On the calendar today …
- LEG HEARING: Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife beginning at 9am. Click here for agenda and remote access links. Bills to be heard:
- MEETING: State Water Resources Control Board beginning at 9:30am. Agenda items include Current Hydrologic Conditions and Response, Consideration of a proposed Order prepared by the Administrative Hearings Office (AHO) on the petition for reconsideration by the City of Stockton, Public hearing to consider proposed amendments to the Water Quality Enforcement Policy, and Consideration of adoption of a proposed Resolution and Amendments to the Water Quality Control Policy for Siting, Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems and Conditional Waiver Renewal. Click here for the full agenda and remote access instructions.
- WORKSHOP: WaterSMART – Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program beginning at 10am. The Water Resources and Planning Office will host an informational webinar on the new Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program Tuesday April, 18th at 11am MDT (10am PDT). The webinar will cover eligible projects and applicants, general application tips, and have a question and answer portion. Please access the webinar via the following link: Click here to join the meeting. Find out more about the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program on our website: Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration
- WEBINAR: Prioritizing Postfire Restoration Opportunities by Leveraging the Environmental Evaluation Modeling System and Community Science from 10:30am to 12:00pm. Habitat restoration and the management of invasive species are important strategies for conserving biodiversity, especially in recently burned areas which are especially vulnerable to invasion. To help managers prioritize restoration locations, Conservation Biology Institute, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and United States Forest Service collaborated to create a new, replicable tool and approach for better combining field data with decision science. Click here to register.
In California water news today …
Despite storms, many Californians are still coping with dry wells and awaiting fixes
“In a neighborhood surrounded by almond orchards and citrus groves southeast of Fresno, large plastic cisterns occupy the yards of many homes, and residents have learned to ration water until the next tanker truck arrives. Even after major storms have boosted California rivers and reservoirs, many in the unincorporated community of Tombstone Territory continue to rely on state-funded water deliveries. Some of their wells went dry last year, while others have been coping with dry wells for as long as three years. “It is really a struggle,” said Anita Torres, 61. “Sometimes I just cry because I’m so frustrated.” Since her well failed, she and her family have been taking short showers and lugging 5-gallon jugs into their home to cook and drink. Tombstone is one of many communities in the San Joaquin Valley where chronic overpumping of groundwater by agriculture has left homeowners with dry wells. … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via AOL News.
Radio: Climate fix: How California can help salmon survive severe weather…and other existential threats
“Salmon need cold water to hatch and grow strong enough to embark on migrations that stretch hundreds of miles from their places of birth. In California, dams constructed along various rivers have disrupted traditional salmon runs and are one reason the species has been in decline for decades. And, as climate change makes everything hotter, including the rivers, salmon spawning sites are at risk. This year, the situation became especially dire with numbers reaching near-record lows. In response, the Pacific Fishery Management Council made the drastic decision to cancel the salmon fishing season for 2023. But salmon advocates say that stopping the fishing season won’t fix state water management policies that have favored agriculture over fish habitats. For our next installment of Climate Fix, our monthly series examining global warming and solutions, we’ll talk about how climate change, severe weather and human behavior are exacerbating the challenges California salmon face.” Guests: John McManus, Golden State Salmon Association; Danielle Venton, science reporter, KQED News; and Jonathan Rosenfield Ph.D., senior scientist, San Francisco Baykeeper. Show airs at 9am this morning, audio will be available at the link afterwards. Listen at KQED.
Can a fishing ban save the West Coast’s salmon?
“The low stock can be attributed to “the one-two punch of heavily engineered waterways and the supercharged heat and drought that come with climate change,” explained The New York Times. Glen Spain, acting executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, told The Associated Press the vast die-off of salmon eggs and juvenile salmon in recent years could be blamed on “politically driven, short-sighted water management policies.” The Chinook salmon, or king salmon, has been the most dramatically affected, NPR reported. This kind of salmon requires cold and clean freshwater to survive, but California’s years of drought, coupled with warming water temperatures due to climate change, have taken a toll. “California salmon are in dire straits,” according to climate scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Fisheries Nate Mantua. … ” Read more from The Week.
