In California water news today, Construction contract to raise height of Shasta Dam expected next year; A deep dive into groundwater, desalination; Report finds industrial chemicals in water supply more dangerous than previously thought; Your efforts to save water are actually making a difference; Mikkelsen visits Klamath Basin: Water solutions a long way off; Groundwater regulations expand for Sonoma County; and more …
On the calendar today …
- Webinar: Successful Groundwater Sustainability Planning from 11am to 12:30pm: Dudek Senior Hydrogeologist Jill Weinberger will give a primer on the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and talk about the tools necessary for navigating the SGMA process efficiently to prepare a successful GSP. Click here to register.
- Delta Conservancy: Program and Policy Subcommittee from 2pm to 4pm: The meeting will include a discussion of the establishment of an agricultural advisory group, the Conservancy’s role in land ownership, budget and expenditure reporting, Subcommittee membership and procedures, and Proposition 68. The full agenda and any materials can be found here.
In the news today …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
- SCIENCE NEWS: Report: Restoring Franks Tract; ‘River Jedi’; The salmon struggle for survival out of the San Joaquin River; New model of Chinook salmon populations better accounts for errors; New NOAA Fisheries plan adopts ecosystem management principles; and more …
- SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PGM: Basin Boundary Modifications submission period, public comment period on basin prioritization extended
- WEBSITE NEWS: Maven to be honored with the 20th Harold Gilliam Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting
Construction contract to raise height of Shasta Dam expected next year: “After years of environmental studies, feasibility reports and stalled plans, federal officials are once again moving forward with plans to raise the height of Shasta Dam and intend to award the first construction contract next year. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation plans to advertise for bids on a construction contract in September 2019 and award a bid by December 2019, said Todd Plain, a spokesman for the agency. So far, Congress has only allocated $20 million for the project, well short of the total $1.4 billion projected cost. Building the concrete, 181/2-foot tall structure on top of the dam is expected to cost $350 million, Plain said. ... ” Read more from the Record Searchlight here: Construction contract to raise height of Shasta Dam expected next year
A deep dive into groundwater, desalination: “At the height of the recent drought, the legislature passed and Gov. Brown signed legislation, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), that for the first time required California water agencies to account for groundwater pumping and held them accountable for the development of sustainable plans for the future. Groundwater accounts for approximately 30% of the state’s water supply. For many, perhaps most water agencies, this is a very difficult task because the only data provided about the basins and how they flow is provided by wells that are, at best, sporadic providing an incomplete picture. ... ” Read more from Capitol Weekly here: A deep dive into groundwater, desalination
Report finds industrial chemicals in water supply more dangerous than previously thought: “A family of industrial chemicals turning up in public water supplies around the country is even more toxic than previously thought, threatening human health at concentrations seven to 10 times lower than once realized, according to a government report released Wednesday. The chemicals are called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl. They were used in such goods as fire-suppressing foam, nonstick pans, fast-food wrappers, and stain-resistant fabric and carpet, but are no longer used in U.S. manufacturing. Water sampling has found contamination in water around military bases, factories and other sites. … ” Read more from KQED here: Report finds industrial chemicals in water supply more dangerous than previously thought
Your efforts to save water are actually making a difference: “Water is essential for life, but we’re not always the best at keeping our water supply safe. However, a new study from the United States Geological Survey shows water use across the country dropped between 2010 and 2015, even though the population rose by four percent in that time. Significantly, average water use by individuals across the country also fell, following a pattern that’s been continuous since the early 2000s. That means that your low-flush toilet is actually helping conserve fresh water. ... ” Read more from Popular Science here: Your efforts to save water are actually making a difference
In commentary today …
A vote for three Californias is a vote for endless water wars, say Barton H. Thompson, Matt Kline, and Heather Welles: They write: “Californians will vote this fall on a radical proposal to split the state into three: Northern California, Southern California and just plain California. The plan obviously raises a myriad of policy issues. But anyone inclined to vote for the initiative should be particularly concerned with the implications for the state’s most critical resource: water. As Mark Twain reputedly quipped, water is for fighting over. Dividing California into three states is certain to cause a fracas unprecedented in our already contentious water history. ... ” Read more from the LA Times here: A vote for three Californias is a vote for endless water wars
