California regulators this week proposed delaying new rules
aimed at reducing how much water people use on their lawns,
drawing praise from agencies that said they needed more time to
comply but criticism from environmentalists who warn that the
delay would damage the state’s already scarce supply. Last
year, California proposed new rules that would, cumulatively,
reduce statewide water use by about 14%. Those rules included
lowering outdoor water use standards below the current
statewide average by 2035. On Tuesday, regulators proposed
delaying that timeline by five years, until 2040. The State
Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to vote on the rules
later this year. The state would not punish people for using
too much water on their lawns.
Sacramento and cities across California caught a break from the
state’s water regulator this week after the agency faced
criticism that its water conservation rules were too
complicated and costly to meet. Regulators at the State Water
Resources Control Board proposed new conservation rules Tuesday
that would ease water savings requirements for urban water
suppliers and will ultimately lead to less long-term water
savings than initially planned. Under the new rules, the city
of Sacramento would have to cut its overall water use by 9% by
2035 and 14% by 2040, far less than an initial proposal that
would have required it to cut back water use by 13% by 2030 and
18% by 2035.
A new recommendation from the California State Water Quality
Control Board in its Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan
(Bay-Delta Plan) for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Estuary could see Solano County forced to adapt
to a fraction of the water it is currently allocated from Lake
Berryessa. The implications for Solano County cities could be
enormous, leaving Solano County with about 25 percent of its
current allocation. Spanning hundreds of miles from north of
Lake Shasta to Fresno, the tributaries of the Sacramento and
Sac Joaquin rivers that feed into the San Francisco Bay reach
well into the Sierra Nevadas and Central Valley. The State
Water Quality Control Board has noted that diminished river
flows in these areas are harming fish habitats and are
detrimental to the water system as a whole ecologically.
Drought or no drought, California water regulators are pushing
ahead with a new conservation policy that could force some
communities to cut water use upward of 30% permanently — though
on more lenient terms than originally proposed. The
first-of-its-kind regulation is intended to help the state
confront chronic water shortages as climate change makes for
hotter, drier weather. The initial draft of the regulation,
released last year, was widely criticized for asking roughly
400 cities and water agencies to cut back too much too quickly.
The cost of compliance was also a concern. Acknowledging the
burden, the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday
unveiled a revised set of rules that would allow some
communities to use more water than originally planned as well
as extend deadlines for meeting the conservation mandates.
California officials are preparing new urban water conservation
rules intended to help the state adapt to a drier future caused
by climate change. In reality, the proposed restrictions are so
great they could actually harm those adaptation efforts by
sacrificing the tree canopy we have nurtured in our cities for
generations. The “Making Conservation a California Way of Life”
rule package, proposed by the State Water Resources Control
Board, sets conservation targets unique to each urban water
agency in the state. While conserving each and every year makes
sense, so must the restrictions. A recent report by the
non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office found big flaws in
the Water Board’s approach, describing the proposal as overly
complex, expensive and unrealistic, with potential water
savings amounting to a mere drop in the bucket statewide. -Written by Jim Peifer, executive director of the
Sacramento Regional Water Authority; and Victoria
Vasquez, grants and public policy manager
for California ReLeaf, which works to protect, enhance and
grow California’s urban and community forests.
Water conservation is a top issue for cities across the
Southwest. Now, Phoenix continues plans to reduce water use and
prepare for the future. Phoenix City Council approved a water
conservation ordinance for “big water users” this week. “It is
Phoenix making sure that when a large volume user comes along,
there is a sufficient benefit,” said Sarah Porter, director of
the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU. It only impacts new
developments. Under the ordinance, companies that use more than
250,000 gallons of water per day will have to submit water
conservation plans to the city. This could impact some
hospitals, resorts, and manufacturers. Then, companies that use
more than 500,000 gallons of water per day need to submit a
conservation plan and ensure 30% of their water usage comes
from recycled water.
