On the calendar today …
- MEETING: State Water Resources Control Board beginning at 9:30am: Agenda items include consideration of a draft CDO to BlueTriton’s Brands (formerly Arrowhead), water rights fee schedules, water quality regulatory fee schedules, and drinking water fee schedules. Click here for the full agenda and remote access instructions.
In California water news today …
PPIC Report: Managing Water and Farmland Transitions in the San Joaquin Valley
“Successful implementation of the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is vital to the long-term health of the San Joaquin Valley’s communities, agriculture, environment, and economy. But the transition will be challenging. Even with robust efforts to augment water supplies through activities like groundwater recharge, significant land fallowing will be necessary. How the valley manages that fallowing will be paramount to protecting the region’s residents—including the growers and rural, low-income communities who will be most directly impacted by the changes. With coordinated planning and robust incentives, the valley can navigate the difficult water and land transitions coming its way and put itself on a path to a productive and sustainable future. … ” Read more from the PPIC.
A celebrity-studded L.A. water district has a very big drought idea: Seafloor desalination
“A water district best known for supplying the celebrity-studded enclaves of Calabasas and Hidden Hills could soon become famous for a very different reason. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District recently partnered with California-based OceanWell to study the feasibility of harvesting drinking water from desalination pods placed on the ocean floor, several miles off the coast of California. The pilot project, which will begin in Las Virgenes’ reservoir near Westlake Village, hopes to establish the nation’s first-ever “blue water farm.” … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Morning report: Pajaro residents know permanent fix for levees is still a long way away; Bottled water pipeline could be shut down by regulators
“It’s been six months since the levee protecting the small Central Coast farming community of Pajaro burst, flooding the town and forcing thousands out of their homes. And while repairs are underway, a permanent fix is still years in the making. … At its board meeting in Sacramento Tuesday morning, California’s Water Resources Control Board will consider issuing a ‘cease and desist’ order to end the pumping of millions of gallons of water out of the San Bernardino National Forest.” Listen at KQED.
Breaking it down: Thinking local about Pacific salmon conservation
“Chinook salmon (Onchorhynchus tshawytscha) is an incredibly valuable species, both ecologically and culturally. However, recent declines in Chinook populations throughout their native habitat in California have raised concerns about the future of these iconic fish. Biologists continue to study possible causes of this downturn, but few have taken life-history strategies into consideration. A “life-history strategy” describes the path an animal takes from birth to adulthood that maximizes their chance of survival and reproductive success. In California’s Central Valley alone, there are four distinct Chinook salmon runs that display different life-history strategies (fall-run, late-fall-run, spring-run, and Sacramento River winter-run), each named for the season they enter freshwater as adults to spawn. A study published in the spring of 2023 evaluated groups of Chinook with diverse juvenile and adult life-history strategies in the Pacific Northeast range, revealing the need for more localized management of these highly diverse salmon populations. … ” Read more from FishBio.
Here are all the climate and environment bills that California just passed
“At midnight Thursday, California lawmakers put their pencils down. The legislative session had come to a close in Sacramento, and elected officials had approved a whole bunch of climate change, energy and environment bills — and rejected others. Here’s a brief roundup of some of the highest-profile legislation. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
California turns to Nebraska know-how on aquifer analysis, groundwater management
“Record snowfall and rainfall this year, with tropical storm Hilary providing the latest blast, have brought major challenges to California but also an important opportunity for the managed recharge of its groundwater. Californians have begun directing the water to underground aquifers, where it can be most effectively stored for the long term. For guidance in that effort, the nation’s most populous state is turning to Nebraska for its know-how on groundwater management. Specifically, the Nebraska example is helping California make the best use of airborne electromagnetics, a technology that senses subsurface conditions and helps identify optimal sites for long-term groundwater storage. … ” Read more from Nebraska Today.
