On the calendar today …
- LEG HEARING: Senate Committee on Environmental Quality beginning at 9am. Click here for the agenda and remote access instructions.
- WEBINAR: Are You a Beaver Believer? The Evolving Story of California’s Beaver Management from 12pm to 1:30pm. Beavers are nature’s engineers and their contributions are more important than ever as we face growing water challenges driven by climate change. State agencies are now taking a new approach to managing this important species— a fundamental change that has long been championed by scientists and grassroots groups. Join us for a important discussion of where things stand with beavers in California and an inspiring glimpse of what’s possible when we reconnect beavers to our landscapes. This is the first discussion of our Keystone Comeback Series, where we unpack efforts to recover key native animals that help define their ecosystems and restore nature. Click here to register.
- GRA SACTO BRANCH: The State Water Resources Control Board’s Plans for Monitoring Microplastics in Drinking Water (hybrid) from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Concerns regarding widespread contamination of microplastics prompted the California legislature in 2018 to pass Senate Bill 1422, which requires monitoring and managing impacts to humans through drinking water exposure. In September 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a Policy Handbook specifying plans for four years of testing and analysis of microplastics in drinking water, which includes requirements for sampling and analysis methods, laboratory accreditation, and communication of findings to customers. The Policy Handbook requires limited monitoring in groundwater due to available evidence suggesting that microplastics have low occurrence in such sources, however additional research and monitoring is needed to clear up existing data gaps. This presentation will provide a general overview of the science regarding microplastics in drinking water and its potential impacts to human health, sampling and analytical methods, and detail the monitoring approach in the Policy Handbook. Click here to register.
- PUBLIC MEETING: Habitat Project at Upper River Bend at Ancil Hoffman Park from 6pm to 7pm. The public is invited to learn about a new project to enhance crucial habitat for native fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout in the Lower American River at Upper River Bend. Learn about the importance of the Ancil Hoffman area to the survival of salmon and steelhead; results of the 2021 Habitat Project that occurred near the Effie Yeaw Nature Center; preview of the 2023 habitat project at Upper River Bend near the Ancil Hoffman Golf Course; and what neighbors and park visitors can expect during construction. Visit waterforum.org/habitat2023 for more information, including a list of Frequently Asked Questions. Click here to register.
Today’s featured article …
California’s unnatural river flows threaten aquatic life—here’s a (partial) fix
By Robin Meadows
As a New York Times columnist once quipped, “California’s water system might have been invented by a Soviet bureaucrat on an LSD trip.” The system was engineered in the 1900s to capture winter rain and spring snowmelt in vast reservoirs and then send this water to cities and farms via thousands of miles of canals, pipelines and tunnels.
While this system suits many people, it doesn’t suit fish, frogs and other river life. Many California waterways are regulated by reservoirs that release water for supply, flood control, and hydropower, resulting in river flows that are far from natural. Now there’s a movement to reinstate the seasonal flows that native species depend on.
In California water news today …
The nation’s largest dam removal project begins in California, but new concerns arise
“A few miles south of the California-Oregon border, up a remote canyon on the Klamath River, the hum of heavy machinery marks the start of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. Hundreds of workers and scores of trucks and wrecking vehicles last month began dismantling a nearly century-old concrete dam, the first of four hydroelectric dams slated for demolition in an ambitious bid to restore one of the great rivers of the West. The 33-foot-high dam known as Copco 2 in Siskiyou County, about a six-hour drive from San Francisco, is the smallest of the four structures being taken out. But it represents a monumental step for environmentalists, Native Americans and commercial fishermen who have been pushing for decades for the once improbable rewilding of the 250-mile river. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle (gift article).
Removing dams from the Klamath River is a step toward justice for Native Americans in Northern California
“Historically, the Klamath was the third-largest Pacific salmon-producing river on the West Coast. The river supported abundant and diverse runs of native fish, including Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific lamprey, green sturgeon, eulachon smelt and coastal cutthroat trout. Most of the Klamath in California has been designated since 1981 as “wild and scenic” – the strongest level of protection for free-flowing rivers. People and fish of the Klamath River have been interconnected for millennia. But dams and irrigation systems built before the 1960s – along with other pressures, such as logging, mining and overharvesting – have separated fish from their spawning habitats and Indigenous cultures from sacred fish. Recognizing this harm, state, federal and tribal agencies now are removing four of the Klamath’s six dams to let fish migrate farther upstream to historical habitats. The target completion date is 2024. This US$450 million project is the largest dam removal in the world. … ” Continue reading from The Conversation via Maven’s Notebook.
