Mechanical engineer Brent Yamasaki set out amid the recent
blistering heat wave to take stock of the giant dams, pumps and
pipes that support Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County, the
largest storehouse of water in Southern
California…. water availability in Southern California
“is expected to remain relatively stable over the next few
years,” says Deven Upadhyay, the MWD’s chief operating officer.
“Diamond Valley Lake is a key part of that forecast….”
When Donald Trump referred to the COVID pandemic as a “plague,”
he was implying that it was an act of God that couldn’t be
blamed on the government. We are now told that the acute water
shortage in California is the result of a “drought” that has,
once again, lead to water restrictions. This biblical term
obscures the responsibility that our local governments bear for
this crisis. Countries facing far harsher climates and much
scarcer water supply, like Israel, have adopted straightforward
policies to avoid such crises. We should learn from their
example. -Written by Ron E. Hassner, the Helen Diller
Family chair in Israel Studies and the co-director of the Helen
Diller Institute for Israel Studies at U.C. Berkeley.
Water in a key California reservoir will fall so low this
summer that its hydroelectric power plant will be forced to
shut down for the first time, officials said Thursday,
straining the state’s already-taxed electric
grid. An unrelenting drought and record
heat, both worsened by the changing climate, have pushed the
water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville to deplete
rapidly. As a result of the “alarming levels,” officials will
likely be forced to close the Edward Hyatt Power Plant for the
first time since it opened in 1967…
Salvador Parra, the manager of Burford Ranch in California’s
Central Valley agricultural breadbasket, is worried about the
lack of water. California’s worst drought since 1977 has forced
Parra to leave fallow 2,000 of his 6,000 acres and dig deep for
water to save the crops already planted.
Unlike most Bay Area cities, Morgan Hill gets 100 percent of
its water from underground wells. And that’s a big reason why
the city became the first in Santa Clara County to issue
mandatory water use restrictions. … The mayor said he
enjoys his green grass as much as the next person, but said
mandatory watering cutbacks to just two days a week and only in
the early morning or late evening hours mean it won’t look lush
for long.
Mayor London Breed could announce a new city attorney within
weeks, following the San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s
Wednesday decision to formally recommend the city’s top lawyer,
Dennis Herrera, as the agency’s next general manager. Breed
nominated Herrera to the position in April, months after the
FBI charged the previous general manager, Harlan Kelly, with
allegedly accepting bribes from a city contractor and permit
consultant. Kelly resigned in November.
The state’s decision this week to cut off Sacramento-San
Joaquin River Delta access to thousands of farmers and water
agencies highlights the need for serious and immediate
conservation throughout the Bay Area and California. It’s been
obvious for months that the state faces its most serious water
shortage since the historic 2012-16 drought. Bay Area water
agencies should be imposing mandatory water restrictions on
users now.
Severe drought highlights the need for greater investment to
improve aging California water facilities, and increases calls
for allocation of federal and state resources to tackle the
problem. A national coalition that includes the California Farm
Bureau urged U.S. Senate leaders last week to take action to
address the shortcomings of aging water infrastructure, and to
include “a broad range of water uses” in any federal
infrastructure legislation.
The drought facing the Western United States is
bad. Really bad. It’s become worse faster than the last
one. As more of the United States suffers from drought
conditions and water supplies are diminishing, water
demands are rising. Smaller water supplies combined with
increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and other effects
of climate change pose an enormous threat by creating a
feedback loop that exacerbates drought conditions and
increases wildfire risk across the United States.
Not long after former Gov. Jerry Brown announced the end of a
grueling six-year drought in 2017, the Legislature passed two
controversial water-efficiency laws designed to promote even
more conservation – even though residents have done a
remarkable job reducing their water usage. Those new laws
required utilities to reduce daily water usage by an average of
55 gallons per person by 2023.
The Sonoma County water agency received permission Monday to
immediately cut stream flows in the lower Russian River by more
than half in an effort to conserve water stored in Lake
Sonoma. Instream flows in the upper river, above Dry
Creek, which is fed by releases from Lake Sonoma, already are
being maintained at a very low threshold to keep as much water
as possible in Lake Mendocino, the smaller of the two
reservoirs.
TPR is proud to share this timely interview with Metropolitan
Water District’s newly confirmed General Manager, Adel
Hagekhalil….In this VX Interview, Hagekhalil shares his One
Water agenda for securing water resilience through integration,
innovation, and inclusion and emphasizes his commitment to
bringing all of Met’s member agencies and stakeholders to the
table to enhance local supplies and deliver on Met’s mission to
provide reliable, affordable water to the region.
Severe drought is gripping most of California, but its misery
isn’t spread equally. While most of the state compares today’s
extreme conditions to previous droughts, people in Tulare
County speak of drought — in the singular, as in a continuous
state of being. … Tulare County’s never-ending drought
brings dried up wells and plenty of misery The entire West is
suffering from extreme dryness, heat and fire risk, and the
small, rural towns of northern Tulare County, outside of
Visalia, are caught in its vortex.
The problem, as always, is that water keeps flowing from the
tap. Every other indicator is telling us we should be in red
alert right now about Arizona’s climate and water situation.
But when we turn the valve, even on these blazing days,
drinkable water flows. It’s a luxury in this season and this
place. And it makes it easy to turn away from the news. But we
shouldn’t. -Written by Tim Steller.
Managers of some Arizona golf courses are fighting a plan that
would cut water use at a time when the state is being
forced to confront shrinking water supplies. A group
representing golf courses has been pushing back against a
proposal by state officials that would reduce overall
water use on courses, instead offering a plan that would entail
less conservation. Opposition to the state’s proposal for
golf courses has emerged over the past several months, aired in
sometimes-tense virtual meetings …
Residents of Healdsburg are under new orders to reduce their
water use by 40% compared to a year ago — a challenging new
threshold that doubles a mandatory 20% conservation level
established in May that the city so far has been unable to
meet. In fact, May 2021 water consumption was 3% higher
than in May 2020, though more recent usage figures demonstrate
a rolling seven-day average reduction of 15%, according to a
city staff report.
Higher bills will soon be on the way for the roughly 1.4
million people who get their water from the East Bay Municipal
Utility District, but at least for now they won’t be required
to cut their water use despite the drought. Beginning July 1,
the agency will charge customers 4% more for both water and
sewer services. And a year later, on July 1, 2022, the rate
will climb another 4%. The district’s board of directors
unanimously approved the rate increases at its meeting Tuesday
as part of the $2.25 billion budget it adopted for the next two
fiscal years.
One of the largest water districts in the San Francisco Bay
Area announced mandatory restrictions Wednesday and declared a
water shortage emergency, signaling the seriousness of drought
conditions across the region and state after two consecutive
dry winters. The Board of Directors for Santa Clara
Valley Water District, which serves 2 million customers,
unanimously approved a resolution requiring customers to reduce
water use by 15% compared with 2019 levels. The board is also
urging Santa Clara County to proclaim a local emergency.
