A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
Note to readers: Sign up for weekly email service and you will receive notification of this post on Friday mornings. Readers on daily email service can add weekly email service by updating their subscription preferences. Click here to sign up!
This week’s featured articles …
STATE WATER BOARD lays out proposed timeline for state intervention in six groundwater basins with inadequate plans
In March 2023, six basins were deemed by the Department of Water Resources to have inadequate groundwater sustainability plans, prompting possible intervention by the State Water Board. This marks the first since the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was passed in 2014. The Act mandates all medium and high-priority basins to establish local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs). These plans serve as a roadmap to ensure the long-term sustainability of groundwater resources.
The six basins: the Delta Mendota, Chowchilla, Kaweah, Tulare Lake, Tule, and Kern County, had submitted their groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to DWR for review in January 2020. DWR’s evaluation found them incomplete; they were given six months to revise their plans. The plans were resubmitted in the summer of 2022 and were ultimately deemed inadequate in March 2023. DWR’s list of deficiencies included continuing overdraft, worsening land subsidence, and impacts on domestic wells. This has triggered the potential for the State Water Board to intervene and starts a process that could ultimately result in the State Water Board temporarily taking over management of the basin.
Click here to read this article.
Solar is Booming in the California Desert, if Water Issues Don’t Get in the Way
By Wyatt Myskow, Inside Climate News, posted at Maven’s Notebook
Solar farms stretch out mile after mile along Interstate 10 around Palm Springs, creating one of the densest areas of solar development in North America in the heart of California’s Colorado Desert. But the area’s success in meeting the state and the nation’s renewable energy goals is running up against the Southwest’s biggest climate challenge: Having enough water.
Local wells in the area have gone dry since the construction of multiple utility-scale solar projects near Desert Center—threatening the only water source for hundreds of people and a handful of local businesses. Solar farms typically don’t use much water when operating, but during construction, the law requires developers to mitigate dust—which can spread health problems like Valley Fever. That requires water.
Click here to continue reading this article.
SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT: Australian wildfires and California drought
At the June meeting of the Delta Stewardship Council, Delta Lead Scientist Dr. Laurel Larsen spotlighted an article on the connection between the Australian wildfires in 2020 and California’s recent drought.
Recent headlines have been proclaiming the return of El Nino and what this means for expected weather patterns varies across the country and the world. For California, it generally means likely wetter than average conditions are expected; the opposite are the La Nina years, which have typically been associated with drought in California, as the atmospheric rivers carried by the jet stream generally are diverted north of California under those conditions.
Continue reading this article.
In California water news this week …
Delta tunnel on life support? What the latest blow means for Newsom’s controversial project
“California’s most hotly-contested water proposal suffered a setback Monday after a budget deal reached between Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers dropped a provision that would have put the project on a regulatory fast track. It means more uncertainty for the Delta Conveyance project, a 45-mile tunnel that would pull water from the Sacramento River and pipe it underneath the environmentally fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — the water supply source for 27 million people and millions of acres of farmland in the Bay Area and Southern California. … “This can is getting kicked farther down the road,” said Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center. “It has already involved hundreds of millions of dollars in studies, engineering design and everything else. It has involved multiple downsizing. There’s nothing at this point that will appease the opposition, with the exception of just not doing it.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee. | Read via Yahoo News.
DAN WALTERS: California budget deal delivers major setback to Delta water tunnel project
“It’s gone by several names: Peripheral Canal, Water Fix and Delta Conveyance. Its design has changed several times, from a canal to twin tunnels and most recently a single tunnel. However, its purpose has been unchanged for seven decades – bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as water is moved from Northern California to San Joaquin Valley farms and Southern California homes. Likewise, the fierce disagreement over whether it would rescue the Delta from environmental deterioration, as its advocates contend, or degrade it even further, as opponents maintain, has also remained unchanged. This week, a new chapter in the project’s long and torturous history was written when legislators thwarted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to partially exempt it, along with other major public works projects, from the California Environmental Quality Act. … ” Read more from Dan Walters at Cal Matters.
