On the calendar today …
- WEBINAR: SAFER: Overview of Proposed Updates to the Drinking Water Cost Assessment Model from 12pm to 2pm. The State Water Resources Control Board will hold a public webinar to provide an opportunity for stakeholders to learn about and provide feedback on the overview of the proposed Drinking Water Cost Assessment Model updates. Click here for more information and remote access instructions.
In California water news today …
In dry California, salty water creeps into key waterways
“Charlie Hamilton hasn’t irrigated his vineyards with water from the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just yards from his crop. Nearby to the south, the industrial Bay Area city of Antioch has supplied its people with water from the San Joaquin River for just 32 days this year, compared to roughly 128 days by this time in a wet year. They may be close by, but these two rivers, central arms of California’s water system, have become too salty to use in some places as the state’s punishing drought drags on. In dry winters like the one California just had, less fresh water flows down from the mountains into the Sacramento River, the state’s largest. That allows saltier water from Pacific Ocean tides to push further into the state’s main water hub, known as the Delta. … ” Continue reading from ABC News here: In dry California, salty water creeps into key waterways
Dan Walters: Old issue plagues Newsom’s Delta tunnel project
“Four-plus decades ago, when a young governor named Jerry Brown, was advocating a “peripheral canal” to carry Sacramento River water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, he argued that it would not only improve water deliveries but would stop the degradation of the Delta’s water quality. The latter contention initially attracted some positive attention from environmental groups which were complaining that pulling water directly out of the Delta for shipment to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California’s homes had upset flows that were vital to healthy fish populations. Ultimately, however, environmentalists turned against the plan, fearing that the canal would encourage state and federal water officials to dam more Northern California rivers to meet downstate demands for water. … ” Read more from Cal Matters here: Dan Walters: Old issue plagues Newsom’s Delta tunnel project
California leaking: people, pipes, and prices
“California (and much of the West) is in the midst of its worst multi-decade drought in maybe a millennium. … The central policy challenge is not whether Californians will reduce their water use for the rest of the year to bring demand in line with the constricted rainfall, but how they will do so—whether by appeals for voluntary conservation, by government fiats to force conservation, or by higher prices to induce less water consumption. Higher water prices can increase the state’s available water supply—without additional rainfall or the construction of desalination plants. California is annually losing a massive amount of accessed water in its distribution systems largely to known water pipe leaks that are going unrepaired because the added revenue from the sale of recovered water from leak repairs cannot cover the repair costs—at current low water prices. Thus, higher water prices can translate into greater leak repairs and reduced water losses. … ” Read more from Econlib here: California leaking: people, pipes, and prices
Peter Moyle: Fish by fish, bird by bird
“Peter Moyle is widely considered the “godfather of California fish biology.” The UC Davis professor emeritus has been conducting native fish surveys here for more than 50 years. He also played a major role in restoring Yolo County’s beloved local stream, Putah Creek. His work sounded alarm bells about native fish, including the endangered Delta smelt — a nearly extinct icon of California’s water woes. Unfortunately, the bells keep ringing: 80% of native fish have declined in the state since he first began studying them. Despite the sad fish tales, he appears to be quite happy, with a natural glint in his eye, a resting half smile on his face and a warmth that draws both fish and people to him. I sat with him on a warm winter day along the UC Davis Arboretum waterway to learn how he’s kept climate despair at bay while he’s continued, Lorax-style, to speak for the fish. … ” Read more from UC Davis here: Peter Moyle: Fish by fish, bird by bird
Listen: Whole almond orchard recycling improves water retention
“Brent Holtz is a UCANR Farm Advisor in San Joaquin County. He has worked on whole almond orchard recycling and has seen big benefits in subsequent orchards.” Listen at Ag Net West here: Listen: Whole almond orchard recycling improves water retention
Court victory for California water quality and rivers – and CSPA