With California experiencing its second consecutive dry year,
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the State
Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), and the
California Department of Water Resources (DWR) called on local
and regional water suppliers to increase their conservation
efforts, develop a contingency plan in the event of water
supply problems, and urge Californians to save water amid
ongoing dry conditions.
Susan Tipton likes to talk about her award-winning wines
produced at Acquiesce Winery in Acampo just outside Lodi, but
these days she keeps a close watch on the current drought
conditions as well. Tipton took a big hit last year when
winter rains didn’t materialize. … Coming into 2021, the
vines were watered early with well water, and groundcover crops
are used to retain water. But the water table in the area
is dropping, adding to Tipton’s concern.
Santa Clara County on Wednesday became the most populous county
in California to impose mandatory water restrictions, saying
that the worsening drought poses a significant threat to the
local groundwater supplies that provide nearly half the
drinking water for 2 million residents. On a 7-0 vote, the
Santa Clara Valley Water District board declared a water
shortage emergency and set a target of reducing water use
33% countywide from 2013 levels, a year the state uses as
baseline.
When a historic drought gripped California and the Bay Area,
water managers came together to keep drinkable water in the
homes of vulnerable areas in Marin and Contra Costa Counties.
Two veterans of those efforts describe the dramatic process,
and consider lessons it offers for today’s imminent drought.
With Lake Mead approaching critically-low levels, the Southern
Nevada Water Authority recently turned to the Legislature to
double-down on its existing strategy for using less water: turf
removal. … [Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager
John] Entsminger, in a recent interview, said the prohibition
would result in significant water savings. The removal of an
estimated 3,900 acres of decorative turf could save roughly 9.3
billion gallons of water annually — about 10 percent of the
state’s entire Colorado River allotment.
In a major sign of California’s worsening drought, Santa Clara
County’s largest water provider announced Monday that it is
moving forward with plans to declare a water shortage emergency
and to urge cities and water companies that serve 2 million
residents in and around San Jose to impose mandatory water
restrictions. The move will be the first time since the
historic drought of 2012 to 2016 that Santa Clara County
residents will face mandatory restrictions as the county
becomes the most populous area in California to impose such
severe measures.
In Sin City, one thing that will soon become unforgivable is
useless grass. A new Nevada law will outlaw about 40% of the
grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid
a drought that is drying up the region’s primary water source:
the Colorado River. Other cities and states around the US have
enacted temporary bans on lawns that must be watered, but
legislation signed Friday by the state’s governor, Steve
Sisolak, makes Nevada the first in the nation to enact a
permanent ban on certain categories of grass.
During droughts organizations and stakeholders look for ways of
getting the most from every water drop. This is not an
exception in California where roughly 40 percent of all water
use (on average) is agricultural, 10 percent to cities and the
rest is uncaptured or environmental uses (mostly on the North
Coast). … Yet the notion that applied water in agriculture is
often wasteful is common in media drought coverage.
As a result of a lawsuit settlement with the Natural Resources
Defense Council (NRDC) for not submitting water conservation
reports required by the state for three consecutive years, the
City of Chino Hills has begun filing annual reports on its
website. Beginning March 30, the city also began posting the
annual volumes of potable (drinking) water and recycled water
used by city facilities. The water usage posted for the 2019-20
fiscal year shows the city used 778 acre-feet of potable water
and 243 acre-feet of recycled water for a total of 1021
acre-feet.
Adel Hagekhalil is an inspired choice to be the next general
manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, the agency that delivers the water ultimately used
by half of the state’s population. He’s an engineer, a
consensus builder and a champion of the movement to integrate
management of different types of water — drinking water,
wastewater, stormwater, environmental water — in order to
reduce costs and use precious resources more efficiently. He
may be exactly what the MWD needs at this point in its
history…
There is dry, and then there is desiccated. As any movie
fan knows from the classic film Chinatown, California is
an infamously thirsty place. But this year, even by its own
standards, the state is shockingly, scarily parched. So far in
2021, the state has received half of its expected
precipitation; that makes it the third driest year on record
according to California’s Department of Water Resources.
The California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA) today announces
Brown and Caldwell’s Wendy Broley will assume the role of
executive director effective July 1, replacing Cindy Paulson
after 10 years in the role. CUWA is a non-profit corporation of
11 major urban water agencies responsible for serving drinking
water to over two-thirds of California’s population.
While droughts are common in California, this year’s is much
hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly
from the reservoirs and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack that
feeds them. The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50%
lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay
Lund, co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the
University of California-Davis.
It feels like California’s 2011-2016 drought, our worst on
record, had barely ended when the next one began. This is our
second dry year in a row and, according to the state Department
of Water Resources, the past winter tied for the third-driest
on record. … [UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain] calls this
our second major drought within a decade and, if you’re like
me, you’re wondering if we’ve done anything since the last one
to help keep water flowing from our taps. The answer is yes.
With California’s rivers running low after two consecutive dry
winters, state officials and local water agencies have pumped
out a steady stream of drought declarations and calls for water
conservation in recent weeks. It’s clear the Golden State is in
a drought and it could escalate to a crisis, but, you may be
wondering, just how bad is it?
Urban water agencies are planning to impose mandatory
conservation orders after federal water managers slashed
deliveries this week amid a rapidly deepening drought. The
Bureau of Reclamation cut water deliveries from the Central
Valley Project by about half. That has prompted the Santa Clara
Valley Water District, which serves 2 million residents in the
Silicon Valley region, to consider a potential conservation
order at its board meeting next month.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced the selection of two
California projects to receive $1 million total in CALFED Water
Use Efficiency grants for fiscal year 2021. Combined with local
cost-share contributions, these projects are expected to
implement about $4.7 million in water management improvements
during the next two years. The projects will conserve an
estimated 1,200 acre-feet per year of water and better manage
8,160 acre-feet…
In response to the dry conditions in California,
the Regional Water Authority (RWA) Board of Directors
unanimously adopted a resolution on May 13 urging their urban
water providers to take actions, such as asking customers to
voluntary conserve and sustainably shifting to groundwater, to
help the environment of the Lower American River. The RWA
represents twenty (20) water providers serving two million
people in the Sacramento region.
A team of USDA agricultural scientists in the Golden State are
helping farmers make the most out of a natural resource that is
becoming ever more precious – water. California produces
two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts and one-third of its
vegetables, but above average temperatures and long-term
drought have put a strain on the water resources it takes to
grow these crops. Most of California’s precipitation falls
during the winter, which means summertime irrigation is
required to produce many of the state’s crops. Higher
temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns increase water
demand and reduce supply.
