In California water news today, Sierra foothills dam, part of Hetch Hetchy’s system, pushed to near failure; Heavy rains force evacuation below Tuolumne County Dam; NorCal weekend forecast: Rain in the Bay Area, snow in the Sierra; One Year In, A New State Policymaker Assesses the Salton Sea, Federal Relations and California’s Thorny Water Issues; Frank’s Tract restoration project under fire; The trash patch in the Pacific is many times bigger than we thought; Spending bill rejects Trump’s efforts to gut water cleanups; Winners and losers in the omnibus; Trump threatens veto of spending deal hours before government would shut down; and more …
On the calendar today …
- The Central Valley Flood Protection Board meets beginning at 9:00am. Agenda items include an update on the joint federal project wet commissioning briefing, a flood forecasting overview, and an update on the Folsom Dam Raise environmental report. Click here for full agenda and webcast link.
In the news today …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
- NEWS WORTH NOTING: SCWC on Water Fix survey; Wildlife Conservation Board funds stream flow enhancement projects; State Auditor: SOCWA financial practices “sound”; Weekly water and climate update
- THIS JUST IN … Reclamation updates 2018 Central Valley Project water allocations for North of Delta and Friant contractors
Sierra foothills dam, part of Hetch Hetchy’s system, pushed to near failure: “Heavy rain in the Sierra foothills pushed a small dam within San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy water system to the brink of failure Thursday, sending a brief scare through the rural region where roads were closed and a few dozen residents were forced to evacuate. Officials at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said the danger in the area, west of Yosemite National Park, had diminished by nightfall as the storm gave way. There was no interruption to water service for the agency’s 2.7 million Bay Area customers. … ” Read more from the SF Chronicle here: Sierra foothills dam, part of Hetch Hetchy’s system, pushed to near failure
Heavy rains force evacuation below Tuolumne County Dam: “Operators of the Moccasin Creek Dam issued an “imminent failure” warning Thursday, but that status was downgraded to “potentially hazardous” according to Tuolomne County Sheriff James Mele. There were some evacuations. Peter Tira is with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. He says the department operates a hatchery downstream that holds one and a half million trout of all ages. … ” Read more from Capitol Public Radio here: Heavy rains force evacuation below Tuolumne County Dam
NorCal weekend forecast: Rain in the Bay Area, snow in the Sierra: “Mother Nature isn’t quite ready to turn the calendar to spring. On the heels of an “atmospheric river” storm that soaked much of the Bay Area, a cold weather system approaching from the north will bring another chance of rain to the region Friday and Saturday and could deliver a dusting of snow to mountaintops, according to the National Weather Service. Rain is expected to begin in the North Bay on Friday afternoon and move south of the Golden Gate overnight, according to the weather service. Showers are possible through Sunday morning, with rainfall totals ranging from a tenth of an inch to one-half inch. ... ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News here: NorCal weekend forecast: Rain in the Bay Area, snow in the Sierra
One Year In, A New State Policymaker Assesses the Salton Sea, Federal Relations and California’s Thorny Water Issues: A Western Water Q&A With State Water Board member Joaquin Esquivel. “Joaquin Esquivel learned that life is what happens when you make plans. Esquivel, who holds the public member slot at the State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento, had just closed purchase on a house in Washington D.C. with his partner when he was tapped by Gov. Jerry Brown a year ago to fill the Board vacancy. With a year under his belt at the State Water Board, he spoke to Western Water about the Salton Sea restoration efforts, clean and affordable drinking water, and the tensions between the state and federal governments.” Read article at Western Water here: One Year In, A New State Policymaker Assesses the Salton Sea, Federal Relations and California’s Thorny Water Issues
Franks Tract restoration project under fire: “The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has released a draft version of a plan that would alter Franks Tract and Little Franks Tract for the dual purpose of creating a Delta smelt habitat and improving water quality, but the plan has raised concerns among many who recreate and operate businesses in the area. The plan calls for the construction of a berm that would split Franks Tract in two along a line that runs roughly north to south. Approximately 1,000 acres of tidal wetlands would be created by dumping millions of cubic yards of fill on the west side of the berm and into Little Franks Tract. ... ” Read more from The Press here: Franks Tract restoration project under fire
