California hosts a substantial, complicated water rights system
that allocates water across the state. In addition to a dual
system — riparian and appropriate rights — today state courts
are recognizing expanded public trust values in determining
how the state’s water resources should be best used.
Water rights are governed mostly by state law. Water quality
issues, which may affect allocation, are regulated separately by
both federal and state laws. Water rights can be quite
contentious.
Restoration flows will begin tomorrow, April 16, on the Trinity
River to help improve conditions after another critically dry
water year. A flow schedule based on the expected amount of
water available to support salmon restoration efforts on the
Trinity River is brought forward by the Trinity Management
Council each year. This week’s two-day schedule is slated to
increase daily average flows from 300 cubic feet per second to
1,300 cubic feet per second.
While high-profile surface-water initiatives like WaterFix and
the Delta Conveyance Project grab most of the headlines
pertaining to water management in the state, efforts to make
significant changes to the way groundwater is utilized have
been underway since 2014. Now, the state and the local water
agencies are seeking public comment on documents related to the
management of groundwater. In 2014, then-Gov. Jerry Brown
signed a three-bill legislative package collectively known as
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to better
manage groundwater supplies over the long term.
California was the first U.S. state to legally recognize access
to safe, clean and affordable water as a human right. But
substantial parts of the state lack access to drinking water
that meets those criteria. A new study published by the
California State Water Board and supported by UCLA research
identifies a risk for failure among a significant portion of
the state’s small and medium-sized public water systems.
The Yuba Water Agency manages water storage and deliveries to
downstream customers while having a hand in preserving fish
habitats and recreational areas. Currently, the agency has
already begun doubling its reservoir releases at a time when
visitors to the river are also expected to go up. Due to
the time of year, those releases from upstream reservoirs are
dictated by irrigation needs of downstream growers.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation delivered a gut-punch to Klamath
Project irrigators Wednesday, announcing a historically low
water allocation as the basin struggles with extreme drought.
Farms and ranches in the Project will receive an initial
allocation of just 33,000 acre-feet — the lowest total since
the shutdown of 2001 and barely 8% of historical demand. That
is dramatically lower than the bureau’s original estimate of
130,000 acre-feet based on hydrological conditions at the
beginning of March.
Shasta Dam, which rises over 600 feet, flooded much of our
tribe’s homeland and inundated dozens of our sacred sites. It
stopped our salmon from reaching their spawning grounds. And by
holding back water when it is needed by the river, Shasta Dam
has driven our salmon to the brink of extinction. That threat
continues in the proposal to raise Shasta Dam. That project
would flood more of our sacred sites and further harm salmon.
The Trump administration made that project their top priority
water infrastructure project in the nation.
-Written by Caleen Sisk, the spiritual leader of the
Winnemem Wintu Tribe.
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.
Hundreds of farmers who rely on a massive irrigation project
that spans the Oregon-California border learned Wednesday they
will get a tiny fraction of the water they need amid the worst
drought in decades, as federal regulators attempt to balance
the needs of agriculture against federally threatened and
endangered fish species that are central to the heritage of
several tribes. Oregon’s governor said the prolonged drought in
the region has the “full attention of our offices,” and she is
working with congressional delegates, the White House and
federal agencies to find relief for those affected.
Water is one of the world’s most vital resources. So is there
reason to freak out now that profit-hungry hedge funds and
other investors can trade it like a barrel of oil or shares of
Apple? That’s exactly what CME Group recently did in California
when it launched the world’s first futures market for water in
December 2020. Put simply, a futures market lets people place
bets on the future price of water.
-Written by Ellen Bruno, of University of
California, Berkeley and Heidi Schweizer, of North
Carolina State University.
On Wednesday, March 3rd, the Northern California Water
Association (NCWA) Board of Directors officially adopted our
2021 Priorities. The water leaders in this region look forward
to working with our many partners in 2021 to cultivate a shared
vision for a vibrant way of life in the Sacramento River Basin.
We will continue to re-imagine our water system in the
Sacramento River Basin as we also work to harmonize our water
priorities with state, federal, and other regions’ priorities
to advance our collective goal of ensuring greater water and
climate resilience throughout California for our communities,
the economy, and the environment.
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 San Joaquin Valley’s quest for groundwater sustainability
will result in large amounts of irrigated agricultural lands
being retired. A new book explores how some of these lands
could be restored to natural areas that bring multiple
benefits. We talked to Scott Butterfield, a senior scientist at
The Nature Conservancy and one of the book’s editors, about
this vision.
The San Diego County Water Authority is no stranger to conflict
– virtually all of its dealings over the past decade have been
shaped by its feud with the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California. Now that feud is fueling
fights within the agency itself.
Imperial Irrigation District apparently has decided not to
sweat Michael Abatti’s decision to appeal his case against the
district to the nation’s highest court. IID announced Monday it
will not file a response to Abatti’s petition to the U.S.
Supreme Court over his ongoing legal dispute with the district
over water rights. The exception would be if the court requests
a response. IID General Counsel Frank Oswalt said in a press
release that a response is unnecessary.
It’s that time of year, when we find out it’s that kind of
year. We appear at the doorstep of a “critically dry
year,” and most reservoir levels are significantly below
average. Those conditions bring painfully to mind the awful
drought years of 2014 and 2015, and threaten water supplies for
California farms and cities, and for the protected fish species
that must also get by in these lean years. -Written by Danny Merkley, director of water resources, and
Chris Scheuring, senior counsel for the California Farm
Bureau.
With California in the throes of a second year of drought
conditions, the mega-water agency of Southern California served
notice Tuesday that it’s prepared to spend up to $44 million to
buy water from Northern California to shore up its supplies.
The board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, which serves 19 million urban residents, authorized
its staff to begin negotiating deals with water agencies north
of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where supplies are
generally more plentiful.
Extreme drought conditions throughout the West are lowering
levels in the crucial water reservoir, Lake Mead. Scars of long
years of low precipitation are hard to go unnoticed at Lake
Mead, and the hot, dry summers have been felt for the last
several years in Arizona. 2020 was especially dry, with little
monsoon. Now, the West is in uncharted territory. Lake Mead is
projected to drop by several feet this year, from elevation
1,083 to about 1,068, according to officials with the Central
Arizona Project. The lake is hovering around 39 percent of its
full capacity.
[T]he 800 to 900 people in Tohatchi, and another 600 to 800 in
Mexican Springs, eight miles to the west, all depend on a
single well and single pump. If the pump running it fails,
or if the water level in it drops — both issues that have
troubled nearby Gallup this year — water will cut out for the
homes, the head-start center, the schools, the clinic, the
senior center, five churches, and the convenience store and gas
station. … [T]he Navajo Nation has waited more than a
century for pipes and water treatment plants that would bring
drinking water to all of its people while watching nearby
off-reservation cities and farms grow, swallowing up water from
the Colorado River Basin that the tribe has a claim to.
One of the worst droughts in memory in a massive agricultural
region straddling the California-Oregon border could mean steep
cuts to irrigation water for hundreds of farmers this summer to
sustain endangered fish species critical to local tribes. The
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water allocations in
the federally owned Klamath Project, is expected to announce
this week how the season’s water will be divvied up after
delaying the decision a month.
With a salmonella outbreak in eight states already under
investigation by the Centers for Disease Control, officials are
watching in California for another disease that impacts
waterfowl. Botulism killed thousands of waterfowl and other
birds last year on two national wildlife refuges near the
border of California and Oregon. Some estimates were as high as
60,000 dead birds. The Lower Klamath Basin and Tule Lake
national wildlife refuges were among the first created more
than 100 years ago. Millions of waterfowl and shore birds,
along with songbirds, migrated along the Pacific Flyway into
the two refuges and beyond. Today, between severe
restrictions on water flowing into and out of the refuges
and a crippling drought that shows no sign of letting up,
the refuge marshes are going dry.
The Rancho California Water District received a nearly $3.5
million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency
which will fund up to 75% of Phase 1 of the Vail Dam Hazard
Mitigation Project. Phase 1 has already begun and includes
pre-construction activities such as design, environmental
compliance and permitting to upgrade the dam at Vail Lake,
located east of Temecula. Vail Lake, a reservoir with water
storage capacity of approximately 45,000 acre-feet or 14.7
billion gallons of water, was acquired by Rancho Water in 1978
and is an component of Rancho’s diversified water supply
portfolio for providing water supplies to over 150,000 urban
and agricultural water users in the cities of Temecula and
Murrieta, and the surrounding areas.
California remains far behind its targets for addressing
exposed playa around the Salton Sea, according to data released
in the 2021 Salton Sea Management Program annual report.
But state officials expressed optimism in a public
workshop that they are finally beginning to catch up to those
goals. The state was supposed to implement dust suppression
projects or build wetlands habitat across 3,500 acres of
exposed playa by the end of 2020 to tamp down dust that’s
imbued with a century’s worth of salts, pesticides and other
agricultural runoff.
