In California water news today …
Will California get enough rain to fill its pricey new reservoir?
“In January, a series of storms pummeled California, causing floods, mudslides, and widespread power outages. In just three weeks, 32 trillion gallons of water fell on the state. Then, in March, another series of storms hit, triggering additional destruction … California’s state and local agencies hope a different kind of reservoir will help manage water and limit impacts on remaining aquatic habitat. This reservoir will be located off-river in what’s now a grassy, sparsely inhabited valley about 80 miles northwest of Sacramento. Named for the small community it will eventually inundate, the Sites Reservoir will divert water from the Sacramento River during high flow conditions via two existing canals and a new pumping station. Once completed, Sites will be among the largest reservoirs in California. The $4 billion project, funded by local agencies, voter-approved water projects, and the federal Bureau of Reclamation, is slated to break ground in 2025. … ” Read more from Undark Magazine.
Big water year doesn’t mean more planted acres
“The fluidity of spring weather in California and the likelihood of flood conditions through summer because of the projected record snowmelt has created a bit much of a good thing for farmers. Too much, in fact. California farmers could see their first 100% irrigation allotment in years from state and federal water managers. With nowhere to use it all, and no new storage to prevent its loss to the ocean, some growers are struggling mentally. Moreover, the loss of the Tulare Lake Basin ground to cotton and tomatoes for the next year or two, and maybe longer, is already improving demand for ground in Westlands Water District and in Kern County as water allocations will likely be sufficient this year for those regions. … ” Read more from the Western Farm Press.
California’s farmers reeling as flooding wreaks havoc on dairy industry
“Floodwaters from an overflowing Lake Success reached the Tule River next to Joseph Goni’s Tulare family dairy on March 15, in the middle of the night, much faster than he had expected. When Goni and his fiancee woke up, the water was at their front door. By the time his sister and brother-in-law, who also lived on the farm, pulled their children out of their home in pajamas, 2 to 3 feet of water was rushing everywhere, impossible to stop. Goni choked up recently as he and Roberto Martinez, a 30-year employee, recounted how floodwaters nearly washed away the dairy three generations of his family had built. … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
Epic snow from all those atmospheric rivers in the West is starting to melt, and the flood danger is rising
“To get a sense of the enormous amount of water atmospheric rivers dumped on the Western U.S. this year and the magnitude of the flood risk ahead, take a look at California’s Central Valley, where about a quarter of the nation’s food is grown. This region was once home to the largest freshwater lake west of the Rockies. But the rivers that fed Tulare Lake were dammed and diverted long ago, leaving it nearly dry by 1920. Farmers have been growing food on the fertile lake bed for decades. This year, however, Tulare Lake is remerging. Runoff and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada have overwhelmed waterways and flooded farms and orchards. After similar storms in 1983, the lake covered more than 100 square miles, and scientists say this year’s precipitation is looking a lot like 1983. Communities there and across the West are preparing for flooding and mudslide disasters as record snow begins to melt. We asked Chad Hecht, a meteorologist with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, how 2023’s storms compare to past extremes and what to expect in the future.” Read more from The Conversation.
These farmers recharged groundwater by catching atmospheric rivers
“After the first of California’s winter storms, Michael Naito went out into his dormant fields to open his water valves, intentionally flooding the land. The fields filled up like a bathtub over the next three days. The water rose until it covered the feet of his leafless pistachio and almond trees, as well as the tangles of barren grape vines. It looked like an ephemeral pond that disappeared over the next few weeks. “It’s kind of a deep irrigation,” said Naito, who has continued this practice over the past few months, flooding 250 acres of his 600-acre farm in California’s Central Valley. As the water sinks in, it travels deeper underground to slowly percolate into the underlying aquifer. The practice, called managed agricultural groundwater recharge, probably looks strange to the uninitiated, but it’s seen as an increasingly important task during years with a water surplus in the state. … ” Read more from Civil Eats.
An unfortunate outcome: A review of the 2022 salmon season
“Last week’s Fish Report covered the disappointing news about this year’s salmon fishery closure as well as some of the alarming predictions for the coming year. However, each year, it is important to look back and review some of the key findings from the previous year’s salmon population. Despite a productive fishery, the overall 2022 salmon population continued the downward trend from the previous few years. Ultimately, escapement totals, or the total number of salmon that “escaped” the fishery and returned to the Central Valley to spawn the next generation, were some of the lowest on record. Information on the annual salmon population is collected and published in a series of reports each year by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC). The reports provide details on the previous year’s salmon fisheries along the West Coast, detailing harvest and escapement totals as well as the fishery’s socioeconomic benefits. … ” Read more from FishBio.