Road hazard: Evidence mounts on toxic pollution from tires
“For two decades, researchers worked to solve a mystery in West Coast streams. Why, when it rained, were large numbers of spawning coho salmon dying? As part of an effort to find out, scientists placed fish in water that contained particles of new and old tires. The salmon died, and the researchers then began testing the hundreds of chemicals that had leached into the water. A 2020 paper revealed the cause of mortality: a chemical called 6PPD that is added to tires to prevent their cracking and degradation. When 6PPD, which occurs in tire dust, is exposed to ground-level ozone, it’s transformed into multiple other chemicals, including 6PPD-quinone, or 6PPD-q. The compound is acutely toxic to four of 11 tested fish species, including coho salmon. Mystery solved, but not the problem, for the chemical continues to be used by all major tire manufacturers and is found on roads and in waterways around the world. … ” Read more from Yale e360.
NOW AVAILABLE: 2010 California Motor Vehicle Brake Friction Material Law (Brake Pad Law) – Update Report
“The Brake Pad Legislative Report, recently released by The Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Water Resources Control Board, documents widespread compliance with the 2010 California Motor Vehicle Brake Friction Material Law (Brake Pad Law) and a subsequent reduction in aquatic pollution. The Brake Pad Law limits the amount of copper and other toxic substances allowed in brake pads in order to reduce the amount of these substances entering California’s streams, rivers, lakes, and marine environment. Copper is toxic to many aquatic organisms, and vehicle brake pads are a major source of copper pollution in urban runoff. … ” Continue reading from the State Water Resources Control Board.
Direct Potable Reuse is finally getting the support it needs to fight the water scarcity problem
“After years of undue consumer resistance, an innovative wastewater treatment practice is finally gaining the traction it needs to make a dent in the growing water scarcity crisis. “Population growth and climate change are stretching America’s water supplies to the limit, and tapping new sources is becoming more difficult each year,” LA Progressive reported. “There is hope. Technology, specifically potable reuse, safely turns wastewater into drinking water. One form of this technology, direct potable reuse (DPR), introduces treated wastewater directly back into the existing water supply.” … ” Read more from Water Online.
Revisiting the debate: Who will build new U.S. pumped storage?
Elizabeth Ingram writes, “About this time last year, I published an article on Hydro Review where I asked: “Who will build the first new pumped storage hydro in the U.S.?” In that article, I didn’t really provide an answer to the question. I did list the three projects I saw as the front runners, based on them having operating licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission: 1,300 Eagle Mountain in California, 400 MW Gordon Butte in Montana and 393 MW Swan Lake in Oregon. And I included the 1,200 MW Goldendale project in Washington in the honorable mention position. Instead, I asked readers to share their predictions and insights on this subject. And they did not disappoint. Below I will first give an update on the status of the four projects above, and then I will share some of the input I received. … ” Read more from Power Engineering.
In commentary today …
Water-use challenges affecting farmers means reinventing the San Joaquin Valley
Ellen Hanak and Caity Peterson write, “The San Joaquin Valley’s agricultural prosperity has been built, in part, on the use of groundwater. It’s made the desert bloom, but the payment has come due: The land above these over-tapped aquifers is sinking, damaging roads, buildings, and canals essential for water transport. Drinking water wells are going dry, and groundwater reserves are falling. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was passed to bring groundwater use back to sustainable levels by 2040. SGMA has been something of a bogeyman for the San Joaquin Valley — growers know they’ll need to reduce water use, which is never easy. But SGMA is also the Valley’s greatest hope for restoring depleted aquifers and bringing groundwater use back to a level that will allow the region to continue to thrive. … ” Read more from the Fresno Bee.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Press release: Federal judge rules against Klamath Drainage District’s right to divert water
“On September 11th, a federal judge in Medford’s United States District Court ruled against the Klamath Drainage District (KDD), and entered an injunction against KDD, stating that KDD can no longer divert water from the Klamath River that has not been authorized by the United States, citing the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as its primary basis. On the same day, the same judge issued Findings and Recommendations in two other lawsuits brought by Klamath Tribes against Reclamation for ESA violations under 2021 and 2022 Klamath Project operations plans. In one case, the court found Reclamation violated the ESA in 2022 by providing farmers even a diminished supply when not all species goals could be met; in the other case, the court found Reclamation had not erred by prioritizing the needs of threatened salmon in Klamath River over endangered C’waam and Koptu in Upper Klamath Lake. … ” Continue reading this press release from the Klamath Drainage District.