Demand for solar power is growing. And recent research suggests
that people should consider installing solar panels not only on
fields and rooftops, but above waterways as well. Brandi McKuin
of the University of California, Santa Cruz, says canopies of
solar panels can be installed over canals. The approach would
generate clean energy, and by shading the water, reduce
evaporation. Her research estimates that covering California’s
4,000 miles of open canals with solar panels could save about
65 billion gallons of water a year.
In just a few weeks, California’s water conditions have gone
from bad to terrible. Sacramento residents have been asked to
cut water usage 10%. Their counterparts on the Russian River
are being told to reduce their consumption 20%. Farmers across
the Central Valley are letting fields lie fallow and
dismantling their orchards. Government agencies are warning of
massive fish kills on the Sacramento River. After
a warm spring dried up practically the entire Sierra
Nevada snowpack — and robbed California of enough water to fill
most of Folsom Lake — state and federal officials have been
forced to dramatically ramp up their drought response plans.
The City of Santa Monica could issue revenue bonds that will
allow officials to continue a number of water sustainability
projects in the wake of an $84 million funding gap. In 2018,
Santa Monica City Council approved a Sustainable Water Master
Plan (SWMP) Update in an effort to establish a diverse,
sustainable and drought-resilient local water supply.
Even in a year that has seen not much rainfall, students
throughout Solano County have learned important lessons about
their local waterways and the nature that surrounds them.
Through its Watershed Explorers program, Solano Resource
Conservation District has allowed elementary schoolers to
connect virtually to their local watersheds and experience the
sights and sounds of nature, all while making observations
about what they have witnessed and receiving lessons from the
program’s educators.
A massive new data center is set to be built in Mesa, Arizona,
after the City Council voted in favor of a controversial
development agreement. Critics noted that the huge facility
would consume millions of gallons of water as the city and
state struggle with dwindling supplies. The company behind the
project has hidden its identity, operating via the pseudonym
Redale LLC.
One of the challenges of aerial imagery, whether from an
airplane or a satellite, is making sense of what you see. What
is that image telling you? Ceres Imaging, a California startup
with offices in Nebraska and Washington, is using artificial
intelligence to answer that question. … Recently, the
company issued a publication where it evaluated microdrip
irrigation on nearly 1 million acres in California. From that
analysis, they learned the value of more precise irrigation
management. And while much of that work was in high-value
crops, Ceres also works with pivot irrigators in other regions
of the country to manage water.
In the Bay Area, most people get their water from big utilities
that have lots of water, even during a drought. Your tap is not
at risk of running dry…. The most severe water challenges
will be in rural communities outside the Bay Area, where many
depend on wells.
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.
The Estrella-El Pomar-Creston Water District (EPCWD) has begun
creating a groundwater level monitoring network. Initially, the
district has begun work to add 30 new groundwater level
monitoring sites, using existing wells, throughout the
37,000-acre district. The campaign marks a significant
effort in the basin to move toward groundwater sustainability
in the Paso Robles Subbasin, according to the EPCWD.
As more of California sinks into extreme drought, Gov. Gavin
Newsom has asked the Legislature to appropriate billions of
dollars to address critical water needs. In the “May revise”—an
update to the budget proposal he initially submitted to the
Legislature in January—Newsom proposes to spend nearly $3.5
billion on water supply and resilience projects, with total
investment reaching $5.1 billion over multiple years.
With the driest year in memory, the water resources managers
and landowners in the Sacramento Valley are working hard to
serve multiple benefits throughout the region with limited
water supplies. This has required all hands-on deck and
creative management within the region as all surface water
supplies have been significantly reduced, with hundreds of
thousands of farmland acres idled throughout the region, urban
suppliers working with their citizens to implement various
conservation measures to reduce water use and there will
undoubtedly be challenges for domestic groundwater wells.
Tiny structures inspired by the shape of cactus spines allow a
newly created material to gather drinkable water from the air
both day and night, combining two water-harvesting technologies
into one. The material, a micro-architected hydrogel membrane
(more on that later), can produce water through both solar
steam-water generation and fog collection—two independent
processes that typically require two separate devices. A paper
about the material was published in Nature Communications on
May 14.
Last week, the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA)
held their spring conference virtually. Keynote speakers
included Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of Natural Resources, and
Karla Nemeth, Director of the Department of Water
Resources. In his speech, [Crowfoot] discussed the Newsom
Administration’s priorities, calling this the ‘decade of
resilience’, and giving three principles for going
forward. He also discussed the Voluntary
Agreements. Director Karla Nemeth gave the Thursday
morning keynote speech, touching on the Department’s response
to drought, SGMA implementation, the Delta Conveyance Project,
and the water use efficiency regulations.
Arizona’s drought has lawmakers looking into drawing water from
the Mississippi River to be used here in the desert. “This kind
of project would be looking 20 years down the road,” said
Republican Rep. Tim Dunn from Yuma. Dunn sponsored
House Concurrent Memorial 2004, which got bipartisan support in
the Arizona legislature, and urges Congress to study a plan for
a pipeline that would take water out of the Mississippi River
near Davenport, Iowa.
Crystal Geyser bought the nearly 145,000 square foot bottling
plant in 2013. Since then, it’s been the target of protests by
local activists and members of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
Opponents say if it ever started operating, it would draw down
too much water, and cause air and noise pollution. … They are
in the midst of suing the beverage company in an effort to get
a new environmental impact report.
What was already forecasted to be a historically bleak water
year in the Klamath Project has quickly become a living
nightmare for farms and ranches fighting for survival in the
drought-stricken basin. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation shut
down the Project’s A Canal for the entire irrigation season May
12 in response to worsening conditions — allotting zero surface
water from Upper Klamath Lake for thirsty crops and livestock.
It is the first time in more than a century the A Canal will
deliver no water. Meanwhile, irrigators are left to wonder how
they will pay the bills as fields turn to dust.
With very little water to spare this drought year, water
districts struggling with limited or no supplies look to their
counterparts in other districts to negotiate water transfers to
add whatever flexibility they can. Districts on the west side
of the Central Valley, both north and south of the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, face the prospect of receiving no
water from the Central Valley Project.
Suffering through a prolonged dry period, utilities are
increasingly relying on sewage to generate the state’s water
needs. Known in industry parlance as “recycled wastewater”
and in lay terms as “toilet to tap,” this water source
understandably triggers a gag reflex in some consumers — but it
shouldn’t. Recycled wastewater is quickly becoming the
single most important element of a drought-proof water supply
in the climate-change era, and it happens to be as pure and
delicious as anything you might buy bottled from the Swiss
Alps.
Lake Shasta this summer is facing possibly its lowest level in
at least 44 years, and that could be bad news for the people
who rely on it for drinking and irrigation water, as well as
endangered salmon that depend on it to survive. Dam
operators have to go all the way back to 1977 to compare how
bad this year’s water situation is shaping up to be, said Don
Bader, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which
manages the dam.
