISPR-based Sherlock tool can identify four types of Chinook
salmon, including Sacramento winter-run and Central Valley
spring-run, which are both protected under the federal
Endangered Species Act.
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 California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released its
first assessments of groundwater sustainability plans developed
by local agencies to meet the requirements of the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). DWR has completed its
assessment and approved plans for the Santa Cruz Mid-County
Basin in Santa Cruz County and 180/400 Foot Aquifer Subbasin in
Monterey County.
Water Audit California is suing to make Napa County increase
oversight of groundwater pumping for vineyards, wineries, and
other uses, claiming that the pumping affects the Napa River.
The lawsuit said the county has a “public trust” duty to care
for the river. The idea is that too much groundwater pumping
from wells can keep groundwater from seeping into the river
during dry months, to the detriment of fish and other aquatic
life.
Too often, ocean water is laced with sewage and pollutants,
affecting how safe beaches are for swimming and surfing –
that’s the message of this year’s Clean Water Report released
Tuesday, May 25, by the Surfrider Foundation. …
[T]he report highlights inefficiencies in sewer
infrastructure and a need to stop urban runoff before it
reaches the coast, both main contributors to dirty water that
plagues the country’s coastlines.
After farming squash, corn, melons, peppers and tomatoes by his
father’s side since childhood, Gabriel Castañeda is stepping
out largely on his own this year. With water in such short
supply, his dad, Humberto, thought he might forgo raising
summer fruits and vegetables this season and focus only on the
15 acres of wine grapes he grows near Fulton instead. But Gabe
Castañeda, who had helped his father build Humberto Castañeda
Produce into Sonoma County’s largest produce grower, wanted to
see what he could do to keep the family’s 40-year farming
tradition alive — even if on a very reduced scale.
Hidden from view when driving by is the [Rise Gold]
mine that is filled with water contaminated with
byproducts of hard rock mining. The water now forms a murky
lake several hundred yards wide. Rise Gold plans to pump out
3.6 million gallons of water every single day for six months
and after that another 1.2 million gallons a day for up to 80
years from this site. Let that sink in. Get your mind
fully around this. This is real. They will dump this water
into the little creek alongside the site and send it on its way
down Wolf Creek to the Feather River to the Sacramento River to
San Francisco Bay … -Written by Billy Packard.
Climate change has created new “seasons” that challenge
communities across the nation. California now has a “fire
season,” and sadly, we are embarking on harmful algal bloom
(HAB) season again. NRDC has updated its national map of
state-reported freshwater HABs, which tracks the HABs reported
by states from 2008-2020 and shows that these toxic outbreaks
are increasing across the country, making our rivers, lakes,
and beaches unsafe for swimming, boating, and drinking. Between
2008 and 2020, over 44,000 HAB events were recorded across 38
states.
There is dry, and then there is desiccated. As any movie
fan knows from the classic film Chinatown, California is
an infamously thirsty place. But this year, even by its own
standards, the state is shockingly, scarily parched. So far in
2021, the state has received half of its expected
precipitation; that makes it the third driest year on record
according to California’s Department of Water Resources.
The California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA) today announces
Brown and Caldwell’s Wendy Broley will assume the role of
executive director effective July 1, replacing Cindy Paulson
after 10 years in the role. CUWA is a non-profit corporation of
11 major urban water agencies responsible for serving drinking
water to over two-thirds of California’s population.
It feels like California’s 2011-2016 drought, our worst on
record, had barely ended when the next one began. This is our
second dry year in a row and, according to the state Department
of Water Resources, the past winter tied for the third-driest
on record. … [UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain] calls this
our second major drought within a decade and, if you’re like
me, you’re wondering if we’ve done anything since the last one
to help keep water flowing from our taps. The answer is yes.
Two weeks ago, the “greenest city in America” sued California’s
State Water Board to prevent measures that would restore the
beleaguered San Francisco Bay-Delta. After more than a decade
of studies based on the best available science, the state wants
to require San Francisco to release more water from its dams
into the Tuolumne River — the source of our Hetch Hetchy
drinking water — to benefit fish, wildlife and downstream water
quality. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission,
meanwhile, wants a “voluntary agreement” for the Tuolumne
River. -Written by Peter Drekmeier, policy director of the
Tuolumne River Trust.
Urban water agencies are planning to impose mandatory
conservation orders after federal water managers slashed
deliveries this week amid a rapidly deepening drought. The
Bureau of Reclamation cut water deliveries from the Central
Valley Project by about half. That has prompted the Santa Clara
Valley Water District, which serves 2 million residents in the
Silicon Valley region, to consider a potential conservation
order at its board meeting next month.
[R]esearchers collected water during heavy rainstorms from 12
streams flowing into the San Francisco Bay. … Microscopic
fibers and black rubbery fragments were the most common
microparticles, while natural debris, glass, paint and wool
were only minor components. Then, the team identified a subset
of plastic- or rubbery-looking fragments as being made mostly
of plastic polymers or other synthetic materials, and many of
the black rubbery particles originated from tires.
The impacts of California’s deepening drought hit home for
Central Valley farmers earlier this week, when federal
officials announced they didn’t have enough water to supply
many of their agricultural customers. Urban users south of San
Francisco in Santa Clara County saw their normal water
deliveries cut in half. California ships water to cities and
farms through a combination of state and federal programs that
oversee a complex network of hundreds of miles of dams,
reservoirs and aqueducts throughout the state.
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.
A new local district aimed at combating the effects of sea
level rise and flooding is making waves this year starting with
a series of public meetings as it works to define its budget
and priorities. The San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise
Resiliency District, known as OneShoreline, was founded in
early 2020 by the California Legislature to work to prevent and
to address the effects of flooding and sea level rise
throughout the county and on its shores, both on the Bayside
and the Coastside.
Passing President Biden’s infrastructure bill would be the most
significant step we’ve taken as a nation to start to address
climate change head on. Greenbelt Alliance believes this
infrastructure bill is a great start. Yet, so far there is no
path to guide how we can equitably shift away from rebuilding
in the most climate-vulnerable areas and instead build for a
more resilient future. That’s why we’re recommending this
infrastructure bill and related actions adopt these three
principles as a simple yet transformational way forward… -Written by Amanda Brown-Stevens, the San
Francisco-based Greenbelt Alliance.
Because Bay Area low-lying sewage treatment plants remain
vulnerable to rising sea levels, government regulators told
sewage facility managers to “provide a written plan for coping
with SLR by the fall of 2021 – or they will be given a
plan.” The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reached out to
10 “at risk” sewage treatment plants to see those
plans. All except one provided extensive documents of
their proposals, the cost to address them, and even provided
tours of completed work. San Francisco’s Public Utilities
Commission replied to the Investigative Unit’s public records
request that after a “diligent search for records…no records
were found.”
California is dry. Bay Area counties have declared drought
emergencies and imposed restrictions. State and federal
officials are trucking baby salmon to the ocean. But San
Franciscans are still using their primary water source, the
Tuolumne River, which feeds the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in
Yosemite National Park. Last week, City Attorney Dennis Herrera
— who Mayor London Breed recently tapped to head San
Francisco’s water agency — filed a lawsuit challenging the
state’s efforts to protect salmon and the overall health of the
river. -Written by Robyn Purchia, an environmental
attorney, environmental blogger and environmental
activist.
Even in a year that has seen not much rainfall, students
throughout Solano County have learned important lessons about
their local waterways and the nature that surrounds them.
Through its Watershed Explorers program, Solano Resource
Conservation District has allowed elementary schoolers to
connect virtually to their local watersheds and experience the
sights and sounds of nature, all while making observations
about what they have witnessed and receiving lessons from the
program’s educators.
The Marin County Planning Commission voted on Monday to reject
an environmental group’s petition to block a West Marin water
supply project over potential impacts to Lagunitas Creek flows
and endangered wildlife. The decision allows the North Marin
Water District to build a new well that it says is necessary to
ensure its West Marin customers have adequate water supply in
the face of the worsening saltwater contamination at some of
its existing wells.
