Water Board to hold first probationary hearing under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
“Signaling the next stage in California’s actions toward ensuring the long-term viability of its groundwater supplies, the State Water Resources Control Board today issued a public notice for an April 16, 2024 hearing on potentially placing the Tulare Lake Groundwater Subbasin on probationary status under the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This step follows continued engagement with groundwater sustainability agencies regarding the basin’s groundwater sustainability plan since 2021. To help inform the hearing, the State Water Board released a draft staff report that describes the basin’s conditions and makes recommendations for addressing key deficiencies in Tulare Lake’s groundwater sustainability plan (GSP), which continue to negatively impact infrastructure and communities in the basin. Today’s notice begins a 60-day public comment period to gather input from stakeholders and others, which will be incorporated into a final draft report. … ” Read more from the State Water Board.
California’s “water cop” sets date for the first hearing on one of the valley’s subpar groundwater plans
““Urgent” concerns about rapidly sinking land and potential harm to residential wells pushed the groundwater subbasin covering Kings County to the front of the line among several San Joaquin Valley water regions slated to go before the State Water Resources Control Board. Still, the hearing for the Tulare Lake subbasin won’t come until April 16, the Water Board announced during a briefing held Wednesday, Oct. 11. That’s too slow for some advocacy group who’ve said excessive groundwater pumping has continued unabated, even during drought, drying up residential wells. The Water Board is the state’s enforcement arm under its Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Another state agency, the Department of Water Resources has been tasked with guiding groundwater agencies over the last five or more years to come up with plans to bring critically over pumped aquifers back into balance by 2040. The Tulare Lake subbasin failed in those efforts – twice. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
San Joaquin Valley growers may face probation for failing to protect groundwater
“California water officials today recommended putting several San Joaquin Valley groundwater agencies on probation for failing to develop an adequate plan to stop over pumping their severely overdrafted aquifers. The Tulare Lake groundwater basin — which provides well water to residents and hundreds of square miles of dairies and farms, including land owned by agricultural giant J.G. Boswell Company — is designated as critically overdrafted, which dries up wells and causes land to subside. The State Water Resources Control Board staff’s recommendation is the first time that state officials have moved to crack down on inadequate local plans for groundwater pumping in California. Thousands of wells in the Central Valley have already gone dry. The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, prompted by well outages during a long drought, requires each basin to develop plans to curb overdrafting of the basins. … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
SEE ALSO:
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- California considers stepping in to manage groundwater basin in farm country, from the Associated Press
- California Moves Closer to Imposing First Limits on Groundwater Use, from the New York Times
In other California water news today …
DWR releases Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions Report with look back at 2023 Water Year
“The Department of Water Resources is sharing new data on the state’s groundwater basins that is starting to bring into focus how last winter’s storms impacted a critical water supply for millions of Californians. Released today, the October 2023 Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions Update provides a look back at groundwater conditions during the last year informed by DWR’s groundwater data and tools. The report presents data received by DWR as of August 31, 2023, and partially reflects the impacts of this year’s storms, flooding, and natural and managed aquifer recharge. More information will be available after April 1, 2024, when groundwater sustainability agencies submit Annual Reports documenting local groundwater conditions over the previous year. It takes more time to gain the full groundwater picture because groundwater response is a slow process, and it can take months to years for aquifers to fully respond to changes in surface water conditions. DWR’s October update only begins to tell the story of statewide groundwater conditions in Water Year 2023. … ” Read more from DWR.
California’s epic rain year boosted groundwater levels, but not enough to recoup losses
“California’s extraordinarily wet year brought the state vast quantities of water that have soaked into the ground and given a substantial boost to the state’s groundwater supplies, but not nearly enough to reverse long-term losses from over-pumping in many areas, according to a new state report. Officials with the Department of Water Resources examined water-level measurements in thousands of wells statewide and found that from spring 2022 to spring 2023, water levels rose significantly in 34% of wells, and declined in 9%. Others saw little change. The rise in aquifer levels in many areas represents an improvement from the rapid and widespread declines that occurred during the last three years of extreme drought. Still, state officials cautioned that California’s groundwater remains depleted by decades of overuse. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
One more key groundwater bill just became law
“Earlier this week the San Francisco Chronicle declared that California’s legislative session would close with just a single bill addressing injustices in the state’s water rights system. Now you can add one more to the list. Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 779 into law this week. It’s an important step to reforming the state’s murky—often unfair—groundwater adjudication process of settling disputes over water rights. AB 779 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson aims to level the playing field for small water users and disadvantaged communities, including small farmers and farmers of color. UCLA Law students Adrianne Davies, Owen McAleer and Gabi Rosenfeld helped write the bill as part of the UCLA School of Law’s California Environmental Legislation and Policy Clinic, and they’ve written about it here and here. The three students went up to Sacramento to testify before more than one committee hearing during this legislative session. … ” Read more from Legal Planet.
