On the calendar today …
- WORKSHOP: Central Valley Flood Protection Board beginning at 10am. Agenda items include Flood Emergency Response Operations Update and a staff presentation and discussion covering the efforts of the Tulare Basin Advance Planning Unit. Click here for the full agenda and remote access instructions.
In California water news today …
Drought dwindles to less than 9% of California
“Only remnants of California’s three-year drought remain after winter’s epic storms. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that areas of drought cover less than 9% of the state, down from more than 99% at the Oct. 1 start of the water year. Those areas, in the far north and southeast, are surrounded by areas of abnormal dryness amounting to just over 25% of the state. California’s winter was marked by numerous atmospheric rivers that dumped enormous amounts of rain and blanketed mountains with an extraordinary snowpack. … ” Read more from the Associated Press.
SEE ALSO:
- Less than 10% of California now in drought, from the San Francisco Chronicle
- California sees another week of dramatic drought improvement. How does it compare to US?, from the Sacramento Bee
El Niño is predicted to return. Here’s what it could mean for California
“The West Coast is still shaking off a historic wet weather pattern, with record levels of snowpack raising flood concerns in regions like the San Joaquin Valley as temperatures warm and melting increases — risks that will continue into the months to come. Weather models suggest that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in the Pacific Ocean, which just recently saw the end of its La Niña pattern, has a high chance of shifting to El Niño. This transition to El Niño may result in a restoration of wetter-than-normal patterns come fall and winter in California. But other weather patterns could be obstacles in this coming to fruition — just look at how La Niña turned out this year. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
A TALE OF TWO WINTERS: West goes from dry to drenched in many areas
Standing in the Central California mud, Daniel Hartwig was a happy man. The surplus of water delivered by a procession of winter storms had flooded the previously dusty farmland with possibilities. The difference compared to the past two years couldn’t be more stark. A multi-year drought had forced him to remove nearly 20% of his parched almond trees that couldn’t survive the prolonged dry spell. The storms have filled reservoirs and rivers — and piled snow high in the Sierra Nevada — leaving Hartwig and other Central California farmers with a welcome dilemma. For the first time in years, they would not need to lean on the stressed aquifer for irrigation water. … ” Read more from the Capital Press.
Record wet winter, planting delays may impact California’s tomato crop
“While record precipitation this winter contributed to significant water gains and eased California’s drought emergency, it also put a damper on the ability to get crops into the ground on time. For the state’s tomato crop, the delay could have a nationwide ripple effect, as California grows more than 90% of all tomatoes for processed canned goods, such as pasta and pizza sauces. Rian Gosser, a tomato farmer in the North Bay, describes tomato farming as a labor of love, you can see it on his hands. “You think of an heirloom tomato but then you also want to buy a baguette and you want to get some cheese you know get a bufala mozzarella or you know a brie and then as well you buy some basil and then you know a bottle of wine and so it’s like a picnic,” he said of the fruit, “I like to say the times the tomatoes are you know, they’re the leader of the show but they also are at times the part of the loss leader of the why the grocery basket gets full.” … ” Read more from CBS Bay Area.
California cuts the green tape
“Our changing climate requires bold action to protect and restore the habitats and watersheds that support California’s wildlife and people. Over 90% of our state’s wetlands have been lost to past development, nearly 350 California species are listed as threatened or endangered, and drought and flood cycles continue to stress our communities. These are just a few of the reasons why we must accelerate the pace of restoration to protect our biodiversity and steward landscapes that serve as our greatest climate buffer. The permitting process for a project to restore, for example, a river or wetland can consume up to 30% of a project’s budget and take years to complete. While the purpose of permitting is to protect the environment, it can have a chilling effect on restoration initiatives. Until now. … ” Continue reading at Sustainable Conservation.
Will the new U.N. High Seas Treaty help protect Pacific salmon?
“The high seas — the ocean waters that begin 230 miles offshore — cover 43% of the planet’s surface and are home to as many as 10 million species, yet remain one of the least understood places on Earth. Among the region’s many mysteries are how Pacific salmon, one of the West’s most beloved and economically important fish, spend the majority of their lives — and why many populations are plummeting. Combined with how little we know about what climate change is doing out there, such questions make the area an international research and conservation priority. … In early March, negotiators representing nearly 200 nations came to a historic agreement aimed at protecting the ocean’s creatures and ecosystems. When the new United Nations High Seas Treaty was announced, marine scientists and conservationists around the globe rejoiced. But what will the treaty actually mean for conservation in a region about which humanity knows less than the moon? … ” Read more from High Country News.