The seven members of the Delta Stewardship Council were seated
in 2010. The Council appointed ten prominent scientists to the
Delta ISB. Over the next decade, the Delta ISB produced over 30
scientific reviews, averaging over 3,000 hours of work per
year. But in 2020, the work of the Delta ISB stalled. The Delta
Stewardship Council reduced funding for the Delta ISB by over
90%.
Millions of people are betting on Arizona. They’re buying
homes, starting businesses, and families. The future of how we
use our water resources may dictate the future of their
success. … That question was addressed four decades earlier
with the Groundwater Management Act of 1980. The idea was the
law would ensure when water was taken out, just as much was put
back in, creating what they called a safe yield goal by
2025. Unfortunately, a new study released by ASU
researchers with the Kyl Center shows the law is not living up
to its promise as deep, thousands of years old aquifers
continue to be over-pumped.
University of California scientists have discovered genetic
data that will help food crops like tomatoes and rice survive
longer, more intense periods of drought on our warming planet.
Field-grown rice roots sampled for research. Over the
course of the last decade, the research team sought to create a
molecular atlas of crop roots, where plants first detect the
effects of drought and other environmental threats. In so
doing, they uncovered genes that scientists can use to protect
the plants from these stresses.
As California enters another dry summer, the supply and use of
water are once again becoming topics of immediate concern.
Statewide, agriculture dominates use of developed water —
meaning water which is moved through pipes at some point.
In urban areas, about half of developed water is used outdoors,
and of that fraction about half is used for landscape
irrigation. That half is an important fraction in Los Angeles
and other urban areas. Across the state, homeowners may be
interested in saving money on water bills, improving plant
health, limiting weeds, and being ecologically responsible
while still having an attractive, low-maintenance landscape.
The drought has some members of the Arizona Legislature
wondering if the state should look for a new source of water:
the Mississippi River. Conservationists wonder if lawmakers
should try a different approach. As Arizona braces for a
drought contingency plan to kick in, the Legislature has
floated the idea of damming the Mississippi and piping the
water here. The idea received overwhelming support among
lawmakers, though it is unclear if the project is viable. Sandy
Bahr, with the Sierra Club, told KJZZ’s The Show last month the
state needs to adjust its thinking about water, especially in
times of drought.
East Bay Municipal Utility District officials have seen
droughts come and go. But they seem to be coming more
frequently this century. Climate change is stoking devastating
wildfire seasons year after year, drying the state out and just
making it more flammable the following year. State water
officials say that means less water in the Mokelumne River
Watershed, the main source for EBMUD and its 1.4 million
customers. Last winter was the state’s driest since 1977,
prompting the district to officially declare a stage one
drought on April 27 and ask customers to cut ten percent of
their water use. What can the East Bay expect moving forward?
San Diego’s vulnerability to water shortages and drought is
shrinking significantly because residents and businesses are
using less water and city officials are boosting the local
supply. A new city analysis shows local water use dropped
sharply from 81.5 billion gallons in 2007 to about 57 billion
gallons in 2020, even though the city’s population has grown
about 1 percent per year over that time. The new data has
prompted city officials to revise downward long-term
projections of local water use by about 20 percent compared to
their estimates from 2015, the last time the city conducted
such an analysis.
As California descends deeper into drought, state regulators
are planning to do something they’ve done few times in modern
history: order thousands of people, farms, and even cities and
towns that hold historic water rights to stop drawing water
from the rivers, lakes and ponds they rely on. The move is
intended to make sure the dwindling flows in California’s
waterways are reserved for those with the most senior water
rights, as well as for fish and other wildlife. Many of those
with lesser rights would have to turn to storage, groundwater
or another source, if they have it.
The city of San Francisco is reviving a long-simmering feud
with the state over water, filing a lawsuit Friday that charges
state regulators with trying to take away the city’s coveted
Sierra Nevada water supplies. The suit claims the state water
board is demanding the city forfeit too much water from the
Tuolumne River as part of a licensing deal for two dams in the
faraway basin. State regulators have said the water is needed
to maintain proper river flows and support struggling salmon,
but city officials contend the demands would leave Bay Area
residents and businesses vulnerable to water shortages.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to throw $11.8 billion of California’s
money at climate change and the hazards it poses to the state.
The governor’s gargantuan revised budget proposal, released
Friday, includes expenditures to fight and prevent wildfires,
combat sea-level rise, put more Californians behind the wheel
of an electric vehicle and speed up the transition to a
carbon-free electricity grid. Nearly half of his climate change
package — $5.1 billion — would go toward easing the effects of
California’s newly-declared drought and remedying long-term
water supply problems, such as crumbling canals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural
Statistics Service (NASS) is forecasting another record almond
crop for California. The 2021 California Almond Subjective
Forecast estimates a three percent increase from last year’s
3.12-billion-pound crop. According to USDA-NASS, California
growers could be looking at a 2021 crop of 3.2 billion pounds.
If that number comes to fruition, it would be the largest
almond crop on record.
Sacramento-area residents were urged Thursday to cut water
usage by 10% as much of the state has been plunged into another
severe drought. Just three days after Gov. Gavin Newsom
declared the area officially in a drought, the Sacramento
Regional Water Authority asked for voluntary conservation
measures as its member agencies scramble to cope with drought
conditions that seemingly worsen by the day.
California’s water supply is critical to the state’s
agriculture industry. Up to 80% of table olives come from
California, and while olive trees are more drought-tolerant
than other crops, that isn’t stopping Northern California olive
growers from making significant changes to conserve our most
precious resource. Olives are a passion for Dennis Burreson,
who says he’s held just about every job with Musco Family Olive
Company since joining Musco 43 years ago.
Ben Tobin has questions about the Grand Canyon’s caves. The
University of Kentucky geologist started learning about caves
as a young man, in part because his mother was a geologist, and
a childhood fascination grew over time. … When he was in
college, an internship in Arkansas doing cave tours got him
hooked, and eventually his work brought him out West, to Grand
Canyon National Park. Tobin specializes in what’s known as
karst hydrology. These are underground systems made up of
soluble rock such as limestone. To Tobin, caves are like
another world, with blind animals, fossils and archeological
finds.
Well owners in Santa Rosa Plain, Petaluma Valley and Sonoma
Valley are invited to join community meetings on groundwater
conditions and sustainable management of this critical water
source. The Santa Rosa Plain, Petaluma Valley and Sonoma
Valley groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) are nearing
completion of major plans that identify issues with current and
future groundwater resources and that describe how these
challenges will be addressed.
