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Topic: San Francisco Bay

Overview April 24, 2014

San Francisco Bay

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.

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Aquafornia news March 30, 2023 Mercury News

Will this winter’s megastorms end the Bay Area’s toxic algae problem?

In recent years, thick layers of cyanobacteria—commonly known as blue-green algae—have closed popular local swimming spots Lake Anza and Lake Temescal for weeks at a time. Last summer, a toxic algae bloom in the San Francisco Bay killed thousands of fish. Although algae is always present in some quantity in lakes and the bay, higher temperatures, stagnant water, and excessive nutrient levels can cause the algae to multiply. If the particular species has toxins in it, such as blue-green algae or the Heterosigma akashiwo species that bloomed in the bay last summer, the water can become unsafe for humans and animals. Algae blooms and cyanobacteria have become state and nationwide problems. In the Bay Area, water managers were beginning to wonder if the extreme drought conditions of recent years had pushed the problem into a dangerous new phase in local waters.

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Aquafornia news March 30, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Bay Area water agencies end water restrictions, drought surcharges

Nothing says the end of drought like ending water restrictions — and the pesky drought surcharges on utility bills. On the heels of California’s remarkably wet winter, the Bay Area’s biggest water agencies, including the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and East Bay Municipal Utility District, have either rescinded their drought policies or are about to do so. This means, in many places, no more fines for using too much water, no more limiting outdoor watering to certain days of the week and no more drought surcharges. The surcharges were commonly adopted by water agencies to fill gaps in revenue as water sales dropped amid rising conservation.

Related articles: 

  • KRON: More rain means more money for East Bay MUD customers
  • KTVU: East Bay MUD says reservoirs are 88% full, will ease drought restrictions
  • Record Searchlight: Shasta Lake dials back water use restrictions; is Redding next?
  • Press-Telegram: Pinch of Salt - Despite winter deluge, we must continue conserving water
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Aquafornia news March 29, 2023 NBC Bay Area

Oakland nonprofit fundraising to help Lake Merritt avert another fish die-off

The Lake Merritt Institute, a nonprofit that helps to clean and monitor the health of Lake Merritt in Oakland, says the recent rains in the Bay Area have sent lots of fresh water and pollution into Lake Merritt. The weather-related changes have also stoked fears that the fish die-off in the lake last summer could repeat this summer. The Lake Merritt Institute is ramping up fundraising efforts in hopes of curbing conditions that could fuel a repeat die-off. In the summer of 2022, thousands of dead fish washed up in Lake Merritt as a “red tide” algae bloom spread in the lake and across the surrounding San Francisco Bay. At Lake Merritt, visitors reported strong smells from all the dead fish, and crews had to scoop the dead fish up and out of the water. Visitors reported seeing striped bass, top smelt, crabs, and even bat rays among the dead wildlife.

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2023 ABC7 - San Francisco

San Francisco company Epic Cleantec is advancing water recycling technologies in downtown buildings and beer

Looking out from a downtown San Francisco rooftop, Epic Cleantec co-founder and CEO Aaron Tartakovsky says you can actually see the future of recycled water. “This is not theoretical, it’s happening right now. It’s happening here, it’s happening in the Chorus building, where we’re going to be operating that system. And it’s happening in a third building over here,” says Tartakovsky, pointing a short distance away. Epic Cleantec is harnessing the used wastewater from high-rise buildings, and giving it a second life, with a dizzying array of technologies. … At the heart of the system lies a control center that monitors everything from the amount of energy being saved to the amount of wastewater being recovered. Ryan Pully is the director of water reuse operations.

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2023 Grist

Rising groundwater threatens clean air and water across the US

Places in the United States where the water table is inching higher — along the coasts, yes, but also inland, in parts of the Midwest — are already beginning to experience problems with infrastructure. Cracks in aging and poorly maintained pipes are being inundated, leaving plumbing unable to carry away stormwater and waste. Pavement is degrading faster. Trees are drowning as the soil becomes soupier, starving their roots of oxygen. During high tides and when it rains, groundwater is even reaching the surface and forming temporary ponds where there never used to be flooding. … In the San Francisco Bay Area, rising groundwater threatens to spread contamination that can evaporate and rise into the air inside homes, schools, and workplaces.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2023 Mercury News