Steep, freezing and fast: California’s epic snowpack promises a whitewater rafting season for the ages
” … California is on the brink of a whitewater rafting season for the ages. As the record Sierra snowpack begins to melt, it is sending immense volumes of water cascading through some of the most storied and beautiful rafting rivers in the world: the Kern in the southern Sierra, the Tuolumne, which flows out of Yosemite National Park, and the American flowing out of the mountains near Lake Tahoe. This “big melt” could wreak havoc on the towns and farms that line the rivers and irrigation channels interlacing the Central Valley. But for whitewater rafting guides, whose small, often family-owned businesses have struggled to stay afloat through years of punishing drought, the deluge is a godsend. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
From desert to wonderland: images show California’s striking superbloom
“California’s superblooms this year are so lush and so exuberant that they can be seen from space. Satellite images from Maxar Technologies, a Colorado-based company, show striking images of bright orange, red, yellow and purple blooms across southern California. The vast, vibrant blooms are a sign of abundance after a prolonged drought, which was broken by historic snow and rainfall this winter. Wildflower seeds that accumulated underground through a series of punishingly dry years are finally coming up, UC Davis plant sciences professor Jennifer Funk explained in a news release. “A very wet year – like the year we are having now – could trigger germination of all of these seeds at once, leading to a superbloom.” … ” Read more from The Guardian.
In commentary today …
This would’ve been the year for Sites Reservoir
Tim Hearden writes, “As California is still drying out from a historically wet winter, and as a massive snowmelt figures to create challenges for water managers throughout the summer, there’s one place in California that will remain conspicuously dry: the valley west of Maxwell that is set aside for Sites Reservoir. I’ve been hearing about the Sites project since I moved to Redding in 1998 to cover county government for the Record Searchlight, our city’s daily paper. For 25 years at least, conversations around these parts invariably include the phrase “If we can ever get sites built …,” but so far, no significant earth has moved. Recently, the Sites Project Authority – an agency put together to move the project forward – published an analysis that asserted Sites Reservoir could have diverted and captured 750,000 acre-feet of water as a result of the January storms if the reservoir was operational, and an additional potential 244,000 acre-feet of water as a result of the February-March storms. … ” Read more from the Western Farm Press.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Klamath Water Users Association expects cut announcement to water supply
“The Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) is expecting cuts to the Klamath Projects’ water supply for the summer, they said in a Thursday interview with NewsWatch 12. Moss Driscoll, the Director of Water Policy for KWUA, said that during their annual meeting Thursday night at 6 p.m., KWUA expects the Bureau of Reclamation to announce severe, or complete, cuts of the Klamath Project’s water supply, which helps out hundreds of farmers across Klamath & Siskiyou Counties, and helps local wildlife refugees across the area. “We anticipate that to be a disappointing announcement,” said Driscoll. … ” Read more from KDRV.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Commentary: California can’t afford the Idaho-Maryland Mine
The South Yuba River Citizens League writes, “In 2019, Rise Gold Corp., a private company based out of Canada, submitted plans to the Nevada County Planning Department outlining a proposal to reopen the long-abandoned Idaho-Maryland Mine – hidden away beneath the vibrant community of Grass Valley, an archive of toxic mine waste and an intricate underground tunnel system dating back to the Gold Rush Era of the 1800s. In a community still recovering from the legacy effects of past mining operations, including exposure to both physical hazards on an altered landscape and chemical hazards such as mercury contamination, acid mine drainage and arsenic, lead and asbestos inhalation, the prospect of reawakening the mine has given rise to intense scrutiny and local activism, calling greater attention to the project’s significant environmental and public health impacts. … Continue reading at Yuba Net.
