New officers for the San Diego County Water Authority’s
Board of Directors were elected today, with Mel Katz starting
his two-year term as Board chair on Oct. 1. Katz, vice chair of
the Board for the past six months as a representative for the
City of Del Mar, will serve with incoming Vice Chair Nick
Serrano, a Board representative from the City of San Diego, and
incoming Secretary Frank Hilliker. Katz will serve as the 27th
board chair since the Water Authority’s founding in 1944.
Last year, a study published in Nature
Sustainability by researchers from University of
California at Santa Cruz along with UC Merced found that it may
be possible to tap into the network of public water delivery
canals as a way to both conserve water and advance the state’s
renewable energy efforts. The researchers studied the concept
of “solar canals,” which includes assembling a canopy of solar
panels to prevent evaporation while also generating electric
energy. The idea is being put to the test in an experiment
called Project Nexus.
As California’s drought continues, with fewer fields planted
because irrigation water isn’t available, one company is
promoting an unlikely source for water — the Mojave
Desert. And FIELD — the Farmworkers Institute of
Education & Leadership Development headquartered in Tehachapi —
has teamed up with owners of a desert ranch to provide a new
program to teach sustainable water management and conservation.
Cadiz Ranch is a 45,000-acre property in what some might call
the middle of nowhere. The ranch is about 190 miles southeast
of Tehachapi in San Bernardino County, south of the Mojave
National Preserve and northeast of Joshua Tree National Park.
A lush green lawn has long been a symbol of the perfect
American home. But as a prolonged drought reshapes life
in California, many residents are rethinking what a
beautiful yard should look like. In Los Angeles, which
imposed sweeping restrictions on outdoor water
use this year, thirsty lawns are out – and California
native plants are in. … The choice to conserve may be
contagious. Starting this June, more than a thousand
southern California residents a month made plans to replace
their lawns with more drought-friendly landscapes, according to
data from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California.
To combat an increasingly hotter and drier atmosphere, state
officials are looking to fund new water projects that could
kickstart a recycled water system on the coast. With a
dwindling snowpack and fewer available resources, researchers
from the Department of Water Resources project that climate
change impact could reduce the state’s water supply by up to 10
percent by 2040. That’s about 6 million to 9 million acre-feet
of water supply. For comparison, the Shasta Reservoir holds 4.5
million acre-feet. To make up for losses, the state is
looking at financing major water projects. Last month Gov.
Gavin Newsom announced a slew of moves to increase water supply
and adapt to more extreme weather patterns caused by climate
change through 2040. One of the biggest ways it could do that
is through recycled water.
Coastal urban centers around the world are urgently looking for
new, sustainable water sources as their local supplies become
less reliable. In the U.S., the issue is especially pressing in
California, which is coping with a record-setting, multidecadal
drought. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently released a US$8
billion plan for coping with a shrinking water supply. Along
with water conservation, storage and recycling, it includes
desalination of more seawater. Ocean desalination, which turns
salt water into fresh, clean water, has an intuitive appeal as
a water supply strategy for coastal cities. The raw supply of
salt water is virtually unlimited and reliable.
Plans for a large development in La Quinta that would include
hundreds of houses, a hotel and a high-tech surf wave basin
— a centerpiece that’s drawn strong opposition from some
residents and climate experts — were unanimously rejected
by the city council Wednesday night following a
lengthy meeting in a room packed with both opponents and
supporters of the project. The vote marks a major defeat for
the current plans for Coral Mountain Resort, a roughly $200
million private development mapped for 386 acres of vacant land
on the southwest corner of 58th Avenue and Madison Street. …
[C]oncerns have largely centered on whether the wave basin
would be an appropriate use of water amid a historic drought
across California that experts say has been fueled by climate
change.
Like many other researchers, environmental engineering
professors Erin Hestir and Joshua Viers are trying to quantify
water use in California’s Central Valley. The difference is,
they are doing it from the sky. Through NASA’s applied sciences
program, their team will leverage the power of Earth-orbiting
satellites and drones to gather data with high spatial and
temporal resolution and then analyze it to help resource
managers make better-informed decisions, particularly around
water use in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
As the state’s water worries continue, more Californians are
getting serious about saving water. In Sacramento, the city
said more people are turning off the tap and keeping an eye on
their neighbors. … New numbers reveal that when it comes
to water misuse, complaints from the public have more than
doubled. From July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, the city received
3,051 complaints about water misuse. The year before that,
1,170 complaints were received. Through a public records
request, KCRA 3 Investigates found countless complaints of
water-wasting; with people calling, emailing and sending photos
and videos to report water gushing down the drain.
People in California are not noticeably dirtier than other
Americans, and yet residents of the country’s most populous
state use less water than many of their fellow citizens to
bathe, wash their hands, and flush their toilets. Showerheads
in California use a maximum of 1.8 gallons of water every
minute; Texas residents, on the other hand, are inundated with
2.5 gallons, the most the Environmental Protection Agency
allows. California’s toilets use no more than 1.28 gallons per
flush even though the federal cap is 1.6. … While
national water consumption has sunk, California’s has
plummeted. In 1990, per capita consumption in the state was 231
gallons a day. Thirty years later, it’s fallen 61%, to just 91
gallons a day.