US dam removal project seeks to restore natural habitats
“As new sources of renewable energy grow, there has been a large-scale effort to remove dams that generate hydroelectric power across the country. As we move toward a greener future, it might seem contradictory that officials are advocating for their removal, but the numbers show while they may be good for energy, they’re not great for the environment or those whose cultures rely on it. There’s a symbiotic relationship that exists along the Klamath River in Northern California. The Pacific Ocean feeds its existence and, in turn, the river feeds those who call its shores home. … ” Read more from Channel 1o.
PRESS RELEASE: Yurok Tribal members prep Klamath River reach for post dam removal flows
“The Yurok Tribe and the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), in collaboration with the Shasta Indian Nation, recently started preparing a stretch of the Klamath River to flow freely for the first time in a century. The soon-to-be dismantled Klamath Hydroelectric Project has blocked fish passage and altered river flows for over 100 years. In Kikacéki, a place sacred to the Shasta Indian Nation, there is an area commonly known as Ward’s Canyon where the river has lacked consistent flows for nearly a century. In 1925 the construction of Copco No. 2 dam was completed, diverting the river into a tunnel that traveled nearly 2 miles downstream to a powerhouse, dewatering the historic reach of river canyon. In the absence of sustained river flows, a dense stand of trees colonized the riverbed within the steep canyon. … ” Continue reading this press release from the Yurok Tribe.
Water shortages will limit waterfowl hunting at Shasta Valley Wildlife Area, other northeastern properties
“The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will reopen the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area in Siskiyou County to limited waterfowl hunting this season after a complete closure the past two seasons. Although many parts of California received record rainfall and snowpack during the winter and spring of 2022-23, northeastern California remained comparatively dry. As a result, only dry field hunting will be allowed for waterfowl hunting this season at the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area. The Northeastern Zone waterfowl season runs from Oct. 7, 2023, through Jan. 17, 2024. Hunting at the Shasta Valley Wildlife Area will be allowed on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the season. … ” Read more from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
South Lake Tahoe man sues the California Tahoe Conservancy after flooding of home
“A South Lake Tahoe man is suing the California Tahoe Conservancy (CTC) after his home was filled with water for 80 days this past winter. Damian Sowers, a lifelong local who lives on El Dorado Avenue, can now only visit the home his parents built 60 years ago. The house was filled with 16″ of water that came in from the Upper Truckee River during the heavy 2022-23 winter. The CTC started a restoration project in the Upper Truckee River Marsh in 2020 to correct old grazing and farming methods that straightened the river to have a drier meadow. The two-year-long project brought back water to the meadow, creating a healthier environment. … ” Read more from South Tahoe Now.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Dixie Fire Postfire Recovery and Restoration scoping period begins
“The Lassen National Forest Announced on Monday that it was starting a 30-day scoping period on Monday that will run through October 18, 2023, for the Dixie Fire Community Protection and Swain Mountain Experimental Forest Vegetation Management Project. According to the press release, the proposed project is designed to support postfire recovery and restoration in the areas burned by the 2021 Dixie Fire within the wildland urban interface, extended community protection zones, and the Swain Mountain Experimental Forest. The Pacific Southwest Research Station and the Lassen National Forest are proposing to implement a variety of vegetation and fuel treatments designed to maintain or promote desired stand structure, reduce fuel loads, increase resilience of surviving forest stands to future disturbance, and facilitate forest recovery through reforestation and natural regeneration, the LNF said. … ” Read more from the Red Bluff Daily News.