Our Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project has just
been updated to reflect the latest developments affecting
California’s largest surface water delivery system. The 24-page
guide explores the history of the Central Valley Project, from
its roots as a state water project that stalled amid the Great
Depression to its development as a federal project that
stretches from Shasta Dam in far Northern California to
Bakersfield in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Despite market unknowns created by the pandemic and lower
commodity prices, California agricultural land values remained
largely stable, an indication buyers have confidence in the
long-term land market in the state: This was a key takeaway
from a virtual business conference held by the California
Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural
Appraisers. The conference also discussed impacts of the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act on California land
values. Even though record supplies of the state’s
highest-value crops led to lower prices for farmers last year,
appraisers said the softer prices also helped move those
products.
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.
A barely-noticed action early in March by the San Luis Obispo
County Board of Supervisors likely has placed greater control
of the region’s water supply in the hands of a few individuals
and private water agencies. On a split 3-2, north-south vote,
supervisors on March 3 approved an amendment to the county’s
contract with the state of California for deliveries from the
State Water Project (SWP). An approval that creates the
opportunity, some say, for a controversial practice called
“water banking.”
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.
Robert (Bob) Anderson’s nomination as Solicitor of the
Department of the Interior was formally transmitted by the
White House to the United States Senate today. Bob
has served as Interior’s Principal Deputy Solicitor
since January 20, 2021. … For 20 years, Bob was a
law professor at the University of Washington and directed its
Native American Law Center. He has been the Oneida Indian
Nation Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School for the
past twelve years. He is a co-author and editor of the leading
federal Indian Law treatise, Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian
Law, and is a co-author of a leading textbook on American
Indian Law. He has extensive expertise and has published many
articles in the fields of natural resources law, water law, and
American Indian law.
Our two-day Water 101 Workshop begins on Earth Day,
when you can gain a deeper understanding of
California’s most precious natural resource. One of our
most popular events, the once-a-year workshop will be held as
an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April
22 and Friday, April 23. California’s water basics will be
covered by some of the state’s leading policy and legal
experts, including the history, geography, legal and political
facets of water in the state, as well a look at hot topics and
current issues of concern.
Not counting long and ugly court battles, the two most likely
solutions to California water wars are voluntary agreements or
involuntary edicts. Our Modesto Bee Editorial Board long
has favored voluntary agreements, or compromises negotiated
mainly between local irrigation districts (representing our
farmers) and state and federal officials. The other side,
chiefly represented by environmental and fishing interests,
would prefer that the California State Water Board simply take
huge amounts of water from our Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced
rivers, mostly to benefit fish — what could be called
involuntary edicts.
-Written by Garth Stapley, The Modesto Bee’s opinion
editor.
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).
The Colorado River Indian Tribes will receive $209,000 for
irrigation canal projects, Congressman Paul Gosar announced
Tuesday. The federal funds were awarded by the U.S. Department
of the Interior to help CRIT pay for canal lining. The project
is intended to help stop water seepage from the canal. CRIT
relies on the Colorado River as its primary source of water,
and water conserved with help the Tribes meet existing demand
during times of drought, Gosar said. The project will line
nearly 4,000 feet of the earthen canal with a membrane covered
in sprayed concrete. The stretch of canal has been identified
as having the most significant seepage rate of all 232 miles of
canals in the Colorado River Irrigation Project, according to
the Bureau of Reclamation.
Rural water users are panicking over a proposal to create a
market for the sale and purchase of water rights in Nevada,
unconvinced by arguments that the concept would encourage
conservation. Lawmakers on Monday weighed whether so-called
“water banking” would be preferable to prevailing water law
doctrines that govern surface and groundwater rights disputes
in the driest state in the U.S. A legislative hearing about two
proposals to allow water rights holders to sell their
entitlements pitted state water bureaucrats against a coalition
of farmers, conservationists and rural officials.
Nearly five years ago we brought you the story of a little town
an hour south of the Oregon border that was doing battle with a
big timber company over who owned the rights to a pristine
spring that gurgles in the shadows of Mount Shasta, the
majestic snow-capped dormant volcano. After $1.5 million in
legal fees and countless hours of argument and activism, the
City Council of that town, Weed, Calif., recently approved a
deal securing use of the water in perpetuity. It was a
David-over-Goliath victory for Weed, population 2,700.
Is there water available on the Kern River and, if so, how
much? Parties to the long-running river dispute will finally
get a hearing by the State Water Resources Control Board on
those questions, at least. The big question — who should get
the water? — will have to wait. Still, this is the first
significant public movement on the Kern River in the past 11
years.
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 releases designed to benefit the critical outmigration of
juvenile salmon on the Stanislaus River as well as assist farms
and communities along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley
already starting to suffer the effects of two consecutive dry
years is languishing in the federal bureaucracy. Up to
100,000 acre feet is proposed to be released that belongs to
the South San Joaquin and Oakdale irrigation districts that
would provide a critical impulse flow from April 15 to May
15. That water based on measurements at Vernalis south of
Manteca where the Stanislaus River joins the San Joaquin River
would significantly improve the survivability of the threatened
salmon.
The fight between Imperial Valley farmer Michael Abatti and the
Imperial Irrigation District over control of the
district’s massive allotment of Colorado River water could
be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court if Abatti gets his way. He
and his lawyers have announced that they have petitioned the
nation’s highest court to take up the litigation that has
dragged on since 2013….Abatti is seeking to have the
country’s apex court hand control of IID’s water over to
landowners, a move that would leave most of the valley’s water
with a few larger agricultural operations.
Seven agencies that have been working together to sustain the
groundwater in the Cosumnes Subbasin, which includes the
communities of Galt, Herald, Wilton and Rancho Murieta South,
held a workshop March 24. The presentation was intended to help
residents understand how groundwater will be used in the next
two decades in the Cosumnes Subbasin. The group has until Jan.
31, 2022 to submit its plan to the state on how it intends to
meet its target of replacing 20,000-acre feet per year (AFY) in
underground basins called aquifers to sustain the groundwater.
One of the takeaways from meeting is the plan will cost $2.25
million in the early years.
A groundwater market, which caps total pumping within one or
more basins, allocates portions of the total to individual
users and allows users to buy and sell groundwater under the
total cap, is a promising tool for basins implementing
California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
(SGMA). … [G]roundwater markets can be a useful tool for
achieving basin sustainability, but they are not a good fit for
every basin or groundwater sustainability agency (GSA). … The
Fox Canyon groundwater market benefitted from the four enabling
conditions (water scarcity, fixed allocations, agricultural
stakeholder support, and capacity and funding) described below.
The huge, lush green meadows that stretch between the S.R. 203
junction with U.S. 395 and Crowley Lake may seem like they have
been there forever but in reality, their existence has been
under threat for several years after the Los Angeles Department
of Water and Power threatened to withdraw much of the water
from the meadowlands a few years ago, stating it needed the
water for its own uses. If implemented, the proposed
‘de-watering’ of much of the massive meadows would have turned
them into sage and dust, destroying wildlife habitat, historic
cattle grazing leases, the fishing habitat along Hot Creek and
the Upper Owens River and much more.
California agricultural land values that are rising and falling
the most are doing so under the perception of water
availability – no surprise there. This is putting farmland in
the Fresno Irrigation District (FID) in a positive light as
that agency has done a good job over the years managing
conjunctive use of irrigation water.
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.
California has one of the most complex and complicated water
systems in the nation. There are hundreds of water
districts, different reservoirs and rivers and canals
controlled by different jurisdictions, and lots of politically
charged legislation. Understanding this system is a
difficult undertaking, but those at the Modesto Irrigation
District believe they’re up to the task. Through
emotional storytelling and strong characters, the MID set out
to explain how the rivers in their district nourish
communities by talking to the men and women who depend on
them. The interviews and stories eventually turned into a
feature-length documentary called Until the Last
Drop.
In recent years, the Wiyot Tribe in Northern California secured
ownership of its ancestral lands and is working to restore its
marine habitats; the nearby Yurok Tribe fought for the removal
of dams along the Klamath River and has plans to reconnect with
salmon, its traditional food source; and the Quapaw Nation in
Oklahoma has cleaned up contaminated land to make way for
agriculture and cattle businesses.
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.
Imperial Valley grower, landowner, and former elected official
Michael Abatti has filed a petition for “writ of certiorari”
with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the California
Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District’s decision in Abatti
v. Imperial Irrigation District, according to a press release
from Abatti and his legal team. Michael Abatti, Imperial County
farmer Abatti is seeking to overturn a previous appellate court
ruling that asserts Imperial Irrigation District is the “sole
owner” of water rights in the Valley, and farmers do “not
(have) an appurtenant water right” but rather are entitled
merely to “water service” that is subject to modification by
the district at its discretion, the press release states.
The Fort Yuma-Quechan Indian Tribe is situated at a nexus in
the Colorado River Basin. That’s true in a geographic sense.