How California’s historic wet winter could make wildfire season even worse
“Don’t let all the flooding fool you: The same rain and snow that have drenched California this winter and spring risk making the state’s next seasonal calamity — fire season — even worse. An epic winter left parts of the Central Valley underwater, a problem that may persist for months as one of California’s largest mountain snowpacks on record melts. That elevated moisture is now fueling an explosion of plant growth unlike anything the state’s seen in years. Whole landscapes are blossoming into so-called “superblooms,” as flowering bushes starved by years of drought make the most of the bounty. Soon, that growth will dry out, transforming buds and blossoms into kindling. “What we expect to see out of the rains is an increase in the amount of fuel there is to burn,” said Issac Sanchez, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
California’s eye-popping super bloom is one for the books
“Following an usually wet winter in the West, California is beginning to emerge from a serious drought. The state, however, is now beautifully awash in wildflowers. The state is seeing a “super bloom,” similar to the Instagram famous super bloom of 2019. A unique combination of sun, rain, temperature, and wind set the stage for the arrival of desert wildflowers in the late winter and early spring, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. “California’s desert state parks are cautiously optimistic in expecting a ‘good’ to ‘better than average’ wildflower bloom this late winter and spring seasons depending on the continued weather conditions,” the department said on their website. … ” Read more from Popular Science.
In commentary today …
Editorial: Drought and flood, California’s double whammy
The LA Times editorial board writes, “Just as federal officials were laying out alternative scenarios last week for steep water supply cuts from the Colorado River due to the drying Southwest, California officials were warning that this year’s historic Sierra snowpack could flood much of the state later this year. So do we have too much water or not enough? The only honest answer, as head-spinning as it may be, is that we have both problems at the same time. Lake Mead, and farther up the Colorado River, Lake Powell — Southern California’s two big out-of-state water supplies — remain dangerously low and will not fill again, despite a wet Rocky Mountain winter. Meanwhile, reservoirs in California are full. But much of that precious water will have to be released to make room for melting snow. How much room depends on weather conditions over the next several months. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
‘It’s disappointing’: Emergency drought regulations ‘catastrophic’ for Scott Valley agriculture
“Following a record wet winter, drought conditions continue to improve statewide. While most of the state has fully escaped drought, it holds on in far northern California along with the desert of southeastern California, according to the drought monitor updated weekly by the National Drought Mitigation Center. Included in this area still considered in a drought is Scott Valley, located in Siskiyou County. … Although the area has received abundant rain and snow this winter, it remains under emergency drought regulations. The regulations put a chokehold on farmers and ranchers in the area. … ” Continue reading from Channel 10.
Lady of the Lake: How about the hitch, part 2?
“Dear Lady of the Lake, I hear the Clear Lake hitch had hard time during the drought years. How are they doing now since we had so much rain? Where are they spawning and how can we help them? Answer: Hi Hans, Thanks for writing this in! It’s a great time to talk about the Clear Lake Hitch. … For those of you interesting in some of the science and management planning for this species, I suggest you watch out Water Quality Wednesday, hosted by the County of Lake Water Resources, from January 2022 available below.The scientific name of the Clear Lake hitch is Lavinia exilicauda chi, and the native indigenous peoples of Clear Lake (the Hinthil, Gowk Xabatin, or the Pomo) refer to the fish as “chi” (pronounced CH-eye). The chi is a very culturally important fish to the Pomo and other indigenous native peoples of the Clear Lake area. The chi serves as a main food staple, providing a vital source of protein and nutrients, and easy to catch as the fish prefer shallow, warm, and slow-moving water, ideal to the shores and sloughs along the edges of Clear Lake. … ” Read more from the Lake County News.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Strong winds, rain, snow, to make brief return this week to Tahoe
“Don’t put away those winter jackets just yet, another brief round of cold temperatures, strong winds and stormy weather return this week to Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service in Reno is calling for another cold storm to blow into the region Monday into Tuesday bringing significantly cooler temps and chances for rain and snow showers. A lake wind advisory has been issued for Lake Tahoe with winds expected to range from 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph that could lead to 4-foot waves. The advisory goes into effect at 1 p.m. Monday and lasts through 8 a.m. Tuesday. The conditions will be rough for small boats and kayaks. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
Lake Tahoe’s clear water is due to tiny creatures called Zooplankton, researchers say
“Lake Tahoe’s water is clearer than it’s been in decades. Why? NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe gets the answer from Geoffrey Schladow, Director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.” Listen at NPR.