After a wet year and a push to conserve water in the Southwest,
federal officials say the risk of the Colorado River’s
reservoirs declining to critically low levels has substantially
eased for the next couple of years. The Biden administration’s
top water and climate officials said the rise in reservoir
levels and the ongoing conservation efforts will provide some
breathing room for the region’s water managers to come up with
new long-term rules to address the river’s chronic
overallocation problem and the worsening effects of climate
change. … The states proposed the short-term cuts to
deal with water shortages through 2026, when the current rules
for managing the river expire. The Bureau of Reclamation
released its final analysis of the water reductions
on Tuesday …
With many areas of Southern California starved for shade, the
region’s largest water supplier has launched a rebate program
offering residents and businesses up to $500 as an incentive to
plant trees. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California on Tuesday announced the addition of the tree
incentive to its long-standing turf-replacement program, which
offers cash to property owners who rip out water-guzzling grass
and replace it with drought-tolerant landscaping. Starting
this week, new applicants can seek a $100 rebate for each
eligible tree planted — up to five trees total — as part of
their turf-replacement project, according to a spokesperson for
the district.
… The American Southwest has become the site of a collision
between two civilization-defining trends. In this desert heat,
the explosive growth of generative AI is pitched against a
changing climate’s treacherous extremes. … Public data
hint at the potential toll of this approach. Researchers at UC
Riverside estimated last year, for example, that
global AI demand could cause data centers to suck up 1.1
trillion to 1.7 trillion gallons of fresh water by 2027.
Ocean water desalinated at a controversial plant in Carlsbad
soon could be stabilizing supplies for south Orange County
residents served by Moulton Niguel Water District, who now
depend on fluctuating allotments from the Colorado River and
Northern California to keep their taps flowing. In exchange,
western San Diego County residents could see some relief from
their soaring water bills if south O.C …
Growing your food can be a wonderful and fulfilling activity to
connect with nature, improve your health and well-being, and,
oh yeah, save water. California grows more than 400
agricultural commodities, which translates into over one-third
of the vegetables and almost three-fourths of the country’s
fruits and nuts. Regardless of your view on commercial
agriculture, one thing is true, California has prime weather
for growing a wide range of edible plants in your backyard,
balcony, or indoor window sill. Sometimes, gardening is
easier said than done. And more often than not, when we think
about water efficiency and conservation, we think about
removing turf and installing beautiful native landscapes. This
is certainly a wonderful endeavor and can supply a needed
habitat for beneficial pollinators, improve soil health,
support local ecology, and save water.
San Luis Obispo has been recognized for its water conservation
program that reduced the city’s water use greatly over the past
decade. The Alliance for Water Efficiency, a nonprofit
organization based in Chicago, awarded the city a platinum
status award for its compliance with the organization’s Water
Conservation and Efficiency Program Operation and Management
Standard. Cities can implement certain water-saving techniques
outlined in the standard — such as a water shortage or drought
plans, public information tactics, water waste ordinances,
landscape efficiency programs and better water metering
practices — to achieve a higher award from the Alliance for
Water Efficiency.
With warmer temperatures on the horizon, the city of Sacramento
is switching to a new watering schedule. The spring and summer
watering schedule, which governs how residents irrigate their
lawns and landscaping during the hotter months, goes into
effect on March 1 and runs through Oct. 31. Here’s what you
need to know about the change. From Nov. 1 to Feb 28,
watering guidelines in Sacramento allow residents to turn on
their sprinklers one day per week, on either Saturday or
Sunday. On March 1, Sacramento will add an additional day to
its weekly watering schedule — allowing residents to use
sprinklers two days a week instead of one. On those days
automatic sprinklers can be used for irrigation before 10 a.m.
or after 7 p.m.
One of Colorado’s leading urban water conservation strategies —
turf replacement — could require up to $2.5 billion to save
20,000 acre-feet of water, according to a recent report
commissioned by the state’s top water policy agency. Colorado
communities are facing a drier future with water shortages and
searching for ways to cut down water use. … This
turf-focused strategy has gained new momentum since 2020 and
2021, when the water crisis in the Colorado River Basin became
shockingly apparent (to more than just water experts)
as two enormous reservoirs, lakes Mead and Powell, fell to
historic lows.