As El Niño looms, California braces for storms and floods
“The specter of a developing El Niño invokes distressing memories for many Californians. Rainstorms tied to a super-strength El Niño episode overwhelmed southern parts of the state and killed 17 people in the winter of 1997-1998. With forecasts the infamous climate pattern could reach a similar intensity this winter, the Golden State is bracing for more floods, not even a year removed from one of its wettest stretches on record. This fall, California officials are lining up $52 million for levee repairs and, compared to a year ago, longer stretches of temporary flood walls and millions more sandbags to prepare for what the winter might bring. But whether California winds up making use of those preparations depends on an unpredictable mix of climate and weather indicators, none of which guarantee California and the Southwest are in line for more slugs of precipitation. El Niño tilts the odds in favor of another wet year, but it doesn’t assure one. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
California’s battle with drought vs. floods will be complex heading into 2024
“California has been in a long-term battle with drought following multiple winters with little rain and mountain snow that resulted in low levels in water reservoirs, sparked government action to limit water usage across the state and left many to wonder if a drier climate was the new normal. Then, everything changed last winter. Several months of atmospheric rivers last winter resulted in prolific, record-setting snowfall in the Sierra Nevada and monumental rainfall in the lower elevations that washed away not only short-term drought concerns but also some of the longer-term drought woes. “Given what happened last winter and the current state of water supplies in California, even a near-normal winter or slightly below-average winter would set the stage for no problems through 2024 and then into 2025,” AccuWeather Western Weather Expert and California resident Ken Clark said. … ” Read more from AccuWeather.
With salmon at risk of extinction, California begins urgent rescue effort
“Typically, now is the time when creeks along the Sacramento River are filled with young spring-run Chinook salmon preparing to make their journey downstream to the Pacific Ocean, where they will mature, and eventually make their return to California spawning sites. This year, however, the salmon population has plummeted alarmingly — what officials call a “cohort collapse” — and biologists are taking urgent measures to save them from extinction. For the first time, biologists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have begun capturing the juvenile spring-run salmon so that they can breed them in captivity, and hopefully prevent them from disappearing from the wild. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Low flows, high river temperatures and pollution force emergency condor-style plan to save salmon species
“Today, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries announced an emergency action plan to capture Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon juveniles in a move to prevent extinction of the threatened species. The captured juvenile spring-run will be raised to adulthood at UC Davis, in an effort to save this run’s unique genetic heritage. Spring-run salmon were declared threatened in 1999 under the Endangered Species Act and experienced catastrophically low survival in 2021. This news is another blow to California’s salmon stocks and a beleaguered fishing industry impacted by the complete closure of the 2023 commercial fall-run Chinook salmon season. “We applaud and support the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries for implementing this critical action to save wild salmon,” said Scott Artis, executive director of Golden State Salmon Association. “But this current situation could have been avoided if Governor Newsom, state agencies and the Bureau of Reclamation had focused on the biological needs of salmon as much as they cater to industrial agriculture’s thirst for water to grow almonds and other nut crops for export.” … ” Read the full press releases from the Golden State Salmon Association.
