On the calendar today …
- MEETING: Central Valley Regional Water Board beginning at 9am. Agenda items include discussion of water quality program priorities for FY 2024/25 and NPDES, WDR permits. Click here for the full agenda and remote access instructions.
- MEETING: Delta Stewardship Council beginning at 9:30am. The California Department of Water Resources will report on its investments in levee operations, maintenance, and improvement over the past several years. Additionally, the Delta Conservancy and Delta Protection Commission will provide updates on their respective activities. Lastly, the Council will consider proposed amendments to its Administrative Procedures Governing Appeals and a staff recommendation to publish the Procedures in the California Code of Regulations. Click here for the full agenda and remote access instructions.
- WEBINAR: Clean Water, Complicated Laws: Water Quality Ordinances from 10am to 11am. Join BB&K’s leading water quality attorneys for a webinar series as presenters provide practical guidance on water quality issues, laws and regulations. Once a month, we will explore the major concerns wastewater, stormwater, and recycled water managers face, and dive into the many complicated issues that arise regarding water quality. Click here to register.
In California water news today …
Who gets the water in California? Whoever gets there first.
“The story of California’s water wars begins, as so many stories do in the Golden State, with gold. The prospectors who raced westward after 1848 scoured fortunes out of mountainsides using water whisked, manically and in giant quantities, out of rivers. To impose some order on the chaos, the newcomers embedded in the state’s emerging water laws a cherished frontier principle: first come first served. The only requirement for holding on to this privileged status was to keep putting the water to work. In short, use it or lose it. Their water rights assured, the settlers gobbled up land, laid down dams, ditches, communities. Yet, still today the state is at the mercy of claims to water that were staked more than a century ago, in that cooler, less crowded world. As drought and overuse sap the state’s streams and aquifers, California finds itself haunted by promises, made to generations of farmers and ranchers, of priority access to the West’s most precious resource, with scant oversight, essentially forever. … ” Read more from the New York Times (gift article).
Incoming California storms linked to strong El Niño in Pacific
“The long-awaited wet season for California has been absent so far, but there are signs that rain and mountain snow may not be far off for the Golden State, AccuWeather Meteorologists say. California generally has some of the first rain events of the winter season in late October, but the period from the second half of November to December often brings an increase in Pacific storms packed with moisture. “It has been a very dry start to the wet season in California, unlike last winter,” AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. The weather ramped up in early November last year when a storm brought 1-2 inches of rain to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The wet season accelerated last December when 9.66 inches of rain drenched San Francisco and 2.81 inches of rain poured down on Los Angeles. … ” Read more from AccuWeather.
Why atmospheric rivers are important for California
“Last winter, California was slammed with atmospheric river after atmospheric river, and the phrase dominated headlines as the Sierra racked up a record snowpack. As for what these atmospheric rivers are, they are defined by NOAA as “long, concentrated regions in the atmosphere that transport moist air from the tropics to higher latitudes. The moist air, combined with high wind speeds, produce heavy rain and snow upon landfall, especially over mountainous terrain.” While these storms can be dangerous and produce widespread flooding, California as we know it would not exist without them. Although atmospheric river events can occur across the globe, they are particularly important for the West Coast and California in particular. … ” Read more from Channel 10.
Tunnel vision: Gov. Newsom’s ambitious water plan divides Californians
“A long-sought and disputed project in drought-prone California aimed at capturing more water during heavy rain storms reached a key milestone on Friday when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration finished an environmental review for an underground tunnel. The tunnel would be about 45 miles long and 36 feet wide or large enough to carry more than 161 million gallons of water per hour. The tunnel would be another way to get water from Northern California, where most of the state’s water is, to Southern California, where most of the people live. The Newsom administration said the tunnel is necessary to upgrade the state’s aging infrastructure because it will protect the water supply from earthquakes and capture more water from rainstorms known as atmospheric rivers that scientists say have been increasing because of climate change. … ” Read more from KQED.