Next phase of recycled water begins for California
“Achieving a major milestone in the state’s efforts to maximize the potential of recycled water, the State Water Resources Control Board announced today proposed regulations that would allow for water systems to add wastewater that has been treated to levels meeting or exceeding all drinking water standards to their potable supplies. The process, known as direct potable reuse, will enable systems to generate a climate-resilient water source while reducing the amount of wastewater they release to rivers and the ocean. This development advances Gov. Newsom’s all-of-the-above Water Supply Strategy, which includes the goal of recycling and reusing at least 800,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2030. … ” Continue reading this press release from the State Water Board.
Diving into Water Law: Q&A with California’s “Water Renaissance Man” Justice Ronald Robie
“He’s been called a “water renaissance man.” Justice Ronald Robie has dived into the issue from every corner of California government—as a Legislative consultant writing key water policy, as director of the state Department of Water Resources, and now as an appellate court justice ruling on key water issues facing the state. Justice Robie, who serves on the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, answered our questions on the future of water law, climate change, and the role of the Judicial Council as more water litigation flows to California courts. Q: This year, Californians experienced historic levels of rain after long stretches of drought over the past two decades. Should that change how we think about water scarcity? A: Historically, California has ups and down with water. That’s why we rely on dams, because we don’t have a reliable source of water every year. When I was director of water resources in 1977, we had the driest year on record at that time. And that was followed by a couple of wet years. So, you can’t predict it, and that’s the problem. … ” Read more from California Courts.
California’s salmon are teetering on the brink
“A slow-motion disaster for tribes, commercial fishermen and conservationists, the decline of California’s once-abundant salmon population has been unfolding for decades. The crisis has its roots in decisions about the state’s water use made a century ago and, like so many stories of water wars in the West, it has pitted stakeholders against one another in a seemingly zero-sum contest over a dwindling natural resource. The outlook is grim, but there are bright spots. As a future of increasingly hot and dry weather hangs over the state, can change come quickly enough to save the imperiled salmon from extinction? … ” Read more from Modern Farmer.
It’s been 40 years since California’s rafting season was like this
“A record-breaking snowpack and full reservoirs coupled with cooler-than-normal temperatures across California this spring meant that snow melts brought high flows and swift currents to its rivers — with rapids better suited to more experienced rafters, according to Scott Armstrong, owner of All-Outdoors California Whitewater Rafting. “It’s a comeback year for California — the river canyons are all super healthy and alive again after several years of drought, and we had some great flows with fun waves in May and June thanks to this above-normal snowpack,” he tells InsideHook. … ” Read more from Inside Hook.
Bill would combat flood risk from melting snowpack
“With temperatures set to exceed 100 degrees this week, the melting snowpack from historic winter storms poses a major flood threat to the Central Valley. California’s snowpack reached record-high levels this year and Representative Josh Harder has introduced a bill to address the flood risk created by melting overflowing snowpack. The Flood Prevention and Snowpack Management Act would require a task force to be assembled the day after California’s snowpack reaches 150 percent of the normal level. With California experiencing record-breaking levels of rain and snow this year and another heat wave approaching, the Central Valley is at risk for severe flooding. … ” Read more from the Escalon Times.
Permitting reform legislation to benefit Sites Reservoir
“Sites Reservoir is one of the projects that will directly benefit from recent reforms to permitting requirements for water and energy infrastructure projects. The Sites Project Authority commended Governor Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature for passing the legislative package. Projects certified by Newsom are eligible for a simplified approval process to bring the crucial infrastructure online at a quicker pace. “We are grateful to Governor Newsom and the State Legislature for their leadership on such a challenging aspect of our regulatory process,” Executive Director of the Sites Project Authority, Jerry Brown said in a press release. “Their actions to incorporate these policy changes will expedite securing our water supplies to become more resilient to a changing climate. These actions strike the right balance—time saved and costs reduced for delivery of critically important water projects like Sites, while still providing our communities and environments proper safeguards.” … ” Read more from Ag Net West.