SEE ALSO: Low flows, high river temperatures and pollution force emergency plan to save spring Chinook salmon, from Dan Bacher at the Daily Kos
White sturgeon harvest reduced for 2023-2024 season
“The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) enacted emergency regulations yesterday to reduce the harvest of white sturgeon in state waters. The new regulations will reduce the number of fish that can be kept to one per year, reduce the slot limit to 42-48 inches, cap the number of white sturgeon that can be possessed on a vessel at two per day and add seasonal closures to sturgeon fishing in key spawning areas. The new regulations are expected to go into effect in late October or early November following approval by the Office of Administrative Law. The new regulations were enacted by the Commission following a joint recommendation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and angling groups. The emergency action was taken in response to long-term declines in adult white sturgeon populations as well as impacts of a harmful algal bloom (HAB) in the summer of 2022. … ” Read more from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Future of water in California – bleak or promising? A discussion
“Water is the most valuable resource in the world. And it’s a particularly important commodity in the Central Valley, historically a desert but also home to some of the richest agricultural soil on Earth. The UC Merced Library and Secure Water Future co-hosted an event to discuss water policy in California, its history and what the future might look like. Guest speaker Mark Arax, author of “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California,” painted a bleak picture. However the other speaker, Ellen Hanak, vice president and director of the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Water Policy Center and a senior fellow at the PPIC, was a little more optimistic about the future of water and agriculture. “We have grown agriculture beyond something that is sustainable,” Arax said. There are 1.6 million acres of almond orchards, he said, and their product is leaving the state. … ” Read more from UC Merced.
California has had another calm wildfire season so far. Here’s why, according to experts
“California is enjoying a relatively calm wildfire season this year, but the Sacramento region is not fully out of the woods. And don’t attribute this year’s mildness to climate change just yet. The number of acres burned so far this year is less than one third of the five-year average, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Experts attribute the drop to this year’s historic winter storms and a record snowpack that soaked the state. But those atmospheric river storms also created ample new vegetation growth that can act as fuel, state fire officials said. And with the help of gusty fall winds in the weeks ahead, wildfires could still ignite and grow through November or even into December. “Now is not the time for people to let their guards down,” said Brian Newman, assistant chief of Cal Fire’s Amador-El Dorado Unit. “We still have fire season ahead of us before we get into winter rains that would finally end it.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Researchers restoring California salt marshes from effects of climate change
“California’s valuable remaining salt marshes are disappearing. Climate change, with its melting glaciers and warming seas, threatens to drown the remaining coastal marshes out of existence. But now, a pioneering project is offering these marshes a remarkable new chance. Between the land and the sea, salt marshes are the true guardians of our coastline. They offer many incredible services and benefits: they filter runoff and pollutants from water, prevent coastal erosion, stabilize the soil, shelter thousands of species and protect cities and towns from flooding during storm surges. They also provide what’s known as blue carbon as they capture and sequester atmospheric carbon. … ” Read more from CBS San Francisco.
The innovative power of WET
“From shorebirds to songbirds and wading birds to waterfowl, nearly all migratory birds depend on wetlands at some point in their lifecycle. But these crucial habitats are at risk due to climate change and other human landscape modifications, disappearing three times faster than forests. With some wetlands changing at a faster rate than others, there is a pressing need to make more informed, adaptive, and efficient decisions to protect these critical ecosystems and the diverse species that rely on them. Like climate change, migrating birds don’t recognize borders or boundaries – and neither should our conservation science. Thus, we at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and our partners manage migratory birds based largely on the routes birds follow as they travel across the continent between their wintering and breeding areas, known as the Flyway system. The establishment of the Flyway system is not only regarded as a precedent setting example of federal and state partnerships, but also helped lay the groundwork for the creation of Migratory Bird Joint Ventures. … ” Read more from US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Soil carbon is a can of worms
“California is inching toward regulating emissions from landscapes, casting it as the logical next chapter after checking off energy and transportation. But the exercise has been a Pandora’s box. Case in point: A state advisory committee today released draft recommendations to conserve wide swaths of the state’s deserts, wetlands, grasslands and forests. The idea is to harness nature to limit planet-warming emissions. Some of the strategies floated are things California already struggles to accomplish, partly because of budget limitations. For example, one recommendation is to spend $50 million every year on boosting soils in grasslands. Another is to double the target for the number of woodland acres treated for wildfire preparedness to two million a year. … ” Read more from Politico.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Klamath Basin restoration: A new era for an ancient river
“The largest river restoration project in U.S. history is underway along the Klamath River, but climate change is complicating the effort and raising new challenges for water management in the region. Four aging hydroelectric dams along the river’s Lower Basin are scheduled to be decommissioned by 2024, with the smallest dam already demolished and the others soon to follow. The project aims to restore the river to its natural, free-flowing state and unlock over 400 miles of essential spawning habitats for local wildlife, including several species of endangered salmon. The $500 million project comes after decades of litigation involving local tribes, communities, farmers, government agencies and energy companies — all of whom depend on the river and its resources. But years of climate-induced drought have magnified tensions over water scarcity in the Klamath Basin, complicating what would otherwise be a straightforward resolution to long-standing environmental challenges. … ” Read more from the University of Southern California.
