In California water news today, The Crisis Lurking in Californians’ Taps: How 1,000 Water Systems May Be at Risk; As climate change threatens California, officials seek ‘sustainable insurance’; The California Tree Mortality Data Collection Network; Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we farm; The USDA Didn’t Publish Its Plan to Help Farmers Adapt to Climate Change. Here’s Where They Need it the Most; Melting Ice, Warming Ocean: Take Control in a New Simulation; Resource depletion is a serious problem, but ‘footprint’ estimates don’t tell us much about it; Bipartisan senators introduce bill to challenge new EPA policy and Supreme Court ruling on FOIA; and more …
On the calendar today …
- The Delta Conservancy meets from 9am to 1pm in West Sacramento. Agenda items include a tour of the Bees Lake Habitat Project, the Conservancy’s strategic plan, and updates on Prop 68 and Prop 1 grant programs. Click here for the full agenda.
- A public meeting on the State Water Project contract amendment for Delta conveyance from 10am to 4pm in Sacramento. Click here for more information. Here is the agenda and information on how to access the meeting remotely.
- Webinar on Early Detection of Algal Blooms in US Freshwater Systems: CyAN Mobile Application from 11am to 12:30pm. Hosted by the US EPA. Click here to register.
- SoCAL WATER DIALOGUE: The Drought Contingency Plan is done; what is next for the Colorado River? from 12pm to 1pm. Click here for more information.
- The Struggle for Water Justice in the San Joaquin Valley from 12pm to 1pm at the UC Center in Sacramento. Click here for more information.
- Webinar on Integrating Management of Sensor Data for a Real Time Decision Making and Response System from 11am to 12pm. Presented by WateReuse. Click here to register.
- GRA Central Coast Branch Meeting: Seawater Intrusion Control in Orange County – Do We Need Another Barrier? from 6pm to 8pm in Ventura. Click here for more information and to register.
In the news today …
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
The Crisis Lurking in Californians’ Taps: How 1,000 Water Systems May Be at Risk: “It was bath time and Rosalba Moralez heard a cry. She rushed to the bathroom and found her 7-year-old daughter, Alexxa, being doused with brown, putrid water. “We kept running the tub, we turned on the sink, we flushed the toilet. All the water was coming out dirty,” Ms. Moralez said. For more than a year, discolored water has regularly gushed from faucets in the family’s bathroom and kitchen, as in hundreds of other households here in Willowbrook, Calif., an unincorporated community near Compton in South Los Angeles. … ” Read more from the New York Times here: The Crisis Lurking in Californians’ Taps: How 1,000 Water Systems May Be at Risk
As climate change threatens California, officials seek ‘sustainable insurance’: “California regulators are teaming up with the United Nations to develop “sustainable insurance” guidelines that would help address climate-change-related disasters such as coastal flooding and larger wildfires — the first such partnership of its kind between the international organization and a U.S. state, officials announced Tuesday. After a roundtable discussion at UCLA with lawmakers, state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced that his agency would work with officials from the U.N. Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative over the next year to develop a plan to confront California’s climate risks, which are manifold. ... ” Read more from the LA Times here: As climate change threatens California, officials seek ‘sustainable insurance’
The California Tree Mortality Data Collection Network — Enhanced communication and collaboration among scientists and stakeholders: “Over 147 million dead trees were detected in California by the U.S. Forest Service Aerial Detection Survey (USFS ADS) from 2010 to 2018 (USDA 2019). The massive tree mortality, mostly in the Sierra Nevada and evident in swaths of conifers with red needles, resulted from the 2012–2016 drought and subsequent explosions in native bark beetle populations. While levels of mortality have declined in the last 2 years, the consequences will last for decades to come. Trees that died will fall over and surface fuel loads will increase — already the accumulation of millions of tons of dead material on forest floors is vastly outpacing the resources of local, state and federal jurisdictions to remove it. Urgent dialogue has started among UC scientists, forest managers, and public agencies to manage the consequences of the unprecedented tree die-off and increase the resiliency of forests to future droughts. … ” Read more from California Agriculture here: The California Tree Mortality Data Collection Network — Enhanced communication and collaboration among scientists and stakeholders
Earthquakes cause nut growers to consider risks: “Some surprises can be pleasing. But when it comes to earthquakes and West Coast agriculture, including orchard crops, there’s nothing pleasant about the thought of the potential damage that could result, including to tree nut operations. Halfway through 2019, this has already been a year of surprises for many California farmers. Coming on the heels of last year’s devastating wildfires, early fall freezes greeted the new year followed by exceptionally heavy rainstorms, a few but strong wind events and most recently, a series of frightening earthquakes and aftershocks in and around Kern County. Kern is one of the nation’s leading agricultural counties. ... ” Read more the Western Farm Press here: Earthquakes cause nut growers to consider risks
Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we farm: “Wine growers have a neat, if unusual, trick for making more flavorful wine—don’t water the vines. Let the vines go dry right before harvest, and they will yield smaller grapes with more skin and less juice. Smaller grapes produce wine with a deeper color and more complex flavor. Trinchero Family Estates in Napa Valley, California wanted to make sure it was watering its grapes just the right amount, so they worked with Ceres Imaging to map their fields. … ” Read more from Quartz here: Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we farm