New report addresses findings that most California Groundwater Sustainability Plans fail to protect vulnerable communities and the environment
“A new report, authored by experts from organizations including The Nature Conservancy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Audubon California, and Clean Water Action, provides a set of recommendations on how California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act can better protect vulnerable communities and the environment. The recommendations are based on findings from a study published this week in Nature Communications, which found that the majority of local groundwater plans developed under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) overlook the state’s most vulnerable groundwater users. More than 100 groundwater sustainability plans submitted to the State of California and required under SGMA in 2020 and 2022 were rigorously reviewed to assess the degree to which each plan integrates diverse stakeholder groups into the planning process. … ” Continue reading this press release.
Many obstacles remain in SGMA implementation
“Many challenges remain in implementing California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act nearly 10 years after it was passed, according to a report from the University of California’s Institute of Water Resources. New social and economic questions have emerged as sustainability plans have been submitted – with some deemed inadequate – and implementation is just beginning, asserts authors Garrison Schlauch, Ellen Bruno and Kristin Dobbin. In early June, roughly 60 practitioners, researchers, and community members met at UC Berkeley to discuss social and economic issues around groundwater management in California. … ” Read more from the Western Farm Press.
Chowchilla groundwater plan resubmitted, state releases probationary hearing schedule
“The first of six inadequate San Joaquin Valley groundwater plans has been revised. Water managers in the Chowchilla subbasin made changes to its groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) and informally resubmitted the plan to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in hopes of avoiding a probationary trial and state intervention. In March, six valley plans were rejected by the state Department of Water Resources. The rejection moved the process on to the SWRCB, the enforcement arm of groundwater management. On June 21, the board announced a tentative schedule of probationary hearings for the rejected subbasins. The hearings would, in theory, come before the state intervenes in groundwater management enforcing its own fees and pumping limitations. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Hearings pending on aquifer plans for six subbasins
“Local agencies for six San Joaquin Valley subbasins, facing possible state intervention after their groundwater sustainability plans were deemed inadequate, have learned more about next steps from California water officials. At a workshop of the California State Water Resources Control Board last week, members identified a schedule for potential probationary hearings for the six plans, including for the Tulare Lake, Tule, Kaweah, Kern County, Delta-Mendota and Chowchilla subbasins. “It’s not ‘pencils down’ for our basins here. Folks need to continue to work diligently through their issues so that they’re winnowed down as they come before the board,” said E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state water board. “We’re here to do our part and get folks back to local control.” … ” Read more from Ag Alert via Maven’s Notebook.
A vast lake has captivated California where farms stood a year ago
“It sounds like the sea and approaches the size of Lake Tahoe. Its wind-driven waves are unexpectedly silky and warm. Tulare Lake seems to go on forever on the immense brown and green flat of California’s Central Valley, shimmering like a great blue mirage. Three months have passed since the lake, which dates to the Ice Age, re-emerged in the basin that once held the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River. Dammed dry by humans, it has periodically attempted a comeback, though rarely with the force seen after this winter’s storms. First a trickle, then a flood, the water that coursed into the lake bed over a handful of months swallowed one of the nation’s largest and most valuable stretches of cropland in about the time it takes to grow a tomato. Thirty square miles, then 50. Then 100. Then more. … ” Read more from the New York Times (gift article).
Agricultural fields in California’s Tulare Lake Basin could be underwater for years to come, experts say
“Farmers in one of the most prominent agricultural communities in the country will likely be living an underwater nightmare for the foreseeable future. Central California’s Tulare Lake is filled past the brim, but with the blessings of an ample water supply also comes a curse: spillage that experts say could continue to drown fields and roadways for years to come. The flooding has left farmland, streets and properties under several feet of water. Visual evidence of the decades-long megadrought that plagued the West and left lakes nearly depleted has nearly disappeared. An onslaught of moisture from dozens of atmospheric rivers that pummeled the West over the winter season has insured available water supply for the first time in several years, but it has also wreaked havoc in a region of California that yields a vast amount of the country’s produce. … ” Read more from ABC News.
If Corcoran had flooded, were its prisons prepared? Why some say more transparency is needed
“Like the water surging out of the Sierra Nevada, the news of the flooding came in torrents for Joseph, who was watching the news one morning in mid-March when he saw video footage of flooded fields nearby. “It was just every day, all day,” Joseph said, “showing how the flooding was just taking over so much.” Joseph is one of 8,000 men incarcerated within two state prisons outside of the Kings County city of Corcoran. Joseph isn’t his real name – he’s using an alias for fear of retaliation. He’s incarcerated at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran (SATF), and he’s speaking out against prison administration. It was through those news reports at the time, watched on 15-inch television screens in prison bunkbeds – not official announcements from prison administrators – that Joseph says he and many other inmates learned about the historic floodwaters that had begun to fill Tulare Lake for the first time in decades. … ” Read more from KVPR.