Fort Bragg first to bring new desalination technology to the West Coast
“The City of Fort Bragg was awarded a state grant of $1.49 million from the Department of Water Resources to pilot a cutting-edge desalination technology developed by Oneka Technologies of Canada. Oneka Technologies has some desalination systems operating worldwide, such as in Chile and Florida. Oneka was seeking a coastal client in California as their first venture into the complex state environmental protection requirements that California demands for activities in the ocean. Fort Bragg has been pursuing avenues to acquire more water sources for the city since 2008. John Smith, Director of Fort Bragg Public Works, said that Oneka came to them. “They were motivated,” he said, “and they wanted to bring their system to California coastal communities. We were a good match.” Oneka even assisted the city with the grant application process. … ” Read more from the Fort Bragg Advocate-News.
Community Service District receives public input on water infrastructure project
“The Mendocino City and Community Services District (MCCSD) met last Tuesday evening, October 3, at the community center and heard public comments regarding the expanded use of water and sewer infrastructure for outdoor dining, as well as its usual monthly business, to approve maintenance and repair contracts, environmental mitigation program for the recycled water project, and financial and superintendent’s reports. The meeting began with a public expression on topics not on the agenda, including the efficacy of the District’s water management program, the need to record and provide remote viewing of the meetings, and the potential benefits of expanding the boundaries of the MCCSD to include Little River. The unusually large public attendance for the meeting was due to the opportunity to comment on how the District should deal with any increase in water and sewer services due to restaurants that were allowed to erect tents during the COVID-19 health emergency. … ” Read more from the Mendocino Beacon.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Ten arrested in string of illegal cannabis busts
“The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) has been proactively investigating suspected illegal cannabis grows in Nevada County. Over the span of one week, over seven properties were searched with authorized search warrants and all seven were found to be operating illegal cannabis grows (H&S 11358(C), two of which involved environmental crimes. Collectively, over 10,000 plants and over 2,000 lbs. of processed cannabis were destroyed. … ” Read more from YubaNet.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Salmon numbers drop at Coleman National Fish Hatchery due to drought
“The drought may be over for now, but the effect can be long-lasting. Like at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, east of Cottonwood. The hatchery says they still have fall run salmon coming to the hatchery, but not in numbers they’ve seen in past years. The waters of Battle Creek are relatively quiet at the hatchery weir, with no salmon fishing this year in the Sacramento River or in the ocean. A salmon’s live cycle is three years, from being released to making the trip to the ocean, to returning to spawn. This year’s run had a rough start in 2020, during the drought. “Unfortunately, so far this year, the run’s been pretty low. We have about two-million eggs [currently]; we’ll be trying to get 15-million eggs this year, so we have a long ways to go,” said Brett Galyean, manager of the Coleman complex. … ” Read more from KRCR.
Helicopter to remove soil slump at Butte Creek
“For the next few weeks beginning Saturday, helicopters will work at Butte Creek to remove a large soil slump that accumulated from a breach in the Butte Canal, and added sediment to the stream for a few consecutive days in August. PG&E, which operates the Butte Canal, said in a press release Thursday it was approved for an emergency permit allowing the company to work in Butte Creek “in order to safely haul away the dirt and stabilize the remaining slump” which may pose potential turbidity during high creek flow. Helicopter flights are scheduled to begin Saturday, Oct. 14 daily during daylight hours and appropriate conditions, and is estimated to take a few weeks to complete, the release said; plans to stabilize a channel that formed in the soil caused by the breach are also in place. … ” Read more from the Chico Enterprise-Record.
Duck group working on water supply project
“According to Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America’s wetland and grassland habitats, the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge will be flooded in time for the Oct. 21 opening of the waterfowl-hunting season thanks to an unusually wet winter and spring. Officials with the nonprofit said that the wetlands on the 2,591-acre refuge will have a more reliable water supply moving forward because of an ongoing project Ducks Unlimited is overseeing in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency. Currently, work is underway on a $16 million lift station that will allow the refuge to make the most of its water supply, officials said. … ” Read more from the Appeal-Democrat.
