On the calendar today …
- MEETING: Central Valley Regional Water Board beginning at 9am. Agenda items include an End of Year Report and presentation of program videos, Consideration of new WDRs; NPDES permit amendment and renewal; and several recissions. Click here for the full agenda.
- PUBLIC MEETING (in person): Listening session: Water Measurement and Reporting Regulation Adopted Pursuant to Senate Bill 88 from 12pm to 4pm. State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board or Board) staff will hold an in‑person listening session to receive public input on the water measurement and reporting regulation adopted pursuant to 2015 Senate Bill 88 (SB-88). During the listening session, there will be a short staff presentation on the background, purpose, and requirements of the measurement and reporting regulation followed by an opportunity for public input and questions. Cal EPA headquarters, 1001 I Street, First Floor Sacramento, CA 95814.
In California water news today …
California water agency under investigation for discriminating against tribes, people of color
“The Biden administration’s environmental justice office is investigating whether California’s water agency has discriminated against Native Americans and other people of color by failing to protect the water quality of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by tribes and environmental justice organizations that says the the water board for over a decade “has failed to uphold its statutory duty” to review and update water quality standards in the Bay-Delta. “It’s pretty bad when California Indians have to file a complaint with the Federal Government so that the State doesn’t violate our civil rights,” Gary Mulcahy, government liaison for the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said in a statement. … ” Read more from Cal Matters via Maven’s Notebook.
EPA accepts civil rights complaint by Tribes, environmental justice groups against State Water Board
Dan Bacher writes, “On August 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a decision accepting for investigation a civil rights complaint filed by a coalition of tribes and environmental justice organizations over the California State Water Resources Control Board’s discriminatory mismanagement of water quality in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed. The administrative complaint was filed against the Water Board on December 16, 2022. … ” Read more from the Daily Kos.
SEE ALSO:
California water agency under investigation for alleged discrimination, from the San Francisco Examiner
Courts keep ruling against action tied to Westlands’ federal contract but it doesn’t mean much. Why not?
“The Center for Biological Diversity trumpeted a court ruling Monday that denied an appeal by Westlands Water District of a previous ruling that kiboshed the district’s “validation” action to have its contract for federal water converted from a term contract to a permanent one. “Once again the courts have ruled that these schemes to lock in permanent deliveries of California’s most precious resource are dubious and illegal,” said John Buse, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote in an email blast to multiple media outlets. “Massive water diversions only benefit corporate agriculture and they put our drinking water and Bay-Delta wildlife at grave risk. The courts are right to stand up to corporate interests.” … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Battle rages over ‘sweetheart deal’ between Trump administration and giant water district
“Critics call it a “sweetheart deal” between the Trump administration and the Central Valley’s largest agricultural water district, and they claim it unfairly lines the pockets of major farm owners while imperiling California salmon and other fish species. For the last three years, environmentalists, tribal activists and fishing groups have been battling in court to reverse a contract between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Westlands Water District. Among other provisions, the 2020 agreement grants Westlands permanent access to as much as 1.15 million acre-feet of water per year, more than double the amount of water that Los Angeles’ 3.9 million residents use annually. Now, Westlands opponents are celebrating a legal victory they say puts them one step closer to invalidating the contract. … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via Yahoo News.
Sturgeon moon
Tom Cannon writes, “It is August 2023, and the month will feature two “Super Moons.” The first full moon is called a “Sturgeon Moon,” originally coined in reference to the ease of catching sturgeon in the Great Lakes during a full moon in summer.1 Its cycle began with the quarter moon and neap tide on July 24 until the full moon on August 1. This year’s Sturgeon Moon was regrettably prophetic in that it coincided with a new sturgeon die-off in San Francisco Bay in summer 2023. … ” Read more from the California Fisheries.
Governor Newsom suspends environmental permitting for certain flood risk mitigation activities
“On August 4, 2023, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-10-23, the latest in a series of executive orders addressing the impacts of the series of atmospheric rivers that caused a State of Emergency in California in late 2022 and early 2023. Order N-10-23 suspends several statutes, regulations, and permitting criteria for certain activities to mitigate ongoing flood risk in several regions of the state. … ” Read more from Somach Simmons & Dunn.