NAPA/SONOMA
Column: As always, the California story returns to water
Columnist Pete Golis writes, “The powers-that-be decided they couldn’t get around to protecting this small Central Coast town from flooding. Yes, 3,500 people live here, but most are low-income farmworkers who don’t have much. One government official said a cost-benefit analysis determined it wasn’t the best use of money to strengthen an old levee to protect the people of Pajaro. On a road trip, we came here to see for ourselves what happens when government decides some people are more important than others. And we came to see what happens when a levee fails and a town fills with water. Along the way, we learned that California needs to invest more time and money in protecting communities from flooding, especially when climate change is causing more extreme winter weather. If some residents think it is unfair to have to manage both drought and deluge, well, too bad. … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
CENTRAL COAST
Salinas Valley growers say much of flood damage due to choked river
“With the economic impact from the January and March flooding estimated at $1 billion, many growers are left feeling frustrated because they say much of the damage to their croplands could have been prevented. For most of the past century, growers could go into the Salinas River channel and clear out sandbars and vegetation in order to increase flow capacity and stabilize levees. During heavy rains like what was seen in January and March, the water charges down the river and then hits shallow depths because of built-up sediment, as well as large amounts of brush that impede the river’s capacity. The sediment and brush impediments have a damming effect. Water will flow along the path of least resistance, and when the channel is clogged, that path becomes cropland. … ” Read more from the Monterey Herald. | Read via East Bay Times.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Did California get too much water this year?
“he Central Valley is officially out of the drought but meteorologists are worried California now has too much snow.This year, California’s drought significantly went down. The state started the water year in October 2022 with 99% of California in a drought. Now it sits at 8.79% in a moderate drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That’s a big victory for the state considering it’s been in a severe drought for the last three years. But did California get too much water this year? Maybe… ” Read more from Fox 26.
Lake Tulare (and its fishes) shall rise again
“Imagine spring sunrise on a vast lake in the southern Central Valley. The lake is surrounded by dense green tule marsh. The air is filled with a cacophony of sounds from calling blackbirds, singing marsh wrens, honking geese, and chattering ducks. Organized flocks of white pelicans and black cormorants are capturing the abundant fishes from the lake: thicktail, hitch, blackfish, Sacramento perch, pikeminnow, sucker. Many of the larger fish have just returned from their spawning migrations up the inflowing rivers and are feeding hungrily on abundant plankton, shrimp, insect larvae, and juvenile fish. In the shallows, herons and egrets stalk frogs and other prey, while otters and beaver swim busily around them, each otter occasionally diving to grab a mussel from the bottom, which it eats with a crunch at the surface. … This vast aquatic ecosystem was paradise to the people who lived there for thousands of years, but it disappeared in a geologic blink of an eye following the arrival of Euro-Americans into California. … ” Read more from the California Water Blog.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
How to harness stormwater and the concerning 100-year flood assessment
“There’s a new type of water concern for our area. We’re usually talking about too little water, but do we now have too much? Flooding is a real worry following this winter’s atmospheric rivers, which dropped inches of rain and feet of snow. In this edition of Eyewitness Newsmakers with Marc Brown, Brett Sanders, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Irvine, laid out a worrying scenario. He and his team mapped a 100-year flood scenario for our region. They discovered our network of flood control channels may not be up to the task, which could mean water may spill over the channel banks or banks could collapse, sending water into areas where millions of people live. That floodwater could be anywhere from ankle-deep to above heads. … ” Read more and watch segment at ABC LA.