BAY AREA
Wild billions: A Bay Nature reporting project
CENTRAL COAST
Arroyo Grande Creek breached levee, flooded farms. How will SLO County prevent more damage?
“While a severe rainstorm battered San Luis Obispo County on Jan. 9, the Arroyo Grande Creek breached the south side of its levee and flooded nearby homes and farmland in Oceano. Nearby residents were forced to evacuate. To protect the area from future flooding, the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department has kicked off a project to remove excess sediment from the creek, restore its flow capacity, and repair the levee to match its conditions prior to the winter storm series. “I know that the impacts of last winter were felt wide and far within the community,” county Public Works Department deputy director Kate Ballantyne said at a news conference on Wednesday announcing the project. “We really appreciate everyone working with us, and again, their patience while we get through this project.” … ” Read more from the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Central Coast Blue will help stabilize Five Cities’ future water supply
“In the scenic heart of California’s Central Coast lies the Five Cities region, renowned for its natural beauty, vibrant communities, and agricultural abundance. Yet, as we all know, water is the lifeblood of this prosperity, and maintaining a stable water supply has been an ongoing challenge. Now, a promising solution emerges: Central Coast Blue, a recycled water project to help stabilize the water supply of the Five Cities area and protect our groundwater basin. … The water supply for the Five Cities area in south San Luis Obispo County is dependent on two sources: groundwater and surface water. While both are valuable, they are also tenuous and insufficient during extended drought periods. … ” Read more from New Times SLO.
SEE ALSO: Central Coast Blue pursues grants to pay for recycled water project, from New Times SLO
Supreme Court upholds decision for Twitchell operators to release water for steelhead
“The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from the operators of Twitchell Dam to hear a case regarding water releases from the dam for steelhead trout preservation. This decision upheld a 9th Circuit District Court of Appeals ruling stating that dam operators—the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District—need to release water for steelhead in order to be in compliance with the federal Endangered Species Act, said Maggie Hall, deputy chief counsel for the Environmental Defense Center, a law firm that represented the Los Padres ForestWatch during the 2019 lawsuit. … ” Continue reading at the Santa Maria Sun.
Faces of the valley: Cuyama Valley farmers, landowners face off against corporate growers over water
“Dust kicks up onto Stephen Gliessman’s work boots as he walks through his vineyard. A wide-brimmed hat protects his face from the Cuyama sun beating down in the 90-degree midday heat. Birds caw and squawk as he approaches a row of zinfandel grapes. “That’s our sound system playing distress calls of a bunch of pest birds,” Gliessman explains. “We think it helps, along with the flashy tape and the predator eyes—keeps the birds away long enough to harvest. It’s kind of annoying but it does its job.” The balloons mimicking a predator bird’s eyes dance above Gliessman as he grabs a purple bunch weighing down a vine and pops a grape in his mouth with a crunch. “Almost ready,” he says. “Not bad—22, 23 percent. We want 25.” … ” Read more from the Santa Maria Sun.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
California court to hear arguments to halt Kern River diversions
“Conservation groups advocating for stronger Kern River protections will argue against destructive water diversions at a court hearing on Friday. The Kern County Superior Court will hear arguments in the lawsuit filed against the city of Bakersfield for ignoring the community and environmental harms of diverting water for agricultural use. The lawsuit — filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Bring Back the Kern, The Kern River Parkway Foundation, Kern-Kaweah Chapter Sierra Club, Water Audit California and Kern Audubon Society — argues that stopping the water diversions would help the fish and wildlife who depend on a healthy river without affecting the drinking water supply. … ” Read more from the Center for Biological Diversity.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
If an LA water main floods your house or car, you could be left paying for damages
“Almost every room of Suzan’s Richman’s San Fernando Valley house is damaged by mud and water. The wood floors are buckling and the walls are stained with what appears to be mold. “Mold is growing everywhere. You can smell the mold; it’s nauseating,” Richman told the NBC4 I-Team. “I won’t go inside the house without a mask.” It was 1:30 in the afternoon last Jan. 22 when an aging LADWP water main burst open outside Richman’s house, sending a river of muddy water gushing into her yard and home. Since that day, Richman says she’s been battling with the DWP to get compensation for the damage to her now-uninhabitable house of 27 years, which she says is more than $1 million. “This is not the home that I maintained. It’s not the home that I lived in. It is a shell of what I had,” Richman said, holding back tears. “It’s all ruined.” … ” Read more from NBC 4.