SEE ALSO: State permitting reforms puts Sites Reservoir on a regulatory fast track, from the Colusa Sun Herald
Multiple states overrun by 20-pound, orange-toothed invasive rodent: ‘This is a real issue, and we have to act quickly’
“Over the last few decades, a new invasive species has moved into the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported. Populations of nutria are spreading across a growing portion of the U.S. Many states are taking steps to eliminate the animal before it destroys local wetlands, but some, like Louisiana, are already overrun. The nutria is a large, semi-aquatic rodent with orange teeth native to South America that was brought to the United States in 1889 for its fur, according to the National Invasive Species Information Center. It is also referred to as a coypu, coypu rat, nutria rat, or swamp beaver. … ” Read more from Yahoo News.
Drones, satellites and AI: How California fights its unpredictable wildfires with analytics
“Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jon Heggie wasn’t expecting much to worry about when a late summer fire erupted north of Santa Cruz, home to California’s moist and cool “asbestos forests.” This place doesn’t burn, he thought, with just three notable fires there in 70 years. Heggie’s job was to predict for the crews where the wildfire might go and when, working through calculations based on topography, weather and fuels — the “immutable” basics. For fire behavior analysts like Heggie, predictable and familiar are manageable, while weird and unexpected are synonyms for danger. But that 2020 fire was anything but predictable. … ” Continue reading from Cal Matters via Maven’s Notebook.
Study finds human-caused climate change to blame for record-breaking California wildfires
“Record-breaking forest fires during California’s summer months have become a regular occurrence. Wildfires not only cause catastrophic environmental and socioeconomic impacts, but also have negative consequences for human health. Environmental observations indicate that summer burned areas in northern and central California have increased fivefold during 1996 to 2021 compared to 1971 to 1995. Further, 10 of the largest California wildfires have occurred in the last 20 years—five of which occurred in 2020 alone. While higher temperatures and increased dryness are thought to be the leading causes of increased burned areas, the extent to which burned area changes are due to natural variability or human-caused climate change has remained largely unresolved. … ” Read more from NIDIS.
Proven Forest Management Act passes House Natural Resources Committee
“California Congressman Tom McClintock (R) has warned for many years: “Excess timber comes out of the forest one way or the other: it is either carried out or it burns out. From the inception of the U.S. Forest Service, we managed our public lands according to sound forest management principles. We prevented overcrowding by removing excess timber so that trees had room to grow healthy and strong. This assured not only resilient forests, but also a thriving economy throughout our mountain communities and an important revenue stream to the treasury that was available for additional improvements to the public lands.” … ” Read more from the California Globe.
And lastly …
A renegade sea otter is terrorizing California surfers: ‘It’s a little scary’
“It was Joon Lee’s fourth time surfing on Sunday. The 40-year-old Apple software engineer from San Jose had rented a board and driven south to Santa Cruz to catch some waves off the coast of the iconic surf town. But about 90 minutes into his session, he was attacked — by a sea otter. Since mid-June, an otter — which remains nameless — has been attacking and terrorizing surfers off the Santa Cruz coastline — in at least one case, stealing a board. In recent days, the attacks have grown increasingly aggressive. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Heat wave …
Extreme heat wave reaches Arizona and swelters southern U.S.
“The three most populous U.S. states — California, Texas and Florida — are facing the worst of a punishing summertime heat wave, with 54 million Americans slated to see triple-digit highs this week. Some of the most intense heat is predicted in Arizona, and Phoenix, its largest city, could see its longest period of 110-degree high temperatures on record. In California and the Desert Southwest, it’s a dry heat, but temperatures could skyrocket to over 120 degrees in spots. For Texas and Florida, the excessive heat will combine with stifling humidity to push heat indexes into dangerous territory. The heat index is a metric used to gauge heat stress on the human body; it takes into account temperature and humidity to determine the extent to which a person will or will not be able to cool themselves through sweating — and subsequently how quickly heat will take a toll on them. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
Major and prolonged heatwave develops by this weekend over CA & Southwest; Record temperatures possible in San Joaquin Valley
“As many have noted, the coastal parts of central and southern California have been remarkably cool since about January. After a brief warmer lull in the late spring, anomalous coolness once again pervaded most of California during June. In fact, it appears that some areas along the immediate coast near the SF Bay Area and the SoCal metro areas (which, as I often point out, is cumulatively where the vast majority of Californians actually live) just experienced their coolest June since at least the late 1970s (a remarkable achievement in a rapidly warming climate globally). … Well, that anomalous coolness in California is rapidly disappearing as I type–a very strong and highly anomalous (2-3 standard deviation 500mb GPH anomaly) is expanding and deepening across the interior Southwest. Hotter and drier air aloft is making its way westward from the Desert Southwest, where Phoenix is likely to break (potentially by a wide margin) its record for the greatest number of consecutive days at or above 110F. … ” Read more from Weather West.