SEE ALSO: Water Whiplash: A ‘wake up call’ for two prisons near the edge of Tulare Lake, from KVPR
Rain gardens could save fish from toxic tire chemicals
“New research finds that specially-designed rain gardens could drastically reduce the amount of amount of a toxic chemical associated with tires entering waterways, according to a press release by the University of British Columbia (UBC). The chemical 6PPD-quinone can form when car tires interact with the atmosphere. It enters rivers and streams from stormwater runoff. The chemical is toxic to many fish. Rain gardens, or bioretention cells, could reduce the loading of 6PPD-quinone by more than 90%, according to the research published by the American Chemical Society. Specially designed gardens could reduce the amount of a toxic chemical associated with tires entering our waterways by more than 90 per cent, new research shows. … ” Continue reading at Stormwater Solutions.
California Senator introduces voluntary agricultural land repurposing bill
“U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, introduced a bill that he hopes will bolster water supply. Padilla introduced the Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act. It would provide funding to states that voluntarily repurpose certain agricultural lands. Padilla filed the bill in response to the Colorado River Basin’s water shortage, the Great Salt Lake’s declining water supply, and groundwater overdraft in California’s Central Valley, among other issues. … “Agriculture is essential to California’s economy and allows us to put food on the table for families across the country, but the climate crisis and historic droughts require us to adapt to long-term water scarcity,” Padilla said in a press release. “My Voluntary Agricultural Land Repurposing Act will provide another tool for communities to support the collaborative planning and voluntary actions already underway to reduce water use in the West. This legislation embraces state and local ingenuity and long-term land use planning while ensuring that our agricultural economies remain vibrant for years to come.” … ” Read more from The Center Square via Maven’s Notebook.
California is off to a slow fire season so far, but Newsom, fire leaders urge readiness as summer begins
“With reservoirs full and snow still deep across the Sierra Nevada following one of the wettest winters in recent decades, California’s fire season is off to a slow start this year. But Gov. Gavin Newsom and state fire leaders urged residents on Thursday not to be complacent as the Fourth of July nears and summer weather begins to heat up. “In the last four years, we’ve had two of the most extreme wildfire seasons — some of the worst and most destructive in terms of acreage and property and lives lost — and then two of the more modest fire seasons,” Newsom said during a visit to the Cal Fire Air Attack Base in Grass Valley. “We live in this new reality,” he added, “where we can’t necessarily attach ourselves to some of the more predictive models of the past because of a world that is getting a lot hotter, a lot drier and a lot more uncertain because of climate change.” … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News (gift article).
In commentary this week …
Sacramento wants to upend Calif.’s water market. It could kill farms, housing.
William Bourdeau, executive vice president of Harris Farms, director of the Westlands Water District, and chairman of the Valley Future Foundation, writes, “I’m a farmer, a water steward, and just like you, a citizen deeply concerned about the way we use and manage our water resources here in the Golden State. I’m here today to discuss a bill that – if enacted – could upend our state’s water markets, impact agriculture, limit our water supply, and hinder housing development. The culprit? California State Assembly Bill 1205, a piece of legislation affecting California water rights through the sale, transfer or lease of agricultural land. You see, AB 1205 proposes a change that sounds harmless on the surface: it wants to label the sale, transfer, or lease of water rights from our agricultural lands by investment funds as a wasteful or unreasonable use of water. But let’s dig a bit deeper and reveal why this bill is a potential harmful for all Californians, especially our businesses, communities, the environment, and our very capacity to produce our own food. … ” Read more from the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
Higher food, housing, water prices on tap under state water proposals
Cathy Green, president of the Orange County Water District (OCWD), writes, “As President of the Orange County Water District (OCWD), I help drive OCWD’s mission which is to provide safe, clean and affordable water to the 2.5 million residents in central and north Orange County that rely on the groundwater basin managed by OCWD for 85% of their water demands. Legislation introduced in Sacramento threatens to unwind 90 years of hard work and innovation to supply groundwater to our 19 retail water agencies, while driving up prices for produce, stifling housing development, and doing damage to our local economy. Two bills authored by two Assemblymembers moving through the California Legislature – Assembly Bill 460 by Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, and AB 1337 by Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland – would put Orange County’s water reliability at risk. … ” Read more from the OC Register.