Caltech replaces water cooling towers for efficiency, sustainability, and noise reduction
“Chilled water is crucial to the Caltech campus. It keeps research equipment from overheating and allows HVAC systems to cool classrooms during summer heatwaves. And now, thanks to the $22 million modernization of the Central Utility Plant’s four-decade-old cooling towers, those tasks can be accomplished more sustainably and efficiently, and with less neighborhood noise. The renovation replaced the plant’s four original cooling towers on Wilson Avenue south of California Boulevard with six 36-foot-tall stainless-steel cooling towers enclosed in a gray and terra-cotta double-insulated metal façade. This allows for recirculated chilled water to be delivered to buildings across campus, including Caltech’s first LEED platinum-certified laboratory, the Linde Laboratory for Global Environmental Science; the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Research Building, which opened in 2021; and the Resnick Sustainability Center, now under construction and slated to open in 2024. … ” Read more from Pasadena Now.
Reservoirs are so full Long Beach will buy water at a discount, save its groundwater
“With California reservoirs full after a historically wet winter, the Long Beach Utilities Commission has signed off on a plan to buy more imported water at a discount to help other cities clear space to capture more rain during the upcoming winter season. Long Beach typically pumps over 60% of its customers’ water from local ground aquifers and is able to avoid paying for more expensive water piped in through the State Water Project or the Colorado River.
However, under the new deal approved at the commission’s Thursday meeting, Long Beach will buy imported water this year from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to help the district make space in its reservoirs for what’s expected to be a wet winter due to the oncoming El Nino storm season. … ” Read more from the Long Beach Post.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
Drip irrigation pilot program introduced to achieve 30% reduction in water requirements
“Low-carbon energy developer California Ethanol + Power (CE+P) announced its team has planted sugarcane test crops using a water-saving drip irrigation system for its planned Sugar Valley Energy biorefinery and energy campus in the Imperial Valley on October 12. Projections and early results indicate drip irrigation will reduce overall water needed to grow the sugarcane crop by 30%, reduce fertilizer needs by 20%, while increasing the overall crop yield by approximately 12% per acre. “Over the past several years we have successfully proven the viability of sugarcane production in the Imperial Valley by growing hundreds of acres of crops,” said CE+P CEO and President Dave Rubenstein. “Today, we are validating the conservation benefits and effectiveness of drip irrigation for our crops, to demonstrate that our growers will be able to meet the large-scale feedstock demands of our energy campus into the future.” … ” Read more from the Desert Review.
SAN DIEGO
QSA: Landmark conservation pact marks 20 years of water security for San Diego
“Twenty years ago, in October 2003, water officials from across the Southwest signed the largest water conservation-and-transfer agreement in U.S. history, the QSA, or Quantification Settlement Agreement. The agreement has provided decades of water security for San Diego County and benefits for numerous partners across the Southwest. In total, that pact supplies more than half of the water that sustains San Diego County’s 3.3 million residents and $268 billion economy. The 2003 QSA, provides more than 30 million acre-feet of high-priority conserved water to the San Diego region over multiple decades. It helped stabilize demands on the Colorado River and reduced California’s overdependence on surplus supplies. The historic set of more than 20 agreements resulted from years of negotiations between the San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, State of California, and the U.S. Department of the Interior that culminated in a signing ceremony at Hoover Dam. … ” Read more from the Water News Network.
Column: San Diego water transfer: 20 years
Columnist Michael Smolens writes, “San Diego has secure water supplies that are the envy of many agencies throughout the western United States. The key to this was an agreement reached 20 years ago this week with the Imperial Irrigation District to send Colorado River water from that desert farming region to San Diego County. The nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer was primarily accomplished through vast payments by San Diego to Imperial Valley farmers to modernize their operations to conserve water, along with other efficiency measures. San Diego water managers look at the pact — technically called the “Quantification Settlement Agreement” — as the bedrock component of a multi-pronged, successful effort to give the coastal region reliable, independent water supplies. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Letter gives insight into why Newsom won’t declare emergency over border water pollution crisis
“Governor Newsom has finally responded to repeated calls for a state of emergency declaration over the sewage crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. For months now, San Diego County leaders have come together to ask the governor to issue a state of emergency over the sewage crisis, to no avail. Until Tuesday, Governor Newsom had not publicly stated why he would not issue an order. In a letter to the California Coastal Commission obtained by NBC 7, Newsom’s office said a jurisdictional prevents him from issuing an emergency. … ” Read more from NBC 7.
