A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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In California water news this week …
Rain, snow and chilly air take aim on West Coast this weekend
“The massive storm forecast to cross the country, bringing blizzard conditions and severe thunderstorms to the central and eastern U.S. early next week will get its start in the West this weekend, where it will arrive amid chillier air, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. “Another in a lengthy series of storms will come ashore in the Northwest this weekend along with a cold front,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Heather Zehr. Beginning Friday night, the storm will come ashore with some rain and gusty winds, as well as bring snow to the higher elevations, where snow levels—the elevation at which rain changes to snow—will fall through the weekend. The storm will be a continuation of a parade of storms that began early this week and will continue with another system next week. … ” Read more from AccuWeather.
‘We’re dry:’ First 2024 snow survey dismal in California
“The Golden State’s first test of the season’s snowpack left experts underwhelmed at the chances for another wet winter year, with California measuring well below average for rain and snowfall so far. In a panel Tuesday, California Department of Water Resources officials reported just 7.5 inches of snow depth and a three-inch snow-water equivalent at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. This represents 30% of the average measurement at the location, while statewide the snowpack is at 25% of average — compared to 185% measured last year. “What this shows us is, we’re dry,” climatologist Michael Anderson said on the panel. He said that rainfall looked promising at the start of the water year in other parts of the West, but “for most of California, it was delayed.” … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
Mountains in the West have a lot less snow than they should right now
“It’s the heart of winter, but the Mountain West is mired in a widespread snow drought. Although snow season started strong in some spots, it has since flatlined. Resorts in Utah are running on limited terrain. Idaho and Montana mountains are hurting for snow. So is the Pacific Northwest. The Sierra just picked up some to open the year, but it needs a good deal more to get out of the rut. Some areas have less than a third of the amount of snow that they should have in January. And many individual stations are registering record low snow numbers, according to Dan McEvoy, a climatologist for the Desert Research Institute and the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, Nev. … ” Read more from the Washington Post.
California’s new water conservation rules too stringent and costly, analysts say
“California’s legislative advisors today lambasted the state’s ambitious proposal to regulate urban water conservation, calling the measures costly and difficult to achieve, “in many cases without compelling justifications.” The proposed rules, unveiled in August, call for more than 400 cities and other water suppliers serving about 95% of Californians to meet conservation targets beginning in 2025. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office suggested significant changes to the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposal, warning that the regulations would set “such stringent standards for outdoor use that suppliers will not have much ‘wiggle room’ in complying.” They also warn that the added costs will ultimately be borne by customers. “Whether the benefits of the new rules ultimately will outweigh the costs is unclear,” the report says. “These doubts are particularly worrisome given we find that suppliers will face notable challenges complying with these requirements.” … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
Report reveals deficiencies in California plan to boost urban water conservation
“In 2018, the California Legislature passed parallel bills to improve urban water conservation. Now, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office suggests the laws should be modified to make the regulations less complicated, less challenging and costly to implement — and less onerous for lower-income households. Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 aim to conserve water in the face of drought — which the state has experienced in 9 of the past 11 years — decreased snowpacks and climate change. Other state plans call for more water recycling, desalinating ocean water, stormwater capture and expanding above- and below-ground storage capacity, all of which the state has plowed a billion dollars into over the last decade. The bills require the State Water Resources Control Board to draft policies that specifically target reductions in urban water use — the water that 95% of residents use for drinking, bathing and watering their lawns. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
New California law updates water restrictions for businesses. What does it mean for you?
“Restaurants, stores and other property owners will be banned from using drinking water to irrigate their lawns under a new California law. Assembly Bill 1572 requires business owners, public agencies and other entities to phase out the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional and decorative turf starting in 2027. Instead, they’ll have to use recycled and non-potable water to keep landscaping looking fresh and green. Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, introduced the bill in February. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Central Valley region salt control program: An ongoing approach to prioritizing salinity management measures in the Central Valley
“The Central Valley (Valley) watershed is the epicenter of California’s economy—encompassing just over 35% of the land in the state. It provides water for millions of people, agriculture, industry, and other businesses from San Francisco to San Diego, as well as food for California, the nation, and the world. Over the last 150 years, increased agricultural, industrial, and municipal activities, coupled with population growth, have resulted in significant increases in salts in soils, groundwater, and surface waters in various areas within in the Central Valley. Normal activities in all homes, farms, businesses, cities, and towns contribute to the salt problem by adding or concentrating salts. Irrigation, food processing, municipal wastewater treatment, and water management practices are just some of the water uses that influence the salt problem in the Central Valley. Salt conditions are also impacted in parts of the Valley as a result of importing and exporting water supplies. … ” Read more from the Northern California Water Association.