The USDA Didn’t Publish Its Plan to Help Farmers Adapt to Climate Change. Here’s Where They Need it the Most: “The Trump administration’s department of agriculture has apparently settled on its strategy for preparing the food system for an uncertain future: ignore climate change. This wasn’t always the agency’s tactic. Back in 2017, as Politico’s Helena Bottemiller Evich recently reported, the USDA was set to release a big plan on how to “help the agriculture industry understand and adapt to climate change.” But “top officials chose not to release the report, and told staff it should be kept for internal use only,” Bottemiller Evich wrote. Weeks before, Bottemiller Evich reported about how the USDA’s top decision makers have systematically “refused to publicize” its own scientists’ research on the impact of climate change on farming. … ” Read more from Mother Jones here: The USDA Didn’t Publish Its Plan to Help Farmers Adapt to Climate Change. Here’s Where They Need it the Most
Melting Ice, Warming Ocean: Take Control in a New Simulation: “Warm the Antarctic, and southern Florida drowns. And as West Antarctica melts, its famous peninsula becomes an island. These calamities are, for now, safely contained in a web-based simulation just released to the public. You can take charge of the controls – ice melt caused by a warming ocean, snowfall, temperature, friction – and get a feel for how a warming world could diminish the frozen continent and raise sea levels over the coming century. But the newest simulation from scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory isn’t just an entertaining toy. It’s fed by real data from the powerful Ice Sheet System Model, or ISSM – the same computer model scientists use to try to predict how quickly polar ice will melt, as well as where, and when, rising seas will inundate shorelines. … ” Read more from NASA here: Melting Ice, Warming Ocean: Take Control in a New Simulation
Resource depletion is a serious problem, but ‘footprint’ estimates don’t tell us much about it: “Experts widely agree that human activities are harming the global environment. Since the Industrial Revolution, the world economy has grown dramatically. Overall this is a success story, since rising incomes have lifted millions of people out of poverty. But it has been fueled by population growth and increasing consumption of natural resources. Rising demand to meet the needs of more than 7.6 billion people has transformed land use and generated unprecedented levels of pollution, affecting biodiversity, forests, wetlands, water bodies, soils and air quality. … ” Read more from The Conversation here: Resource depletion is a serious problem, but ‘footprint’ estimates don’t tell us much about it
Bipartisan senators introduce bill to challenge new EPA policy and Supreme Court ruling on FOIA: “Senators from both sides of the aisle are backing a bill to strengthen the public’s ability to obtain government records, seeking to counteract recent changes that make it easier for the Trump administration to withhold information. The new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) bill introduced Tuesday directly challenges both an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy implemented earlier this year and a June Supreme Court ruling. … ” Read more from The Hill here: Bipartisan senators introduce bill to challenge new EPA policy and Supreme Court ruling on FOIA
In commentary today …
California’s struggle for water certainty continues, says Justin Fredrickson. He writes, “A series of interconnected decisions this summer could affect water availability for years to come. As Farm Bureau has reported through the years, several fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and its tributaries are protected as either “threatened” or “endangered” under both federal and state endangered species laws. As a result, projects and activities that could potentially affect these species require a permit. For many years, federal “biological opinions” for delta smelt and winter run chinook salmon have dictated restrictions on operations of the pumps, reservoirs and canals of the federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project—major water works that “move the rain” from Shasta clear to San Diego. … ” Read more from Ag Alert here: California’s struggle for water certainty continues
Modernizing water infrastructure is crucial to achieving California’s energy goals, says John White: He writes, “The Colorado River, the State Water Project (SWP) and groundwater are where California gets its water. And all three are at risk, requiring significant investment and changes in current practices if water quality and reliability are to be maintained. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, guided by the steady hand of the state’s Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot, offers a ray of hope. But the rest of us need to help. We share the water in the Colorado River with six other neighboring states and Mexico, and it supplies up to 50 percent of Southern California’s water. ... ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee here: Modernizing water infrastructure is crucial to achieving California’s energy goals
To prevent wildfires, California must bring back prescribed burns, says Dave Winnacker: He writes, “California faces unprecedented risk from wildfire. Business as usual is not going to meet the challenge. There are many factors for the increase in wildfire losses we’ve suffered over the past five years: climate change-related delays in the onset of the rainy season, drought, and increasing development in wildland interface areas. But another factor is the systematic exclusion of naturally occurring fire over the past century. ... ” Read more from the SF Chronicle here: To prevent wildfires, California must bring back prescribed burns
In regional news and commentary today …
Supervisors offer support for Nordic Aquafarms incentives: “A Humboldt County task force will attempt to find ways of incentivizing extensive infrastructure improvements at the Samoa Peninsula, where a major aquaculture project is soon to arrive. Nordic Aquafarms, a highly anticipated fish-farming company promising to create 80 local jobs, wants the county to first address surface water turbidity concerns and a toxic brownfield problem that have existed at the Samoa Peninsula since the closure of the industrial pulp mills last decade. These infrastructure concerns are outside the scope of Nordic’s project, the company’s chief executive said Tuesday at the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meeting. He suggested the county set up financial incentives or other funding structures to fix the issues. ... ” Read more from the Eureka Times-Standard here: Supervisors offer support for Nordic Aquafarms incentives
