In California water news today …
Atmospheric river set to deliver heavy rain to Northern California
“A low-pressure system spinning off the coast and an associated atmospheric river is set to bring periods of heavy rain and high-elevation snow. The system will deliver the first rain in 10 days for most of the region. California has gotten off to a slow start so far this winter and the statewide snowpack only being at 28% of average reflects that. However, due to the warmer nature of this storm, snow levels will be high, and the Sierra isn’t expected to add a ton of snow relative to how moist this system will be. Rain showers will become more widespread overnight and will continue throughout Monday, Tuesday, and into Wednesday morning before it eventually tapers off in Northern California. … ” Read more from Channel 10.
SEE ALSO: California storm: Here’s when rain will be heaviest this week, from the San Francisco Chronicle
Is El Niño’s reputation as a legendary rainmaker overblown?
“In the minds of many Californians, El Niño has long loomed as a rainmaker of epic proportions. In 1982-83, the Pacific climate pattern caused storms that pounded the state’s shoreline, damaging 1,000 homes between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border and washing the tip of the Santa Monica Pier out to sea. When it appeared again in 1997-98, El Niño unleashed massive flooding across the West Coast, contributing to at least 17 deaths and billions of dollars in damage. But forecasts have so far proved less accurate in the 21st century. Although experts warned that El Niño would once again deliver a deluge to Southern California in 2015-16, it turned out to be something of a dud, bringing even less precipitation to the region than a non-El Niño year. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
‘Drought-free’ California? Lake Oroville highlighted 2023 shift in amazing before and after images
“The storms that hit California in early 2023 provided glimpses of hope as the severe drought up and down the state dropped water levels to shocking all-time lows in previous years. While the large fronts that battered California’s Sierra Nevada mountains caused flooding in some areas, the overall impact is one of the more positive progressions in the state’s ongoing water issues. Few areas highlighted the drastic change more this past year than Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, which filled to 100% capacity for only the second time in 15 years. … ” Read more and check out pictures from Yahoo Sports.
DAN WALTERS: California’s water wars see some breakthroughs but more clashes loom
“The politics of water in California could be likened to the constant grinding of tectonic plates 10 miles or more beneath its surface. The Pacific Plate battles with the North American Plate for dominance along the 800-mile-long San Andreas Fault tracing California’s coast. When one gives way, the state experiences an earthquake. Similarly, California’s water interests – farmers, cities and environmentalists, principally, with infinite numbers of sub-groups – joust constantly over how the state’s water supplies will be apportioned. The conflicts of water buffaloes, as they have been dubbed, play out in legislative arenas, in the many federal, state and local governmental agencies that manage water distribution, and increasingly, in state and federal courts. … ” Read more from Dan Walters.
Contra Costa County supervisors file petition to challenge final report for Delta Conveyance Project
“The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 5-0 during a closed session to file a petition challenging the California Department of Water Resources’ final environmental impact report for the Delta Conveyance Project once the state certifies it. The decision follows the Dec. 8 release of the report for the controversial $16 billion water project that would build a tunnel and two intakes to pull water from the Delta and connect it to the Bethany Reservoir on the California Aqueduct before delivering it to homes and farms in Central and Southern California. In a separate action, Supervisor Ken Carlson, on behalf of the county, signed onto a letter from the Delta Counties Coalition — addressed to DWR Director Karla Nemeth — to request at least 60 days of public review of the final EIR. … ” Read more from the Danville-San Ramon News.
California prepares to transform sewage into pure drinking water under new rules
“California is set to adopt regulations that will allow for sewage to be extensively treated, transformed into pure drinking water and delivered directly to people’s taps. The regulations are expected to be approved Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, enabling water suppliers to begin building advanced treatment plants that will turn wastewater into a source of clean drinking water. The new rules represent a major milestone in California’s efforts to stretch supplies by recycling more of the water that flows down drains. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
California to vote on allowing ‘toilet-to-tap’ projects: What to know
“Some Californians could find themselves flushing a future drinking water source down their commodes in just a few years’ time — pending the approval of long-awaited, but misnamed, “toilet-to-tap” rules next week. The California State Water Resources Control Board will consider a landmark proposal Tuesday to streamline “direct potable reuse” (DPR) — a process by which purified wastewater is discharged right into a public water system or just upstream from a treatment plant. “It’s a real important step for just adding to the portfolio that we can use here in the West,” Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the board’s division of drinking water, told The Hill. … ” Read more from The Hill.