Tri-county area receives nearly $30M in ag-related grants
“Tehama, Glenn and Colusa counties agriculture industries got a financial boost with the awarding of $29.5 million in grants through the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Overall, CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation awarded $106 million to 23 organizations statewide for carbon sequestration in soils and irrigation efficiency. … ” Read more from the Appeal-Democrat.
NAPA/SONOMA
Three Sonoma County groundwater sustainability agencies awarded $15 million in state grant funds
“The California Department of Water Resources announced on Sept. 12, 2023, that it will award grant funds to Sonoma County’s three groundwater sustainability agencies serving Petaluma Valley, Santa Rosa Plain and Sonoma Valley. The three basins will receive $15.1 million in funding, out of the $187 million that DWR awarded to 32 groundwater subbasins through its Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant Program, These efforts will help support local sustainable groundwater management, including projects to help rural residents use water more efficiently and better understand how groundwater pumping impacts local creeks and streams. The funds will help carry out a portion of the work outlined in each basin’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan, which were approved by the Department of Water Resources earlier this year. … ” Read more from the County of Sonoma.
Napa County responds to grand jury’s advice, from firefighting to water
“Napa County has responded to the 2022-23 grand jury’s advice on topics ranging from firefighting to water supplies. The grand jury acts as a watchdog over local government. It issued six reports this year on county operations, which required the county to respond. County officials, while not always agreeing with the jury, expressed appreciation for the effort. “The county would like to acknowledge the work of the grand jury,” one county response said. In recent weeks, the Board of Supervisors approved the county’s answers. The latest was the groundwater replies that supervisors approved on Sept. 12. … ” Read more from the Napa Register.
BAY AREA
Bay Area weather forecasts: El Niño conditions through winter
“New forecasts show a higher chance for strong El Niño conditions this winter, increasing global temperatures and potentially giving the Bay Area a wetter-than-average rainy season. The updated advisory by the U.S. Climate Prediction Network showed there is a 95% chance that El Niño conditions will extend through this winter into March. The center, operated under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, states that there is now a 71% of a “strong” El Niño, up from the 56% chance it predicted earlier this year. “However, a strong El Niño does not necessarily equate to strong impacts locally, with the odds of related climate anomalies often lower than the chances of El Niño itself,” the center stated in its Sept. 14 update. … ” Read more from the Marin Independent Journal.
California tops FEMA’s new list of areas vulnerable to weather disasters. What does it mean for the Bay Area?
“Despite the name, “Community Disaster Resilience Zones” are not local havens capable of withstanding storms and other extreme weather. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA, is spending billions in hopes that they can be. The agency has identified nearly 500 such “zones,” swaths of land generally covering several miles that are ill-prepared to tolerate flooding, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, landslides and other natural hazards. As extreme weather is expected to continue shattering expectations and local records — from downpours drenching Death Valley to hurricanes pummeling California’s coastline — these areas will be prioritized for additional funding for protective improvements. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
New project on Alameda Creek will expand access for salmonids
“Alameda Creek is the largest local tributary to the San Francisco Bay and historically produced the largest numbers of Chinook salmon, lamprey, and steelhead in the South Bay. It is also the ancestral lands of the Muwekma Ohlone people, who depended upon the creek for water, food, shelter. The watershed was the site of numerous permanent settlements. In 2022, former barriers at the BART weir and inflatable bladder dams in Fremont were made passable by fish due to newly constructed fish ladders by the Alameda County Water District. This incredible opportunity for salmonids to migrate throughout the Alameda Creek watershed was the product of decades of hard work to improve fish passage by a myriad of partners in the longstanding Alameda Creek Fisheries Work Group, including the Alameda County Water District (ACWD) and Alameda County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, Alameda Creek Alliance (ACA), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), Zone 7 Water District, Alameda County Resource Conservation District, Trout Unlimited and the National Marine Fisheries Service, among others. … ” Read more from Cal Trout.