Delta Counties say final Environmental Impact Report for the Delta Conveyance Project is deficient and won’t address climate change
“In response to Department of Water Resources’ release of a final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Conveyance Project through the Sacramento‐San Joaquin Delta, Patrick Hume, Chair of the Delta Counties Coalition (DCC), made the following statement on behalf of the five jurisdictions that would be most negatively impacted: “This tunnel project described in the Final EIR continues to be based on last century thinking and merely moves water from the north to the south without adding any new water to the system. It is a deeply flawed plan that does not improve statewide water supplies and would harm the Delta, the region, and California’s economy. … ” Continue reading from the Delta Counties Coalition.
Bay Delta hearings: How much water flow should we give our rivers?
“Competing science reports about how much water rivers need were presented at a recent State Water Resource Control Board meeting. Environmental advocates calling for more river flows in the Sacramento River watershed — the largest in the state — made arguments to save imperiled fish, aligning with a draft staff report recommending that flows increase from 40% to 55% of unimpaired river flows. They argue that this would reverse the decline of numerous fish species, and the downstream Bay Delta and ocean ecosystems that depend on them. … However, ranchers and those who support less in-stream water, favored more consumptive uses, such as agriculture and water storage. Such groups have proposed voluntary agreements as an alternative to the staff recommendation. These agreements would instead focus on habitat construction — such as spawning gravel beds, fish passages and floodplain reactivations — in lieu of more water in the rivers. … ” Read more from the Livermore Independent.
New documentary series seeks to amplify the voices of black, indigenous people of color and their fight for environmental justice in California
“The new docuseries; “Sowing Seeds: Racial Justice and The Environmental Movement” is now available on YouTube. Sowing Seeds is part of a new educational campaign which aims to highlight local scientists, educators and activists of color. The series aims to raise awareness, and provide guidance, from professionals as it relates to watershed restoration, policy plans and proposals for clean water, healthy ecosystems and justice. The series aims to highlight the communities most plagued by Climate Change and water injustice. The series was produced and hosted by Aerin Monroe of Save California Salmon; a senior Environmental Studies major at Cal Poly Humboldt, with a background in horticulture, regenerative land management, and climate/social justice. It was filmed and edited by Valentina Dimas; Social Media Content Creator for Save California Salmon. … ” Read more from the Redheaded Blackbelt.
CDFW releases beavers into the wild for first time in nearly 75 years
SEE ALSO:
- California reintroduces beavers into Plumas County waterway to renew ecosystem; 1st such release in nearly 75 years, from CBS Bay Area
- ‘Back where they belong’: Beavers released into California tribal waters in conservation effort, from the Sacramento Bee
Now available: Executive Summary of the State of Bay-Delta Science 2022
The Delta Science Program is excited to share an executive summary for the 2022 edition of the State of Bay-Delta Science (SBDS), which explored the latest scientific understanding of plants and algae in the Bay-Delta and emphasized the benefits provided by and the negative impacts of these species on the region’s ecosystems and human uses. This new report offers a condensed version of the seven detailed peer-reviewed articles that were published online earlier this year in the open-access San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science journal (Volume 20, Issue 4). It provides a snapshot of the main topics covered in each individual article, highlights key takeaways, and summarizes the next steps to consider for future science and management actions. Click here to view/download report.