Infrastructure is rightly enjoying its spot in the national
limelight these days, with the Biden Administration busily
unveiling its plans. However, being well intentioned is as
important as being pragmatic. After all, the warning signs have
been there for all to see when it comes to lack of investment
in infrastructure—impacting communities from Los Gatos to
Washington, D.C. -Written by Andy Gere, president and chief
operating officer of San Jose Water.
The Marin Municipal Water District is considering banning new
water service hookups to homes in response to worsening drought
conditions. But the move could hurt future housing development
in an area already in dire need of more homes. The move would
come amid historic drought conditions in the area, with county
officials declaring a local drought emergency last week in
light of a “grim and deteriorating” situation. The National
Drought Mitigation Center’s drought monitor recently deemed
most of the Bay Area as extreme drought zones for the first
time since 2015.
The seven members of the Board of Directors led a Valley Water
delegation in a series of successful virtual meetings with
federal leaders on April 19-21 to advocate for Santa Clara
County’s priorities. The Valley Water group focused on federal
funding, water supply and flood protection projects in Santa
Clara County with members of the Presidential Administration
and Congress. Among the priorities discussed were the Anderson
Dam Seismic Retrofit Project and the South San Francisco Bay
Shoreline Project.
At its May 20, 2021 quarterly meeting, the Wildlife
Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $23.5 million
in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat
throughout California. Some of the 35 approved projects will
benefit fish and wildlife — including some endangered species —
while others will provide public access to important natural
resources. Several projects will also demonstrate the
importance of protecting working landscapes that integrate
economic, social and environmental stewardship practices
beneficial to the environment, landowners and the local
community.
As Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin retires after 19 years as CEO of The
Sierra Fund, the foothills celebrate the legacy and lament the
loss of one of their greatest advocates. The fund is a
nonprofit dedicated to restoring the ecosystem and building
community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada. In a year marred for
many by financial strain, the nonprofit is in a strong and
stable position to transition to new leadership, Martin
explained, which is part of the reason she’s leaving. Martin
said her career and mission have evolved with society’s
understanding and appreciation for environmental issues since
she began her vocation as an advocate on the very first Earth
Day celebration in the San Francisco Bay area in 1970.
In the Bay Area, most people get their water from big utilities
that have lots of water, even during a drought. Your tap is not
at risk of running dry…. The most severe water challenges
will be in rural communities outside the Bay Area, where many
depend on wells.
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.
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.
A growing number of drought stricken California farmers are
making the painful decision not to plant as much or anything at
all for fear of losing it all. It costs a lot of money to put
seeds or seedlings into the ground. But if a farmer cannot be
reasonably sure of a crop, why do it?
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.
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.
Lake Shasta this summer is facing possibly its lowest level in
at least 44 years, and that could be bad news for the people
who rely on it for drinking and irrigation water, as well as
endangered salmon that depend on it to survive. Dam
operators have to go all the way back to 1977 to compare how
bad this year’s water situation is shaping up to be, said Don
Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which
manages the dam.
East Bay Municipal Utility District officials have seen
droughts come and go. But they seem to be coming more
frequently this century. Climate change is stoking devastating
wildfire seasons year after year, drying the state out and just
making it more flammable the following year. State water
officials say that means less water in the Mokelumne River
Watershed, the main source for EBMUD and its 1.4 million
customers. Last winter was the state’s driest since 1977,
prompting the district to officially declare a stage one
drought on April 27 and ask customers to cut ten percent of
their water use. What can the East Bay expect moving forward?
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.
The Ross Town Council has selected an alternative plan for a
flood control project at Frederick Allen Park, sparing dozens
of creekside trees. The council voted unanimously Thursday in
favor of “alternative 1,” which would preserve 80 trees slated
for removal in the park. It would also nix the fish ladder and
add four large fish resting pools into the concrete channel
between the tennis courts and the post office.
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.
Earth’s surface is ever changing. Sinkholes swallow
neighborhoods, river deltas slowly slide beneath the waves, and
fertile fields lose elevation as farmers draw large amounts of
water for irrigation from underlying aquifers. [T]hese
phenomena are known as subsidence … Building heavy
structures such as homes, skyscrapers, and even entire cities
also can trigger subsidence, explains Tom Parsons, a
geophysicist at the US Geological Survey in Moffett Field, CA.
Recently, he used computer simulations to estimate the effect
of San Francisco and its metropolitan area—where he and 7.75
million other people reside—on Earth’s crust.
Twenty years ago, in the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral race, a topic
usually seen as dull became the most lurid issue of the
campaign. The topic was water recycling, and we are still being
hurt by the rhetoric from that election today. Candidate Joel
Wachs, a longtime member of the City Council, didn’t even make
the runoff that year. But during the primary he alarmed voters
across the city by insisting that Los Angeles was furtively
planning to pipe recycled sewage to millions of unsuspecting
Angelenos — without, according to Wachs, adequate public input
or scientific research. The recycling idea became widely known
as “toilet to tap” … -Written by Marc Haefele, a Santa Monica freelance
writer.
The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged wildlife, looking for easy
food, to visit quiet neighborhoods they normally didn’t. The
drought may now be forcing them to do the same. Experts
say, though you might like to, do not leave food and water out
for wild animals showing up in neighborhoods. … The bear
that showed up in a tree near central San Anselmo this week is
one of several recent North Bay sightings.
During a typical spring, the silver young salmon swimming in
long tanks at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery east of Sacramento would
be released into the American River and then make their way out
to the Pacific Ocean to grow to adulthood. But with extreme
drought now gripping California and much of West Coast, the
rivers are too warm for the salmon to survive. This week, the
3.5-inch (90-mm) smolt, as the young fish are known, embarked
on a much different journey when they were loaded on to trucks
and driven to the San Francisco Bay for release into cooler
waters.
An entire run of endangered winter-run chinook salmon, as well
as the fall-run salmon that make up the core of the California
fishery, are in danger of being wiped out this year if the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation keeps diverting water to farmers at its
current rate. With state water resources constrained by the
extreme drought, that’s the alarm that environmental, fishing
and tribal groups are sounding after reports show the
Sacramento River will reach dangerous temperatures during
spawning season, based on federal scientific scenarios that
analyze the bureau’s planned water releases.
At the April meeting of the California Water Commission, the
Commission continued examining the state’s role in conveyance
projects by hearing from two experts on flood-managed aquifer
recharge, or Flood MAR. First, Dr. Graham Fogg, UC David
professor emeritus of Hydrogeology, discussed scaling up Flood
MAR and how that will likely present new conveyance
needs. Then, Jenny Marr, Supervising Engineer at the
Department of Water Resources, outlined the state’s approach to
flood Mar.
You can’t water your lawn more than twice a week in the city or
Sacramento during summer, and never on Thursday or
Friday. For thousands of Sacramento County residents, the
limit is three days a week. In Roseville, there’s no watering
between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Customers of the San Juan Water
District have five days to fix leaks, and hosing down the
driveway or sidewalk is off-limits in Elk Grove. Long
before Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought
emergency for the Sacramento region — and much of the rest
of California — area residents were already dealing with an
assortment of restrictions on water consumption, depending on
their supplier.
I am proud to be a part of California agriculture. Our state
has the impressive responsibility of feeding our country—and
even the world. We have led the nation in agricultural
production for the past 60 years due to our richly productive
land and climate. Yet, our agriculture industry now faces
serious and urgent challenges, from recovering from last year’s
multiple crises to the ever-increasing competition in the
global market. -Written by Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, chair of the
Assembly Agriculture Committee.
Don’t be fooled. Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision Monday to
declare drought in most of California, including here, is no
reason for most farmers in Stanislaus County to break out the
party hats. They know full well that words on a declaration
will not generate an extra drop of water for their orchards and
row crops. They also know that a drought declaration could take
some power over the water we do have from our locally elected
irrigation leaders — who represent institutions guiding us
through periodic droughts for more than 100 years — and hand it
to nonelected Sacramento bureaucrats.
