The successful Bakersfield children’s book series “Indy, Oh
Indy” has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its sixth
upcoming book, titled “The Mighty Kern River.” The book was
inspired by a larger effort from the grassroots group Bring
Back the Kern to raise awareness about Bakersfield’s mostly dry
river and efforts to revive a more regular flow of water
through town.
The worsening drought has canceled a large water sale to West
Side farmers by the Oakdale and South San Joaquin irrigation
districts. They announced Wednesday that their own
customers will need the water, which had been declared surplus
in early March. A revised forecast of Stanislaus River runoff
scuttled the sale, which could have brought up to $25 million
to the sellers.
Southern California, like most of the West, is in the middle of
a record dry season. To combat it and keep the metropolitan
area well-watered, they’re relying more heavily on the Colorado
River, with water pumped directly from the south end of Lake
Havasu. Last Wednesday, the Metropolitan Water District began
pumping from Lake Havasu at full capacity for the first time in
years, drawing water from the Whitsett Intake Pumping Plant
located just north of the Parker Dam. The eight-pump flow is
equivalent to about 3,000 acre feet of water being pumped per
day, according to MWD Manager of Colorado River Resources Bill
Hasencamp.
Advocates, such as the Colorado Water Trust, a nonprofit that
spearheaded the new approach, say the tools can be used as
templates across other river basins, where older water rights
are already spoken for. … Across Colorado nearly 40,000
miles of streams flow year-round and, as a result, have the
potential to receive protection under the state’s Instream Flow
Program.
There’s just one week left to register for our Water 101
Workshop, which offers a primer on the things you need to know
to understand California water. One of our most popular events,
this once-a-year workshop will be held as an engaging online
event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday,
April 23.
The Colorado River is one of the most highly developed surface
water systems in the world, but demand for the river’s water
continues to exceed supply. University of Arizona geosciences
professor Connie Woodhouse discusses the impact of a warming
climate on the Colorado River. She is the featured speaker for
the annual College of Science lecture series April 15. Connie
Woodhouse spoke with Leslie Tolbert, Regent’s professor emerita
in Neuroscience at the University of Arizona.
[S]ome scientists [are] saying the region is on the precipice
of permanent drought. That’s because in 2000, the
Western U.S. entered the beginning of what scientists call
a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years —
triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and
human-caused climate change. In the past 20 years,
the two worst stretches of drought came in 2003 and 2013 — but
what is happening right now appears to be the beginning stages
of something even more severe. And as we head into the summer
dry season, the stage is set for an escalation of extreme dry
conditions, with widespread water restrictions expected and yet
another dangerous fire season ahead.
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.
A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence
wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a
first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on.
Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to
get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants, and
now they’re asking the Nevada Legislature to outlaw roughly 40%
of the turf that’s left. The Southern Nevada Water Authority
estimates there are almost 8 square miles (21 square
kilometers) of “nonfunctional turf” in the metro area — grass
that no one ever walks on or otherwise uses in street medians,
housing developments and office parks.
While California’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act promised comprehensive protection of the state’s
groundwater, significant gaps remain in its coverage. The
Department of Water Resources now has an opportunity to reduce
or eliminate those gaps and should seize the moment. We know
all Californians will experience another year of water
shortages and warmer, drier conditions that will require
conservation and which are likely to fuel destructive wildfires
in our forests and around our communities. We are all in this
together. Groundwater is critical for California, particularly
in dry years when it provides up to 60% of the water supply for
farms and people.
-Written by Jeanette Howard, director of The
Nature Conservancy’s freshwater science team; Melissa M.
Rohde, a groundwater scientist at The Nature Conservancy;
and Barton H. Thompson, senior fellow of the Woods Institute
for the Environment, and faculty director of Water in the West
at Stanford University.
Scientists have been predicting for years that the Colorado
River would continue to deplete due to global warming and
increased water demands, but according to new studies it’s
looking worse than they thought. That worries rancher Marsha
Daughenbaugh, 68, of Steamboat Springs, who relies on the water
from the Colorado River to grow feed for her cattle.
… Recent reports show that the river’s water flows were
down 20% in 2000 and by 2050 that number is estimated to more
than double.
California’s hottest commodity could become even more scarce as
state and federal officials announce water cutbacks on the
brink of another drought. Now, state legislators are banding
together to ask Governor Newsom to declare a state of emergency
amid what they call a water crisis. … [State Senator Andreas]
Borgeas authored a letter alongside the Assembly agriculture
committee chair and several other state lawmakers to send to
the governor. This comes after the California Department of
Water Resources announced a 5% allocation to farmers and
growers in late March.
In the first episode in the Delta Conveyance Team Spotlight
video series, [DWR] spoke with the project’s Executive
Director Tony Meyers about his long and eventful career in
engineering, including work on some of DWR’s most ambitious and
significant infrastructure projects. In this excerpt, he
reflects on the appeal of large-scale engineering projects and
speaks about the importance of the Delta Conveyance Project in
protecting the security of California’s water supply.
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).
Governor Gavin Newsom frequently says California is a leader in
sustainability and the transition away from fossil fuels. The
governor has also issued an executive order to fight climate
change in response to the deadly wildfires that ravaged our
state last year. Despite these public statements and official
efforts, it’s puzzling that his administration has been
promoting the climate-wrecking Poseidon desalination plant in
Huntington Beach as an infrastructure to source additional
water for California. There are plenty of things we can do to
ensure that Southern Californians have enough water to
thrive….
-Written by Alejandro Sobrera, the Orange County Hub
Coordinator for the Sunrise Movement, a youth led effort to
bring about a just transition to a greener
world.
Colorado’s water supply is under threat from climate change and
population growth. Limiting outdoor use is an increasingly
popular approach to conserving water, yet to implement
effective conservation policies, utilities managers need a
better understanding of local outdoor water consumption.
… [Colorado State University’s Melissa McHale] said
trees can provide long-term benefits even if they need to be
watered directly when they are first planted. … The
research team found that residential properties with a higher
ratio of vegetation cover to lot size tended toward less water
consumption.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has marked
2021 as the third-driest water year, a period marked from
October to March, on record for the Golden State, potentially
setting up another deadly wildfire season after last year’s
record setting blazes. The department’s annual snow survey
released this month recorded precipitation levels at 50 percent
the annual average for the water year. The dry conditions
can also be seen in the state’s water supply, with the
department reporting that California’s major reservoirs are at
just 50 percent of overall capacity.
Tractors are working ground in the Sacramento Valley, as the
2021 rice season is underway. Whether it’s farmers, those in
cities or for the environment, this year will pose challenges
due to less than ideal rain and snowfall during the fall and
winter. Jon Munger At Montna Farms near Yuba City, Vice
President of Operations Jon Munger said they expect to plant
about one-third less rice this year, based on water cutbacks.
As water is always a precious resource in this state, rice
growers work hard to be as efficient as they can. Fields are
precisely leveled and will be flooded with just five-inches of
water during the growing season. Rice is grown in heavy clay
soils, which act like a bathtub to hold water in place.
High-tech planting and harvest equipment also help California
rice farms and mills operate at peak efficiency.
Las Vegas water officials want state lawmakers to require the
removal of thirsty grass landscaping that isn’t used for
recreation. Southern Nevada Water Authority lobbyist Andy
Belanger told lawmakers Monday that climate change and growth
in the Las Vegas area would require communities to take more
significant measures to conserve water. The agency estimates
that more than 5,000 acres of “nonfunctional turf” — grass not
used for recreational activities like golf, youth sports or
dog-walking — is spread throughout the region.
Unrelenting drought and years of rising temperatures due to
climate change are pushing the long-overallocated Colorado
River into new territory, setting the stage for the largest
mandatory water cutbacks to date. Lake Mead, the
biggest reservoir on the river, has declined
dramatically over the past two decades and now stands at just
40% of its full capacity. This summer, it’s projected to fall
to the lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s following
the construction of Hoover Dam. The reservoir near Las
Vegas is approaching a threshold that is expected to
trigger a first-ever shortage declaration by the federal
government for next year, leading to substantial cuts in water
deliveries to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.