Critical forest-restoration efforts help protect Little Truckee River headwaters
“Forest and watershed protection are two major goals outlined in California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, which is why the environmental and economic benefits of Truckee Donner Land Trust’s restoration project in the Webber Lake Basin will percolate across the entire state. “This project will reduce wildfire risk, as well as wildfire severity, which is of particular importance,” said Daniel Joannes, forest and restoration coordinator for the Truckee Donner Land Trust. “Reducing stand density and meadow encroachment will also reduce water uptake and protect a functioning meadow system, both of which are important for water supply on the Little Truckee River, a key tributary of the middle reach of the Truckee River.” … ” Read more from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
Lake Tahoe reaches clarity not seen since the 1980s
“The blue of Lake Tahoe is deeper and clearer than it’s been in a long time, and it’s not just the contrast with the bright white of the snow-plastered Sierra Nevada. The recently-released Lake Tahoe Clarity Report for 2022 finds in the last five months of last year, it was possible to see more than 70 feet below the surface. That’s a 10-foot improvement over the year before. “It appears that this is due to a resurgence of microscopic animals known as zooplankton,” said Dr. Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. “These zooplankton have the ability to literally clean the water, to filter out the things that cause clarity to be diminished.” … ” Read more from Capital Public Radio.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
CalTrout awarded CDFW funds for Shasta region salmon habitat restoration and drought resiliency projects
“On April 13, 2023, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced they are awarding California Trout and our partners $4.77 million for four salmon and trout habitat restoration projects that will contribute to drought resiliency in the Klamath River watershed and the Upper Sacramento River watershed. These rivers and their tributaries are strongholds for the California’s native salmon populations. The projects bring together landowners, agricultural producers, universities, and Tribes to enhance water availability for both fish and farms. Explore below the four projects awarded and a fifth project that CalTrout is a partner on.” Read more at Cal Trout.
Monitoring the salinity signal in the Sacramento Valley to manage for a sustainable future
Bruce Houdesheldt writes, “The Sacramento Valley is one of the great valleys of the world, with a vast and fertile soil area. It is blessed with an abundant water supply, and an agriculture much more diversified than is found anywhere else on the face of the earth.” – Sacramento Valley land brochure (1911) More than a hundred years later the Sacramento Valley’s unique combination of water, land and sun are still the essential ingredients for bountiful life and the amazing biodiversity of our region. But what about a century from now? With the everchanging climatic conditions growers face it pays to not only be vigilant but to be proactive. For that reason, water resources managers in the region work diligently with landowners to ensure the water supplies delivered to growers is high quality and will support soil health and strong agronomic yields. … ” Read more from the Northern California Water Association.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
EBMUD says ‘not a worry’ on possible flooding along the Mokelumne River
“While other water agencies throughout Northern and Central California are concerned the state’s winter snowpack could result in devastating floods, East Bay Municipal Utilities District said there is no cause for alarm. “There’s not a worry,” EBMUD spokeswoman Andrea Pook said. “But we have been releasing water quite significantly from Camanche (Reservoir) for months, and we’ll probably be doing that for months to come.” EBMUD manages the Camanche and Pardee reservoirs, both of which control the flow of the Mokelumne River. On April 1, the Department of Water Resources conducted its fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. … ” Read more from the Lodi News-Sentinel.
Snow destroys historic Truss Bridge at Dinkey Creek
“A historic bridge is no longer accessible to the public after it was destroyed by snow at Dinkey Creek. According to the City of Fresno, snow is said to be the culprit which destroyed the historic Dinkey Creek Truss Bridge, as well as one counselor cabin nearby. The Truss Bridge at Dinkey Creek is said to be the first “bowstring arch truss” bridge constructed in California and was established in 1938, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. … ” Read more from Channel 26.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Record snowpack could meet up to 80% of LA’s water demand for year or more, LADWP announces
“The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced a record snowpack of nearly 300% in the Eastern Sierra this past winter. The record snowpack will provide up to $130 billion gallons of water for Los Angeles, which could potentially meet up to 80% of the city’s water demand for a year or more. … ” Read more from KABC.
Record snowpack doesn’t mean end of water rules
“The L.A. Department of Water and Power says snowpack in the eastern Sierra is at 296% of normal, surpassing the previous record of 270% of normal for this time of year set in 1969. Local groundwater basins have also seen significant gains. LADWP says the snowpack in the eastern Sierra adds up to enough water to serve 80% of the city’s needs for a year or more. When we’re not in drought, that region provides about half of the city’s water. Due to the lack of snowpack in the Sierra during the recent drought, L.A. and many cities across the county had to rely more heavily on water from the overstretched Colorado River. … ” Read more from the LAist.
Gushing groundwater swamps Southern California neighborhood
“Water has been gushing out of the ground in a Southern California neighborhood for days, forcing residents to use pumps, hoses and sandbags to divert flows away from their properties. The flooding began Sunday in the city of Claremont’s Stone Canyon development, impacting more than two dozen homes, KABC-TV reported. “We started gathering pumps. We started digging holes to create sumps for the water to go down into,” said resident Ken Larson told the station. … ” Read more from the Associated Press. | Read similar story from the LA Times.