El Niño is coming, and ocean temps are already at record highs – that can spell disaster for fish and corals
Dillon Amaya, NOAA climate scientist, writes, “It’s coming. Winds are weakening along the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Heat is building beneath the ocean surface. By July, most forecast models agree that the climate system’s biggest player – El Niño – will return for the first time in nearly four years. El Niño is one side of the climatic coin called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. It’s the heads to La Niña’s tails. During El Niño, a swath of ocean stretching 6,000 miles (about 10,000 kilometers) westward off the coast of Ecuador warms for months on end, typically by 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1 to 2 degrees Celsius). A few degrees may not seem like much, but in that part of the world, it’s more than enough to completely reorganize wind, rainfall and temperature patterns all over the planet. I’m a climate scientist who studies the oceans. After three years of La Niña, it’s time to start preparing for what El Niño may have in store. … ” Read more from The Conversation.
Floods tore through California crops – now small immigrant farmers face destitution
“A series of atmospheric river storms and widespread flooding this winter have wiped out hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland across California. But the state’s small-scale, immigrant farmers have been especially hard hit. After a drawn-out drought, widespread wildfires and heatwaves in recent years, family farms like Catalán’s had been struggling to get by even before the storms. Many lack property and crop insurance, and are struggling to access emergency aid and navigate government systems and bureaucracies set up to favor large corporations. Undocumented farmers who built up their enterprises without any government subsidies or support, are mostly ineligible for disaster relief. Even those who do manage to apply for aid often cannot afford to wait months for the money to come through. Without immediate, emergency aid, many small farmers risk losing their lease, and their businesses. “We hold up small farmers as essential, but they’re treated like they are dispensable,” said Irene de Barraicua, director of operations at the farmer and farmworker advocacy group Lideres Campesinas. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
How IoT-powered soil sensors helped a California golf resort save millions of gallons of water per month
“Although much of California no longer suffers from drought conditions thanks to the recent record rainfall, the Golden State isn’t quite yet out of the woods when it comes to a scarcity of water. And that means sustainable water management must continue to be top of mind for executives in a variety of industries, including turf management, agriculture, and hotel and resorts. For David Yanez, director of agronomy and golf superintendent at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, that means providing a top-notch golf course and the best playing conditions while ensuring he’s not using too much water. To that end, Yanez has implemented IoT-powered soil sensors from GroundWorx to optimize water use for the luxury hotel’s golf course fairways. … ” Read more from Fast Company.
What will CA’s wildfire season look like? Here’s when it’s expected to peak, what to know
“In drought years we brace for a fiercer wildfire season. Now after a historically wet winter and snowpack, we are still facing fire danger but it looks different than it has the last few years. Fire experts weighed in on the 2023 U.S. wildfire forecast from Accuweather meteorologists which predict that in California, 400,000 to 1 million acres will burn. That puts the state at average or slightly above average for fire danger later in the summer. To put that in perspective nearly one million acres burned in just the Dixie Fire in 2021 in Lassen Volcanic National Park. “We shouldn’t expect large fires in July which is different than previous years,” said Dr. Craig Clements, Director of the San Jose State University Wildfire Research Center. … ” Read more from KABC.
California’s climate whiplash
“Timing is crucial to seasonal temperatures and precipitation, and intertwined in this delicate relationship are California’s ecosystems, agriculture industry, and communities. As climate change intensifies, extreme weather patterns are expected to continue and their unpredictability is adding to already contentious battles over water in the West. “We’re going through this climate whiplash of extreme drought years to extreme wet years—there are just no average years anymore,” says Doug Obegi, a senior attorney at NRDC who works on water resource management in California. “And we’re seeing that we are not prepared for either of those extremes.” … ” Read more from the NRDC.