To conserve water as California heads into the drier spring and
summer months, the city of Sacramento announced new
watering regulations set to go into effect March 1. According
to the city’s watering schedule ordinance, residents and
businesses in the city of Sacramento are required
to follow a seasonal schedule when watering landscapes
using sprinklers. Here is the
seasonal watering schedule from the
ordinance: Spring and summer From March 1 to October
31: Customers with even-numbered addresses can water
Wednesday and Sunday. Customers with odd-numbered addresses can
water Tuesday and Saturday. Watering must be done before 10
a.m. and/or after 7 p.m. Watering is not allowed 48 hours
after one-eighths inch of rain.
Like a lot of homeowners in neighborhoods with decades-old
plumbing, Ken Hoag experienced a leak in the pipe leading under
his yard from the curbside city meter to his house. Only this
was no trickling stream, but a gusher that would cost him more
than $1,000. City meter readers must check meters manually or,
at homes with updated meters, they must at least drive through
the neighborhood for it to ping their equipment with current
water volumes. In Hoag’s case last fall, that took long enough
that no one from the city alerted him of unusual readings until
160,000 gallons had drained away under his yard over parts of
two billing cycles. He hadn’t noticed so much as a puddle to
suggest a problem and was shocked when he got the first of
those bills on Nov. 22.
The California Water Resources Control Board said it still
needs more than 40% of the required water usage reports that
were due at the beginning of the month.
For the first time in the United States, a tribe in Arizona is
building a solar farm over an irrigation canal to produce clean
energy and save water at a time of unrelenting drought. The
Gila River Indian Community has broken ground on a project to
put solar panels over nearly 3,000 feet of the Casa Blanca
canal south of Phoenix. It’s one phase of a pilot project
designed to eventually help the tribe reach its goal of using
100% renewable power. The idea is modeled after a similar
project in India, says David DeJong, director of the
Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project. … The Turlock
Irrigation District in California’s Central Valley is
expected to start a project of its own soon. DeJong
says money from the Inflation Reduction Act funded
the solar farm, and it will eventually produce enough
electricity to power several thousand homes.
Some San Luis Obispo County residents may need to cut their
water use in the coming years under new regulations proposed by
the state — one city as much as 30%. The new regulation
framework, titled “Making Conservation a California Way of
Life,” was rolled out by the California State Water Resources
Control Board in the fall. The agency was still considering
public feedback received on the proposed regulations as of
Monday and will likely release an updated draft in March,
according to spokesman Edward Ortiz. As currently proposed, the
regulations would require some cities in San Luis Obispo
County, but not all, to reduce residential and commercial water
use by 2035, according to the state water board’s data.
…. Southern California has done a great job saving water — so
good a job that it’s now facing a budget deficit. The
Metropolitan Water District, the state’s largest water
supplier, is considering double-digit rate increases after its
19 million customers saved so much water over the past two
years that sales dropped to their lowest levels since the
1970s. … The problem has been building for decades but became
urgent over the past two years when water sales came in 11 and
then 24 percent less than forecast. At the same time, inflation
drove up costs. While the district has chosen to dip into its
reserves in the past to avoid large rate increases, Met General
Manager Adel Hagekhalil argued that’s not enough anymore in
light of increasing extreme weather swings.
Coloradans gunning to join this year’s effort to save water in
the Colorado River Basin could help conserve up to 17,000
acre-feet of water — much more than the 2,500 acre-feet saved
in 2023 — and receive about $8.7 million in return. The
voluntary, multistate program pays water users to temporarily
use less water. … After a stumbling relaunch in 2023,
this year’s program is moving forward with more applications,
more potential water savings and more money for
participants. This year’s application period closed in
December with 124 applications, according to the Upper Colorado
River Commission. Of those, Colorado water users submitted 56;
Utah, 32; New Mexico, one; and Wyoming, 35.
Two months after its release in November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT
had 100 million active users, and suddenly tech corporations
were racing to offer the public more “generative A.I.” Pundits
compared the new technology’s impact to the Internet, or
electrification, or the Industrial Revolution — or the
discovery of fire. Time will sort hype from reality, but one
consequence of the explosion of artificial intelligence is
clear: this technology’s environmental footprint is large and
growing. A.I. use is directly responsible for carbon emissions
from non-renewable electricity and for the consumption of
millions of gallons of fresh water, and it indirectly boosts
impacts from building and maintaining the power-hungry
equipment on which A.I. runs. As tech companies seek to embed
high-intensity A.I. into everything from resume-writing to
kidney transplant medicine and from choosing dog food to
climate modeling, they cite many ways A.I. could help reduce
humanity’s environmental footprint.