Groundwater report could ease residents’ concerns about future East Bay wetland

A planned wetland in far eastern Contra Costa County is not likely to affect the nearby groundwater, a new report concludes – but it remains to be seen if that will sway some neighbors who fear the project could harm their drinking water drawn from wells. The 645-acre wetland project aims to curb potential flooding and poor stormwater quality while fending off encroaching development and improving habitat for threatened wildlife such as red-legged frogs, fairy shrimp and burrowing owls. The undertaking, officially called the Knightsen Wetland Restoration Project, is spearheaded by the East Contra Costa Habitat Conservancy and the East Bay Regional Parks District, which bought the land in 2016.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2023 Napa Valley Register

Napa Water Forum looks at how nature, humans can both thrive

Ideas flowed at a recent forum on how to manage Napa Valley water, which is the lifeblood for local cities, world-famous wine country and the environment. Save Napa Valley Foundation — formerly Growers/Vintners for Responsible Agriculture — and other groups put on the Napa Water Forum. It took place Friday, March 24 in the Native Sons of the Golden West building in downtown Napa. … [W]ater runs from local mountains in streams to the Napa River, giving life to fish and other aquatic life. The Napa River runs for about 50 miles from Mount St. Helena through the Napa Valley to San Pablo Bay. Some water is captured behind dams that form reservoirs for local cities. Some water seeps into the aquifer, becoming groundwater that feeds streams and the Napa River during the hot summers and provides well water for vineyards, wineries and homes.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Map shows unusual impact of California storms on the ocean

While the world’s oceans have hit a record high temperature, the Pacific Ocean off the California coast remains colder than average. In fact, in virtually no place in the world is the ocean so much colder than normal, according to a map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. … The stormy weather is clearly a factor. The winds associated with storms have pushed water from the north to the south. The weather has also brought upwelling, when frigid water from the depths is pulled to the surface. San Francisco Bay has also been unusually cool.

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Aquafornia news March 24, 2023 Bay Area News Group

Cottage cheese injections and electric shocks: Emeryville attempts to reclaim toxic soil

Emeryville is still digging itself out from under its industrial past. For years, the city has cleaned up vast swaths of land contaminated by the scores of commercial warehouses that used to dominate the East Bay shoreline community. By the early 2000s, Emeryville earned a reputation as “one of the foulest industrial wastelands in the Bay Area,” according to one news outlet, which said the soil was “so toxic that anyone treading it had to wear a moon suit.” ….This week, city officials kicked off the complex task of cleaning up roughly 78,000 square-feet of contaminated soil on another city-owned property just across the railroad tracks from the popular Bay Street Emeryville shopping center — which was also excavated before construction.

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Aquafornia news March 24, 2023 Bloomberg

Battered California faces billions in storm damage to crops, homes and roads

The costs of California’s relentless winter storms keep rising. And outside of the human toll — with at least 28 people killed since January — the price will be measured in billions. The “bomb cyclone” that lashed San Francisco on Tuesday was the latest in an epic series of extreme weather events to hit California since New Year’s Eve. It blew out windows from skyscrapers, flung barges into a historic bridge, sent trees tumbling across roads, knocked down power lines, and threatened a major freeway as the waterlogged hillside beneath it started to collapse….The price tag for all this mayhem — road repairs, damaged homes, lost crops — won’t become clear for months. But the early estimates are sobering.

Related articles: 

  • Visalia Times-Delta: Community of Allensworth comes together to face historic flooding
  • YourCentralValley: Kings County faces ‘biblical’ floods
  • California Water Research Blog: Chaos in Tulare County shows need for advance flood planning
  • The San Diego Union-Tribune: Oceanside declares local emergency, will seek state & federal funding for storm response
  • Vox: Yes, there was just a tornado near Los Angeles. Is climate change to blame?
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Aquafornia news March 23, 2023 CBS - San Francisco

Alameda County Water District drops drought surcharge after wet winter

The Alameda County Water District announced Wednesday that surcharges prompted by years of drought will be dropped in April, following one of the wettest winters on record. At a special meeting held Tuesday, the agency’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to end the surcharges, which were put in place after a water shortage emergency was declared. In March of 2022, the water district imposed a surcharge of $0.787 for every 748 gallons, or unit of water, that customers use. On March 1, the surcharge increased to $0.82 per unit of water.