The tribe’s reservation overlays the Arizona-California border
near Yuma, Arizona. The two states are heavily reliant on water
from the Colorado River. The reservation also abuts the
U.S.-Mexico border where the river flows into Mexico for use in
cities and on farms. One of the river’s largest irrigation
projects, the All-American Canal, was dug through the tribe’s
land, and flows from the reservation’s northeastern boundary to
its far southwestern corner, on its way to irrigate crops in
California’s Imperial Valley. The confluence of the Colorado
River and one of its historically important tributaries, the
Gila River, is nearby.
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.
As California’s seasons become warmer and drier, state
officials are pondering whether the water rights permitting
system needs revising to better reflect the reality of climate
change’s effect on the timing and volume of the state’s water
supply. A report by the State Water Resources Control Board
recommends that new water rights permits be tailored to
California’s increasingly volatile hydrology and be adaptable
enough to ensure water exists to meet an applicant’s
demand.
As California’s seasons become
warmer and drier, state officials are pondering whether the water
rights permitting system needs revising to better reflect the
reality of climate change’s effect on the timing and volume of
the state’s water supply.
A report by the State Water Resources Control Board recommends
that new water rights permits be tailored to California’s
increasingly volatile hydrology and be adaptable enough to ensure
water exists to meet an applicant’s demand. And it warns
that the increasingly whiplash nature of California’s changing
climate could require existing rights holders to curtail
diversions more often and in more watersheds — or open
opportunities to grab more water in climate-induced floods.
The rivalry between farms and wildlife for water and land was
long seen as a zero-sum game, especially in California where
water is such a precious commodity that the state’s water
futures are traded on the stock exchange. That competition has
been particularly sharp in the Central Valley: 95% of the
region’s historic wetlands have transformed into farmland, and
the region’s increasingly scarce water supply has been
prioritized for farming. As a result, some of the migratory
birds that rely on the Central Valley for habitat, food, and
water sources have seen steep declines in the past
century.
A California Court of Appeal recently issued two opinions
affirming a physical solution limiting the right to pump
groundwater by a landowner who has never pumped from the
groundwater basin or who has not established the amount or
reasonableness of pumping. A landowner filed the underlying
lawsuit in 1999 to quiet title to its claimed superior
groundwater rights in a groundwater basin that had been in a
state of overdraft for decades. The lawsuit became a
comprehensive groundwater adjudication involving approximately
70,000 landowners in the Antelope Valley area of California,
including two separate classes and the United States.
From the very first gold miners making claims to divert streams
in the Sierra Nevada foothills to the later wrangling that
enabled irrigation of Central Valley farmland and drinking
water to be sent to growing cities in California, water rights
are an indispensable cornerstone of the state’s water supply
and delivery system.
As a result of increasing demand for water, exacerbated by the
decades-long drought in the Colorado River system, the Colorado
State Engineer is considering a proposal that would impose
stricter limitations on the permitting of new groundwater wells
in the Yampa River Basin upstream of where the Yampa River
meets the Little Snake River. The Yampa River flows west
from its headwaters near Steamboat Springs, in northwest
Colorado. After it is joined by the Little Snake River,
it flows to meet the Green River near the Colorado-Utah state
line. From there, the Green River flows south as a major
tributary of the Colorado River.
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.
One of the most critical negotiations for Utah’s future is
coming at a time when Utah’s delegations in Washington D.C. may
be less influential than every other party at the table. The
Colorado River Compact, hammered out in 1922 with few
amendments over the years, expires in 2026. Every other state
in the compact other than Utah has a majority Democratic or
split delegation in Washington. Those states? Colorado, New
Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Dan Gibbs, executive
director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, announced
recently the establishment of a Water Equity Task Force to
better understand existing equity, diversity and inclusivity
(EDI) challenges in Colorado water issues and inform the
Colorado Water Plan. … The 2005 Water for the 21st Century
Act (HB 05-1177) ushered in a new area of regionally inclusive
and collaborative water planning. That spirit was further
codified in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan, which ensured that
all water uses in Colorado are interconnected and of equal
value.
An Oregon judge has agreed to hear further legal arguments over
his ruling that tribal water rights in the Klamath basin must
be re-quantified. Because the judge’s legal opinion from last
month hasn’t yet been reduced to an order, that means the
Klamath tribes can enforce their water rights to shut off
irrigation in the meantime.
After 22 years of litigation, a California appellate court has
affirmed a trial court judgment defining groundwater pumping
rights for thousands of landowners plus cities, water districts
and Edwards Air Force Base in the Antelope Valley desert north
of Los Angeles. The March 16, 2021 opinion by the Fifth
District Court of Appeal is one of three recent opinions
rejecting challenges to a 2015 trial court judgment declaring
groundwater rights and imposing a “physical solution” to reduce
pumping and to ensure sustainability of the Antelope Valley’s
largest single source of water supply.
California and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)
ordered St. Helena to build 254 new housing units by 2031. Napa
is ordered to build almost 2,000, plus taking some of the
county’s allocation. New users continue to be connected to the
water system. On Pope Street and McCorkle there are 16 new
apartments. A month later the planning commission approved five
new units on Pope Street. The Hunter project at the east end of
Adams Street is still underway with a new EIR — adding 87 new
units to the water system. … On March 4, our city offered
tips on how to conserve water. … We have to give up
taking a bath so folks who buy a home in the Hunter project can
landscape their yards? Written by Mariam Hansen.
California has recently established a water futures market that
has brought with it some criticism as well as confusion. As the
first of its kind in the country, it will function similarly to
futures markets for other commodities. The market will allow
water users to lock in a particular price they are willing to
pay for water. This new futures market is entirely different
from water markets that allow the purchasing of water
allocations.
A unique deal between ranchers and wildlife advocates may at
long last bring a reliable water supply to Lower Klamath
National Wildlife Refuge — and the wetlands and birds that
depend on it. Since it was largely drained in the early 20th
Century, the mosaic of wetlands formerly known as Lower Klamath
Lake has relied on water from the Klamath Irrigation Project to
grow food and provide suitable habitat for millions of
migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway each year. Wetlands in
the Klamath Basin support nearly 80% of the Pacific Flyway’s
migratory waterfowl during the spring and fall.
Local tribes, schools and nonprofits have developed a new high
school curriculum that seeks to encourage environmental
advocacy through an Indigenous lens. The advocacy and water
protection curriculum meets state standards in science, social
studies, health, history and language arts and seeks to bolster
“culturally informed education” in the classroom. The
curriculum is based on the “Advocacy and Water Protection in
Native California” speaker series that was developed by Save
California Salmon …
Sometime in the middle of next year, if Northern Water gets its
way, the bulldozers will start piling earth and rock 25 stories
high to plug this dry basin southwest of Loveland
forever. Four miles to the south, they’ll build another
dam to keep their newly-made bathtub from leaking out the back
toward Lyons. Drill crews will bore a massive pipeline through
the hogback making up the east edge of the bathtub, in order to
feed Carter Lake a few hundred yards to the east. They’ll move
a power line. Help build a surrounding open space park. Upgrade
a sewage plant in Fraser. Four years later, they’ll close dam
gates reinforced to hold back 29 billion gallons of life-giving
water.
A judge has ordered the Los Angeles Department of Water and
Power to continue providing historic quantities of irrigation
water to lessees of its pasturelands east of Yosemite, despite
the agency’s assertion that climate change is making water
resources in the Sierra Nevada watershed increasingly
unreliable.
Many people in Grass Valley, Calif., live and work over the
Idaho-Maryland Mine without realizing it. A lot of information
about the location of the two surface sites and the project
features has been circulated, but not much has been shared
about the sheer size of the project underground and how that
may affect us. … Wells are of even greater concern. Due
to dewatering of the mine, there will be lowering of the ground
water levels in the area.
After years of uncertainty over its source of water, residents
of Weed now have a guaranteed supply from the spring the city
has been using for more than 100 years. … The Weed City
Council approved a sale agreement with Crystal Geyser Roxanne
Thursday night for water rights to two cubic feet-per-second
from Beaughan Springs.
Despite a February court opinion that vacated the quantified
water rights of the Klamath Tribes, the Oregon Water Resources
Department announced Friday that they will continue to enforce
the Tribes’ water calls until a judge orders
otherwise. The Klamath Tribes maintain senior water rights
in the Klamath Basin, which were affirmed by the Klamath
County Circuit Court last month, but Judge Cameron Wogan
wrote in his proposed order that those rights need to be
re-quantified.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the draft
California’s Groundwater – Update 2020, containing information
on the condition of the state’s groundwater, which is
especially important as California faces a critically dry water
year. DWR encourages community members and water managers to
review the publication and provide input.
At the February meeting of the Delta Stewardship Council, Delta
Watermaster Michael George updated the councilmembers on the
efforts underway at the State Water Board to prepare for the
increasing possibility of 2021 being critically dry. He
also gave an update on the efforts to address the deteriorating
conditions in the south Delta.