The two biggest challenges to groundwater recharge in California: Alvar Escriva-Bou writes, “The wet winter of 2017 brought an opportunity to test groundwater recharge – the intentional spreading of water on fields to percolate into the aquifer – as a tool for restoring groundwater levels and helping basins comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This is especially important in the San Joaquin Valley, which has the biggest imbalance between groundwater pumping and replenishment in the state. A key question for many valley water managers is how much water will be available for recharge in the long term. By law, only river flows in excess of what is required for environmental purposes and to supply existing water-right holders are available for recharge. … ” Read more from Water Deeply here: The two biggest challenges to groundwater recharge in California
Adapting to change: Recommendations for improving Army Corps reservoir management: Letty Belin writes, “How can the United States Army Corps of Engineers improve its reservoir management to adapt to climate change and meet more water needs while avoiding any increased flood risks? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps, Corps) operates hundreds of dams and reservoirs throughout the U.S. An abundance of data confirms that the standard way the Corps currently operates many of its reservoirs is outdated and not well suited to respond to current and future impacts from climate change. Continuing to strictly follow the Corps’ outdated Water Control Plans and Manuals (WCMs) will mean that flood risks will increase, ability to meet water demands will decrease and downstream ecosystems will deteriorate, unless changes are made. … ” Read more from Water in the West here: Adapting to change: Recommendations for improving Army Corps reservoir management
Column: Ruinous rodent threatens state’s levees and wetlands. We’re not doing enough to stop it: Marek writes, “To the untrained eye, it looked like an ordinary stand of cattails growing alongside a pond in a managed wetlands. Ordinary, except for several that lie toppled in the mud. Which is why Greg Gerstenberg chose this particular spot to park his Ford Expedition and amble over for a closer look. The senior wildlife biologist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife bent down and picked up one of the fallen cattails. With his index finger, Gerstenberg traced bite marks made by tiny teeth that severed the stalk at a 45-degree angle. … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee here: Column: Ruinous rodent threatens state’s levees and wetlands. We’re not doing enough to stop it
In regional news and commentary today …
Mikkelsen visits Klamath Basin: Water solutions a long way off: “Alan Mikkelsen likens the Klamath Basin water negotiations to climbing Mount Everest. “We’ve just left Base Camp and have a long way to go,” the veteran water negotiator for the Department of Interior told the Herald and News in a sit-down interview Wednesday morning. “We may summit; we may get blown off the mountain. And the unknown is the storms on the horizon.” One storm that may have “a disastrous effect,” he said is the recent lawsuit by the Klamath Tribes against the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and National Marine Fisheries Service, to keep a certain water level in Upper Klamath Lake for the benefit of endangered shortnosed sucker and Lost River sucker. ... ” Read more from the Herald & News here: Mikkelsen visits Basin: Water solutions a long way off
Groundwater regulations expand for Sonoma County: “State water officials will host a public meeting in Healdsburg next week to talk about local groundwater issues including the “reprioritization” of groundwater supplies in Healdsburg, Alexander Valley and portions of western Sonoma County. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is hosting the “listening session” next Tuesday, June 26, starting at 1 p.m. in the Krug Event Center at the Best Western Dry Creek Inn, 198 Dry Creek Road in Healdsburg. The meeting will enable DWR to receive comments regarding its draft reprioritization of basins, which in Sonoma County, includes the redesignation of groundwater basins to “medium priority” in Alexander Valley, the Healdsburg Basin (Dry Creek plus a stretch of the lower river) and the Wilson Grove Highlands Formation in west Sebastopol, said a DWR announcement. … ” Read more from Sonoma West here: Groundwater regulations expand for Sonoma County
Woodland’s water quality is good and getting better: “The first year into the Woodland-Davis Surface Water Project is meeting expectations with fewer traces of minerals and a better taste. Even the city’s trees are feeling the effects, according to the city’s Principal Engineer Tim Busch, who provided a Water Quality Report to the City Council on Tuesday that covers all of 2017. Last year was the first full year of operation for the $260 million project which draws billions of gallons from the Sacramento River and allowed the city to scrub its use of wells, which were contaminated with everything from Chromium 6, nitrates, boron and dissolved minerals. … ” Read more from the Daily Democrat here: Woodland’s water quality is good and getting better
Santa Maria: Twitchell Management Authority gives update on Santa Maria groundwater while wary of fluctuating future: “The public has a little more than 30 days to comment on a report released by the engineering firm Luhdorff and Scalmanini detailing hydrologic conditions for the Santa Maria Valley Management Area. On June 12, at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing room in Santa Maria, Senior Hydrologist Liese Schadt told a small crowd of stakeholders that area groundwater levels were “similar or substantially higher” than those just a year before. She said nitrate and mineral content (mostly salt) in the water sat at historic levels, and except for a few hotspots, notably Orcutt Creek, all fell within ranges that did not appear to be health risks to the public. Supplies, she noted, looked good for the most part. … ” Read more from the Santa Maria Sun here: Santa Maria: Twitchell Management Authority gives update on Santa Maria groundwater while wary of fluctuating future