You can’t water your lawn more than twice a week in the city or
Sacramento during summer, and never on Thursday or
Friday. For thousands of Sacramento County residents, the
limit is three days a week. In Roseville, there’s no watering
between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Customers of the San Juan Water
District have five days to fix leaks, and hosing down the
driveway or sidewalk is off-limits in Elk Grove. Long
before Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought
emergency for the Sacramento region — and much of the rest
of California — area residents were already dealing with an
assortment of restrictions on water consumption, depending on
their supplier.
I am proud to be a part of California agriculture. Our state
has the impressive responsibility of feeding our country—and
even the world. We have led the nation in agricultural
production for the past 60 years due to our richly productive
land and climate. Yet, our agriculture industry now faces
serious and urgent challenges, from recovering from last year’s
multiple crises to the ever-increasing competition in the
global market. -Written by Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, chair of the
Assembly Agriculture Committee.
Spring is generally a time of renewal for the watersheds of the
western United States. Warmed by the lengthening days, the
region’s towering mountain ranges shed their mantle of snow,
releasing freshets of water into welcoming streams and
reservoirs. This year, though, the cycle is in disarray.
Outside of the Olympic and Cascade ranges of Washington state,
winter snows were subpar. The spring melt has been a dud. From
the Klamath to the Colorado and Rio Grande, watersheds are
under stress once again, and water managers face difficult
tradeoffs between farms, fisheries, and at-home uses.
The state is facing major water impacts, but for those reliant
on water wells — in mobile home parks, rural communities, and
areas where water district access is limited — the concern is
growing. The Department of Water Resources has created
a website that can help those who rely on well water
to figure out just how much at-risk they are of a water
shortage. The site was created after the last drought, but
with California’s drought only recently worsening, it had not
been widely used or needed until now. The interactive map
allows users to explore their area and keep tabs on their well
water situation.
A conflict over access to water in the Klamath Basin is
signaling the way climate change could play out across the
western United States. After a drier-than-normal spring,
farmers and indigenous tribes in the Klamath Basin are at odds
over water in Upper Klamath Lake. According to the U.S. Drought
Monitor, the Klamath Basin is experiencing “extreme drought,”
… Centuries ago, the area was wetlands; but in the early
20th century, the land was opened up to agriculture. Members of
the Klamath Tribes say tree removal and drainage hastened
drying as the climate warmed.
Customers of the East Bay Muncipal Utility District may have to
dig deeper into their pockets to keep the taps and faucets
flowing as the utility proposes increasing rates. The utility
is seeking to raise water and wastewater rates each by 4% in
the fiscal year starting July I, and an additional 4% starting
July 1, 2022. The potential move comes as EBMUD reviews
and adjusts its budget, which happens every two years. General
Manager Clifford Chan will present a proposed budget for
utility for the next two years to the EBMUD board of directors
on Tuesday.
Many dryland cities like Los Angeles, Cairo and Tehran have
already outstripped natural water recharge, but are expected to
continue growing, resulting in a deepening arid urban water
crisis. … The situations in arid and semi-arid cities
like Phoenix, Arizona; Bamako, Mali; or Dubai, UAE, differ in
their particulars, but rhyme in their impending disastrous
trajectory. These, and other arid-region cities, are
approaching the edge of an ecological cliff: dependent on
sustaining growth, which itself requires a growth in water
supplied by faraway and finite sources, and delivered by aging
infrastructure. But water in dryland regions is
getting scarcer and supplies
more unpredictable.
In water-stressed farming areas of California, farmers removed
productive trees and idled other land to divert what little
water they have to other crops, as the reality of the 2021
drought became ever more apparent. “We’re removing 15-year-old,
prime-production almond trees,” said Daniel Hartwig of Woolf
Farming in Fresno County. “We’re pulling out almost 400 acres,
simply because there’s not enough water in the system to
irrigate them, and long term, we have no confidence that there
would be water in the future.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded his drought emergency declaration to
39 more counties Monday, underscoring the rapid deterioration
of California’s water supply in recent weeks. The governor
broadened his earlier drought order, which was limited to two
counties on the Russian River, to cover most of parched
California, which is plunging into its second major drought in
less than a decade. The new order covers the Sacramento and San
Joaquin river watersheds, the Tulare Lake basin region and the
Klamath region in far Northern California. About 30% of the
state’s population is now covered by the declarations…
California is now in its second year of drought, hard on the
heels of the last one in 2012-16. But drought is not an
equal-opportunity crisis; it can be more or less disruptive
depending on geography, storage, how water supplies are
managed—and, of course, precipitation. And some sectors—notably
rural water water systems and the environment—are more
vulnerable.
California is in a serious drought. The National Drought
Mitigation Center’s drought monitor puts most of the state in
extreme drought zones for the first time since 2015. The latest
instance of drought has once again put the state’s water use
under the microscope to identify opportunities for
conservation, a task that’s expected to become more challenging
as the impacts of climate change intensify.
On Friday, a coalition of conservation groups, fishing
organizations, stakeholders in the Delta, and the Winnemem
Wintu Tribe sent this letter to the Biden Administration,
urging the Administration not to endorse the so-called
“Voluntary Agreements” for the Bay-Delta watershed.
Unfortunately, the State of California continues to negotiate
backroom deals with the biggest water users in the State that
fail to protect and restore water quality in the
Bay-Delta, threatening thousands of fishing jobs, farms and
communities in the Delta, and the health of this watershed and
its native fish and wildlife.
Most farmers are worried about their crops as they head into
the second straight dry year. Vineyard owners say they may be
the lucky ones because, at this point, grapes don’t need a lot
water — just warm sunshine. That would change with a prolonged
drought. … Kendall Hoxsey-Onysko, owner of the Napa Wine
Company, is a fifth-generation Napa Valley grape grower and her
family knows all about droughts and their impact on the wine
industry. Grapevines can thrive without a lot of water but
productivity depends on how long the drought lasts.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is pushing back against Santa Clara
Valley Water District’s Pacheco Reservoir Expansion project,
but water district representatives say his concerns are
misleading. On Friday, Liccardo held a news conference where he
emphasized that the $2.5 billion project to boost Pacheco
Reservoir’s operational capacity from 5,500 acre-feet to up to
140,000 acre-feet is not a smart investment. ”The
expansion project) would add no long term drought supply to our
community, it would provide no new water supply to our
community, rather would merely be a receptacle for water,”
Liccardo said.
California’s drought conditions have gone from bad to worse in
scarcely a month. In the weeks following April 1, the
traditional end of the rainy season, warm temperatures have
burned off most of the Sierra Nevada snowpack and left the
state’s water network gasping. Instead of delivering a generous
volume of melted snow into California’s rivers and reservoirs,
the snowpack has largely evaporated into the air or trickled
into the ground.
Kern County ag producers are making changes big and small —
from redeveloping entire orchards to fine-tuning their
irrigation systems — as they try to adjust to worsening
drought conditions across the Central Valley. Strategies vary
depending on access to water and ability to shift irrigation to
different fields. Some landowners are trying to hold onto as
much water as they can in case prices rise later in the year.