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Aquafornia news March 21, 2023 ABC News

Amid extreme climate and natural disasters, is California still a desirable place to live and vacation? Experts weigh in.

Earthquakes, snow, wildfires, flooding, smog, fog, heat, drought — these are just some of extreme natural disasters and climate conditions experienced in the Golden State in any given year. California is notoriously the “land of extremes,” Kristina Dahl, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News. Snowpack from the winter could quickly melt into flooding come spring. Heat waves in the summer pave the way for wildfires in the fall. Now, intense moisture from atmospheric rivers is walloping the West Coast with an inundation of precipitation — oftentimes too much at once. A pervasive megadrought has been plaguing the region for decades and to top it off, tectonic shifts could cause an earthquake at almost any given moment.

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Aquafornia news March 14, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: Atmospheric river-fueled storm arrives in California. Here’s which areas will be in the bull’s-eye

California is once again bearing the brunt of inclement weather, as a low-pressure system off the coast rapidly intensifies and becomes a storm, tapping into another atmospheric river that’s flowing between Hawaii and California. The storm that started Monday night is forecast to raise powerful winds along the coast that will spread to all corners of the Bay Area, Central Coast and Central Valley and peak just before sunrise on Tuesday. These winds will ferry heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and the risk for more flooding across most of the California coast and eventually Southern California. 

Related articles: 

  • Los Angeles Times: New storm set to pound California — and another after that. What to know about March’s wet forecast
  • Mercury News: Highway 1 flood cuts off Santa Cruz and Monterey counties as another atmospheric river storm roars in
  • Los Angeles Daily News: Another storm system marching toward Southern California will bring rain, snowmelt, flooding
  • Mercury News: Flood map – More flooding forecast for Bay Area, Central California rivers. See the risk near you
  • CNN: Treacherous flooding is about to get worse in California as another atmospheric river closes in on storm-battered residents
  • New York Times: Another ‘Significant’ Atmospheric River Is Drenching California
  • SF Gate: Parts of Salinas Valley covered in water as river floods
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Aquafornia news March 10, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Earth is warming. Why is California having a record-breaking winter?

All this winter weather may seem to be at odds with the hotter, drier California that scientists expect with climate change, as greenhouse gas emissions raise global temperatures. But that trend is taking place over longer timescales, across the entire planet. What happens in California from year to year — or even winter to winter — can vary dramatically and still fit into the bigger story, scientists say. … Some scientists also think that atmospheric warming can change how air masses move around the planet by altering jet streams, strong winds that travel about 5-9 miles above the Earth’s surface. As a result, cold air masses can move farther south, toward California.

Related article: 

  • Yale Climate Connections: Sharp cold blasts punctuate one of the warmest, wettest U.S. winters on record
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Aquafornia news March 9, 2023 Mercury News

Opinion: How storms will impact San Jose residents’ water bills

The recent series of storms that swept through the region wrought havoc in many ways, but they did improve water levels in California. Without minimizing widespread storm damage and attending hardship, it is nice to see the hills green again and hope the rainy trend continues. It’s also a great relief to note that statewide Sierra snowpack was registering at nearly 200% of normal levels at the beginning of February, and that preliminary reservoir gauge readings published for the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s 10 local reservoirs at the same time showed five of those reservoirs at or above 80% capacity. And as reported in The Mercury News on Jan. 12: “For the first time in more than two years, the majority of California is in moderate drought, not severe drought.”
-Written by Andy Gere, president and COO of San Jose Water. 

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Aquafornia news March 6, 2023 Daily Republic

Travis reports no ‘petroleum’ sheen on Union Creek since December

Travis Air Force Base officials reported the “petroleum” sheen that has appeared on Union Creek a number of times, usually after rain events, has not been seen since December. That includes after the most recent storm, Capt. Jasmine Jacobs, with the base Public Affairs Office, said in an email response to the Daily Republic. Jacobs led a site visit with the Daily Republic on Feb. 27. Leslie Pena, the civilian environmental element chief at Travis, was part of the tour. This week the base confirmed for the first time that testing has shown that aviation fuel, motor oil, gasoline and diesel have been present, but the source of the leak is still under investigation.