Earth Day contest highlights: California youth plead for change, sound the alarm
“California youth have sounded the alarm: climate change is not a future threat – it’s already here, flooding their streets, burning their neighborhoods, cutting their school days, upending their food systems and more. This was made abundantly clear in CalMatters’ Earth Day op-ed contest, inviting California middle and high schoolers to submit opinion pieces on how changes in climate have impacted their community. More than 120 students submitted entries, ranging from brainy write-ups to passionate pleas for action. One student even shared how they got their school to finally start recycling. Their fine writing and rigorous research made for a competitive race (and for CalMatters, hard decisions). To spotlight more youth voices, we compiled select excerpts of their exemplary work. … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
In commentary today …
California must curb Central Valley food waste as water crisis worsens
Jesse Morris, high school student from Tulare County, writes, “In the Central Valley, agriculture is everything. Farmers here grow 25% of the country’s food, yet copious amounts of flawed produce is dumped or left to rot. For many supermarkets, an orange with a hail scratch is deemed unsellable. In 2019, researchers from Santa Clara University found that an estimated one-third of food in northern and central California is wasted, largely because of supermarket standards and consumer habits. We cannot follow this model of growing more produce than we need – or wasting this much – given California’s limited water resources, drought on surface water, and severe overpumping of groundwater. …” Read more from Cal Matters.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Reclamation increases Klamath River flows to prevent disease and promote salmon health
“The Bureau of Reclamation, in coordination with PacifiCorp, will increase flows at Link River Dam and below Iron Gate Dam to reduce the risk of disease for salmon in the Klamath River. From April 19 through the end of the month, flows will vary on the Link and Klamath rivers. Releases from Upper Klamath Lake through Link River Dam will increase to 5,300 cubic feet per second the morning of April 19. The increased flows will reach Iron Gate Dam late in the day, resulting in increased flows below Iron Gate Dam from the current 1,330 cfs up to a peak of around 6,030 cfs beginning late afternoon on April 19. The peak will last for 72 hours. Flows will begin ramping down at Link River Dam the morning of April 22 and that evening at Iron Gate Dam. The rampdown will last through the end of April. The public is urged to take appropriate safety precautions while flows are increased. … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Klamath Water Users Association says allocation isn’t enough
“While the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced last week that 215,000 acre-feet of water would be available for the Klamath Project this year, the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) said that’s still merely 60% of what is needed for farms and wildlife refuges in the area. “KWUA is very disappointed that Reclamation chose not to follow its own operational plans,” said Tracey Liskey, president of KWUA, in a news release Monday. “In a year that is in the top 10% in terms of snowpack, with over 180% of average currently, and when Reclamation expects to release more than 590,000 acre-feet of water to the Pacific Ocean, we have 60,000 acres of farmland along with two national wildlife that are likely to go dry this year.” … ” Read more from the Herald & News.
SEE ALSO: Klamath water leaders upset with 2023 irrigation supply, from Fox 26
Trinity troubles: water management creates conflict
“While reservoirs like Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville have seen incredible rises this winter, the same cannot be said for Trinity Lake. Water management has been a topic of contention throughout the county. KRCR’s Preston Donion visited Trinity Lake last week and measured 0.3 miles from the end of the boat launch to the actual edge of the lake. The lake sits at just 37.5% of capacity and 53% of normal, which makes the significant releases seem rather excessive. However, the volume of water released is based on the long-standing values assigned to each water year category. This year has been deemed wet, so the 701,000 acre-feet sent down stream is nothing new. What is new, in 2023, is the way in which those releases are being timed. Donion spoke with the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) to understand the change. … ” Read more from KRCR.
Eel River named one of America’s most endangered rivers
“For Nikcole Whipple, an indigenous law student and member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, talking about the Eel River means talking about her family. She remembers traveling into the mountains with her dad and grandmother to care for elders in the community, driving over “bellyache slide,” a bumpy roadway that perennially washed out because of its proximity to the water. Her mom always taught her to be proud of their river, and learning about its water issues at tribal council meetings inspired her to further explore environmental policy — which she is doing now as an intern with Save California Salmon. … In 2023, the Eel River has been named one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers by the nonprofit American Rivers. The organization publishes this list of ten rivers each year based on criteria including the rivers’ significance to people and nature, the magnitude of threat to the watershed and its communities, and — most critically — whether the public can influence an important upcoming decision on the river’s future. … ” Read more from the Mendocino Voice.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Sierra Nevada Conservancy launches new grant round to support wildfire-recovery and forest-resilience priorities
“The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) is accepting concept proposals for its 2023 Wildfire Recovery and Forest Resilience Directed Grant Program. The program supports planning and implementation of forest-health projects that promote wildfire recovery and forest resilience priorities in the SNC service area. The total amount of funding available is still to be determined and based on final appropriations from California’s Budget Act of 2023. The funding is part of the state’s historic $15 billion investment focused on protecting Californians from the effects of climate change, including wildfires, drought, and extreme heat. “Nearly two years ago, we were appropriated $50 million to address wildfire- and forest-resilience priorities, and we quickly and effectively allocated those funds to a number of different organizations and projects that help improve forest health and protect communities and ecosystems from major disturbances, such as wildfire,” said Angela Avery, executive officer with the SNC. … ” Read more from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
NAPA/SONOMA
BAY AREA
Will Stanford drain Lake Lag?