California sees mild weather while Earth shatters daily average record temperatures
“While California has been treated to mild, even below average temperatures the past week, the Earth has seen the hottest temperatures ever recorded. The record-setting streak began on July 3 when the average temperature on Earth reached 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the previous record set in August of 2016. July 6 now holds the record at 63.01 degrees Fahrenheit, and the past week features the seven hottest days on Earth in recorded history. While this was happening, Sacramento was experiencing one if its cooler July stretches in recent history. Downtown Sacramento had only its eighth day with a high temperature not reaching 80 degrees in the month of July since 2000, according to the National Weather Service. … ” Read more from ABC 10.
Scientists say a new epoch of human impact — the Anthropocene — began in 1950s
“Humanity has etched its way into Earth’s geology, atmosphere and biology with such strength and permanence that a special team of scientists figures we have shifted into a new geologic epoch, one of our own creation. It’s called the Anthropocene. A geologic task force is recommending to mark this new epoch’s start in the small but deep, pristine Crawford Lake outside Toronto, Canada with a “golden spike.” The start of the human epoch is sometime around 1950 to 1954. The specific date will be determined soon, probably by levels of plutonium in new measurements from the bottom of the special lake site. “It’s quite clear that the scale of change has intensified unbelievably and that has to be human impact,” said University of Leicester geologist Colin Waters, who chaired the Anthropocene Working Group that is making the recommendations. “It’s no longer just influencing Earth’s sphere, it’s actually controlling.” … ” Read more from the LA Times.
In commentary today …
Delta tunnel will address California’s water challenges
David Bini, executive director of the Santa Clara & San Benito Counties Building & Construction Trades Council, and Derrick Seaver, president and CEO of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, write, “California is running out of time to adapt to the very real impacts of climate change already plaguing our state — extreme dry periods, reduced Sierra snowpack and short, intense periods of warmer and wetter rains. We must act now to upgrade our water infrastructure to capture and move water when we have it so that it’s available when we do not. Failure to improve our water infrastructure is the equivalent of denying climate change. That’s why it is frustrating to see the same tired arguments against the Delta Conveyance Project, one of the most important water infrastructure projects we can build as a state to secure our water supply for millions of Californians well into the future. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News (gift article).
California lawmakers must reject trio of bills which would upend water rights
Justin Caporusso, executive director of the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association, writes, “If California as we know it is to continue to exist, we will need sustainable water sources. However, a trio of bills moving through the Legislature is the wrong approach. Senate Bill 389, introduced by Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, Assembly Bill 1337, introduced by Asm. Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, and Assembly Bill 460, introduced by Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-San Ramon, would upend the water rights system that, while imperfect, has worked in California for more than a century. These bills would strip away due process for water-rights holders and take an aggressive approach to enforcement that is akin to nailing a painting to the wall with a jackhammer. … ” Read more from the OC Register (gift article).
Atmospheric rivers are here to stay. California must invest in flood protection
State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) and State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) write, “The past two years have dramatically shown the climate whiplash that California must prepare for. Two years of punishing drought have been followed by a dozen atmospheric rivers blanketing the Sierra Nevada with snow and overtopping our rivers. Homes in Planada, Pajaro, the Tulare Lake Basin and elsewhere have been inundated. Along the San Joaquin River and Cosumnes River, some parts of our districts have also been underwater, and the risk of flooding will extend well into the spring as our record snowpack melts. We’ve seen more than a billion dollars in flood damage this winter. Yet scientists tell us that floods in the future could be dramatically larger and more deadly. We need major federal, state and local investments to protect our people and economy from those floods. That’s why we’ve introduced Senate Bill 638, a $6 billion bond to fund flood and dam safety investments around the state. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
How a rural California county is working to avoid catastrophic flooding this summer
Gary Bradford, a Yuba County supervisor and board delegate of the Rural County Representatives of California, writes, “This year, California experienced over a dozen atmospheric rivers, severely impacting rural and urban communities throughout the state and contributing to the deaths of at least 22 Californians across 13 counties. As the resulting historic snowpack (237% of California’s average) melts rapidly through the summer, the state has few places for additional runoff to go, potentially leading to disastrous flooding through the summer months. California’s unique geography and weather patterns require our flood control experts to think differently about how we manage our water resources during wet periods to ensure communities, businesses and natural ecosystems can thrive. Flood control infrastructure, including dams, reservoirs, levees and wetlands, play a vital role in this protection, directing the flow of water throughout different times of the year. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Editorial: It’s time for California’s public officials to return to work. In person.