Learn from top water experts at our annual Water 101
Workshop about the history, hydrology and law behind
California water as well as hot topics such as water equity,
the Delta and flows, new federal administration and
more. This year’s workshop, set for April 22-23, will be held
virtually and feature a presentation devoted
solely to groundwater.
Vice President Kamala Harris was right on point last year when
she said that clean water is a fundamental human right.
President Biden has put those words into action by signing an
executive order establishing a White House council on
environmental justice. Every Californian has a right to clean,
reliable affordable drinking water. -Written by Jose Barrera, California’s state
deputy director for the League of United Latin American
Citizens.
In California’s Water Futures Market: Explained, Cora
Kammeyer describes how futures markets
operate generally and the particulars of California’s
version. This new water futures market has attracted
considerable attention and hyperbole. Here we explore the
potential implications of this novel financial tool
through the lens of California water supply
reliability. The water futures market opened on
December 7, 2020, intended to improve the transparency of
water trade prices and to enable participants to hedge
their financial risk.
Today, [Tribes, Schools, and NGOs] released the Advocacy
and Water Protection in Native California High School
Curriculum and Teacher’s Resource Guide. The curriculum
… responds to California’s urgent water, climate and
educational crises, along with the need for Native American
culturally informed education and representation in
schools. The curriculum features online, classroom, and
nature-based learning and responds to reports that Humboldt,
Del Norte, and other counties are failing Native students, and
that Native youth are facing a mental health crisis due to
COVID-19 and the state’s water and climate crises.
When you think of shipping Humboldt’s Finest in Ziplocs
to Southern California, you’re not thinking of bags of
river water. But, putting Humboldt’s water in giant baggies on
a boat to Southern California was a plan actually
taken seriously in 2003 to encourage more water use.
Humboldt historically has an outsized allocation of water from
the state because the former pulp mills consumed an
astronomical amount of water. Squandering water in order to
preserve our state water allocation was the idea of some
political leaders and business people. Written by J.A.
Savage.
As persistent drought and climate change threaten the Colorado
River, several states that rely on the water acknowledge they
likely won’t get what they were promised a century ago. But not
Utah. Republican lawmakers approved an entity that could push
for more of Utah’s share of water as seven Western states
prepare to negotiate how to sustain a river serving 40 million
people. Critics say the legislation, which the governor still
must sign, could strengthen Utah’s effort to complete a
billion-dollar pipeline from a dwindling reservoir that’s a key
indicator of the river’s health.
On the tail end of the second dry winter in a row, with water
almost certain to be in short supply this summer, California
water officials are apparently planning to largely drain the
equivalent of the state’s two largest reservoirs to satisfy the
thirst of water-wasting farmers. Gov. Gavin Newsom must stop
this irresponsible plan, which threatens the environmental
health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the water supply
for about one-third of the Bay Area residents. We should be
saving water, not wasting it.
A recent report from Colorado River experts says it’s time for
radical new management strategies to safeguard the Southwest’s
water supplies. It’s meant to inform discussions on how to
renegotiate certain parts of the Law of the River that will
expire in 2026. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke about the report
with Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River
Studies at Utah State University.
Proposed water wells in California don’t all require
environmental review under state and local permit laws, but
state standards governing well location will sometimes require
local governments to make discretionary decisions, triggering
such a look, a state appellate court said. The California
Environmental Quality Act requires discretionary
decisions—those that require an agency to exercise judgment in
deciding whether to approve a project—to undergo an
environmental review.
Water access in the western United States is controlled by
property rights to use water. In most of the region’s
watersheds, all of the water supply is legally claimed or is
projected to be by 2030. In such locations, new water demands
can frequently only be met through reallocation of existing
water rights. For decades, water markets have helped the
western U.S. voluntarily adapt water rights to new demands and
changing supplies, providing water for growing cities,
freshwater ecosystems and new farms and industries. However,
many have questioned whether western U.S. water law provides
sufficient flexibility to adapt to unprecedented water demand
and a changing climate.
It was a Friday in late August when four jet boats made their
way up the Klamath River under a cloudless blue sky. The boats
carried three tribal chairs. From the Karuk Tribe, there was
Russell “Buster” Attebery, who’d found pride as a boy catching
salmon from the river and bringing them home to his family, and
later come to believe some tribal youth’s troubles — from
suicides to substance use — could be traced back to their never
having had that opportunity, growing up alongside a river now
choked with algae and diminishing fish populations.
When [the Colorado River Compact was] signed in 1922,
the Colorado River drainage was divided into two divisions;
Upper: Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah; Lower: Arizona,
California, Nevada. At that time, it was felt the total average
annual flow was 16.4 million acre feet. As a result, each basin
was assigned 50%, or 7.5 million acre feet, with the 1.4
million acre feet surplus allocated to Mexico. … As a
result, the Upper Basin is obligated to provide 7.5M acre feet
to the Lower Basin, regardless of the actual flow of water in
any given year. Obviously, snowpack and the consequent flow is
not a constant and years of drought and low flows create a
problem for the Upper Basin. -Written by Bryan Whiting, a columnist for the
Glenwood Springs (Colo.) Post Independent.
When Malini Ranganathan, PhD, an associate professor at
American University and interim faculty director of the
Antiracist Research and Policy Center, conducted research in
Exeter, a flourishing agriculture town in California’s Central
Valley, she didn’t expect to see similar conditions to what
she’d witnessed in India’s low-income housing areas. Residents
in one of the world’s richest states were depending on bore
water and water tankers to drink because tap water was
unsafe.
Looking back over the past 30 years, the Northern California
Water Association has grown into an organization that the early
founders can be extremely proud of. The men and women who had
the foresight and passion to start the organization should be
given a large amount of gratitude. What now is a
high-level organization that fosters water management for
multiple beneficial uses, sprung from very humble beginnings.
A part of the natural water cycle, groundwater is an important
element of California’s water supply, especially in the Central
Valley, where one in four people rely on it entirely. It is an
especially important resource in the Solano Subbasin, a
geographic area that includes Dixon, parts of Vacaville,
Elmira, Rio Vista, unincorporated Winters, Davis, the Montezuma
Hills, Isleton, Sherman Island and Walnut Grove. And every
quarter, the Solano Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
Collaborative, aka the Solano Collaborative, hosts a Community
Advisory Committee meeting and will so again from 3 to 5 p.m.
Wednesday.
Anyone who has hosted a good dinner party knows that the guest
list, table setting and topic of conversation play a big role
in determining whether the night is a hit or the guests leave
angry and unsatisfied. That concept is about to get a true test
on the Colorado River, where chairs are being pulled up to a
negotiating table to start a new round of talks that could
define how the river system adapts to a changing climate for
the next generation.
Though the nonprofit tasked with Klamath River dam removal is
about to submit its definite plan to federal regulators, Del
Norte County and the Crescent City Harbor District are still
worried about potential negative impacts. Harbor commissioners
on Thursday agreed to sign onto a memorandum of understanding
that includes the county and the Klamath River Renewal
Corporation. The MOU contains conditions that ensures the
harbor and county can recover potential damages to the port and
the fishing industry that occur as a result of dam removal and
reservoir drawdown on the Klamath River.
It’s not long ago that Lake Cachuma, the main water source on
the South Coast, was in danger of going dry in a seven-year
drought. Water agencies from Carpinteria to Goleta spent
millions of dollars scrambling to buy surplus state aqueduct
water from around the state to avert a local shortage. They did
so not only because their groundwater levels were plunging and
Cachuma was failing, but because their yearly allocations from
the aqueduct had dropped to zero. Yet on Tuesday, the water
managers serving Santa Maria, Buellton, Guadalupe, Santa
Barbara, Goleta, Montecito and the Santa Ynez and Carpinteria
valleys will ask the County Board of Supervisors to grant them
the right to sell their state water allocations outside the
county — not permanently, but potentially for years at a
stretch.
An invisible line splits the rural road of Avenue 416 in
California’s Tulare county, at the point where the nut trees
stretch east toward the towering Sierra Nevada mountains in the
distance. On one side of the line, residents have clean water.
On the other side, they do not. On the other side lies East
Orosi, an unincorporated community of about 700 where children
grow up learning to never open their eyes or mouths while they
shower. They know that what comes out of their faucets may harm
them, and parents warn they must not swallow when they brush
their teeth. They spend their lives sustaining themselves on
bottled water while just one mile down Avenue 416, the same
children they go to school with in the community of Orosi can
drink from their taps freely and bathe without a second
thought.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors
Thursday announced a plan to distribute a rebate of $44.4
million to its 24 member agencies across the region. They did
so after receiving a check for that amount from the Los
Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California to pay legal damages and interest after a long legal
battle. The money resulted from the water authority’s
decade-long litigation in Superior Court seeking to compel MWD
to set legal rates and repay overcharges.