Who got hit hardest in 2023’s epic floods? The people who grow your food
“It’s been nearly a year since Erica Lopez Bedolla and her children fled their home as dangerous floodwaters rose around them, washing through neighborhood houses, drowning family pets and rendering much of her town of 4,000 uninhabitable. The Lopez family is back home now, albeit living amid a construction zone, showering at a neighbor’s house and having anxiety attacks at the thought of rain. Up and down the streets of their close-knit community, where more than 80% of residents experienced losses in the floods, the story is the same: houses in various states of disrepair and residents trying to go about their lives without basic comforts such as hot water, drywall or insulation. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
Fire destroyed this California town’s water system. But that didn’t slow the effort to rebuild
“Mickey Rich can still remember the look on people’s faces when leaders of the Paradise Irrigation District announced that it would take at least three years to repair the town’s fire-ravaged water system. It was March of 2019, and nearly 300 people had turned out to hear the district’s plan for removing the toxic stew of cancer-causing materials that had leached into pipes during the deadliest fire in modern California history. “We saw the looks on their faces and the sighs and the anguished sound in the crowd,” said Rich, the district’s assistant manager. “And we went back to the table.” Five years after the fire, the water district is still ripping up damaged service lines and installing more advanced water meters aimed at preventing damage in the future. But that grim statistic hides a remarkable success story. … ” Read more from Honolulu Civil Beat.
Science seen from different perspectives
Jay Lund writes, “The awe-inspiring Phil Isenberg used to talk about differences in culture between science and policy as being akin to the two cultures of scholarship discussed by C.P. Snow – science and humanities. It is hard for one mind to deeply appreciate the variety and importance of many ways of thinking, and more difficult still to bring them together insightfully and effectively on our common problems. The cartoon below depicts a different two cultures of thought in the organization of problems and solutions: administration versus science. … ” Read more from the California Water Blog.
California Forever reveals plan B if ballot measure fails
“Amid skepticism at a town hall meeting in Benicia, California Forever clarified some key aspects of its plan to build a city-sized community in Solano County. Fresh information arrived in CEO Jan Sramek’s response to a question about what the company will do if, in November, it fails to pass a ballot initiative to make this project possible. He said in an interview earlier this month that “there are other ways to proceed with the project” if the plan falls through and declined to elaborate. Sramek clarified Thursday that California Forever owns about 800 acres of land within Rio Vista city limits. If Solano County won’t play ball, he’ll attempt to get that land zoned as residential and build on it. … ” Read more from the Vallejo Times-Herald.
When forests on land burn, forests underwater feel the impact
“Much like forests on land, kelp forests are a bonanza for biodiversity. The aptly named giant kelp can grow 2 feet (0.6 meter) per day, sometimes reaching a length of 175 feet (53 meters). Inside its leafy stipes live kelpfish, kelp crabs, sea lions, and seals. Sea otters twirl themselves in the tendrils so they don’t drift away while sleeping. Kelp, which describes several species of large brown algae, is a crop and a carbon sink, too. Companies use the seaweed to make everything from shampoo to salad dressing, and its ecosystem services are valued at $500 billion annually, in large part because it captures nearly 5 million metric tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide each year. But kelp forests are fickle. They can boom and bust under the influence of marine heat waves, the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), or storms. New research shows that forest fires in coastal watersheds also play a role. … ” Read more from EOS.
In commentary today …
Why dam removal is a climate solution
Gary Wockner, As the climate crisis escalates, a huge amount of attention and money is being focused on climate solutions. These can be divided into two categories: solutions that pursue “mitigation,” which lowers greenhouse gas emissions, and those that pursue methods to adapt to climate impacts to increase human and ecological resiliency. Dams, of course, create enormous environmental harms, many of which have already been described in scientific literature. Equally well documented is the fact that removing dams can restore seriously damaged ecosystems. But missing from almost every climate-solution story and study is how dam removal can be key for both mitigation and adaptation. Here are 10 reasons why dam removal fights climate change … ” Read more from the Revelator.