For the first time since her historic ascension as the nation’s
first woman vice president, Kamala Harris returned to her
native Oakland on Monday to promote the Biden administration’s
ambitious proposal to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and
create jobs…. Harris toured the East Bay Municipal Utility
District’s water treatment plant, speaking to employees and
touting the district as the kind of operation that should be
emulated. …. Harris highlighted the water portion of the
[Biden] plan, saying the goal is to invest in jobs that can
build up, replace and modernize water infrastructure — all with
the goal of getting clean drinking water to everyone.
California is at the edge of another protracted drought, just a
few years after one of the worst dry spells in state history
left poor and rural communities without well water, triggered
major water restrictions in cities, forced farmers to idle
their fields, killed millions of trees, and fueled devastating
megafires. … Just four years since the state’s last
drought emergency, experts and advocates say the state isn’t
ready to cope with what could be months and possibly years of
drought to come.
State officials are putting farmers in south-central Arizona on
notice that the continuing drought means a “substantial cut” in
deliveries of Colorado River water is expected next year. A
joint statement issued Friday by the state Department of Water
Resources and the Central Arizona Project said an expected
shortage declaration “will result in a substantial cut to
Arizona’s share of the river, with reductions falling largely
to central Arizona agricultural users.” The Central Arizona
Project is an aqueduct system that delivers Colorado River
water to users in central Arizona and southern Arizona,
including farmers, cities and tribes.
Water covers 71% of the earth’s surface, but only about 3%
percent of it is fresh water, making it the planet’s most
precious resource. But what do you do when water is in danger
of going dry? California’s Central Valley is no stranger
to drought, and because of that, farmers and scientists are
joining forces to figure out how to get by with less.
Placing solar panels atop Central Valley canals could get the
state halfway to its goal for climate-friendly power by 2030, a
new study suggests. And the panels could reduce enough
evaporation from the canals to irrigate about 50,000 acres, the
researchers said. They are from the Merced and Santa Cruz
campuses of the University of California. The idea has
already drawn interest from the Turlock Irrigation District, as
one of several options for boosting the solar part of its
electricity supply.
President Biden announced the first components of his proposed
$2 trillion national infrastructure plan to rebuild failing,
aging, and outdated water, energy, transportation, and
communications systems. While the current information provides
only the broadest outlines of his proposals, and the details
will have to be worked out in specific legislation to be
debated in Congress, it is clearly the most ambitious plan to
have been put forward in many years.
As California emerged from a historically tough five-year
drought in 2017, then-governor Jerry Brown signed two new laws
that required local water agencies to limit water use to 55
gallons per person per day, with water-use allotments dropping
to 50 gallons by 2030. Despite some misreporting to the
contrary, these limits on individuals were not
enforceable. Instead, the state imposed fines on districts
that failed to meet the new targets. It was pretty clear what
direction the state was taking: Since then, California has gone
all in for extreme conservation measures that could eventually
lead to rationing as water-use allotments drop. Unless
something changes, it may be only a matter of time before such
policies lead to personal restrictions on lawn-watering,
car-washing, and even showering.
-Written by Steven Greenhut, the western-region
director for the R Street Institute and a columnist for the
Southern California News Group.
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.
Mark Twain is often credited with saying, “Whiskey is for
drinking; water is for fighting over.” This remains true in
California, where drought conditions, climate change, and
population growth throughout the state’s history have made
water an increasingly valuable and regulated resource. The
legal landscape involves complex questions related to water
quality, water sustainability, and competing claims to water
rights. One notable area of controversy involves the adequacy
of water supply for new development projects.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today conducted the
fourth snow survey at the Phillips Station snow course. The
manual survey recorded 49.5 inches of snow depth and a snow
water equivalent (SWE) of 21 inches, which is 83 percent of
average for this location. The SWE measures the amount of water
contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water
supply forecast. Measurements from DWR’s electronic snow survey
stations indicate that statewide the snowpack’s SWE is 16.5
inches, or 59 percent of average for the date. April 1 is
typically when California’s snowpack is the deepest and has the
highest SWE.
Local water providers say the current drought is one of the
worst in Colorado history. Mesa County ranges from extreme
drought to exceptional drought in areas and it doesn’t appear
to be improving anytime soon. Below average spring runoff is
anticipated by local water providers as watersheds are working
to be replenished after last year’s drought. … The wildfires
in the Colorado River basin last summer have scarred
significant portions of the Colorado River which may result in
debris, ash, and dense mud flowing into the Colorado River
watershed, which will impact water quality for many water
entities in Mesa County.
California’s wet season is coming to a close without a
much-sought “March miracle” storm, setting the stage for a
painful escalation of drought in the coming months. The April 1
snow survey, which measures the peak accumulation of snow in
the Sierra and southern Cascades just before it melts, will
show only about 60% of average snowpack. … The grim survey
results expected Thursday, which mark a second straight year of
significantly dry conditions, reinforce concerns about a
difficult fire season ahead and bolster the expanding calls for
water conservation.
Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act established pumping
regulations in the state’s most populous areas but set no such
limits on rural parts of the state. In recent years, some rural
areas have come under increased pressure from agricultural
pumping that has dropped groundwater levels dramatically. …
Lawmakers introduced several bills in the current legislative
session to regulate or provide more options for managing the
state’s groundwater. One would have banned most new wells in
the Upper San Pedro and Verde Valley river basins. Another
would have set spacing limits for new wells in areas that are
overdrawn. Another, introduced by Rep. Regina Cobb of Kingman,
would have given county supervisors the power to establish
groundwater limits or regulations in their area.
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.
What do climate change, aging infrastructure, and urban
population growth have in common? They all pose major
challenges – especially for water infrastructure in the United
States. And many utilities are having a hard time keeping up.
Part of the problem is that the industry has relied on the same
handful of technologies for decades. The wastewater sector
sorely needs to adopt new strategies and technologies.
Innovation could serve to improve the ability of utilities to
respond to stressors, increasing resilience and providing
co-benefits.
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.
For the last seven years, Lomita resident Brenda Stephens has
been advocating for better, locally sourced tap water.
… Following a long history of water quality issues, plus
the detection of benzene in 2019, the city of
Lomita’s Cypress Water Production Facility has remained
offline. The city currently outsources its water supply. For
Stephens, it’s been a break from water issues. … In late
2019, Stephens and other Lomita residents took part in a CWPF
tour that showcased how a new filtration system will
alleviate the city’s locally-sourced water problems and bring
the facility back online, safely. The city of Lomita received
a $2 million grant from the Water Replenishment
District’s Safe Drinking Water program.
Over the coming decades, California’s San Joaquin Valley will
transition to sustainable groundwater management under the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), ensuring
reliable groundwater supplies for generations to come.
Sustainable groundwater management and a changing climate will
inevitably affect how land is used on a sweeping scale. By some
estimates, the amount of farmland that will have to be taken
out of production to balance groundwater demand and supply is
equivalent to the size of Yosemite National Park — a transition
that could serve a huge blow to the agricultural economy, rural
communities and the environment.
Despite the recent history-making blizzard on Colorado’s Front
Range, statewide snowpack sits at 92 percent of average as of
March 19, down from 105 percent of average at the end of
February, according to the Natural Resources Conservation
Service. Just two river basins, the Arkansas and the Rio
Grande, are registering above average at 101 percent and 106
percent respectively. Among the driest are the Gunnison Basin,
at 86 percent of average, and the San Juan/Dolores, at 83
percent, both in the southwestern part of the state.
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.
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.
A water project that would generate revenue, make wise use of
reclaimed water and preserve large tracts of open space in the
city of San Luis Obispo was first made public over 10 years
ago. Since then, the city has made no progress on the proposal
to allow Edna Valley landowners to reuse some of the city’s
treated wastewater to irrigate vineyards and other agricultural
crops. Surplus water already could be assisting growers in Edna
Valley, which is an important part of the city’s
greenbelt.
– Written by Neil Havlik, who served as San Luis
Obispo’s natural resources manager from 1996 to 2012.