“On August 4, 2022, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), re-establishing California’s right to protect water quality in the Yuba, Bear, and Merced River watersheds for the next 40 years. Barring successful appeal, the ruling ends a three-year chapter in CSPA’s hydropower advocacy, one of many protracted detours initiated by an industry that regularly complains how long hydropower licensing takes. For every time the hydropower industry evaluates how to reasonably protect fish and other resources, it uses legal and procedural gambits to argue that those fish and resources are someone else’s problem. It is an established part of a business model. … ” Read more from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance here: Court victory for California water quality and rivers – and CSPA
Searing heat spotlights Western states’ long-term water woes
“Located near the resort community of Wimberly, just 45 miles southwest of Austin, Jacob’s Well has earned a near-legendary reputation as one of the most popular swimming holes in the Central Texas Hill Country. Hundreds come to the artesian spring each summer to dip into blue-green waters that flow from an underground cavern system more than 140 feet deep. But today, the water source that once sustained Native American tribes is facing an uncertain future, a victim of the relentless drought and extreme heat sweeping much of Texas and other states, including California, Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma. … ” Read more from Governing here: Searing heat spotlights Western states’ long-term water woes
Wildfires 101
“Wildfires, also commonly called forest fires or bushfires, are unplanned and uncontrolled fires burning in a vegetated landscape, such as a forest or grasslands. Many wildfires are sparked by human activity, such as campfires, or natural causes, like lightning. Dry conditions and prolonged droughts, which are becoming more frequent with climate change, exacerbate the risks of wildfires. Droughts, high winds, and other extreme weather are also making wildfires more common and more powerful, with larger blazes that burn for longer and expand across more land. … ” Read more from EcoLab here: Wildfires 101
Two-way thinking in natural resource management
Andrew L. Rypel writes, “It is long recognized that there are two dominant modes of thinking (Glatzeder 2011). New research and empirical data support the elemental interplay between these modes in our behavior, summarized in the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman. These two modes or systems of thinking are dynamic and influence our behavior in a vast variety of subtle and less so ways. System 1 is ‘fast’ and intuitive, operating almost unconsciously, and relies on learned associations. It is tempting to rely on this mode for decisions that must be made quickly. The problem is that this mode is often wrong. System 2 by contrast uses reason, and the slow process of reasoning. … ” Continue reading at the California Water Blog here: Two-way thinking in natural resource management
In commentary today …
Drought crisis demands better oversight on well-drilling
Ruth Martinez, member of the Ducor Water Board in Tulare County, and Roger Dickinson, policy director at CivicWell and one of the authors of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, write, “In 2014, state lawmakers responded to decades of sinking land across the Central Valley by regulating groundwater for the first time. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act aimed to ensure that all water being pulled out of the earth would be replaced, and set a date of 2040 to return California’s water basins to this natural balance. But the groundwater act did not limit new wells going in, which is why a public well that supplies water to Ducor residents can be threatened by a new private well just 250 feet away. Community residents already are beginning to lose water pressure when they turn on their taps. Unfortunately, these stories are common throughout the Central Valley. Once rival corporate wells are drilled, small communities have little recourse to protect their water supply. … ” Read more from Cal Matters here: Drought crisis demands better oversight on well-drilling
Today’s featured article …
GUEST COMMENTARY: California’s water debt crisis needs a long-term fix
Commentary by Ileana Miranda, resident of San Jerardo in Monterey County and general manager of the San Jerardo Cooperative
From the gas pump to the grocery store, the cost of living in California–which was already a stretch for so many families–has gone through the roof lately. As if that weren’t enough, the LA Times reported this week that rents in California could soar 10% because of inflation. This is more difficult for those of us who have to pay $115 a month for our water bill. It is a burden for those of us who see how our neighbors suffer, because they can’t afford to pay for a vital liquid and sometimes they have been cut off for non-payment. This is inhumane, California passed the Human Right 10 years ago and this is still happening.
Rates have risen so steeply that some families like mine are paying monthly more than $100 just to meet drinking, cooking, cleaning and other household needs. The million Californians living with toxic taps have to buy bottled water in addition to paying their monthly bills.