The ridiculously stupid reason the US is letting animals spiral toward oblivion
Exactly five decades ago, Congress did what would be unimaginable today: It passed a powerful environmental law with almost unanimous support. In 1973, the House voted in favor of the Endangered Species Act, 390 to 12. “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed,” Republican President Richard Nixon said upon signing the act into law. …
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
‘Things have to change’: Big decision looms as Klamath Basin ranchers, tribes battle over water and salmon
“Arron Troy Hockaday leaned over the highway railing to peer into the water below, where the Scott River empties into the Klamath near the Oregon border. Beneath the bridge, dozens of threatened coho salmon rested on their journey back from the Pacific. It was the end of October, and they were waiting for rain to drive them to calmer creeks and streams where they could spawn, then die. … About 40 miles upriver, through the mountains of Klamath National Forest, lies the flat of the Scott Valley. Jim Morris’ pickup truck bumped past cattle grazing on bright green alfalfa stubble to a dry field covered in tumbleweeds. “I’m a little embarrassed by this one,” he said, nodding at the weeds. … Hockaday’s and Morris’ deep-rooted ties to the water are at the core of a battle that has roiled California’s far north over the Scott River and its neighbor, the Shasta, for years. These Klamath River tributaries provide vital habitat for struggling salmon and steelhead, and critical irrigation supplies for Siskiyou County farmers. Now the State Water Resources Control Board is poised to decide on Tuesday whether to extend emergency drought measures, which could restrict ground and surface water for farms for another year if flows in the rivers dip below minimum thresholds. State officials say those measures are likely to kick in next year. … ” Continue reading from Cal Matters.
The Klamath Tribes are trying to save the c’waam and koptu suckerfish from extinction
“Among the sprawling wetlands and ponderosa-pine forests of the Upper Klamath Basin, fish once gave people life. In this part of Southern Oregon, winters can be long, harsh, and hungry. The Klamath Tribes tell a story that one particularly deadly winter, a spirit in the form of a giant serpent preyed upon villagers, picking people off one by one. When the villagers begged for relief from their creator, Gmok’amp’c, the god took the serpent to a mountaintop, chopped it into pieces, and threw the pieces into a lake—where they swam away as fish. The creator then announced that as long as the fish known as the c’waam and koptu remain, the Klamath people will continue to exist. For generations, c’waam and koptu—also called Lost River suckers and shortnosed suckers—churned up the Sprague and Williamson Rivers at the end of every winter, when snow still lay on the ground and food stores grew scarce. … ” Continue reading from the Sierra Club.
Huffman announces $4.4 million Smith River Alliance grant
“Recently, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02) announced that the Smith River Alliance was awarded $4,467,184.73 from the National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) to restore fish passage and build coastal resilience in Del Norte County. This funding is part of a $144 million tranche of funding to support natural infrastructure projects in 31 coastal states and U.S. territories. These grants will support the design and implementation of projects to enhance the resilience of coastal communities and improve habitat for fish and wildlife across the United States. The grants in this program will generate more than $97 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $242 million. … ” Read more from the Del Norte Triplicate.
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Tahoe National Forest proposes 2,000-acre targeted grazing project to help protect Truckee communities from wildfire
“Tahoe National Forest is now seeking public comment for the Big Jack East: Targeted Grazing Project. The project proposes the use of targeted grazing (i.e. goats or sheep) to reduce fuels on up to 2,012 acres of Forest Service lands located in northeastern Placer County near Truckee, Calif. The project’s purpose is to reduce fuel loading, improve forest health and provide adequate long-term community protection from future wildfires. The project area is largely surrounded by private property. Neighboring communities the project aims to protect include Sierra Meadows, Ponderosa Palisades, Martiswoods Estates, Ponderosa Ranchos and Martis Camp. Additionally, a major utility corridor within the project area, elevate the area’s need for effective management of the wildland urban interface. … ” Read more from the Sierra Sun.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Officials hope new flood strategies can help the Sacramento region handle an unpredictable winter
“About seven miles from the Sacramento International Airport, crews are putting the finishing touches on a project meant to provide massive flood relief to a wide swath of the Sacramento region during intense storms. As soon as this winter, the Lower Elkhorn Basin project area will become a larger overflow area for the Sacramento River when it rises. Crews pushed seven miles of levee back around 1,500 feet, expanding the capacity of the existing Sacramento and Yolo bypass areas. When another nearby project to widen the Sacramento Weir is complete, the two infrastructure updates could lower the Sacramento River’s water level by up to two feet during flood events. Climate change is driving more extreme weather events like atmospheric rivers. These intense storms bring precipitation and potential flooding to the Sacramento region. After last winter’s intense storms and ahead of an unpredictable El Niño year, state and local leaders are hoping new flood control strategies will help them better prepare. … ” Read more from Capital Public Radio.
