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On the calendar today …
- VIRTUAL EVENT: Bay Planning Coalition’s Energy & Water Nexus Event from 9am to 1pm. This year’s event will center on water resilience projects, the evolving regulatory landscape, and how regional utilities are adapting to regulatory and climate changes. The event will feature three segments: Costs and Conflicts- Navigating Regulatory Shifts, Federal and State Policies Managing Resources, and Insights from Regional Utility Leadership. Register Here: https://bayplanningcoalition.org/2024_ew_nexus/
- WEBINAR: USGS: Restoration of Dry and Degraded Lands from 11am to 12pm. To strengthen restoration strategies to reverse land degradation, USGS has coordinated the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) since 2015. This talk will present how RAMPS provides research and support for best restoration practices through an integrated consortium of scientists, managers, and practitioners. Findings from RestoreNet, a field trial network that spans 25 sites across major ecoregions in the Southwest will be highlighted to illustrate how networked experiments and demonstration areas can deliver actionable science for resource managers. Click here to enter Teams meeting.
In California water news today …
You’ve probably never heard of this ‘forever chemical.’ Scientists say it’s everywhere.
“As cities and towns plan to remove several harmful “forever chemicals” from drinking water, scientists are starting to focus on a less-studied version of the chemicals that is showing up virtually everywhere they look. Trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, could be one of the most widespread forever chemicals in the environment, according to a growing body of research. While there’s no consensus on its effects on human health, TFA does not break down naturally, and its similarity to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) tied to cancer and other diseases is enough to warrant further study, researchers said. “It’s absolutely everywhere,” said Sarah Hale, an environmental researcher who manages ZeroPM, a project funded by the European Union. “TFA will be the next discussion in America, I can guarantee it. It will be about how should we treat it and what should we do.” … ” Read more from E&E News.
How a California county got PFAS out of its drinking water
“Yorba Linda is a small, sunny city southeast of Los Angeles. It’s perhaps best known for being the birthplace of President Richard Nixon. But in the past few years, Yorba Linda has picked up another distinction: It’s home to the nation’s largest per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) water treatment plant of its kind, according to the city. “This December will be [three] years we’ve been running, and we’re the largest PFAS treatment plant using resin,” says J. Wayne Miller, former board president at the Yorba Linda Water District, for whom the plant is named. Across the country the Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are thousands of water systems, serving around 100 million people, that have harmful levels of PFAS in their drinking water. Under an EPA rule finalized in April, affected water districts will have to take action to clean their water supplies. In Orange County, Calif., the Yorba Linda treatment plant and others around it provide examples of how it can be done. … ” Read more from The Public’s Radio.
Weaker La Niña is forecast to give other weather patterns clout
“The weather-roiling La Niña that forecasters have been predicting for months will likely arrive late and in a weakened form, limiting its impact and allowing other climate patterns to hold more sway. There is an 83% chance La Niña, a cyclical cooling of the Pacific, will take shape in November, December and January, up from 74% a month ago, the US Climate Prediction Center said in its latest outlook Thursday. This comes after months of predictions that the phenomenon — which can lead to drought in California, Brazil and Argentina and rain in Indonesia and Australia — was about to get started. … ” Read more from Bloomberg.
Severe drought returns to California for first time in 18 months
“The most recent map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that severe drought has returned to California. After struggling with devastating drought for years, an abnormally wet spring and above-average snowmelt in 2023 helped eliminate the state’s drought problem. Last October, the U.S. Drought Monitor revealed that California was officially free from drought, with only scarce parts of the state classified as “abnormally dry,” the first marker used in drought classification. The state remained free from drought for months. Moderate drought, the second marker, returned to portions of the state in July. … ” Read more from Newsweek.
Making groundwater sustainability a reality in California
“Matt Hurley isn’t one to gloss over what he doesn’t know about California water. The Fresno-area attorney has served as general manager, executive officer, consultant or a board member for at least a dozen agricultural water districts and local resource conservation agencies across the San Joaquin Valley. What’s more, he was on an advisory committee that helped draft one of the most consequential pieces of water legislation in California history: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, commonly referred to as SGMA, that for the first time regulated a much-overdrawn resource critical to the state’s economy and the livelihoods of its residents. But in 2019 when Hurley was charged with implementing SGMA in a critically overpumped area of Fresno County, he felt unarmed. Many farmers had asked him how likely it was that groundwater sustainability could be achieved. “I have no idea,’ Hurley recalled saying. “I don’t know how many wells there are. I don’t know where they are. And I don’t know how much they’re pumping.’” … ” Read more from Western Water.