Next week, lawmakers have a chance to provide a lifeline for low-income Californians by creating a water bill assistance program similar to what the state offers for energy, cell phones and internet.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Klamath River Fish Update: Massive debris slide led to dissolved oxygen level drop to zero
Dan Bacher writes, “In an update from the Karuk Tribe on the fish kill on the Klamath River, Craig Tucker, consultant for the Tribe, said on August 6 that “observations suggest that this was a temporal event” caused by dropping oxygen levels caused by a debris slide into the river. ”That is to say a massive debris slide out of areas impacted by the McKinney Fire entered the mainstream Klamath River at or near Humbug Creek and McKinney Creeks. This led to dissolved oxygen levels dropping to 0 on the nights of August 3 and 4 according to Karuk Seiad Creek water quality station. The result was a fish kill in this reach of river. We think the impact is limited to 10 or 20 miles of river in this reach and the fish we are seeing in Happy Camp and below are floating downstream from the ‘kill zone,’” he stated. ... ” Read more from the Daily Kos here: Klamath River Fish Update: Massive debris slide led to dissolved oxygen level drop to zero
SEE ALSO: Massive Fish Kill in the Klamath River After Flash Floods Inundate Its Waters with Debris, from the Redheaded Blackbelt
Asian Americans sue Siskiyou County and its sheriff, alleging racial bias
“Four Asian American residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against Siskiyou County and its sheriff, alleging widespread racism in traffic stops, access to water and enforcement of cannabis-related property liens. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday, the plaintiffs accuse Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue and other county officials of “a sweeping campaign to harass and intimidate Hmong and other Asian Americans.” They also allege that they have been wrongly blamed for criminal activity involving cannabis cultivation and that officials have made it “difficult or impossible for Asian Americans to live and travel peacefully in Siskiyou County.” … In a drought-stricken rural area, an ordinance barring the transportation of more than 100 gallons of water without a permit was applied only on roads surrounding Asian American neighborhoods, the lawsuit alleges. … ” Read more from the LA Times here: Asian Americans sue Siskiyou County and its sheriff, alleging racial bias
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Chance of monsoon moisture and isolated thunderstorms to start off week at Lake Tahoe
“Another surge of monsoon moisture will yield increased thunderstorm chances through Wednesday, with the potential for heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and strong outflow winds through the region. Another round of heavy rains from these storms is possible with simulations indicating the potential for up to 1 inch per hour from any storms that develop. There`s even some risk of up to 2 inches per hour on Tuesday. This would result in renewed flash flooding threats, especially on recent burn scars such as the Tamarack, Caldor, and Dixie. … ” Read more from South Tahoe Now here: Chance of monsoon moisture and isolated thunderstorms to start off week at Lake Tahoe
Commentary: Tahoe clarity: Known knowns and movement to understand the lake’s future
Dr. Sudeep Chandra (University of Nevada Reno), Dr. Alan Heyvaert (Desert Research Institute), and Dr. Ramon Naranjo (USGS) write, “The stunning, blue color of Lake Tahoe has long captured our attention. These brilliant hues are a result of the lake’s renowned water clarity. Scientists use clarity as a key measurement to evaluate the lake’s health. Clarity data is collected by lowering a 10-inch diameter white Secchi disk into offshore waters and measuring the depth at which it disappears from sight. This data has been collected since the 1960s, making Tahoe one of the longest studied lakes in the world when it comes to water quality and clarity monitoring. This long-term dataset has provided scientists with an opportunity to evaluate changes or patterns in Lake Tahoe’s clarity. Although data indicate the lake has lost about a third of its historic clarity depth since monitoring began, that long-term pattern of decline has started to change. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune here: Commentary: Tahoe clarity: Known knowns and movement to understand the lake’s future
NAPA/SONOMA
Logging in the Jackson Demonstration Forest still on hold during removal of trees cut last year
“After months of delays, logging crews are about ready to reenter Jackson Demonstration State Forest to collect cut timber, but there won’t be any new trees felled in the foreseeable future. Workers will haul out cut logs — about 100 truckloads worth — that were stacked last year while logging was underway in the Chamberlain Creek area north of Highway 20, near the forest’s eastern edge. But for now at least, the area will be spared the whine of chain saws and the outcry of demonstrators. The 48,642-acre expanse of forest, which stretches across much of central Mendocino County, has been the site of numerous protests aimed at protecting some of the area’s oldest and largest trees. … ” Read more from the North Bay Journal here: Logging in the Jackson Demonstration Forest still on hold during removal of trees cut last year