LA City Council seeks to increase local water supply
“The Los Angeles City Council approved Friday a motion calling for a reduction of imported water and increasing its local water supply, as well as obtaining a report on any infrastructure and conservation projects in the early planning or development stages. The motion, introduced by council members Katy Yaroslavsky and Paul Krekorian, also directs the Department of Water and Power, the city’s Bureau of Sanitation and the Metropolitan Water District to review current sources of potable water, the feasibility of achieving the city’s goals under current executive directives and Green New Deal policies, and contingency plans to support water import systems. … ” Read more from Westside Current.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
Imperial Irrigation District releases Annual Report
“The Imperial Irrigation District released its IID Annual Report 2022, highlighting the projects and programs that IID brought forth throughout the year. This report ranges over a wide variety of topics, including water and energy projects, information on the Salton Sea, the Colorado River, Coachella Valley Energy Commission, energy assistance for customers, and community improvement projects. The report was published officially on Thursday, April 13, listing IID Public Information Officer Robert Schettler as the author. In an interview on Friday, April 14, IID Board Directors President and Division 1 Director Alex Cardenas spoke to the importance of the annual report and how it helps the district connect better with its customers. … ” Read more from the Imperial Valley Press.
SAN DIEGO
Has your water bill been delayed, San Diego? Here’s why and what to do about it
“Thousands of San Diego families are plenty upset with the city’s Public Utilities Department’s way of handling their bills as they go months without seeing one. Adding to their frustration is how hard it is to get a hold of someone at the department, they say. “This is probably $20, bottle it up, sell it,” joked Scott Rapoport as he watered plants in his home’s backyard in San Diego. He moved here back in July from the Bay Area and started signing up for city services right away. He says getting water under his name became a near-impossible task. “I was able to get an email from them and send them some information, and then they went silent. I was unable to get any traction in setting up our water service,” he said. … ” Read more from NBC 7.
Along the Colorado River …
Federal officials told states to curb Colorado River use. How will it affect California?
“Despite a wet winter, California and other western states will still need to cut back how much water they draw from the Colorado River. The question federal and state officials are weighing is: How much will they each need to cut? California, the largest beneficiary of the river’s supply, would face starkly different changes based on which proposal is selected. Most politicians and officials agree drought and overuse have resulted in such low water levels that action must be taken, but it is also possible that a proposal that is not on the table now comes through. While the Colorado River’s supply mainly serves Southern California, repercussions could eventually echo up and down the state. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
What’s the best way to allocate Colorado River water rights?
“The Colorado River runs 1,450 miles and serves 40 million people across 7 western US states. It reaches tribal lands and continues on into Mexico. Its waters make a multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry possible. For decades, drought in the West has been intensified by climate change, rising demand, and overuse; the result has been previously unseen low water levels at key reservoirs along the Colorado River. Power struggles are now fierce in the quest to allocate Colorado River water rights. … Agricultural water use accounts for about 75% of the beneficial uses of the Colorado River and about 60% of all consumptive uses and losses. Water from the Colorado River is used to irrigate approximately 5.5 million acres of agricultural lands: 3.2 million acres within the Basin and 2.2 million acres outside of the Basin. These irrigated lands account for 15% of all farmland acreage nationwide and produce 90% of winter vegetables in the US. … ” Read more from Clean Technica.
The worst-case scenario for drought on the Colorado River
“The Colorado River provides water for irrigation, power generation, recreation, and habitats for endangered species. But the 40 million people who drink from this critical artery have watched it wither amid the region’s worst dry spell in more than 1,200 years. This massive drought, sometimes called a megadrought, settled over the Western United States two decades ago, and precious precipitation has flowed and faded from year to year. But since 2020, the region has faced essentially a drought within a drought. In an already water-sparse region, this has led to some of the driest conditions the Western US has seen in memory. “It’s kind of like the slowest-moving freight train that you know is going to hit you,” said Cynthia Campbell, water resources management adviser for the City of Phoenix. “At the same time, what we’ve seen in the last couple of years has been an enormous acceleration that frankly we didn’t expect.” … ” Read more from Vox.
Water cuts could save the Colorado River. Farmers are in the crosshairs.