A Senate committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday to
create Utah’s Colorado River Authority, which would be tasked
with helping the state renegotiate its share of the river.
Originally the bill allowed broad reasons to close meetings and
protect records. It’s since been changed twice to come more
into compliance with the state’s open meeting and record laws.
Critics of the bill said it’s still not enough. Mike O’Brien,
an attorney with the Utah Media Coalition, said having a
narrower scope for open meetings and records exemptions makes
the bill better than when it was first introduced. But he
wishes it would follow laws already there.
Michael Preston grew up in the old village site of the Winnemem
Wintu tribe, along the McCloud River in Northern California
where the Shasta Dam has flooded spiritual and cultural lands.
Since the 1940s, the creation of the dam has also blocked the
usual migration of winter-run salmon, effectively endangering
the species. Now, there are proposals to raise the dam by an
additional 18.5 feet, which will cause further destruction.
“Our tribal goal is to bring the salmon back … ” he said,
adding that it’s more than just the fish. With the lack of
salmon, which is a keystone species, other animals, such as
bears, eagles and mountain lions are being starved.
This month, the comment period for a potentially landmark piece
of legislation ended. Since California v. Arizona in 2000, the
Colorado River Indian Tribes have the sole rights to more than
600,000 acres-feet of water from the Colorado River, but they
are barred from selling or leasing any of this water to outside
communities. The proposed federal legislation, led by
the tribes themselves, would allow them to lease some of this
water as long as they reduce their own water consumption by an
equivalent amount.
-Written by Isaac Humrich, a senior at Sunnyslope High
School in Phoenix and a member of American Conservation
Coalition.
San Francisco has long been an international leader on
environmental issues. However, water policy has been a stain on
that record. … Many California rivers are overtapped by
excessive pumping, but few are in worse condition than the
Tuolumne River. In drier years, more than 90% of the Tuolumne’s
water is diverted. On average, 80 percent of the river’s flow
never makes it to the Bay. It’s not a surprise that the river’s
health has collapsed. …
-Written by Bill Martin, a member of the Sierra Club
Bay Chapter Water Committee, and Hunter Cutting, a member
of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter’s San Francisco Group Executive
Committee.
On December 7, 2020, financial futures based on California
water prices began trading. This post is a short introduction
to these water futures. First, what’s a future? A future is a
type of contract. It obligates the seller, who receives money,
to provide some good at some future date, to the buyer, who
pays money now to lock in the right to buy that good at that
price. Humans have been using futures for thousands of years,
primarily for agricultural products. But in recent years the
futures markets have been expanding.
Arizona, California, and Nevada will need to cut their use of
Colorado River water by nearly 40 percent by 2050. A
study by researchers at Utah State University, which
the Arizona Daily Star reported this past Sunday, noted
that Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—the Upper Basin
states—will have to reduce their usage, as well, though not by
as much as those pulling water from the Lower Basin.
Many of my best days as a lawyer were spent driving through the
Sacramento Valley and north Delta with George Basye (always in
his Volvo). As George neared his retirement, he wanted to
ensure that I, as the successor to a number of his clients,
understood the foundations of his client relationships.
George seemingly knew the history of every quarter section of
land up and down the Valley. He had a deep affection not
only for the landscape but, most important to George, for the
individuals and families who had settled and reclaimed the land
and built the agricultural economy of the region.
On January 28, 2021, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal (Ninth
Circuit) issued a decision addressing issues related to the
extent to which the public trust doctrine may be used to
safeguard water resources covered under the 1936 Walker River
Decree (Decree). The litigation arose from contested water
rights in the Walker River Basin, which originates in the
Sierra Nevada mountains in California and ends at Walker Lake
in Mineral County, Nevada. I
A recently launched water futures market in California
drew global attention, from Wall Street to
the United Nations. While news of the market has
brought both skepticism and speculation, much
of the coverage has failed to address
some fundamental questions: what actually is a water
futures market? How does it work, and who are the
players? And most importantly, what are
the potential benefits and risks? In this short
piece, we explain the California water futures market in simple
terms. We will explore its potential
implications in a second blog soon.
A local environmental group is urging the State Water Board to
investigate alleged water diversion from Gaviota Creek, an
action they assert is being done illegally and threatening the
population of endangered Southern Steelhead fish. Coastal
Ranches Conservancy, an environmental protection group that
operates along the Gaviota Coast, sent a petition to the State
Water Board back in June 2020, requesting that officials
examine water removal from Gaviota Creek. The CRC alleges that
the water diversion is happening illegally to provide water to
Gaviota rest stops.
Picture the desert landscape of a Mad Max movie populated with
vigilantes devoted to acquiring not gasoline — but water.
This scenario isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. “Water
wars” describes conflicts between countries, states, or groups
over the right to access water resources, usually
freshwater. … As Los Angeles expanded during the
late 19th century, it outgrew its water supply, and L.A.’s
mayor, Fred Eaton, came up with the plan to divert water from
the Owens Valley to L.A. via an aqueduct.
Climate change and extreme weather events are forecast to
further reduce water supplies in the American Southwest, and a
new futures market could allow water users to recoup losses if
the price of water spikes. The futures market is the first of
its kind, allowing investors and farmers alike to bet on how
much water in California will cost on a future date. Water
users buy the futures contract to avoid risk and hedge against
rising water prices affected by things such as droughts.
Tuolumne Utilities District provided an update on Thursday
regarding negotiations to acquire Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
assets in the South Fork Stanislaus River watershed and rights
to water in New Melones Reservoir, though the possible costs
remain unclear due to a confidentiality agreement. The TUD
Board of Directors hosted a rare joint meeting via video with
the county Board of Supervisors, Sonora City Council, local
Me-Wuk Indian tribes, and other stakeholders, during which
members spoke about the need for community-wide cooperation and
collaboration due to the scope of the undertaking.
The McMullin Area Groundwater Sustainability Agency (MAGSA), a
Groundwater Sustainability Agency in the Central Valley’s Kings
Subbasin, has been awarded a $10 million grant by the State
Water Resources Control Board through the Prop 1 Stormwater
Grant Program to expand the existing McMullin On-Farm Recharge
(OFR) Project located near Helm in Fresno County. The
Project is identified in MAGSA’s Groundwater Sustainability
Plan and is a key element in a vision developed by MAGSA to
achieve groundwater sustainability under California’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) through
innovative approaches in groundwater banking and crediting.
Utah House Bill 297 is a dangerous spending bill that provides
its benefactors with exemptions to conflict-of-interest laws
that raises serious moral questions about what is happening at
the Utah Legislature. The bill creates another heavily-funded
and secretive government agency — the Colorado River Authority
— that would receive an initial $9 million, plus $600,000 per
year thereafter, in addition to collecting unknown sums of
money from other agencies. -Written by Claire Geddes, a consumer advocate and former
director of Utah Legislative Watch.
Less water for the Central Arizona Project — but not zero
water. Even more competition between farms and cities for
dwindling Colorado River supplies than there is now. More
urgency to cut water use rather than wait for seven river basin
states to approve new guidelines in 2025 for operating the
river’s reservoirs. That’s where Arizona and the Southwest are
heading with water, say experts and environmental advocates
following publication of a dire new academic study on the
Colorado River’s future. The study warned that the river’s
Upper and Lower basin states must sustain severe cuts in river
water use to keep its reservoir system from collapsing due to
lack of water. That’s due to continued warming weather and
other symptoms of human-caused climate change, the study said.
A recent webinar on trading of guaranteed future water prices
on the stock market showed the potential to drive up the price
tag of water for public agencies. During a Feb. 2 California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) virtual meeting,
water stock market advocates were clear that prices would rise.
However, they stated that it would be a good thing, because
water has been undervalued and therefore wasted. Their approach
would encourage more efficient use of water, they told the CDFA
board.
The Tuolumne Utilities District hosted a joint meeting to
provide local stakeholders an update on efforts to acquire
PG&E assets like Pinecrest Reservoir and Lyons Dam, and
water rights from New Melones. The informational meeting
included the Tuolumne County Supervisors, Sonora City Council
and local tribal representatives.
Tuolumne Utilities District will continue to process
applications for new water hookups because its Board of
Directors failed Thursday to reach a determination on future
supply and availability. The TUD board held a special workshop
Thursday to grapple with the oldest challenge in county history
when it comes to water, but the big picture has not changed.
The district relies on the South Fork Stanislaus River
watershed that still provides a limited amount of runoff, an
average of 104,000 acre-feet annually, and typically has access
to less than one-quarter of that.
Much like COVID-19 is changing our election practices and
day-to-day business operations, climate change could change
your water rights, according to the State Water Resources
Control Board. In the past, I have eluded to the shift from
historical facts used for analysis and forecasting to a
fear-based guessing game that allows an unelected bureaucracy
backed by a one-party-rule elected body to usurp your property
rights. -Written by Wayne Western, Jr. the Sun’s Agriculture
Pulse contributor, writing on the San Joaquin Valley’s
agricultural community and water issues.