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2023 Mercury News

Garamendi’s bill would extend water treatment facility permits

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Richmond, on Monday reintroduced his bipartisan legislation (H.R.1181) to reform permitting for local wastewater treatment and water recycling projects, with U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, as the original co-sponsor. Garamendi’s legislation (H.R.1181) would extend the maximum term for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued under the federal Clean Water Act from five years to 10 to better reflect the project construction schedules for public agencies. In October 2019, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed Garamendi’s legislation. His reintroduced legislation awaits action by that same committee.

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2023 Brentwood Press

Water in Brentwood declared non-toxic

Anyone looking for a sequel to the Oscar-nominated film ‘Erin Brockovich’ needed only to tune into the Feb. 28 meeting of the Brentwood City Council to watch the city’s presentation on chromium-6, a water contaminant that has been linked to cancer. The presentation, which said the city’s water meets state safety standards, was given by Miki Tsubota, the director of Public Works, for the city at the request of council members after citizens expressed their concern late last year. For scale, Tsubota said, one part per billion is the equivalent of a single drop in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The state is preparing to establish a maximum contaminant level of 10 parts per billion, which means Brentwood’s drinking water would more than meet state-level safety standards, according to Tsubota. The current state standard is 50 parts per billion.

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Aquafornia news March 2, 2023 Mercury News

Pollutants were released into Guadalupe River, Coyote Creek from construction firm, lawsuit claims

A well-known Bay Area construction materials firm has unleashed harmful pollutants into Guadalupe River and Coyote Creek, threatening sensitive species of fish, frogs and salamanders, a newly filed lawsuit alleges. The Santa Clara County District Attorney claims that Graniterock, an over-century-old Watsonville-based corporation, has discharged stormwater from two of its San Jose facilities that contain above-level pH values, cement, sand, concrete, chemical additives and other heavy metals. Those pollutants have endangered steelhead trout, the California Tiger Salamander and the California Red Legged frog — animals that live in and around the South Bay waterways, the suit alleges. The complaint does not specify when or how much of the pollutants were apparently found discharged into the waterways.

Related article: 

  • Marin Independent Journal: Marin environmental groups seek redo of Sausalito school creek plan 
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Aquafornia news March 2, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Thursday Top of the Scroll: California may bar commercial salmon fishing, first time since 2009

California commercial and sports fishers are bracing for the possibility of no salmon season this year after the fish population along the Pacific Coast dropped to its lowest point in 15 years. On Wednesday, wildlife officials announced a low forecast for the number of the wild adult Chinook (or “king”) salmon that will be in the ocean during the fishing season that typically starts in May. The final plan for the commercial and recreational salmon season will be announced in April. …Salmon are highly dependent on how much water is available in their native rivers and streams, especially when they are very young. Even though the state has gotten a lot of rain and snow this winter, the population that is now in the ocean was born in 2020, in the beginning of the state’s current record-breaking drought. … This year, there will be about 170,000 adult salmon in the ocean from the Sacramento River fall run Chinook population, the main group that is fished commercially in the state and the lowest number since 2008.

Related articles: 

  • Press Democrat: Poor outlook for king salmon could shut down California’s sport and commercial seasons
  • Sierra (Magazine): Can the Northern California Summer Steelhead Be Saved in Time?
  • CalMatters: How will Newsom, Legislature avoid painful cuts in CA budget?
  • Golden State Salmon Association: News release: Low 2023 salmon forecast likely to lead to fishery shutdown 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news March 1, 2023 Napa Valley Register

Yountville discovers recycled water line break under Napa River, responds with $1 million emergency repair

A break in Yountville’s recycled-water main serving the Vintner’s Golf Club and various vineyard ponds east and west of the Napa River has led to an emergency $1 million repair project, approved by the Town Council last week. The main in question is a 6-inch PVC pipe, first installed in 1977, that runs across the floor of the Napa Valley from the Yountville wastewater treatment plant west of Highway 29. It reaches as far as the Clos du Val Winery pond past the Silverado Trail, to the east, Yountville’s public works director John Ferons said at the council meeting. As such, the water line also runs below the Napa River, which is where the leak was discovered about two weeks ago. Yountville town staff discovered the leak at noon Feb. 15 because a low-flow alarm went off, and workers shut off the pumps to investigate the pipes, according to a staff report.