The trash patch in the Pacific is many times bigger than we thought: “Between California and Hawaii, there’s a teeming patch of garbage that’s stretched over an area more than double the size of Texas. We already knew it was huge. There’s a reason it’s called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” But new research has found that there is many times more garbage in this patch than previously thought – 4 to 16 times more than past estimates, according to a paper published today in Nature Scientific Reports. In total, the scientists say there are about 79,000 tons of plastic in this patch. Lead researcher Laurent Lebreton, an oceanographer with The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, describes the experience of flying over the trash. ... ” Read more from KQED here: The trash patch in the Pacific is many times bigger than we thought
Spending bill rejects Trump’s efforts to gut water cleanups: “President Donald Trump has gotten nowhere in his push to kill federal support for cleaning up some of the nation’s most prized waterways, as Congress decided to keep funding at current levels — and in some cases, boost it. A $1.3 trillion spending package for 2019 that made its way through the House on Thursday and the Senate early Friday includes nearly $448 million for Environmental Protection Agency programs benefiting regional waters degraded by pollution, overdevelopment and exotic species invasions. That’s an increase from $436 million in this year’s budget. … ” Read more from the AP via Crain’s Detroit Business here: Spending bill rejects Trump’s efforts to gut water cleanups
Winners and losers in the omnibus: “At about 4 inches thick and comprising more than 2,200 pages, the $1.3 trillion fiscal 2018 omnibus passed yesterday in the House and shortly after midnight in the Senate in a series of carefully crafted political trade-offs aimed at winning bipartisan support. Here’s at look at the energy and environment winners and losers in the spending accord. … ” Read more from E&E News here: Winners and losers in the omnibus
Trump threatens veto of spending deal hours before government would shut down: “President Trump is now threatening a veto of a massive spending bill hours before the government would shut down without the funding. The massive $1.3 trillion spending bill passed both chambers of Congress after lengthy negotiations between leaders of both parties. The Senate passed it late Thursday, and most lawmakers have left Washington. Trump tweeted just before 9 a.m. ET that he’s “considering a veto” because the bill does not address his immigration priorities: … ” Read more from NPR here: Trump threatens veto of spending deal hours before government would shut down
In commentary today …
An alternative approach to managing the Delta: Jeff Mount writes, ” … Members of Governor Jerry Brown’s administration asked the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) to assemble a small group of independent experts on the Delta to develop ideas about how to resolve the linked challenges of water quality, habitat and water supply in the Delta and its watershed. This group – most of whose members are in the PPIC Water Policy Center research network – proposed a new approach, detailed in three commentaries posted on the University of California, Davis’ California Waterblog. The recommendations are summarized below. … ” Read more from Water Deeply here: An alternative approach to managing the Delta
California water policies ignore hard truths, says Cary Lowe: He writes, “Every brief rain brings hope that California is not slipping back into drought. And local water officials assure us that we have enough water to get us through the year, even if the drought resumes. They point to state and local reservoirs filled to their historic averages or more, a deal to access water from the Imperial Valley and added supply from a new desalination plant in Carlsbad. But what if the drought never ended? What if last year’s rain was an anomaly, and climate change made the nine dry years that preceded it the new normal? Climatologist Bill Patzert of Caltech recently observed, “When you call an end to the drought after one wet year, that’s false hope.” Yet our water policies continue to treat that “false hope” as reality. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune here: California water policies ignore hard truths
In regional news and commentary today …
Klamath Irrigation District threatens to file suit against Bureau of Reclamation: “The Klamath Irrigation District is demanding the Bureau of Reclamation not use water from Upper Klamath Lake this summer to provide enhanced instream flows below Iron Gate Dam unless the order of determination in the Klamath River Basin Adjudication is postponed. The KID board voted unanimously Wednesday to issue the cease and desist letter, and also agreed to seek a lawsuit against the Bureau dependent upon a response due no later than Wednesday. ... ” Read more from the Herald & News here: Klamath Irrigation District threatens to file suit against Bureau of Reclamation
KRRC representatives detail dam activities: “The Klamath River Renewal Corporation – the nonprofit entity responsible for decommissioning four dams along the Klamath River – recently appointed Dave Meurer as its community liaison. Meurer, who formerly worked as a district representative for California Senator Ted Gaines and as communications director for former Congressman Wally Herger, visited the Siskiyou Daily News with KRRC Executive Director Mark Bransom to discuss his new position and the KRRC’s current activities. … ” Read more from the Siskiyou Daily News here: KRRC representatives detail dam activities