The LA Times editorial board writes, “Temporarily allowing state officials to participate in meetings from home or from secret locations by phone, Zoom or other electronic means made perfect sense in 2020, to permit government to function without spreading disease. But California’s COVID-19 state of emergency ended in February. The public health justification for lawmakers and state commissioners to do their public business out of public view has ended. Yet lawmakers are trying to hang on to pandemic-era emergency rules that suspended open meeting laws. Last year, for example, they extended the state open meetings exception through July 1. That extension expired just over a week ago, so now the Legislature is mulling SB 544, which would make the former emergency rules permanent. … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via Yahoo News.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Cyanobacteria toxins found in Upper Klamath Lake exceed limit
“As has become a summer regularity, rising temperatures and land use-derived inputs of nutrients in Upper Klamath Lake has resulted in increased toxicity. On June 25, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) re-issued a recreational use health advisory for the southern portion of the Upper Klamath Lake due to the presence of cyanobacteria, a harmful algae bloom. Cyanobacteria was found between Howards Bay and the Link River Dam, with the advisory still in effect. The OHA said water monitoring has confirmed the presence of cyanobacteria and the toxins they produce in Upper Klamath Lake and that the cyanotoxin concentrations found can be harmful to humans and animals. Consuming fish caught where the blooms are found is also a possible health risk. … ” Read more from the Herald & News.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Lake Tahoe has high concentration of microplastics, global research shows
“Microplastics, small fragments of fibers from clothing, packaging and other plastic residue, have invaded freshwater lakes and watersheds globally and in alarming quantities, according to new research published in the scientific journal Nature under the title “Plastic debris in lakes and reservoirs.” Lake Tahoe, known for its purity and high level of legal protection, had the third highest concentration of plastic of 38 lakes tested around the world and higher than in the surface water at the ocean’s gyres where the floating islands of debris emblematic of the world’s plastic pollution crisis collect. “One of the highest priorities at Lake Tahoe is to keep the water quality clear and pristine,” Sudeep Chandra, professor of limnology and director of the Global Water Center at the University of Nevada, Reno, said. “Clarity is the signature of Lake Tahoe and the mantra Keep Tahoe Blue is not taken lightly. With this study, we now know that plastics exist in high concentrations in Lake Tahoe and could be having an impact on the ecosystem and the animals living in the lake. This shows us that there are always emerging issues that need to be addressed so we can try to preserve the lake into the future.” … ” Read more from the Sierra Sun.
Anger builds after controlled burn badly damages California sequoias
“They are called “the Orphans” and they have stood side by side in what is now Calaveras Big Trees State Park for more than five centuries. But today, fans of the giant sequioas fear that one of the towering duo may soon perish after a prescribed fire that was intended to protect them, but instead roasted the trees’ massive trunks and killed most of their canopies. The burn — and the extensive damage it inflicted on the beloved sequoias — has tapped a deep vein of anger and fear in this Northern California mountain community, where the worry over catastrophic wildfire has grown steadily over the last decade. It has also served to undermine local confidence in how state parks officials perform controlled burns — one of the key tools for reducing the severity of wildfires in an era of extreme drought and climate change. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Buckeye Hot Springs upgrades help answer the call
“John Muir famously said, “the mountains are calling and I must go.” So, he did, and hundreds of thousands of people follow that same call to the remote and scenic eastern side of California’s Sierra Nevada each year. The region is home to world-class skiing and hiking along with many natural wonders, including internationally famous hot springs. Having heeded the call of the mountains, until recently visitors to Buckeye Hot Springs found themselves in a pinch when nature called as well. In ecologically sensitive and heavily visited areas, like Buckeye Hot Springs, this can lead to damaging, unsightly, and frankly putrid results. Fortunately, the 2022 addition of several basic, but critical, upgrades, such as a vault toilet, has changed all that. … ” Read more from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Groundwater regulations moving forward in Butte County
“In an effort to fulfill California law regulating local groundwater, local groundwater sustainability agencies in Butte County are proposing new taxes starting 2024 to fund long term operations in carrying out mandates not funded by the state. In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act which laid out regulation requirements and mapped out jurisdictional boundaries of groundwater subbasins to be managed throughout the state. So far, groundwater sustainability agencies in Butte County have paid for their operations using initial grants from the Department of Water Resources; and in-kind staff and monetary contributions from their governing members. However, initial funding has run dry, resulting in some agencies proposing new fees by way of property tax to fund long-term administration and implementation of groundwater regulations. … ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record.