California pear growers feeling the delta blues
“A road-topped levee separates the Sacramento River from Robert Arceo’s orchard. His soils are dense, fertile and damp. Ocean breezes moderate afternoon heat, while humidity mitigates frost. Pears love the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a growing region of sloughs and islands with roots in the California Gold Rush. But there’s no rush now. Despite favorable conditions, pear acreage has declined, the number of growers is down to about 60, and after a pandemic bump in canned produce demand, the state’s two remaining canneries are accepting less volume. “It will affect the economies here,” Arceo said. “There’ll be a lot of orchards that will have to be abandoned or torn out.” … ” Read more from Good Fruit.
Sierra Club sues for changes in major water deal to protect Salton Sea and residents
“The Sierra Club filed a legal challenge Thursday seeking to halt a huge Colorado River conservation deal between the Biden administration and the powerful Imperial Irrigation District, saying that rare desert wildlife and low-income residents near the shores of the already-fast dwindling Salton Sea would be further harmed if concrete steps weren’t taken immediately. The environmental group on Thursday filed a request for an injunction in California Superior Court in Imperial County, saying both the water agency and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had violated a tough state environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act, by rushing through cursory approvals to conserve as much as 900,000 acre feet of water through 2026 — more than the entire state of Nevada receives annually, and enough to potentially supply 2.7 million households. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun.
California invests $880 million in water resilience projects over past year
“Leveraging historic state and federal infrastructure investments to build climate resilience and boost water supplies, the State Water Resources Control Board distributed approximately $880 million to water systems and communities during the past fiscal year for projects that will benefit around 12 million Californians. 395 projects across the state have received funding to capture and recycle more water, recharge and protect groundwater, improve stormwater management, expand access to safe drinking water and improve sanitation. Since 2019, nearly 900,000 more Californians now have access to clean drinking water through state efforts including these investments and the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resiliency (SAFER) program, which is largely funded by cap-and-trade dollars. … ” Read more from Smart Water.
The public’s reaction to otter reintroduction
“A San Francisco crabber for 15 years, Nick Krieger arrived at the Bay Model Visitor Center in Sausalito a bit late after a morning of teaching surf lessons. He noticed that attendance was sparse, and he didn’t spot any other fishermen. But there had been a three-day stretch of calm weather, so he suspected they were taking advantage of the windless day. The open house in Sausalito was one of 16 held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June 2023 about the potential reintroduction of southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis), also known as California otters, to their historic range in northern California and Oregon. Attendees were invited to write down their opinions about a sea otter return and hundreds of their answers were published in an open house report by the Service in August this year. The majority of comments from the couple hundred Californians who participated extolled the benefits of sea otters in helping to restore kelp forests, the importance of biodiversity, ecosystem balance, and as many screamed in uppercase: “they’re just plain CUTE!” Only a small fraction of answers expressed opposition—and most of those were concerned with impacts to commercial and local fishing. … ” Read more from Bay Nature.
Why are there so many fires in California? See the wildfire predictions through the end of 2024
“Multiple wildfires devoured thousands of acres in Southern California in September on the heels of the state’s fourth-largest fire in history, the Park Fire, that ignited at the end of July. The Bridge Fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties is the largest active fire in California. As of Wednesday night, it had expanded to over 50,000 acres with no containment. A paper published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire last year synthesized the various reasons fires have become larger and more severe in California and the West since 1980. Among those reasons is climate change. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun.