Danielle Veenstra is an almond grower as well as the senior
manager for reputation management and sustainability
communications for the Almond Board of California. She comments
on how the production of almonds uses much less water than you
think.
As the world looks for sustainable solutions, a system tapping
into NASA satellite data for water management has passed a
critical test. Called OpenET, the system uses an ensemble
of six satellite-driven models that harness publicly available
data from the Landsat program to calculate evapotranspiration
(ET)—the movement of water vapor from soil and plant leaves
into the atmosphere. OpenET does this on a field-level scale
that is greatly improving the way farmers, ranchers, and water
resource managers steward one of Earth’s most precious
resources. Researchers have now conducted a large-scale
analysis of how well OpenET is tracking evapotranspiration over
crops and natural landscapes. The team compared OpenET data
with measurements from 152 sites with ground-based instruments
across the United States. In agricultural areas, OpenET
calculated evapotranspiration with high accuracy, especially
for annual crops such as wheat, corn, soy, and rice.
The states of the Lower Colorado
River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in
tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West.
California, Nevada and Arizona were quicker to build major canals
and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper
Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even
during dry years.
But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water
cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper
Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are
muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river
whose average flows in the Upper Basin have already dropped
20 percent over the last century.
They have formed new agencies to better monitor their interests,
moved influential Colorado River veterans into top negotiating
posts and improved their relationships with Native American
tribes that also hold substantial claims to the river.
It was exactly the sort of deluge
California groundwater agencies have been counting on to
replenish their overworked aquifers.
The start of 2023 brought a parade of torrential Pacific storms
to bone dry California. Snow piled up across the Sierra Nevada at
a near-record pace while runoff from the foothills gushed into
the Central Valley, swelling rivers over their banks and filling
seasonal creeks for the first time in half a decade.
Suddenly, water managers and farmers toiling in one of the
state’s most groundwater-depleted regions had an opportunity to
capture stormwater and bank it underground. Enterprising agencies
diverted water from rushing rivers and creeks into manmade
recharge basins or intentionally flooded orchards and farmland.
Others snagged temporary permits from the state to pull from
streams they ordinarily couldn’t touch.
When the Colorado River Compact was
signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states
bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to
meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table.
A century later, it’s clear the water they bet on is not there.
More than two decades of drought, lake evaporation and overuse of
water have nearly drained the river’s two anchor reservoirs, Lake
Powell on the Arizona-Utah border and Lake Mead near Las Vegas.
Climate change is rendering the basin drier, shrinking spring
runoff that’s vital for river flows, farms, tribes and cities
across the basin – and essential for refilling reservoirs.
The states that endorsed the Colorado River Compact in 1922 – and
the tribes and nation of Mexico that were excluded from the table
– are now straining to find, and perhaps more importantly accept,
solutions on a river that may offer just half of the water that
the Compact assumed would be available. And not only are
solutions not coming easily, the relationships essential for
compromise are getting more frayed.
Momentum is building for a unique
interstate deal that aims to transform wastewater from Southern
California homes and business into relief for the stressed
Colorado River. The collaborative effort to add resiliency to a
river suffering from overuse, drought and climate change is being
shaped across state lines by some of the West’s largest water
agencies.
Las Vegas, known for its searing summertime heat and glitzy casino fountains, is projected to get even hotter in the coming years as climate change intensifies. As temperatures rise, possibly as much as 10 degrees by end of the century, according to some models, water demand for the desert community is expected to spike. That is not good news in a fast-growing region that depends largely on a limited supply of water from an already drought-stressed Colorado River.
When you oversee the largest
supplier of treated water in the United States, you tend to think
big.
Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California for the last 15 years, has
focused on diversifying his agency’s water supply and building
security through investment. That means looking beyond MWD’s
borders to ensure the reliable delivery of water to two-thirds of
California’s population.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
Even as stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin celebrate the recent completion of an unprecedented drought plan intended to stave off a crashing Lake Mead, there is little time to rest. An even larger hurdle lies ahead as they prepare to hammer out the next set of rules that could vastly reshape the river’s future.