Big wins for California move forward in government funding bills
“Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today applauded the Senate Appropriations Committee’s approval of all 12 fiscal year 2024 government spending bills which increases funding for programs that benefit Californians. “Dozens and dozens of important projects that will benefit Californians have cleared a key hurdle in the Senate and are closer to being funded. The Senate Appropriations Committee drafted and approved government funding for next year that will support many of the top issues facing California such as fighting wildfires, mitigating drought and improving our water infrastructure, combatting homelessness, fighting climate change and providing good jobs,” Senator Feinstein said. “I look forward to working with my Senate and House colleagues to swiftly pass these important bills.” … ” Read more from Senator Feinstein’s office.
How to fight and prevent wildfires and deal with their effects? It’s complicated, UCSD panel says
“While the formula for fire is relatively simple — fuel, combustion and oxygen — the formula for tackling wildfires and their repercussions isn’t so easy. UC San Diego in La Jolla presented an online roundtable discussion Aug. 4 on the complexity and devastating impacts of wildfires and the steps being taken toward planning, prevention and tending to those affected. Phillip SeLegue, deputy chief of intelligence for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, opened the event with climate factors that influence wildfires and the outlook for this year’s “four months of significant fire potential” from August through November. … ” Read more from the Rancho Santa Fe.
California is spending billions to fight climate change. But it works with banks that are worsening the crisis
“California is spending billions to shore up its defenses against heat, flash floods, rising seas, and other effects of climate change. But to do this, it is, ironically, working with the very institutions that are financing the fossil fuel activity causing the crisis. … By themselves, the bonds are already large compared to previous state bond issuances. If all four pass the legislature and get approved by voters next year, they would represent the biggest set of general obligation bonds ever issued by the state. Yet to sell the bonds to investors, California may end up paying millions to banks that are also financing oil, gas and coal projects. … ” Read more from Fast Company.
And lastly … Santa Barbara commandeers and destroys illegally submerged wine bottles; perpetrators accept plea deal
“Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that, in accordance with a plea agreement, it destroyed 2,000 bottles of wine and other alcohol illegally possessed for sale in connection with an illegal underwater wine aging and sale operation. … Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office detail that beginning in 2017, Hahn and Azzaretto began sinking crates of wine one mile off the coast of Santa Barbara without obtaining any required permits from the California Coastal Commission nor the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Each crate was left on the sea floor for one year, just long enough for a reef ecosystem to develop in and on the crates and bottles, and then removed, sea life and all, to be sold for as much as $500 a bottle detail Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. … ” Read more from KEYT.
In commentary today …
Advancing healthy rivers and landscapes in the Sacramento Valley from ridgetop to river mouth: Our priorities for a legislative bond
David Guy and Ivy Brittain write, “As the Legislature reconvenes next week after its summer recess, legislators will be looking to the Governor to signal whether a potential climate/water bond is a priority for 2024—either the March Primary or the November General Election. The Northern California Water Association supports a legislative bond that prepares California for weather whiplash and will improve the ecosystem function in the Sacramento Valley in a way that will provide landscape-scale habitat benefits for fish, bird, and wildlife populations while we preserve, sustain, and promote working agricultural landscapes and our vibrant communities. A functional Sacramento Valley depends on healthy rivers and landscapes from ridgetop to river mouth. Our collective goal is to bring our natural and working landscapes in this region to life through the careful interaction of water, sun, and land. A legislative bond is a very attractive way to fund this broad portfolio of actions and bonds generally serve an important unifying function throughout the water community. … ” Read more from the Northern California Water Association.
Today’s featured article …
SCIENCE FEATURE: Navigating the unknown: Exploring the use of decision making under deep uncertainty approaches
“The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is undergoing continual and often rapid change. This poses challenges in predicting and preparing for the future, as past data and models are no longer sufficient to anticipate future conditions. This uncertainty cannot be addressed by collecting more data, and decision-making becomes complex when stakeholders have differing views on the consequences of actions. To effectively manage the Delta, managers need new methods for anticipating the future.
The Delta Independent Science Board is conducting a review of the Decision Making Under Deep Uncertainty, an interdisciplinary approach that provides decision-makers with new tools and processes to make better-informed decisions despite the challenges they face. The Board is focusing on scenarios as a useful tool within the toolbox.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Reviving a famously polluted California lake
“Jesus Campanero Jr. was a teenager when he noticed there was something in the water. He once found a rash all over his body after a swim in nearby Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake in California. During summertime, an unbearable smell would waft through the air. Then, in 2017, came the headlines, after hundreds of fish washed up dead on the shore. “That’s when it really started to click in my head that there’s a real issue here,” says Campanero, now a tribal council member for the Robinson Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians of California, whose ancestors have called the lake home for thousands of years. The culprit? Harmful algal blooms (HABs). Often marked by unsightly layers of blue-green scum, these blooms happen when certain algae or microbes called cyanobacteria grow out of control, fueled by warm temperatures and phosphorus- and nitrogen-rich pollution. … ” Read more from Knowable Magazine @Maven’s Notebook.