You don’t need a Ph.D. in agriculture to know that water is
critical to crop production. But for years, people like
Jonathan Proctor, who has a Ph.D. in Agriculture and Resource
Economics from the University of California Berkeley, have been
trying to explain why the importance of water isn’t showing up
in statistical models of crop yield. … The research team
had a hypothesis: What if the models were measuring the wrong
type of water? Rather than measuring precipitation, as previous
studies had done, the Harvard team used satellites to measure
soil moisture around the root zone for maize, soybeans, millet,
and sorghum growing around the world.
One Arizona water official said Phoenix won’t require residents
to conserve water yet, fearing that the action wouldn’t
actually benefit the Colorado River and instead would be
diverted to other states struggling with drought. Cynthia
Campbell, the water resource management adviser for the city,
told WBUR’s Peter O’Dowd that the city won’t mandate that its
residents save water by initiating bans on watering lawns. It
will, however, pay residents to kill their grass and replace it
with a more drought-resistant landscaping option, like gravel.
… California isn’t yet required to cut its usage from
the river …
Southern California water officials on Monday lifted a
temporary ban on outdoor watering in portions of Los Angeles
County after completing emergency repairs on a critical
pipeline two days early. The 36-mile Upper Feeder pipeline,
operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, is a major conduit for supplying water to the
region from the Colorado River. Officials shut it down Sept. 6
so they could address a leak, and called on nearly 4 million
residents to halt all outdoor irrigation — including sprinkling
and hand watering — for 15 days while they did the
work. The MWD said residents and businesses in affected
areas can resume limited watering outdoors.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority runs what is likely the
longest-running program to motivate homeowners to replace
water-thirsty grass with desert landscaping, but a new study
says that while the move may save water, the price could be a
superheated city. In a new study, a team of researchers
investigated the microclimate effects of three common landscape
types in an arid region of Phoenix, Arizona. Scientists
found that desert landscaping had the lowest water requirement
but the highest temperatures. Air temperatures in the desert
landscape plot averaged 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit higher
than in the other two landscape types.
Residents of the Bay Area have historically been among the best
in California at water conservation, and this year so far, the
nine-county region averaged 66 gallons of water per person, per
day. That’s compared with the state average of 86 gallons. And
in San Francisco, residents used just 39 gallons per person,
per day. Southern California, by contrast, has gotten a
particularly bad rap for stories of Hollywood celebrities using
water excessively to take care of their huge lawns, fill their
pools, and keep their high-end cars clean. But as
efficient as the Bay Area might seem at keeping its water use
low, experts say it lags at developing and diversifying where
it gets its water.
During a summer of soaring heat, shrinking supplies and
mandatory drought restrictions, Los Angeles residents conserved
water at an impressive pace in August, with that month’s usage
dropping below a record low set during the previous drought.
But it’s becoming clear that this alone is not going to be
enough. The crisis on the Colorado River, a key source of water
for Southern California, is expected to bring painful cuts to
supplies in the coming months. And hopes of a wet winter are
looking more unlikely with another year of dry La Niña in the
forecast. Now, the pressure is on to not only increase savings,
but also double-down on efforts to reduce reliance on imported
supplies and to invest in long-term water solutions.
David Villarino-González envisions a day when rural communities
finally have clean drinking water, and when crops on farmworker
cooperatives thrive through droughts or wet seasons. His dream,
which isn’t that far-fetched, could be a game changer in a
parched San Joaquín Valley whose livelihood depends on water.
Cadiz Ranch and the Farmworkers Institute of Education &
Leadership Development (FIELD)_ announced Thursday a $5 million
partnership to set up an innovative center to train farmworkers
on state-of-the-art technology that produces clean water. The
ranch has 45,000 acres in the Mojave Desert where it will teach
people about water conservation, groundwater management and
sustainable agriculture.
In a blistering third year of drought, Californians have been
asked to limit their indoor water usage to 55 gallons (208
litres) per person per day. It takes about 30 gallons to fill a
bathtub, so forget about a deep Jacuzzi experience. Yet in the
gated communities of Calabasas and Hidden Hills – exclusive
enclaves in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu – lush
lawns and filled swimming pools and koi ponds make it clear
that some are ignoring the rules. So officials have created a
device to take power showers away from rich and famous water
hogs. A small metal disc with a pinhole drilled through the
middle, it has seriously reduced the flow of water into some
multimillion dollar homes. People here call Derek Krauss the
‘water police’.
Keeping Disneyland’s 17,000 trees green and 1,000 floral beds
blooming takes a mammoth effort by the Anaheim theme park’s
horticulture team that’s focused on reducing water consumption
during Southern California’s latest drought. Constant readings
from Disneyland’s weather station in the Toy Story parking lot
combined with a sophisticated irrigation control system have
allowed the horticulture team to cut water usage by 13%
compared to the same period last year, according to Disneyland
officials. … Disneyland is currently ahead of schedule
on its commitment to reducing irrigation usage by 11% under a
plan approved by the state, according to Disneyland officials.