Imposing hefty taxes on speculative water sales, requiring that
water rights purchased by investors be held for several years
before they can be resold, and requiring special state approval
of such sales are three ideas that might help Colorado protect
its water resources from speculators. The ideas were discussed
Wednesday at a meeting of a special work group looking at
whether Colorado needs to strengthen laws preventing Wall
Street investment firms and others from selling water for
profit in ways that don’t benefit the state’s farms, cities and
streams.
Many of today’s under-resourced communities have no more access
to blue gold (scarce water) than the under-resourced white
residents of the Owens Valley have had since the 1920s. In 1924
greedy public and private water interests transformed the lush
Owen’s Lake into a noxious dust bowl. One of the guilty
parties LADWP (Department of Water and Power), recently
celebrated partial restoration of Owens Lake by constructing a
ghostly monument of granite and sculpted earth in the long
desiccated lake bed. … For many indigenous peoples denied
their rights to water for a century, partial restoration of the
lake without full restoration of their water rights is too
little, too late.
Last month in an announcement on Business Wire, the Klamath
River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) and Resource Environmental
Solutions (RES) announced they have signed a contract for RES
to provide restoration services in connection with the removal
of four dams on the Klamath River. The agreement between RES
and KRRC finalizes habitat restoration, maintenance, and
liability transfer responsibilities for a fixed price, opening
the door to a successful restoration of native vegetation and
anadromous fish habitat along the historical, pre-dam path of
the Klamath River.
Utah lawmakers say drought and the dwindling Colorado River
make it more important than ever for the state to act now to
safeguard its interest in the river.
Investors, farmers, and Reddit users can now all hedge bets on
the price of water in California thanks to the launch of the
first water futures market in the country late last year. It
represents a new financial outlook on water in California — one
driven by the market. Since its launch Dec. 7, the futures the
market has seen 180 trades — equivalent to over 550 million
gallons of actual water. But the water futures market has
nothing to do with the movement of real water: it’s just about
money.
The City of St. Helena has agreed to monitor local groundwater
levels and stream flows, averting a potential lawsuit from an
environmental advocacy group. Following months of negotiations,
the city and Water Audit California released a joint statement
Friday announcing the city will collect monthly water levels
and annual extraction totals for local wells and provide a
public, “scientifically useful” summary of the data. The city
will conduct a comprehensive review of its water system,
develop new protocols for using the city’s own Stonebridge
wells, and work with Water Audit on the installation of new
stream gauges along the Napa River, York Creek and Sulphur
Creek.
On sunbaked farmlands where alfalfa and corn grow alongside
pistachio orchards and grapevines, pumps hum as wells draw
water from underground and send it flowing to fields. The
agriculture business around Willcox depends entirely on
groundwater. And groundwater here, like most other rural areas
across Arizona, remains entirely unregulated.
Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson says the state needs to do
everything it can to protect its share of water in the
drought-challenged Colorado River, and the creation of a new
entity would foster that protection. … He and Senate
President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, are sponsors of the Colorado
River Amendments, HB297, which would set up the Colorado River
Authority of Utah with $9 million in one-time money and
$600,000 of ongoing money.
A Northern California water users’ association has filed a
motion against a $450 million plan to tear down four dams on
the Klamath River they claim irrevocably hurts local
homeowners. The motion was filed with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) last Wednesday by the Murphy and
Buchal Law firm on behalf of the Siskiyou County Water Users
Association. It claims the interstate agreement reached by
Oregon and California last year to remove the dams has incurred
“irreparable damage” to lakefront home values in the COPCO Lake
area as water levels are feared to decline.
Water makes the world go ‘round, and a major player in
California’s breadbasket doesn’t want to part with more than
they have already. The city of Bakersfield, and the Kern County
Water Agency are suing nearby water districts over their plan
to skim water from Kern County sources for transport to other
parts of the state — water that county officials say they need
for themselves. The Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project is a
$246 million dollar water storage project planned for
California’s south San Joaquin Valley.
The Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District recently
ruled in Wyatt v. City of Sacramento that a City’s imposition
of a surcharge in the form of a “general tax” on
property-related utility services payable to the City’s general
fund did not violate Proposition 218 (Prop. 218). The
appellate court decision confirms that a surcharge imposed on a
utility enterprise is a cost of providing utility services and
is therefore properly part of the Prop. 218 analysis of
determining whether revenues exceed funds required to provide
the services.
Two decades ago, Nicole Horseherder, a member of the Navajo
Nation, coordinated a community meeting. Beneath the shade of
Juniper trees at her late grandmother’s house, several dozen
people gathered to find a way to protect their pristine water.
The springs and wells along Black Mesa, a semi-arid, rocky mesa
that overlies the Navajo Aquifer, were increasingly drying up,
as tens of billions of gallons of potable water were used to
extract, clean, and transport coal mined in the region. This
meeting was the start of a long struggle to safeguard the
community from coal projects, which threatened the drinking
water supply of both the Navajo and Hopi people.
The [State Water Resources Control Board] Division of Water
Rights released a report on climate change. The report
outlines staff recommendations to make water availability
analysis more robust, and actions to support an effective water
rights response to climate change within the existing water
rights framework in California. The report and related
material are available on the Division’s climate change
webpage. Staff will present a summary of the report at the
State Water Resources Control Board Meeting on February 16,
2021.
The Colorado River supports over 40 million people spread
across seven southwestern states, 29 tribal nations, and
Mexico. It’s responsible for the irrigation of roughly 5.5
million acres of land marked for agricultural use. Local and
regional headlines show the river is in crisis. The nation
mostly isn’t listening.
With Democratic New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland poised to become
the first Native American Interior secretary, tribal
governments historically marginalized by the agency expect not
only a greater respect for their autonomy, but also a more
significant role in the nation’s land and water management
decisions.
A proposed water recycling project in Southern California could
result in Nevada getting some of the Golden State’s share of
water from the Colorado River. The Southern Nevada Water
Authority could invest up to $750 million into the water
treatment project. In return for the investment, it could get a
share of California’s water in Lake Mead. If built, the project
would give the region another tool to protect itself against
the ongoing strain of drought conditions on the Colorado River.
[T]he president of New York-based hedge fund Water Asset
Management … has called water in the United States “a
trillion-dollar market opportunity.” The hedge fund invested
$300 million in farmland in Colorado, California, Arizona and
Nevada as of 2020, including $16.6 million on 2,220 acres of
farmland with senior water rights in Colorado’s Grand Valley
just upstream from where the Colorado River crosses into Utah.
I’ve written in the past about the San Diego County Water
Authority’s efforts to divest from its parent agency the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That
includes the bad blood between the two agencies stemming from
MWD’s water cutbacks to San Diego in 1991, and how local
leaders felt they were mistreated. What I didn’t realize was
just how far back the tension goes between San Diego leaders
and MWD. All the way back to the Great Depression…
New federal legislation that will enable the Colorado River
Indian Tribes to lease a portion of its federal water
allocation is gaining broad support from Arizona stakeholders.
Following the conclusion of a listening session held by the
Arizona Department of Water Resources in December, 2020,
interested parties were invited to submit public comment on the
proposal.
Much has been said about a “new normal” in the Colorado River
Basin. The phrase describes reduced flows in the 21st century
as compared to those during much of the 20th century. Authors
of a new study contemplate something beyond, what they call a
“new abnormal.” The future, they say, might be far dryer than
water managers have been planning for. … In the 133-page
report, they identified a wide variety of alternative
management ideas, not simple tweaks but “significant
modifications or entirely new approaches.”
The Klamath River Renewal Corporation last week signed an
agreement with Resource Environmental Solutions, a Texas-based
ecological restoration company, to provide restoration services
following the removal of four dams on the Klamath River. The
agreement with RES brings North Coast tribes one step closer to
their decades-long goal of dam removal.
Utah legislative leaders on Thursday unveiled plans for a new
$9 million state agency to advance Utah’s claims to the
Colorado River in hopes of wrangling more of the river’s
diminishing flows, potentially at the expense of six
neighboring states that also tap the river. Without any prior
public involvement or notice, lawmakers assembled legislation
to create a six-member entity called the Colorado River
Authority of Utah, charged with implementing “a management plan
to ensure that Utah can protect and develop the Colorado River
system.”
The volatility of stock market trading has made global
headlines over the past couple of weeks thanks to the frenzy
surrounding a US video games retailer. It’s a dizzying yarn of
Reddit vigilantes taking coordinated action to bankrupt hedge
funds that were short selling GameStop stocks, resulting in
rollercoaster share prices, trading restrictions and US
congressional hearings. It provides a stark illustration of the
absurdity of the stock market, and yet, late last year, the US
state of California decided to allow water to become a tradable
commodity.
Three rural Valley cities finalized deals with the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation to cement permanent access to water from the
Central Valley Project on Monday, the Federal bureau announced.