BAY AREA
Marin supervisors pass long-sought stream conservation ordinance
“For the last 15 years, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network has been fighting in the courts to adopt a science-based Stream Conservation Area Ordinance in the San Geronimo Valley that would protect some of the most vulnerable salmon habitats left in California from development. Litigation has its time and place, but so does compromise. Thanks to the advocacy of community leaders and local environmental organizations such as the Marin Group of the Sierra Club, last month the Marin County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the Stream Conservation Area Ordinance, expanding protections to some of the most critical coho salmon habitat left in California. While this ordinance may not be perfect, it is a science-based solution that adequately addresses the environmental obstacles. … ” Continue reading at the Bay Area Chapter of the Sierra Club here: Marin supervisors pass long-sought stream conservation ordinance
Zone 7 selects Palmer as new board president
“Zone 7 Water Agency Director Sarah Palmer was chosen as the new president of the agency’s Board of Directors during an annual reorganization meeting late last month. The Livermore resident, who was re-elected to a fifth term on the board in the June primary, will now oversee the appointment of committees and will be responsible for interpreting the policies, programs and needs of the agency to the public. “Zone 7 and all water agencies across our state face both interesting and difficult challenges with drought, climate change and infrastructure issues to name a few,” Palmer said in a news release. “The Zone 7 board and our capable staff will work together to ensure safe and reliable water for both our urban and agricultural needs.” … ” Read more from Pleasanton Weekly here: Zone 7 selects Palmer as new board president
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Informing equitable stormwater investments in L.A. County
“In a drought-prone area like Los Angeles, rainwater provides tremendous potential to boost local water supply, as well as provide multiple other ecosystem and community benefits. That’s why in 2018, L.A. County voters approved Measure W, a tax that raises about $280 million annually to capture, clean and reuse water runoff. Measure W and the program it created, the Safe Clean Water Program, funds projects to clean and strengthen the local water supply and build community resilience. Research by the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and Stantec is helping to ensure that these investments benefit all Angelenos, especially residents of disadvantaged communities, as the program already calls for. A new report provides advice to the county to strengthen the impacts of the program over time. … ” Read more from UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation here: Informing equitable stormwater investments in L.A. County
Along the Colorado River …
Feinstein helps secure $4 billion in drought funding in reconciliation bill
“Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today applauded the inclusion of $4 billion for drought relief in the Inflation Reduction Act. The senator’s office worked closely with the offices of several Western senators to draft language that will help drought-stricken communities in the Colorado River Basin. This funding will help preserve water deliveries from the Colorado River, which supplies water for 700,000 acres of farmland and more than 19 million residents in the region. To maintain this water resource in the face of climate change, the state must proactively reduce water usage to keep Lake Mead above critical elevations. In order to achieve the goal of reducing Colorado River withdrawals, the bill provides temporary financial assistance to farmers who voluntarily fallow their lands as they adjust to reduced levels of river flow. It also funds water conservation and efficiency projects to keep more water in the river. ... ” Read more from Senator Feinstein’s office here: Feinstein Helps Secure $4 Billion in Drought Funding in Reconciliation Bill
With water, tribes can reclaim their agricultural heritage and restore riverside landscapes