In June, Valley Water will start building a 1,700-foot long
tunnel next to Anderson Dam that will allow us to release more
water safely during major storms or emergencies. This work is a
significant milestone in our efforts to strengthen Anderson Dam
and protect our communities. Before construction on the tunnel
begins, Valley Water will host a virtual community meeting from
6-8pm on May 19. Please join us via a Zoom videoconference
(details below) to learn more about the upcoming work and
impacts on the neighborhood. We will also answer as many of
your questions as possible. -Written by John Varela, representing District 1 on
the Valley Water Board of Directors.
Customers of the East Bay Muncipal Utility District may have to
dig deeper into their pockets to keep the taps and faucets
flowing as the utility proposes increasing rates. The utility
is seeking to raise water and wastewater rates each by 4% in
the fiscal year starting July I, and an additional 4% starting
July 1, 2022. The potential move comes as EBMUD reviews
and adjusts its budget, which happens every two years. General
Manager Clifford Chan will present a proposed budget for
utility for the next two years to the EBMUD board of directors
on Tuesday.
Today, the Bureau of Reclamation announced a plan to increase
flow releases from New Melones Reservoir to assist with meeting
Delta salinity and outflow requirements. Additional flow
releases will begin on the
lower Stanislaus River
on May 10 and will reach a total
flow of 1,000 cubic feet per second and again
on May 11 to reach 1,500 cfs. This
increased flow of 1,500 cfs will likely
occur for an extended duration. During the increased
releases, water levels will be higher and currents
faster. Visitors should use caution when near or
on the Stanislaus River during these increased
flows.
Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded his drought emergency declaration to
39 more counties Monday, underscoring the rapid deterioration
of California’s water supply in recent weeks. The governor
broadened his earlier drought order, which was limited to two
counties on the Russian River, to cover most of parched
California, which is plunging into its second major drought in
less than a decade. The new order covers the Sacramento and San
Joaquin river watersheds, the Tulare Lake basin region and the
Klamath region in far Northern California. About 30% of the
state’s population is now covered by the declarations…
On Friday, a coalition of conservation groups, fishing
organizations, stakeholders in the Delta, and the Winnemem
Wintu Tribe sent this letter to the Biden Administration,
urging the Administration not to endorse the so-called
“Voluntary Agreements” for the Bay-Delta watershed.
Unfortunately, the State of California continues to negotiate
backroom deals with the biggest water users in the State that
fail to protect and restore water quality in the
Bay-Delta, threatening thousands of fishing jobs, farms and
communities in the Delta, and the health of this watershed and
its native fish and wildlife.
Most farmers are worried about their crops as they head into
the second straight dry year. Vineyard owners say they may be
the lucky ones because, at this point, grapes don’t need a lot
water — just warm sunshine. That would change with a prolonged
drought. … Kendall Hoxsey-Onysko, owner of the Napa Wine
Company, is a fifth-generation Napa Valley grape grower and her
family knows all about droughts and their impact on the wine
industry. Grapevines can thrive without a lot of water but
productivity depends on how long the drought lasts.
The North Marin Water District failed to adequately study
whether there will be enough water for endangered fish in
Lagunitas Creek if it builds a new well in West Marin, an
environmental group alleges. The well is intended to address
worsening saltwater contamination in the water supply. Save Our
Seashore, a nonprofit in Inverness, filed an appeal against the
project with the Marin County Planning Commission. … The
commission is expected to hold a hearing on the issue on May
24.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is pushing back against Santa Clara
Valley Water District’s Pacheco Reservoir Expansion project,
but water district representatives say his concerns are
misleading. On Friday, Liccardo held a news conference where he
emphasized that the $2.5 billion project to boost Pacheco
Reservoir’s operational capacity from 5,500 acre-feet to up to
140,000 acre-feet is not a smart investment. ”The
expansion project) would add no long term drought supply to our
community, it would provide no new water supply to our
community, rather would merely be a receptacle for water,”
Liccardo said.
California’s drought conditions have gone from bad to worse in
scarcely a month. In the weeks following April 1, the
traditional end of the rainy season, warm temperatures have
burned off most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack and left the
state’s water network gasping. Instead of delivering a generous
volume of melted snow into California’s rivers and reservoirs,
the snowpack has largely evaporated into the air or trickled
into the ground.
Anyone who lived through California’s last big drought from
2012 to 2016 remembers the rules. You couldn’t water your
yard so much that the water ran off into the street or
sidewalk. Or hose down a driveway. Hotels had to put up signs
telling customers they could choose not to have sheets and
towels washed every day. Ornamental fountains were prohibited
unless they recycled water. Watering landscaping within 48
hours of rain was forbidden. … Now California is entering a
new drought with dwindling reservoir levels. But so far, there
are no statewide prohibitions against wasting water.
California’s drought is impacting more than how you water your
lawn, but also the way your food is grown on hundreds of
thousands of acres in the Sacramento Valley. Growing rice is a
multi-billion dollar industry that supports 25,00 jobs.
… This year, a third of normal rainfall combined with
hot weather and drying winds have [rice farmers] pumping more
groundwater than usual and fallowing half his rice fields –
meaning Durst won’t plant, and he’s not
alone. … Industry leaders say this is the third
time in forty years this kind of surface water supply reduction
has happened – and it’s happened twice in just the last decade.
In a hotter climate, dirt is a hot commodity. With sea levels
expected to rise 3 to 6 feet by the end of the century, coastal
communities are moving fast to construct major shoreline
projects to protect themselves. As the size of these projects
expands, the primary building materials — dirt and mud — are
getting scarce. … [Parts of San Francisco Bay
were] once used for industrial salt making, and giant
evaporation ponds were built here more than a century ago. Now,
its marsh habitat is being restored as part of the Eden
Landing Ecological Reserve. The old salt pond levees still
stand between the bay and hundreds of thousands of people on
the shoreline. But waves and weather have eaten away at them.
The drought situation in the Bay Area has officially gone from
bad to worse. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entire
Bay Area is now in the “extreme” drought category, along with
nearly three-quarters of California. According to the latest
summary, precipitation in the state for the water year that
began Oct. 1 is well below normal, in the bottom 10th
percentile, and the greater Bay Area is “experiencing record or
near-record dryness.”
California’s drought is forcing hatcheries to truck young
salmon to the San Francisco Bay because the fish would
otherwise likely die trying to swim on their own
downstream to the Pacific Ocean. The Coleman National Fish
Hatchery along Battle Creek in Shasta County plans to drive
about 950,000 fall chinook salmon smolts in May to increase
their chances of survival.
California’s current drought is already off to a strong start,
with some major challenges already looming just two years in.
Compared to the drought of 2012‒16, the normally wetter
Sacramento and North Coast regions have been hit much harder
than the rest of the state. Beyond the local challenges this
poses, drought in the Sacramento region is already having
statewide implications, given its key role in supplying water
to farms and cities further south.
A recent spate of spring blazes announced an alarmingly early
start to California’s wildfire season, which is fast occupying
too much of the year to fit any conventional understanding of
the word “season.” With historically low moisture measurements
suggesting vegetation is particularly primed to burn, too many
Californians are about to find themselves in wildfires’ way.
… The prospects for a respite aren’t hopeful. Following
California’s third driest rain season on record, Gov. Gavin
Newsom is tiptoeing toward acknowledging a statewide
drought.
Increasingly ominous signs suggest that we are entering another
multiyear drought in California. The State Water Project
recently reduced projected water deliveries for 2021 from 10
percent of requested supplies to 5 percent, and on April 21,
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a regional drought emergency in the
Russian River watershed in Northern California. But it’s a
different story in San Diego County.
-Written by Gary Croucher, chair of the San Diego County
Water Authority’s Board of Directors.
Dry, hot weather and strong winds have triggered a “red flag”
fire warning for parts of northern California, the first time
the National Weather Service has issued such a warning for the
region in the month of May since 2014. Temperatures in northern
California and the Bay Area are expected to peak 15F above
average on Monday and Tuesday, with 20- to 35mph wind gusts
expected in some parts, prompting the NWS to warn of dangerous
fire conditions in the Sacramento region. The red flag warning
is expected to expire after 11am Tuesday.