Releases cut to allow Lake Oroville to fill a little bit: “The flows have been shut off through the Hyatt Powerhouse at the base of Oroville Dam, and the lake is beginning to rise. And that’s all by design, according to the state Department of Water Resources. The flows were shut down about 10 p.m. Wednesday and hadn’t resumed as of Thursday afternoon. But hours-long cutoffs have been occurring since March 8. Since March 15, water has been released for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening but the penstocks in the powerhouse have been closed off for the rest of the day. … ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record here: Releases cut to allow Lake Oroville to fill a little bit
No ‘Miracle March’ for North Bay as storm exits and rainy season wraps up: “When the last of the storm clouds clear from the North Bay skies Sunday after almost a weeklong dousing, the rainy season for the region will likely be over, forecasters said. The atmospheric river that blew into the Bay Area Tuesday from the Pacific will leave behind a not-quite-miracle March, with a total of more than 6 inches of rain at the Sonoma County Airport, including almost 1 inch overnight Wednesday and up to 4 inches in the coastal mountains, according to the National Weather Service. … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat here: No ‘Miracle March’ for North Bay as storm exits and rainy season wraps up
Monitoring shows Napa Valley sitting on a full groundwater basin: “Napa County’s annual groundwater inspection finds monster storms in winter 2017 helped boost the supply in Napa Valley’s aquifer to the highest level in a decade. Water from the big rains soaked into what amounts to a subterranean reservoir. A study by Luhdorff & Scalmanini calculated the Napa Valley subbasin alluvial aquifer in 2017 held 219,000 acre-feet of water, compared to a 20-year low of 191,000 acre-feet in 2014. One acre-foot is the equivalent of about 326,000 gallons. ... ” Read more from the Napa Valley Register here: Monitoring shows Napa Valley sitting on a full groundwater basin
Water rescues and flooded bypasses: Sacramento region gets late season soaking: “Mudslides. Inundated flood plains. Soggy city parks. Motorists trapped on flooded rural roads. A thick blanket of white in the Sierra. For good measure, Thursday even brought a tornado warning. Before the sun burst through the clouds in Sacramento early Thursday afternoon, Northern California felt the effects of days of steady rain and snow as an atmospheric river storm pounded the region. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Water rescues and flooded bypasses: Sacramento region gets late season soaking
Cemex settles lawsuit over alleged Sacramento River pollution: “Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. has settled a lawsuit that accused it of discharging polluted stormwater runoff from its West Sacramento cement plant into the Sacramento River and its tributaries. Under the settlement, the Mexico-based company agreed to implement an infiltration basin to treat stormwater runoff from its 27-acre plant in West Sacramento. Cemex (NYSE: CX) also agreed to make $40,000 in grants for “environmentally beneficial projects” in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and to pay $34,000 in legal fees for the plaintiff in the lawsuit, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. ... ” Read more from the Sacramento Business Journal here: Cemex settles lawsuit over alleged Sacramento River pollution
California storm forces flood rescues but spares Montecito: “A powerful storm dropped more rain across California on Thursday, swelling rivers, flooding streets and causing some mudslides but so far sparing communities a repeat of the disastrous debris flows that followed a deluge earlier this year. Authorities lifted evacuation orders for some 30,000 people in disaster-weary Santa Barbara County, which includes Montecito, where mudslides killed 21 people and inundated hundreds of homes in January. People returned home as the storm unleashed flooding that led to dramatic rescues in other parts of the state. … ” Read more from ABC News here: California storm forces flood rescues but spares Montecito
Along the Colorado River …
Endangered Colorado River fish no longer an extinction risk: “An endangered fish that makes its home in the Colorado River basin no longer is at the brink of extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday it will consider reclassifying the humpback chub as threatened within the next year. The fish that can navigate turbulent waters and have a fleshy bump behind their heads first were considered endangered in the late 1960s. As dams were built to control water in the river and its tributaries, turning the once warm and muddy waters cold and clear, the fish struggled to survive. Invasive species also preyed on them. … ” Read more from US News & World Report here: Endangered Colorado river fish no longer an extinction risk
Precipitation watch …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
- NEWS WORTH NOTING: SCWC on Water Fix survey; Wildlife Conservation Board funds stream flow enhancement projects; State Auditor: SOCWA financial practices “sound”; Weekly water and climate update
- THIS JUST IN … Reclamation updates 2018 Central Valley Project water allocations for North of Delta and Friant contractors
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About the Daily Digest: The Daily Digest is a collection of selected news articles, commentaries and editorials appearing in the mainstream press. Items are generally selected to follow the focus of the Notebook blog. The Daily Digest is published every weekday with a weekend edition posting on Sundays.