The Board of Supervisors directed the chief administrative
officer Wednesday to update the county’s water and
drought-management strategies, including sustainability
efforts, and deliver a final report within the next year. The
overhaul, proposed by board Vice Chairwoman Nora Vargas, will
incorporate the entire region, including local municipalities,
Imperial County and bi-national cities.
In a new study in the journal Hydrology, a team of scientists
from DRI, Arizona State University (ASU), and the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), examined the irrigation water
requirements of three common types of urban landscapes. Then,
they compared air temperature, surface temperature, and wind
speed around the three sites to learn how differences in
landscape types impact their surrounding environment. The three
landscape types analyzed in the study were a “mesic” tree and
turf-grass landscape with water-intensive plants; a “xeric”
landscape consisting primarily of desert plants on drip
irrigation; and an intermediate “oasis” landscape type with a
mix of high-and low water use plants.
In the parched Colorado River basin, water managers are turning
over every stone looking for ways to keep the taps flowing.
Now, they’re finding more water in some unusual places – shower
drains and toilet flushes. At a sprawling sewage treatment
plant in Carson, California, the occasional breeze delivers a
pungent whiff of a reminder of how used water becomes “reused.”
Here, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is
planting the seeds for a massive new facility, where a
multi-billion-dollar installation could help recycle wastewater
and keep drinking supply flowing for the agency’s 19 million
customers.
Marin Municipal Water District is pushing back on a Marin
County Civil Grand Jury report asserting the agency nearly
faced depleting its reservoirs this year because it had not
taken past steps to build a more resilient water supply. The
grand jury assessment lacked credibility, included factual
errors and is now being used to incite more critique of the
district’s handling of the drought last year, the district
Board of Directors said. The grand jury report came after
two winters of drought in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 threatened to
deplete local reservoirs as soon as mid-2022.
After months of missing water conservation targets while
California’s drought worsened, the 2 million residents of Santa
Clara County appear to have turned the corner and are making
significant progress now — much of it by dialing back
sprinklers that irrigate their lawns and other landscaping.
Santa Clara County residents reduced water use by 16% in July
compared to July 2019 levels, according to new numbers out
Tuesday, surpassing the goal of 15% set by the area’s main
water provider, the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Water-hungry lawns are symbols of Los Angeles’ past.
In this series, we spotlight yards with alternative,
low-water landscaping built for the future. … For decades,
[Susan and Steve] Matloff’s Windsor Square neighborhood
has been lined with stately homes bordered by sprawling lawns
and sidewalks wet from sprinkler overspray. You could argue
that the neighborhood is no different from others in Southern
California where lush, green lawns have traditionally been
a statement about pride of place. But the pervasive water
waste involved in tending to a lawn as drought in
California continues prompted the Matloffs to consider
their footprint, as well as L.A.’s future water independence.
Business has been slow at C&S Nursery Inc. in Baldwin
Hills. Cristian Rosales, who owns the company with his brother
Santiago, said the slowdown this summer was due to customers
being reluctant to buy new plants. … The strict restrictions
on outdoor watering have severely pruned business at nurseries
throughout the Los Angeles area with one owner claiming sales
were down 90% in August. They agree their future may lie with
native California plants and growing material that uses less
water. The water restrictions are from the Metropolitan Water
District (MWD), which in April asked its member water agencies
to either go to a one-day a week watering schedule or go on a
water budget – a setting of volumetric limits on the amount of
water used.
As soon as the U.S. Department of the Interior last month
announced that Nevada would lose 8% of its water allotment from
the Colorado River next year amid the continuing drought,
officials with the Southern Nevada Water Authority started
fielding questions from concerned residents. And with those
questions came some inaccurate finger-pointing about the water
situation — namely that California is using our water; same
with casinos on the resort corridor. The authority last week,
in an ongoing video series to bring educational awareness for
conservation, addressed those concerns. It’s one of about 12
videos it has done in recent years, stressing that the water
supply here — especially with continued conservation — is
secure.
Water use in the Coachella Valley continued to tick downwards
in July, but conservation is still falling short of the state’s
goal of a 15% reduction compared to 2020, according to data
released by the State Water Resources Control Board this
week. But the July water use numbers do continue a trend
of reduced water use that began in June, a marked shift
from May and other previous months in which local water
districts actually increased — rather than
decreased — water use compared to 2020 baseline
numbers.
Following an extensive recruitment process, the Contra Costa
Water District (CCWD) Board of Directors (Board) has selected
Assistant General Manager Rachel Murphy to become the new
General Manager (GM) following the retirement of Steve Welch.
Murphy has over 26 years of experience and will become the
first woman to lead CCWD in the GM role.
Californians stepped up their water conservation in July, using
10.4% less than two years ago as the state struggles with a
years-long drought, state water officials said Wednesday. July
marks the first full month that new conservation rules like a
ban on watering decorative grass were in effect, which state
water officials said helped make a difference. Water use
started to trend down in June after a bump in April and May.
Sonoma County held a drought town hall on Thursday which
touched on all aspects of water– and the lack of it– in the
county and state and how it will affect residents, fire risk,
and the future. Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey led
the discussion, which involved representatives from the county,
nonprofits, Sonoma Water and the National Weather
Service. First up was an overview of where the county
stands water-wise. On the state’s categories of drought
severity, Sonoma County stands in the “middle,” according to
Coursey, who said it is experiencing “severe” drought. The
first seven months of this year have been the driest in 128
years, Coursey said, with rainfall 20 inches below normal.