Along the Colorado River …
As smallmouth bass move into the Colorado River, a humpback chub stronghold is threatened
“The Bureau of Reclamation recently announced a new comment period for a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that will guide management of Glen Canyon Dam operations. The agency is looking for ways to keep smallmouth bass out of the Colorado River. Smallmouth bass are predators, and can wipe out populations of native fish, such as the endangered humpback chub. … ” Read more from KJZZ.
Receding Lake Powell reveals ‘extremely rare’ fossils
“The receding waters of Lake Powell have revealed some extremely rare fossils from the Jurassic period. Paleontologists had been documenting fossil tracks in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Utah when they came across a bonebed containing fossils of a tritylodontid—an extinct mammal-like reptile that lived 180 million years ago. The fossils, which include bones and teeth, are extremely rare and the first tritylodontid bonebed to be found in Utah’s Navajo Sandstone, a geological formation in the Glen Canyon, the National Park Service reports. … ” Read more from Newsweek.
In national water news today …
EPA pulls back cybersecurity rule
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced it will withdraw plans to require states to survey cybersecurity best practices at public water systems — welcome news to much of the industry that opposed the approach. The EPA proposal was included in the agency’s FY22 budget request to Congress in 2021, and officials had been moving forward to implement the rule that would require water systems to incorporate cybersecurity audits as part of utility sanitary surveys. But industry associations and utility leaders pushed back against the plan, saying surveys would ultimately be ineffective at improving cybersecurity at water systems. … ” Read more from Water Finance & Management.
Toxic PFAS from US military bases polluting drinking water, report finds
“Plumes of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” flowing from at least 245 US military bases are contaminating or threatening to pollute drinking water for nearby communities, and hundreds more are likely at risk across America, a new Department of Defense report finds. The number of communities threatened by the military’s pollution is likely to increase as further more investigations are carried out. The defense department has only looked at about one-third of more than 700 facilities suspected of having contaminated the ground with PFAS. While the report acknowledges the pollution, it does not clarify which drinking water sources are polluted, how high PFAS levels are in the polluted water systems, or provide information about the plumes’ locations. The sheer number of bases and the lack of clarity is “shocking”, said Scott Faber, the vice-president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group non-profit, which tracks military PFAS pollution. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
Google’s expanded ‘Flood Hub’ uses AI to help us adapt to extreme weather
“Google announced Tuesday that a tool using artificial intelligence to better predict river floods will be expanded to the U.S. and Canada, covering more than 800 North American riverside communities that are home to more than 12 million people. Google calls it Flood Hub, and it’s the latest example of how AI is being used to help adapt to extreme weather events associated with climate change. “We see tremendous opportunity for AI to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, and climate change is very much one of those,” Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Kate Brandt, told Newsweek in an interview. At an event in Brussels on Tuesday, Google announced a suite of new and expanded sustainability initiatives and products. Many of them involve the use of AI, such as tools to help city planners find the best places to plant trees and modify rooftops to buffer against city heat, and a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to use AI to improve maps related to wildfires. … ” Read more from Newsweek.
What’s driving the boom in billion-dollar disasters? A lot
“Historically in the U.S., wildfires burned mostly in sparsely populated areas of vast Western states. But that’s changed in recent years, with Hawaii’s island of Maui the latest location of a devastating fire that devoured homes, businesses, and cultural landmarks, along with rain forest and agricultural land. The fire claimed at least 97 lives—already the highest wildfire death toll in modern U.S. history, with many more still unaccounted for—and is projected to cost billions of dollars in damage and other economic losses. Elsewhere, major wildfires have caused significant impacts in unlikely states, including the Tiger Island wildfire in Louisiana and the Rock Pond wildfire in Rhode Island. Unfortunately, these events are not outliers, with major weather disasters becoming increasingly common. … ” Read more from Pew Charitable Trust.
National water and climate update …
The Natural Resources Conservation Service produces this weekly report using data and products from the National Water and Climate Center and other agencies. The report focuses on seasonal snowpack, precipitation, temperature, and drought conditions in the U.S.
dmrpt-20231012Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE of 180-Day Temporary Permit Application T033392 – Tehama County