California’s drought is impacting more than how you water your
lawn, but also the way your food is grown on hundreds of
thousands of acres in the Sacramento Valley. Growing rice is a
multi-billion dollar industry that supports 25,00 jobs.
… This year, a third of normal rainfall combined with
hot weather and drying winds have [rice farmers] pumping more
groundwater than usual and fallowing half his rice fields –
meaning Durst won’t plant, and he’s not
alone. … Industry leaders say this is the third
time in forty years this kind of surface water supply reduction
has happened – and it’s happened twice in just the last decade.
San Diego takes droughts very seriously. That’s why the region
is well-positioned to weather an extended dry spell with enough
water. Local officials don’t shrug at the drought
conditions across the state that have triggered emergencies in
a couple of northern counties. For one thing, the wildfire
threat can be as dangerous here as anywhere. San Diego may
be more drought-tolerant than in the past when it comes to
water…
More than a decade of collaboration between public agencies
yields tremendous benefit to Orange County’s water supply
following approvals by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)
associated with the Chief of Engineer’s Report for the Prado
Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Feasibility
Study. For the Orange County Water District, this critical
action increases water storage and habitat restoration behind
Prado Dam.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors sent a letter
to the California Water Resources Control Board on May 4
formally opposing the Shandon-San Juan Water District’s (SSJWD)
two recent applications for water from Lake Nacimiento and
Santa Margarita Lake—a move that puts two partners on the Paso
Robles Groundwater Basin at odds with one another.
Farmersville is opening the floodgates for growth upon the
completion of the wastewater treatment facility expansion, the
most expensive public works project in the city’s history. The
newly-updated wastewater treatment facility comes in at about
$23 million, switching from percolating basins to updated
technology like digesters and clarifiers to meet the city’s
growing population and updated state requirements. City manager
Jennifer Gomez said she’s excited to see the project of over 10
years come to completion.
At the Water Education Foundation, we focus on telling the
complex story of water in California and the West because of
its critical role in sustaining our lives, growing our food and
nourishing our environment. As a nonprofit we rely on the
generosity of people who value what we do – enhancing
public understanding of our most important natural
resource and catalyzing critical conversations to inform
collaborative decision-making.
Donate here to help us keep doing what we do, and
join us for a virtual open house at 4:30 p.m. today.
California’s current drought is already off to a strong start,
with some major challenges already looming just two years in.
Compared to the drought of 2012‒16, the normally wetter
Sacramento and North Coast regions have been hit much harder
than the rest of the state. Beyond the local challenges this
poses, drought in the Sacramento region is already having
statewide implications, given its key role in supplying water
to farms and cities further south.
Experts say a statewide drought declaration … could bring
significant consequences for the regulatory structure governing
California’s complicated water-delivery system. Many farmers
believe an emergency order could loosen environmental
regulations and free up water supplies for them. Environmental
groups fear the very same thing – that more of California’s
dwindling water supply could be directed to farming at the
expense of fish and wildlife.
Regenerative farming practices integrate the entire ecosystem —
building upon the relationships of the natural world — to
simultaneously produce healthier, more abundant crops and
restore the Earth’s natural resources. … And
restoring soil health and fertility produces more abundant,
nutrient-dense crops that better resist pests and disease. It
increases soil’s ability to filter and store water, reduce
erosion and sequester carbon. And it builds a diversity and
abundance of microbes that drive every function of soil.
Increasingly ominous signs suggest that we are entering another
multiyear drought in California. The State Water Project
recently reduced projected water deliveries for 2021 from 10
percent of requested supplies to 5 percent, and on April 21,
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a regional drought emergency in the
Russian River watershed in Northern California. But it’s a
different story in San Diego County.
-Written by Gary Croucher, chair of the San Diego County
Water Authority’s Board of Directors.
The US Bureau of Reclamation last week warned water users to
brace for a 500,000 acre-foot cut in water from the Colorado
River as a historic drought continues to tighten its grip on
the Southwest. The cutback comes on top of a 200,000 acre-foot
reduction Arizona water users agreed to last year in an effort
to put off this day of reckoning. The Central Arizona Project
provides more than a third of the state’s water. The reductions
will mostly impact farmers. The sparse snowpack this winter
soaked into the ground during the hot, dry spring — producing
little runoff.
The beaver does more to shape its environment than nearly any
other animal on Earth. They can cause incredible amounts of
destruction to infrastructure; downing power lines, and
blocking and rerouting waterways. But their dam-building also
can improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and create the
conditions for complex wetland habitats to form —providing
refuge for wildlife and storing carbon in the process.
Irrigation curbs, car washing restrictions and the shutoff of
fountains may return in the city of Napa amid shrinking water
supplies on the tail of a dry California winter. Tuesday night,
the City Council is scheduled to vote on a “moderate water
shortage” declaration intended to cut consumption by 15%.
Approval would mark the return of water-use restrictions last
rolled out in the mid-2010s when a six-year drought led
California to mandate across-the-board cutbacks statewide.
Napa’s actions would follow mandatory cutbacks imposed upvalley
by the cities of St. Helena and Calistoga.
Climate change and water scarcity are front and center in the
western U.S. The region’s climate is warming, a severe
multi-year drought is underway and groundwater supplies are
being overpumped in many locations. … About 4,000
miles of canals transport water to some 35 million
Californians and 5.7 million acres of farmland across the
state. Covering these canals with solar panels would reduce
evaporation of precious water – one of California’s most
critical resources – and help meet the state’s renewable energy
goals, while also saving money.
Stop eating meat. Build interstate pipelines. Turn sea water
into drinking water. When our letter writers start making these
suggestions in earnest, that’s how I know we’re beginning to
feel the effects of another drought in California.
-Written and compiled by Paul Thornton, the Los Angeles
Times’ letters editor.
With the Colorado River’s largest reservoir just 38% full and
declining toward the threshold of a first-ever shortage,
Arizona water officials convened an online meeting this week to
outline how the state will deal with water cutbacks, saying the
reductions will be “painful” but plans are in place to lessen
the blow for affected farmers next year. Lake Mead’s decline is
expected to trigger substantial reductions in water deliveries
in 2022 for Arizona, Nevada and Mexico. The largest of those
cuts will affect Arizona, slashing its Colorado River supplies
by 512,000 acre-feet, about a fifth of its total entitlement.
Little is said about the role of Lake Pillsbury in our
regional water system or the critical water it provides
to fill Lake Mendocino. If anything, its importance
to understated or not referenced at all in most media
articles. Without Lake Pillsbury at the Eel River
headwaters to control downstream flows, both the Eel and
Russian Rivers and surrounding aquifers will intermittently dry
up. … A strong movement is afoot to remove Scott Dam and
eliminate Lake Pillsbury… -Written by Frank Lynch & Carol Cinquini, Directors of
the Lake Pillsbury Alliance.