Number of trees that die years after wildfire likely bigger than thought, research shows
“One year after a wildfire burns in a forest, the U.S. Forest Service assesses the damage. What the agency finds at this one-year mark informs its post-fire restoration efforts, including how many trees foresters are required to plant to replace ones that died due to the fire. But according to a growing body of research, one year just isn’t enough time to determine how many trees have died following a wildfire. Two recent studies, created independently of each other, that examined the effects of wildfires in Oregon, Washington as well as other parts of the West, found that trees scorched by fire can continue to die for as long as five years after a wildfire. While there is as yet no scientific consensus about what these findings mean for post-fire restoration, the implication, according to some scientists, is that the ecological damage caused by wildfires has been underestimated and restoration efforts are not keeping up. … ” Read more from the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
LAO: The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Resources and Environmental Protection
” The 2024‑25 budget package provides a total of $17.8 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, a number of special funds, bond funds, and federal funds—for the departments overseen by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). This amount represents about half of total 2023‑24 estimated expenditure levels. This significant year-to-year decrease is primarily due to a large amount of one-time funding—mostly from the General Fund—available for the departments within both agencies in 2023‑24, including large amounts of funds carried over from prior years. As discussed in this post, many departments continue to receive some one-time funding augmentations in 2024‑25, but at notably lower aggregate levels. Despite the year-to-year decline in funding, the 2024‑25 totals exceed the historical levels of funding that these agencies received prior to the state experiencing General Fund surpluses in recent years.” Read the report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Blue Lake Rancheria gets $11 million to cut climate pollution
“On Sept. 5, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of the Blue Lake Rancheria for a $11,498,810 Climate Pollution Reduction Grant funded by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. The Blue Lake Rancheria’s aptly named “Empowering Tribal Sovereignty: Creating Climate Resilience through Carbon Sequestration” project will combat climate change by expanding a carbon sequestration program for wetland and forest ecosystems. Funding will be used to acquire and restore coastal and forest land around Humboldt Bay that is within the tribe’s ancestral territory and that is vulnerable to sea level rise, and to restore wetland habitat. This grant will accelerate the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s goal of sustainable tribal sovereignty, while restoring, preserving, and protecting vital ecosystems, combating sea-level rise, and improving the air we breathe. … ” Read more from the Mad River Union.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Funding awarded to reduce wildfire risk and increase vegetation management in North Lake Tahoe
“In an effort to reduce wildfire risk in North Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $145,491 contract award to Bella Wildfire & Forestry Inc. to fund vegetation management and fuel load reduction work on 18 acres in Tahoe Vista. The funding comes from a $658,457 grant awarded to Placer County from the California Tahoe Conservancy last year. That grant was issued in May 2023 to reduce fuel loads on approximately 78 total acres of county property in the Lake Tahoe Basin through multiple contractors over a three-year period. … ” Read more from the Sierra Sun.
Hazard tree removal starts in Tahoe portion of Caldor Fire
“Mechanical hazard tree removal begins this week on 862 acres of National Forest System lands burned during the Caldor Fire off Pioneer Trail near South Lake Tahoe and on Echo Summit. Project activities will also include planting of native trees in areas where hazard trees are removed, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The project is designed to reduce excess vegetation associated with remaining hazard trees and to stabilize and revegetate priority areas disturbed by fire suppression and initial hazard tree removal activities. … ” Read more from the Record Courier.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Corning raises water rates by 10 percent
“The residents and businesses in Corning will see quite a jump on their water bills effective Sept. 1 with the unanimous vote of the City Council to raise rates by 10 percent. “Due to the lack of a rate increase in fiscal year 2023-2024, the (water) fund ended that fiscal year in a deficit of $154,701, requiring the use of water capital reserves,” said City Manager Brant Mesker. “Additionally, the city may not be in compliance with our rate covenant requirement as part of the 2017 refunding of the City’s water and sewer debt without the use of reserves.” The approved rate increase is for two years, the first 10 percent increase Sept. 1 and the second start on July 1, 2025. … ” Read more from the Appeal Democrat.
NAPA/SONOMA
Coastal ranch land returned to tribal hands for stewardship
“A large expanse of easy to see, but hard to access coastline has been given over for stewardship by Sonoma County’s Graton Rancheria. The relatively wild and rugged land between Dillon Beach and Bodega Bay, called the Dillon Beach Ranch, had been owned by the Western Rivers Conservancy for most of the last year. Josh Kling is conservation director for Western Rivers Conservancy. “It’s 466 acres along a mile and a half of the coastline and a mile and a half of the Estero de San Antonio,” Kling said. “It offers these sweeping views from Bodega Bay across Tomales Bay to the northern tip of Point Reyes.” … ” Read more from Northern California Public Media.