Irrigation curbs, car washing restrictions and the shutoff of
fountains may return in the city of Napa amid shrinking water
supplies on the tail of a dry California winter. Tuesday night,
the City Council is scheduled to vote on a “moderate water
shortage” declaration intended to cut consumption by 15%.
Approval would mark the return of water-use restrictions last
rolled out in the mid-2010s when a six-year drought led
California to mandate across-the-board cutbacks statewide.
Napa’s actions would follow mandatory cutbacks imposed upvalley
by the cities of St. Helena and Calistoga.
It’s been a week since Mayor London Breed tapped City Attorney
Dennis Herrera to lead the Public Utilities Commission, a
massive, billion-dollar entity providing San Franciscans — and,
in fact, millions of nearby locals — with water and/or
power. It’s been a week, and nobody seems to be saying it,
so we’ll say it: This is weird. It would be weird if the
mayor transferred a hypothetical general manager of the Public
Utilities Commission — with a background touching on
engineering and water and wastewater and sewage treatment and
hydroelectric power generation and distribution — into leading
the City Attorney’s office. The reverse is weird, too.
Last year’s devastating wildfire season was barely in the
rear-view mirror when the red flag warning hit Sunday for a
large swath of Northern California. In another example of the
Golden State’s new normal, the National Weather Service issued
a surprisingly early-in-the-year fire alert for the area from
Shasta Dam to just north of Los Banos, touching on the eastern
fringes of the Bay Area. … The state’s persistent
drought, combined with low humidity and strong northeasterly
winds Sunday, signaled an early start to the fire season even
without the triple-digit temperatures of late summer.
Following a winter with extremely low levels of rain, the
area’s main sources of irrigation water, Lake Mendocino and
Lake Sonoma, are in short supply. Drought conditions are not
new for local growers, unfortunately. Many continue to adjust
their viticultural practices to adapt to the ever-changing
climate. … New plantings will have more spacing between rows
to facilitate wider cross-arms, which will help promote shading
… drought-tolerant rootstocks that are more capable
of establishing deeper root systems quicker …
President Biden’s pick this week to oversee the Army’s vast
natural resources operation would bring to the job decades of
water experience at the Interior Department and on Capitol
Hill. The president tapped Michael Connor to be the Department
of Defense’s assistant secretary of the Army for civil works,
which oversees the Army Corps of Engineers and its huge network
of dams and other projects. Connor would play a major role in
some of the most controversial projects facing the Biden
administration in the environmental arena, including the
Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, as well as Clean Water
Act permitting.
Gold Rush communities celebrate their mining past but are
largely unaware of the lasting impacts of that era. For more
than 100 years public and private investors have purchased and
developed land for public uses seemingly unaware of the
presence and implications of the physical and chemical hazards
found on abandoned mine lands (AMLs). As a result, residents of
the Sierra Nevada’s Gold Country – the state’s headwaters – are
living on top of and surrounded by abandoned mines. The toxic
metals discharged by legacy mines continue to flow down river
and deposit into the San Francisco Bay Delta …
Swap this year and the period of Marin County’s worst-ever
drought in 1976-77 and it might be hard to tell the difference.
Water suppliers restricting use to conserve reservoirs.
Ranchers preparing to truck in water as creeks and wells dry
up. Talks of a potential water pipeline. And questions about
the resiliency of the county’s water supply. During the 1976-77
drought, the Marin Municipal Water District was within 120 days
of running out of water. The county’s savior was a 6-mile
pipeline over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to pump in water
from the East Bay.
A lack of wet weather is taking a toll on the state’s water
supply. Chris Orrock, a spokesperson for the California
Department of Water Resources … said while drought-like
conditions are very common for the state, this year is worse
than normal, especially considering back-to-back dry winters
with little snow and rain. It is so dry, in fact, that DWR
canceled Thursday’s snow survey at Phillips Station because
there was not enough snow on the ground.
Does CEQA prevent a Regional Water Quality Control Board from
issuing its own permit under state water quality law? In Santa
Clara Valley Water District v. San Francisco Bay Regional Water
Quality Control Board (2020) 59 Cal.App.5th 199, the First
Appellate District answered “no,” holding that CEQA does not
bar a regional board from imposing additional requirements on a
flood control project, even after the project’s final
environmental impact report (FEIR) was certified.
Today’s commentary breaks my heart. Why? Because
Restore the Delta is focused on water quality issues, flood
control issues, future planning, and training the next
generation of local water experts – for that is where hope
exists. We are focused on the future because in some ways
we have become very cynical about any positive meaningful
change to Delta management presently — from the lack of care at
the highest levels of government, to local pockets of Delta
communities that will not acknowledge the deterioration of the
estuary before their eyes.
-Written by Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, who serves on
the Executive Committee at Large for Restore the
Delta.
In what may become an iconic image for drought-stricken
California, Gov. Gavin Newsom stood on the parched bed of Lake
Mendocino on April 21 to announce an emergency declaration for
Sonoma and Mendocino counties. … [T]he reservoir was at a
historically low 43% of capacity, the harbinger of what could
be a devastating drought cycle not only for the Northern
California counties that fell within his drought declaration,
but for most of the state — indeed, the American
West. -Written by Michael Hiltzik, a Los Angeles Times
columnist.
It’s been years since the Bay Area has had to deal with drought
conditions. While some counties look to instituting water-use
restrictions, some communities look to creative ways to reuse
water. When Ashley Shannon does a load of laundry, her garden
and fruit trees get a super soaking. … Shannon is a Santa
Clara Valley Water District employee who recently installed a
gray water system on her washing machine. Outlet pipes that
would normally send wash water to the sewer system were
redirected to go outside and around her garden. Valves
installed in the ground let the water seep out to irrigate her
plants and trees.
California’s continuing failure to adopt a comprehensive water
strategy is exacerbating its looming drought crisis. For nearly
two decades, the state has put its focus on dam projects and
the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta tunnel fiasco. The
primary aim is creating new ways of diverting additional water
to Central Valley farmers at the expense of the fragile,
over-tapped Delta, which supplies about one-third of the Bay
Area’s fresh water supply. There’s a better approach. President
Biden’s infrastructure plan calls for $50 billion to ease the
West’s drought crisis by heavily investing in water efficiency
and recycling programs.
The Marin Municipal Water District on April 20 enacted a series
of water conservation rules, including banning home car washes,
no watering of outdoor lawns between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and no
refilling decorative pools or fountains. A day later,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for
the Russian River watershed in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Marin County borders Sonoma. Newsom chose to make the
declaration in those two counties only, rather than statewide,
as some officials and farmers in the agricultural-rich Central
Valley had hoped. But Newsom said a broader drought declaration
could come as conditions change.
An unseasonably dry March and lack of sufficient water supplies
have foiled a proposed water release by the Oakdale and South
San Joaquin Irrigation Districts that would have boosted
Stanislaus River flows beginning this past week for the benefit
of out-migrating salmon, and also supplied water to farms and
communities in the San Joaquin Valley most vulnerable to
extreme drought conditions. The plan would have sent up to
100,000 acre-feet of water down the river between April 15 and
May 15 in what are known as “pulse flows” to help young salmon
navigate their way toward the Delta and, eventually, out to
sea.
The first time the streets flooded, Appollonia Grey
‘Uhilamoelangi, known as Mama Dee in her East Palo Alto
community, got a little nostalgic. The weather, though severely
inclement, at least reminded her of home in Samoa. … But East
Palo Alto, with a population of 30,000, is prone to flooding,
and three times over the next 30 years, torrential rains
devastated the city. … Now, the bay waters being pushed
higher by the effects of climate change pose an existential
threat to this small community of mostly people of color.
That’s not hyperbole. … Of all Bay Area counties, San Mateo
is the most at risk from sea level rise, and of all places in
the county, East Palo Alto is one of the most vulnerable to
climate-driven inundation.