NAPA/SONOMA
American Canyon/Vallejo water dispute takes new turn
“Another legal front has opened in the water dispute pitting American Canyon against Vallejo – this one involving a proposed American Canyon annexation that could help create a parallel road to Highway 29. American Canyon wants to add the 83-acre Paoli/Watson Lane lands north of the city limits. The City Council took steps in that direction last month. “I think this is a reasonable annexation,” City Councilmember Mark Joseph said at that Nov. 7 meeting. “It’s been anticipated since 2008.” … But a year-long legal battle continues over how much water Vallejo must supply to American Canyon. Vallejo claims American Canyon is failing to take this into account when calculating water availability for the Paoli/Watson Lane lands. … ” Read more from the Napa Register.
BAY AREA
Ready for rain? Residents brace themselves as storms target Bay Area
“The Bay Area is getting ready for a very wet week. The series of storms comes with warnings and friendly advice to be ready. Rain started Sunday morning in San Francisco, drenching the Embarcadero and the Golden Gate Bridge. South of Market, flood barriers are up at 17th and Folsom Streets to try and prevent the kind of flooding the neighborhood saw last season. “I thought it was some construction site. I didn’t mind at all,” said Elias Grieninger from San Jose. Grieninger is glad the city is prepared for rain, because he’s not. … ” Read more from ABC7.
Yerba Buena opens up with ‘ecological infrastructure’ that embraces nature
“Amid all the changes happening on Yerba Buena Island in the middle of the bay — big new buildings and a redone road network, for starters — the subtle transformations are what make it worth visiting now. Consider the benches along a sandy cove that use wood from the trunks of eucalyptus trees planted more than a century ago by the U.S. Navy. Or the dozens of tawny boulders scattered through the dog park, large rocks wrested from the ground to clear building sites. Or the seemingly natural tumble of the northwest slope — a path-sliced landscape that was bare 18 months ago, but now is softened by mounds of shrubbery grown from seeds gathered on the island. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
CENTRAL COAST
California American Water continues to fight condemnation effort
“California American Water announced today that it will vigorously defend its right to continue to serve the customers and the communities in its Monterey Peninsula Water System in response to the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s (District) filing of an eminent domain action. “California American Water has proudly and reliably served the customers on the Monterey Peninsula for more than 60 years, and we will continue to do so. Our system is not for sale,” said Evan Jacobs, Director of External Affairs for California American Water. “We will defend against the District’s actions because it is not in the best interest of our customers, we believe the District does not have the legal authority nor the expertise to reliably run such a complex water system, and this effort will cost residents millions of dollars.” To date, the District’s actions have already spanned more than five years at a cost of more than $3 million in public funds spent for legal and consulting fees. … ” Continue reading from Business Wire.
Can frog transplants bring an endangered species back from the brink in California?
“Frogs leaped into the air and swam for cover as Paul Johnson strolled toward a stream crossing, a Jeep crawling slowly behind him. As the SUV climbed into the Griswold Hills from the San Joaquin desert, it crossed the creek another five times. Each time, Johnson, a wildlife biologist with the National Park Service, got out and shooed away dozens of frogs before the vehicle splashed through. Clear Creek, about 30 miles east of King City, is one of the few remaining strongholds of the Central Coast population of the foothill yellow-legged frog. Once found in streams from the Bay Area to Fresno County, the species was placed on the federal endangered species list in late August — which explains Johnson’s extreme caution. … ” Read more from the Monterey Herald.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Tuolumne River fish will get $80 million in habitat improvements from MID, TID and SF
“The main diverters of the Tuolumne River will pay for $80 million worth of habitat projects for its fish. The work will run until 2030 for the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and the city of San Francisco. They hope the projects will fend off calls from environmental groups to release more reservoir water for fish downstream. The three announced the plan in a news release Wednesday, Dec. 13. It involves the 52 miles from Don Pedro Reservoir to the Tuolumne’s confluence with the San Joaquin River. The agencies have long expected to fund such efforts under state and federal rules for river users. The projects will include restoring gravel beds where salmon spawn and riverside forest that shelters newly hatched fish. … ” Read more from the Modesto Bee via Yahoo News.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
One of California’s most toxic landmarks could kill two regions’ economies