A 15-day outdoor watering ban took effect for 4 million Los
Angeles County residents on Tuesday as crews make emergency
repairs to a pipeline that delivers water to Southern
Californians, according to the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California. The 36-mile Upper Feeder
pipeline, which carries water from the Colorado River to
Southern California, began leaking earlier this year, officials
said. The agency made temporary repairs and continued using the
pipeline at a reduced capacity but scheduled permanent repairs
to be made from Tuesday to Sept. 20, during which the pipeline
will be offline.
Water availability in Colorado may never again be what it was,
prompting efforts to voluntarily limit use to stave off
regulatory steps. … Water Education Colorado is a nonprofit
organization attempting to raise awareness of the challenge
that Colorado and the West face as the Colorado River and its
great reservoirs continue their decline. … [Water Education
Colorado] this year is running a campaign to encourage
state residents to tap into 22 ways to save water in order to
reduce water use per person by 22 gallons daily or 8,000
gallons yearly. That would amount to 48 billion gallons of
water statewide annually if everyone were to take up the
challenge.
California water districts are under growing pressure to
shoulder substantial water cutbacks as the federal government
pushes for urgent solutions to prevent the Colorado River’s
badly depleted reservoirs from reaching dangerously low
levels. … Federal officials from the Interior Department
and the Bureau of Reclamation have also laid out plans
that could bring additional federal leverage to bear. Their
plan to reexamine and possibly redefine what constitutes
“beneficial use” of water in the three Lower Basin states —
California, Arizona and Nevada — could open an avenue to a
critical look at how water is used in farming areas and cities.
In charge of 500 acres of irrigated turf at Sun City Palm
Desert, including two 18-hole golf courses, parks and softball
fields for the 50-and-over community of 5,000 homes, Tyler
Truman is no stranger to concerns about how much water the
courses and the surrounding areas are using. … As
the drought in the southwest deepens, with a
first-ever Level 2a Shortage Condition declared for the
Colorado River – a major source of water for the desert and all
of Southern California — golf courses in the Coachella Valley
are aware that golf is always a target for those looking at
water usage.
More than 4 million residents in Los Angeles County are being
asked to suspend outdoor watering for more than two weeks The
shutdown, required to repair a leak in a water pipeline, will
impact residents in a large swath of southern Los Angeles
County, parts of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys and
Malibu. Here’s what to know about the Metropolitan Water
District project. … The 15-day period is scheduled
for Sept. 6 to 20. The MWD recommends that trees and gardens be
watered before the shutdown and maintained
using water collected from the sink and shower.
Additional water-saving tips are available here.
More than 30 years ago, if you were to visit San Diego County,
you would be struck by the lush green lawns, beautiful gardens,
and many folks washing their cars. The county alongside the
Pacific Coast appeared to be flush with water. But in all
actuality, a major water catastrophe was already in the works.
From 1987-1992, California was hit with a megadrought, and San
Diego, which was at the end of the fresh water pipeline, was in
deep trouble. Fast forward, and today, San Diego is riding
a huge wave of success. The key: those who lived here decided
to reduce the risk of another painful drought from ever
happening again. They decided to spend the money, update
the infrastructure, and create a diverse water portfolio.
After decades of dedication to their manicured lawns,
Californians are finally giving them up amid a worsening
drought that’s prompted stringent new water restrictions. In
other words, the California dream of a single-family home
surrounded by lush grass is maybe, probably, finally dead. And
that’s elicited a host of complicated feelings. To some,
lawns remain a beloved symbol of economic success and domestic
stability — and ripping them out feels almost sacrilegious. To
others, they’re a dangerous form of blight in a period of
extreme water scarcity.
An innovative plan to conserve water by covering aqueducts with
solar panels is about to undergo testing in drought-stricken
California. Why it matters: Water is becoming more precious by
the day in the Golden State and the Western U.S. more broadly,
in part due to climate change. … About 8,500 feet of
solar panels will be installed above two portions of Turlock
Irrigation District (TID) aqueducts in Central California in a
$20 million state-funded effort dubbed Project Nexus. The idea
is that the panels will shade the water running underneath,
preventing loss due to evaporation.
In an effort to combat the devastating drought conditions
hitting California, the Golden State will become the first in
the nation to install solar panel canopies over canals. The $20
million pilot project funded by the state has been dubbed
“Project Nexus.” It will consist of an estimated 8,500 feet of
solar panels installed over three sections of Turlock
Irrigation District (TID) canals in Central California. The
installation process is expected to begin by 2023, and be
completed by 2024. … According to TID, the project aims
to use water and energy management hand-in-hand. The project is
designed to increase renewable power generation, while reducing
water evaporation and vegetative growth in canals.
