On the calendar today …
- PUBLIC WORKSHOP: Drinking Water For Schools Round 2 Grant Program from 10am to 11:30am: Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) will be holding an informational online workshop on May 24, 2021. The workshop will provide more in-depth information about the program, the application process, availability of technical assistance, and an opportunity to ask questions. All potential applicants are encouraged to attend. Click here to register.
- PUBLIC WORKSHOP: SAFER: Navigating the Aquifer Risk Map from 11am to 12pm. This workshop will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to learn about 2021 Risk Assessment and Affordability Assessment Results and to help the public navigate the data behind the Risk Assessment and Affordability Assessment. The State Water Board will provide an overview of the results of the Risk Assessment water systems) and Affordability Assessment. Click here to register. Meeting Notice | Aviso | Program Page
- RECLAIM THE SIERRA WORKSHOP: How Informed Assessment Impacts Project Design & Permitting from 11am to 1pm. Click here to register.
- FREE WEBINAR: Drought Update and Wildfire Outlook Webinar for California and the Southwest from 11am to 12pm. The Drought Update and Wildfire Outlook Webinar for California and the Southwest is designed to provide stakeholders and other interested parties in the region with timely information on the current drought status and outlook and wildland fire potential outlook. Click here to register.
- FREE WEBINAR: The Water Data Exchange Project from 11am to 12pm. Sharing water data will enable us to more sustainably manage our most precious resource. Adel Abdallah and Ryan James of the Western States Water Council will present on the Water Data Exchange (WaDE) project, a framework and interactive dashboard for member states to share important water supply, water use, and water administration datasets. For more information and to register, click here.
In California water news today …
What’s causing California’s drought?
“California’s new drought is worsening. After two severely dry winters, reservoirs are shrinking, fire danger is rising and water supplies are looking more tenuous. The past two years have been the driest in nearly half a century, since 1976-77. How did the state find itself in a new crisis just as the COVID pandemic is fading? Scientists say California’s parched plight largely comes down to two words: “atmospheric river.” An increasing body of research is showing that the state’s water supply each year depends almost entirely on a handful of big make-or-break storms. And the last two winters, too few arrived. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News here: What’s causing California’s drought?
Column: Follow the warning signs: California is facing a devastating drought. It’s time to take action
Columnist George Skelton writes, “When Sierra snow seeps into the ground or evaporates before it can flow downstream into reservoirs, you know California is facing a severe drought. It’s happening this spring up and down the mountain range that is a primary water source for the state. Water from snowmelt that hydrologists had expected only a few weeks ago to replenish foothill reservoirs is vanishing. It’s being absorbed by the parched soil or dissipating into the thin mountain air. “Earlier in the spring, the Sierra snowpack was 59% of normal,” says Jeanine Jones, drought manager for the state Department of Water Resources. “That was way better than in 2014-15” — a low point in the last drought, which lingered five years. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: Column: Follow the warning signs: California is facing a devastating drought. It’s time to take action
Dollars and Drought – Windfalls for innovation or entrenchment?
Jay Lund writes, “California’s Governor Newsom recently declared a drought emergency throughout much of California and announced over $5 billion in new water program investments. These twin emergency and funding announcements are a classic “bad-news creates good news story” (and potentially vice versa) for California’s water problems. They are opportunities for innovation and making long-term improvements for California’s water problems. They also can reward and entrench less effective programs and approaches. … ” Read more from the California Water Blog here: Dollars and Drought – Windfalls for innovation or entrenchment?