Let me introduce myself. I am a California water drop. I
condensed from billions of water vapor molecules in the air
above the North Pacific Ocean to become embedded in the clouds
that evolved into a large storm system. Through alternating ups
and downs, and freeze and thaw cycles, I was carried in a
rotating middle latitude wave cyclone as it drifted southeast
and toward California. As the storm swept across the Golden
State, I was forced to rise higher over the mountains and I
grew as a giant ice crystal until I fell as a
fluffy-turned-heavy snowflake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
A burst of rain is expected to drench the Bay Area this
weekend, bringing much-needed moisture to a parched region. The
rains will likely be intense — but short-lived, tapering off to
another stretch of warm, dry conditions by the middle of next
week, meteorologists said. Showers were expected to start in
the North Bay as early as Saturday evening, with steady
rainfall pounding much of the Bay Area Sunday. Lingering
showers were expected in the central coast through Sunday
night, according to the National Weather Service.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District is asking for public
input from residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties for
an update of its water supply plan, which is updated every five
years. The plan assesses water supplies against expected water
needs for a 30-year planning horizon. A virtual public comment
meeting will be held April 29 and a virtual public hearing on
May 11, during the regularly scheduled EBMUD board of directors
meeting.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Virginia Madueño
to serve as a member of the Delta Stewardship Council (Council)
effective April 14, 2021. The compensation for this position is
$50,497.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a drought emergency for
Sonoma and Mendocino counties, but resisted calls to issue a
statewide proclamation — at least for now. Newsom’s emergency
order primarily affects communities and water districts in the
Russian River watershed, which includes the cities of Santa
Rosa, Ukiah and Sebastopol. Some 360,000 people live in the
area.
The 2020-21 California drought has led to significant water
cutbacks, compelling farmers to fallow ground and public
officials to respond with legislation intended to address the
state’s chronic water shortages. Farmers in more parts of
the state have learned in recent days just how little water
they will have available to them this summer, as water
suppliers from the Oregon border to the North Coast to the San
Joaquin Valley announced low allocations.
We’ve come a long way on stewardship of San Francisco Bay since
1955, when the local head of the Army Corps of
Engineers enthusiastically told The Chronicle, “We’ve been
nibbling at bay tidelands for a long time, but before long we
can attack acres and acres, building new land.”
Unfortunately, we haven’t come far enough. It’s good to have
moved past the idea that shallow waters exist only to be
filled. But if we want to nurture the marshes and mudflats that
remain while restoring former wetlands — steps that can help
protect our shorelines from climate change — then all branches
of government need to work together, and soon.
It won’t solve California’s drought problems, but it’s better
than nothing. The first rain in a month could wet the Bay Area
and much of Northern California this weekend, forecasters say,
as a late-season storm from the Gulf of Alaska appears to be
headed toward the region. Computer models show the rain will
begin late Saturday in the North Bay, spreading across the
wider Bay Area and Santa Cruz Mountains on Sunday. … The
weekend system also could bring snow to the Sierra Nevada on
Sunday.
The state assembly on Monday unanimously approved a bill that
would assist with the retrofitting of Anderson Dam in Morgan
Hill. Assembly Bill 271, which was introduced and authored by
Assemblymember Robert Rivas, passed in the assembly April 19 on
a vote of 71-0, according to Rivas’ office. The bill now
proceeds to the state senate. The legislation builds on Rivas’
previous efforts to expedite the construction of Anderson Dam,
which has been deemed seismically unsafe and is currently
undergoing a significant retrofit.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will begin releasing warmer
water from the upper layers of the Shasta Reservoir directly
into the Sacramento River to maintain flows, while saving
colder water for the winter-run Chinook salmon migration.
The Alameda County Water District board has promoted Ed
Stevenson to serve as the district’s new general manager. The
district, which provides water to roughly 350,000 homes in
Fremont, Newark and Union City, announced that Stevenson,
a 24-year district employee, will take over after current
general manager Robert Shaver retires on July 1 following 30
years of service.
The Richardson’s Bay Regional Agency is exploring a plan that
would create a designated anchoring zone to protect eelgrass
beds. Rebecca Schwartz Lesberg, a biologist with Coastal Policy
Solutions consulting firm, presented a draft eelgrass
protection and management plan to the agency board on April 8.
Schwartz Lesberg said the plan would not change the 72-hour
anchor limit. It would create a designated anchoring zone in
deeper water, closer to Belvedere and the mouth of Richardson
Bay, where eelgrass does not grow.
It’s a growing threat that sneaks in with the tide. Sea levels
here in the Bay Area are expected to rise by a foot or more
over the next several decades, potentially overwhelming levees
and seawalls around the Bay. But now an environmental group
says one of the most powerful weapons we have to fight back, is
being literally, thrown away. … [T]ons of sediment that are
dredged out of the Bay every year and barged out sea, or dumped
in deep water … could be the perfect solution to bolster the
wetlands that surround the Bay.
Bay Area environmental groups are celebrating a decision by an
affiliate of Cargill to withdraw its appeal of a federal
judge’s finding that Redwood City salt ponds are protected by
the Clean Water Act. While the withdrawal does not mean
development is prohibited it does make it more difficult, as
the federal act requires permits be issued before any dredging
or filling of the salt ponds, a 1,365-acre area adjacent to the
San Francisco Bay filled with tidal pools, marshland and
commercial salt mining operations.
California households face over $600 million in household water
debt, with some 1.6 million homes — roughly 12 percent of all
state residents — dealing with an average of $500 in arrears.
The findings show clear racial inequities, with households of
color bearing the brunt of this debt. More than 130 smaller
utilities across the state will need federal help in the next
six months if they are to survive. It is clear that we
need a solution now. -Written by Michael Carlin, the acting general
manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
For more than 100 years after California’s Gold Rush,
developers and city leaders filled in San Francisco Bay,
shrinking it by one third to build farms, freeways, airports
and subdivisions. All that changed in the 1970s with modern
environmental laws. But now as sea level rise threatens to
cause billions of dollars of flooding in the coming decades,
the bay is going to need to be filled again — but this time in
a different way, according to a new scientific report out
Tuesday.
Tree roots are being blamed for a 98,280-gallon sewage spill in
Sausalito that went unnoticed for two weeks. The overflow
started on March 17 and went undetected because of heavy
vegetation, according to the county.
Protecting the Bay Area from sea level rise may all come down
to mud. That’s the finding of a new report from San Francisco
Estuary Institute that tries to address a two-part problem
related to the looming threat of sea level rise: the lack of
natural sediment coming into the bay and the need to reinforce
its shorelines to protect the region from rising seas. There’s
a fairly straightforward solution, the nonprofit research
organization proposes: Take the sediment that’s dredged from
the bay’s shipping channels and barged out to sea or to deep
parts of the bay — 2½ to 3 million cubic yards of mud a year —
and use it to restore wetlands on the perimeter.
The Suisun Marsh — known as the largest swath of contiguous
wetlands on the West Coast and a haven for thousands of
migrating waterfowl — has become the Bay Area’s latest
battleground between fossil fuel producers and
environmentalists hellbent on fighting climate change. A
Brentwood company, Sunset Exploration Inc., announced in
January it wants to explore for natural gas by drilling a
section of the 116,000-acre marshland about 9 miles southwest
of Suisun City in an area known as Hunter’s Point, according to
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The theme of the April 14 meeting of the Cloverdale City
Council is seemingly water — the council will be viewing a
presentation on its updated water and sewer rate study and
giving direction on whether or not to proceed to a public
hearing with new rates, and will also be discussing whether or
not it wants to join the Sonoma-Marin Saving Water
Partnership.
It’s nothing less than an invasion. Interlopers are coming
into California by land, by sea…and by FedEx. That’s what
happened with the European green crab, a voracious
cannibal that stowed away in packages of worms sent by
overnight delivery to commercial fisherman in California.
Unknown to anyone, the tiny crustaceans were concealed in
seaweed that wrapped the cargo and were freed into the Pacific
when fishermen tossed it overboard. … California spends
$3 million a year attempting to eradicate nutria, a large,
homely, orange-toothed rodent that destroys wetlands and bores
holes into levees. Another $3 million a year goes to educating
boaters about quagga mussels, which hitch rides on hulls and
cling to equipment in the state’s vast water transport
system. And, for the last 20 years, authorities have
spent more than $34 million to manage Atlantic cordgrass in the
San Francisco Bay-Delta.