State picks Fairfield to monitor drinking water for microplastics
“The city’s water system was among more than two-dozen wholesale and retail agencies the state directed to participate in a study regarding microplastics in drinking water. Microplastics are made up of plastic matter that varies in size, is not detectable by the human eye, and results from commercial product development or the breakdown of larger plastic particles. Over the years, the State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water has placed emphasis on the need to monitor for microplastics in drinking water and, last year, adopted a policy handbook establishing a standard method of testing and reporting for microplastics in drinking water, according to a press release from the city. … ” Read more from the Daily Republic.
BAY AREA
Record lows to near brimming: North Bay reservoirs stage remarkable recovery
“Two North Bay reservoirs are flush with water just a year after their levels fell to record-setting lows. Heading into the second week of July, Lake Sonoma and Lake Mendocino — at 66% and 79% full, respectively — are both well above their average levels for this time of year, and roughly twice as full as they were last summer. “Unless you count the first year it was filled, Lake Sonoma had dropped to the lowest level ever,” said David Rabbitt, a Sonoma County supervisor and a Sonoma Water director. “To rebound like that in one year was beyond anyone’s imagination.” … ” Continue reading at KQED.
Crunching the adaptation numbers – not peanuts
“Back in April, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments made splashy headlines when they released the results of a joint study on the likely cost of protecting Bay Area shores from rising seas. But the eye-popping top-line number — approximately $110 billion — didn’t offer much insight into the practical and financial complexities of the challenge facing the region. A new inventory of adaptation projects from the same agencies, along with a linked interactive map, are much more revealing. The Shoreline Project Inventory and Map form the backbone of a forthcoming Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Investment Framework that seeks to identify near-term adaptation needs and study potential ways to fund them. The framework was previously identified as a priority by three regional planning initiatives, BCDC’s Bay Adapt Joint Platform, MTC/ABAG’s Plan Bay Area 2050, and the San Francisco Estuary Partnership’s 2022 Estuary Blueprint. As a living document, the inventory will now create a common basis for future regional plans. … ” Read more from Knee Deep Times.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
California’s long-dry Tulare Lake has returned
“A dormant lake in California has refilled for the first time in decades, after a series of intense storms and meltwater from record snowfall flooded the state. The waters have inundated the long-dry basin of Tulare Lake, submerging hundreds of acres of cotton, tomato and pistachio fields, as well as homes, roads and power infrastructure, writes Dani Anguiano for the Guardian, causing hundreds of millions in damages. Experts estimate the water will remain for at least a year before it evaporates. Located in the lowlands of the San Joaquin Valley in central California, Tulare Lake was once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi. But in the 1800s, settlers drained the lake for farmland and forced the Tachi Yokut tribe, who lived on its shores, out of the area. The Tachi Yokut tribe once relied on the lake for food, shelter and as a trade route, reports Soreath Hok for NPR. Now, they live a few miles away on a reservation called the Santa Rosa Rancheria. “This lake—this is who we are,” Robert Jeff, the vice chairman of the tribe, tells NPR. “This is where we belong—is right here. We’re lake people. Everything that we lived off of was offered to us by this lake.” … ” Read more from the Smithsonian Magazine.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
A bridge runs through it
Southern California is the prism through which endangered species, water supply, transportation, public safety, flood control, residential development, tribal influence, and cultural history converge on the central challenge of maintaining healthy waterways for people and wildlife in urbanized coastal California. The Interstate-5/Metrolink fish passage project on Trabuco Creek in Orange County has all of these wrapped up into a final design package to protect endangered Southern steelhead from extinction. The project embodies the complexities of restoring steelhead migration but also the progress that is being made to enable these native fish to coexist with people in this highly altered landscape. … ” Read more from Cal Trout.