The cities of Avenal, Coalinga, and Huron converted their water
contracts with Federal water authorities along with
Firebaugh-based Pacheco Water District and Panoche Water
District, and Los Banos-based San Luis Water
District.
The Tuolumne Utilities District (TUD) Board of Directors is
hosting a virtual information meeting to update local board
members and agencies about the proposed purchase of water
infrastructure and water rights contracts. As reported here in
March last year, TUD and PG&E announced they were in
exclusive negotiations about the potential transfer of the
Phoenix Hydroelectric Project. The proposed agreement includes
the Phoenix Powerhouse, the Main Tuolumne Canal, the pre and
post 1914 water rights, the Lyons Dam and Reservoir, Strawberry
Dam and Pinecrest Reservoir.
State engineers in the Arkansas River basin are beginning to
crack down on more than 10,000 ponds without legal water
rights, which they say are harming senior rights holders. Last
month, Colorado’s Division of Water Resources in Division 2
rolled out a new pond-management plan, which they say will help
relieve pressure in the over-appropriated basin by restoring
water to senior rights holders. The first step was mailing on
Jan. 14 informational brochures to 317 pond owners. Even though
the ponds targeted in this effort may have existed for many
decades, they don’t have a legal right on the books to divert
and store the water.
Mayors and county supervisors in towns along the Colorado River
were already upset five months ago when the state water
agency endorsed an investment company’s plan to take water
from farmland near the river and sell it to a growing Phoenix
suburb. Now, they’re incensed that the agency, which initially
suggested holding back a large portion of the
water, changed its stance and will let the company
sell most of the water to the town of Queen Creek. Elected
leaders in communities along the river say they intend to
continue trying to stop the proposed deal, which would need to
be approved by the federal Bureau of Reclamation.
California’s increasingly volatile warming climate is making
droughts more intense, and complicating water management. A
just-launched commodity futures market for the state’s water
provides a new tool for farmers, municipalities and other
interested parties to ensure against water price shocks arising
from drought-fueled shortages. Taking a Wall Street approach to
an essential natural resource has prompted both fear and hype.
Will California experience a new Gold Rush in water? Will
speculation boost the cost of water? Perhaps both the fear and
the hype are unwarranted. -Written by Ellen Hanak, economist and director of the
Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy
Center.
Since the early 1920s, the Long Valley plains east of Yosemite
have inspired comparison to a rustic Western paradise
… Much of this great, green expansiveness, however, owes
to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which
aggressively purchased land and water rights here more than a
century ago. The department’s routine annual deliveries of free
surplus water to its tenants have helped sustain ranching
operations and habitat for many decades. But that relationship
is now at risk of ending, and could carry dire consequences for
one of California’s most striking and violently formed
landscapes.
Across a sprawling corner of southern Tulare County snug
against the Sierra Nevada, a bounty of navel oranges, grapes,
pistachios, hay and other crops sprout from the loam and clay
of the San Joaquin Valley. Groundwater helps keep these
orchards, vineyards and fields vibrant and supports a
multibillion-dollar agricultural economy across the valley. But
that bounty has come at a price. Overpumping of groundwater has
depleted aquifers, dried up household wells and degraded
ecosystems. The land is literally sinking…
The business of water allocations – simply put, who receives
water from the State Water Project (SWP) and who gets to decide
how much – is the subject of two new episodes in the Delta
Conveyance Deep Dive video series. In Part One, State
Water Operations Chief Molly White explains the operations and
regulations that govern the process of allocating water to the
state’s 29 Public Water Agencies and addresses the question of
how the proposed Delta Conveyance Project would affect that
process.
In the driest years for Monterey County, the water available in
the Salinas River is not enough to supply a single household.
In the wettest year of the past three decades, 1995, there were
100,000 acre-feet of water available, more than the total urban
usage in the county. Although the flow fluctuates wildly, the
average amount is far more than what is needed, for example,
for thirsty coastal cities desperate for housing. The water has
been available for decades – the right to use it is protected,
encouraged and even required by state law – but it’s been
flowing into the ocean, a casualty of Monterey County’s
political deadlock.
Jeff Lukas calls the Colorado the “charismatic megafauna of
Western rivers.” This riverine equivalent of grizzly bears,
bald eagles, and humpback whales gets lots of attention,
including national attention. Some of that attention is
deserved. It has the nation’s two largest reservoirs, among the
nation’s tallest dams, and many of the most jaw-dropping
canyons and eye-riveting national parks in the country. It also
has 40 million to 50 million people in Colorado and six other
southwestern states, plus Mexico, who depend upon its water,
and a history of tensions that have at times verged on the
political equivalent of fist-fights.
The water crisis is one of the greatest human, environmental,
economic and financial challenges of our time. No person or
business, no matter the industry, can survive without clean
water — and that supply is dwindling and in danger. Scientists
predict by 2030, global water demand will more than double
supply. This growing crisis is playing out here and now. The
largest companies, in particular, have a critical role to play.
It is also in their own interest to act as it has major
financial implications on their bottom line.
California water issues are notoriously complicated by a
massive diversity of users, ecosystems, applications and
futures. Indeed, water in the Delta has been described as
a “wicked problem” indicating that these problems cannot
be ignored and defy straightforward characterization and
solutions. Below we highlight how a Swiss cheese model might be
applied to vexing long-term declines in native fish populations
in California.
It’s hard to say what spurred “confidential mediation” over the
Kern River that began last week. Could it be the relentless
“Bring Back the Kern!” campaign by a group of young,
Bakersfield residents? Could it be a sentence in a recent
letter from the State Water Resources Control Board that said,
in part, it “will schedule a hearing in the near future to
address water availability with respect to the Kern River…”?
Could it be both? No one involved in the mediation would say.
A plan to bring water from the South Fork of the Kern River
through Isabella Lake and down 60 miles to farm fields west of
Bakersfield was unanimously approved by the Rosedale-Rio Bravo
Water Storage District board of directors on Tuesday. If the
environmental documents supporting that plan survive what is
sure to be a barrage of lawsuits brought by other Kern River
rights holders, Rosedale-Rio Bravo farmers could see South Fork
water in their furrows as early as this spring …
The convergence of a multi-decadal, climate-fueled
drought, a trillion-dollar river-dependent economy, and a
region with growth aspirations that rival any place in the
country has peaked speculative interest in owning and profiting
from Colorado River water.
The old axiom goes, “Whiskey’s for drinkin’ and water’s for
fightin’” — it reflects the never-ending horse-trading that
involves distribution of water in the arid Southwest and the
tug of war between the region’s agricultural communities and
the ever-growing urban centers, including Las Vegas, Phoenix
and areas of Southern California. Traditionally, water rights
have been brokered by state and local governments, as well as
regional water districts. This is changing, though, as private
equity firms have been purchasing water rights in localities
along the Colorado River, from the Western Rockies through the
valleys of Southern California.
There is a myth about water in the Western United States, which
is that there is not enough of it. But those who deal closely
with water will tell you this is false. There is plenty. It is
just in the wrong places…Transferring water from agricultural
communities to cities, though often contentious, is not a new
practice. Much of the West, including Los Angeles and Las
Vegas, was made by moving water. What is new is for private
investors — in this case an investment fund in Phoenix, with
owners on the East Coast — to exert that power.
Farmer Michael Abatti v. Imperial Irrigation District is a
landmark decision by the California Court of Appeals concerning
the millions of acre-feet of Colorado River water used annually
to meet the needs of Southern California’s agricultural empire.
The issue was the nature of landowners’ rights to use Colorado
River water to irrigate their fields.
For many years, leasing water has simply been a “what if”
scenario for the Colorado River Indian Tribes, which unlike
many other tribes in Arizona with water rights, do not
have the ability to lease, exchange or store it underground.
But that could soon change if their proposal makes its way
through Congress. And it could have profound impacts on
how water is bought, sold and moved in this state. -Written by Joanna Allhands, digital opinions editor for
the Arizona Republic.
Without an accessible and relatively clean water supply, dairy
farming is not possible. Much of California enjoys a
Mediterranean-style climate, where precipitation is not a year
around expectation. And yet California is home to the largest
dairy industry in the United States. So how are we doing?
The history of our city is one of oil, land and water scandals,
of genocide and segregation. … Should we change the names of
any buildings, streets or charities bearing the names Chandler,
Huntington, Mulholland or Hellman?
In September, Tucson declared a climate emergency, setting
the ambitious goal of going carbon neutral by 2030. The desert
city has gradually implemented policies over the past decade to
further rainwater harvesting with the aim of bolstering
conservation, lowering water bills and creating more green
spaces.
Join us as we guide you on a virtual journey through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.
This virtual experience focuses on the San Joaquin Valley, the southern part of the vast region, which is facing challenges after years of drought, dwindling water supplies, decreasing water quality and farmland conversion for urban growth. The tour gives participants an understanding of the region’s water use and issues as well as the agricultural practices, including new technologies and water-saving measures.