BAY AREA
Popular North Bay beach closed until further notice due to sewage leak
“Bolinas Beach, a popular destination for North Bay surfers, tidepoolers and day visitors, has been closed indefinitely after Marin County officials found human waste seeping out of the bluffs. On a recent site visit to Big Mesa, a rural residential area near the beach without sewage hookups where every home runs on septic systems, county staffers noticed liquid leaching out of a 1.5-mile stretch of eroded cliff face between Agate Beach and Brighton Avenue, according to Marin County Community Development Agency Director Sarah Jones. They also observed white crystals forming around the seepage, “which is an indication of pee, basically,” as well as septic failure, she said. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SEE ALSO: Famously secretive Marin County beach closes for the first time ever, from SF Gate
Water-filled hole in S.F.’s SoMa district prompts city to sue developer for ‘public nuisance’
“City Attorney David Chui has sued the owner of a stalled San Francisco housing development site, charging that the abandoned property has become a blighted water-filled hole in the heart of the South of Market area marred by “graffiti, garbage, mosquito infestations, and standing water.” The lawsuit claims that a subsidiary of Leap Development, the owner of the site at 360 5th St., owes more than $1 million in fines related to the property, including $63,111 to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, $71,000 to the Department of Public Works and $222,000 to the Department of Public Health. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Lindsay wins $9.5 million after 14-year-long legal battle over contaminated well
“After more than 14 years of litigation, the City of Lindsay announced Monday that it won $9.5 million in damages to treat a water well contaminated with perchlorate, a fertilizer ingredient sold to citrus growers in the 1940s that trickled into the groundwater supply. “We are glad that the matter has finally been resolved,” said city manager Daymon Qualls. “This is a big win for the City of Lindsay and its residents.” In 2010, the city filed a lawsuit against SQM North America, a subsidiary of large Chilean mining company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile, which sold the fertilizer to American farmers starting in the 1920s. Perchlorate is a toxic chemical that interferes with the body’s uptake of iodine and is particularly harmful to children. It is banned from drinking water in California except at very low levels. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Kern County introduces new groundwater sustainability plan to protect users and achieve sustainability by 2040
“The Kern County Subbasin announced its latest plan addressing groundwater sustainability. According to officials, the new plan will protect beneficial users and achieve groundwater sustainability by 2040. In 2014, officials say the state of California passed a law requiring local agencies to administer groundwater. In May 2024, the Kern County Groundwater Sustainability Agencies submitted a revamped plan to achieve that goal by 2040. “The plan is to, ultimately, stabilize water levels,” explained Arvin-Edison Water Storage District Engineer Manager Jeevan Muhar. “It addresses water quality concerns and subsidence issues where if you pump too much water into the ground, it will sink.” … ” Read more from Channel 23.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
‘Unprecedented’ land movement wreaks havoc in California coastal city
“The city of Rancho Palos Verdes in California continues to see “significant and unprecedented” ground movement that has triggered power cuts, damaged roads and led to evacuation warnings. California governor Gavin Newsom last week (3 September) declared a state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes, where roads have buckled and scarps, fissures and “sinkholes” have appeared. The coastal city is located close to the Greater Portuguese Landslide Complex – an ancient landslide complex made up of three large active landslides: the Portuguese Bend landslide, the Abalone Cove landslide, and the Klondike Canyon landslide. … ” Read more from Ground Engineering.
SAN DIEGO
Wander the Wetlands to learn more about birds and protected habitats
“The latest installment of Wander the Wetlands on Sept. 14, a bi-monthly free outdoor “open house” for the public to explore Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, will be both bilingual and educational. Held every second and fourth Saturday, the Sept. 14 event will be from 9-11 a.m. at Kendall-Frost Marsh Field Station, 2055 Pacific Beach Drive. Wander this time around is part of Latino Conservation Week, with events held countywide from Sept. 14-22. Nature lovers, bird enthusiasts, and everyone interested in learning more about the wetlands habitat existing in San Diego are welcome. Learn about bird species like Ridgway’s Rails, and discover the natural history and restoration progress in Mission Bay. Take in the extraordinary sights found only in protected habitats like this one. … ” Read more from SD News.
San Diego County Supervisors vote to continue emergency on border pollution
“The county Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to continue a local emergency declaration due to U.S.-Mexico transboundary pollution, but not without first hearing from South Bay residents who pressed for more action. The board first approved an emergency proclamation in June 2023 in response pollution and sewage flowing across the U.S.-Mexico border. “We’re doing everything possible as a public health care agency to protect the wellness and safety of our residents,” board Chairwoman Nora Vargas said during the board’s meeting Wednesday. … ” Read more from KPBS.