“In Lake Lagunita sits a drain that’s rumored to have been created by the University in the early days of the lake’s creation. The drain was last operated in 1995 and likely will not be used anytime soon despite this winter’s heavy rains, according to University spokesperson Luisa Rapport. Rapport wrote that the drain’s lack of operation is “because water is [now] allowed to percolate in order to recharge the groundwater.” So who decides when to pull the plug? According to associate professor of civil and environmental engineering David Freyberg Ph.D. ’91, that decision is up to the Stanford Water Department in collaboration with the Campus Biologist Alan Launer ’81 M.S. ’82. … ” Read more from the Stanford Daily.
Pleasanton council to vote on adopting water shortage declaration
“The Pleasanton City Council is set to discuss a resolution Tuesday that would declare a water shortage due to the city’s wells remaining inactive and continue to ask residents to voluntarily reduce their water usage by 15%. In 2019, the city-operated Well 8 was shut off after PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, levels were detected in the groundwater. Then in 2022, the city’s other groundwater wells 5 and 6 were also shut off when city staff found that the PFAS levels in those wells also exceeded state safety levels. Because Pleasanton took all three wells out of service, the city now is in a position where it can’t produce the 3,500 acre-foot groundwater supply, roughly 20% of the city’s water, which came from these wells — which is why city staff are looking to continue the 15% reduction in potable water usage from residents. … ” Read more from Pleasanton Weekly.
DA settles environmental suit against San Jose granite rock company
“Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen has announced the settlement of an environmental lawsuit against Granite Rock Company filed in February alleging water pollution from two of its facilities, his office said on Monday. The $325,000 settlement, which was signed on March 21– less than a month after the suit was filed– also bars Granite Rock from future violations of the Fish and Game Code. The complaint alleged that Granite Rock created stormwater discharge from two of its facilities containing sediment, iron and heavy metals, as well as cement, aggregate and sand that made its way into Coyote Creek, the Guadalupe River and eventually into the Bay. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
CENTRAL COAST
Soledad utilizes ‘purple pipes’ to recycle water across the city
“While drought conditions have improved on the Central Coast following our wet winter —saving water is still a priority. That’s why the city of Soledad is getting creative when it comes to how they water their public sports fields and parks. Soledad is using a $16 million state grant to build a pipe system from their wastewater treatment plant to deliver recycled water to public fields across town. The city made history a few years back with the construction of a wind turbine that powers the treatment plant Their newest accomplishment comes in the form of purple pipes. “Purple pipe is the uniform color for recycled water, that’s safe to use on golf courses, city parks, things of that nature,” said Don Wilcox, the city of Soledad’s public works director. … ” Read more from KSBY.
Ecologistics to host Salinas River Symposium in Atascadero
“The “upside-down river,” as the Salinas is known, will be the focus of a one-day gathering at the Atascadero Library on Friday, May 5, of key policymakers, scientists, and educators. Speakers from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, County of San Luis Obispo, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Creek Lands Conservation, CSU Monterey Bay, and the Central Coast Wetlands Group will address a variety of subjects on fire prevention, water law and ecological sustainability, adaptive management, and watershed coordination. Senator John Laird will provide closing remarks on managing the Salinas River in a changing climate. … ” Read more from Atascadero News.