When Yvonne Savio talks, savvy SoCal gardeners listen. And her
message for fall is big: Despite a long tradition of planting
during the “mild” days of September, her counsel this week is
to put off any planting — even starting seeds — until late
October or November, because folks, it’s just too darn hot
these days, especially with the drought-induced restrictions on
outdoor watering. … Even in the best of conditions,
transplanting is a shock to any plant’s system, and that stress
is much worse when it happens in high heat, even with plenty of
water — and nobody in SoCal has plenty of water these days.
Officials are urging large areas of Los Angeles County to heed
a temporary outdoor watering ban that will begin next week and
affect more than 4 million people, as crews make repairs to a
leaking major pipeline. The Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California outlined the 15-day ban at a Tuesday news
conference. The watering restrictions begin Sept. 6 and run
through Sept. 20, allowing workers to repair the 36-mile Upper
Feeder pipeline that supplies water from the Colorado River,
one of the two main sources of water for most of Southern
California.
California water conservation experts sounded an alarm on
Tuesday. They warned Bay Area residents to brace for a fourth
dry year in a row, as the drought persists. … People in the
Bay Area have stepped up conservation efforts over the last
several years. … However, with the drought persisting,
Stevenson, Chan, [Resources Secretary Wade] Crowfoot, and
several other leaders from Bay Area water agencies, say it’s
crucial for people to keep up with and improve conservation
efforts.
In a single day in mid-August, the Shasta River’s flows dropped
by more than half and stayed there for a week, which could
jeopardize the salmon and other fish that spawn there…. The
State Water Resources Control Board ordered the Shasta River
Water Association, which serves roughly 110 farms and ranches
in central Siskiyou County, to stop pumping…. The
weeklong standoff crystallized a warning from California water
watchers: The state has limited power to speedily intervene in
urgent conflicts over water, which are expected to flare across
the state as drought squeezes water supplies for ranches,
farms, tribes, cities and fish.
Cannon Michael and his family have deep roots farming the
fertile fields of the Central Valley, but the worsening
California drought has him on edge. … He manages the
Bowles Farming Company — 11,000 acres of farmland
located outside of Los Banos in Merced County and takes pride
in his yearly harvest. … But like his contemporaries,
the lack of rainfall has Michael casting a weary eye on the
immediate future. This year, his farm saw a 25% cut in water
supplies, and he knows there may be more. That’s why
Michael is employing extraordinary measures to conserve water
at all costs. His farm is primarily irrigated with river water
imported from Northern California and every drop counts.
Residents throughout the Southland will yet again be faced with
additional watering restrictions as state officials work to
limit overuse in the face of California’s worst drought in
1,200 years. The 15-day shutdown is scheduled to begin on
Sept. 6 as Metropolitan Water District crews work on repairing
a crucial pipeline that serves more than 4 million Southern
Californians, affecting areas like Beverly Hills, Burbank,
Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena, San Fernando and Torrance.
The pretty, cloudless blue skies over perfectly manicured lawns
represent an ugly reality for California’s Las Virgenes
Municipal Water District as it grapples with the historic
megadrought ravaging the American West. Despite a lack of any
measurable rain in months, the carpet of lush, green grass
likely means homeowners are either not getting the message
about the dire need for water conservation, or they are
ignoring the warnings. But now, the water district has found a
way to get customers’ attention. … And for repeat offenders,
officials are trying something new: adding water restrictors to
the pipes, which sharply reduce the home’s water supply.
When it comes to the question of “what’s for dinner?” protein
is typically at the center of the meal. Production and
consumption statistics show that, for a majority of people,
protein generally means meat, but it also increasingly includes
other non-animal proteins like beans and quinoa. … So
why does it matter if we’re over-consuming protein? For
starters, protein-rich foods tend to carry a
larger foodprint than others. … While animal foods
are more concentrated protein sources, those animals have to
eat a lot of plants to grow. As a result, producing
protein-rich foods can take a lot of resources, including one
that’s often overlooked: water.
Amid a years-long drought, the only Ventura County agencies
that reached the state’s goal of 15% water savings in June were
those with one-day-a-week watering restrictions. The
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California supplies
those communities in Ventura County with Northern
California water delivered by the State Water
Project. After a record dry start to the year, the
state limited its deliveries to just 5%. In response,
the mega-district required those customers and others in
Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties to cut outdoor
watering as of June 1 or find other ways to conserve.
In California, with a population of 39 million people, the
problem has the potential of becoming especially dire. The
governor, Gavin Newsom, recently announced a $8 billion
spending package which attacks California’s water scarcity
problems from four different angles … The federal
government is also adding billions of dollars more through
spending in the Inflation Reduction Act. It is an
enormous amount of money to spend on California’s water
scarcity problem. But what if all of these billions of dollars
are ignoring the elephant in the room? What if there are
several easy solutions that could save trillions of gallons of
water per year? -Written by Marshall Brain, a writer and contributor
to WRAL TechWire.
California is about to launch an experiment to cover aqueducts
with solar panels, a plan that if scaled up might save billions
of gallons of otherwise evaporated water while powering
millions of homes. Project Nexus in the Turlock Irrigation
District launches in mid-October amid Western North America’s
worst drought in 1,200 years and as human-influenced climate
change exacerbates the dry spell. The $20 million project,
funded by the state, is due to break ground in two locations.