Last week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox issued an executive
order declaring a statewide drought emergency. In the
press release that followed, he urged Utahns to “evaluate their
water use and find ways to save not only because of current
drought conditions but also because we live in one of the
driest states in the nation.” The suggested water-saving
recommendations … included
… fixing leaks; running full loads
(dishwashers and washing machines); turning off the water
while brushing teeth, shaving, soaping up, doing dishes or
rinsing vegetables; reducing showers by at least one
minute; waiting to water; and planning now for the irrigation
season by implementing water-wise landscaping or purchasing
a smart irrigation controller. -Written by Joan Meiners, an Environment Reporter
for The Spectrum & Daily News through the Report for America
initiative by The Ground Truth Project.
Water scarcity is often understood as a problem for regions
experiencing drought, but a new study from Cornell and Tufts
universities finds that not only can localized water shortages
impact the global economy, but changes in global demand send
positive and negative ripple effects to water basins across the
globe. … [I]n the lower Colorado River basin, the worst
economic outcomes arise from limited groundwater availability
and high population growth, but that high population growth can
also prove beneficial under some climatic scenarios.
The second consecutive dry winter has prompted state water
managers to reduce allocations to the state water project that
supplies millions of Californians and 750,000 acres of
farmland. The state Department of Water Resources
announced this week that it will only be able to deliver
5% of the requested allocations following below-average
precipitation across the state. That figure is down from the
initial allocation of 10% announced in December. Many of
the state’s major reservoirs are recording just 50% of average
water storage for this time of year, and won’t see a major
increase due to a snowpack that is averaging just 65% of
normal, according to state statistics..
California’s drought conditions might normally prompt calls for
shorter showers and shutting off sprinklers. But Californians
are in no mood to hear it after a year of pandemic deprivation.
Especially from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing an almost
certain recall election after imposing multiple rounds of
business closures and constantly telling residents to stay
home. … California is particularly parched because 2020
was not only dry, but extremely hot. Experts think the state is
about where it was in 2014, when former Gov. Jerry Brown asked
Californians to reduce their water use by 20 percent.
Meager anticipated snowmelt runoff is expected to mean another
challenging year for maintaining even below-optimal levels of
flows in the Colorado River downstream of the Palisade area for
the benefit of endangered fish. … What’s referred to as
the 15-Mile Reach of the river between the Palisade area and
the Gunnison River confluence is of particular concern for the
Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, which
focuses on four endangered fish. The stretch is primarily used
by two of the fish — the razorback sucker and Colorado
pikeminnow. But it’s also used by a third, the bonytail. And a
fourth, the humpback chub, which favors downstream stretches
such as Westwater Canyon, indirectly benefits from efforts to
bolster flows in the 15-Mile Reach.
An extra dry summer with potential for water shortages – that’s
what state and federal officials are telling Californians to
prepare for. Predictions for 2021 are bleak. Lake levels
are low and the Sacramento region is not getting the spring
showers many hoped for. According to the US drought monitor,
most of the Central Valley is experiencing severe to extreme
drought conditions. This week the Department of Water
Resources lowered its expected forecast of water deliveries
made to cities and farms by half. But any conservation
restrictions would be up to local authorities.
With World Water Day this week and the dry year emerging
throughout the Sacramento Valley, we take this moment to
reflect on the value of water as we cultivate a shared vision
in the region for a vibrant way of life. We encourage you to
watch and read the following vignettes that all showcase the
value of water.
State and federal water officials have delivered their most
dire warning yet of California’s deepening drought, announcing
that water supply shortages are imminent and calling for quick
conservation. Among a handful of drastic actions this week, the
powerful State Water Board on Monday began sending notices to
California’s 40,000 water users, from small farms to big cities
like San Francisco, telling them to brace for cuts. It’s a
preliminary step before the possibility of ordering their water
draws to stop entirely.
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.
Shading California’s irrigation canals with solar panels could
reduce pollution from diesel irrigation pumps while saving a
quarter of a billion cubic meters of water annually in an
increasingly drought-prone state, a new study suggests. Pilot
studies in India and small simulations have shown that
so-called “solar canals” have lots of potential benefits:
Shading the water with solar panels reduces water loss from
evaporation and keeps aquatic weeds down.
California’s water use varies dramatically across regions and
sectors, and between wet and dry years. With the possibility of
another drought looming, knowing how water is allocated across
the state can make it easier to understand the difficult
tradeoffs the state’s water managers must make in times of
scarcity. The good news is that we’ve been using less over
time, both in cities and on farms. While there are still ways
to cut use further to manage droughts, it won’t always be easy
or cheap to do so. California’s freshwater ecosystems are at
particular risk of drought, when environmental water use often
sees large cuts. Watch the video to learn how Californians use
water.
California farmers relying on State Water Project water were
warned Monday to prepare for potential shortages by reducing
water use and adopting practical conservation measures.
Installing solar panels over California’s network of water
canals could save the state an estimated 63 billion gallons of
water and produce 13 gigawatts of renewable power every year,
according to a feasibility study published in Nature
Sustainability. California moves more water than any other
system in the world, with 75% of the state’s available water in
its northern third and the southern two-thirds accounting for
80% of the state’s demand. Covering the canals with solar
panels would reduce evaporation by shading the canals from the
sun (along with the co-benefit of reducing canal-choking plant
growth) and the cooling effects of the water could boost solar
panel efficiency.
Much of the U.S. West is facing the driest spring in seven
years, setting up a climate disaster that could strangle
agriculture, fuel deadly wildfires and even hurt power
production. Across 11 western states, drought has captured
about 75% of the land, and covers more than 44% of the
contiguous U.S., the U.S. Drought Monitor said. While
drought isn’t new to the West, where millions of people live,
grow crops and raise livestock in desert conditions that
require massive amounts of water, global warming is
exacerbating the problem — shrinking snowpack in the Rocky
Mountains and extending the fire season on the West Coast.
Witnessing the devastating effects of drought in rural
California and India at the age of 11 spurred Shreya
Ramachandran to action. She devoted years to researching the
reuse of grey water—lightly used water from sinks, showers, and
laundry—and painstakingly tested the environmental safety of
organic detergents. The nonprofit Ramachandran founded, the
Grey Water Project, has inspired thousands of people to build
their own “laundry to lawn” grey water systems. Now a high
school senior, she’s collaborated with several California water
agencies and the United Nations Global Wastewater Initiative,
and created a grey water curriculum for elementary students to
show them that small actions can make a big difference.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has announced that Westlands
Water District was awarded a $1,609,000 grant from
Reclamation’s WaterSMART Fiscal Year 2021 Water and Energy
Efficiency Grant Program. The grant was awarded to fund
the District’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Project,
which will retrofit 760 manually read groundwater well meters
with advanced, automated metering devices that can transmit
data over a regional network. By ensuring even greater water
metering precision and eliminating the need to manually read
the meters, the project is expected to save nearly 103 billion
gallons of water and reduce 5.3 metric tons of carbon emission
over 20 years.
When a region’s groundwater is critically depleted and its dirt
as hard as a frying pan, how do you refill the aquifer? Ask a
fifth grader. Actually, ask the fifth and sixth grade
combination class at Bakersfield’s Munsey Elementary School
taught by Barbara Elrod. Elrod’s students discovered a pretty
cool way to both conserve water and recharge aquifers through
“grey water.” That’s water from sinks, showers and washing
machines. Turns out most of that water has soap in it and soap
is a surfactant.
A new analysis finds that covering water canals in California
with solar panels could save a lot of water and money while
generating renewable energy. Doing so would generate between
20% and 50% higher return on investment than would be achieved
by building those panels on the ground. The paper, published
Thursday in Nature Sustainability, performs what its authors
call a techno-economic analysis, calculating the impacts and
weighing the costs and benefits of potentially covering the
thousands of miles of California’s open irrigation system.
California and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)
ordered St. Helena to build 254 new housing units by 2031. Napa
is ordered to build almost 2,000, plus taking some of the
county’s allocation. New users continue to be connected to the
water system. On Pope Street and McCorkle there are 16 new
apartments. A month later the planning commission approved five
new units on Pope Street. The Hunter project at the east end of
Adams Street is still underway with a new EIR — adding 87 new
units to the water system. … On March 4, our city offered
tips on how to conserve water. … We have to give up
taking a bath so folks who buy a home in the Hunter project can
landscape their yards? Written by Mariam Hansen.