Video: The fight against an invasive fish in California’s Clear Lake
“Invasive carp can cause serious damage to ecosystems. They threaten native wildlife — including the Clear Lake hitch, a culturally significant fish for the tribes who have lived along the lake and its tributaries for thousands of years. Carp also kick up sediment, unlocking nutrients from the lake bottom that fuel harmful blooms of algae. In spring of 2023, a team conducted a trial run of capturing Clear Lake’s carp that will inform a broader fish removal effort in the autumn. … ” Read more from Knowable Magazine @Maven’s Notebook.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Lake Tahoe Summit: Feinstein’s absence and the looming expiration of a law
“The 27th annual Lake Tahoe Summit was missing one of the area’s biggest cheerleaders on Wednesday: Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The annual event convenes California and Nevada leaders from both political parties to discuss various efforts to protect Lake Tahoe. Feinstein, who helped launch the yearly event in 1997, did not attend the summit for the second year in a row. Feinstein, who has been struggling with health-related issues and has faced calls to resign, had been released from the hospital after a fall hours before the start of the event Wednesday. … ” Continue reading at KCRA.
SEE ALSO: At a summit she helped start, an absent Sen. Dianne Feinstein is honored in Lake Tahoe, from the LA Times
BAY AREA
Valley Water reaches milestone in work to improve fish habitat in Santa Clara County
“Over the past two decades, Valley Water and its partners completed more than 20 restoration projects in the Coyote, Guadalupe and Stevens Creek watersheds to remove barriers and improve in-stream habitat for fish. One of the agency’s most recent projects was removing a high-priority fish barrier in Coyote Creek and replacing it with a new pedestrian bridge and trail in collaboration with the City of San José. These projects are all part of the Fish and Aquatic Habitat Collaborative Effort, which will serve as a roadmap to balancing Santa Clara County’s water supply operations while considering environmental impacts. … ” Read more from Valley Water News.
CENTRAL COAST
The City of Monterey is entertaining a plan to import water. It’s not without its critics.
“One thing that’s not in dispute is that the City of Monterey needs water. What is in question is where that water comes from. On Aug. 1, the Monterey City Council discussed the possibility of teaming up with the Marina Coast Water District for an agreement that would potentially deliver whatever water the city needs to make proposed housing developments a reality (like on Garden Road, for example, wherein office buildings near the airport would be converted to apartments). But like all things water-related, it’s not that straightforward. … ” Read more from Monterey Weekly.
Monterey Peninsula report points to healthy tap water
“While residents along the Monterey Peninsula wring their hands over an adequate water supply, at least they can rest assured that the quality of the water they drink meets all federal and state standards. In a report released this week by California American Water Co., none of the contaminants monitored by regulators were above permissible limits and the vast majority were well under government standards. Water quality is monitored by the State Water Resources Control Board and the federal and state Environmental Protection Agencies. … ” Read more from the Monterey Herald.
Cuyama residents launch carrot boycott as groundwater adjudication begins
“A judge pushed back the Cuyama groundwater adjudication’s first phase to Oct. 9 because Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms failed to publish a notice in a local news outlet and still need to serve 314 landowners, Los Angeles Bankruptcy Law Firm Attorney Kay March told the Sun. California civil codes require those serving adjudications to notify every landowner involved by posting the complaint on individual properties and publishing in a news outlet before starting the trial, said March, who is representing her own property, Walking U Ranch LLC. “This cannot be a comprehensive adjudication unless the court has jurisdiction over all the landowners in the basin. The only way for the court to get jurisdiction is for there to be proper service,” March said. … ” Read more from the Santa Maria Sun.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Expensive, bad water: How an ‘upside-down water system’ plagues rural communities of color
“For years, Michael Prado has provided bottled water to his neighbors in Sultana, a town of about 785 people in California’s Central Valley. That’s because most wells in town have been contaminated by runoff from agriculture, said Prado, who is president of the Sultana Community Services District. Only one well meets state standards for safe drinking water — he’s glad the town has it, but it’s not enough. “We’ve been crossing our fingers and toes that the drought (wouldn’t) dry our well up. Due to the fact that we live in an agricultural area and this is a little community, we would be devastated,” he said. Prado worries that if the town’s remaining up-to-standard well dries up, even more residents would have to boil tap water before using it or rely on bottled water. … ” Read more from Farmers Advance.