SEE ALSO:
Along the Colorado River …
Fish release tries to tip the scales in favor of endangered species
“Late this spring, more than 2,400 endangered fish made a 700-mile journey that ended in a lagoon off the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It only took them 11 hours. Instead of navigating rapids and avoiding predators, these rare bonytail made the trip in the temperature-controlled comfort of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tanker truck. They were the year’s final stocking for the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, a partnership of 57 entities throughout Arizona, California and Nevada administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. “Bonytail are federally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act,” explained Fisheries Group Manager Jim Stolberg. “They are considered functionally extinct from their historical range, and their existence in the Colorado River Basin now relies entirely on stocking.” … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
More resources would be targeted to Lower Colorado River program under Calvert’s bill
“U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) on Sept. 10 sponsored a bipartisan bill that would provide additional resources for the Lower Colorado River (LCR) Multi-Species Conservation Program (MSCP) at no cost to taxpayers. The legislation, said Rep. Calvert, “will support one of our most important natural resources in the Southwest. This bill is a common-sense step that allows excess funds in the LCR MSCP to earn interest and maintain their effectiveness.” Specifically, the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act of 2024, H.R. 9515, would establish an interest-bearing account at the U.S. Department of Treasury to hold the funds contributed by the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada for the LCR MSCP. … ” Read more from the Ripon Advance.
Colorado River: Climate change raises challenge to secure vital resource
““Water is life’s matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.” So said Albert Szent-Györgyi, a 1937 Nobel Prize-winning medical expert whose research helped bring us the benefits vitamin C. His statement accentuates one of the most critical requirements for health and prosperity: reliable sources of water. Today, continued technological advances are needed to ensure this goal can be achieved even while facing significant environmental challenges that pose a threat to the future of essential water resources. One major focus of such an endeavor is the Colorado River Basin, on which Arizona and six other states in the U.S. Southwest — California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and a sizable swath of neighboring Mexico depend heavily for water supplies. … ” Read more from Arizona State University.
Conservation agency presents Colo. River project updates to Senate
“Camille Touton, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, praised the water conservation efforts of Southern Nevadans on Wednesday during a U.S. Senate committee meeting of energy and natural resources. Las Vegas has shown it is possible to conserve water and have vibrant communities, Touton added. “Legislation today provides us with tools that allow us to meet our mission, serve the American West and ensure communities have sustainable water supplies,” Touton said. The committee was updated on multiple proposals to promote drought resiliency and improve the safety, reliability, and conservation of groundwater … ” Read more from the Las Vegas Sun.
Column: Want water in metro Phoenix? Then don’t overlook this down-ballot race
Columnist Joanna Allhands writes, “It might seem like things are smooth sailing on the Colorado River. We haven’t seen headlines about its largest reservoir, Lake Mead, heading for an imminent crash since the wet winter of 2022. Lake levels have stabilized, in large part because Arizona, California and Nevada (the three states that rely on Lake Mead) are on track to use less water than any time since the 1960s. And so, in an election with a very full two-page ballot, it might be easy to overlook the race for Central Arizona Water Conservation District. … ” Read more from Arizona Central.
In national water news today …
Impact of climate change on agriculture suggests even greater challenges to the environment, global food supply and public health
“A sweeping global research review of the links between climate and agriculture reveals the likelihood of an emergent feedback loop whereby, as climate change puts more pressure on the global food supply, agriculture will, by necessity, adopt practices that may exacerbate its environmental impact. The paper also identifies new agricultural practices that have the potential to increase efficiency and stabilize our food supply in the decades to come. … ” Read the article at Science Daily.
US lawmakers push to exclude lucrative chemicals from official PFAS definition
“US lawmakers and the military are pushing for a new definition of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that would exclude a subclass of toxic compounds increasingly used across the economy and considered to be potent greenhouse gases. Language included in the defense bill by the Senate armed services committee asks the military to detail how it uses fluorinated gases, or F-gases, stating that the committee is “interested in learning more about how the [department of defense] may or may not be impacted by the definition” of PFAS. The report is probably a first step in excluding F-gases, and is part of a broader fight to exempt PFAS from potential regulation by changing the definition. Exemption would help shield F-gases, which are among the most lucrative PFAS for industry, from regulatory scrutiny and potential oversight despite them being the most widely used PFAS subclass. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
What can be done about power-hungry and thirsty data centers?
“Data centers have become big business thanks to the increasing role of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things systems in all our lives. But there are also concerns about just how much electricity and water is needed to keep these centers in operation, and what impact they could have in areas where resources are scarce. According to recent reseacrch by Morgan Stanley, the global data center industry will see emissions equivalent to 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide generated by the end of 2030. Harry Wilson, a senior analyst at global research firm Verdantix, said research shows data centers are now the 10th largest water consumers in the U.S. in an interview. … ” Read more from Forbes.