“Alex Jack has spared little expense in the quest to grow vegetables in the desert with less water. It has cost him $2.5 million over the years to be on the cutting edge of efficiency, installing underground irrigation under alfalfa and lettuce beds, building aerated reservoirs and a network of pipes and pumps to recycle runoff. But his 3,500-acre farm still guzzles more of the Colorado River each year than some midsize cities. Now, as the Biden administration moves closer to imposing unprecedented cuts in how much water states can pull from the river, Jack and other commercial farmers in the sun-scorched flatlands of the Imperial Valley are in the crosshairs of those reductions. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
U.S. considers river cuts that would strip all water from CAP
“Deliveries to the Central Arizona Project that serves Tucson and Phoenix drinking water could be wiped out by one alternative water-saving plan now undergoing federal review, and cut to the bone by another. Cuts of that drastic a nature could occur in 2025 or 2026 if either of these plans are adopted by the US. Interior Department and Lake Mead falls to 950 feet, a little less than 100 feet below where its water stands today. The projections appear in Interior’s just-released Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on how to bolster the Colorado River’s chronically overused supplies and rebuild its depleted reservoirs over the next three years. … ” Read more from the Arizona Daily Star.
Inside Sources: How much water does Utah get to keep?
“The record-breaking snowfall in Utah this winter has given the state more water than it expected to have. And considering, the West is experiencing a drought that has gone on for more than two decades, figuring out how much water Utah gets to keep is an issue that has a lot of people working hard to find a solution to. As such, the heavy snowfall is having an impact on how Utah and the other Colorado River Basin states plan to distribute that water. Gene Shawcroft, the Utah River Commissioner, joined Inside Sources with guest hosts Taylor Morgan and Derek Brown on Friday to discuss how this water will be split up between Utah and other states like California and Nevada. … ” Read more from KSL.
‘Water is life’: Native leaders honor sacred river spaces as courts debate water rights
“Mona Polacca has never seen Sípàapu, a place of emergence on the Little Colorado River according to Hopi creation teachings. But she knows it is a sacred place that deserves protection. The Sípàapu is a limestone dome that sits on the banks upstream from the confluence of the Little Colorado and the mainstem Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which the Hopi call Ӧng’tupkya. Last month, the International Committee on Monuments and Sites International Science Committee traveled to Flagstaff to present the Black Mesa Trust, a Hopi grassroots organization, with the Water and Heritage Shield designated for the Sípàapu. “I showed them a picture of the waterfall that is down in the Grand Canyon, Supai,” said Polacca, who is Havasupai, Hopi and Tewa, and who had worked on gaining recognition for the Sípàapu with the heritage shield. “I said, ‘it’s beautiful, isn’t it? Isn’t it worth saving? How can we get recognition of our sacred waters?’” … ” Read more from Arizona Central.
What Colorado water officials think of the federal government’s proposed Colorado River cuts
“The federal government has laid out its ideas for water cuts in the Colorado River Basin, which means time is running out for basin states to agree on a plan of their own. In Colorado, water officials say the onus is on California and Arizona to make it work. “This is the federal government saying, ‘We’re going to have to step in if you can’t come up with something for yourselves, and here are the bookends of what we’re looking at,’” said Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission. … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
New tech could one day scrub ‘forever chemicals’ from your tap water
“Canadian researchers said they have developed a method to filter toxic “forever chemicals” from water and potentially destroy the long-lasting compounds permanently. Commonly known as “forever chemicals” because they can persist in the environment for years, these hazardous compounds have long troubled environmentalists and regulators. Their harmful effects on human health are well documented, but their ubiquitous use and the challenges in breaking them down have complicated efforts to eliminate them. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
More news and commentary in the weekend edition …
In California water news this weekend …
- Thousands of acres are underwater in California, and the flood could triple in size this summer
- An aerial fire retardant is widely used in Northern California. Is it harming the environment?
- Risk of flooding from snowmelt is amping up in Tahoe. Here’s what to know
- El Nino watch issued: Here’s how it could affect weather in the US
- Rep. Huffman, Sen. Padilla call on administration to declare salmon fishery disaster
- Relax, the rich aren’t using all the water to fill their pools
- California fears even worse fire season as ‘superblooms’ from historic wet winter become kindling
- Winter showers (and showers and showers) bring a bounty of wildflowers
- And lastly … How much water does ChatGPT ‘drink’ for every 20 questions it answers?
- Klamath Project sees fourth year in a row of water supply cuts
- Glenn County water deliveries continue as some drill deeper
- Hamilton City’s new levee stands up to major storms of 2023
- Will the biggest snowpack since 1895 flood Fresno this spring? Not likely.
- The rules governing the Colorado River were made for a ‘previous world’ and the West is now confronting a 21st century nightmare as it runs dry
- And more …
Click here for the weekend digest.