The chamise plants that blanket California’s shrubby chaparral
should have grown new sprouts by now, flowering after winter
rains before baking in the arid summer heat. They are highly
flammable and abundant in wildland areas — and, for that
reason, a bellwether to wildfire researchers. This month, a San
Jose State University team analyzing moisture levels was
shocked at what it found at study sites in the Santa Cruz
Mountains. At two locations researchers found no new growth to
cut from the shrubs. It’s an ominous sign of just how dry the
vegetation is around California, where boundless numbers of
plants and trees have been starved of life-sustaining water
thanks to an entire winter of paltry precipitation. Those dry
plants are fuel for wildfires, and they’re primed to burn
explosively.
Here’s a look at the nation’s top 10 cities with the most
properties at risk of flooding, according to 2020 data from the
First Street Foundation’s First National Flood Risk
Assessment. Flooding is a huge problem in America and is
only getting worse as global warming increases the frequency
and strength of tropical storms and hurricanes, and the warmer
atmosphere holds more water, leading to more rainfall. Warmer
temperatures also trigger winter snow to melt faster and
earlier. Flooding in the United States is likely to cause
some $20 billion in damages this year and cost as much as $32
billion by 2051, according to research from First
Street. Sundae took a look at the nation’s top 10
cities with the most properties at risk of flooding… #10. San
Jose … #5. Fresno … #3. Sacramento…
Nearly every resident of California has experienced an
earthquake. Even the youngest schoolchildren have the safety
procedure drilled into them: duck under a table, hold on, and
pray that it’s only a small one. Barring a truly catastrophic
quake, the situation usually ends there. You go on with your
day as if nothing had happened, the near catastrophe completely
forgotten. Most people assume that the danger ends after the
last remnants of the tremor share the ground. But there is a
much more sinister side effect of earthquakes that affects
daily life around California and much of the rest of the world:
contaminating the groundwater supply.
The city of St. Helena’s water system recently failed a
drinking water standard, city officials said Thursday evening.
… The city routinely monitors its distribution system for the
presence of drinking water contaminants. Testing results
received for Nov. 10, 2020, and March 9, 2021, showed the
system exceeded the standard or maximum contaminant level —MCL
— for haloacetic acids, or HAA, [Jo Ann Burkman, acting chief
operator for the city's water division] said. The standard
MCL for haloacetic acids is 60 ug/L; the running annual average
for the LSWTP Distribution System in the fourth quarter of 2020
measured 68 ug/L…
State water pollution officials have hit the city of Sunnyvale
with $187,000 penalty after the city’s wastewater treatment
plant spilled more than a quarter million gallons of partially
treated sewage into San Francisco Bay last summer. The spill
occurred on July 29 when a 36-inch welded steel pipeline
ruptured, releasing 292,600 gallons — the equivalent of about
12 backyard swimming pools — of partially treated sewage that
had not been disinfected into channels that flow into the bay
near Moffett Field. … The spill was one of the two largest
illegal discharges from a Bay Area sewage treatment plant into
San Francisco Bay over the past six years …
The dams that are built in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River
Watershed protect thousands of people and billions of dollar’s
worth of agriculture but they are far too old and far too many
of them need repair. Some unnecessary dams are drying rivers
and putting business in front of the environment.
For seven days in mid-March 2021, the Bureau of Reclamation
substantially increased Folsom Lake storage releases. Roughly,
the releases tripled in volume (Figure 1). The release of over
20,000 acre-feet of water is significant for a year in which
Folsom storage is not much better than it was in the worst year
on record – 1977 (Figure 2).1 With the release in mid-March,
the lake level dropped 3 feet. Yes, there was rain in the
forecast and a decent snowpack, but certainly no flood
concerns. So why? The reason was to meet state water quality
requirements for Delta outflow. Delta outflow increased from
7,000 cfs to 12,000 cfs for a few days (Figure 3).
In anticipation of this week’s Bay-Delta Science Conference, I
thought it would be useful to consider some of what it takes to
understand a complex ecosystem like an estuary and to encourage
everyone working in the San Francisco Estuary – scientists,
policymakers, and local stakeholders – to continue shifting our
ecosystem management focus from the simple to the complex. I’ll
explain why in a moment. Here are four suggestions for
improving ecosystem management in the San Francisco Bay-Delta:
The California Department of Justice (DOJ) filed comments with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) regarding Sunset
Exploration’s proposal to drill for natural gas in the Suisun
Marsh. Located in the San Francisco Bay-Delta, this 88,000-acre
wetland is home to a number of endangered and threatened
species, including California Ridgway’s rail, black rail, and
Chinook salmon – and is just a few short miles from
environmental justice communities in Solano County…. DOJ
urges the Army Corps to fully consider the proposal’s
significant environmental impacts, including harm to these
communities and protected species, as well as increased
greenhouse gas emissions, before deciding whether to grant the
requested permit.
As shoreline communities in the San Francisco Bay Area scramble
to prepare for rising seas, they should also be mindful that
protecting themselves could worsen flooding elsewhere. This is
because seawalls can reflect and amplify tides. “Decisions in
one location could affect hazards in another,” said
environmental engineer Michelle Hummel, who began studying the
bay while at UC Berkeley and is now at the University of Texas
at Arlington. Her latest research reveals that building
seawalls along relatively small sections of shore could raise
water levels enough to have far reaching effects, even all the
way across the bay. … But building seawalls in other
places could, especially in the wide alluvial valleys where
rivers flow into the bay.
Rejecting arguments that a utility can’t be sued over
century-old pollution, a federal judge signaled Wednesday that
he will likely advance a lawsuit seeking to hold Pacific Gas
and Electric liable for contamination that occurred more than
100 years ago. … [Plaintiff and San Francisco resident Dan]
Clarke claimed groundwater contamination stemming from the site
of PG&E’s former gas plant “is intermittently discharged
into the bay.” He said seasonal, tidal and other factors result
in groundwater passing the former plant site and intermixing
with contaminants before leaking into the San Francisco Bay.
Drought is returning to California as a second, consecutive
parched winter draws to a close in the usually wet north,
leaving the state’s major reservoirs half empty. But this
latest period of prolonged dryness will probably play out very
differently across this vast state. In Northern
California, areas dependent on local supplies, such as Sonoma
County, could be the hardest-hit. Central Valley growers have
been told of steep cuts to upcoming water deliveries.
Environmentalists too are warning of grave harm to native
fish. Yet, hundreds of miles to the south, the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California reports
record amounts of reserves — enough to carry the state’s most
populous region through this year and even next.
Much of the state’s water infrastructure was designed decades
ago and was built to serve half the size of our current
population. Faced with aging infrastructure, California cities
have taken innovative approaches to modernizing water treatment
and recycling systems to meet the needs of a growing population
and a changing climate. One infrastructure need that many
residents take for granted is wastewater treatment.
… The San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater
Facility is the largest advanced wastewater treatment
facility in the Western United States. Originally built in
1956, today it serves more than 1.4 million residents and
17,000 businesses in eight cities in Silicon Valley and
unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. Using
a treatment process that simulates the way nature
cleans water, the facility treats an average of 110 million
gallons of wastewater per day.
Eelgrass, a plant that grows in “underwater meadows” along the
California coast and emerges like a floating carpet at low
tide, is already known to be an important habitat for fish,
birds and baby Dungeness crabs. It turns out it can also reduce
seawater’s acidity back to preindustrial levels, creating
refuges for animals who can’t tolerate that byproduct of
climate change. … [S]eagrass meadows, which have shrunk in
number and size globally because of pollution and
development … may support wildlife as well as the
production of farmed oysters, mussels and
abalone. … The state already has efforts in place
to protect its eelgrass habitat. The California Ocean
Protection Council has a goal of preserving the state’s
existing 15,000 acres of seagrass beds and adding another 1,000
acres by 2025.
San Francisco Bay’s life support systems are unravelling
quickly, and a wealth of science indicates that unsustainable
water diversions are driving this estuary’s demise. Yet,
with another drought looming, federal and state water managers
still plan to divert large amounts of water to their
contractors and drain upstream reservoirs this summer.