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.
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 San Joaquin Valley has begun to grapple with implementing
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Figuring out
the math of balancing water supply and demand in ways that
cause the least economic harm to farmers and local economies is
challenging, and difficult tradeoffs are inevitable. We talked
with Emmy Cattani, a fifth-generation farmer from Kern County,
about some options.
As Colorado digs out from the recent blizzard, each heavy
shovel full of snow proves the storm brought plenty of
moisture. But is it enough to free the state from its drought
conditions? Russ Schumacher, the Colorado state
climatologist, said the answer largely depends on location. …
Colorado’s drought conditions had improved ahead of the storm.
After record dry weather over the summer and fall, snowpack
levels had inched toward normal throughout the winter, but
western Colorado continued to miss out on the snowfall.
Storm activity has been bittersweet for Valley farmers. In some
cases, hail has damaged crops, making them unusable, while snow
and rainfall are helping Central California recover from a
water deficit. … Eric Engelman inspected his almonds in
Fresno County after the recent back-to-back storms brought
heavy rain and even quarter-sized hail to parts of the Valley.
For foothill communities like Coarsegold, they even brough
snowfall. … It’s a detrimental part of the almond
growing process to experience hail. Any damage that was done
won’t be known until closer to harvest.
Local tribes, schools and nonprofits have developed a new high
school curriculum that seeks to encourage environmental
advocacy through an Indigenous lens. The advocacy and water
protection curriculum meets state standards in science, social
studies, health, history and language arts and seeks to bolster
“culturally informed education” in the classroom. The
curriculum is based on the “Advocacy and Water Protection in
Native California” speaker series that was developed by Save
California Salmon …
Hail and rain blanketed much of the Greater Sacramento Area
this week, though experts say it’s not likely to play a major
role in the state’s drought position. … Having endured
two consecutively dry winters, California’s snowpack in most
areas is less than 75% of normal for this time of year,
according to the National Drought Mitigation Center. Many
water agencies in California have discussed water conservation
measures, the center wrote in its latest drought report. The
North Marin Water District in the San Francisco Bay Area has
already considered voluntary and mandatory water conservation
orders.
As persistent drought and climate change threaten the Colorado
River, several states that rely on the water acknowledge they
likely won’t get what they were promised a century ago. But not
Utah. Republican lawmakers approved an entity that could push
for more of Utah’s share of water as seven Western states
prepare to negotiate how to sustain a river serving 40 million
people. Critics say the legislation, which the governor still
must sign, could strengthen Utah’s effort to complete a
billion-dollar pipeline from a dwindling reservoir that’s a key
indicator of the river’s health.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s draft 2020 Urban Water
Management Plan was released for public review today. The plan
highlights how regional investments in a “water portfolio
approach” to supply management and a sustained emphasis on
water-use efficiency mean that San Diego County will continue
to have sufficient water supplies through the 2045 planning
horizon — even during multiple dry years.
Those of us in the water industry are always looking for new
ways to ask our customers to save, conserve, and never waste
water. And we do that for good reason. We live in a region
prone to regular periods of drought, punctuated by sudden and
catastrophic floods. Last year we had a very dry year, and this
water year is off to a very dry start as well. Sonoma Water,
which supplies drinking water to 600,000 residents in Sonoma
and Marin counties, relies on rainfall to fill our reservoirs
and consecutive years of below-average rainfall are always
cause for concern. Will this be a two-year dry spell, or the
beginning of a multi-year drought? Written by Barry Dugan, Senior Programs Specialist in
the Community and Government Affairs Division at Sonoma
Water.
If 2020 was a difficult water year for the Klamath Basin, then
2021 is likely to be even more challenging. With record-low
inflows coming into Upper Klamath Lake, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation anticipates it will not have anywhere near enough
water this summer to meet minimum requirements for endangered
fish — let alone enough water to meet irrigation demands for
farmers and ranchers. Jeff Payne, deputy regional director for
the bureau, said the basin in Southern Oregon and Northern
California appears to be entering a second consecutive year of
extreme drought, exacerbating what was already a critical
situation.
Opponents of a proposed desalination facility along the
Huntington Beach coastline are aghast that Gov. Gavin Newsom
has taken steps to help end a years-long regulatory logjam.
Although an environmentalist, the governor clearly recognizes
the importance of developing new water sources to meet
California’s needs. Privately funded facilities plants that
turn saltwater into drinking water aren’t the only solution to
California’s water shortages, but they are one solution. For
instance, a similar plant in Carlsbad has the capacity to meet
9 percent of San Diego County’s water needs. That’s an enormous
contribution, especially with another drought looming.
Proposed water wells in California don’t all require
environmental review under state and local permit laws, but
state standards governing well location will sometimes require
local governments to make discretionary decisions, triggering
such a look, a state appellate court said. The California
Environmental Quality Act requires discretionary
decisions—those that require an agency to exercise judgment in
deciding whether to approve a project—to undergo an
environmental review.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced the selection of Semitropic
Water Storage District and Bard Water District as the two
recipients of the Agricultural Water Use Efficiency Grant
Program for fiscal year 2020. Combined with Natural Resources
Conservation Service support and local cost-share
contributions, approximately $5 million in water efficiency
improvement projects will be implemented during the next two
years. The AWUE program works with NRCS to promote
district-level improvements to increase on-farm water use
efficiency and conservation projects. Reclamation is funding
the two projects with NRCS support.
Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the Delta flows
issue has been decades in the making and “it’s going to
take some time to figure this out.”
[A] new 18-chapter book, written by agricultural economists at
UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UC Riverside, addresses issues such
as labor, water, climate and trade that affect all of
California agriculture. … Water, climate and trade pose
challenges and opportunities for California agriculture. In the
last decade, water scarcity and decreased water quality, along
with regulations to address these issues like the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act, have prompted farmers to use scarce
water to irrigate more valuable crops, as with the switch from
cotton to almonds.
A new Colorado River study predicts we may need to make even
deeper cuts to keep our reservoirs from tanking over the long
haul. But the dire conclusions within the study aren’t what
make it so intriguing. It’s how the group arrived at them. The
Future of the Colorado River project, an effort based out of
Utah State University, has produced six white papers to
evaluate new approaches to water management along the river.
And, most notably, it is using the Colorado River Simulation
System (CRSS), the same modeling tool the Bureau of Reclamation
uses to develop its long-term water availability forecasts for
the basin. - Written by Joanna Allhands, a columnist for the Arizona
Republic.
Yuba Water Agency’s board of directors today approved an
agreement that adds the Cordua Irrigation District to the
historic Lower Yuba River Accord, a model water management
agreement that supports endangered salmon and steelhead,
ensures water supplies for cities and farms and reduces
conflict over water use.
Often the value of a plan or project can best be judged by its
opposition. In the case of the proposed Poseidon desalination
plant in Huntington Beach, the forces lined up against it are
clear indicators that it’s a worthwhile enterprise. The
Sierra Club calls the plant “rather pathetic,” “the most
expensive and environmentally damaging way to secure Orange
County’s future water supply.” -Written by Kerry Jackson, a fellow in the Center
for California Reform at the Pacific Research
Institute.
[A]s often as I write about the importance of building clean
power infrastructure to fight climate change, the cheapest,
easiest way to reduce emissions is to use less energy in the
first place. And in Los Angeles, at least, one of the cheapest,
easiest ways to use less energy is to use less water.
Early in 2020, when the severity of COVID‐19 became evident, US
water utilities implementing conservation programs had to act
quickly to determine how to mitigate changes in their
conservation programs and staffing. Prioritization and
collaboration helped utility staff settle into their new way of
working, which included adapting to online connection with
customers and each other. These adaptations might lead to
permanent changes. Thanks in large part to the power of
technology, many water conservation and customer education
programs have continued, with interest and participation even
increasing in some cases.
In an innovative time where power and energy have evolved
tremendously in the past few decades, efficiency and
conservation have become new focal points, constantly being
optimized in balance with costs. A study conducted by UC Davis’
Center for Water-Energy Efficiency illuminates the possibility
of saving not only water but also energy and greenhouse gas
emissions through water conservation programs.