Commentary: Investment in Delta tunnel, Sites Reservoir will ensure water supply
Heather Dyer, CEO and general manager of San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, writes, “California just recorded its’ third driest winter in history, so it’s no surprise that State Water Project deliveries have been cut to just 5% of contracted amounts. This is bad news for regional water agencies who collectively depend on the State Water Project for a fourth of their water supply. But these agencies have seen the climate change writing on the wall for a long time. In fact, Southern California has been in an extended drought for the last 20 years. Because of this, 11 San Bernardino Valley water agencies have identified close to $650 million worth of local stormwater capture, storage and recycling projects they plan to build over the next 50 years to lessen their dependence on State Water Project imports. … ” Continue reading at Cal Matters here: Commentary: Investment in Delta tunnel, Sites Reservoir will ensure water supply
Not just another drought: The American West moves from dry to bone dry
“The American West is having a drought. So, what else is new? And, that’s just the point. The American West has been in an extended drought since 2000, so far the second worst in the last 1200 years. … That is what climate scientists have been warning about all along. The problems we are now experiencing are not just cycles or fluctuations—although those continue to be important—but rather, permanent changes in the climate (that is, on any timeline that matters to humans). … ” Continue reading at Resilience here: Not just another drought: The American West moves from dry to bone dry
Research paper: Disadvantaged unincorporated communities and the struggle for water justice in California
Abstract: “This article maps a meshwork of formal and informal elements of places called Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities (DUCs) to understand the role of informality in producing unjust access to safe drinking water in California’s San Joaquin Valley. It examines the spatial, racial, and class-based dimensions of informality. The paper aims to both enrich the literature on informality studies and use the concept of informality to expand research on DUCs and water access. We use socio-spatial analyses of the relationships between informality and water justice to reach the following conclusions: DUCs face severe problems in access to safe drinking water; disparities in access have a spatial dimension; inequities in water access are racialised; the proximity of DUCs to safe drinking water offers good potential for improved water access; and the challenges of informality are targeted through water justice advocacy and public policy.” Read the paper at Water Alternatives here: Research paper: Disadvantaged unincorporated communities and the struggle for water justice in California
Restoring habitat to support coastal communities: A look back at the Recovery Act
“Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, NOAA funded 125 habitat restoration projects in coastal areas throughout the country. Now, more than a decade later, we’re taking a look back at some of the projects we funded. We’ll explore the benefits this restoration work continues to bring to communities and ecosystems across the country. In Part 1 of this 3-part series, we’re highlighting examples of the jobs, recreation, and other community benefits that Recovery Act projects have supported. … The California Conservation Corps (CCC) is a workforce development program that offers 18- to 25-year-olds training and work experience in environmental conservation. Corps members develop marketable job skills while learning responsibility, self-discipline, and teamwork. … ” Read more from NOAA here: Restoring habitat to support coastal communities: A look back at the Recovery Act
Twice burned: California ramps up wildfire prevention spending 16-fold
“The burning season has transformed California over the last half decade. The California summer of popular imagination is spent outside: a line of surfers on a wave, a night in the Sierra Nevada Mountains under endless stars. But in recent years, Californians have spent parts of each summer huddled inside, as wildfire smoke shrouds the sun. California is beginning to spend serious money to reverse this trend, and none too soon. … ” Read more from Grist here: Twice burned: California ramps up wildfire prevention spending 16-fold
In regional water news and commentary today …
Klamath irrigators group urges supporters to stop harassing government workers
“A group representing irrigators is urging its supporters to stop intimidating and harassing government workers. Mark Johnson of the Klamath Water Users Association says some people are posting personal information like phone numbers and home addresses online. “And that’s just unacceptable,” Johnson says. “It’s not their fault. I mean, they’re just doing as they’re told. They understand the hydrology and they’re just the messenger of the bad news.” … ” Read more from OPB here: Klamath irrigators group urges supporters to stop harassing government workers
Mendocino Farm Bureau: Off stream ponds help in drought conditions
“The Mendocino County Farm Bureau encourages local, state and federal leadership to focus current drought relief measures on multi-purpose projects that address agricultural, municipal, environmental, recreational and fire suppression water needs. “This isn’t a silo conversation; we want to look at this from a multi-benefit point of view,” says Mendocino County Farm Bureau Executive Director Devon Jones. … “The development of off-stream ponds for saving ag water is probably the best investment we can look into,” Jones says. … ” Read the full article at Willits News here: Mendocino Farm Bureau: Off stream ponds help in drought conditions