A wet winter began to replenish Mono Lake. L.A. should let it be a lake again
“Los Angeles has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore one of California’s ecological treasures and begin to reverse a century-old habit of relying on water from afar to quench our thirst. State regulators are considering a pause on water imports from the Eastern Sierra Nevada’s Mono Lake watershed to allow the fragile ecosystem to recover after decades of diversions to the L.A. Basin. Local leaders should embrace the chance to do the right thing for the environment and the Indigenous people who have stewarded this resource since time immemorial. L.A.’s water managers should also take this step for the region’s sake because importing water from far-flung places is a gamble at this point. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Water rights bills would jeopardize water reliability
Pat Wirz, a winegrape grower in San Benito County, writes, “Dangerous water rights reform bills that put the interests of the few over the interests of the many are moving through the California Legislature. Family farmers like me depend on our long-held water rights to feed Californians. But three bills seek to upend our state’s fundamental economic foundation. I farm in the Cienega Valley near Hollister, which has been a wine-growing region since the 1850s. My family has deep roots in the area. We bought our first piece of ground in the 1940s and the land for our Wirz Vineyards in 1983. We sell grapes to small wineries across the state. While our vines are typically dry farmed, meaning we rely on the soil’s residual moisture from rain rather than irrigation, water management and supply reliability have been critical to how I operate my business, particularly during dry years. Three bills just a few stops from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk would put that reliability at stake and upend California’s century-old water rights system. … ” Read more from Ag Alert.
Power’s water
In regional water news this week …
An ’emotional’ moment: Demolition of first Klamath River dam begins
“Demolition began this week on the smallest dam on the Klamath River, Copco No. 2 in Oregon. Crews have removed gates, a walkway and two of five bays down to the spillway. Organizers who advocated for the removal said that seeing pictures of the demolition finally made the decades-long fight to undam the Klamath a reality. “It’s hard to explain how emotional all of us all are,” said Craig Tucker, a natural resources policy consultant for the Karuk Tribe. Copco No. 2 would be in the way when the much larger Copco No. 1 is dismantled next year, so it goes first. … ” Read more from the Eureka Times-Standard.
The experts weigh in: environmentalists, engineers, and lawyers on the future of the Potter Valley Project
“On June 21 the Russian River Water Forum held a Technical Briefing on Water Supply and Fisheries in both the Eel and Russian Rivers. Experts covered the declining fish populations in affected waterways, the nuances of the Russian River watershed, and indigenous water rights in the area. Manning gave high-level recaps of more than a thousand pages of online reports conducted for the Two Basin Partnership. The Partnership was an ad hoc group formed by Congressman Jared Huffman in 2018 to explore terms for a new hydroelectric license at the Potter Valley Project. PG&E has since announced that it would be abandoning the hydroelectric project. The Two Basin Partnership ended, and its successor, RRWF, is a larger group formed to explore the possibility of taking over the Potter Valley Project and restoring the habitats of the Eel and Russian River watersheds. RRWF is following up on the research and studies undertaken by the Partnership. … ” Read more from Mendo Fever.
‘Far as the eye can see’: Fields of ‘suncups’ are covering the Sierra
“California conservationist Beth Pratt was hiking in Yosemite National Park on June 25 when she came across miles upon miles of suncups. “I’ve been hiking in the Sierra for 33 years,” said Pratt, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s California Regional Center. “I’ve encountered them a lot but never to this extent. That was something. First, in how much coverage there was of them, and then the depth. The depth was something I’ve never encountered. Some were up to my hips, and saddling them got uncomfortable, as you can imagine.” … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Drone monitoring tackles growing algae threat to California’s famous Lake Tahoe
“Brandon Berry has an enviable job. In the morning he flies a drone to survey Lake Tahoe water clarity and in the afternoon he dives into the lake to sample water quality. This hands-on research has its fitness benefits and it’s hard to imagine a more beautiful office. It’s a year-round job, though. “In the wintertime when the water is freezing cold and it’s snowing, I think my colleagues are less envious,” Berry said. As ecological researcher for the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC), his work has advanced scientific understanding of algal growth and the invasive Asian clam. Both contribute to degradation of the nearshore in the famously clear mountain-ringed lake. … ” Read more from ESRI.