Caught between climate change and multi-year droughts,
California communities are tapping groundwater and siphoning
surface water at unsustainable rates. As this year’s
below-average rainfall accentuates the problem, a
public-private partnership in the Monterey/Salinas region has
created a novel water recycling program that could serve as a
model for parched communities everywhere.
From California’s perspective, the view upriver is not
encouraging. More than half of the upper part of the river
basin is in “exceptional drought,” according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor, while the Lower Basin is even worse off: More
than 60% of it is in the highest drought level. In January,
water levels in Lake Powell, the river’s second-largest
reservoir, dropped to unprecedented depths, triggering a
drought contingency plan for the first time for the Upper Basin
states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. Since
2000, the Colorado River Basin has seen a sustained period of
less water and hotter days. This is, as climate scientists like
to say, the “new normal.”
California’s $86 million date industry produces more than half
of the nation’s dates. Most of the fruit is grown in the arid
Coachella Valley. Despite efforts by growers to conserve water,
data was lacking on date palms’ actual water use to refine the
best irrigation management for the crop until a recent research
project led by Ali Montazar, UC Cooperative Extension
irrigation and water management advisor for Imperial and
Riverside counties.
A recent webinar on trading of guaranteed future water prices
on the stock market showed the potential to drive up the price
tag of water for public agencies. During a Feb. 2 California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) virtual meeting,
water stock market advocates were clear that prices would rise.
However, they stated that it would be a good thing, because
water has been undervalued and therefore wasted. Their approach
would encourage more efficient use of water, they told the CDFA
board.
The Marin Municipal Water District is calling on customers to
voluntarily cut back on their water use for the first time
since the 2013 drought in response to meager rainfall
reminiscent of the notorious 1976-1977 drought.
Shallow pools of water on lawns are ideal breeding grounds for
the mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus, the most common
mosquito-borne disease in the United States. A new study by
scientists from UCLA and three other universities found that
reducing shallow pools of water where the insects lay their
eggs is key to preventing the spread of the virus. The study
… found that California’s water-use restrictions during
the statewide drought from 2012 to 2016 led to a decrease in
the number of mosquitoes that carry the virus.
The San Diego Water Authority thinks the region is going to
need way more water over the next few decades, but the smaller
agencies that buy water from them aren’t so sure. They think
the Water Authority is projecting too much growth in future
water demand, and they’re worried that if they’re right,
residents are going to end up paying for it, even as they
curtail their own water usage.
There’s a race on in California, and each day matters: the
precipitation during winter that fuels the snowpack in the
Sierra Nevadas and fills groundwater supplies has been slow to
start, and faltering at best. Northern California remains stuck
in one of the worst two-year rainfall deficits seen since the
1849 Gold Rush, increasing the risk of water restrictions and
potentially setting up dangerous wildfire conditions next
summer. The current precipitation is only 30% to 70% of what
the state would expect to have seen during a normal year – with
no more big rainfall events on the horizon for February.
California is in the early stages of a severe multi-decadal
drought, exacerbated by the climate crisis. As Dan Walters
pointed out in his recent commentary, we must move quickly to
prepare for water shortages and wildfires. A potent strategy to
improve the state’s water storage capacity involves an ancient
technology so ubiquitous that it is often overlooked: soil. The
urgency of California’s drought and wildfire risks require that
we invest in soil health now. -Written by Ellie Cohen, CEO of The Climate
Center, and Torri Estrada, executive director of
the Carbon Cycle Institute.
Unpaid water bills are piling up during the pandemic, as small
water providers in the central San Joaquin Valley teeter toward
a financial crisis that could affect drinking water quality and
affordability. More than 76,000 customers in Madera, Fresno,
Tulare and Kings counties are behind on their water bills for a
total debt of more than $15 million — according to the results
of a state survey of just a fraction of community water
systems. In reality, the collective debt is much larger. Small
community water systems, many already on shaky financial
footing, may need a bailout to keep safe and drinkable water
running at a price affordable to customers.
A lawsuit against several cities and the county of San
Bernardino over failing to file water efficiency reports
required by the state has been settled and the jurisdictions
are now working on fulfilling the terms of the settlements. The
Natural Resources Defense Council estimated 340 cities and
counties in the state did not file one or more annual reports
on permit programs for new irrigated landscapes, robbing the
public of critical information regarding local conservation
efforts.
State water surveyors who trekked into the Sierra Nevada on
Wednesday found exactly what they expected: little snow and
long odds of anything but a dismally dry year ahead. Despite
last week’s pounding snowstorm, which hammered roads with days
of whiteouts and delivered to ski slopes as much as 10 feet of
fresh powder, this month’s statewide snowpack measured just 70%
of average.
According to the U.S. Intelligence Community Assessment
of Global Water Security, by 2030 humanity’s “annual
global water requirements” will exceed “current sustainable
water supplies” by 40%, highlighting the importance of building
a water resilient future.
In the driest years for Monterey County, the water available in
the Salinas River is not enough to supply a single household.
In the wettest year of the past three decades, 1995, there were
100,000 acre-feet of water available, more than the total urban
usage in the county. Although the flow fluctuates wildly, the
average amount is far more than what is needed, for example,
for thirsty coastal cities desperate for housing. The water has
been available for decades – the right to use it is protected,
encouraged and even required by state law – but it’s been
flowing into the ocean, a casualty of Monterey County’s
political deadlock.
The first thing Deborah Bell-Holt does each morning is check
whether water still flows from her bathroom faucet. It always
does, thanks to an April executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom
banning water disconnections during the pandemic. But that
didn’t stop her utility debt from snowballing to nearly
$15,000. … At least 1.6 million California households, or one
in eight, have water debt. Like Bell-Holt, they could face
shutoffs when Newsom ends the state of emergency.
Californians have recently endured increasingly aggressive
wildfires, rolling power outages, and smoke-filled air for
days. Unless the state government changes course, we can
add water shortages to this list. … However, the dirty
little secret is that 50 percent of California’s water supply
is used for environmental purposes and is ultimately flushed
out into the Pacific Ocean, 40 percent goes to agriculture, and
only 10 percent goes for residential, industrial, commercial,
and governmental uses. -Written by Daniel Kolkey, a former judge and former
counsel to Governor Pete Wilson and board member of Pacific
Research Institute.
As wildfires, heat waves, water scarcity and threats to
wildlife intensify in the West, California’s effort to confront
these environmental crises now has support in Washington, a
stark change from the past four years. Even as former President
Donald Trump spent his final days in office on the sidelines,
lamenting his election loss, his administration continued to
roll back environmental conservation and gut climate
regulations.
Kevin Kelley, the elegant, whip-smart and fierce former general
manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, who fought to
preserve the Salton Sea and his rural county’s water
rights, died Tuesday at 61. He passed away at home, said his
brother, Ryan Kelley, an Imperial County Supervisor. The cause
of death is still being determined. As top executive from
2011 to January 2019 of the powerful but often
overlooked IID, Kelley regularly took on state, federal
and urban water officials to remind them of the valley’s
importance.
The Colorado River District’s Board of Directors finalized a
new program that will fund Western Slope water projects and
approved funding for the program’s first-ever project. The
Partnership Project Funding Program will fund multi-purpose
water projects on the Western Slope in five project categories:
productive agriculture, infrastructure, healthy rivers,
watershed health and water quality, and conservation and
efficiency.
San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California cities are
facing different but equally daunting water challenges.
For Valley farmers, the requirement to achieve groundwater
sustainability in coming years has heightened interest in
expanding water supplies to reduce the need to fallow irrigated
farmland. For Southern California, falling demands since the
early 2000s have reduced water stress during normal and wet
years, but a warming climate makes future droughts a major
concern. Both regions’ water futures could be more secure if
they jointly developed and managed some water supplies. -Written by Alvar Escriva-Bou, a research fellow at the
Public Policy Institute of California
If 2020 taught us anything, it is that ACWA member agencies are
highly skilled at delivering essential services to their
customers even during the most unexpected and unprecedented
times. As we gear up for the new year, our members continue to
impress with their collaborative and coordinated efforts on
vital issues affecting California water management, including
the implementation of additional long-term water use efficiency
strategies to increase resiliency in dry years.