PG&E looks to sell Kern Canyon, Tule River facilities: “Pacific Gas and Electric Company has announced its interest in selling two currently non-active hydroelectric projects at Kern Canyon and the Tule River. The Kern Canyon project is located east of Bakersfield. The dam was damaged in a rockslide in January 2017. It has been out of service since the rockslide. The project includes about 650 acres of land. The Tule River project is located in Tulare County, 35 miles east of Porterville. A wildland fire in 2017 damaged the penstock headworks and the facility has not operated since. The projects include about 40 acres of land. Both facilities are offered in “as is” condition. … ” Read more from the Bakersfield Californian here: PG&E looks to sell Kern Canyon, Tule River facilities
Oxnard winery ordered to pay EPA $70,000 over environmental regulations: “An Oxnard winery has agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a $70,000 penalty as part of a settlement over its 2015 violations of the Clean Water Act. The settlement with Herzog Wine Cellars, also known as Royal Wine Corp., was announced in a news release Tuesday from the federal agency. The agreement became official June 13 after being signed by an agency official. The violations stem from a 2015 inspection of the Camino Del Sol site. Herzog Wine Cellars has been making wine in California since the 1980s but opened its Oxnard facility in 2005. The 77,000-square-foot space includes the winery, a tasting room and a restaurant. ... ” Read more from the Ventura County Star here: Oxnard winery ordered to pay EPA $70,000 over environmental regulations
Prep work for 4-year dig at Devils Gate Dam set for this fall, county says: “Locals could begin seeing evidence of the county’s plan to remove 1.7 million cubic yards of sediment from Devil’s Gate Dam sometime this fall, as officials anticipate vegetation clearance and access road construction could begin sometime in November. A 2014 lawsuit filed by Pasadena environmentalists over the size and scope of the original proposal, which called for removing 2.4 million cubic yards of sediment, halted the project for years and succeeded in getting the removal load reduced by nearly 30%. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: Prep work for 4-year dig at Devils Gate Dam set for this fall, county says
The grand exchange: “The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on a land exchange that will help local mining operations and protect environmentally sensitive areas of the Santa Ana River Wash between Redlands and Highland. The House unanimously approved HR 497, its version of the Santa Ana River Wash Plan Land Exchange Act, about a year ago, on June 27. It is sponsored by Republican Rep. Paul Cook of Yucca Valley and Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of Redlands. … ” Read more from the Highland Community News here: The grand exchange
A new wave of water management for San Bernardino, say Douglas Headrick and Daniel Cozad: They write, ““Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting,” Mark Twain famously wrote. It’ s an observation as true today as it was in the late 1800s. California’ s history is rich with tales of lawsuits, political clashes, midnight sabotage, even dynamite ignited in 1924 to disrupt the Owens Valley Aqueduct that now brings water to Los Angeles. But in San Bernardino County — a region that once took on the Metropolitan Water District in a fight for independence — a pioneering dozen are doing things differently: joining forces for the greater purpose of storing water for the future. This is a group that for 100 years had grappled over water rights, sharing a long and storied history of clashes, lawsuits and adjudication. … ” Read more from the Highland News here: A new wave of water management
Along the Colorado River …
Commentary: At the U.S. Mexico border, a water war is brewing: “The head of a small federal agency you have likely never heard of quietly stepped down last month. But that agency, the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), manages the flow of a life-or-death resource – water – across the parched 1,954-mile boundary we share with Mexico. It does so as an equal partnership between the U.S. and Mexico, and avoids the saber rattling that marks water disputes in much of the rest of the world. And despite the torrent of abuse President Trump regularly rains down on the border and our southern neighbor, the IBWC has recently brokered a new set of innovative agreements to conserve this increasingly scarce resource. Trump must now name a new U.S. IBCW commissioner. The job may be obscure, but the stakes could not be higher. ... ” Continue reading at the Houston Chronicle here: Commentary: At the U.S. Mexico border, a water war is brewing
Arizona reboots drought talks while rest of the Colorado River basin looks on: “Water leaders in Arizona are again trying to get to “yes” on a deal that deals with drought. This would help prepare the state for future cuts to its water supply if — and likely, when — Lake Mead drops below specific levels. A renewed effort to achieve an agreement comes after a year of anxiety and gridlock over the future of the Colorado River. And as Arizona tries again, the rest of the Colorado River Basin is watching intently. They need Arizona to act in order to finalize the region-wide Drought Contingency Plan. Almost everyone agrees getting a DCP is vital, and would give users more flexibility in preparing for drier times. … ” Read more from KJZZ here: Arizona reboots drought talks while rest of the Colorado River basin looks on
And lastly …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
- SCIENCE NEWS: Report: Restoring Franks Tract; ‘River Jedi’; The salmon struggle for survival out of the San Joaquin River; New model of Chinook salmon populations better accounts for errors; New NOAA Fisheries plan adopts ecosystem management principles; and more …
- SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PGM: Basin Boundary Modifications submission period, public comment period on basin prioritization extended
- WEBSITE NEWS: Maven to be honored with the 20th Harold Gilliam Award for Excellence in Environmental Reporting
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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.