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Aquafornia news March 1, 2023 CBS - Sacramento

California wineries are making changes to battle extreme weather

In communities across California, a Napa winery is implementing a strategy to save water and fight against drought conditions.  Reid family winery uses mounds of rice straw under their grapevines, which they said not only helped double their yield from the year before, but also produced some of the winery’s best quality grapes yet. … The owners said that they were able to water significantly less last year compared to years prior. Since laying the rice straw, they haven’t seen rivulets or erosion in their sloping vineyard.  They predict that they will have to replace the rice straw every 4 to 5 years. 

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Aquafornia news March 1, 2023 Mercury News

Editorial: Newsom takes page out of Trump’s water playbook

Clean water is California’s most vital need. Our lives and the lives of future generations depend on it. Yet when it comes to protecting the state’s supply, Gov. Gavin Newsom is failing California. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta provides drinking water to 27 million Californians, or roughly 70% of the state’s residents. On Feb. 15, the governor signed an executive order allowing the State Water Resources Control Board to ignore the state requirement of how much water needs to flow through the Delta to protect its health. It’s an outrageous move right out of Donald Trump’s playbook. Big Ag and its wealthy landowners, including some of Newsom’s political financial backers, will reap the benefits while the Delta suffers.

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Aquafornia news March 1, 2023 NBC - Bay Area

‘Things are looking great’: Checking in on South Bay reservoir levels

South Bay reservoirs are handling the recent rain quite well due in part to a delicate dance water managers have been doing to make sure they catch as much water as possible. … To make room for future storms, Valley Water has been strategically releasing water from reservoirs, which is part of the reason why the county average for reservoir capacity right now is only 50%. Valley Water said the winter rain so far still isn’t enough to call off the drought emergency. … The Sierra snowpack is also looking robust. Experts say the hope now is that the Sierra stays cold for the next few weeks to keep the snowpack intact. The goal is for the snowpack to begin melting in mid-spring in time for the runoff to refill the reservoirs again.

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Aquafornia news February 24, 2023 Marin Independent Journal

Marin Municipal Water District details drought surcharge proposal

Marin Municipal Water District officials are proposing rate increases during drought periods to prevent financial shortfalls, but say ratepayers shouldn’t expect their bills to spike if they meet their conservation targets. … In a presentation, Bret Uppendahl, the district finance director, said adding drought surcharges to water rates is a common practice by water agencies throughout the country, including the North Marin Water District. The surcharges are used to make up for revenue losses during droughts resulting from reduced water sales from conservation and mandatory water use restrictions. The district does not use these surcharges and instead sets aside its regular water sales revenue into a reserve fund that it taps when droughts occur.

Related article: 

  • Marin Independent Journal: Marin water district adopts new conservation triggers
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Aquafornia news February 24, 2023 KQED - San Francisco

Climate fix: How the Bay Area is preparing for sea level rise

Scientists have warned for decades that due to climate change water levels are rising throughout the Bay Area. The first place excess water will show up is underground. As we saw from recent storms, shallow groundwater can cause flooding in streets and low-lying areas and can overwhelm wastewater systems. Local planners and policy makers are analyzing how the region should adapt to the problem of a rising water table and how to design buildings, freeways and sewer infrastructure in response. In our next installment of “Climate Fix: Rethinking Solutions for California,” a collaboration between the KQED’s Forum and Science teams, we’ll discuss what’s happening with groundwater levels as the Bay Area prepares for sea level rise in the next several decades. Have you experienced flooding in your home and how did you handle it?

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Aquafornia news February 24, 2023 SJV Sun

Calif. Water Board pauses Delta rules, boosting water supplies for storage

After the first flush of the year saw as much as 95 percent of daily incoming water to the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta sent into the San Francisco Bay, a new decision by the state’s water board this week will reverse course and allow for more water to be stored throughout the state’s reservoirs.  The State Water Resources Control Board has temporarily waived rules that required a certain amount of water to be flushed out to the bay, a decision that comes after the heavy rains California experienced to start the year.  The backstory: On Feb. 13 the California Department of Water Resources and the Bureau of Reclamation jointly filed a Temporary Urgency Change Petition.