State to use airborne technology to map state’s groundwater basins
“The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is using an innovative, helicopter-based technology to gather information about the state’s groundwater aquifer structure to support drought response and the implementation of the Sustainable GroundwaterManagement Act (SGMA). DWR’s use of airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys advances Governor Newsom’s Water Resilience Portfolio goal of using technology to support the State’s understanding of groundwater resources. “The data collected during these surveys will provide a better understanding of California’s groundwater systems, and in turn support more informed and sustainable groundwater management and drought preparedness and response approaches,” said Steven Springhorn, DWR’s SGMA Technical Assistance Manager. Beginning April 22, 2023, DWR will conduct AEM surveys of groundwater basins in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, specifically in portions of the San Antonio Creek Valley, Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo Valley, Los Osos Area, and Warden Creek groundwater basins. … ” Read more from Edhat.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Water storage at New Melones Reservoir more than doubles since late November
“New Melones Reservoir is holding more than twice as much water as it was in late November, with the surface level rising more than 120 feet since that time. The reservoir, the fourth-largest in California at a maximum capacity of 2.4 million acre-feet, was sitting at nearly 60% full as of Friday and was 96% of its historical average for the date. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates New Melones, the first and only time that the reservoir filled to 100% of its total capacity was in July 1983. The fullest it has been since then was the 1998-99 wet season, when it was just shy of 2.4 million acre-feet. … ” Read more from the Union Democrat.
Merced County Sheriff warns people to stay out of fast-flowing, ice-cold rivers
“The Merced County sheriff has shut down all public access to the Merced River and San Joaquin River until further notice, according to a social media post by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. According to Sheriff Vern Warnke, the water level is high with fast-moving, ice-cold water. “I know that the weather’s warming up, we all want to get wet because that’s our favorite thing to do but do it in a swimming pool,” Warnke said in a video posted to the Merced County Sheriff’s Office social media pages. “Don’t do it in the canals, don’t do it in the rivers and don’t go out where you know it’s dangerous,” he said. “So stay out of the water.” … ” Read more from the Merced Sun-Star.
The Tule River watershed remains a wild card in a wild water year
“Residents and farms along the Tule River have been hammered by flood waters this year. And, unfortunately, the best those same folks can hope for as the weather heats up is, well, more flooding. “I think the best case scenario is a prolonged period of minor to moderate flooding sort of what we’re already seeing, maybe a little bit worse, but not dramatically worse for like two straight months,” said Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability. “And even that case could result in bigger problems simply because you have high, not extremely high, but high flows against the levees for weeks or even months on end.” … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Giant tubes helping manage massive Kern River flows
“Those highly noticeable big black tubes being placed in the Kern River at Coffee Road are the fulcrum in a full-court press by Buena Vista Water Storage District to keep as much water as possible in the county. The western Kern County agricultural water district anticipates putting as many as 25 siphon tubes over what’s known as the “sand plug” next to the Coffee Road weir in the next few days in anticipation of the coming snow melt. “The reason we’re being so aggressive with this is there is an urgency to create more storage in Lake Isabella,” said Terry Chicca, President of the Buena Vista board. “The more water we can get out of the reservoir before the big snow melt, the more they can maintain control over the dam.” … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Hearing set for Friday in water district’s suit against city over Sage Ranch approval
“Parties to litigation over the adequacy of the city of Tehachapi’s analysis of water supply for the proposed Sage Ranch residential development are expected to be back in court for a case management conference on Friday. The Tehachapi City Council certified the Environmental Impact Report for the 995-unit project in August 2021 and approved other related elements associated with the project the next month. This left only a Precise Development Plan to be approved by the city before development could commence. But soon thereafter, the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District challenged the city’s approval of the project, alleging that the water supply analysis was inadequate and other violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and other state laws. … ” Read more from Tehachapi News.
EASTERN SIERRA
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Antelope Valley: Helping communities meet their basic water needs
“Jennifer Pierre is the general manager of the State Water Contractors, which represents 27 municipal and agricultural agencies that receive water from the State Water Project (SWP). For two decades, she’s worked on Delta issues, environmental and regulatory compliance, and interagency coordination. We asked her to tell us about a proposed new pipeline that will complete a groundwater recharge, storage, and recovery project and allow distribution of stored imported water to the entire Antelope Valley region—including the communities of Lancaster, Palmdale, Rosamond, Mojave, Boron, and Lake Los Angeles—and help free up water for other communities in the San Joaquin Valley that are facing water insecurity. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
Not such small things: microplastics in our streams
“UC Riverside scientists are taking a modern approach to studying a murky subject — the quantity, quality, and sources of microplastics in Los Angeles County’s urban streams. Microplastics are particles with a maximum diameter of 5 millimeters, roughly the size of a pencil eraser. The category can include nanoplastics, which are far smaller than the width of an average human hair. Scientists have been aware that these particles have been filtering through the environment for decades, but concern about them has only started to ramp up more recently. “There is mounting evidence that these materials are toxic,” said Andrew Gray, UCR assistant professor of watershed hydrology. Recent studies indicate microplastics can have negative impacts on reproductive health, particularly for males. … ” Read more from UC Riverside.