“For decades, the Salton Sea has mystified public imagination. Positioned in a rural desert region just miles from popular travel destinations like Palm Springs, it’s California’s largest inland lake — and one of its biggest ecological disasters. Millions of dollars of federal government funding, however, may help prevent the disaster from getting even worse. Both a sump for agricultural runoff and refuge for endangered wildlife, the terminal sea — which has no outflow — is linked to Imperial Valley’s ongoing air quality issues, which have been called some of the worst in the nation. Many children throughout the region’s border towns already have from asthma, studies show, and scientists believe it’s linked to the sea’s receding shoreline, or playa, which emits toxic dust particles containing arsenic, selenium and pesticides from nearby agriculture. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
SAN DIEGO
Padre Dam sues Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College District alleging water theft; district disputes claims
“The Padre Dam Municipal Water District says it has filed a lawsuit against one of its biggest customers, the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, over allegedly taking water through unmetered lines without paying for it. The suit, filed in San Diego Superior Court Dec. 12, according to Padre, is seeking in excess of $200,000 for the unauthorized water, and three times that amount in further damages along with the costs of the suit and reasonable attorney’s fees. The dispute stems from an agreement the two agencies signed in 2015 that outlines how the college district would assume the repair and maintenance for water infrastructure at Grossmont College as it was constructing new buildings at the El Cajon campus. The agreement outlined specific steps the college had to follow to enable the transfer of water lines. … ” Read more from the East County Times.
Along the Colorado River …
River at risk: Searching for solutions on the declining Colorado River
“The Colorado River is the primary water source for 40 million people in the largest cities and agricultural lands in the American Southwest. Stretching from Colorado’s Rocky Mountains to Mexico’s Gulf of California, the river system is now threatened by two decades of drought and overuse. In this five-part series, VOA looks at how cities, farmers, tribes, and other communities along the Colorado are adapting to a hotter, drier future with less water. … ” Read more and watch videos from Voice of America.
CRIT farm manager says the Colorado River’s tribal farmers are one big family
“Colorado River water users held their annual conference in Las Vegas this week. Sustainable agriculture was one of the major topics, and Arizona tribal communities are a big part of that conversation. A panel — “Considering Rural Enhancements: Innovations and Challenges for Sustainable Agriculture in the Basin,” with stakeholders from Wyoming to Mexico — assembled on Thursday. As a farm manager for the Colorado River Indian Tribes, or CRIT, Josh Moore oversees 33,000 acres of land. Agriculture uses approximately 80% of the Colorado River. Cotton and alfalfa are the main crops CRIT grows, but both are water-intensive. … ” Read more from KJZZ.
The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes ask the state of Colorado to compensate them for unused water rights
“In November, members of the Colorado River Drought Task Force met in Durango to talk about tribal water issues in the state. Lisa Yellow Eagle, an attorney for the Southern Ute Tribe, ran down a list of recommendations and concerns at the meeting. “Tribes have challenges developing their water,” said Yellow Eagle. “One of the largest challenges is funding. The tribes do have settled water rights; they have a quantified amount of water that they have the right to use. And yet… they’re watching their water go downstream, and they’re watching other water users use that water.” On December 15, the task force released its final report to the Colorado Legislature. The report is approximately 64 pages worth of strategies to address persistent drought conditions. Among those recommendations, the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes ask the state to conduct a study to determine whether the tribes should be compensated for water they are not using. … ” Read more from KSUT.
More news and commentary in the weekend edition …
In California water news this weekend …
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Fall colors in bloom at 10,000 feet at sunrise near a stream in the Eastern Sierra, Little Lakes Valley, Inyo County. Photo by Jan Arendtsz. Atmospheric river-fueled storms are coming to California. Here’s a timeline of impacts
- ‘Definitely a warmer storm’: Next Calif. system unlikely to help Sierra snowpack
- Delta tunnel project clears important hurdle with release of final environmental report
- Contra Costa County takes legal action against Delta water project
- Water policy in California: Lots of activity; not much clarity
- The man caught at the center of California’s water wars
- His job: Build the largest new reservoir in California in 50 years
- Artist uses Truckee River sidewalk poem to meditate on science, time, place
- SLO County’s groundwater has been polluted by fertilizers. Should farmers cut their use?
- Goleta Water District to issue new water permits in January
- Ridgecrest: Controversy over new study of water at Groundwater Authority meeting
- Western states are brawling over the Colorado River. That could spell trouble for Biden.
- And more …
Click here for the weekend digest.