Commentary: Disasters like the Rolling Hills landslide are foreseeable. The warnings are all around us
Brett Sanders, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, urban planning and public policy at UC Irvine, writes, “There’s a slow-motion disaster happening this week as houses collapse into a canyon in Rolling Hills Estates, a city in L.A. County. But to scientists who study the geology and climate changes behind this landslide, things seem to be happening all too quickly. The environment is changing faster now than it has in decades. We are seeing it before our eyes, and especially in the news with reports like Earth’s hottest day ever recorded (July 3, 2023), unprecedented precipitation and severe flooding in California this year, and now a major landslide on ground that was once thought to have stabilized. What this means is that our understanding of the past — benchmarks that we have long used to guide our preparedness and decision-making about environmental risks — aren’t enough to prepare for the future. In an era of such rapid change, old thinking like the term “100-year flood” becomes almost meaningless. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
SAN DIEGO
Column: Move by two small water districts could have impact across Southern California
Columnist Michael Smolens writes, “The Fallbrook and Rainbow water districts got the green light to, in effect, move north. That will impact ratepayers in San Diego County, and it could alter the balance of power in water decisions far beyond. Like so many contentious developments when it comes to water, this one might not be over for a while. Since 2019, the Rainbow Municipal Water District and Fallbrook Public Utility District have been working to join Riverside County’s Eastern Metropolitan Water District, which promises cheaper water. The two agricultural districts in North County have been chafing at the increasing costs of water from the San Diego County Water Authority. On Monday, they received approval to pull out of the SDCWA from the Local Agency Formation Commission, a government agency that oversees such jurisdictional matters. … ” Continue reading from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Along the Colorado River …
Lake Mead and Lake Powell water levels have risen, but runoff slowing down
“Lake Mead has risen more than 3 feet over the past month, and nearly 13 feet since Jan. 1. The lake, which supplies 90% of the water used in the Las Vegas valley, is bucking the trend of the past five years. Lake Mead typically drops beginning around April, following a seasonal pattern. As snow melts upstream in the Upper Colorado River Basin, water is held back in dams all along the way to prepare for higher consumption during the hot summer months. Water eventually reaches Lake Powell before flowing through the Grand Canyon and into Lake Mead. … ” Read more from KLAS.
Date palm irrigation research provides economic, environmental benefits
“Historically, date palms are grown along riverbeds or in areas with groundwater because they require an abundance of water to produce a good crop. Unlike lettuce or table grapes, date palms are deceptive in that they do not immediately wilt if underwatered. Eventually, however, the lack of water hurts yields and fruit quality. The default for date growers is to apply excessive water, but doing so is neither economically nor environmentally sound. To help growers, Ali Montazar, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation and water management advisor for Imperial, Riverside and San Diego counties, has developed knowledge that enables growers in the region to establish irrigation guidelines they can use with confidence. … ” Read more from UCANR.
In national water news today …
Biden administration announces $660 million to plug abandoned wells
“Over the past century, the fossil fuel industry has made a habit of letting others clean up their messes. Today, the country is dotted with millions of “orphaned wells,” crevices in the Earth that companies once used to extract oil, and subsequently abandoned once they were no longer considered profitable. But additional help appears to be on the way: This week, the Biden Administration announced it would make nearly $660 million in funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law available to states to plug more of these polluting fissures. “These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a press release on Monday. “With this additional funding, states will put more people to work to clean up these toxic sites, reduce methane emissions and safeguard our environment.” … ” Read more from Grist.
How fast are the seas rising?
“The modern era of human-caused climate change — the Anthropocene — has also been called the Pyrocene because we’ve entered an age of fire, characterized by large wildfires of increasing size, intensity, and duration. But we propose another term for the modern era: the Aquacene, a time of rapidly increasing flooding from sea level rise and heavier precipitation events, because of human-caused climate change, which will drive millions of people from their homes and fundamentally alter society. Sea levels are rising at different rates in different places. Globally averaged sea level has risen about 6.7 inches (170 mm) over the past 100 years (1920-2020); over the same period, the contiguous U.S. sea level has risen about 11 inches (280 mm). Tide gauges provide the longest-running data set for measuring sea level rise, with many locations offering over a century of data. … ” Read more from Yale Climate Connections.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
ANNOUNCEMENT: UPWARD Advisory Group – Applications due July 28
DELTA COUNCIL: Certification of Consistency filed for the Ulatis Creek Habitat Restoration Project
NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT/CONSIDERATION OF ADOPTION: 2023 Proposed Renewal of General Waste Discharge Requirements for Cannabis Cultivation Activities