Water basin improvements helping recharge groundwater in Lindsay
“Water infrastructure improvements in Lindsay are helping replenish the groundwater aquifer with nearly 49 million gallons of water per year. Wednesday morning, the city celebrated the completion of improvements made to the Lindsay Recharge Basin. The upgrades were made possible thanks to a lot of planning and $500,000 in grants. “We started tackling this issue about two years ago where we really identified what projects needed investments,” said Lindsay Mayor Hipolito Cerros. “It really took a lot of partnerships, as you can see, with the groundwater sustainability agency, the city, the state got to participate and provide funding,” added Paul Gosselin with the Department of Water Resources. … ” Read more from Channel 30.
Avian botulism detected in waterfowl and shorebirds at Tulare Lake
“The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has launched aerial, ground and water surveys of Tulare Lake as part of a coordinated response to monitor and manage avian botulism occurrences due to stagnant and warming water conditions. Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, reemerged from the pastures and agricultural fields in the southern San Joaquin Valley this year as a result of California’s extraordinarily wet winter and spring, attracting water birds of all sorts. The lake is expected to attract millions of waterfowl, shorebirds and other bird species as fall migrations get underway in earnest. … ” Read more from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
A class-action lawsuit offers free cash to many LADWP customers. Are you eligible?
“The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has agreed to pay millions of dollars in refunds for six years’ worth of allegedly inflated sewer charges. And if you’re still a DWP customer, here’s the good news: If you qualify, your refund will come to you automatically. If you’re a former DWP customer who qualifies for the refund, you’ll have to apply for the money. How large a refund you receive will depend on how much water you used during the falls and winters from May 2016 to June 2022. How do you know if you qualify? … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Friends of Newport Harbor files another lawsuit against Newport Beach
“The Friends of Newport Harbor has filed another lawsuit against Newport Beach and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the planned confined aquatic disposal site in Newport Harbor. The lawsuit, filed on Aug. 2 in Orange County Superior Court, has been assigned to Judge Peter Wilson. The complaint aims to enjoin city funding to construct and operate the confined aquatic disposal unit in lower Newport Harbor, where sediment unsafe for open ocean release would be stored. Discussions on building the CAD date back to 2019 when mercury-tainted sediment was discovered in the turning basin and Lido Peninsula. Dredging needs to occur regularly in Newport Harbor to ensure safe navigation, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responsible for the federal channels within the harbor. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Orange County largely disagrees with grand jury’s finding on drought, water sources
“As the Orange County Board of Supervisors looked to submit its responses to this year’s slate of Orange County Grand Jury reports, the supervisors held an in-depth discussion on one report in particular: “Historic Rain Yet Drought Remains.” Board members on Tuesday, Aug. 8, discussed the county’s recommendation to partially disagree with certain parts of the report, which largely found that South Orange County’s reliance on imported water will be impacted by climate change and must adapt. At issue was the finding that “future water supplies are impacted by climate change, and current supplies will not meet future demands.” The county argued that it does not have the expertise to determine future impacts from climate change. The county also disagreed partially with the findings that “climatologists predict future extended periods of low moisture with occasional wet years” and that “South Orange County relies primarily on the importation of water”—on the same basis that it does not have the knowledge to make this finding. … ” Read more from the San Clemente Times.
SAN DIEGO
Adviser educates growers on water regs
“Generally known for its steady warmth and picturesque beaches, San Diego County is also home to nearly 5,000 small farms and is an economic hotspot for nurseries and floriculture. But the great diversity of ornamental crops that dominate the growing region and complexity of regulations make compliance challenging for growers, some of whom grow over 400 crop varieties. “The regulatory environment for the growers is still complicated and overwhelming because, along with the Regional Water Board, growers are regulated by the County of San Diego,” said Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli, University of California Cooperative Extension production horticulture adviser for San Diego County. … ” Read more from the Western Farm Press.