Related article: 

  • Restore the Delta: Restore the Delta Files Opposition to Newsom Delta Flows Waiver 
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Aquafornia news February 24, 2023 Wine Enthusiast Magazine

Rivers have sustained vineyards for centuries, now it’s time to return the favor

What do Bordeaux, Loire, Mosel, Rhine, Rhône, Douro, Napa, Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Tokaj and the Wachau all have in common? If you said they are all major wine regions split by rivers or laced with tributaries, pour yourself a glass of wine. It may seem obvious, but wine wouldn’t exist without water. And rivers deliver it. For centuries that has meant soil, sediment, nutrients, warming and cooling influences and, of course, water, all traveling along riverbanks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), today the United States alone has more than 3 million miles of rivers and streams—and many of those miles have historically made agriculture, including viticulture, possible. … Running around 50 miles from Mt. St. Helena in the north and spilling into the San Pablo Bay, the Napa River is home to plants, endangered critters and some of the most valuable acreage of grapevines in the country.

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Aquafornia news February 23, 2023 Mercury News

Anderson Dam retrofit project receives big federal loan; troubled Pacheco Dam project remains in limbo

Two huge dam projects are being planned in Santa Clara County at a price tag in the billions. The Biden administration has decided to help fund one of them but — at least for now — not the other. At a news conference scheduled for Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce it has approved $727 million in low-interest loans to the Santa Clara Valley Water District to help fund the rebuilding of Anderson Dam near Morgan Hill. The largest reservoir in Santa Clara County, Anderson has been drained for earthquake repairs since 2020, exacerbating Silicon Valley’s water shortages. Federal dam safety officials were concerned that its 240-foot earthen dam, built in 1950, could fail in an earthquake. But the water district also asked the EPA for twice as much in other low-interest loans — $1.45 billion — to help fund construction of a huge new dam near Pacheco Pass and Henry W. Coe State Park. 

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Aquafornia news February 22, 2023 KTLA - Los Angeles

Winter storm to boost California’s snowpack at the right time

A significant winter storm is expected to deliver heavy rain and snow to a wide swath of the United States this week, from the West Coast to the Northeast. Cold air from Canada will interact with a pair of fronts, causing “numerous weather hazards” and abnormal temperatures while “almost all of the country [experiences] some form of notable weather,” the National Weather Service said. Snow accumulation of 1 to 2 feet is expected for most mountain ranges across the West, where the storm is arriving at an ideal time to lift the region’s already impressive snowpack. As of Tuesday, snowpack in California was sitting at 174% of normal for Feb. 21, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Regionally, the Southern Sierra was at 208%, Central Sierra at 176% and the Northern Sierra/Trinity at 144%.

Related articles: 

  • Los Angeles Times: Frigid storm to slam California: Blizzard warning for local mountains, snow at low elevations
  • San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area to experience very unusual snow event in parts of the region
  • Weather West: Substantial (very) low elevation snowfall possible later this week in CA as cold and active weather pattern develops
  • EarthSky blog: Pacific winter snowstorm coming … again
  • USA Today: 23 million Americans under winter storm warnings as blizzards barrel across Midwest, West
  • NBC – Bay Area: Climate in Crisis - Wildfire Impact on Sierra Snowmelt
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Aquafornia news February 21, 2023 San Jose Mercury News

Bay Area likely to see snow on the hills this week from unusual winter storm, forecasters say

When Bay Area residents wake up later this week and get a look outside, they might wonder if they’ve been transported many degrees north, with snow from an unusually cold and windy winter storm possibly carpeting the region’s major peaks and even reaching hills as low as 1,000 feet. “Nearly (the) entire population of CA will be able to see snow from some vantage point later this week if they look in the right direction,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, tweeted Monday. “While snow remains very unlikely in California’s major cities, it’ll fall quite nearby.”

Related articles:

  • KCRA – Sacramento: Northern California Forecast: Timeline for gusty Valley winds, Sierra snow at low elevations this week
  • CBS 8 – San Diego: Two winter storms to take aim at Southern California this week
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Aquafornia news February 21, 2023 Mercury News

Winter rain thrills winemakers, even amid threats of mudslide, ‘wet vintage’

As Prudy Foxx walked through rows of ripening fruit at several vineyards nestled among the Santa Cruz Mountains last September, she cringed at the spindly shoots rising from the stocky grapevine trunks. … A similar scene played out last fall at many vineyards around the Bay Area: years of drought taking a destructive toll on the vines, threatening a billion-dollar industry and putting more stress on California’s scant stored water resources. Then, like a “godsend,” the rains came. Over several weeks in December and January, storms dropped more than a foot of rain on Northern California, smashing historic records and leaving a wide swath of devastation in their wake. 