Opposition is building against San Diego’s dream of erecting a
$5 billion pipeline to the Colorado River in the name of
resource independence. The pipe, which wouldn’t produce savings
for ratepayers until at least 2063, faces its next trial on
Thursday, when water managers meet to vote on spending another
$1.7 million to do the next planning step.
The Yuba Water Agency is in the process of applying for a new
license to continue its hydroelectric operations along the Yuba
River, but agency leaders say some requirements issued by the
State Water Resources Control Board threaten the effort by
making it too costly. The agency filed lawsuits in state and
federal court Friday to essentially vacate the state board’s
requirements to obtain what is called a water quality
certification.
The last three administrations have been active in Klamath
Basin issues regardless of political party. Negotiations for a
basin-wide agreement began under the Bush Administration and
continued under the Obama Administration until faltering in the
House of Representatives — though each president’s approach has
varied. Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm
Alliance, said Biden’s experience in the Obama Administration
could prove an asset, if he brings a similar approach.
Intersecting events such as major floods, decades-long
megadroughts, and economic or governance upheavals could have
catastrophic effects on the water supply for the 40 million
people who live in the southwestern United States and
northwestern Mexico.
Getting water through a tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta would be pricey. So pricey, some Kern County water
districts were looking for an “off-ramp” by potentially selling
their main state water supply out of the county. The request
was shot down on Nov. 6 by the Kern County Water Agency, which
holds the contract for state water on behalf of 13 area water
districts.
Tanya’s a New Mexican, former chief counsel to the New Mexico
Interstate Stream Commission, and current member of the
commission. She served as a legislative aide to New Mexico Sen.
Jeff Bingaman, in Interior in the Officer of Water and Science,
and as executive director of the Colorado River Board of
California.
There’s some fascinating tension around a proposed wastewater
reclamation collaboration in Southern California. The project,
if it goes forward, would provide some 150 million gallons per
day (~170,000 acre feet per year) of treated effluent. Water
now being discharged into the ocean would instead be available
for aquifer recharge within Southern California.
Why are our food producers, including many century-old family
farms with 100-year-old water rights, facing a shortage of
water? Because we drain Oregon’s largest lake to artificially
increase water supply in California.
Voluntary agreements have been proposed as a collaborative,
modern and holistic alternative to the State Water Resources
Control Board’s staff proposed update to the Bay-Delta Water
Quality Control Plan. … Westlands and other public water
agencies are eager to reengage in the process to finalize the
voluntary agreements, as they offer the best path forward for
California water.
Mexico is obligated under a 1944 treaty to deliver to the
United States a set amount of water from the Rio Grande and its
tributaries over a five-year period. … The last-minute
agreement signed Oct. 21 settles the conflict. Mexico will
transfer ownership of water stored in two border reservoirs to
the United States to make up the deficit.
Recent legal testimonies assert that the Oregon Water Resources
Department has not taken exclusive charge of stored water in
Upper Klamath Lake, despite court orders requiring it do so.
Having been turned away by the California Supreme Court last
week, farmer Michael Abatti looked to have lost his years-long
fight with the Imperial Irrigation District over who owns
valuable water rights on the Colorado River. But Abatti
apparently isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
In a critical step for the proposed public takeover of
California American Water’s Monterey-area water system, the
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s board of
directors on Thursday night certified the final environmental
impact report for the effort.
The tumultuous, years-long legal fight between farmer Michael
Abatti and the Imperial Irrigation District — two of Southern
California’s powerbrokers — is now finished. On Wednesday, the
California Supreme Court declined Abatti’s petition for review,
leaving in place an appellate court’s decision that declared
IID the rightful owner of a massive allotment of Colorado River
water.
If all you’ve ever seen of the Fresno River is through Madera
as you drive over it on Highway 99, you’d be forgiven for
thinking it’s just a weed-infested, shopping cart collector
rather than a real river. But there’s a lot to this unobtrusive
waterway, which just made history as the first river in 40
years about to go through a rights settlement under the State
Water Resources Control Board.
Protecting the health of California’s rivers, estuaries, and
wetlands has been the grandest—and perhaps thorniest—of the
many challenges facing the state’s water managers. The San
Joaquin River watershed, the state’s third largest and an
important water source for irrigating farmland in the San
Joaquin Valley, epitomizes this challenge. Yet California is
making progress here, bringing a glimmer of hope.
Professor Holly Doremus is a leading scholar and teacher in the
areas of environmental law, natural resources law, and law and
science in her work at Berkeley Law. In a webinar hosted by the
University of California Ag and Natural Resources, Professor
Doremus discusses water rights and how dynamic and adaptable
they are to changing values and conditions.
Justice Ronald B. Robie, who served as the Department of Water
Resources’ (DWR) fifth director, was honored with a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the California Lawyers Association’s
Environmental Law Section for his 60 years of contributions to
the environmental law field. Robie is a longtime member of the
Water Education Foundation’s Board of Directors.
A slew of Bakersfield locals told board members how much an
actual, wet river means for residents. Speakers asked board
members to make the Kern a priority and finally allocate
unappropriated water on the river that has been in limbo at the
board for the past 10 years.
As the Colorado River Basin’s managers wrestle with thorny
questions around the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, a colleague
who works for a Lower Colorado River Basin water agency
recently asked a question that goes to the heart of the future
of river management: With land in the Lower Colorado River
Basin, why doesn’t Utah have a Lower Basin allocation?
The report analyzes the environmental effects of Monterey
Peninsula Water Management District’s proposed buyout and
operation of the 40,000-customer Cal Am-owned system within the
district boundaries, including the proposed
6.4-million-gallon-per-day desalination plant and
infrastructure
ACWA on Oct. 15 submitted “A Roadmap To Achieving the Voluntary
Agreements” to Gov. Gavin Newsom and top members of his
Administration that calls on the state to take the necessary
steps to re-engage on Voluntary Agreements regarding the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta and its tributaries.
On September 17, 2020, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a
decision on whether Nevada’s public trust doctrine permits
reallocation of water rights previously settled under Nevada’s
prior appropriation doctrine. The majority found that the
public trust doctrine does not permit such reallocation.
In the area that the Moapa Valley Water District serves, water
users are facing an uncomfortable future: People are going to
have to use less water than they were once promised. Over the
last century, state regulators handed out more groundwater
rights than there was water available. Today state officials
say that only a fraction of those rights can be used, which
could mean cuts.
The Georgetown Divide Public Utility District reported Sept. 23
that its release of 2,000 acre-feet of water from Stumpy
Meadows Reservoir to be transferred to the Westlands Water
District has been successfully completed.
According to river flow data, there is currently almost no
water flowing into Walker Lake, a common condition. Today,
where the riverbed meets the lake is an ooze of mud. The lake
is all but biologically dead. But a decades-old public trust
lawsuit made a move forward in its glacial process through
federal courts last week, and advocates are hopeful Walker
Lake, a cornerstone of the regional economy and ecology, can
one day be revived.
Tensions between Mexico and the United States over water
intensified this month as hundreds of Mexican farmers seized
control of La Boquilla dam in protest over mandatory water
releases. The protesters came from parched Chihuahua state,
nearly 100 square miles of land pressed against the U.S.
border, where farmers are opposing the delivery of over 100
billion gallons of water to the United States by October 24.
Fifty years ago this week, the Bakersfield City Council
committed an audaciously historic act. On Monday evening Sept.
28, 1970, council members decided to sue Tenneco West for a
slice of the Kern River.
The Blue Communities project found its origins in Canada’s
fights against bottled water extraction and water
privatization. … The goal of the project is to have local
governments commit to become a Blue Community by passing local
resolutions to protect the human right to water.
Climate change is affecting natural resources in California,
with water being one of the most important in the state. Water
source is critical for municipalities, agriculture, industry,
and habitat/environmental purposes. Will future supply meet
future demand? How will the economic value of water change over
this century?
Just as they did more than two generations ago, Kern County
farmers are looking to another Central Valley river to the
north to refill their groundwater shortfall. But this time
around, natives in the Kings River watershed are “sharpening
their knives” to fight off what they say is a desperate water
grab.
Some of the largest users of the Ventura River recently
released their proposal to settle litigation and potentially
stave off a water-rights adjudication. The plan includes
multiple habitat restoration projects intended to help
endangered steelhead trout, but largely avoids any changes to
water use. Before it goes to a judge, however, other parties
likely will weigh in, including the state.
Lawyers representing Mineral County and the Walker Lake Working
Group announced this week they intend to take a water rights
case with broad implications back to federal appeals court to
ask whether Nevada can adjust already allocated water rights to
sustain rivers and lakes long-term.
Regional water conservation groups and a Clark County
commissioner welcomed a request by Utah officials Thursday to
extend the federal environmental review of a controversial plan
to divert billions of gallons of water from the Colorado River
to southwest Utah.