Committee to head Pasadena Water and Power Department’s Urban Water Management Plan as state continues tightening water use rules
“The Pasadena City Council’s Municipal Services Committee will deliberate Tuesday on a recommendation by the Pasadena Water and Power Department to hold a public hearing in June on the utility’s 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) and Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP). After a public hearing recommended for June 7, the plans may be approved by way of a City Council resolution. ... ” Continue reading at Pasadena Now here: Committee to head Pasadena Water and Power Department’s Urban Water Management Plan as state continues tightening water use rules
Replacement of Lake Wohlford dam is ‘shovel ready’
“The city of Escondido is moving forward with plans to replace the Lake Wohlford dam, a structure built of earth and rock that has stood at its present location since 1895. Lake Wohlford is about 5 miles northeast of downtown Escondido, just beyond city limits in the unincorporated area of San Diego County, and the dam is owned by the city. The lake has long served the city both as a recreational asset for boaters and fishing enthusiasts and as an emergency storage reservoir to supply drinking water in case of a drought. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune here: Replacement of Lake Wohlford dam is ‘shovel ready’
In national water news today …
Report: Water bill assistance programs leave out deserving customers
“A report released today by the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) finds that customer assistance programs offered by large water utilities to help low-income customers pay their water bills are poorly designed and leave out deserving customers. The report, H2Affordability: How Water Bill Assistance Programs Miss the Mark, evaluated assistance programs offered by 20 of the largest water utilities and found that a fifth did not offer any type of assistance program and those that did offer assistance, failed to meet the needs of their community. “Where these programs exist, they often cater to a small section of the population, typically homeowners, and are beset with problems leading to low enrollment rates – under 25 percent of the eligible customers participate in them,” said Sridhar Vedachalam, EPIC’s Director of Water and lead author of the report. ... ” Read more from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center here: Report: Water bill assistance programs leave out deserving customers
Biden imposes flood standard after stumbling the first time
“It was an innocuous error that President Biden made on his first day in office — and that he has now corrected, to the relief of climate advocates. When Biden issued an expansive day one executive order on climate change and public health, it included a little-noticed provision that intended to reinstate a flood-mitigation policy that President Obama had established in 2015 and President Trump revoked in 2017. But in April, White House attorneys determined that Biden’s order had not actually reinstated the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard. The standard would require new federally funded projects located in flood zones to be built to withstand climate impacts such as sea-level rise. Biden’s latest executive order on climate change, signed Thursday, corrects the earlier mistake and officially puts the flood standard in place. … ” Read more from E&E News here: Biden imposes flood standard after stumbling the first time
More news and commentary in the weekend edition …
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Hume Lake. Disappearing Lake Oroville forces 130 houseboats to be pulled from the water
- Facing a drought, California’s farmers make hard choices
- One congressman says ‘we are a special kind of stupid’ when it comes to drought
- Group urges continued access to Liberty Island Ecological Reserve
- Congressman Jared Huffman introduces water infrastructure bill to improve drought preparedness and water supply reliability
- Using prescribed fire to improve habitat and save wildlife
- Metropolitan Water District’s Jeff Kightlinger reflects on building big things, essential partnerships and his hopes for the Delta
- Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District names Kristin Sicke as new General Manager
- ‘Powerful work’: The Sierra Fund poised to continue holistic legacy of former CEO Izzy Martin
- Dead in the water: Serious fish kill consumes the Klamath River
- Bay Area: Amid a worsening drought, water supplies at one important reservoir are in good shape
- Despite California drought, Monterey County growers have enough water to get through season
- Colonial hack reveals major threats to water sector
- And more …
Click here for the weekend edition of the Daily Digest.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE: BlueTriton Brands, Inc. (successor by name change to Nestlé Waters) requests hearing on CDO for unauthorized diversions of water in San Bernardino County
PUBLICATION: California Water: Inland Empire 2021
WATER INNOVATIONS: Safe, Strong, and Secure: How to prepare for cyberattacks and natural disasters
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Announces Forest Health Grants and Smoke Spotter App