Meanwhile, the state’s most powerful water districts are
preparing yet another proposal to maintain excessive water
diversions for the long-term. By delaying reforms that the
law requires and that science indicates are necessary, Gov.
Gavin Newsom encourages wasteful water practices that
jeopardize the Bay and make the state’s water future
precarious. -Written by Jon Rosenfield, a senior scientist for SF
Baykeeper.
The Delta Stewardship Council (Council) announced the hiring of
Ryan Stanbra, the Council’s legislative and policy advisor, to
the key post of chief deputy executive officer. … Appointed
by Governor Brown in 2015, Ryan joined the Council in the role
of legislative and policy advisor. He has played a pivotal role
in advising on critical Council initiatives like implementation
of reduced reliance on the Delta, interagency coordination and
outreach for the Delta Levees Investment Strategy, increasing
funding for critical science investments, and more. He has
served in the acting chief deputy executive officer role since
January.
Restoration projects, like species, evolve. The Sonoma Creek
Enhancement Project, originally about mosquito control, has
shown itself to be a boon to special-status tidal marsh
wildlife as well. More than a decade of adaptive management
actions made that happen. The existing marsh, formed
rapidly beginning in the 1960s by deposited sediment, lacked
the dendritic channels of a mature marsh. High tides brought in
water that pooled in a central basin and didn’t drain out,
providing breeding habitat for mosquitos. The disadvantages of
chemical treatment prompted land managers to look for
alternatives.
Updated water supply allocations announced last week would
still drain upstream reservoirs in order to deliver 4.5 million
acre feet of water to the contractors of the federal Central
Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP), devastating
fish and wildlife. This week, the fisheries biologists at the
National Marine Fisheries Service projected that these planned
operations are likely to result in lethal water temperatures
that will kill 89% of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon
below Shasta Dam this year. This mortality estimate is even
worse than what was observed in 2014 and 2015, when salmon
populations were devastated by warm water in their spawning
grounds.
As the rain season comes to a close across Northern California,
water districts are keeping a close eye on rain totals that are
below average, and water managers are explaining what another
“dry water year” means for our region. According to
California’s Department of Water Resources, or DWR, the state
is well into its second consecutive dry year. That causes
concern among water managers. However, it comes as no surprise.
… With the memory of drought years between 2012 and 2016 not
too distant, [DWR information officer Chris] Orrock explained
how lessons learned from that time period are still being
implemented.
Much like when tech money reshapes an historical neighborhood,
a beaver’s move downtown can cause the locals to worry. In
Napa, the animals’ sprawling waterfront complexes create
worrying pools along the riverbank, while the native
cottonwoods are whittled down and threaten landowners’ roofs.
It seems destined that two species known for their
environmental engineering would struggle to live in unison.
However, municipalities like Napa and Martinez in Contra Costa
County have learned to live with their beavers, and the
upcoming California Beaver Summit aims to set the record
straight.
Another advantage to “feeding” the soil in a region plagued
with persistent drought involves the tremendous water savings.
… With below-average precipitation in California,
its reservoirs are showing the impacts of a second dry year.
Lake Oroville stands at 55% of average and Lake Shasta,
California’s largest, now stands at 68%. Most
eco-conscious activists agree that, with the climate’s changing
patterns that lead to decreasing water supplies and die-offs of
pollinators, a lot more needs to be done to help keep our water
and food supplies plentiful.
With racism in the public eye and the pandemic wreaking havoc
on vulnerable populations disadvantaged by ecological hazards,
the need to ensure environmental justice has become more
apparent – and more important – than ever… Race affects
class. Class then affects your options. It’s more of
a human rights issue today than a civil rights
issue. When you broaden it to human rights, then we’re
talking about a wide variety of things that affect the
opportunities open to people as people, not as citizens: Do we
have a right to clean water? Do we have a right to decent
housing? Do we have a right to an environment free of
pathogens?
People living on San Francisco’s streets and in its parks face
daily barriers to finding and accessing clean water, according
to a report released earlier this month by the nonprofit
organization, Coalition on Homelessness. The coalition
surveyed 73 unhoused people during the 2020-21 winter months to
better understand how they access, use, and store water. Of
those surveyed — mostly elderly and disabled people living in
the Tenderloin area — some 68 percent responded that meeting
their daily water needs is a burden. Sources of hardship
abound. Some unhoused residents said they have trouble getting
water at grocery stores or restaurants because of their
appearance.
The San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s next update to it’s
2016 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the
Estuary—or Estuary Blueprint—will bring a new focus on equity
and environmental justice to ongoing efforts to restore and
protect the Bay and Delta.
The lack of rain and snow during what is usually California’s
wet season has shrunk the state’s water supply. The Sierra
Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water as it melts over the
spring and summer, is currently at 65 percent of normal. Major
reservoirs are also low. Two state agencies warned last week
that the dry winter is very likely to lead to cuts in the
supply of water to homes, businesses and farmers. The federal
Bureau of Reclamation also told its agricultural water
customers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to
expect no water this year.
In the face of climate change and severe weather, there is a
risk of more prolonged droughts in California. Despite recent
storms in March, Santa Clara County is now in a drought and it
is unknown how severe it will get. Valley Water remains focused
on preparing for future dry and wet years through a variety of
projects and programs, including the proposed expansion of
Pacheco Reservoir in southern Santa Clara County. The project
would increase the reservoir’s capacity from 5,500 acre-feet to
up to 140,000 acre-feet, enough water to supply up to 1.4
million residents for one year.
The city is getting ready to impose new penalties for water
customers who exceed their rations during St. Helena’s Phase II
water emergency. On Tuesday the City Council told staff to
bring the recommended penalties back for adoption at the April
13 council meeting. The new penalties would take effect May 1.
Meanwhile, city officials will develop clear conservation
targets and look at adjusting the city’s water management
policies, including how water allocations are calculated.
The Ninth Circuit reversed a conviction for three counts of
violations under the Clean Water Act because the district court
failed to instruct the jury that the defendant needed to
knowingly discharge material “into water” to convict.
… In the summer of 2014, Lucero executed a scheme under
which he charged construction companies to dump dirt and debris
on lands near the San Francisco Bay, including wetlands and a
tributary subject to the Clean Water Act. Although Lucero
admitted to “walking the land” where the dumping happened, the
period when the dumping occurred was unusually dry due to
drought. The trial court found Lucero guilty on two counts of
discharges into wetlands and one count of discharge into a
tributary.
[F]or those who live in the legal Delta zone – some 630,000
people – the braided weave of the Sacramento and San Joaquin
Rivers and their maze of associated wetlands and levees
provides a place of home, community, and recreation. And, as a
recent study by the Delta Stewardship Council shows, climate
change is tugging on the watery thread holding it all together.
… The council’s overview reveals a grim outlook for the
millions of people that are tethered to the region’s water:
drought similar to that experienced in 2012-2016 will be five
to seven times more likely by 2050. This will result in more
severe and frequent water shortages and, as the report bluntly
states, “lower reliability of Delta water exports.”
The upcoming salmon season doesn’t look promising for
recreational and commercial fishermen on the Coastside. But
environmentalists from the Central Valley are hoping to change
that in the future by easing the movement of salmon between the
Pacific Ocean and inland rivers. One of those rivers is the
Tuolumne River. Its stewards at the Tuolumne River Trust are
sounding the alarm over the river’s health and say that
committing more water to this distant river will help the
salmon populations more than 100 miles away in places like
Coastside fisheries.
As California stares down the barrel of yet another dry year,
alarm bells are already ringing over conditions in the Delta.
Environmental groups, fishermen, tribes, and a host of others
are calling on the State Water Resources Control Board to
complete and implement a long-delayed update to the Water
Quality Control Plan for the Bay and Delta (Bay-Delta Plan), to
protect the imperiled ecosystem. At the same time, plans for a
structure with the potential to divert more water than ever to
southern cities and farms are creeping ahead.
The Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District completed
construction this week on an expansion of its water recycling
system, increasing the district’s recycled water production
capacity nearly fourfold. …The expanded system allows the
district to treat roughly 5.4 million gallons of recycled water
per day at its headquarters at 300 Smith Ranch Road in San
Rafael. That’s up from the district’s previous capacity of 1.4
million daily gallons.