Managing the spread of phragmites in Suisun Marsh
“With many more non-native species than native species, the Delta is considered the most invaded estuary in the world. Climate change is expected to make conditions more favorable for invasive species at the expense of native species. At the November meeting of the Delta Stewardship Council, Delta Lead Scientist Dr. Laurel Larsen’s Science Spotlight focused on the most invasive marsh plant species in the Delta, phragmites australis, or the common reed. The plant species is native to Europe, but a rampant invader in marshes across the US. In the Suisun Marsh, it’s particularly problematic as its rapid expansion has threatened biodiversity and the quality of habitat for fish and wildlife. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
California could vote on turning sewage into drinking water next week
“The California State Water Resources Control Board is tentatively planning a vote next week to approve a landmark water regulation that would turn sewage into drinking water across California. The rules would allow “toilet to tap,” converting water from toilet and shower drains into drinking water. The project is an effort to tackle climate change and the problem of water droughts. Currently, the sewage water gets treated and released into oceans, rivers, water parks, or used to irrigate fields in California. The plan would take the wastewater and have it treated at a higher level and then send it back into the main water supply over the course of hours to days. … ” Read more from the Washington Examiner.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Nature undammed: The largest-ever dam removal is underway, a milestone in the nation’s reckoning over its past attempts to bend nature to human will
“It was a small moment, with little fanfare, in one of the most remote patches of northern California. Just the rat-a-tat of three Caterpillar excavators gnawing through concrete signaled the beginning of the largest dam removal project in the history of the country, and perhaps the world. There was no ribbon cutting or ceremonial dynamite detonation. But the demolition on that June day arrived only after decades of argument and activism. The Klamath River dams, built between the early 1900s and 1960s, fundamentally reshaped one of the West’s most important watersheds. They electrified this hard-to-reach part of the country for the first time, powering the nation’s vision of a Manifest Destiny. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
A roadmap to restoration
Before there were the levees, canals, and aqueducts that moved water across the Central Valley from the sierras to the sea, there were the rivers and floodplains. Nestled between one of America’s snowiest mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada, and the adjacent Coastal Range, water meandered the valley floor, shaping floodplains and feeding river ecosystems on its way to the Pacific. Nowadays, the valley is a $17 billion epicenter of the agricultural industry, home to California’s fastest-growing communities, and has been ground zero for the state’s water crisis for the past several decades. While California’s modern water system is one of the most impactful engineering projects of all time, historic infrastructure and more frequent storms and droughts intensified by climate change demand proactive action to improve the state’s resilience for its environment and people. The Central Valley must adapt to its greatest potential: a robust mosaic of habitat where migratory birds return annually along the Pacific Flyway, rivers fill with salmon runs, terrestrial species flourish, sustainable agriculture thrives, and our communities work, live, and play. … ” Read more from the Northern California Water Association.
BAY AREA
Highway 37 marsh restoration gets $50 million state boost
“The state has allocated $50 million to support tidal marsh restoration and the replacement of a flood-prone bridge as part of the planned Highway 37 overhaul east of Sears Point. The funding comes from the Local Transportation Climate Adaptation program, a $309 million package designed to protect state roads and railways from the effects of climate change. The Highway 37 project is among 15 selected for the first round of funding. The California Transportation Commission approved awarding the grant to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission at its meeting on Dec. 7. The marshland enhancements are the first phase of MTC’s larger $430 million project to widen the 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 between Sears Point and Mare Island. … ” Read more from the Marin Independent Journal.
Levee breach creates new tidal marshland in San Francisco Bay
“In case you missed it, the San Francisco Bay just got bigger. Cheers went up as crews breached a levee just a few hundred yards from Highway 101 near Menlo Park. And as a crowd watched from a nearby hilltop, waters poured into a former industrial salt pond, 300 acres that will slowly and steadily turn into the Bay Area’s newest tidal marsh. “Nature can really restore itself. In many cases if we give it a chance, if we give it a head start, we give it a push. And that’s what we’re doing here,” says David Lewis, director of the nonprofit Save the Bay. The group spearheaded a volunteer program to green the edge of the Ravenswood site over the last several years, creating what’s known as a horizontal levee to absorb the rising tides from sea level rise. … ” Read more from ABC 7.