A Stanford economist says we should think of water like radio waves
“Water, water everywhere. And increasingly, not a drop a drink. As tensions over the future of water consumption hit their boiling point, a new working paper published through the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) posits one way to quell them, at least in California: remake the state’s water transfer market in the image of a radio spectrum auction. In the US, western states have provided the most acute window into an increasingly complex and difficult process to secure water. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, two crucial reservoirs, sit nearly half-empty. California, Arizona, and Nevada were only able to muster a stopgap conservation agreement in October after years of squabbling over climate change-sapped flows from the Colorado River. California is pursuing a $14 billion tunnel to move water from the northern part of the state to the south. Not to mention all the Native American tribes left in the lurch as their long-standing rights to water get subjugated by state and local US governments. Now the NBER paper, authored by Stanford economist Paul Milgrom and graduate student Billy Ferguson, suggests a spectrum auction that ran from 2016 to 2017 could offer one solution. … ” Read more from Quartz Magazine.
SEE ALSO: New Proposal Aims to Revamp California’s Water Transfer Market, from BNN Breaking
NOTEBOOK FEATURE: How AI can help protect California streams and fish
“Rivers in California once swelled and ebbed as the seasons changed and as wet years gave way to dry ones. Salmon and other now-imperiled aquatic species depended on these historic patterns. But today dams and diversions have altered most of the state’s waterways, leaving their natural flows a mystery. “Natural flows have been a longstanding question in water management, especially for fish,” says Kirk Klausmeyer, who directs data science for The Nature Conservancy in California. “To restore stream habitats, we need to try and replicate natural flows—but we don’t have the data.” Only about 10% of California’s rivers have stream gauges. Luckily, though, a few rivers both have gauges and are still essentially free flowing. Data from this handful of rivers can be used to predict the natural flows in altered streams had they been left untouched. But people crunch these numbers quite slowly. … ” Continue reading at Maven’s Notebook.
How artificial intelligence can help beavers fight floods, droughts and wildfires
“A few years ago, a couple of Google employees reached out to a Minnesota scientist with an unusual proposal: What if they could teach computers to spot beaver habitats from space? “They wanted to know if I thought it was possible to find beaver wetlands from aerial imagery myself, and then if that could be scaled up with machine learning,” Emily Fairfax, a University of Minnesota beaver researcher and assistant professor of geography, told As It Happens guest host Megan Williams. Fairfax knew that beavers’ sprawling dams were visible on satellite and drone imagery. Scientists have been finding and mapping them that way for years. … Today, Fairfax is heading up a team of engineers, scientists and conservationists who are using the Earth Engine Automated Geospatial Elements Recognition (EEAGER) — as in “eager beaver” — to map the rodents’ infrastructure across California. … ” Read more from CBC.
Vitamin discovered in rivers may offer hope for salmon suffering from thiamine deficiency disease
“Oregon State University researchers have discovered vitamin B1 produced by microbes in rivers, findings that may offer hope for vitamin-deficient salmon populations. Findings were published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The authors say the study in California’s Central Valley represents a novel piece of an important physiological puzzle involving Chinook salmon, a keystone species that holds significant cultural, ecological and economic importance in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Christopher Suffridge, senior research associate in the Department of Microbiology in the OSU College of Science, and doctoral student Kelly Shannon examined concentrations of thiamine and the microbial communities in rivers of the Sacramento River watershed. Thiamine is the compound commonly referred to as vitamin B1 and is critical to cellular function in all living organisms. … ” Read more from the Milk Producers Council.
SEE ALSO: Video: Bubbles, Lights and Sounds: DWR Uses Bioacoustics to Help Guide Juvenile Salmon, from DWR News
In commentary this week …
California’s water supply and flood infrastructure cannot adapt to climate volatility
Letitia Grenier and Ellen Hanak, both with the PPIC, write, “Climate change is throwing California’s already variable climate for a loop, supercharging the extremes of drought and flood and leaving us with fewer “in-between” moments. But while we’ve done a great job preparing for increasingly frequent and severe droughts in California, our infrastructure and institutions remain woefully underprepared for the extreme floods that are coming our way. It’s time to take this threat seriously, and accelerate planning for the wet years we know are bound to happen. The need is urgent. … ” Continue reading at the Sacramento Bee.
Is flood control losing priority in the state’s climate change agenda? Money matters
Sacramento Bee opinion columnist Tom Philp writes, “From Fisherman’s Wharf to Oracle Park, where the Giants play baseball, San Francisco wants to build a 30-foot wall to prevent a rising bay from submerging this low-lying edge of the city. The 7.5-mile wall is expected to cost $13 billion. It would be the largest public works project in an expensive city’s storied history. And it’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for the Bay Area. … Now, however, the Bay Area has to worry about floods coming from the Bay through a cruel combination of sea level rise and peak storm surge. Its needs are exploding — financially overwhelming those of Sacramento and the Central Valley. … ” Read the full commentary at the Sacramento Bee.