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Aquafornia news February 21, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle

Opinion: Gavin Newsom just declared war on San Francisco Bay

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order this week declaring war on California’s water scarcity takes a note from the Bush playbook. The decision to extend his drought emergency declaration — despite the recent record rains and flooding — gives carte blanche to state agencies to eviscerate essential water quality and environmental protections in perpetuity. Meanwhile, his administration continues to press for the same kinds of projects and management strategies that helped create the state’s water problems in the first place. The results will be catastrophic for the health of San Francisco Bay. The bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta form one of the planet’s great estuaries, where salt water and fresh mix, and the estuarine ecosystem is highly dependent on the amount of fresh water that flows into it from the watershed.
-Written by Gary Bobker, program director at the Bay Institute.

Related articles: 

  • SJV Sun: Opinion – Calif.’s drought cure starts with adapting to changing circumstances 
  • Milk Producers Council: Complicated, but Significant Positive News on the Water Front
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Western Water July 25, 2019 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

A Study of Microplastics in San Francisco Bay Could Help Cleanup Strategies Elsewhere
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Debris from plastics and tires is showing up in Bay waters; state drafting microplastics plan for drinking water

Plastic trash and microplastics can get washed into stormwater systems that eventually empty into waterways. Blasted by sun and beaten by waves, plastic bottles and bags shed fibers and tiny flecks of microplastic debris that litter the San Francisco Bay where they can choke the marine life that inadvertently consumes it.

A collaborative effort of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, The 5 Gyre Institute, San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the regulated discharger community that aims to better understand the problem and assess how to manage it in the San Francisco Bay is nearing the end of a three-year study.

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Aquapedia background August 7, 2017 Layperson's Guide to the Delta

Estuary

Suisun Marsh, part of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary, is the largest contiguous brackish water marsh on the West Coast of North America.Estuaries are places where fresh and salt water mix, usually at the point where a river enters the ocean. They are the meeting point between riverine environments and the sea, with a combination of tides, waves, salinity, fresh water flow and sediment. The constant churning means there are elevated levels of nutrients, making estuaries highly productive natural habitats.

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Western Water November 16, 2016 Gary Pitzer

Delta Report Highlights Need to Restore Legacy Processes

Understanding the importance of the Bay-Delta ecosystem and working to restore it means grasping the scope of what it once was.

That’s the takeaway message of a report released Nov. 14 by the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

The report, “A Delta Renewed,” is the latest in a series sponsored by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). Written by several authors, the report says there is “cause for hope” to achieving large-scale Delta restoration in a way that supports people, farms and the environment. SFEI calls itself “one of California’s premier aquatic and ecosystem science institutes.”

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Aquapedia background September 8, 2016

Zooplankton

Examples of zooplanktonZooplankton, which are floating aquatic microorganisms too small and weak to swim against currents, are are important food sources for many fish species in the Delta such as salmon, sturgeon and Delta smelt.

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Tour June 24, 2015 - June 26, 2015 Go Deep into California's Water Hub Images from the Bay-Delta tour

Bay-Delta Tour 2015
Field Trip (past)

This 3-day, 2-night tour, which we do every year, takes participants to the heart of California water policy – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

  • California Water Fix- Heiland
  • Climate Change and CA Water- Chappell
  • EBMUD Bay Delta Nexus- Bray
  • Delta Fish Ecology- Herbold
  • Delta Water Flow - Peltier
  • SDWA - John Herrick
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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 California Water Map Layperson's Guide to California Water

Pacific Flyway

The Pacific Flyway is one of four major North American migration routes for birds, especially waterfowl, and extends from Alaska and Canada, through California, to Mexico and South America. Each year, birds follow ancestral patterns as they travel the flyway on their annual north-south migration. Along the way, they need stopover sites such as wetlands with suitable habitat and food supplies. In California, 90 percent of historic wetlands have been lost.