Set to expire in 2026, the current guidelines for water deliveries and shortage sharing, launched in 2007 amid a multiyear drought, were designed to prevent disputes that could provoke conflict.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Imported water from the Sierra
Nevada and the Colorado River built Southern California. Yet as
drought, climate change and environmental concerns render those
supplies increasingly at risk, the Southland’s cities have ramped
up their efforts to rely more on local sources and less on
imported water.
Far and away the most ambitious goal has been set by the city of
Santa Monica, which in 2014 embarked on a course to be virtually
water independent through local sources by 2023. In the 1990s,
Santa Monica was completely dependent on imported water. Now, it
derives more than 70 percent of its water locally.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
People in California and the
Southwest are getting stingier with water, a story that’s told by
the acre-foot.
For years, water use has generally been described in terms of
acre-foot per a certain number of households, keying off the
image of an acre-foot as a football field a foot deep in water.
The long-time rule of thumb: One acre-foot of water would supply
the indoor and outdoor needs of two typical urban households for
a year.
Amy Haas recently became the first non-engineer and the first woman to serve as executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in its 70-year history, putting her smack in the center of a host of daunting challenges facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.
Yet those challenges will be quite familiar to Haas, an attorney who for the past year has served as deputy director and general counsel of the commission. (She replaced longtime Executive Director Don Ostler). She has a long history of working within interstate Colorado River governance, including representing New Mexico as its Upper Colorado River commissioner and playing a central role in the negotiation of the recently signed U.S.-Mexico agreement known as Minute 323.
Nowhere is the domino effect in
Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River,
and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now
as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan.
Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying
voice between its major water players, an effort you can read
more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.
Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within
California.
It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the
Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is
first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan
for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors,
California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water
levels in Lake Mead before
they run too low.
If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level,
the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and
Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by
320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1
million households in one year.
As California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.
Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
For decades, no matter the weather, the message has been preached
to Californians: use water wisely, especially outdoors, which
accounts for most urban water use.
Enforcement of that message filters to the local level, where
water agencies routinely target the notorious “gutter flooder”
with gentle reminders and, if necessary, financial penalties.
The message is oft-repeated that
water must be conserved and used as wisely as possible.
The California Water Code calls water use efficiency “the
efficient management of water resources for beneficial uses,
preventing waste, or accomplishing additional benefits with the
same amount of water.”
From the Greek “xeros” and Middle Dutch “scap,”
xeriscape was coined
in 1978 and literally translates to “dry scene.”
Xeriscaping, by extension, is making an environment which can
tolerate dryness. This involves installing drought-resistant and
slow-growing plants to reduce water use.
Irrigation is the artificial supply
of water to grow crops or plants. Obtained from either surface or groundwater, it optimizes
agricultural production when the amount of rain and where it
falls is insufficient. Different irrigation
systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in
practical use are often combined. Much of the agriculture in
California and the West relies on irrigation.
This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses
the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent
facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully
illustrated with color photographs.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
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.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
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.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
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.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
Water conservation has become a way of life throughout the West
with a growing recognition that the supply of water is not
unlimited.
Drought is the most common motivator of increased water
conservation but the gradual drying of the West as a result of
climate change means the amount of fresh water available for
drinking, irrigation, industry and other uses must be used as
efficiently as possible.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed copy of Western Water examines California’s drought
– its impact on water users in the urban and agricultural sector
and the steps being taken to prepare for another dry year should
it arrive.
Perhaps no other issue has rocketed to prominence in such a short
time as climate change. A decade ago, discussion about greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions and the connection to warming temperatures
was but a fraction of the attention now given to the issue. From
the United Nations to local communities, people are talking about
climate change – its characteristics and what steps need to be
taken to mitigate and adapt to the anticipated impacts.
This issue of Western Water examines the continuing practice of
smart water use in the urban sector and its many facets, from
improved consumer appliances to improved agency planning to the
improvements in water recycling and desalination. Many in the
water community say conserving water is not merely a response to
drought conditions, but a permanent ethic in an era in which
every drop of water is a valuable commodity not to be wasted.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply.