California’s climate, characterized by warm, dry summers and mild
winters, makes the state’s water supply unpredictable. For
instance, runoff and precipitation in California can be quite
variable. The northwestern part of the state can receive more
than 140 inches per year while the inland deserts bordering
Mexico can receive less than 4 inches.
By the Numbers:
Precipitation averages about 193 million acre-feet per year.
In a normal precipitation year, about half of the state’s
available surface water – 35 million acre-feet – is collected in
local, state and federal reservoirs.
California is home to more than 1,300 reservoirs.
About two-thirds of annual runoff evaporates, percolates into
the ground or is absorbed by plants, leaving about 71 million
acre-feet in average annual runoff.
Intel’s Sept. 24 groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 billion
expansion of the Ocotillo campus in Chandler brought out all
the top officials. … But it’s unlikely any of them would have
been there until Intel overcame one key issue to doing business
in the desert: Water. It takes a lot of water to run a
manufacturing plant. In addition to the potable water needed
for a workforce of several thousands, they also need a lot of
water for their cooling towers.
In many parts of California, reminders abound that the American
West is running out of water. “Bathtub rings” mark the
shrinking of the state’s biggest reservoirs to some of their
lowest recorded levels. Fields lie fallow, as farmers grapple
with an uncertain future. A bed-and-breakfast owner spends $5
whenever a tourist showers. But not in San Diego County. In
this coastal desert metropolis, life has stayed mostly the same
for residents already accustomed to conserving what they have
long treated as a precious resource.
In a sizable series of transactions that speaks to looming
uncertainties in local ag, a Wasco farming family recently sold
2,400 acres in west Bakersfield — and with them, options to buy
45,000 acre-feet of water banked by the Semitropic Water
Storage District — to a Virginia-based investment company
drawn to California farmland.
Sweetwater Authority has selected its new general manager to
manage the water agency responsible for about 200,000 customers
in the South Bay. Following a months-long vacancy, Carlos
Quintero started his role on Sept. 27 following the Sweetwater
governing board’s approval last month of a three-year
employment contract with him. He has worked in the water
industry for the past 24 years.
Carrie Oliphant, a 20-year veteran of the Coachella Valley
Water District, is the agency’s first female director of
engineering, and working her way up, she says, has been “a
really good experience” in a “very supportive environment.” Her
job is a huge undertaking, as the century-old public agency
covers more than 1,000 square miles and services 110,000 homes
and businesses.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently
vacated a summary judgment previously granted to the city of
Vacaville, California, in a citizen suit brought under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). California
River Watch v. City of Vacaville questioned whether a
drinking water provider could have RCRA liability as a
transporter of waste due to the presence of a contaminant in
the drinking water which was not introduced by the provider and
which did not cause the drinking water to fail applicable
federal and state drinking water standards.
In an effort to expand Corning’s water services, the city is
applying for a Small Community Drought Relief of $22,322,250
through the Department of Water Resources. Corning is applying
for this grant to fund three wells and extend water mains and
laterals within the municipality’s sphere of influence, which
is to Viola Road west across Interstate 5, north to Finnell
Avenue and east across Interstate 5.
Light rain started falling Sunday evening in the Bay Area, as a
week of much-needed precipitation was forecast for the parched
Northern California landscape. One to 2 inches of rain is
expected to fall across the Bay Area over the next week, and
even more could fall across the North Bay as a series of storms
dives in from the northwest, said Rick Canepa, meteorologist
with the National Weather Service. To the east, parts of the
Sierra Nevada could see more than a half-foot of snow by Monday
morning.
The wet winter the American south-west has hoped for as it
battles extreme drought and heat is increasingly unlikely to
materialize as scientists now predict that a phenomenon known
as La Niña will develop for the second year in a row. The
weather system could intensify the worst effects of the drought
… Different regions in the US will experience different
outcomes. Washington state, Oregon, and even possibly northern
California could see wetter conditions than
normal, possibly causing problems if the rain comes as a
deluge.
In a year of both extreme heat and extreme drought, California
has reported its driest water year in terms of precipitation in
a century, and experts fear the coming 12 months could be even
worse. The Western Regional Climate Center added average
precipitation reported at each of its stations and calculated
that a total of 11.87 inches of rain and snow fell in
California in the 2021 water year. That’s half of what experts
deem average during a water year in California: about 23.58
inches.
Recent rainfall and the arrival of a desalination system are
allowing Fort Bragg to reduce the city’s water emergency from a
Stage 4 water crisis to a Stage 2 water alert. That means
businesses and residents can ease up slightly on their water
conservation efforts. The city was also able to pause receipts
of water from the city of Ukiah since water deliveries were
exceeding demand. Fort Bragg can meet that demand now without
outside help.
Farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley are struggling with
the megadrought. It is the most productive agricultural region
globally, where farms grow 250 different crops on 17% of the
nation’s irrigated land. … California regulators cut
farmers’ water allotments by a third due to low reservoir
levels.
On a bright, blustery October day, a day that felt almost like
normal fall weather, I had a conversation with filmmaker Emmett
Brenner about his latest film, Reflection: A Walk with Water.
In the film, Brenner and fellow environmental advocates walk
the length of the Los Angeles Aqueduct to raise awareness about
the misuses of water in California and the acute effects it’s
having on the land.
A celebration event held Wednesday commemorated the recent
completion of a $37 million, three-year construction project at
the Santa Rosa Water Reclamation Facility on Washington Avenue
in Murrieta. Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, Rancho
California Water District, and Western Municipal Water District
hosted the event. The three agencies are partners with the
Santa Rosa Regional Resources Authority, which owns and manages
the reclamation facility that serves portions of Murrieta,
Temecula, Wildomar, and surrounding communities.
Drinking water from this tap makes San Diego County Water
Authority’s General Manager Sandy Kerl smile — and for
good reason. Back in the drought of the ’90s, 95% of San
Diego’s water came from one source, and they faced 30% cuts for
13 months. … Fast-forward 30 years later, and the
San Diego County Water Authority has multiple streams of water
sources in its portfolio, including the groundbreaking Carlsbad
Desalination Plant that utilizes ocean water to provide the
region with about 10% of its drinking water.
The nation’s top civilian cybersecurity agency issued a warning
Thursday about ongoing cyber threats to the U.S. drinking water
supply, saying malicious hackers are targeting government water
and wastewater treatment systems. Authorities said they wanted
to highlight ongoing malicious cyber activity “by both known
and unknown actors” targeting the technology and information
systems that provide clean, drinkable water and treat the
billions of gallons of wastewater created in the U.S. every
year.
Two years ago, this unprecedented megadrought prompted all
seven [Colorado River Basin] states to agree, for the first
time, to a dual drought contingency plan — one for the upper
basin and one for the lower. … But in the upper basin,
though the states agreed to their own drought contingency plan,
they still haven’t agreed on the biggest, most controversial of
the plan’s elements: setting aside up to 500,000 acre-feet of
water in a special, protected drought pool in Lake Powell.
The question of whether private ownership of desalination
plants will be allowed in Monterey County remains unresolved,
but supervisors on Oct. 12 voted 4-1 to direct county staff to
prepare a study on overturning the 32-year prohibition on
private ownership. … The law has been thrust into
the spotlight as Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp., a
publicly traded, $11 billion Canada-based company, has
proposed construction of what could be a massive regional
desalination plant in Moss Landing. The project has the
potential to produce 32,000 acre-feet of drinking water when
built out.
Subsidence by groundwater extraction has all but led to a
conveyance failure for parts of the Friant-Kern Canal. After
years of vying for funding to fix its most impacted 33-mile
stretch, the Friant Water Authority announced they have awarded
a contract to Brosamer & Wall/Tutor Perini Joint Venture for
phase one of the project. Brosamer & Waller, based in Walnut
Creek, was awarded a $177 million contract to perform the
construction aspects of the first phase of work to repair the
Friant-Kern Canal along the significant stretch.
With the population of the United States doubling over the past
50 years, at least 40 states are now anticipating water
shortages by 2024. … Consider the Colorado River basin.
Located in the southwestern U.S. and stretching almost 1,500
miles from the Continental Divide to the Gulf of California,
the Colorado River is a critical municipal water resource for
nearly 40 million people throughout seven states.
Microsoft, Facebook and Google have all pledged to replenish
more water than they use in their direct operations by 2030. BP
has set a target year for 2035, and Gap for 2050. These pledges
are coming at a time of huge pressure on global water
resources, exacerbated by the climate crisis. … The impacts
of the water crisis on business are increasingly clear –
threatening semiconductor production in Taiwan, scuttling plans
for a brewery in Mexico and sending investors competing for
water rights in the Colorado River basin.
As severe drought conditions continue, the Bureau of
Reclamation’s Central Valley Project began the 2022 water year
with 3.21 million acre-feet of water—one of the lowest starting
points in recent years. CVP major reservoirs include: Trinity,
Shasta, Folsom, New Melones, Millerton, and the federal share
of San Luis Reservoir—approximately 52% of a 15-year average.
The water year begins Oct. 1 each year and ends Sept. 30.