Coleman Hatchery expresses optimism for future fish returns: “The Coleman National Fish Hatchery is expecting good returns of their fish in the foreseeable future after a few lean years of comebacks. Over 12 million fall Chinook salmon and 180,000 winter Chinook salmon were released between March and May, Project Manager Brett Galyean said. Almost all of those releases were in Battle Creek. However, for the fall Chinook, the hatchery decided to take 180,000 fish down to Chico and the Butte City area for a study. “I’d say we made our projection goals for the falls and we were a little bit shy for the winters,” Galyean said. ... ” Read more from the Rd Bluff Daily News here: Coleman Hatchery expresses optimism for future fish returns
Butte County’s bats: An ally for farmers: “Bats in Butte County eat a lot of bugs. The flying animals help everyone with pest control by feasting on a horde of insects, including potentially harmful and disease ridden mosquitoes. On top of that, bat experts say these flying mammals provide several benefits for local agriculture. A colony of 150 bats can consume more than a million insects each year, Rachael Long said. Long is a bat researcher and farm adviser for field crops-pest management with the University of California’s Cooperative Extension’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. … ” Read more from the Oroville Mercury-Register here: Butte County’s bats: An ally for farmers
Water from Powell Street BART station to heat downtown San Francisco hotels: “A new water recycling project unveiled Tuesday using water drained from the Powell Street BART station to generate energy is expected to save around 30 million gallons of water a year. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday announced the $3.5 million project at the Energy Center San Francisco District Energy Plant in the South of Market, which will redirect water from a foundation drainage system at the Powell Street BART Station into the ECSF’s District Energy Plant. The plant, which will boil the water to produce steam, will provide heating, hot water and steam to hotels and buildings in downtown San Francisco. … ” Read more from the SF Examiner here: Water from Powell Street BART station to heat downtown San Francisco hotels
Bay Area: Lehigh faces water board, county violations for Permanente Creek pollution: “Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. has until August to address the unauthorized discharge of mining waste into Permanente Creek, which flows through Los Altos and Mountain View. San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and Santa Clara County officials discovered the pollution during inspections of Lehigh’s Yeager Yard conducted in April and May, according to notice of violation letters the water board and county sent the company in June and July. The yard, located in the foothills of Santa Clara County west of Cupertino, is used to store soil and rocks excavated from the nearby limestone quarry for future use as cover material. The creek is southeast of the yard. … ” Read more from the Los Altos Town Crier here: Lehigh faces water board, county violations for Permanente Creek pollution
Cal Am gets negotiating rights for county sewer systems: “California American Water will get the opportunity to acquire three smaller county-owned sewer systems despite concerns expressed by one county supervisor. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with Cal Am for the Chualar, Boronda and Pajaro sanitary sewer systems, and authorized county Resource Management Agency director Carl Holm to negotiate, execute, and implement the sale and transfer of the systems. ... ” Read more from the Monterey Herald here: Cal Am gets negotiating rights for county sewer systems
Stockton works to fix water channel air pumps: “The city of Stockton’s underwater bubbler system designed to prevent algal blooms hasn’t been working for a little more than a month. Stockton spokesperson Connie Cochran said crews recently attempted to make above-ground repairs but that didn’t fix the problem. “They do have to send divers down to assess what the problem is and then determine what the repairs will be,” she said. … ” Read more from KCRA Channel 3 here: Stockton works to fix water channel air pumps
Close to $3 million of water has reached Ventura County’s overstressed groundwater basin: “Close to $3 million worth of water has rushed down the Santa Clara River over the past several weeks to recharge groundwater basins in the Oxnard Plain. The release was part of a deal between the United Water Conservation District and Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency to help recharge aquifers still struggling after years of drought. United told the Fox Canyon board it could purchase extra water from the California Water Project thanks to a particularly wet winter statewide. Fox Canyon then would buy roughly 15,000 acre-feet of water once it made it to spreading ponds near Oxnard and Camarillo. ... ” Read more from the Ventura County Star here: Close to $3 million of water has reached Ventura County’s overstressed groundwater basin
Mayor Garcetti pushes out top DWP executive after FBI raids: “Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday sought to reassure the public in the wake of FBI raids at the Department of Water and Power headquarters, announcing that he had pushed out the agency’s top executive months ahead of his planned departure. Garcetti’s announcement came as activists called for more forceful action at the DWP, which has been reeling from a scandal over the city’s response to a disastrous rollout of customer billing software at the utility. “It’s very clear to me that, given the events of the last 24 hours, we need to have a utility that people can trust and leadership they can trust,” Garcetti said in an interview. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: Mayor Garcetti pushes out top DWP executive after FBI raids
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
SWP CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS: Agenda, ground rules, and webinar/remote listening information
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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.