Starting Monday, March 22, groundwater users who own property
in the Santa Rosa Plain area will have an opportunity to review
and update their water use information. The new Groundwater
User Information Data Exchange (GUIDE) Program is being
launched by the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability
Agency (GSA) to improve understanding of how groundwater is
used, and the number and types of water wells in the Santa Rosa
Plain basin.
Nitrogen pollution is one of agriculture’s biggest and most
intractable problems. Crops can’t grow without the critical
nutrient, and because sources of nitrogen are easy to come
by—synthetic fertilizer is cheap and manure from large animal
agriculture operations is plentiful—farmers often apply too
much, to try to ensure the highest yields. Because plants can’t
use it all, the excess makes its way into groundwater and
washes into waterways where it contaminates drinking water and
creates vast dead zones in oceans and lakes.
… California’s largest hotspot unsurprisingly includes
21 counties that cover the Central Valley, America’s produce
capital.
In an effort to address drought and increase local groundwater
supply, the Santa Clara County Valley Water District is
fast-tracking a plan to purify and recycle more water in San
Jose. … But city elected leaders — concerned for the
environment and limited staff resources due to COVID-19 — are
pumping the brakes and want more time to negotiate.
Councilmembers met Friday with Valley Water’s board of
directors for a special meeting to hash out the issue.
The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act, California’s state clean
water law, passed in 1969 and became the model for the 1972
federal Clean Water Act. Nearly half a century after passage of
the landmark federal law, it is time for both the state and the
nation to assess progress and chart a new course. Once again,
California is leading the way with Assembly Bill 377, a new
bill introduced by Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Hollister).
Although new legislation is needed, the existing federal and
California clean water acts have produced successes that should
be celebrated. -Written by Terry Tamminen, president of 7th
Generation Advisors and founder of Santa Monica
Baykeeper.
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will
likely hire a contractor for the sweeping Lower Walnut Creek
Restoration Project that aims to improve both flood control and
conditions for wildlife and recreation. County staff recommends
the board approve a deal with Four M Contracting, which came in
with the lowest bid on the project, at $11.285 million. The
Winters-based civil engineering firm specializes in wetland
enhancement projects and the creation of wildlife habitat.
Earth Island Institute, a Berkeley, Calif.-based environmental
nonprofit, sued a collection of the world’s largest food,
beverage and consumer goods companies, saying their use of
millions of tons of plastic packaging has resulted in polluted
oceans, waterways and beaches. … Another novel element
of the case is that the Earth Island Institute is claiming the
10 companies in question are also harming the institute
specifically by allowing plastics to proliferate in the oceans
off of California, causing the nonprofit to expend enormous
sums to effect beach clean-ups and other related
projects.
Amid a drought, Napa County is preparing to protect more than
2,000 city of Napa properties from the next flood. The county
learned earlier this year that the stalled Napa River flood
control project will receive $48.3 million in federal funds.
That has local flood control officials talking about the final
round of projects. Step one has been meeting with officials
from the federal partner, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, by
Zoom. Four flood control projects totaling about $94 million
are to be done with a mixture of federal, local, developer and
grant money.
In the latest effort to protect Coyote Valley, a Palo Alto
environmental group has closed three deals totaling $16.5
million to purchase 331 acres in the scenic expanse of rural
land on San Jose’s southern edges … The three properties
purchased in the most recent deals, left undeveloped, also will
be used to provide natural flood protection for downtown San
Jose. The idea is that when Coyote Creek is flooding, as it did
in 2017, causing $100 million in damage, its waters can be
deliberately spread over the open area to seep into the
groundwater table instead of all rushing downtown into
neighborhoods.
Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) today
presented SB 1, a landmark bill to help California address the
impacts of sea level rise, to the Senate Committee on Natural
Resources and Water, which approved the bill in a 7-2 vote. …
SB 1, the Sea Level Rise Mitigation and Adaptation Act, directs
the Coastal Commission to take sea level rise into account in
its planning, policies, and activities, and would … expand
funding to assist more disadvantaged communities along the
coast that are vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise and
are actively working to address environmental justice issues.
San Francisco’s homeless residents struggle to access enough
water to live and stay healthy, according to a grim report
released Tuesday by the nonprofit Coalition on Homelessness.
The Coalition surveyed 73 homeless residents, and found that 61
percent of them do not have access to 15 liters of water a day,
which is UNICEF’s disaster response standard for people to meet
a minimum survival level.
In the latest sign that California is entering a new drought,
Silicon Valley’s largest water provider on Tuesday asked the
public to step up water conservation efforts. … The district,
a government agency based in San Jose that serves 2 million
people, stopped short of announcing immediate mandatory water
restrictions, like asking cities and private water companies
who buy its water to implement odd-even lawn watering days
for their customers, or to impose rates that set a penalty for
residential water use above a certain level.
Pacific Gas and Electric will pay to remove soil possibly
tainted by century-old gas plants and investigate groundwater
contamination in a San Francisco shoreline area under the terms
of a deal announced Monday. The agreement represents the third
and final settlement reached in a lawsuit filed in 2014 over
pollution from manufactured gas plants operated by PG&E in
the late 1800s and early 1900s. Under the deal entered Monday,
PG&E will fund a study on how to remove or mitigate
contamination from an underground storage tank on the former
site of its North Beach gas plant, which stopped operating
after it was damaged in the Great Earthquake of 1906.
Alameda County Water District has been busy developing a Water
Efficiency Master Plan that continues ACWD’s efforts to
encourage water use efficiency in the Tri-Cities and ensure
long-term water supply reliability for its customers. The WEMP
is now complete and ready for review. It provides a roadmap for
ACWD’s Water Use Efficiency Program for the next five years and
strategies out to 2050.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering whether
the spring-run and fall-run Chinook salmon that occupy the
rivers of Northern California and southern Oregon are
genetically distinct. The decision … would almost
certainly result in a listing under the Endangered Species Act
if seen as a separate species. … [T]he dams and
reservoirs that have been installed at various points
throughout the rivers of the West Coast create problems for
spring-run Chinook that are unique and separate from their
closely related cousins. It also allows the fall-run
species to outcompete the spring run since they both are able
to reach the same spots in the river to reproduce.
A trio of briefings on aging infrastructure and climate change
from the State Water Project will open with a stakeholder panel
discussion featuring Zone 7 Water Agency General Manager
Valerie Pryor during the California Water Commission’s meeting
on Wednesday (March 17), starting 9:30 a.m. The meeting agenda
includes three briefings under Item No. 9 including an overview
of the State Water Project and updates on the Climate Change
Vulnerability Assessment and the California Department of Water
Resources’ “efforts to address issues related to aging
infrastructure.”
There’s a cruel irony to lacking access to quality water as the
sky pours rain, a luxury development’s fountain spews a
waterfall around the corner, and the bay is within walking
distance. Such is the case for the unhoused residents of an
encampment on the border of the California cities of Berkeley
and Emeryville, whom I visited on a March afternoon that cycled
between intermittent showers and partly-cloudy skies. It’s
located along train tracks and near the highway, with no clear
businesses or public facilities in the immediate area that
would be willing to offer a restroom or sink.
The California commercial salmon season, due to start May 1,
will be only about half as long as last year’s season, after
the Pacific Fisheries Management Council settled on three
proposals for the dates and months fishing can take place this
season. The main reason for the shorter season is
the smaller number of adult Sacramento River
salmon expected to be in the ocean this spring and summer.
While commercial fishing boats were permitted to go out for 167
days total last year, the three proposals for the 2021 season
would only allow fishing for a total of 78 days, 94 days or 104
days.
For decades, the Cargill salt ponds in Redwood City have
stretched into the San Francisco Bay like a blank slate. What’s
to come of them? The Cargill corporation sees the outline of a
new housing development, while environmental groups see a
restored wetland habitat. David Lewis and his group Save the
Bay recently joined a lawsuit against the former Trump
administration’s EPA in a back-and-forth battle over whether
the area falls under federal protection.