One is a 500-foot (152-meter or about 0.3-mile) span along a
curved portion of the canal in the town of Hickman, about 100
miles (160 km) inland from San Francisco. The other is a
mile-long (1.6-km long) straightaway in nearby Ceres.
Since dry years became common and the effects of climate change
more pronounced, Marin Municipal Water District has faced a
quandary. Its traditional sources of water were inadequate to
meet the public’s demand. Addressing that need led to a policy
divide on the five-member elected water board. Some, mostly in
Marin’s environmental community, believed the best method to
address water shortages was by conservation. The idealistic, if
unrealistic, implication of the “less is more” thinking is that
Marinites’ quality of life won’t decrease even if water use is
restricted.
Some utilities that draw water from the Colorado River said
they will start conserving more in light of the region’s
shrinking supply. A group of seven water authorities that serve
cities in Colorado, Nevada, and California outlined their plans
in a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday.
Cities in the Colorado River basin often tout their ability to
reduce per capita water use, as many have been forced to
stretch a finite quantity of water across rapidly growing
populations. However, conservation in cities is unlikely to
make a substantial change to the region’s supply-demand
imbalance, because the agricultural sector still uses nearly
80% of the river’s supply.
Most Californians agree the state’s drought situation is very
serious, but only a minority of voters say they and their
families have been significantly affected by the current water
shortage, according to a new poll. The survey of more than
9,000 voters statewide found that 71% said the state’s water
shortage is “extremely serious,” while 23% described it as
somewhat serious. Far fewer of those voters indicated they are
directly feeling the effects of the drought, according to the
poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies,
which was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
The extent of California’s ongoing drought is starting to have
more and more noticeable and disturbing effects, with aquatic
wildlife left to rot in the sun as the state experiences its
driest spell in 1,200 years. The extremely hot temperatures
have left all 58 of California’s counties under a drought
emergency proclamation, with water rationing continuing in the
state’s battle against the climate. Nonetheless, one measure
used to combat the shortage was met with incredulity when it
was posted on social media. … The name of the device in
the photo … was a flow restrictor and is used as a deterrent
for wasteful water use by homeowners. All residents have a
water budget combining indoor and outdoor water they have to
adhere to and the restrictor is for those who consistently
exceed that.
San Fernando resident Adriana Gomez has been doing everything
in her power to save her lawn from turning brown while
recycling water during the worsening drought in Los Angeles
County…. But she grew concerned that her plants could
die when she heard that officials at Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California were asking San Fernando
residents to turn off their sprinklers and stop using hoses for
nearly two weeks starting Tuesday, Sept. 6, so the district can
repair a break in a major pipeline that supplies water to a
large part of Southern California…. Gomez found herself
in a situation shared by more than 4 million residents in Los
Angeles County who will face a mandatory ban on outdoor
watering for 15 days in September while the Metropolitan Water
District repairs the crucial pipeline.
[Gamble Family Vineyards proprietor Tom] Gamble believes that
utilizing innovative tools, like artificial intelligence, allow
his team to drop many tedious production tasks and focus on
more value-added projects. That includes wireless soil sensor
networks with recommendations on water needs to support his
deficit irrigation practices and drones that identify grapevine
diseases, gauge vine density, and even apply mildew prevention
products in hard-to-reach vineyards. … Recently, it’s
been enhanced by extreme and volatile weather patterns in
California wine country: ongoing drought, rising temperatures,
and wildfires that have led to smoke taint from wildfires,
diseases in the vineyards, and lots of lost juice in a region
that accounts for 81% of wine production in the United
States.
When the Pinole Building Inspector saw our greywater system, he
was very complimentary, but added that in six years of
inspections around the Bay Area, he has only seen a few of
these systems. I would like to encourage others with some basic
skills to install these water-conserving systems in the Bay
Area, and rangers like to tell stories, so here is our
greywater story! The first system we built was the “laundry to
landscape,” which redirects the water from the washing machine
downhill to our fruit trees.
Some of Hollywood’s biggest celebrities are accused of using
too much water while the rest of us try to conserve. But water
resource officials say it’s not just the stars who are using
more than their fair share. Thousands are being warned about
using too much water. Since the Las Virgenes Municipal Water
District declared a drought emergency last year, apparently
some big names are not following the new water restrictions.
They’re some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Sylvester
Stallone, Kevin Hart and Kim and Kourtney Kardashian. They’re
also apparently some of the biggest water wasters in the Hidden
Hills neighborhood in Calabasas.
They’re among the biggest names in entertainment and sports:
Sylvester Stallone, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Hart, Kim and Kourtney
Kardashian. And as Southern California struggles with a third
year of punishing drought and unprecedented water restrictions,
they may be among the biggest names in water waste in the tony
San Fernando Valley enclaves of Calabasas and Hidden Hills,
documents obtained by The Times show. The celebrities were
among more than 2,000 customers who recently were issued
“notices of exceedance” by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water
District, indicating that they had surpassed 150% of their
monthly water budgets at least four times since the agency
declared a drought emergency at the end of last year.