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Tour June 18, 2014 Images from the Bay-Delta tour

Bay-Delta Tour 2014
Field Trip (past)

The 2014 tour took place June 18 – 20.

This 3-day, 2-night tour takes participants to the heart of California water policy – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

  • Keith Coolidge, Delta Stewardship Council: Delta Overview
  • Bryan Brock, DWR: Subsidence Mitigation
  • Bryan Brock, DWR: Sustainable Delta Farming
  • CCWD: Historical Freshwater and Salinity Conditions
  • CCWD: Protecting Delta Fisheries
  • CCWD: Canal Replacement Project
  • CCWD: Bay-Delta Tour Map
  • Erin Chappell, DWR: Climate Change Impacts Bay-Delta Region
  • Bruce Herbold
  • Jason Peltier
  • Caitrin Chapelle, PPIC: Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem
  • John Herrick, South Delta Water Agency: BDCP: A Plan to Lose the Delta
  • Jacob McQuirk, DWR: Delta Water Conveyance
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Video May 27, 2014

A Climate of Change: Water Adaptation Strategies

This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an excellent overview of climate change and how it is already affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are underway to plan and adapt to climate.

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Video May 22, 2014

Delta Warning

15-minute DVD that graphically portrays the potential disaster should a major earthquake hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. “Delta Warning” depicts what would happen in the event of an earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale: 30 levee breaks, 16 flooded islands and a 300 billion gallon intrusion of salt water from the Bay – the “big gulp” – which would shut down the State Water Project and Central Valley Project pumping plants.

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Video May 21, 2014

Water on the Edge (60-minute DVD)

Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system, there have been some critical events that had a profound impact on California’s water history. These turning points not only forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Water Cycle Poster

Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants, rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation. Excellent for elementary school classroom use.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Invasive Species Poster Set

One copy of the Space Invaders and one copy of the Unwelcome Visitors poster for a special price.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Unwelcome Visitors

This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how non-native invasive animals can alter the natural ecosystem, leading to the demise of native animals. “Unwelcome Visitors” features photos and information on four such species – including the zerbra mussel – and explains the environmental and economic threats posed by these species.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Space Invaders

This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, explains how non-native invasive plants can alter the natural ecosystem, leading to the demise of native plants and animals. “Space Invaders” features photos and information on six non-native plants that have caused widespread problems in the Bay-Delta Estuary and elsewhere.

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Publication April 17, 2014 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Delta
Updated 2020

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta, its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.

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Maps & Posters April 17, 2014 California Water Bundle

California Water Map
Updated December 2016

A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect gift for the water wonk in your life.

Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts – including federally, state and locally funded projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects, wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado River.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

San Francisco Bay Model

Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of the Engineers, the San Francisco Bay/Delta Model is a hydraulic model of San Francisco Bay and the Delta and is housed in a converted World II-era warehouse in Sausalito in Marin County.

Stretching 320-feet  by 400-feet wide, the Bay Model features a replica of the Bay Delta watershed from the Golden Gate to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Pumping systems move hundreds of gallons of water throughout the display and create 14-minute tidal ebb and flow.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay and the inter-connected Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta form the largest estuary on the Pacific West Coast.

The estuary is shaped by water flows from two directions.

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Aquapedia background February 10, 2014 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map Layperson's Guide to the Delta

Invasive Species

Invasive water hyacinth surrounds docks and boats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Invasive species, also known as exotics, are plants, animals, insects and aquatic species introduced into non-native habitats.

Often, invasive species travel to non-native areas by ship, either in ballast water released into harbors or attached to the sides of boats. From there, introduced species can then spread and significantly alter ecosystems and the natural food chain as they go. Another example of non-native species introduction is the dumping of aquarium fish into waterways.

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Western Water Magazine May 1, 2013

Meeting the Co-equal Goals? The Bay Delta Conservation Plan
May/June 2013

This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying California’s long-term water supply reliability.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2009

Delta Conveyance: The Debate Continues
March/April 2009

This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions surrounding its cost, operation and governance

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2008

Finding a Vision for the Delta
March/April 2008

This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the problems tied to the Delta.

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Water Academy

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  • Dams, Reservoirs and Water Projects
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