About a mile of bare, cracked earth now lies like a desertscape
between the boat ramp at the north end of Lake Mendocino and
the water’s edge of a diminished reservoir that helps provide
water for 600,000 Sonoma and Marin County residents. The
human-made lake near Ukiah is about 30 feet lower than it was
at this time last year, and Nick Malasavage, an Army Corps of
Engineers official who oversees operations at the reservoir,
said the scene is “pretty jarring.”
California is home to over 1,000 golf courses, so when there
was a lack of water and public officials had to decide where to
allocate the water, the choice should have been obvious.
California should have shut down the golf courses and made sure
that every resident had access to clean drinking water.
However, this was not the case. As many as two-thirds of
Californian golf courses stayed open and the average 18-hole
course continued to use 90 million gallons of water each day.
Written by Alex Noble, a columnist for the newspaper
California’s Central Valley produces much of the nation’s food,
including about 40% of the country’s fruits and nuts and has
the nation’s second most pumped aquifer system. Its drier
southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley, has decreasing
surface water supply reliability due to frequent and prolonged
droughts, stricter environmental regulations, and growing
competition among water users. Many farmers pump groundwater to
provide their unsupplied water demand. The resulting
groundwater overdraft has numerous impacts on the Valley’s
agriculture and residents.
Colorado is headwaters to a hardworking river that provides for
40 million people. The importance of the Colorado River to the
state and the nation cannot be overstated, and its recent
hydrology serves as a reminder that we must continue to find
workable solutions that will sustain the river. History shows
that we are up to the challenge. … Colorado and the other
Basin states face big challenges. Drier hydrology, competing
demands on the river, and those who seek to profit from such
circumstances, impact the types of tools available to address
these challenges. Written by Rebecca Mitchell, who serves as the state of
Colorado’s Colorado River Commissioner as well as director of
the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
California Water Service (Cal Water), in partnership with the
California Association of Science Educators (CASE) and
DoGoodery, today announced the launch and expansion of the
seventh annual Cal Water H2O Challenge. The free, project-based
competition invites fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade classrooms
in Cal Water service areas to develop and implement solutions
for local water issues. … The revamped and expanded Cal Water
H2O Challenge will build on best practices gleaned from the
previous six years to engage more people in caring for water at
a range of levels.
The Southwest U.S. is mired in an ever-worsening drought, one
that has left deer starving in Hawaii, turned parts of the Rio
Grande into a wading pool, and set a record in Colorado for the
most days of “exceptional drought.” Why it matters: These
conditions may be the new normal rather than an exception,
water experts say, as climate change runs its course. And
worsening drought will intensify political and legal battles
over water — with dire consequences for poor communities.
Major cities across Turkey face running out of water in the
next few months, with warnings Istanbul has less than 45 days
of water left. Poor rainfall has led to the country’s most
severe drought in a decade and left the megacity of 17 million
people with critically low levels of water … and farmers in
wheat-producing areas such as the Konya plain and Edirne
province on the border with Greece and Bulgaria are warning of
crop failure.
Efficient water use is an important responsibility that comes
along with the benefits of living in San Diego County’s
beautiful Mediterranean climate. No matter whether your
landscaping is just a few square feet alongside a small front
porch, or covers many acres on a luxury estate, San Diego
County residents have learned to embrace sustainability as a
central principle for creating or renovating their landscapes.
Irrigation is among the highest uses of water for most
homeowners.
California isn’t meeting its recycled water goals, and billions
of gallons of treated wastewater are being discharged into the
ocean or other water bodies each year, according to state
regulators, who say drought conditions could cause future
supply challenges.
The Visalia City Council’s last meeting was a fitting end to
2020 bringing news of an impending drought and the possibility
the city’s groundwater reaching a new low. At the Dec. 21
meeting, Visalia’s water resource manager Andrew Munn told the
council he was recommending the city move into Stage 2 of its
water conservation ordinance on March 1, 2021 and to move into
Stage 3 if the aquifer drops to a historic low.
There’s an ecological crisis underway in California’s lonely
corner of the American West. Invasive grasses are causing fires
to explode. Wild horses are trampling fragile habitats.
Thousands of water birds are dying miserable deaths. Wolves are
settling down in hostile territory. Sacramento Bee reporter
Ryan Sabalow examines the hardline politics, romantic notions
of the West and intractable idealism that have made these
problems harder to solve.
The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized two new rules that
offer a win to President Trump in his personal crusade to roll
back water efficiency standards on appliances like showerheads.
Trump frequently has bemoaned what he views as insufficient
water pressure with newer appliances. The new rules, announced
Tuesday, loosen water regulations on showerheads and for
washers and dryers. The Trump administration heralded the
standards as a victory for the “quality of life” of Americans.
Many in Utah think of Las Vegas as a colony of water waste.
Fountains, swimming pools, golf courses and lawns come to mind.
While those things exist, they are not as widespread as they
once were – nor as profligate. Today, Southern Nevada, with a
small share of the Colorado River and limited
groundwater, is an emblem of responsible water use.
Southern Utah is not. But it doesn’t have to be that way. -Written by Kyle Roerink, executive director of the
Great Basin Water Network.
With an investment valued at $1.5 million, USC is installing
touch-free, water-saving faucets in 118 buildings on both
campuses. The new faucets are estimated to save 85% more water
than previous faucets.
In a bold step toward a new kind of collaboration in the
Colorado River Basin, the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California and Southern Nevada Water Authority are
partnering to explore development of a drought-proof water
supply that could reduce reliance on the over-stressed river.
Water conservation isn’t cheap. But it’s not as pricey as
300-mile pipelines and water grabs. Last week, the Southern
Nevada Water Authority’s board passed its 2020 Water Resource
Plan — a blueprint detailing the water purveyor’s estimates for
supply and demand in a world with a declining Colorado River,
spiking temperatures and increasing populations. -Written by Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great
Basin Water Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
protecting water resources in the nation’s driest places.
If an options agreement between the [Ridgecrest] City Council
and Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority comes to
fruition, recycled water from the city’s wastewater facility
could help balance the groundwater basin… Both the council
and the groundwater authorities at their respective meetings
last week approved the option agreement between the two parties
for recycled wastewater.
A new partnership with Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(NASA JPL) will help state agencies better understand climate
change impacts and identify opportunities to build resilience,
conserve biodiversity and use California’s natural and working
lands to store and remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Five Tulare County water districts received a portion of $1.6
million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month
to help farmers better conserve water resources.
In September, Tucson declared a climate emergency, setting
the ambitious goal of going carbon neutral by 2030. The desert
city has gradually implemented policies over the past decade to
further rainwater harvesting with the aim of bolstering
conservation, lowering water bills and creating more green
spaces.
With its Séka Hills olive oil, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation [in
Northern California’s Capay Valley] is reclaiming its ancestral
land with a crop for the future. … Wherever possible, the
tribe uses sustainable farming practices, and has received
several grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Natural Resource Conservation Service for water and rangeland
conservation…
Residents in the San Diego County Water Authority’s service
area can apply to get a rebate of $3 for every square-foot of
lawn they replace with drought-tolerant plants.
After decades of new and deeper wells, degraded water quality
and groundwater level declines, residents in the [Madera] area
have a chance to influence how local groundwater will be
managed and used for decades to come — and the deadline to
participate is quickly approaching.
Lake Miramar, a longtime recreational oasis celebrating its
60th anniversary this year, is about to become a key part of
San Diego’s new $5 billion Pure Water system that will boost
the city’s water independence by recycling treated sewage.
Twenty years ago, the Colorado River’s hydrology began tumbling
into a historically bad stretch. … So key players across
seven states, including California, came together in 2005 to
attack the problem. The result was a set of Interim Guidelines
adopted in 2007… Stressing flexibility instead of rigidity,
the guidelines stabilized water deliveries in a
drought-stressed system and prevented a dreaded shortage
declaration by the federal government that would have forced
water supply cuts.
Now based in California, 39-year-old engineer and entrepreneur
Meena Sankaran is working to make water cleaner and more
reliable — by making it smarter. Using sensors and analytic
tools, Sankaran’s startup KETOS provides real-time monitoring
of both water usage and quality, alerting, say, a farmer to a
leak, or a municipality to a contaminant.