SoCal plans to reduce imported water supplies by 2035
“Colorado River water from Lake Mead makes its way to Southern California through the California River Aqueduct. Once this water arrives in Lake Mathews, it’s then distributed to a water treatment plant owned by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Currently, most of the water in Metropolitan’s water treatment facilities are from Northern California from the State Water Project because of our wet winter. It’s a stark contrast from last year, when water in their treatment plants were primarily from the Colorado River because Northern California’s supply was so strained from drought. Metropolitan’s Colorado River Resources Manager Bill Hasencamp says this year’s snowpack is great news for the river. … ” Read more from Spectrum 1.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
Environmentalists sound the alarm on Salton Sea as oasis is left in the dust
” … The Salton Sea was created in the early 20th century after an irrigation canal off the Colorado River burst and flooded the Salton Basin. Homes and other properties were built around the oasis and became the go-to location for people in Los Angeles looking for more space and a coastal environment.But in the last 25 years, the Salton Sea has become California’s most polluted inland lake, and has lost a third of its water. In the last decade alone, the river lost 38 square miles. Several factors have contributed to this loss, including the state’s drought and the decreasing levels in the Colorado River. Environmentalists argue that one of the biggest causes was a 2003 water transfer deal that several Southern California water boards signed off on that agreed to significantly reduce the water supply to the Salton Sea and send more water to San Diego. … ” Read more from ABC News.
SAN DIEGO
Along the Colorado River …
Colorado River snaking through Grand Canyon most endangered US waterway – report
“A 277-mile stretch of the Colorado River that snakes through the iconic Grand Canyon is America’s most endangered waterway, a new report has found. The unique ecosystem and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon is on the brink of collapse due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures and outdated river management, according to American Rivers, the conservation group which compiles the annual endangered list. Its future hangs in the balance as the Biden administration is poised to impose changes to the way the Colorado River’s dwindling water is divided. Further restrictions to the river flow risks turning the Grand Canyon into an ecological sacrifice zone, causing irreparable damage to wildlife, fish stocks and sacred sites, the report warns. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
Federal officials lay out options for Colorado River cuts if no consensus is reached
“Earlier this week, federal water officials released the draft of a much-awaited document outlining potential major short-term cuts to stabilize a Colorado River shrinking due to overuse and drought — unless the seven states that rely on the watershed come up with an alternative. The last part is key. Officials made it clear that they still wanted the states to reach a consensus on what painful cuts might look like as any action that is taken by the federal government faces a risk of litigation. Speaking in front of Lake Mead, with its prominent bathtub ring — one of the most apparent illustrations of the Colorado River shortage — Tommy Beaudreau, deputy secretary of the Department of Interior, said the choices federal water officials laid out “provide room for additional work and solutions.” The document, he said, “is intended to drive those conversations and negotiations forward.” … ” Read more from the Nevada Independent.
California’s strategy fails as feds pressure states to conserve Colorado River water
“The Department of Interior has indicated that if states don’t cooperate on dividing Colorado River water, more cuts may be on the way. The agency indicated that California could also face cutbacks, which means that the state’s wait-and-see strategy may have fallen short. California has senior water rights to the Colorado River, and so far, that has worked in its favor. Arizona’s junior position meant that the Grand Canyon state has been forced to take cutbacks. But the government recently released an Environmental Impact Statement that could lead to changes in how the river is managed. … ” Read more from KJZZ.
You — yes, you — are going to pay for the century-old mistake that’s draining the Colorado River
“An hour east of San Diego, there’s a lonely stretch of dry, barren land. There’s not much here but sand, dirt, and some wiry shrubs. But keep driving east and the landscape suddenly shifts. Near El Centro, a small city just north of the Mexican border, browns and washed-out reds erupt into emerald greens. A patchwork of verdant farmland stretches to the horizon. Here, in the Imperial Valley of California, humans have transformed the desert into an agricultural oasis. What was once parched ground is now rows of lettuce, carrots, and cabbage, or fields of alfalfa. Rain almost never falls here. What makes this region so lush is the Colorado River, a water source that lies another 60 miles east along the Arizona border. While it may seem odd to grow all of this food in the desert, American consumers benefit from it. The region — which includes the Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley, and Yuma, Arizona, encompassing hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland — grows as much as 90 percent of all leafy vegetables consumed in the US between November and March. But a big problem looms: The river is vanishing. … ” Read more from Vox.