Along the Colorado River …
Top water attorney, state officials say fed’s Colorado River drought proposal should spur action
“A leading Colorado water attorney says draft guidelines released this week by the Biden administration proposing alternative plans to deal with the historic drought in the Colorado River basin should compel the states that rely on the river to come to agreement. “We really are running out of time on this,” James Eklund, an attorney at Sherman & Howard and the author of Colorado’s first water plan, said in a wide-ranging interview with Colorado Politics and The Denver Gazette. “We have the tools to control our own destiny and make this pain and this disruption — we can mitigate those. But we do have to act. If we don’t, that’s where we’re going to get in trouble.” … ” Read more from Colorado Politics.
Saving for a non-rainy day: How much water has Southern Nevada stashed away?
“As Colorado River basin states stare down potentially steep cuts to their share of the drought-stricken waterway, years of making deposits to its water savings account could help Nevada weather the storm. Since the 1980s, Southern Nevada has been banking its unused Colorado River water, storing hundreds of billions of gallons away underground and in Lake Mead. That banked water could become invaluable as Nevada, Arizona and California face the potential for drastic cuts in the coming years if Lake Mead falls any further. … So just how much water does Las Vegas have stowed away for a rainy day, or rather, a very non-rainy stretch? … ” Read more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Destroy the Dam: An alternate approach to the Colorado River problem
“If you’ve lived anywhere in the western US, chances are you used power generated by hydroelectric dams along the Colorado River. Hydropower accounts for more than 22 percent of all electricity generated in the western region, but the ongoing drought will shut down the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell unless action is taken to save it. … Water levels have dropped so low that turbines in the dam could soon be left high and dry, rendering them useless. The Bureau of Reclamation proposed digging new tunnels around the dam to restore the flow of the river, then moving the turbines down to ground level. Gary Wockner, a member of the non-profit group Save the Colorado, says the plan would effectively bypass the dam and keep the reservoir permanently low and unable to fill. “It makes no sense to manage the entire Colorado River system to generate electricity because you can generate electricity in all sorts of other ways,” said Wockner. His organization supports a different approach. … ” Read more from KJCT.
Lake Powell water releases shoot up after increased snowpack
“Water released from Lake Powell shot up at the beginning of April due to increased snowpack. Data from the Bureau of Reclamation shows that twice the normal amount of water is being released from Glen Canyon Dam—which forms the reservoir in Utah and Arizona—down into Lake Mead. Charts show that the last time a large amount of water was released suddenly like this was in March 2021. Reclamation Public Affairs Officer Becki Bryant told 8 News Now: “The release volume from Glen Canyon Dam for April 2023 will be increased to 910,000 acre-feet because of the increased snowpack throughout March.” … ” Read more from Newsweek.
In national water news today …
How PFAS impact stormwater
“A new substance found in residue from an experiment on refrigerants caught the attention of Dupont chemists nearly 100 years ago. They thought it had some interesting properties. It was resistant to water, grease, heat and decay. Soon it would be used to keep pots clean, to waterproof convertible car tops and to put out fires. … These chemicals don’t exist in nature but can now be found, literally, everywhere and they do not break down in the environment, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.” That amounts to a mess nearly a century in the making. … With PFAS distributed so broadly, it would be a wonder if they were not also found in stormwater. Greene said; indeed, they have been. She explains that “There has been a global contamination of our atmosphere with PFAS and that means there’s a reservoir of these chemicals in the atmosphere, so when it rains there are very, very low trace concentrations of these chemicals in the rain.” … ” Read more from Stormwater Solutions.
A ‘seismic shift’ for public lands?
“On March 30, the Interior Department issued a draft of a new Public Lands Rule, designed to “guide the balanced management of public lands” and put conservation on a par with other uses of federal lands, such as grazing, oil and gas drilling and mining. “As the nation continues to face unprecedented drought, increasing wildfires and the declining health of our landscapes, our public lands are under growing pressure,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “It is our responsibility to use the best tools available to restore wildlife habitat, plan for smart development, and conserve the most important places for the benefit of the generations to come.” The proposed rule, which is open to public comment until June 20, was praised as a “seismic shift” in land management by E&E News, though a hardline environmental group downplayed it as merely “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” … ” Read more from High Country News.
SEE ALSO: A New Rule Could Change the Way the BLM Manages Public Land in the West, from Field & Stream