Fewer properties over the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin will be
subject to severe water restrictions after the San Luis Obispo
County Board of Supervisors voted on Nov. 17 to revise the
basin’s “area of severe decline,” eliminating roughly 37,000
acres.
Non-revenue water loss is among the biggest challenges facing
the water industry and the world. Nearly one-third of all
water, amounting to $39 billion annually, is lost before it
ever reaches a customer… Water scarcity will proliferate with
the aging water infrastructure, rapid urbanization and
worsening disaster seasons throughout the world.
The lower Colorado River Basin, which is primarily in Arizona,
is projected to have as much as sixteen percent less
groundwater infiltration by midcentury compared to the
historical record. That’s because warming temperatures will
increase evaporation while rain- and snowfall are expected to
remain the same or decrease slightly.
For a city built in an arid desert basin in Nevada, the USA’s
driest state with around 10 inches of rainfall a year, this
doesn’t sound too surprising. But the climate emergency and
recent droughts have changed the complexion and urgency of the
problem.
Grant Reynolds, a director of Water Audit California, delivered
a letter to the city on Monday criticizing its use of the
Stonebridge wells for municipal use and “a pattern of
exercising no discretion” in issuing permits for new wells.
Meadows in the Sierra Nevada are critical components of
watersheds. In addition to supplying water to over 25 million
people in California and Nevada, meadows contain large
quantities of carbon belowground. … A new study led by
researchers at the University of Nevada Reno demonstrates for
the first time that meadows throughout the region are both
gaining and losing carbon at high rates.
A new Stanford University study identifies residential water
use and conservation trends by analyzing housing information
available from the prominent real estate website Zillow. The
research … is the first to demonstrate how real estate data
platforms can be used to provide valuable water use insights
for city housing and infrastructure planning, drought
management and sustainability.
The incoming Biden administration is widely expected to undo
President Trump’s regulatory rollbacks on a range of water
rules including stream and wetland protections, drinking water
contamination, and the permitting of controversial energy and
flood projects.
The U.S. Geological Survey is in the beginning stages of
learning more about this river via an expanded and more
sophisticated monitoring system that aims to study details
about the snowpack that feeds the river basin, droughts and
flooding, and how streamflow supports groundwater, or vice
versa.
A helicopter making low-level passes over the Santa Ynez Valley
towing a large hexagonal frame is using a technology first
developed in World War II to peer as far as 1,400 feet below
the surface to map the groundwater basin.
Plans to regulate groundwater for the first time ever in the
Ukiah Valley Basin are moving forward. And though the details
are wonky and a little esoteric, the results could affect water
and ag policy for years to come. Last week, the Ukiah Valley
Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency discussed how their
mammoth project of sustainably managing the groundwater is
coming along.
As the Colorado River District looks to quickly put newly
approved tax revenues to work on Western Slope projects, an
implementation plan offers some examples of the kind of work it
expects to pursue… The district plans to use 14 percent of
the new revenues to shore up its finances… The rest is to be
used to partner with others on projects focused on agriculture,
infrastructure, healthy rivers, watershed health and water
quality, and conservation and efficiency.
All of these wineries focus on energy efficiency, water use
efficiency, soil and nutrient management, pest management,
biodiversity and wildlife conservation. They participate in
sustainable certification programs such as the Certified
California Sustainable Winegrowing program. For each,
sustainability involves an ongoing process of evaluation and
improvement.
The Ridgecrest City Council Nov. 18 will discuss entering into
an agreement with the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority
regarding treated wastewater. … The agreement would be for
five years, during which the city would provide for sale to the
IWVGA available recycled water produced at its wastewater
treatment plant upon 30-day notice to the city.
Fluidmaster, headquartered in San Juan Capistrano, California,
is the #1 toilet repair brand worldwide. They boast more than
80% U.S. market share, sell their products in over 90
countries, have about 1,500 employees worldwide, and produce
about 100 million toilet repair products annually.
After fires marred the San Lorenzo Valley near Santa Cruz,
in August, the local water district issued a “Do Not Drink Do
Not Boil” notice to residents. Volatile organic compounds
including benzene, residents were warned, could be seeping into
the water system — just as the toxic chemicals did in Santa
Rosa and Paradise, California, in the wake of wildfires in 2017
and 2018.
The public can finally get a look at how Madera officials plan
to correct severe groundwater over pumping and replenish
aquifers in that area. For some farmers, that correction will
mean pumping limits of up to 50 percent from what’s allowed
today.
Located in western Riverside County, California, Eastern
Municipal Water District provides water and wastewater services
to nearly one million residents across a 555-square mile area.
The water provider’s metering infrastructure has always gone
hand-in-hand with customer service. It was a natural decision
to invest in a smart utility network to streamline efficiency,
promote sustainability and improve customer service across
their coverage area.
The Metropolitan Water District board voted to begin
environmental planning work on what would be one of the largest
advanced purified wastewater treatment plants in the world.
Metropolitan officials said the approval marks a significant
milestone for the Regional Recycled Water Program…
There’s some fascinating tension around a proposed wastewater
reclamation collaboration in Southern California. The project,
if it goes forward, would provide some 150 million gallons per
day (~170,000 acre feet per year) of treated effluent. Water
now being discharged into the ocean would instead be available
for aquifer recharge within Southern California.
Water-use restrictions went into effect Nov. 1 for residents
and businesses in the city of St. Helena, where a water
shortage emergency has been declared.
Private wells in the central San Joaquin Valley are at risk of
water quality issues, failing equipment and declining
groundwater supplies. To help residents address these concerns,
The Fresno Bee contacted public officials, water advocates and
other experts to answer frequently asked questions about common
issues.
There’s a concept called “demand management” in the news in
Colorado, and here’s a simple definition: Landowners get paid
to temporarily stop irrigating, and that water gets sent
downstream to hang out in Lake Powell. It’s an idea long talked
about because of increasing drought and the very real danger of
both Lake Mead and Lake Powell dropping into “dead pool” where
no hydropower can be generated.
Managing water resources in the Colorado River Basin is not for
the timid or those unaccustomed to big challenges. … For more
than 30 years, Terry Fulp, director of the Bureau of
Reclamation’s Lower Colorado Basin Region, has been in the
thick of it, applying his knowledge, expertise and calm
demeanor to inform and broker key decisions that have helped
stabilize the Southwest’s major water artery.
Voluntary agreements have been proposed as a collaborative,
modern and holistic alternative to the State Water Resources
Control Board’s staff proposed update to the Bay-Delta Water
Quality Control Plan. … Westlands and other public water
agencies are eager to reengage in the process to finalize the
voluntary agreements, as they offer the best path forward for
California water.
Years in the works, Menlo Park’s first recycled water system is
up and running, carrying wastewater from local households to
the Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, where a new treatment
facility cleans the water for irrigation use, keeping the golf
course a lush emerald green.
Conservative estimates from the National Association of Clean
Water Agencies suggest the industry as a whole is expected to
lose at least $12.5 billion due to the coronavirus when all is
said and done. Revenue concerns are spurring utilities to find
new infrastructure investments that can help offset shortfalls.
The persistent problem of non-revenue water is a good place to
start.
The San Joaquin Valley and urban Southern California are worlds
apart in many ways. Yet each face growing water challenges and
a shared interest in ensuring reliable, affordable water
supplies to safeguard their people and economies. Both regions’
water futures could be more secure if they take advantage of
shared water infrastructure to jointly develop and manage some
water supplies.
Two years ago, Cape Town, South Africa, a city of 4 million
people, informed its shocked citizens that the city was just a
few months away from running out of water due to drought. It
was a wake-up call for all of us to become much better stewards
of our own water. … California of course continues to have
its own foreboding water challenges.
Determining how much water each section of a field needs is a
cumbersome process that requires people to hand-pluck
individual leaves from plants, put them in pressure chambers
and apply air pressure to see when water begins to leak from
the leaf stems. … UC scientists are developing a robotic
pressure chamber that can harvest its own sample leaves and
test them on site, immediately, to provide the freshest data.