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.
Radio: Wishing up a river
“The Colorado River’s current crisis traces its roots back to 1922. That’s when leaders from the rapidly-growing southwestern states that rely on the river traveled to a swanky Santa Fe mountain retreat to divvy up the river’s water. Growing populations in some of the West’s burgeoning cities and sprawling farmlands, and the anxieties tied to that growth, pushed leaders to the negotiating table. The Colorado River Compact was the result of those talks. This attempt to manage the dynamic river system was fraught from the very beginning. To get a deal passed the men overestimated the river’s flow, and ignored warnings from scientists they were setting the stage for a sprawling plumbing system bound to be short on water. Today we’re still grappling with the decisions made during those negotiations. This episode features an interview with Eric Kuhn, former Colorado River District general manager, and co-author of Science Be Dammed, How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained The Colorado River. … ” Listen at KUNC.
In national water news today …
Ten rivers facing pollution, development, and climate change—and policies that can help
“America’s waterways need help. Threats such as industrial pollution, poorly planned development, and climate change are widespread. In some cases, help could be imminent—but only with support from the public and lawmakers, according to a report out today from the conservation group American Rivers. The report, called America’s Most Endangered Rivers, has been produced annually since 1984. Each report describes 10 threatened rivers, each facing an upcoming decision with the potential for public influence, such as whether to remove a dam or compel polluters to clean up waste. Rather than a literal description of the rivers where the magnitude of threats is greatest, the document focuses on endangered rivers where “there’s something that people could actually do to really improve things there,” said Eve Vogel, a geographer from the University of Massachusetts Amherst who was not involved with the report but sometimes collaborates with American Rivers. … ” Read more from EOS.
NASA scientists embark on a historic project to see all the world’s water
“All the water on Earth is in a constant state of circulation. It flows across the surface and underground, churns through the ocean, evaporates into mist, and falls as rain. Scientists call this the water cycle. Climate change affects all aspects of the global cycle. The implications are vast, with repercussions for everything from drinking water availability to extreme weather events. Adapting to these changes begins with understanding them. Until now, scientists have lacked the ability to study the cycle in its totality. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched an historic mission to track the cycle from space. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, launched in December 2022, surveys nearly every water body on the planet—oceans, lakes, rivers, reservoirs—at least once every 21 days. By gaining a holistic view of global water, scientists will get a better sense of how the cycle is changing. This will help them better forecast floods, droughts, and sea level rise. … ” Read more from ESRI.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now so huge and permanent that a coastal ecosystem is thriving on it, scientists say
“Scientists have found thriving communities of coastal creatures, including tiny crabs and anemones, living thousands of miles from their original home on plastic debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a 620,000 square mile swirl of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii. In a new study published in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal on Monday, a team of researchers revealed that dozens of species of coastal invertebrate organisms have been able to survive and reproduce on plastic garbage that’s been floating in the ocean for years. The scientists said that the findings suggest plastic pollution in the ocean might be enabling the creation of new floating ecosystems of species that are not normally able to survive in the open ocean. … ” Read more from CNN.
New research sparks concerns that ocean circulation will collapse
“It is being hailed as a sea change in scientific understanding of the global ocean circulation system and how it will respond as the world heats up. A doomsday scenario involving the collapse of the circulation — previously portrayed in both peer-reviewed research and the climate disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow — came a lot closer in the last month. But rather than playing out in the far North Atlantic, as previously assumed, it now seems much more likely at the opposite end of the planet. A new analysis by Australian and American researchers, using new and more detailed modeling of the oceans, predicts that the long-feared turn-off of the circulation will likely occur in the Southern Ocean, as billions of tons of ice melt on the land mass of Antarctica. And rather than being more than a century away, as models predict for the North Atlantic, it could happen within the next three decades. … ” Read more from Yale e360.