As Southern California’s water supplies run perilously low,
more and more homeowners are doing something they might not
have imagined even a few years ago: ripping out their lawns. As
I reported this week, the shift away from thirsty grass toward
native plants and artificial turf marks the twilight of one of
Los Angeles’s most iconic fantasies — a vision of suburban
homesteading that evolved over centuries. American lawns have
their roots in 18th-century England, where wealthy people
started to accumulate land and private property.
Tuesday’s announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that
it would require Arizona and Nevada to reduce their annual
allocation of water from the Colorado River came as no surprise
to most water experts. … The Colorado
River supplies water to 40 million people in two
countries, seven states, 29 federally recognized
Indigenous tribes and 4 million acres of farmland. But its
ability to provide that water faces a serious challenge
following 22 years of drought and a drier climate that reduced
its annual flow from 16.4 million acre-feet to around 14.5
million acre-feet on average since 2000.
Many cities across Southern California currently have programs
in place to help residents convert their laundry and other grey
water to help plants and trees. In a time of drought, where
every drop of water makes a difference in California, the water
that goes down the drain is getting a second look. Grey water
systems capture gently used water from tubs, showers, and
laundry, and re-uses it to water your garden. There are a
number of different ways to reuse the water in your home. This
house has a simple system that distributes the water from the
washing machine to the garden.
At a Senate committee hearing on June 14, Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton sat before
federal lawmakers and delivered a grave ultimatum on the
Colorado River. Without significant cuts to water use, she
warned, Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the nation’s two largest
reservoirs — could fall so low that hydropower production could
cease in the near future. At that point, the Bureau of
Reclamation, which manages both reservoirs, would struggle to
deliver water to the majority of the 40 million people who rely
on the Colorado River.
The Great American lawn, the setting for barbeques,
wiffleball games, and picnics for generations, could be the
next causality of the climate crisis in the west. In reality,
experts say the lawn should never have existed in California in
the first place. … Grass consumes large amounts of
water, water that the west does not have to
spare, according to Scientific American. About half
of residential water use in a single-family home goes to
outdoor watering, like grass, according to Carlos Eliason,
spokesperson for the city of Sacramento. Meanwhile,
drought-tolerant landscapes use about a third of the water as
regular lawns.
Boasting some of California’s most stunning stretches of
shoreline and world-famous pier, Santa Monica has embarked on
an ambitious journey of water self-sufficiency. Forget 2050
ambitions set for decades into the future. Instead, the city
plans to become water resilient and self-sufficient by 2023.
For the record, that’s in several months’ time. Using a “one
water” approach, Santa Monica is reducing its reliance on
imported water supplies. … A brackish water desalination
facility providing half of the city’s water, Arcadia will be
the first major municipal installation in the U.S. to use Flow
Reversal Reverse Osmosis (FR-RO) technology.
Momentum is building for a unique
interstate deal that aims to transform wastewater from Southern
California homes and business into relief for the stressed
Colorado River. The collaborative effort to add resiliency to a
river suffering from overuse, drought and climate change is being
shaped across state lines by some of the West’s largest water
agencies.
Las Vegas, known for its searing summertime heat and glitzy casino fountains, is projected to get even hotter in the coming years as climate change intensifies. As temperatures rise, possibly as much as 10 degrees by end of the century, according to some models, water demand for the desert community is expected to spike. That is not good news in a fast-growing region that depends largely on a limited supply of water from an already drought-stressed Colorado River.
When you oversee the largest
supplier of treated water in the United States, you tend to think
big.
Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California for the last 15 years, has
focused on diversifying his agency’s water supply and building
security through investment. That means looking beyond MWD’s
borders to ensure the reliable delivery of water to two-thirds of
California’s population.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
Even as stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin celebrate the recent completion of an unprecedented drought plan intended to stave off a crashing Lake Mead, there is little time to rest. An even larger hurdle lies ahead as they prepare to hammer out the next set of rules that could vastly reshape the river’s future.
Set to expire in 2026, the current guidelines for water deliveries and shortage sharing, launched in 2007 amid a multiyear drought, were designed to prevent disputes that could provoke conflict.
One of California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade
Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within
weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that
Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.
That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach”
on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded
floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.
Groundwater helped make Kern County
the king of California agricultural production, with a $7 billion
annual array of crops that help feed the nation. That success has
come at a price, however. Decades of unchecked groundwater
pumping in the county and elsewhere across the state have left
some aquifers severely depleted. Now, the county’s water managers
have less than a year left to devise a plan that manages and
protects groundwater for the long term, yet ensures that Kern
County’s economy can continue to thrive, even with less water.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Imported water from the Sierra
Nevada and the Colorado River built Southern California. Yet as
drought, climate change and environmental concerns render those
supplies increasingly at risk, the Southland’s cities have ramped
up their efforts to rely more on local sources and less on
imported water.
Far and away the most ambitious goal has been set by the city of
Santa Monica, which in 2014 embarked on a course to be virtually
water independent through local sources by 2023. In the 1990s,
Santa Monica was completely dependent on imported water. Now, it
derives more than 70 percent of its water locally.
In the universe of California water, Tim Quinn is a professor emeritus. Quinn has seen — and been a key player in — a lot of major California water issues since he began his water career 40 years ago as a young economist with the Rand Corporation, then later as deputy general manager with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and finally as executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies. In December, the 66-year-old will retire from ACWA.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
People in California and the
Southwest are getting stingier with water, a story that’s told by
the acre-foot.