Bureau of Reclamation supports Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley
“The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley and the California Water Institute (CWI) will be getting additional financial support from the Bureau of Reclamation. In a step towards sustainable water resource management, the Bureau has awarded a grant of approximately $1 million. The funding aims to support the development and integration of subregional water management initiatives and local projects into a comprehensive water plan. Adam Nickels, Chief of Resources Management and Planning at Reclamation, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, “Reclamation is committed to looking towards the future relative to sustainable resource management, and we are excited to partner and support efforts spearheaded by CWI and the Water Blueprint. Under this effort, information will be gathered by a diverse cross-section of the American public and stakeholders and will be used by resource decision-makers and stakeholders.” … ” Read more from Ag Net West.
Will the giant Westlands Water District “spill” water this year for lack of demand?
“Westlands Water District, the biggest agricultural water district in the state, could lose 200,000 acre feet of water – or more – for lack of demand, according to an update at its June board meeting. The revelation was made during a briefing by Chief Operating Officer Jose Guiterrez who acknowledged Westlands could have more than 320,000 acre feet of water left over when its contract year is up next Feb. 28. The district is allowed by the Bureau of Reclamation to hold on to, or carry over, 120,000 acre feet in the federal portion of San Luis Reservoir from one year to the next. But the rest, 202,000 acre feet, will likely be lost – what’s commonly referred to as a “spill.” … ” Continue reading at SJV Water.
Kings County declares health emergency due to contaminated floodwaters
“Kings County has declared a local health emergency due to floodwater contamination and vector-borne illness which may include diseases spread by mosquitoes. The health department says the Board of Supervisors ratified the resolution on Tuesday. They say the massive flooding in the region has led to increased risks for hazardous waste in water, contamination and infectious diseases. County health officials urge residents to exercise caution around floodwater and standing water, especially as water levels are expected to remain high while snowpack continues to melt. … ” Read more from KFSN.
Water scarcity pits farmer against farmer in south San Joaquin Valley water district
“California’s two prolonged droughts – along with greater surface and groundwater restrictions – are pitting farmer against farmer in some parts of the San Joaquin Valley. In the Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa Water Storage District farmers who rely on groundwater only are being asked to pay a share of costs for other farmers who contract for surface water from the State Water Project (SWP). The proposed new groundwater service charge is an attempt to create “financial equity” between farmers who contract for state water and those who don’t, said Wheeler Ridge Engineer-Manager Sheridan Nicholas. This is separate from potential groundwater fees set under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
The Colorado River water deal was historic. But maps and charts show its benefit to Lake Mead will be a drop in the bucket
“Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, spent much of last spring and summer in free fall. “People were really looking at the real possibility of dead pool,” Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, told CNN. “That is incredible to think about – no water coming off either of the two reservoirs,” she said, referring to Lake Mead’s upstream neighbor, Lake Powell. One year later, Mead’s elevation is inching back up. A combination of historic winter snowpack and new federal agreements to pay cities, farmers and tribes to conserve water are expected to raise Mead to a high point of 1,070 feet in February 2024, according to the most recent federal data. But as maps and charts show, the extra water will be a drop in the bucket for a reservoir that has dramatically declined in the past two decades. … ” Read more from CNN.
What’s next for Lake Mead? El Niño, the drought and snowmelt for the Colorado River
Coming off a record year for snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin, scientists are starting to look ahead to what might happen next winter. It could be all about El Niño — a climate pattern that could dry things out compared to last year. But, like most things related to the weather, it’s unpredictable. Karl Rittger of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research explained it this way: “Looking forward to the next season, looks like we’ll have a rather large El Niño and in Colorado this usually means we’re not sure what’s going to happen. We could have slightly warmer temperatures from El Niño, right on the border between southern drier areas and northern wetter areas.” … ” Read more from KLAS.
Announcements, notices, and funding opportunities …
YOUR INPUT WANTED: California Water Commission Survey: Drought Strategies to Protect Communities and Species
NOTICE: Status of Water Quality Objectives for Salinity in the Lower San Joaquin River
NOTICE: Lower San Joaquin River, Notice of Opportunity to Comment – Draft USBR 2024 Annual Work Plan
NOTICE OF PREPARATION OF EIR AND SCOPING MEETING for the long-term operations of the State Water Project