Newsom to Biden and Congress: Make federal funds available to fix Tijuana sewage crisis
“Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging President Joe Biden and Congress to immediately free up $300 million to make urgent repairs to the failing and outdated treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border that continues to allow Tijuana sewage to foul South County shorelines, but he stopped short of declaring an emergency. In letters sent Wednesday to the president, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, he asks that they direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the International Boundary and Water Commission to use the funding Congress appropriated three years ago to repair and expand the federal wastewater treatment plant. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Tijuana’s illegal sewer hookups linked to cross-border pollution
“Parque Baja California should be the ideal community park. Mature trees provide shade and benches give visitors a comfortable place to sit and feel the ocean breeze. But running through the middle of the park is a drainage culvert with water flowing year round. Martin Acosta recalls seeing a couple of kids jump into the water to retrieve a soccer ball there earlier this year. One of the kids said the water “smelled like doo-doo,” said Acosta, who is an architect and environmental activist. “The kid was right, because that’s exactly what it is,” he said. The sewer water in Parque Baja California is a microcosm of Tijuana’s failing infrastructure — an ongoing crisis with grave impacts on economies, quality of life and public health on both sides of the border. … ” Read more from KPBS.
Along the Colorado River …
Water-short cities in the West want to use every last drop, even when it comes from sewage
“It looks like a normal glass of water. It’s clear, cold and tasteless. But just a few hours ago, it was raw sewage. That water is the end product of a process and technology known as water recycling, or direct potable reuse. In the Western U.S., there’s more demand for water than there is supply, particularly in the Colorado River basin. While the region’s policy makers are mired in standoff about how to fix that imbalance at a broad level, cities with finite water supplies are finding creative new ways to stretch out the water they already have. In some places, that means cleaning up sewage and putting it right back in the pipes that flow to homes and businesses. … ” Read more from KUNC.
Lake Mead’s rise remains steady despite record heat
“Not even Las Vegas’ hottest month on record could knock Lake Mead’s timely rise off course. The reservoir east of Las Vegas ended July at just over 1,061 feet in elevation, more than 20 feet higher than where the lake’s surface sat at the end of July last year. That’s about half a foot higher than the Bureau of Reclamation projected in its latest forecast released in the middle of July, and about 1 foot higher than the agency forecast in its June projections. That’s fairly typical for the summer months, said Colby Pellegrino, deputy general manager of resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. … ” Read more from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Lake Mead’s vertical speedboat becomes a political billboard … and then not
“A sunken speedboat at Lake Mead has fascinated people for the past 15 months, a conversation piece for the 23-year megadrought. Now, someone has decided to use it as a canvas for a political statement. Graffiti found on the boat over the weekend was directed at the governor. “Yo Lombardo vote yes for rent control,” the message said. … ” Read more from Channel 8.
State pension fund is helping a middle eastern firm export Arizona’s precious groundwater
“As rural Arizonans face the prospect of wells running dry, foreign firms are sucking up vast amounts of the state’s groundwater to grow hay for Saudi Arabia and other wealthy nations. Now it turns out that a key investor in this water transfer scheme is Arizona’s own employee retirement fund. In La Paz County, a rural community about 100 miles west of Phoenix, Al Dahra Farms USA has been running a 3,000-acre farming operation in the Sonoran desert, draining down the same groundwater that the county’s residents rely on to fill their wells. The Emirati-owned farming company tapped into a former public water supply in 2013 to grow hay that gets shipped to countries in Asia and the Middle East. … ” Read more from Mother Jones.
SEE ALSO: Amid a water crisis, Arizona is using lots of it to grow alfalfa to export overseas, from WJCT
Coyote Springs’ water rights case argued before Nevada Supreme Court
“The fate of the long-stalled Coyote Springs community may rest on whether the state engineer overstepped his authority in trying to protect a 4-inch-long endangered fish found only in the Nevada desert. The Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in the lengthy battle over water rights for the master-planned community some 60 miles north of Las Vegas in a case that could set significant precedent for how the driest state in the nation manages the precious resource. At issue in the case is whether the state engineer, who is tasked with regulating water rights throughout Nevada, had the authority to manage the multiple aquifers that make up the Lower White River Flow System as a single basin. The state made the decision to do so in an attempt to protect the habitat of the endangered Moapa dace. … ” Read more from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
In national water news today …
Report: Severe storms in U.S. this year lead to record insured losses
“Severe storms that swept much of the U.S. in the first half of this year resulted in $34 billion in insured losses — the “highest ever” recorded in a six-month period. That’s according to a report out Wednesday from Swiss Re Group, which estimated global insured losses from natural catastrophes at $50 billion — the second highest since 2011. “The effects of climate change are evident in increasingly extreme weather events,” the report notes. … ” Continue reading at Axios.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE of Availability of Draft Final Initial Biological Goals for Lower San Joaquin River Flow Objectives and Consideration of Approval by the Board