SEE ALSO: Restoring San Francisco Bay wetlands, one industrial salt pond at a time, from the San Jose Mercury News
SFO’s runways are sinking, new research finds. Here are the potential impacts
“San Francisco International Airport is sinking, fast. That’s according to new research, being presented at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco this week. SFO’s runways are sinking approximately 0.4 inches per year, the fastest among 15 coastal U.S. airports surveyed in new research from Virginia Tech. The research, which utilized submillimeter satellite imagery, found that Los Angeles International Airport’s runways are sinking at roughly 0.1 inches per year, the slowest among the measured locations. Subsidence, or sinking, can cause cracking and bulging on runways, a major hazard for aircraft while taking off and landing. SFO isn’t vulnerable to this cracking, but as the water level rises in nearby San Francisco Bay, the airport could be at risk in about 40 years, according to lead researcher Oluwaseyi Dasho, an environmental hazard specialist at Virginia Tech. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Spawning salmon numbers snowball in San Jose Creeks
“This chinook salmon spawning season is shaping up to be a record breaker as larger numbers of the fish have been spotted in the California Bay Area waterways. In fact, the creeks of San Jose are proving that years of habitat cleanup have made a huge impact, reported WKVU News. Researchers spotted around 200 salmon in the Los Gatos and Guadalupe creeks in late November 2023, when the spawning season just began. The season ends in January but it already appears to be a huge success. … ” Read more from Good Net.
CENTRAL COAST
Beyond Drought: The Salinas Valley
“Outsiders sometimes think that California’s Salinas Valley—which touts itself, with some justice, as the nation’s salad bowl—is part of the Central Valley, but that’s not the case. They are two different valleys, separated by the California Coast Range. The center of the Salinas Valley, near the central coast of the state, is the Salinas River. The Salinas Valley was also hit by the winter deluge of 2022-23, affecting 20,000 acres—about 10 percent of the region’s total, according to Christopher Valadez, president of Salinas-based Grower-Shipper Association of Central California. … ” Continue reading from the Produce Blue Book.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Agencies to advance historic Tuolumne River salmon habitat restoration program with leading California nonprofit
“The Modesto and Turlock Irrigation Districts (MID and TID) and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are teaming up to design and implement a collaborative, holistic habitat restoration program along the lower Tuolumne River to improve the health and long-term recovery of the fishery and local communities it serves. MID, TID and the SFPUC are self-funding the $80 million program. The joint effort demonstrates the power of public-private partnerships in making critical, lasting improvements to ecosystem and community health along California waterways like the Tuolumne River. The agencies recently chose the leading California riverway restoration organization, River Partners, to lead planning and restoration efforts for the multi-year effort. … ” Continue reading this press release.
Merced County flood victims owners file lawsuit against several state and local agencies
“The families and business owners who lost much in the devastating floods in Merced County nearly one year ago have now filed a lawsuit against several state and local agencies. They say the Merced Irrigation District, the County and City of Merced, the State of California, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Fish and Game Commission are responsible for the floodwaters that destroyed their lives. Atwater resident Tony Borba described the frustration after his home was flooded in January. “You can’t imagine what goes through your mind. As soon as I could get back in, it was ten days after the flood,” Borba said. … ” Read more from ABC 30.
TULARE MEETING NOTES: Greater Kaweah groundwater agency still working on water accounting
“The Kaweah Subbasin is one of six in the San Joaquin Valley facing scrutiny by the state Water Resources Control Board, the enforcement arm of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Noting the lack of coordination between the subbasin’s three groundwater sustainability agencies, East Kaweah, Mid Kaweah and Greater Kaweah, the technical advisors of each have been working to find consensus on basic water accounting mechanisms of precipitation and priority of use. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Groundbreaking held for Surfside-Sunset Beach sand replenishment project
“What is a beach without the sand? Those grains mean everything for coastal communities like Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Sunset Beach. “Without sand, Newport Beach would simply be just called Newport,” Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill said. O’Neill was one of several local leaders who gathered Wednesday at Surfside Colony for a groundbreaking ceremony for Stage 13 of the Surfside-Sunset Beach sand replenishment project. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
San Mateo Creek could provide another opportunity for Southern steelhead to rebound
“Today it is rare to see a Southern steelhead in the wild, but there was a time when these fish were abundant, swimming in and out of Southern California’s watersheds in the tens of thousands. Our South Coast Region team is working tirelessly across the lower half of the state to provide additional opportunities for these fish to take advantage of – and to prevent the irreversible loss of this iconic Southern California fish species. San Mateo Creek offers prime spawning habitat for Southern steelhead, but the watershed currently has invasive fish not native to our coastal watersheds which outcompete steelhead for resources and degrade water quality. In December 2023, CalTrout and our partners launched a new project to develop the San Mateo Watershed Plan to eliminate these invasive aquatic species and improve spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead, while benefitting other native species including the California Newt, arroyo toad, arroyo chub, and Southwestern Pond turtle. … ” Read more from Cal Trout.