Nearly 800 residents in the Diablo Grande community could run
out of water by the end of the week. Some residents were
upset that their water rates could increase even as they’re
asked to conserve. … Diablo Grande used to be a coveted
community behind a private gate, but some residents feared it
would be abandoned because of ongoing water problems.
It seems that every time there’s a proposal in the Legislature
to help repair the Friant-Kern Canal, something goes wrong. It
happened again last month. Senate Bill 559 would have
directed state money toward repairing the Friant-Kern Canal,
Delta-Mendota Canal and the California Aqueduct, which are
sinking due to land subsidence. The damage is hurting their
ability to move water. But the bill got tripped up in the
Assembly.
State Water Board Chair E. Joaquin Esquivel and DWR Director
Karla Nemeth have been appointed to the Western States
Water Council. … Bianca Sievers, 31, of Sacramento, has been
appointed Deputy Director for Special Initiatives at the
Department of Water Resources. …
With funding from the California State Water Resources Control
Board, the City of Fort Bragg is launching a
desalination-reverse osmosis system that can treat up to
144,000 gallons per day. The system will treat water from the
Noyo River, where saltwater intrusion during high tide can
often render the water unsuitable for drinking.
The 1,657 sloping acres of dry scrub and boulders in Highland
that had been slated for 3,600 houses as part of the Harmony
development is one step closer to being sold. The Orange County
Board of Supervisors on Oct. 5 accepted a high bid of
$31,815,000 from the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water
District. The supervisors made the move on behalf of the Orange
County Flood Control District, which owns the land.
The struggle over management of water supplied through the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta continues as the Biden
administration seeks a reversal of rules put in place by
agencies under the Trump administration. Last week, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation sent a letter to federal fisheries
agencies and announced it is reinitiating consultation of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries
Service 2019 biological opinions related to the coordinated,
long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and State
Water Project.
A major milestone in the effort to protect the Mono Basin
ecosystem was reached last week. On October 1, 2021, the
California State Water Board approved a comprehensive program
to restore four key tributaries to Mono Lake, located in the
Eastern Sierra near Yosemite. The Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power (LADWP) will implement this program, as a
condition of its water rights license to withdraw water for
transport to its customers in the Los Angeles area.
This year witnessed one of the hottest and driest summers in
recent history for Western Canada and the American Southwest.
The resulting droughts adversely affected food supply and
helped send meat prices rising three times faster than
inflation. Despite the severity of these droughts, the worst
may be yet to come. … [L]essons can also be drawn from
low-tech solutions developed by ancient societies that
flourished in arid climates.
The national advocacy organization Food & Water Watch released
“Big Ag, Big Oil and California’s Big Water Problem,” a report
detailing for the first time California’s most egregious
corporate water misuses. The piece pinpoints industrial
agriculture as among the worst offenders, swallowing large
portions of California’s water resources and exporting billions
of gallons of water overseas through heavily irrigated crops
like almond and alfalfa as well as dairy.
There is absolutely nothing boring about a tunnel boring
machine (TBM). Today’s TBMs resemble massive subterranean
factories, capable of cutting through harder rock and against
higher water pressures than ever before. TBMs can now operate
in mixed ground conditions and in a host of other environments
that would have been impossible as recently as the 1970s and
1980s.
How much is access to water worth? In this episode, we aim to
answer that question by looking at the Kern Water Bank, one of
California’s largest underground water storage facilities. From
above, it looks a lot like a giant puddle. But underneath it
has the capacity to hold the equivalent of roughly 500 of New
York City’s Central Park Reservoirs. And, as one expert says,
it’s the “absolute jewel” of California water banking.
Stuart Woolf, a large almond and tomato producer, recently
bulldozed 400 acres of almond orchards in central California —
about 50,000 trees that under normal conditions would have
produced $2.5 million of nuts every year for another decade.
It’s a fraction of the 25,000 acres his family farms, but
razing the land was a necessary triage — “Like cutting off your
horribly infected hand to keep the rest of the body going,” he
told me. Woolf plans to replace the trees with cover crops
he’ll neither sell nor harvest, but will use to sequester
greenhouse gasses in his soil. -Written by Bloomberg columnist Amanda Little.
In the small city of Oakley, Utah, the drought conditions
parching much of the West have depleted the natural springs
that supply water to the community. During each of the past
several summers, local leaders worried that quenching any major
fire might empty the city’s water tanks. The city issued
water-use restrictions this past April and residents cut back,
but officials heard a consistent message from their
constituents, said Mayor Wade Woolstenhulme. “If you guys are
so low on water, why do you keep giving out building permits?”
Our severe drought prompted the county to lobby the state to
decrease mandated new housing units due to water limitations.
Yet at a recent supervisors hearing, Permit Sonoma identified
no cumulative water impacts from cannabis grows whereas in
reality the county failed to analyze this. The county should
have done this six years ago while developing the original
ordinance. -Written by Deborah Eppstein, a retired scientist
living in Sonoma County, and Craig S. Harrison, a retired
lawyer living in Bennett Valley.
Programs from the drought-busting handbook practiced by
Southern California water agencies include recycling water,
building storm-water capture basins and offering cash rebates
for replacing thirsty lawns with xeriscape landscaping. With
the grip from a second year of drought tightening, a regional
water-planning agency in the Inland Empire is moving ahead for
the first time in its history with a more controversial
program: cloud seeding. The Santa Ana Watershed Project
Authority Commission has approved a four-year pilot
cloud-seeding project …
Tutor Perini Corporation (NYSE: TPC) (the “Company”), a leading
civil, building and specialty construction company, announced
today that a joint venture comprised of the Company and
Brosamer & Wall, Inc. has been awarded a contract valued at
approximately $178 million by the U.S. Department of the
Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, for the Friant-Kern Canal
Middle Reach Capacity Correction Phase I project in central
California, southeast of Visalia.
People who live in the Southwest know it’s been especially hot
and dry the past couple of years, but a new government report
shows those conditions are actually historic. Precipitation
across multiple basins in six states from January 2020 through
August 2021 was the lowest recorded since researchers started
tracking with gauges in the late 1800s. Meanwhile, the 20-month
stretch had the third-highest average daily temperatures since
researchers started measuring with instruments.
Come Wednesday, Oct. 13, utility services for Imperial
residents more than 60 days past due will start to be cut off,
but the city will continue to offer public assistance services
to help those who are behind in their bills, it was announced
at the City Council meeting this week. Some 164 utility
customers (water, sewer, and trash) are past due 60 days or
more and will be affected this upcoming date, and more than 800
customers are 30 days past due…
While California’s severe drought has hit nearly every corner
of the Golden State, it has delivered a crushing toll to
communities that received little bounce back following the last
drought that peaked seven years ago. Case-in-point? Kettleman
City. Kettleman, perhaps best known to Californians as a Kings
County stopover midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles,
serves as the junction of Valley residents traversing to the
Central Coast via Highway 41 and metropolitan drivers roaring
across Interstate 5.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today honored
the Regional Water Authority (RWA) with the national 2021
WaterSense® Partner of the Year Award for its dedication to
helping consumers and businesses save water, even with the
challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This is
the second WaterSense Award for RWA, which in 2016 earned a
WaterSense® Excellence in Education and Outreach Award for its
outstanding efforts to educate Sacramento-area residents about
water efficiency and the WaterSense brand.
The Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Project (Project) passed a
significant milestone today in officially filing agreements
needed to form a Joint Powers Authority. This important
milestone puts a group of Local Agency Partners one step closer
to Project implementation. Los Vaqueros Reservoir is an
off-stream reservoir that was originally built by Contra Costa
Water District (CCWD) in 1998.
Despite recent rains, severe to extreme drought conditions
persist throughout Humboldt County. During the Humboldt County
Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, the county drought task
force shared an update on local conditions and initiatives
aimed at mitigating drought impacts. One of the main concerns
brought up in previous drought-related discussions was
permitting standards for water wells.
Amid a historic drought, the ever-present threat of wildfires
and worsening heat waves, a little-known controversy is pitting
environmental conservation against housing production,
potentially threatening progress in building a thriving
Southern California that can also withstand the challenges that
are coming with climate change.
Fresno Unified Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas is embarking on
a new career as the public affairs representative for the
Westlands Water District, which identified her in its
announcement Wednesday as Elizabeth Jonasson. Jonasson Rosas
says she’s fine being identified either way.
A landslide along the shore of Lake Shasta, likely caused
by the rapidly falling lake level, has knocked out
water service to hundreds of Jones Valley area residents.
Meanwhile, Shasta County Public Works Department officials are
trying to repair water lines and pumps broken by the landslide,
but they have hit supply ordering delays and shortages caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic. … The land above the pump station
began to slump in September and work in the area was
interrupted by the Fawn Fire, which burned in the area for more
than a week…
Today, the Bureau of Reclamation and Friant Water Authority
announces the selection of a construction contractor to begin
work on the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction
Project. Brosamer & Wall/Tutor Perini Joint Venture, based in
Walnut Creek, was awarded a $177 million contract to perform
the construction aspects of the first phase of work to repair
the Friant-Kern Canal along a portion of the 33-mile stretch.
This portion of the canal has lost more than half of its
capacity due to subsidence—a sinking of the earth from
groundwater extraction.
Experts in government, agriculture, water management and the
environment stressed during a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday
the danger that droughts fueled by climate change pose in the
West, including the Colorado River Basin. During a
hearing before an Energy and Natural Resources Committee panel,
witnesses said long-term solutions and an investment in water
infrastructure are needed to combat the effects of climate
change.
As the Western United States navigates yet another historic
drought year fueled by the ongoing climate crisis,
environmental scientists are calling for immediate action.
State Sen. Mike McGuire invited the North Coast community to a
virtual town hall Wednesday to explore bold solutions that will
be needed in the months and years to come.
If what is already a historic drought goes on much longer, a
proposed water pipeline could help Marin avert disaster, but it
likely won’t be enough, The Marin Independent Journal reports.
The proposed $90 million, 8-mile pipeline that would stretch
across the San Francisco Bay across the length of the
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge could potentially provide as much as
13.5 million gallons of water each day, according to the
report.
Farming has always been dependent on varying weather patterns.
With a water shortage and fear of wildfires, farming has become
an even riskier occupation. These circumstances are beyond
their control and small farmers are having an especially tough
time because they don’t have the many resources available to
them that larger farms do. As the drought continues to
worsen, many water-use limitations and regulations will be
enforced upon all California residents and businesses—including
mandatory water restrictions.
Jobs in the water and wastewater industry provide stable
employment in meaningful careers, delivering a vital resource
families and businesses depend on. With half of all current
employees expected to retire in the next 15 years, recruitment
efforts hope to fill many of these essential positions. Family
ties provide a positive influence in filling these roles with
the next generation of water professionals in several water
agencies in San Diego County.
Climate change is poised to result in a worldwide water crisis,
and international institutions and governments have not done
enough to prepare, according to a report released Tuesday by
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report
determined that as of 2018, some 3.6 billion people did not
have sufficient access to water at least one month every year.
… The report follows a summer that, in the U.S. alone,
laid bare the threat of climate change to water supply and
infrastructure. Lake Mead and the Colorado River saw their
first-ever federal water shortage declaration in
August, two months after its water levels hit an all-time
low.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked Tuesday about Central
Valley farmers’ role in a climate-safe future, and about
families stressed by food costs. He took part in a Zoom call
with Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, and leaders in California
agriculture. Vilsack discussed his department’s response to the
current drought and the barriers to exports of dairy foods,
nuts, citrus and other products. And he plugged the $1.2
trillion infrastructure bill now before Congress. It would
improve roads, rail, ports and other modes of transportation,
along with rural broadband and water supplies.
As our own editorial of Tuesday notes, about 50% of the water
in California is for the rivers and their fishes. About 40%
goes to agriculture. Of the remaining 10%, 5.7% is used by
residences, mostly indoors, but a great deal of that for
landscaping. If I were to replace my pride and joy, the
80-year-old Meyer lemon tree in our front yard, productive
enough to supply the whole block with citrus, with a granny
flat, that housing would use less water than that tree. -Written by Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star News
editor.
Applications will soon be available for our yearlong Water
Leaders class, which will mark its 25th year in 2022, so now is
the time to start polishing those resumes and seeking support
from employers. One of our most popular programs, the William
R. “Bill” Gianelli Water Leaders class is aimed at providing a
deeper understanding of California water issues and building
leadership skills with class members by studying a
water-related topic in-depth and working with a mentor.
Congress approved a government funding bill last week that
threw $80 million at the Sites Reservoir in California in order
to keep the project on track. The project is meant to hold 1.5
million acre-feet of water for the state to be used during
droughts for agriculture, community usage and environmental
need, said a press release issued Tuesday by the organization
behind the Sites Reservoir.
San Joaquin County communities are having their woes
compounded as they struggle with the effects of one historic
drought while still struggling with the effects of another.
With constituents concerned about the ongoing drought and
resources available, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, hosted a
panel of state and federal experts to discuss the critical
situation, its statewide effects and best water practices.
A California Water Service project replacing 4,500 feet of old
pipe and the subsequent dechlorination of the new pipes has led
to water runoff in the Sunnybrae area of San Mateo, with Cal
Water workers noting most runoff inconvenience should be done
in a week.
Cities in Southern California rely largely on water flowing
through aqueducts from the Colorado River and the Sierra
Nevada. But some parts of the region, such as Ventura County
and northwestern L.A. County, don’t have access to Colorado
River water and depend entirely on the water that comes from
the Sierra through the State Water Project. … Los
Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced an agreement on Tuesday,
saying the city’s Department of Water and Power is assisting
the region by taking less water from the State Water Project,
helping to preserve those supplies so that other districts will
get the water.
The Colorado River Water Conservation District staff plans to
present its own framework for a water-savings plan — separate
from one the state of Colorado is developing — at its October
board meeting. The Glenwood Springs-based River District
undertook its own investigation of a plan — known as demand
management — that would pay water users to consume less and
send the saved water downstream to Lake Powell.
As the deepening drought threatens to dry up some West Marin
wells in the coming months, the county government wants to tap
into dwindling reservoirs to avoid a potential public health
emergency. The county proposes to truck reservoir water for the
next four months to an estimated 10 to 20 residences in areas
such as Nicasio, San Geronimo Valley and Lucas Valley. The
actual number of residents is not certain, county officials
said, as qualification criteria are still being drafted.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation has pledged another $5
million toward drought relief in the Klamath Basin as farmers
and other stakeholders in the region continue to grapple with a
major shortage of water. Reclamation previously awarded $15
million toward the Klamath Project Drought Response
Agency, and the additional $5 million will join those funds.
KPDRA is tasked with distributing the fund to irrigators in
Oregon and California who are without an external water supply
due to the drought.
Ramon Chavez was a 7-year-old in Culiacán, Mexico, when his
parents told him that they were traveling to the United States.
He thought he was going to Disneyland. They ended up in
Stratford. … Land sinks here, sometimes at nearly
historic high rates of more than 1 foot per year, because of
excessive groundwater pumping. Out of its four wells, Stratford
can only rely on one — the others are unreliable and are
unusable.
As dry times become a greater concern, taking full advantage of
wet times becomes a greater priority. This is the idea behind a
long – conceived $150 million tunnel project that would connect
two of [Monterey] county’s most important reservoirs [Lake
Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio], allowing the more common
superfluous flows in one to fill the other. However, as the
design moves toward a public unveiling, support for the massive
project is uncertain.
The [California City] City Council, on Tuesday, discussed the
possible benefits and pitfalls of ending its practice of
purchasing supplemental water from the Antelope Valley-East
Kern Water Agency and relying solely on its own wells for
water. Councilmember Kelly Kulikoff requested the discussion,
speaking in favor of ending the relationship with the agency
which supplies water from the State Water Project.
Here are the steps — starting with the least intrusive and
least expensive — that state and local government need to take
now to avoid the dystopia that Cape Town, South Africa, endured
in 2018 when the faucets ran dry. … First, we should
make conservation a way of life. Utilities must increase
tried-and-true mandatory 20% conservation and water recycling
from 2019 usage. … We also need to shift water
retailer’s own incentives. While they will never say it
publicly, water utilities do not like conservation, because
selling less water means less revenue. -Written by Steve Westly, a former California
State Controller and founder of The Westly Group; and Gary
Kremen, representing District 7 on the Santa Clara Valley
Water District Board of Directors.
The first-ever official shortage on the Colorado River has
intensified a debate over how to provide water for 40 million
people across the Southwest and irrigate fields of thirsty
crops like wheat, cotton and alfalfa. Few voices outside
government are more influential than that of the Walton family,
billionaire heirs to the Walmart Inc. fortune, who have long
advocated water markets as a key part to solving the region’s
woes. But some environmental groups say the Waltons drown out
other, nonmarket approaches.
Water scarcity will be the biggest climate-related threat to
corporate assets like factories within the next few decades
… A lack of water is triggering violent conflict in
places like India’s Northern Plains … Sydney will endure
shortfalls within 20 years if the city continues growing at its
current rate, according to a recent estimate, while
residents of San Jose, California, (the “Capital of Silicon
Valley”) are being threatened with penalties if they
don’t cut their water use by 15%. Kenya’s drought has
been declared a national disaster.
The future economic vibrancy of Southern California requires
building an adequate housing supply that accommodates a growing
population. This shouldn’t come at the cost of protecting
natural lands and open spaces. A vibrant future also requires
making sure that residents have the parks and clean air and
water needed to support healthy communities. A project led
by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is
an important step in planning for the region’s future. -Written by Melanie Schlotterbeck, a consultant
for the Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, a conservation
organization based in Orange County.
The storage level in Lake Mendocino was on pace to drop below
15,000 acre feet on Saturday, meaning a quarter of the supply
water managers had hoped to keep in store by Oct. 1 already has
been released. The rapid shrinkage of the reservoir after two
years of historic drought raises unsettling questions about the
future for a range of consumers along the upper Russian River,
whose supplies already are heavily restricted.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly announced he will chair a congressional
hearing on the ongoing drought in western states, including
Arizona. Kelly will chair the Subcommittee on Water and Power,
part of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on Oct. 6.
The senator requested the hearing in August, after the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation declared a shortage of the Colorado River
for the first time.
San Diego’s largest water wholesaler has notched another legal
win against its Los Angeles parent company over the cost of
delivering Colorado River water. The San Diego County Water
Authority announced Thursday that the powerful Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California has agreed to pay about
$36 million to reimburse the San Diego agency for what it has
called “illegal water charges.”
The Palmdale Water District Board of Directors unanimously
approved an agreement for the District to provide water to a
group of water agencies in western Kern and Kings counties,
during wet years when the District has an excess supply. The
District will be paid for the water transferred, with those
funds then earmarked for water reliability projects to better
ensure the District’s own supplies. The transfer is of water
allocated through the State Water Project and delivered by the
California Aqueduct.
Amid historic drought and changing rainfall patterns, a
groundwater market in the California desert could serve as a
template for the future of water management. When landowners
overlying the Mojave groundwater system switched from
open-access management to a cap-and-trade system, it helped
stabilize their groundwater resources.
Foreign companies … have been increasingly looking to the US
to buy up farmland, often taking advantage of states’ lax
regulations to invest in high-value crops like almonds and
alfalfa and export them to places with limited water or
land.
The project is touted as a first-of-its-kind resort and
recreational experience built around a surfing basin created by
Kelly Slater Wave Company. The end result would be a
master-planned resort community featuring a hotel,
single-family residences, neighborhood and resort commercial
development, and a nearly 17-acre wave pool for surfing.
… At build-out, Coral Mountain Resort would
use approximately 958.63 acre-feet of water — or 312,370,490
gallons — per year based on the residential indoor demand,
non-residential indoor demand, and outdoor demands, according
to city documents.
Thursday marks the final day of the water year in California,
and it was one for the record books — and not just because much
of the state saw less than 50% of average rainfall.
… California received about 24 inches of water during
the water year that began Oct. 1, 2020, according to the
8-station index. It’s 46% percent of the average, which is
about 51.4 inches and is drier than any of the years that
produced the last prolonged drought that began roughly in 2011.
With California’s extreme drought persisting and reservoirs
declining to new lows, state officials said they will consider
imposing mandatory water restrictions if dryness continues this
winter. Gov. Gavin Newsom called on Californians in July to
voluntarily reduce water use by 15%, saying state water
regulators would track progress toward that target and decide
whether additional measures would be necessary. Natural
Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said Thursday that bigger
steps may be needed if the drought doesn’t ease this winter,
and turning to statewide mandatory conservation measures will
be an option.
Pasadena’s Municipal Services Committee unanimously approved a
25-year planning guide for future water-related programs and
projects in the city during its Tuesday meeting. The
plan’s objective is to ensure the provision by the city of high
quality and affordable water services to the public.
The 2020 Water System and Resources Plan (WRSP), developed by
the Pasadena Water and Power Department, (PWP) provides the
City with a framework to evaluate future water supply programs
and infrastructure investment.
It is no secret that in order to tackle its ongoing and future
water challenges spanning drinking water, wastewater, and
stormwater systems, the nation needs to significantly increase
its investments in water infrastructure and management
solutions. Facing ever-increasing stressors on water
systems—aging infrastructure, drought, flooding, contaminated
runoff—communities are looking for ways to build
sustainability, create resilience to climate change, protect
water quality, and equitably secure local water supplies for
everyone.
Registration is now open for the Foundation’s Water Summit,
hosted this year as an engaging virtual experience on the
afternoon of Oct. 28, followed by an optional
in-person reception during an open-air cruise along the
Sacramento River. With the theme, Pivoting Today’s Pain into
Tomorrow’s Gain, the online event will examine what’s
being done to get through the drought now gripping California
and highlight some of the innovative programs, projects
and partnerships aimed at addressing the challenges.
After a lengthy public hearing Tuesday, the Butte County Board
of Supervisors voted 3-1 to support a proposed water district
in the northwest county. The Tuscan Water District would cover
102,000 acres stretching from Butte Valley, north and west to
the Tehama and Glenn county lines, excluding Cal Water’s Chico
Division. The district name refers to the aquifer beneath the
area. The area is almost entirely dependent on groundwater, and
to meet the provisions of a recent state law, the amount that
is pumped will have to be reduced.
Another year of drought means another year of reduced harvest
for California rice. Farmers slashed planting by 20% in the
spring due to water shortages, which amounts to about 100,000
acres of idle rice fields. … Butler’s Sutter Basin Corp,
in Robbins, cut production by 1,000 acres. The fallowed land
was never planted, and the soil dried out in the sun.
… Cal Rice spokesman Jim Morris said water issues have
been among the challenges. He said cutbacks have impacts
throughout the Sacramento Valley.
The headline on The Bee’s story was direct but wonky, and did
not hint at the real drama that lay ahead: “Fresno City Council
votes to sue water agency over costs to repair Friant-Kern
Canal.” Ostensibly, city leaders said they were looking out for
Fresno residents by refusing to pony up about $2.5 million to
the Friant Water Authority to help fix a section of the canal
between Porterville and Delano. Why, city fathers asked,
should Fresnans have to pay to fix a section of canal that does
not benefit them? Rather, that stretch of waterway helps
farmers in Tulare County.
The first quagga in Castaic Lake was found by park visitor. It
was dead but she says mostly likely had been recently alive.
Over the next three weeks, DWR and California Department of
Fish and Wildlife staff found decayed shells of three more dead
quagga mussels along the shoreline. The discovery is
problematic for a number of reasons. Castaic is a drinking
water reservoir equipped with pumping machinery, pipelines and
grates to catch debris.
Drought—a year with a below-average water supply—is a natural
part of the climate cycle, but as Earth’s atmosphere continues
to warm due to climate change, droughts are becoming more
frequent, severe, and pervasive. The past 20 years have been
some of the driest conditions in the American west on record.
Water trading and banking are important tools that can help
California bring its groundwater basins into balance by the
early 2040s, as mandated by the 2014 Sustainable Water
Management Act (SGMA). But the expansion of the state’s water
market still faces some bottlenecks, including aging
infrastructure and complex regulations. The stakes for
preserving California’s groundwater are rising, however, as is
interest in improving the state’s water market.
Bay Area water agencies have saved nearly 10 times more water
than the state average in the past year. Collectively, 58 Bay
Area water districts saved an average of more than 10% in July
2021 compared with the same time last year, according to new
statistics from the State Water Resources Control
Board. That still falls short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s
call for 15% savings as the state battles another
crippling drought. Though Bay Area agencies generally
outperformed South Coast-area districts in water use reduction,
some saved much more than others.
When the Water Forum Agreement was signed over 20
years ago, the occasion marked an unprecedented show of
regional cooperation and an end to the water wars that had
plagued the Sacramento region for decades. … Now, a
decades-old application by San Joaquin County is threatening to
ignite a new era of water conflict by petitioning California to
take 147,000-acre feet of water from the American River — an
amount of water equal to 15% of Folsom Lake when full. -Written by Jessica Law, executive director of
the Water Forum.
Recent rainfall hasn’t been nearly enough to make a dent in
Lake Shasta’s precariously low water levels…. The
drought has dropped Lake Shasta to its second worst level
since the last bucket of concrete was poured for Shasta Dam in
December 1945. … As of Tuesday, the lake was 24%
full …
After months of handwringing over language in a contract
allowing California American Water Co. to purchase thousands of
acre-feet of water from a Monterey recycling project, some of
the heavy lifting now begins. With the Monterey Peninsula Water
Management District approving a contract last week and the
board of Monterey One Water approving the water purchase
agreement Monday night, the stage is now set for Cal Am to go
before the California Public Utilities Commission to finalize
the deal.
Two major California water agencies have settled a lawsuit that
once threatened to derail a multi-state agreement to protect
the Colorado River. The Imperial Irrigation district is the
largest recipient of water from the river. That group reached a
deal to store water in Lake Mead and join drought contingency
efforts if dry conditions worsen and mandatory cutbacks are
issued. Robert Schettler is a spokesman for the district.
Moulton Niguel Water District is an award-winning water utility
that serves over 170,000 customers in South Orange County and
is known for its innovative conservation efforts. We spoke with
the district’s general manager Joone Lopez and board president
Brian Probolsky, who is also CEO of the Orange County Power
Authority, a brand-new power choice aggregator that’s bringing
renewable energy to Orange County.
Since the start of the pandemic, thirsty Americans have drowned
their sorrow in bottled water. Even before the coronavirus blew
into all our lives, bottled water was, and has been for years,
the No. 1 beverage in the United States, surpassing soft drinks
as the choice of increasingly health-conscious consumers. The
COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated things. According to a
recent report from the International Bottled Water Assn., sales
of bottled water exploded last year “as consumers stocked up in
order to stay home amid the coronavirus crisis.”
The House last month voted for a Sept. 27 deadline to bring the
bipartisan infrastructure plan to the floor. On Sunday, Pelosi
didn’t specify when this week it would be voted on.
… Along with the infrastructure bill, Democratic
leadership is also hoping to push through the $3.5
trillion social spending package this week, in part to
retain the support of progressives who might otherwise not vote
for the infrastructure bill.
State drinking water officials have quietly targeted a dozen
small, disadvantaged water systems in Fresno for possible state
aid. But it could still take up to three years to get through
the paperwork and start putting pipes in the ground. … The
State Water Resources Control Board commissioned a feasibility
study through Fresno State University’s California Water
Institute to get a first glimpse of what it would take to have
the small systems folded into the City of Fresno’s much larger
drinking water system.
New projections show that Lake Mead and Lake Powell could reach
“critically low reservoir elevations” sooner than expected,
spurring experts to say that “bold actions” will be needed to
change course. The Bureau of Reclamation report released
Thursday shows an 88% chance that Lake Powell could fall below
3,525 feet by next August, a level that would endanger
hydropower production, with chances Lake Mead will hit critical
levels in the next few years.
Challenging the city of Tehachapi’s Sept. 7 approval of the
Sage Ranch project, the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water
District has filed a petition in Kern County Superior Court,
claiming that the city violated multiple state laws in its
approval of the planned development. … The water district has
asked the court to set aside the city’s approval of the
995-unit residential subdivision near Tehachapi High School —
and possibly some other subdivisions totaling an additional 450
units dating back as far as 2006.
With severe drought strangling the West, the country’s largest
water provider has embarked on a multibillion-dollar project
that could help them cope with increasingly frequent shortages
exacerbated by climate change. The Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California wants to recycle Los Angeles’
wastewater, creating a new supply stream that would
significantly reduce the city’s reliance on imported water from
Northern California and the Colorado River. It would mark a new
paradigm in Western water infrastructure.
Two years ago, a pact to safeguard the West’s shrinking water
supplies took effect at a ceremony high above the Colorado
River. On a terrace overlooking Hoover Dam, water officials
from seven states that rely on the river had gathered to sign a
deal in hopes of preventing reservoirs from falling to
critically low levels. The audience that broke into applause
included officials from major water districts across the West
that supply water to Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles. But
notably absent from the May 2019 ceremony were representatives
of California’s Imperial Irrigation District, the single
largest user of Colorado River water.
Importing muddy water from the Mississippi
River to save Arizona from drought could be as simple as
landing a man on the moon. As droughts force local
communities to find alternative solutions to water shortages,
Arizonans could turn to importing flood water in the
future. An interstate pipeline would be a lengthy project
in terms of time and effort that in a race against time isn’t
an immediate answer, rather a commitment that would test the
resolve of the state Legislature and Arizonans.
If you haven’t read MacKenzie Elmer’s piece about steep water
rate increases projected by the San Diego County Water
Authority, we recommend you correct that. You can click here
and it will take you there but don’t forget to come back. We
also explained it thoroughly on the podcast. In the piece,
Elmer took us through how because we’re using less water we
will have to pay more.
So Southern Californians didn’t decrease their water usage in
July, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request for a voluntary 15%
cutback? Well, of course not. The dusty lake beds, the dry
spigots, the serious water-use cutback orders and the most
frightening wildfires (so far, anyway) have been in Northern
California, and that’s where Newsom focused his most dire
warnings.
Santa Cruz native Sierra Ryan is taking the helm of the county
Water Resources Division as it’s new manager — a role critical
in protecting the region’s water quality, supply and
sustainability. … Ryan hails from Live Oak, a place she said
her family has had roots in since 1918. She left the Monterey
Bay area to pursue an environmental studies degree at UC Santa
Barbara, later earning a master’s in environmental
sustainability at the University of Edinburgh.
Water districts in Riverside County have joined with districts
throughout the region to form a water banking program intended
to provide access to stored supplies in the event of drought,
it was announced Wednesday. … The Santa Ana River
Conservation & Conjunctive Use Program — SARCCUP — involves a
master compact … According to the agreement, SARCCUP
will ensure up to 137,000 acre-feet of water is set aside in
groundwater basins within the Santa Ana watershed, held in
reserve for hard times.
There have been plenty of historic structures revealed on
Northern California reservoirs as water continues to shrink
down to historically low levels. With multiple historic towns
sitting under the water at Shasta Lake, there have been plenty
to explore with this low water. One mysterious sunken boat is
recently turning heads on lake, leaving many to wonder what it
could possibly be. Jeremy Tuggle has been posting many of the
historic sites uncovered on Shasta Lake, including the sunken
boat near Bridge Bay Marina that certainly has a story behind
it.
For a year I have been tracking the progress of a Butte County
proposal to form a new water district. Named “Tuscan,” a name
that brims with ripe fruit and Italian luxury, the form of the
proposed district promises a bountiful harvest to two large
landowners—absentee corporations, in fact. It also promises to
leave Butte County’s water coffers empty and its aquifers dry.
Trona, a town in California’s Mojave Desert, is at risk of
being left dry amid an ongoing water war that erupted after
legislation was passed in 2016 to sustain groundwater sources.
The town, which lacks its own clean source of water, has been
getting its water from wells located 30 miles away in the
Indian Wells Valley for decades, The Los Angeles Times
reported. The water is delivered through two pipelines to
Searles Valley Minerals, a mining company that uses the water
to produce soda ash, boron, and salt.
Could wastewater be the solution to our drought problems?
Valley Water thinks so and they are doubling down on it by
expanding their North San Jose advanced water purification
center and planning on building a new plant in Los Atos to
produce millions of gallons of purified drinking water. In the
heart of Silicon Valley, Valley Water is technology to lead the
county out of the drought.
California is running out of water. That’s the harsh assessment
by experts who say 90% of the state is dealing with drought
conditions with the threat of mandatory statewide water
restrictions looming. The most glaring indications of the
drought in the Bay Area are the local reservoirs. The
reservoirs during the last drought were relatively full and
offered a temporary buffer to a major water shortage. That is
not the case this time around.
The Orange County Water District (OCWD, the District) and
regional water agencies worked together with the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California (MWD) to reach a historic
agreement, the Santa Ana River Conservation and Conjunctive Use
Program (SARCCUP), to better prepare the region for future
droughts and promote water use efficiency in Orange, Riverside
and San Bernardino counties—an area serving millions of
customers.
For over three decades, Donald Sherman has been a local farmer
growing vegetable crops. It’s no secret California has been
dealing with the impact of the drought for several years, and
Sherman says he saw this coming about 20 years ago. … He says
that as small farmers, they don’t always have the resources to
keep up when wells begin running dry, and they have to be
mindful of how they use every drop of water.
Everyone in California has been asked to conserve water, but no
one is doing it better than one community in the North Bay.
Healdsburg has cut its water use in half. Lake Mendocino
provides the bulk of Healdsburg’s water, and early in the
summer there was talk of that lake simply running dry. Just the
thought of that scared this city into an aggressive
conservation plan. … Letting the park lawns die off was
only part of the answer. To cut overall water consumption in
half, Healdsburg set out to change the way residents think
about their own water use.
Although the current outlook for our water supply is pretty
grim in California, Sebastopol filmmaker Emmett Brennan hopes
to inspire, not depress, audiences with his new documentary,
“Reflection: A Walk with Water,” premiering at the Mill Valley
Film Festival Oct. 14 and 15. Environmental devastation, from
desertification and overdevelopment, was Brennan’s initial
motivation to make the movie. But instead of focusing on the
damage, he captures the efforts of people working to restore
and promote healthy water systems, from Santa Rosa ranchers and
Ojai farmers to L.A. greywater ecologists and Sonoma soil
experts.
Though summer rainfall brought some relief to the Southwest,
the unrelenting drought there is about to get worse with La
Niña on the horizon, according to David DeWitt, director at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate
Prediction Center. … La Niña is a natural phenomenon marked
by cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures across the
central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator, which
causes shifts in weather across the globe. In the Southwest, La
Niña typically causes the jet stream — upper-level winds that
carry storms around the globe — to shift northward. That means
less rainfall for a region that desperately needs it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on September 21 that his
country would no longer finance coal-fired power plants abroad,
making a high-profile commitment to move away from some forms
of fossil fuel infrastructure less than six weeks before a
pivotal global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. While
climate campaigners applauded the carbon-reducing benefits of
fewer new coal plants, the move comes with another, less
obvious dividend: less strain on water.
Qatium is pleased to welcome international water experts Newsha
Ajami, Jeffrey Kightlinger and Paul Fleming to its advisory
board. Qatium’s advisory board – composed of policy,
technology and business leaders – is focused on steering and
accelerating the digital transformation of the water industry.
Today local lawmakers toured the Kern Water Bank to see drought
impact firsthand. $50 million from the state budget is going to
fund Assembly Bill 252, which calls for land repurposing all to
focus on the drought and getting water flow back to where it
matters. … Farmers are faced with the harsh reality of
choosing to grow a crop on land that may not have enough water
to maintain it or keeping up fallow land that will sit empty
for the crop season.
The U.S. government released projections Wednesday that
indicate an even more troubling outlook for a
river that serves 40 million people in the American West.
The Bureau of Reclamation recently declared the first-ever
shortage on the Colorado River, which means Arizona, Nevada and
Mexico will get less water than normal next year. By 2025,
there’s a 66% chance Lake Mead, a barometer for how much river
water some states get, will reach a level where California
would be in its second phase of cuts. The nation’s most
populated state has the most senior rights to river water.
On the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, a new trauma has
awakened old concerns: What happens if a town’s water gets shut
off? …Perched on the edge of a mostly dry salt lake, Trona
has no source of clean water and for at least 70 years has
relied on groundwater pumped from wells 30 miles away in the
Indian Wells Valley….That source of water, however, is in
jeopardy due to legislation passed seven years ago in
Sacramento to protect aquifers throughout the state.
With the dry years in California there is the expected
increased commentary on water issues. This commentary is across
the board from all sectors, and ranges from very factual
reports to significant hyperbole. As policy makers sort through
all this commentary, a famous passage by Theodore Roosevelt
referred to as “The Man in the Arena” may be helpful.
The past few years have been rough for Sonoma County’s farmers
and agricultural workforce. Wildfires, the COVID pandemic and
crushing drought have made the process of shepherding a crop to
maturity daunting – but so far, not impossible. … Mauritson
[Farms] cultivates about 500 acres of premium wine grapes
in the Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley and the Rockpile
viticultural region near Lake Sonoma. Yields for 2021 are down
15 to 30%, Mauritson said, but the quality is superb.
Phoenix is a rapidly growing metropolitan area in a desert. As
the population increases, it will be more and more challenging
to supply water, food and energy — three essential resources
that are interconnected in complex and competing ways.
The Butte County Department of Water Resources has opened
several locations for residential well owners who need water to
pick up potable water in Chico and Oroville. Butte County said
it will verify residents are using the water for household uses
only. On July 20, the Butte County Board of Supervisors adopted
a resolution proclaiming a local emergency due to increased
reports of residential wells going dry from drought conditions.
The proclamation has given the county increased access to
resources to assist with dry wells.
NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with author Giulio Boccaletti about
his new book Water: A Biography, which takes readers through
the complex and surprising history of humanity and
water. What is the one thing that has shaped the course of
human civilization more than any other? Well, according to the
author Giulio Boccaletti, the answer is water. The title of his
new book is “Water: A Biography.” It travels over centuries,
across continents to show how humans have built their lives
around this fickle, precious resource.
Even if you’ve never heard of California’s San Joaquin Valley,
you’ve likely benefited from its existence. Its nut groves,
fruit and vegetable fields, and industrial-scale dairy
operations contribute mightily to the US food supply. So
it’s bad news for eaters that the valley has emerged in recent
decades as a site of intensifying climate chaos;
it’s reeling under the pressure of record heat, wildfire
smoke, and its second historic drought in a decade. It’s even
worse news for people who make the valley their home. Right
now, many are worried about access to one of life’s
necessities: drinking water.
An immigrant who left Mexico when he was young to make a new
life in California. The owner of a small family farm who grew
up in the Central Valley. A water utility operator who served
in the Navy. These are among the diverse participants who
graduated at the end of July from our fourth cohort of the
Water Leadership Institute, a program developed to help rural
communities more effectively participate in water
decision-making and policy.
Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), which arguably has one
of the world’s most mature water markets, serves as a useful
case study to identify some complexities of a market-based
approach to governing water. While it is a mature market on
account of some two decades of implementation, this is not to
imply that it is perfect – just that it is quite sophisticated
in its governance arrangements. There remains much room for
improvement however (see ACCC 2021). Its technical nature means
that some nuances of how it operates cannot be fully explained
in a brief article of this nature.
The Water Forum has been working closely with the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation to coordinate a response to drought conditions
and reduce impacts to regional water supplies and the health of
the Lower American River. We recently welcomed Kristin White,
Operations Manager for Reclamation’s Central Valley Project, to
provide an update on drought conditions in California and
across the Western United States at the Water Forum Drought
Plenary. What she shared was both stark and sobering. It was a
glimpse into the problems facing federal and state water
managers during this extraordinarily challenging water year.
Human-caused climate change has intensified the withering
drought gripping the Southwestern United States, the region’s
most severe on record, with precipitation at the lowest
20-month level documented since 1895, a U.S. government report
said on Tuesday. Over the same period, from January 2020
through August 2021, the region also experienced the
third-highest daily average temperatures measured since
record-keeping began near the end of the 19th century,
according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) drought task force.
In 2013 the El Dorado Irrigation District Board of Directors
adopted an Integrated Water Resources Master Plan, since
updated in 2015 and 2020. Meanwhile water demand has declined
since 2013. Three factors affected that: 1. New conservation
trends; 2. The 2014-16 drought; 3. Slower development growth.
In 2013 the master plan predicted water demand of 50,000-59,000
acre-feet of water. However, the most current estimate for 2025
is 34,740 acre-feet of demand.
As Arizona’s population continues to swell by record numbers,
cities and towns housing the transplants are looking for ways
to increase their water supply. That search has pitted the
growing Town of Queen Creek against counties along the Colorado
River. Cibola, Arizona in La Paz County sits near the
border with California directly on the river. The population
ranges from 250 to 350 people depending on the time of year
according to La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin. She
said the river gives life to the town’s two main industries of
recreation and farming.
There isn’t much in Cal-Nev-Ari besides a cluster of homes,
some businesses and an unpaved airstrip. But the town’s
new dominant property owner believes the desert outpost might
have something else: an underground river of sorts that doesn’t
run dry. Jerry Tyler, president of mining firm Heart of
Nature, told the Review-Journal last month that there appears
to be something like a river flowing beneath the remote
community south of Las Vegas and that it replenishes when water
is pumped out.
Coffee farming in California has been something unheard of—an
anomaly at most—as coffee is traditionally grown in tropical,
humid climates throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and
Africa. But [Chris] Bailey is part of an emerging group of
growers who in recent years have been populating the state’s
southern region under a brand named FRINJ coffee.
… At the same time, the entire state is
currently plagued by water scarcity …
Two major California water agencies have settled a lawsuit that
once threatened to derail a multi-state agreement to protect a
river that serves millions of people in the U.S. West amid
gripping drought. The Imperial Irrigation District, the largest
single recipient of Colorado River water, sued the Metropolitan
Water District twice in the past two years. The agencies
announced Monday they have reached a settlement that resolves
both lawsuits.
Water prices are soaring in California’s Central Valley, where
a quarter of the nation’s food is grown. As the West Coast’s
megadrought worsens, one farming company has long been
scrutinized for its outsized role in the arid region’s water
supply. Wonderful, the closely held company owned by
billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick, can buy up huge amounts
of water whenever it needs more. Most of the Resnicks’ water
comes from long-term contracts and other water from land rights
they have from the farms they own.
California must change how it allocates water to give tribal
communities and communities of color an equal voice. Today,
that’s not the case. Nowhere are water policy inequities
clearer than in the Bay-Delta “voluntary agreement” process – a
Newsom administration effort where water agencies reach
agreement to restore habitat and the amount of water to release
water from dams through rivers and into the San Francisco
Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta estuary. -Written by Caleen Sisk, chief and spiritual leader of the
Winnemem Wintu Tribe, located in Northern California, and
Barbara Barrigan-Parilla, executive director of Restore the
Delta.
The Mountain Counties Water Resources Association (MCWRA) Board
of Directors has selected Justin Caporusso to serve as the
organization’s Executive Director. The selection was made
following a widespread recruitment effort to fill the role
vacated by John Kingsbury after his retirement earlier this
year. Justin will assume his responsibilities on October 1,
working closely with Interim Executive Director Jim Branham to
ensure a smooth transition.
Sacramento County Regional Sanitation District (Regional San)
and Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD) serve a 400-square
mile service area, providing public infrastructure and
municipal services to protect and enrich the daily lives of
more than 1.6 million Sacramento County residents. Over his
career, Prabhakar Somavarapu, former general manager of both
districts, oversaw one of the largest infrastructure projects
in Sacramento’s history, the $2 billion EchoWater Project…
Water contaminated with dangerous nitrates and arsenic. Failing
pipelines and wells running dry. Families spending their
hard-earned money on bottled water because they can’t trust the
tap. Susana De Anda has come across all this and more in
California’s San Joaquin Valley. It’s part of what she calls
the state’s “huge secret” — the fact that more than 1 million
Californians lack access to safe drinking water.
San Francisco and several Central Valley irrigation districts
with water rights dating back more than a century are suing the
state for forcing water restrictions, as California deals with
a worsening drought. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month by
the San Joaquin Tributaries Authority, claims the State Water
Resources Control Board does not have the authority to tell
those with the most senior rights to water that they can’t draw
it from the Bay-Delta reservoirs, rivers and streams, even in
the case of drought.
The California drought has been brutal over the past few years,
but to see just how devastating it has been, you need to see
before-and-after pictures side by side. Bay Area News Group
photojournalist Nhat V. Meyer went out to the San Luis
Reservoir in Merced County this week and took pictures in
approximately the same places that he did in January 2019. The
reservoir is one of the largest in California. The results are
startling. It shows how California’s reservoir water levels are
way below what they should be at this time of year.
[I]n June 2019, Monterey City Council voted 4-1 to rezone
commercial properties along the south side of Garden Road so
that they can be converted into multifamily residential units.
In so doing, the city would have a better chance of meeting the
state-mandated goal of adding 650 housing units by 2023. But
given the chronic water shortage on the Monterey Peninsula,
that plan has faced a challenge from the start.
Following months of hydrologic saber-rattling, Fresno lawmakers
voted 4-2 to sue Friant Water Authority over a request for
payment to fund repairs to the Friant-Kern Canal in the south
Valley. The legal brinkmanship, which centers on a relatively
small sum – roughly $2.5 million, could have far-reaching
consequences by putting the water supply of California’s
fifth-largest city in jeopardy. During Thursday’s Fresno
City Council meeting, Fresno City Attorney Doug Sloan announced
the body voted to approve litigation seeking declaratory relief
from the cost-sharing measure proposal to fund subsidence
repairs.
After much wrangling over how lost farmland could be used for
other purposes — and what purposes they could be — growers who
lose farmland should now have a chance to receive the help they
need to use their land for other plans. The end result is a
bill that has passed the state legislature that keeps much of
the provisions of the original bill and also contains $50
million to help farmers use lost farmland for other purposes.
A Northern California federal judge ruled this month that
Siskiyou County officials cannot stop trucks delivering water
to Hmong unlicensed cannabis growers, writing that the ban
raises “serious questions” about their right to be free of
racial discrimination. In a decision handed down earlier
this month, Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller wrote
that preventing the deliveries to the Mount Shasta Vista
subdivision in the Big Springs area of inland Northern
California also leaves the families living there without a
source of water for drinking, cooking and bathing.
Four LA Sanitation and Environment stormwater capture projects
were approved for funding on Wednesday, Sept. 15, by the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The board approved
the projects for a total of $50.7 million in funding through
the Los Angeles County Safe Clean Water 2021-22 Regional
Program, which is financed by revenues from Measure W, the
parcel tax measure approved by voters in 2018 for projects
increasing the water supply, improve water quality, protect
public health and provide community enhancements.
The Two-Basin Partnership, comprised of California Trout,
the County of Humboldt, the Mendocino County Inland Water &
Power Commission, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Sonoma
County Water Agency, on September 2 asked the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) to allow additional time to
re-evaluate the proposed plan to take over the Potter Valley
Hydroelectric Project (Project). The Partnership
specifically requested that the time delay continue until May
31, 2022, at which time the Partnership will provide further
notice regarding its plans.
For the Marin Municipal Water District directors to suggest we
build a $65 million pipeline across the Richmond-San Rafael
Bridge to harvest water from the Central Valley tells me they
are walking around with blinders on. We can’t keep expecting to
get water from somewhere else. You don’t have to go far to see
the impacts of the drought in the Central Valley. The water is
so low at Lake Oroville, the hydro plant may have to close. -Written by independent filmmaker Kristi Denton Cohen, a
Mill Valley resident.
Here we go again. We are being told California water supplies
are at risk and we need to start using less water under threat
of more mandatory water use restrictions. In 2019, we had one
of the wettest years on record. At the end of the 2019 water
year, major water storage reservoirs in California were at 125%
of average capacity. That was just two years ago. In 2019,
California had enough rainfall and snow pack to satisfy several
years of water supply demands if we had dams and reservoirs of
sufficient capacity to capture this life-giving resource. -Written by Steven Smith, Village News contributor.
Back when the Colorado River Compact was being negotiated about
100 years ago, water was not viewed as a problem. Officials
deemed there was plenty to go around. Fast forward a century
and the seven Colorado River Basin states – particularly the
three lower basin states of California, Arizona, and Nevada –
are using more than the system can sustain….Chris Harris,
executive director of the Colorado River Board of California,
says the basin states must grapple with the “new normal” of
reduced flows in a river system once thought to provide ample
water for the West….Harris says it’s not just the
sustainability of the Colorado River system that needs
addressing, but the wider Western water reliability of the
federal Central Valley Project (CVP) and California’s State
Water Project (SWP).
With 88% of California in extreme or exceptional drought
conditions, counties across the Bay Area are preparing for what
could be several more dry years to come. The Bay Area Council
hosted a panel Thursday to discuss the current conditions, and
solutions. … Reservoirs across the Bay Area, which
supply water for millions of residents, are increasingly
depleting. In Marin County, images of the Nicasio Reservoir
show it shockingly low.
Social media users are playing the blame game when it comes to
California’s drought. Read enough comments online and you’ll
see many similar responses blaming the state government for its
management of water: California should have more water storage.
California dumps water into the ocean. Northern California
sends too much water to Southern California. UC Davis experts
said those assertions are incorrect.
Water transfers, trades and sales doubled this year as drought
left San Joaquin Valley farmers scrambling for supplies. …
[Sam Boland-Brien, program manager at the State Water Resources
Control Board’s Division of Water Rights] said he’s seen
about twice the amount of transfers this year compared to an
average water year.
To expedite the delivery of much-needed drinking water to
coastal Mendocino County residents whose wells have gone dry,
the California State Water Resources Control Board has amended
its previous curtailment orders to allow the city of Ukiah to
draw water from the Russian River for emergency supplies.
More than 94 percent of the West is in drought this week,
according to the US Drought Monitor, with six states entirely
in drought status: California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and
Montana. Parts of the West saw record-setting rainfall that
brought some slight relief to the region, but most areas remain
dry. Against the backdrop of climate change-fueled drought,
wildfires have charred nearly 6 million acres of vegetation
across the region. Fire experts say that dry and windy
conditions create a prime environment for wildfires to spark
and spread.
The availability of potable water is not a reason to oppose
development in drought-threatened California. The view that
water should limit development is one of the false claims made
by Not-In-My-Back-Yard organizations that want to stop the
future. The NIMBY mantra that new development poses risks to
the environment, that we will run out of water, is wrong. Less
than 5 percent of annual water supply is used inside
residences. There are many NIMBY organizations making these
false claims, some with longstanding national stature. -Written by Jim Larimer, a resident
of Miramar.
Currently every drop of water that comes out of faucets in
Ceres comes straight out of the ground. But come June 2023,
some of that water will be directly piped from the Tuolumne
River after it’s been treated. Construction is about 25 percent
completed and running $1 million under budget, a manager of the
project told the Ceres City Council on Monday evening.
… Ceres will ultimately receive up to 15 million gallons
of water per day while Turlock takes 30 million gallons. Two
additional phases will increase the plant’s capacity to produce
45 million gallons per day for the two cities.
Utah’s drought-induced water crisis has softened somewhat after
a string of monsoons, but the state’s water supplies are far
from safe, with reservoirs across the state falling below 40%
full, state officials told lawmakers Tuesday. Only a massive
snowpack this winter can assure adequate supplies going into
next year, and even then, Utah’s water future remains uncertain
in the face of long-term drought and climate change. In
July the entire state was in extreme or exceptional drought and
Utah’s two largest lakes hit their lowest levels ever.
Las Vegas visitors can still snap selfies with the mermaids
swimming among tropical fish in the Silverton Casino’s massive
aquarium and gaze at the colorful dancing water displays of the
iconic Bellagio fountains — for now. But southern Nevada and
much of the American West are struggling to cope with a
worsening drought that has strained municipal water supplies,
agricultural operations and wildlife populations.
A bill that would have created a program to help farmers find
new life for farmland idled by coming groundwater restrictions
had its own phoenix moment last week in the Legislature when it
was simultaneously killed and reborn — this time with
money. AB 252, authored by Assemblymembers Robert Rivas
(D-Salinas) and Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), died in the state
Senate last week but much of its content was reborn in a budget
bill with $50 million attached.
Various climate models differ on whether our area will get
slightly wetter or drier with rising temperatures. But they
have one prediction in common: greater extremes. Dry
years will be drier. Rainfall could come all at once in a few
large storms rather than spread across a season. … With
this in mind, water managers are designing and implementing
projects to capture, store and access clean water. Some
irrigation for crops in the Pajaro Valley might soon come from
lake water rather than groundwater. A project in Soquel will
use recycled water to replenish a groundwater basin. Another
project in Santa Cruz will inject excess runoff from winter
storms into wells.
It’s always alfalfa season in Arizona. In most other parts of
the country, the perennial crop grows tall enough to harvest
just a few times a year. But in the sun-drenched Southwest, the
irrigated fields allow the crop to grow year-round, to the tune
of 8.5 tons harvested for every acre and $397 million a year.
All farmers need to do is add water. At least that’s been the
case for the many decades that alfalfa has boomed and bloomed
in the Arizona desert, providing feed to the region’s
megalithic dairy industry. Now, accelerating climate change and
depleting water availability could change this.
Water has begun trickling from Ukiah to Fort Bragg, and the
county’s main task going forward is to scale up hauling to meet
demand. The city of Fort Bragg announced Sept. 9 that it had
received its first 5,000-gallon delivery of water from Ukiah
and is expected to receive 10,000 gallons per day that will
allow Fort Bragg to resume outside water sales after halting
them in mid-July. The two certified water haulers on the coast
can resume their water sales, too…
The California Legislature released the final budget language
late on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. CalTrout remains
critical of the unnecessary delay in releasing critical budget
items like emergency drought funding, wildfire relief, and
climate resilience packages. As water curtailment orders go
live throughout the state, the legislature is still waiting to
officially approve these critical funding packages to combat
the effects of climate during this year’s especially dry
drought conditions.
To fill the post of chief agricultural negotiator at the United
States Trade Representative’s office, the Biden administration
dipped into California’s hot, dusty, drought-plagued San
Joaquin Valley and plucked out an almond-industry lobbyist.