For years, water use has generally been described in terms of
acre-foot per a certain number of households, keying off the
image of an acre-foot as a football field a foot deep in water.
The long-time rule of thumb: One acre-foot of water would supply
the indoor and outdoor needs of two typical urban households for
a year.
Amy Haas recently became the first non-engineer and the first woman to serve as executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in its 70-year history, putting her smack in the center of a host of daunting challenges facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.
Yet those challenges will be quite familiar to Haas, an attorney who for the past year has served as deputy director and general counsel of the commission. (She replaced longtime Executive Director Don Ostler). She has a long history of working within interstate Colorado River governance, including representing New Mexico as its Upper Colorado River commissioner and playing a central role in the negotiation of the recently signed U.S.-Mexico agreement known as Minute 323.
Nowhere is the domino effect in
Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River,
and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of
California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now
as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan.
Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying
voice between its major water players, an effort you can read
more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.
Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within
California.
It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the
Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is
first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan
for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors,
California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water
levels in Lake Mead before
they run too low.
If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level,
the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and
Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by
320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1
million households in one year.
As California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.
Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
For decades, no matter the weather, the message has been preached
to Californians: use water wisely, especially outdoors, which
accounts for most urban water use.
Enforcement of that message filters to the local level, where
water agencies routinely target the notorious “gutter flooder”
with gentle reminders and, if necessary, financial penalties.
The message is oft-repeated that
water must be conserved and used as wisely as possible.
The California Water Code calls water use efficiency “the
efficient management of water resources for beneficial uses,
preventing waste, or accomplishing additional benefits with the
same amount of water.”
From the Greek “xeros” and Middle Dutch “scap,”
xeriscape was coined
in 1978 and literally translates to “dry scene.”
Xeriscaping, by extension, is making an environment which can
tolerate dryness. This involves installing drought-resistant and
slow-growing plants to reduce water use.
Irrigation is the artificial supply
of water to grow crops or plants. Obtained from either surface or groundwater, it optimizes
agricultural production when the amount of rain and where it
falls is insufficient. Different irrigation
systems are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in
practical use are often combined. Much of the agriculture in
California and the West relies on irrigation.
This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses
the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent
facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully
illustrated with color photographs.
For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and
California border has faced complex water management disputes. As
relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary
narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range
from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp,
farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists
– all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water.
After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon
settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise
of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the
documentary here.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
Water truly has shaped California into the great state it is
today. And if it is water that made California great, it’s the
fight over – and with – water that also makes it so critically
important. In efforts to remap California’s circulatory system,
there have been some critical events that had a profound impact
on California’s water history. These turning points not only
forced a re-evaluation of water, but continue to impact the lives
of every Californian. This 2005 PBS documentary offers a
historical and current look at the major water issues that shaped
the state we know today. Includes a 12-page viewer’s guide with
background information, historic timeline and a teacher’s lesson.
A companion to the Truckee River Basin Map poster, this 24×36
inch poster, suitable for framing, explores the Carson River, and
its link to the Truckee River. The map includes Lahontan Dam and
Reservoir, the Carson Sink, and the farming areas in the basin.
Map text discusses the region’s hydrology and geography, the
Newlands Project, land and water use within the basin and
wetlands. Development of the map was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region, Lahontan Basin
Area Office.
This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the
water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the
environment. It features natural and manmade water resources
throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers,
Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River
that forms the state’s eastern boundary.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Integrated Regional Water
Management (IRWM) is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the principles of IRWM,
its funding history and how it differs from the traditional water
management approach.
Water conservation has become a way of life throughout the West
with a growing recognition that the supply of water is not
unlimited.
Drought is the most common motivator of increased water
conservation but the gradual drying of the West as a result of
climate change means the amount of fresh water available for
drinking, irrigation, industry and other uses must be used as
efficiently as possible.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its
finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the
Southwest.
This printed issue of Western Water examines
agricultural water use – its successes, the planned state
regulation to quantify its efficiency and the potential for
greater savings.
This printed issue of Western Water examines the
financing of water infrastructure, both at the local level and
from the statewide perspective, and some of the factors that
influence how people receive their water, the price they pay for
it and how much they might have to pay in the future.
This printed copy of Western Water examines California’s drought
– its impact on water users in the urban and agricultural sector
and the steps being taken to prepare for another dry year should
it arrive.
Perhaps no other issue has rocketed to prominence in such a short
time as climate change. A decade ago, discussion about greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions and the connection to warming temperatures
was but a fraction of the attention now given to the issue. From
the United Nations to local communities, people are talking about
climate change – its characteristics and what steps need to be
taken to mitigate and adapt to the anticipated impacts.
This issue of Western Water examines the continuing practice of
smart water use in the urban sector and its many facets, from
improved consumer appliances to improved agency planning to the
improvements in water recycling and desalination. Many in the
water community say conserving water is not merely a response to
drought conditions, but a permanent ethic in an era in which
every drop of water is a valuable commodity not to be wasted.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply.