“In the wide-open fields of the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix, Brian Davis, Wahlean Riggs, Ramona Button and Charles Austin carry on a millennial-long tradition among the Akimel O’odham people. They are farmers, growing food on 10-acre plots for the family’s animals and an array of crops on the Button family’s 4,000-acre spread. For them and others in the community, agriculture is a tribal affair. … What connects all of the farmers across generations is the water, drawn from the Gila River for centuries and from canals crossing the desert in more recent years. The water allows the people to raise food, animals and families, beginning to restore ways of life lost when European settlers diverted the river. The same water, secured by the landmark Gila River Water Settlement, enacted in 2004, has made the 21,000-member tribe a major player in Arizona and Southwestern water policy, in long-term talks over growth and shorter term negotiations over drought and shortages. … ” Read more from Arizona Central here: With water, tribes can reclaim their agricultural heritage and restore riverside landscapes
Their pleas for water were long ignored. Now tribes are gaining a voice on the Colorado River
“Tribal leaders stood proudly in front of a row of flags from the 10 Indigenous communities whose lands converge with the Colorado River. They spoke about their status as equal players in the future of the Colorado and the role they will play in the high-stakes negotiations to set new management protocols for the river that more than 40 million people depend upon for their lives and livelihoods. … This new willingness to work with tribal governments as equal partners in stewarding water diverges from more than 100 years of history, when tribes’ rightful claims as senior water rights holders were dismissed despite pivotal court rulings, legislation and federal policies. … ” Read more from Arizona Central here: Their pleas for water were long ignored. Now tribes are gaining a voice on the Colorado River
More human remains discovered as drought dries Lake Mead
“More human remains have been found at drought-stricken Lake Mead National Recreation Area east of Las Vegas, authorities said Sunday. It’s the fourth time since May that remains have been uncovered as Western drought forces the shoreline to retreat at the shrinking Colorado River reservoir behind the Hoover Dam. National Park Service officials said rangers were called to the reservoir between Nevada and Arizona around 11 a.m. Saturday after skeletal remains were discovered at Swim Beach. … ” Read more from SF Gate here: More human remains discovered as drought dries Lake Mead
Essay: As it ebbs the Colorado River comes alive
“The Colorado River is revealing its secrets. For decades a World War II landing craft lay submerged 200 feet beneath Lake Mead’s surface — but now it’s beached, rusting in the sun. It’s become an unsettling marker of just how vulnerable the river is and how parched the Intermountain West has become. The immediate impact of what’s being called the most severe mega-drought in 1,200 years, has been sharp cuts in the allocation of water to downstream users, with southern Nevada’s take slashed by seven billion gallons. Then there’s the fear that if Lake Mead’s water levels continue to fall, it may not be able to generate the power it now supplies to 1.3 million people in Nevada, Arizona and California. Yet the diminished reservoirs tell another tale about the Colorado River, one of the world’s great plumbing systems, which enables downstream agriculture and sends potable water to an estimated 40 million residents. The story is that just where the river ends, at the Gulf of California, it has been slowly coming alive. … ” Read more from the Adventure Journal here: Essay: As it ebbs the Colorado River comes alive
Environmentalists call for action to save the Colorado River from drying up
“A new report from Utah Rivers Council, the Glen Canyon Institute and the Great Water Basin Network is calling for government action to repair plumbing in the Glen Canyon Dam. Without action, the report warns that it could lead to parts of the Colorado River — namely, the iconic section that runs through the Grand Canyon — to dry up. Glen Canyon Dam is located along the Colorado River and upriver of the Grand Canyon. The 50-year-old dam is also responsible for creating Lake Powell, which has water levels that recently fell to a record low and is only 46 feet away from being unable to produce hydropower. The minimum water level necessary is 3,490 feet, and the lake is now at 3,536 feet above sea level, just 25% of its capacity. With water levels low in the lake, Glen Canyon Dam cannot move water downriver, where it is supposed to flow through Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. … ” Read more from EcoWatch here: Environmentalists call for action to save the Colorado River from drying up
In national water news today …
Extend WIFIA’s maximum term…as a first step
“U.S. public infrastructure renewal was never going to be easy, but several current trends suggest that it will soon be even more challenging. Federal infrastructure loan programs are a proven policy tool, and their capabilities should be expanded in specific and practical ways to prepare for the hard times ahead. Extending the maximum term of loans from the EPA’s successful Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation program is a great place to start. The near-term outlook for U.S. public infrastructure renewal isn’t as positive as it has been for the last several years. Many economic, political and social factors are headed in the wrong direction, and all at the same time. … ” Read more from Water Finance & Management here: Extend WIFIA’s Maximum Term…As a First Step