Twentynine Palms says no to state sewer funds
“Faced with high costs and insufficient state funds, city council members pulled the plug on plans for a wastewater treatment plant and sewage collection system. Council members voted 5-0 Tuesday, Dec. 12, to end the proposed wastewater treatment project and say no to a $50 million grant which would have helped pay for the treatment plant and the first phase of connections to houses and businesses in the downtown area of Twentynine Palms. They opted to give the city’s support to a multi-year United States Geological Survey water quality study in Twentynine Palms and create a program for septic tank inspections, certifications and maintenance. … ” Read more from the Hi-Desert Star.
Along the Colorado River …
Colorado River water conservation deal inked, but fight looms in the future
“California water officials signed a significant conservation agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday, agreeing to enact stronger measures along the Colorado River. In a series of agreements, hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water will remain in Lake Mead, instead of going downstream into the massive state. In exchange, the Biden administration is giving California millions of dollars in infrastructure investment for water. “These agreements will commit more than 1.5 million acre feet to system conservation through 2026 thanks to the historic investments of the Inflation Reduction Act. We’re already seeing the results of these efforts,” said U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. … ” Read more from Fox 13.
California water districts agree to save 643,000 acre-feet of Lake Mead water through 2025
“Several California water districts signed agreements with the U.S. Bureau of Land Reclamation on Wednesday to conserve a collective 643,000 acre-feet of Lake Mead water through 2025. The decrees were finalized to kickoff the 75th meeting of the Colorado River Waters Users Association at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel. “We all are aware of the risks the basin is facing,” said Camille Touton, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation in a press conference. “This past winter has given us a reprieve but the fact is we have to keep working because inaction is not an option.” Just 16 months ago, water levels in Lakes Powell and Mead hit record lows that threatened to cut off hydroelectric power to communities across the western U.S. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
Reclamation pumps $295M into California water savings
“The Biden administration signed agreements with California water agencies Wednesday to conserve a significant share of water through 2025, part of a larger effort to stave off potential disaster in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin. The deals, including some expected to be signed as soon as next week, will save 643,000 acre-feet of water — nearly 210 billion gallons — in Lake Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation said. The conservation efforts will cost taxpayers about $295 million, drawn from funds already allocated by Congress for the Colorado River Basin in the Inflation Reduction Act. “We all are aware of the risks the basin is facing and fully understand what the results of inaction could be,” Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said after signing contracts with the Coachella Valley Water District to save up to 105,000 acre-feet of water and Quechan Indian Tribe to save 39,000 acre-feet. … ” Read more from E&E News.
SEE ALSO:
- Biden-Harris Administration announces several new water conservation agreements in California to protect the Colorado River system, press release from the Bureau of Reclamation
- California water agencies announce conservation plans to ease strains on Colorado River, from the LA Times
Why a Las Vegas casino holds the key to Western water
“The country’s highest-stakes water fight in a century is playing out this week at a Las Vegas casino. The seven Western states that share the Colorado River are facing a looming spring deadline to agree on how to share its dwindling flows. The negotiations will shape the future of the West — and they’ll depend, more than anything, on the personalities around the table. There isn’t a single, or even two or three, fronts to the American West’s water wars. Fault lines cut between states, regions and rural and urban users. And the people leading the negotiations aren’t governors, state lawmakers or even elected officials for the most part: They’re local appointees, bureaucrats and engineers. It’s a mix of old and new players, some with decades of experience and others cutting their teeth during the most consequential water negotiations in modern times. … ” Read more from Politico.