The City of Fresno will start its one-day-a-week outdoor water
use schedule on Nov. 1 – and will remain in place through
March. Outdoor watering is considered watering areas such as
lawns, gardens, pools, and other items requiring irrigation or
hoses.
The Delta Conveyance Project is a necessary investment to
secure California’s water future. Let’s face it, our climate is
changing rapidly and becoming more unpredictable – wildfires
are larger and more frequent, the seas are rising, droughts are
lasting longer and storms are fiercer. The need for this
project has never been clearer.
In a critical step for the proposed public takeover of
California American Water’s Monterey-area water system, the
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s board of
directors on Thursday night certified the final environmental
impact report for the effort.
Climate change, as I’ve often heard Brad Udall point out, is
water change. By that, Brad means that the effect of a changing
climate on people and ecosystems is most clearly felt through
changes in how much water there is.
The San Joaquin Valley and urban Southern California each face
growing water challenges and a shared interest in ensuring
reliable, affordable water supplies to safeguard their people
and economies. Both regions’ water futures could be more secure
if they take advantage of shared water infrastructure to
jointly develop and manage some water supplies.
At the Oct. 22 meeting of the Delta Stewardship Council, Delta
Watermaster Michael George gave a detailed presentation on
estimating water use in the Delta… He also discussed
implementation of the state’s policy of reducing reliance on
the Delta and provided updates on the preparations for the next
drought…
If all you’ve ever seen of the Fresno River is through Madera
as you drive over it on Highway 99, you’d be forgiven for
thinking it’s just a weed-infested, shopping cart collector
rather than a real river. But there’s a lot to this unobtrusive
waterway, which just made history as the first river in 40
years about to go through a rights settlement under the State
Water Resources Control Board.
If all goes according to plan, recycled water from the city’s
planned $45 to $60 million wastewater treatment facility may be
used to help balance the Indian Wells Valley groundwater basin
as mandated by the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act.
I can see clearly the challenge ahead for implementation of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Actcal act because I now
have first-hand experience with the kinds of water disputes
that can arise when the local parties involved are not given a
chance to work things out collaboratively.
Advocates and researchers warn that the way many local agencies
have interpreted the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act overlooks the needs of disadvantaged communities who rely
on groundwater for their drinking water. Many are concerned
that households and communities could see their wells go dry in
the coming years, leaving them without access to safe and
affordable drinking water.
My research group published a new paper last week in the
international Water journal that presents some very good news
for water-stressed areas: cities are succeeding in decoupling
their growth from their water needs. Our research – focused on
20 cities in the Western US – revealed some surprising
findings…
On Sept. 30, we sent a letter to state officials requesting
that restoration projects coming out of the Salton Sea
Management Program consider impacts on nearby communities. We
hope those officials will share in our vision of reforestation
and green spaces around the Salton Sea, see the benefits of
such projects in addressing the sea’s deteriorating
environmental conditions, and act with the same urgency.
President Trump has added a false claim to his pitch to
“suburban women” — maintaining that his administration already
has delivered on his promises to speed up dishwashers and
improve sinks and showers. … But no new products are on the
market because of changes, and no proposals have fully made
their way through the regulatory process.
ACWA on Oct. 15 submitted “A Roadmap To Achieving the Voluntary
Agreements” to Gov. Gavin Newsom and top members of his
Administration that calls on the state to take the necessary
steps to re-engage on Voluntary Agreements regarding the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta and its tributaries.
Southern Californians will have more opportunities to save
water under two new programs approved by the Metropolitan Water
District Board of Directors. Both programs provide rebates for
the purchase of water-saving equipment – one for
flow-monitoring devices that provide real-time data on water
usage; the other for premium high-efficiency toilets to replace
older models in apartment buildings and multi-family complexes.
Right now, the Mendocino County Sustainable Groundwater Agency
is writing up a groundwater sustainability plan for the basin.
The plan will regulate groundwater in the Ukiah Valley basin
for the first time ever, and will define how water is managed
in and near Redwood Valley, Calpella, and Ukiah for perpetuity.
The Los Angeles Basin is often thought of as a dry, smoggy,
overdeveloped landscape. But a new study led by NOAA and the
University of Colorado, Boulder shows that the manicured lawns,
emerald golf courses and trees of America’s second-largest city
have a surprisingly large influence on the city’s carbon
emissions…The green spaces within megacities provide numerous
benefits, including improving air quality, capturing runoff,
moderating temperatures and offering outdoor recreation.
Oceanside finished second in a national water conservation
challenge among cities with populations between 100,000 and
299,999, behind only Lakeland, Florida, it was announced
Wednesday. … Oceanside residents pledged to save water and
protect the environment as part of the Wyland National Mayor’s
Challenge for Water Conservation.
California is facing an impending water shortage. With
widespread fires, a COVID-19 provoked economic recession
bringing widespread unemployment and a public health emergency,
it would be easy, but not prudent, to forget that we face a
water crisis around the next corner.
After about six months of construction, Morro Bay’s new water
reclamation facility is well underway — and it remains
politically divisive this election season, with three
candidates talking about halting or undoing the project, which
is the largest-ever infrastructure project in city history.
A new California Biodiversity Collaborative will help determine
how to carry out an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom
aimed at conserving 30% of California’s land and marine areas
by 2030—and agricultural organizations said they would
participate to assure the collaborative recognizes stewardship
efforts carried out on the state’s farms and ranches.
At a shuttered water park in the desert landscape of Coachella
Valley in Southern California, Tom Lochtefeld has transformed a
pool into a surf spot. For decades, inventors like Lochtefeld
have struggled to mimic the ocean’s swells. In recent years,
commercial projects and proof-of-concept pools have made good
on the dream.
In many areas of the world, there may be no more precious
commodity than water — and that’s especially true in Los
Angeles. So, it’s probably not surprising that L.A. has become
a font of activity for companies looking to tap the water
market in myriad ways. … From established companies to
ambitious startups, water-focused businesses dot the landscape
in a city that funnels in much of its water from outside
sources.
Last month, Microsoft announced it would replenish more water
than it consumes by 2030, focusing on 40 “highly stressed”
basins where it operates. … Microsoft has provided a grant to
the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, to work
on software to better predict levels and accessibility in the
drought-threatened Central Valley region of California.
Water utilities increasingly face a dilemma in these
recessionary times: the challenge is to take in enough money to
operate and maintain complex water systems while also providing
safe and affordable water to all their customers—even those who
have trouble paying. We talked to Kathryn Sorensen of Phoenix
Water Services about Phoenix’s equity innovations.
California just recorded its hottest September on record,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and the state looks to be stuck in a nearly
endless loop of hot, dry weather. With a strong La Niña
developing, the dry pattern is looking ever harder to break,
and could be settling in to stay for a while.
If certain hay species retain more nutrients than others when
on low-water diets, then ranchers know their cattle will
continue to eat well as they evaluate whether they can operate
their ranches on less H20…. Any water saved could be left in
the Colorado River, allowing it to become more sustainable,
even as the West’s population grows and drought becomes more
intense.
It’s still dry as dirt, but promises to be a central component
of future water supplies for the 165,000 people served by the
Santa Margarita Water District. While the district currently
imports 100% of its drinking water from the Colorado River and
northern California, the new Trampas Canyon Reservoir is part
of a plan to generate 30% of potable water supplies locally and
to recycle more wastewater.
Unbeknownst to many, some voters will pick five new members of
the Board of Directors of the Westlands Water District. GV Wire
had a chance to speak with two of those… Both offered
insights into how Westlands can change its reputation, how
farmers can change their approach, and what their biggest
adversaries are in the fight for water.
California American Water and Marina city officials are in the
process of setting up talks on the company’s desalination
project after exchanging letters over the past several weeks.
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently
launched an environmental justice community survey to gather
input to inform Delta Conveyance Project planning. The survey,
entitled, “Your Delta, Your Voice,” seeks direct input from
communities that may be disproportionately affected by the
proposed project.
To inform landowners about their water budgets, Rosedale-Rio
Bravo Water Storage District in Kern County partnered with EDF,
Sitka Technology Group, WestWater Research and local landowners
to co-develop a new online, open-source water accounting and
trading platform. We asked general manager Eric Averett to
answer a few questions about how the platform…