A legal history of PFAS
“In 1999, a farmer in West Virginia, Wilbur Tennant, filed the first lawsuit against DuPont for contaminating water with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), part of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) family of around 6,000 manmade chemicals. … Tennant’s story is well documented in various media, including the motion picture, “Dark Waters,” and the book that inspired it, “Exposure,” as well as the documentary, “The Devil We Know.” What started out as one man’s legal fight against a large corporation turned into the exposure of a full-blown public health emergency that has spawned hundreds of lawsuits across the country over the past two decades. To understand why so many water providers, property owners, individuals and governments are suing PFAS manufacturers, one needs to know the prevalence of these chemicals, and the evolution of such litigation within the context of ever-increasing state and federal regulation. … ” Read the full article at Water Finance & Management here: A legal history of PFAS
Billions in feds’ spending on megafire risks seen as misdirected
“Congress is spending billions to save communities from Western megafires by thinning large swaths of forests even as scientists say climate change-driven drought and heat are too extreme for it to work. The money would be better spent thinning woods closest to homes and shoring up houses against embers raining down from firestorms, according to academics, former agency officials, and others who study wildfires. “If our goal is to keep homes and communities from burning, the experts are telling us to focus from the home outwards. First, harden the home so it is less likely to ignite,” said Beverly Law, an emeritus professor of forestry at Oregon State University. Megafires are sustained by drought and heat, and “no amount of thinning treatment will prevent such fires from occurring,” she said. … ” Read more from Bloomberg Law here: Billions in Feds’ Spending on Megafire Risks Seen as Misdirected
U.S. Senate passes historic climate bill
“The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 on Sunday, a $433 billion climate, energy, health, and tax bill that will set the United States on course to reduce its cumulative emissions roughly 40 percent, compared to 2005 levels, by 2030. Fifty Democratic senators voted for the bill, including centrists Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema, from Arizona. Republican senators unilaterally opposed the legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. In a statement, President Joe Biden said that the bill “makes the largest investment ever in combating the existential crisis of climate change.” … ” Read more from The Grist here: U.S. Senate passes historic climate bill
SEE ALSO:
- Inflation Reduction Act passes with ag climate investments, from the Western Farm Press
- The Senate has a climate deal. Now comes the hard part, from the LA Times
July 2022 was third hottest on record for the U.S.
“July 2022 will go down in the history books as the third-hottest July on record for the U.S., according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. From drought to deluge, the nation saw remarkable extremes last month. Drought conditions intensified or expanded across parts of the U.S., while others were hit by historic rainfall that led to catastrophic flooding. Below are more takeaways from NOAA’s latest monthly U.S. climate report … ” Read more from NOAA here: July 2022 was third hottest on record for the U.S.
More news and commentary in the weekend edition …
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Shaver Lake. Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash Water wars in a drying California: New money vs. old power in San Joaquin Valley
- Will a rare ‘triple dip’ La Niña yield another dry winter?
- A battle for safe drinking water grows heated amid drought in California’s Central Valley
- Congressman John Garamendi discusses opposition to Delta tunnel project
- Former California Water officials discuss resignation, criticism of Governor Newsom
- This Northern California cruise costs at least $6K with stops in Sacramento and Stockton
- Why ‘water walks’ are becoming a trend for California hikers
- In red California, a deadly fire ignites political rage at liberal government
- McKinney Fire debris flows are causing fish kills in the Klamath River
- Lake Tahoe likely to fall below natural rim by mid-October
- New Russian River curtailments imposed as Sonoma County officials warn of worsening drought
- Cal Am asks community for input on Monterey Peninsula water project
- State rejects Las Virgenes request for more water
- Southern Calif. water districts look at Colorado River cuts
- And more …
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