CENTRAL COAST
Editorial: Fishing for recovery in Monterey Bay
The Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial board writes, “The fishing industry in Monterey Bay once defined our stretch of the Central Coast. Today, from harbors in Santa Cruz, Moss Landing and Monterey, fishermen and women still ply their trade, but in increasingly difficult environments and under regulations intended to protect declining fish populations – especially salmon. That’s where two local groups come in: the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust and the Monterey Bay Trout and Salmon Project. The trust, as Executive Director Melissa Mahoney told the Sentinel Editorial Board last week, is all about helping preserve the fishing industry in the bay, as well as increasing community access to local, sustainably caught seafood. … ” Read more from MSN News.
California Appellate Court rules in favor of Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project
“On September 9 th , 2023 the Sixth Appellate District of California’s Court of Appeals upheld the County of Monterey’s decision to authorize permits for construction of California American Water’s Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project desalination facility. In 2019, the California Public Utilities Commission, the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act, completed six years of environmental review, certified a Final Environmental Impact Report, and issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the project. The County subsequently relied on the CPUC’s certified EIR in issuing its permit. Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) filed suit in Monterey Superior Court against the County and California American Water, alleging that additional environmental review was required. On April 29 th , 2021 the trial court dismissed some of the claims made by MCWD but ruled in favor of MCWD on one limited challenge. … ” Read more from Investor Observer.
Why is there a carrot boycott in Cuyama Valley?
“When California lawmakers enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014, it was an effort to tame the wild, wild west of water. Nearly a decade later, there’s been some progress creating local sustainability plans, but Big Ag corporations are still hogging water and bullying smaller groundwater users. Look no further than the fight heating up in the Cuyama Valley, where small farmers and rural residents are calling for a boycott of carrots produced by a pair of big corporate growers who use a lot of water in an increasingly dry place. The Cuyama Valley sits about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles, just below the Carrizo Plain National Monument. The Cuyama Basin is entirely groundwater dependent, relying on rainwater to recharge its supply because there are no water delivery canals. And yet this valley boasts an estimated 16,000 acres of irrigated crops: pistachio trees, grape vines, and carrots among them. … ” Continue reading at the Legal Planet.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Army Corps was unprepared for amount of seepage from Isabella Dam that is now swamping residents
“Landowners and residents who live in front of the Auxiliary Dam at Lake Isabella are being swamped by “seepage” coming through the earthen dam that is ruining septic systems, causing sinkholes, clogging the area with weeds and breeding swarms of mosquitoes. They’ve tried working with the Army Corps of Engineers, which recently rebuilt the Auxiliary and main dams at a cost of nearly $300 million, but say they are getting stonewalled. Ironically, problematic seepage under the Auxiliary Dam was one of the main reasons for the massive, years-long improvement project that just was completed in October 2022. A key component of that rebuild was to better capture and manage seepage, according to the project’s environmental documents. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Along the Colorado River …
Once-exposed boats in Lake Mead covered by water again, but progress is minimal amid record drought
“Boats at the bottom of Lake Mead that were exposed by dwindling lake levels are finally underwater again, but the recovery is relatively small compared to the severity of the drought. In the summer of 2022, folks flocked to a upright boat in Lake Mead. YouTubers “Sin City Outdoors” documented the dramatic fall of lake levels as it dwindled to a historic 1,040 feet. FOX5 covered their efforts to document the numerous boats that emerged from the deep, including a historic WWII vessel. Adrian Romero, Jr. showed FOX5 the upright boat from late last week: it is completely submerged in water, save for a fishing pole with an American flag to warn boaters of the submerged vessel. The WWII vessel is completely underwater as well, as levels have risen 26 feet to 1,066 feet. The progress is thanks to a wet winter and large releases from Glen Canyon Dam. … ” Read more from Channel 5.