Water talk will be a big part of Tuesday’s Tehama County Board
of Supervisors meeting as plans for a new groundwater
monitoring site in Corning are coming to fruition. Tehama
County Public Works plans to sign a Permit to Use Land
Agreement for a groundwater station in the Corning Public Works
yard on Gallagher Avenue, should the board approve the request.
Creating and maintaining the station will be a combined effort
of Tehama County Public Works, the Flood Control and Water
Conservation District and the California Department of Water
Resources. According to the related agenda report, the station
is expected to be in use for a minimum of 20 years.
Swap this year and the period of Marin County’s worst-ever
drought in 1976-77 and it might be hard to tell the difference.
Water suppliers restricting use to conserve reservoirs.
Ranchers preparing to truck in water as creeks and wells dry
up. Talks of a potential water pipeline. And questions about
the resiliency of the county’s water supply. During the 1976-77
drought, the Marin Municipal Water District was within 120 days
of running out of water. The county’s savior was a 6-mile
pipeline over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to pump in water
from the East Bay.
The Nevada Assembly voted Thursday to approve a non-residential
turf removal proposal brought by Southern Nevada water
regulators, who say it will save the water-shy Las Vegas Valley
12 billion gallons of water per year. With little debate from
lawmakers, the Assembly voted 30-12 on Assembly Bill 356,
sending the proposal to the Senate. Four Republicans — Glen
Leavitt, R-Boulder City, Heidi Kasama, R-Las Vegas, Melissa
Hardy, R-Henderson, and Jill Tolles, R-Reno — crossed party
lines to vote with the 26 Democrats.
A lack of wet weather is taking a toll on the state’s water
supply. Chris Orrock, a spokesperson for the California
Department of Water Resources … said while drought-like
conditions are very common for the state, this year is worse
than normal, especially considering back-to-back dry winters
with little snow and rain. It is so dry, in fact, that DWR
canceled Thursday’s snow survey at Phillips Station because
there was not enough snow on the ground.
Attorneys for the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
filed a complaint with state regulators Tuesday asking that
California American Water Co. be forced to purchase water from
the expansion of a recycling project because Cal Am is failing
to meet a deadline for its part in increasing the local water
supply, according to language in the complaint. Any decision by
regulators is important because it will affect the ability of
the Monterey Peninsula to generate an alternative water source.
Cal Am in 2009 was hit with a state cease-and-desist order to
stop over-pumping from the Carmel River basin.
California is once again in a drought, just four years after
the last dry spell decimated ecosystems, fueled megafires and
left many rural communities without well water. Droughts are a
natural part of the landscape in the American west, and the
region has in many ways been shaped by its history of drought.
But the climate scientist Peter Gleick argues that the droughts
California is facing now are different than the ones that have
historically cycled through the Golden State.
Climate change and drought will impact San Diego County’s
climate future, but regional water supply planning and
adaptation measures will ensure a safe, reliable supply for the
region. Water supply strategy was one of the key points
participants learned about during a Monday panel discussion,
“San Diego County’s Climate Future,” hosted online by the San
Diego County Water Authority, Citizens Water Academy, Leaders
20/20 and San Diego Green Drinks.
Millions of drinking wells around the world may soon be at risk
of running dry. Overpumping, drought and the steady influence
of climate change are depleting groundwater resources all over
the globe, according to new research. As much as 20% of the
world’s groundwater wells may be facing imminent failure,
potentially depriving billions of people of fresh water.
… Residents of California’s Central Valley are preparing
for another arid summer and the rising risk of dry
wells, The Fresno Bee reported yesterday. It’s a
recurring pattern there.
It’s been years since the Bay Area has had to deal with drought
conditions. While some counties look to instituting water-use
restrictions, some communities look to creative ways to reuse
water. When Ashley Shannon does a load of laundry, her garden
and fruit trees get a super soaking. … Shannon is a Santa
Clara Valley Water District employee who recently installed a
gray water system on her washing machine. Outlet pipes that
would normally send wash water to the sewer system were
redirected to go outside and around her garden. Valves
installed in the ground let the water seep out to irrigate her
plants and trees.
After back-to-back dry winters, two of the Bay Area’s biggest
water agencies on Tuesday moved forward with plans to urge the
public to reduce water use to avoid shortages this year. But
for now, they are using a carrot rather than a stick, saying
they have enough water to get by without resorting to fines,
water cops and strict rules. The Santa Clara Valley Water
District, based in San Jose, voted Tuesday night to double the
amount of money it pays homeowners to replace their lawns with
drought-tolerant landscaping, from $1 a square foot to $2, and
to expand the maximum amount it will pay per household from
$2,000 to $3,000 under the conservation program.
Worms are helping a [San Joaquin] Valley winery on its path to
becoming more green. Olympic-sized swimming pools at O’Neill
Winery are actually beds filled with worms helping the company
become greener. … The technology allows the company to
take about 80 million gallons of processed water and clean
it. O’Neill Winery is the seventh-largest winery in
California. They produce wines and spirits sold around the
United States.
The Marin Municipal Water District on April 20 enacted a series
of water conservation rules, including banning home car washes,
no watering of outdoor lawns between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., and no
refilling decorative pools or fountains. A day later,
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for
the Russian River watershed in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.
Marin County borders Sonoma. Newsom chose to make the
declaration in those two counties only, rather than statewide,
as some officials and farmers in the agricultural-rich Central
Valley had hoped. But Newsom said a broader drought declaration
could come as conditions change.
California is in the second year of a drought. Governor Newsom
this week made his first drought declaration. Just how dry is
this drought, so far? What are some likely
implications? And what might State and local governments
do about it?
It has taken until the end of the second straight historically
dry winter, but California and its vast network of urban and
agricultural water suppliers, including those on the parched
North Coast, are now ramping up to confront the drought that is
tightening its grip on the state. Sonoma County
supervisors are set on Tuesday to proclaim a drought emergency,
becoming the first local government to take formal action on a
burgeoning water crisis that Gov. Gavin Newsom highlighted
Wednesday.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today awarded $26
million in grant funding for capital project investments to
improve water supply security, water quality and the
reliability of domestic wells – advancing access to safe,
affordable drinking water. This funding provides
important assistance for successful local implementation of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which
establishes a framework for managing the state’s groundwater
resources and will help California be better prepared for
longer, more severe droughts.
The water level of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir,
has dropped more than 130 feet since the beginning of 2000,
when the lake’s surface lapped at the spillway gates on Hoover
Dam. Twenty-one years later, with the Colorado River
consistently yielding less water as the climate has grown
warmer and drier, the reservoir near Las Vegas sits at just 39%
of capacity. … The river’s reservoirs are shrinking as
the Southwest endures an especially severe bout of dryness
within a two-decade drought intensified by climate
change, one of the driest periods in centuries that shows no
sign of letting up.