‘The crisis has arrived’: An elder statesman unpacks the battle over the West’s water
“Dozens of federal, state and tribal leaders are descending on Las Vegas this week to start haggling over the most important waterway in the West — and Bruce Babbitt has found reason to hope. The former Democratic governor of Arizona and Clinton-era Interior secretary has charted the Colorado River’s fate since the 1970s, and he’s watched the last 20 years of drought stir up political and economic fissures among the seven states that rely on it. Plummeting water levels nearly crashed the system of reservoirs and hydropower dams connected to the river last year, until the crisis was momentarily averted by heavy snowfall. “The scientists are out there saying, ’There’s a problem. We have a drought. The demand exceeds the supply. There’s going to be a day of reckoning,’” Bruce Babbitt told POLITICO’s E&E News. “Here we are: The crisis has arrived.” … ” Read more from Politco.
Commentary: Colorado River operations must adapt to a variable climate, and it starts with every basin state taking responsibility
Rebecca Mitchell (Becky), the state of Colorado’s commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission, writes, “When it comes to dwindling Colorado River water, Mother Nature calls the shots, and it’s up to us to keep up. Coloradans live on the front lines of climate change. For the past 20 years, we’ve regularly experienced significant cuts to our water supply. We’ve responded to what’s available in a given year from the amount of snowfall nature provides in our towering mountains. We are showing that we can live with a variable future — because we do it, all the time. Moving into the future, this mindset must exist across the entire Colorado River Basin. The fact is that Lower Basin water users in California, Arizona and Nevada are not more important than farmers, ranchers and communities in Colorado or anywhere in the Upper Basin. The Colorado River Compact divided the waters equally, meaning, no one part of the American West is more important than the other. … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
$1M in grants offered to Colorado farmers with new ideas about conserving water
“Colorado agricultural nonprofit is offering $1 million in grants to farmers and ranchers who are looking into the future to find ways to remain productive and profitable while conserving scarce water supplies. “It’s pretty significant for us,” said Greg Peterson, executive director of the Colorado Ag Water Alliance. “Is it going to fix the water issues in Colorado? No. But we’re going to get a good solid shot at implementing practices that show us what works and what doesn’t.” Across the American West, including in the Colorado River Basin, farmers and ranchers control roughly 80% of the water that is used. Figuring out ways to save the declining resource is critical as states and water users wrestle with chronic drought, shrinking mountain snowpacks and declining stream flows caused by climate change. … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
The human factor in water disasters
“When water inundated parts of New York City in September 2023, 28 people had to be rescued from their cars and basement apartments. Thankfully, no one died this time. In 2021, flooding in New York killed 11 people. Neighbourhoods in the city also flooded in 2020 and 2022, and it’s not just New York. Floods are becoming increasingly frequent and severe globally, as are droughts. Steve Bowen, chief science officer for reinsurance firm Gallagher Re in London, described the most recent New York floods on X (formerly Twitter) as “the latest example of ageing infrastructure built for a climate that no longer exists”. Such sentiments are common, and frequently followed by calls for more infrastructure: bigger levees and seawalls, larger pipes and stormwater tanks, and more dams, aqueducts and desalination plants. But human-built infrastructure and land-development practices that leave little space for water are actually a big part of the problem. … ” Continue reading from Nature.
Earth had its warmest November on record
“Last month also continued the year’s record-warm streak, according to scientists and data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2023 was 2.59 degrees F (1.44 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 55.2 degrees F (12.9 degrees C), which makes it the warmest November on record for NOAA. November also marked the sixth month in a row of record-warm months for 2023. For the eighth consecutive month, the global ocean-surface temperature also set a record high. … Continue reading from NOAA.
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
SB-88 DIVERSION MEASUREMENT: Updated Website, Workshop Recording, and Office Hours Now Available