Deadpool Diaries: Lower Basin use on track to be lowest in nearly four decades
Jon Fleck writes, “I’ve emerged from my cozy book writing cave (The new book’s going well, thanks for asking!) to some stunningly optimistic Lower Colorado River Basin water use data. Forecast use in 2023 (based on the Sept. 18 USBR forecast model) has dropped below 6 million acre feet, currently just 79 percent of the total baseline Lower Basin allocation of 7.5 million acre feet. Californians are on track for their lowest take on the river since 1949, according to my crazy stitched-together dataset (USBR decree accounting reports plus pre-1964 numbers assembled some time ago by some folks at MWD). Arizona and Nevada’s use is the lowest its been since 1992. … ” Read more from the Inkstain blog.
Deprived of Colorado River water, an oil company’s plans to mine in Utah may have dried up
“The Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah is one of the richest oil shale deposits in the country. It is estimated to hold more proven reserves than all of Saudi Arabia. Enefit, an Estonian company, was the latest in a long line of firms that hoped to tap it. It’s also the latest to see such plans collapse — but perhaps not yet for good. The company has lost access to the water it would need to unearth the petroleum and relinquished a federal lease that allowed research and exploration on the land. The two moves, made late last month, appear to signal the end of Enefit’s plans to mine shale oil in the Uinta Basin. “If they’re getting cut off from this water, it’s kind of the nail in the coffin for this whole project,” said Michael Toll, an attorney for the Grand Canyon Trust, a conservation nonprofit that opposed the project. “Just ensuring that this water won’t be used for oil shale is a major win for the Colorado River Basin.” … ” Read more from Grist.
Push to drain Lake Powell gaining momentum
“The boldest strategies to save the Colorado River are coming from environmental groups, including a rising chorus of voices who want to give Lake Mead priority over Lake Powell. Recommendations to decommission Lake Powell’s Glen Canyon Dam — or at least abandon hydropower production there — are part of the solutions offered in a 23-page letter signed by several long-established conservation groups. The theme is repeated by others in comments submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as it crafts new policies for managing the river. … ” Read more from KTLA.
Plan to completely drain Lake Powell sparks backlash
“Thousands of people have given advice to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation about the future of the Colorado River and the two main reservoirs—Lake Mead and Lake Powell—that support it. Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona and Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona have suffered from a regional drought for years. Excessive water usage is depleting the Colorado River faster than natural weather patterns can fill it. An above-average snowfall and excessive precipitation in the spring bolstered the water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, but many officials believe that the reservoirs will never return to full capacity. … ” Read more from Newsweek.
In national water news today …
Q&A: Researcher discusses work to solve America’s groundwater crisis
“Beneath the roadways and sidewalks we traverse every day are underground reservoirs that supply a substantial chunk of nation’s overall water needs. These groundwater aquifers once sustained America’s cities and farmland. Now, according to a New York Times investigation, they could be drying up for good. Aquifers—geologic formations of layered rock or sediment that filter and hold groundwater—power much of the nation’s industry and agriculture. But the growth of cities and industrial farming is fast depleting the country’s groundwater—faster than rates of recharge. Additionally, public attention to the problem has been lacking, experts say. … ” Read more from PhysOrg.
As extreme downpours trigger flooding around the world, scientists take a closer look at global warming’s role
“Torrential downpours sent muddy water racing through streets in Libya, Greece, Spain and Hong Kong in early September 2023, with thousands of deaths in the city of Derna, Libya. Zagora, Greece, saw a record 30 inches of rain, the equivalent of a year and a half of rain falling in 24 hours. A few weeks earlier, monsoon rains triggered deadly landslides and flooding in the Himalayas that killed dozens of people in India. After severe flooding on almost every continent this year, including mudslides and flooding in California in early 2023 and devastating floods in New York and Vermont in July, it can seem like extreme rainfall is becoming more common. So, what role does global warming play in this? And importantly, what can we do to adapt to this new reality? … ” Read more from The Conversation.
SEE ALSO: As Earth heats up, rain pours down, from AGU
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE of consideration of approval- Southern Lost Hills Oilfield basin plan amendment