… Biden is favoring the $6 billion almond industry at a
particularly fraught time in its history. The ever-expanding
groves of California’s Central Valley churn out nearly 80
percent of the globe’s almonds. -Written by Mother Jones reporter Tom
Philpott.
On Aug. 3, the State Water Resources Control Board completely
eliminated 2021’s surface water supplies for farms in much of
the state. It has impacted farmers like John Moore III, who
grows pistachios at Moore Farms in Arvin. … While
California is prone to drought, the last reservoir in the state
was completed in the 1980s. The state’s population has grown
tremendously since then. Moore says the state wouldn’t be
in this situation if more infrastructure was built.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009 mandates
the balancing of coequal goals for the Delta: providing a
reliable water supply for both the Delta and California and
protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem and
the Delta as an evolving place. This review by the Delta
Independent Science Board (Delta ISB) presents findings and
recommendations on the science and practice of estimating water
supply reliability with a focus on the Delta.
Water management in the western United States is rooted in an
adversarial system that is highly sensitive to climate change.
Reforms are needed to ensure water management is efficient,
resilient and equitable moving forward.
-Written by Dylan R. Hedden-Nicely, Associate Professor of
Law and Director, Native American Law Program, University of
Idaho College of Law.
The Petaluma City Council on Monday night declared a drought
emergency, ratcheting up restrictions on residents’ water use
in the city’s latest effort to conserve the region’s dwindling
water resources. In a 6-1 vote late Monday night, the council
approved a resolution for the Stage 4 emergency. The move calls
for a 30% mandatory water reduction goal for city water
customers, up from the previous goal of 25%.
Unless you have a personal connection to the Central Valley or
work in agriculture, chances are you haven’t been able to speak
directly to a farmer about how they’re experiencing this year’s
historic drought. Recently on KQED Forum, three
farmers from the Central Valley, where roughly 40% of the
nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts are grown, shared just how
little water they have to work with, how they’re adapting, and
what the drought means for their industry long term.
Construction will start soon on the first of three projects to
increase the reliability of drinking water for Poway water
customers now and generations to come. Two water storage tanks
will be built as part of a temporary bypass project. During
construction access to some amenities at Lake Poway will be
impacted. The ballfield at Lake Poway will be closed beginning
Monday, September 20 for the construction of two tanks, each
with the capacity to store 1.4 million gallons of treated
water.
A $1 trillion infrastructure bill that received bipartisan
support in the Senate last month includes billions of dollars
for Western water projects and programs. The Biden
administration has called the infrastructure bill, which
includes $8.3 billion for Western water infrastructure,
“the largest investment in the resilience of physical and
natural systems in American history.” Of the $8.3 billion
dedicated to Western water, $450 million is set aside for a
competitive grant program to fund large-scale projects that
advance water recycling….That program could help pay for
a massive recycling project in California that would
leave Nevada with access to more water in Lake Mead.
Officials say the City of San Luis Obispo is water-secure for
now, despite several years of drought conditions. The City of
San Luis Obispo relies on water from Santa Margarita Lake,
Whale Rock Reservoir and Nacimiento Reservoir. Mychal Boerman
is Deputy Director of Water for the city. He said Nacimiento’s
water capacity is at 13 percent, due to low rainfall years and
continuous use of the reservoir for Salinas Valley farming.
The longer it takes for two new wells to be dug in Cantua Creek
and El Porvenir in western Fresno County, the deeper in debt
the towns are mired. Now, with the drought, those well projects
are in a race against dropping groundwater levels as farmers,
cut off from surface water supplies, are leaning more heavily
on the aquifer. The well projects started in 2018 and
aren’t scheduled to be completed until sometime next year.
The Colorado River Basin is enduring two decades of drought,
and water shortages are on the horizon. But scientists say this
isn’t the worst-case scenario. The region has undergone longer,
deeper droughts in the past. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with
paleoclimatologist Matt Lachniet of the University of
Nevada-Las Vegas about how knowing the past can help us plan
for a warmer, drier future.
The bustle of birds and insect pollinators is the first thing
you notice at Full Belly Farm in Guinda, about 100 miles
northeast of San Francisco in the Capay Valley, where Judith
Redmond and her partners started farming four decades ago.
… Farmers have always labored at the mercy of the
elements, but climate change has brought overlapping calamities
of wildfires, drought, prolonged heat waves and power
outages.
The Oakdale and South San Joaquin Irrigation Districts have
joined in a lawsuit challenging the State Water Resources
Control Board’s authority to prevent the two water agencies
from diverting and storing Stanislaus River runoff in Donnells,
Beardsley, New Melones and Tulloch Reservoirs. The state water
board, in an emergency drought order issued Aug. 20, declared
that OID, SSJID and 4,500 other water rights holders in
California must immediately stop diverting water due to
unprecedented drought conditions.
Emergency water shipments have begun making their way to
desperate consumers on the Mendocino Coast, a result of
collaborative efforts by county and city officials from Ukiah
and Fort Bragg. But the rollout is starting slowly, and
Mendocino County officials are still working to recruit haulers
with the right kind of tankers to meet the demand. Only one
truck hauling 5,000 gallons a trip is working at the moment,
with enough time in a day to make two deliveries from the water
source in Ukiah to Fort Bragg, according to county
Transportation Director Howard Dashiell.
One of the largest water districts in the San Francisco Bay
Area is falling dramatically short of water conservation goals
amid extreme drought conditions across California. Santa
Clara Valley Water declared a water shortage emergency in June
with its reservoirs reaching historically low levels, requiring
customers to reduce water use by 15% compared with 2019 levels.
In July, the district fell short of the goal with residents
only reducing water use levels by 6% compared to 2019 levels,
according to newly available data first shared by the San
Jose Mercury News.
Both the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers shrunk in 2021, another
bad water year in a two-decade megadrought brought on by a
warming Western United States. Demands on the rivers —
from growing cities, agriculture, wildlife and international
treaties — are hitting the reality of a reduced supply of water
in both rivers. In August, federal officials declared the
first-ever shortage on the Colorado River lower basin,
triggering a plan to reduce water usage in several states and
Mexico.
Residents and businesses in Poway soon could be paying more on
their water bills. Poway City Council on Tuesday
unanimously voted to set a public hearing on a proposed
four-year rate increase for water, recycled water and
wastewater rates. It comes as the city grapples with how to
deal with the future of water for its residents, challenged by
rising costs to import water and the need to pay into capital
improvement projects.
The Water Education Foundation’s just-released 2020 Annual
Report recaps how, even in the midst of a global pandemic,
we continued educating about the most crucial natural resource
in California and the West – water. The annual
report takes readers along to see the array of educational
events, trainings and articles we produced last year, including
engaging virtual water tours that educated participants on
pressing water issues and allowed them to interact with each
other and a wide range of experts offering different
viewpoints.
California farmers and ranchers have no shortages of stress
this year. They face drought and water supply cuts, devastating
wildfires and pandemic impacts. There are also labor shortages
and financial pressures from fluctuating commodity prices or
trade disruptions. These impacts inspire serious discussions in
agricultural communities about looking after farmers’ mental
health.
The state’s curtailment of river diversions has drawn lawsuits
from eight irrigation districts in and near Stanislaus County,
along with San Francisco. The three filings claim that
the State Water Resources Control Board exceeded its authority
with the Aug. 20 orders. The plaintiffs also said they did not
get enough chance beforehand to make their cases for continued
diversions.
If you could save gallons of water, improve your health, and
leave our Earth a little healthier, would you do it? If your
diet is mainly meat-focused, you can effect big changes by
beginning to transition to a diet that is plant-based. This is
because pound for pound, meat has a much higher water footprint
than vegetables and legumes. -Written by Georgi LaBerge, board member of
Sustainable San Mateo County and CityTrees and the former mayor
of Redwood City.
Dangerously low water levels at Shasta Lake were captured on
drone video by ABC10 reporter John Bartell and photojournalist
Tyler Horst on Tuesday. Shasta Lake is California’s
largest reservoir, capable of holding 4,552,000 acre feet of
water. Right now, it has 1,186,057 acre feet of water stored.
Breaking that down into percentages, the reservoir is at 26%
capacity and 42% of average for this date.
With much of California and other western U.S. states
experiencing significant drought, the need to pursue further
advancements in desalination has never been greater. This was a
central theme of an Aug. 11 webinar, titled “Discussion on
Desalination — Treatments, Research, and the Future,” conducted
by the WateReuse Association. Historically, desalination
has been viewed as a separate component within the water
sector, but that perception is changing, said Peter Fiske,
Ph.D., the executive director for the National Alliance for
Water Innovation and one of three presenters featured during
the webinar.
The Bureau of Reclamation recently declared a water shortage on
the Colorado River, but that hasn’t stopped states from
proposing new water projects. Just about every drop on the
Colorado River is accounted for. But climate change has reduced
the amount of water in the system. Gary Wockner is with
Save the Colorado, a conservation group that is tracking new
projects.
The city of Ukiah has been relying primarily on groundwater,
recycled water and conservation to get through the drought and
hasn’t been exercising its right to water from the Russian
River, which is experiencing historic low flows. That’s about
to change now that the city has agreed to help the coast
through the drought.