Limited access to clean water remains a struggle for millions
of Americans. And lack of water access is expected to become an
even greater problem in the coming years across the U.S. and
around the world. … To help boost water supplies in
Southern California, water and sanitation officials are working
on plans for the largest recycled water project in the nation.
Typical data centers guzzle local drinking water to keep
systems cool. By one estimate, traditional evaporative
air-cooling annually consumes up to eight million gallons of
water for each megawatt (MW) of energy needed to run the
facility. Silicon Valley alone is home to 411 MWs of data
center capacity – with those estimates, it would be more than
three billion gallons of water wasted per year in one of the
most drought-stricken areas of the country.
A burst of rain is expected to drench the Bay Area this
weekend, bringing much-needed moisture to a parched region. The
rains will likely be intense — but short-lived, tapering off to
another stretch of warm, dry conditions by the middle of next
week, meteorologists said. Showers were expected to start in
the North Bay as early as Saturday evening, with steady
rainfall pounding much of the Bay Area Sunday. Lingering
showers were expected in the central coast through Sunday
night, according to the National Weather Service.
Thousands of wells that bring water to San Joaquin Valley homes
are at risk of drying up this summer, leaving families without
running water for drinking, cleaning and bathing. While no one
knows the extent of the threat from this second year of drought
conditions, Jonathan Nelson with the Community Water Center
says “the alarm bells are sounding.” Homes, farms and
entire communities that rely on shallow wells as their only
source of water are vulnerable to declining groundwater levels
from dry conditions and agricultural pumping.
After two dry winters, the April 1 snowpack measurement, which
is typically the deepest and highest in water concentration, is
far below average at 59% according to the Department of Water
Resources. … [T]o substantially decrease water demands the
Central Valley needs to address agricultural water
usage. The main problem with agricultural water use is
pricing. … [It's] cheaper for farmers to use more water than
it is for them to invest in water-efficient
technologies. -Written by Caitlin Perkey, a masters of public
administration student at California State University,
Stanislaus in Turlock.
The Central Valley in California is a farming powerhouse,
growing more than 250 crops and producing $17 billion of
agricultural products every year to feed the world. The
competing demands of both agriculture and a growing local
population — along with droughts made worse by the climate
crisis — have put a dramatic strain on the local wells
supplying groundwater for both the farmers and rural residents.
… In short: the wells are literally running
dry. According to a new study, the
same groundwater problem plaguing the Central Valley
is occurring around the world, threatening the drinking water
of billions of people.
The Biden administration has launched a working group focused
on addressing drought conditions in the West as the region
continues to suffer from a long period of water scarcity. The
group, which will be co-chaired by the departments of the
Interior and Agriculture, will work with state, local and
tribal governments on community needs in weathering drought,
according to a news release from the Interior Department.
Los Angeles is currently at only 46% of average rainfall for
the Water Year according to the California Department of Water
Resources (DWR). … Drought is a condition to be expected a
large percent of the time. So why did California’s State
Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) decide
that the Southern California region should plan for an
additional 1.34 million residents over the next nine years?
-Written by Alyssa Erdley.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District is asking for public
input from residents of Alameda and Contra Costa counties for
an update of its water supply plan, which is updated every five
years. The plan assesses water supplies against expected water
needs for a 30-year planning horizon. A virtual public comment
meeting will be held April 29 and a virtual public hearing on
May 11, during the regularly scheduled EBMUD board of directors
meeting.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday declared a drought emergency for
Sonoma and Mendocino counties, but resisted calls to issue a
statewide proclamation — at least for now. Newsom’s emergency
order primarily affects communities and water districts in the
Russian River watershed, which includes the cities of Santa
Rosa, Ukiah and Sebastopol. Some 360,000 people live in the
area.
The 2020-21 California drought has led to significant water
cutbacks, compelling farmers to fallow ground and public
officials to respond with legislation intended to address the
state’s chronic water shortages. Farmers in more parts of
the state have learned in recent days just how little water
they will have available to them this summer, as water
suppliers from the Oregon border to the North Coast to the San
Joaquin Valley announced low allocations.
Just how bad is the drought in the Western US? The
shrinking of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, is a
troubling indicator. The massive man-made lake, which
straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada, is now only
at 39 percent of its full capacity, down from 44
percent in April 2020. That’s equivalent to a 10-foot drop
in the water level, according to the latest data from
the Bureau of Reclamation. Which means mandatory
restrictions on the amount of water surrounding states draw
from Lake Mead could be triggered in the next few months.
It won’t solve California’s drought problems, but it’s better
than nothing. The first rain in a month could wet the Bay Area
and much of Northern California this weekend, forecasters say,
as a late-season storm from the Gulf of Alaska appears to be
headed toward the region. Computer models show the rain will
begin late Saturday in the North Bay, spreading across the
wider Bay Area and Santa Cruz Mountains on Sunday. … The
weekend system also could bring snow to the Sierra Nevada on
Sunday.
Large areas of California farmland, particularly in the San
Joaquin Valley, face future restrictions on groundwater pumping
to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act. We talked to Caity Peterson—an adjunct fellow
at the PPIC Water Policy Center and a consulting
agroecologist—about a joint research project* on the potential
for dryland farming to reduce the amount of land needed to be
retired from production to balance water budgets.
With a drought affecting the Western part of the country, here
are ten simple ways to conserve water this Earth Day: Turn off
the faucet while brushing your teeth; Fix leaky faucets; Only
run a fully loaded dishwasher or wash a full load of laundry;
Take a shorter shower; Consider installing a water-saving
shower head; Use a broom to clean your driveway instead of
hosing it down; Find a use for water instead of pouring it down
the drain…
The Colorado River’s biggest reservoirs are likely to drop to
historically low levels later this year, prompting mandatory
conservation by some of the river’s heaviest users. The latest
Bureau of Reclamation reservoir projections, which take into
account river flows in a given year, show a likelihood that
Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada stateline will dip below the
critical threshold of 1,075 feet in elevation in May and remain
below that level for the foreseeable future. A first-ever
official shortage declaration from the Department of the
Interior is almost certain later this year.
Solar canals: What if, instead of letting the sun dry up canals
in drought-prone California, we covered them with solar
panels? It may sound weird — but solar panels and canals
seem to make a brilliant combination. Instead of allowing the
sun to evaporate the water in canals, solar panels can shade
the precious liquid, while also capturing the sun’s energy.
Borrego Springs, the small desert town at
the entrance to California’s sprawling Anza-Borrego
State Park, has won a judge’s approval for an
agreement under which large farmers, resort owners and
its own water district will slash water use by 74% by
2040. Officials say the cuts are needed to keep the town
of 3,000 alive.
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.