Investing in sustainable water sources
Congressman Jared Huffman writes, “Looking around the West, it’s impossible to ignore the signs of water scarcity. Our changing climate, growing population and massive demands from irrigated agriculture are colliding with critically dewatered streams and estuaries and the collapse of iconic salmon fisheries. California is wringing dry our diminishing water resources. On the Colorado River, plunging reservoir levels have forced water supply cuts once unthinkable. In the Bay-Delta, which sustains California’s billion-dollar salmon fishery, drought and mismanagement have forced a statewide closure of all salmon fishing. Land in the Central Valley is sinking, undermining critical infrastructure like the California Aqueduct, because of unsustainable groundwater pumping. One thing is certain: overdrawing finite water resources has a limit, and we are hurtling toward it. … ” Read more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
Challenging the water othodoxy
Edward Ring, co-founder and senior fellow with the California Policy Center, writes, “Along with energy, water abundance is a nonnegotiable prerequisite for conditions we value and aspire to achieve: prosperity, affordability, resilience, and equity. But judging from California’s restrictive policies over the past fifty years, continuously escalating in severity and scope, you would think the opposite is true. California state water policy, despite occasional rhetorical nods towards the value of abundance, remains resolutely committed to enforcing water scarcity. The laws and regulations that reflect this bias may come from the California Legislature, but their impetus comes from the culture. Environmentalism that is often extreme and often misguided and unbalanced is promoted by powerful nonprofit organizations and their donors, and reinforced by journalists and commentators who tend to be remarkably uninterested in explanations that might challenge the scarcity orthodoxy. … ” Continue reading at the California Globe.
Taxing groundwater is a sure way to preserve it
Mark Gongloff, Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist, writes, “Without really meaning to, farmers in a small California valley have spent the past 30 years in an experiment to see what happens when the groundwater they pump to their crops is taxed. The results are in, and they are striking. They could point the way to preserving a precious resource under threat worldwide. But the experiment also highlights the difficult trade-offs that preparing for a sustainable future on a heating planet will bring. … ” Read more from Bloomberg (gift article).
California’s water future
Charlie Carner with Welljet writes, “The good news is, California has plenty of water. So those who think we’re in a “Mega-Drought!” and “Running Out of Water!!” can cool their carbon-neutral jets. But then, if California has plenty of water, why is everyone ripping out their lawns and replacing them with some kind of fake grass that is made from fossil fuels and causes cancer? Why are towns dying of thirst, and groves and orchards being plowed under? Why are multi-generational farmers going bust on the richest and most productive agricultural land on Planet Earth? California doesn’t have a water supply problem. California has a water allocation problem. … ” Continue reading at Water Wrights.
Prioritizing equity in statewide water management
Rick L. Callender, Esq., President of the NAACP California/Hawaii State Conference, writes, “Climate change exacerbates California’s extreme wet and dry conditions, disrupting water delivery systems designed for historical seasonal precipitation patterns. As state and local water managers grapple with these challenges, the needs of Black, Brown, and disadvantaged communities cannot be ignored as it relates to access to water. Where we see the greatest threat to disadvantaged communities is in water rates. One of the most affordable sources of water in the state comes from the State Water Project, which serves more than 27 million people, including 8 million disadvantaged community members spanning from the Bay Area to the border with Mexico and communities in between. Securing the reliability of the State Water Project is key to affordability. … ” Read more from Capitol Weekly.
In regional water news this week …
State readopts curtailment for Scott, Shasta tributaries
“Even though the clock doesn’t run out on winter for another eight weeks, state water officials are bracing for another dry year for the Scott and Shasta rivers in Siskiyou County. At its Dec. 19 meeting, the California State Water Resources Control Board unanimously readopted an emergency drought regulation that curtails water rights in the Scott and Shasta rivers, affecting farmers and ranchers. The emergency regulation had expired last summer. Readopted every year since May 2021, when Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency, the order limits surface-water diversions and groundwater pumping. It also prioritizes minimum flow recommendations from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect threatened coho and other fish. … ” Read more from Ag Alert.
Researchers, tribes, residents prepare for a century of sediment released from the Klamath dams
“In the coming weeks, water will be let out from behind the three remaining dams on the Klamath River. A century’s worth of sediment that has piled up behind the dams will also flow downriver. … The crew from the restoration company Resource Environmental Solutions, or RES, and Northern California’s Karuk Tribe are spending two weeks catching as many young coho salmon as they can and relocating them to specially constructed ponds next to creeks. By doing so, they hope to protect the Endangered Species Act-listed fish from the deluge of sediment that will be released when water from three Klamath River reservoirs is released in January—a major step toward the removal of three major dams. … ” Read the full story at Jefferson Public Radio.
First dive survey of Lake Tahoe’s lakebed finds high amounts of plastic and other litter
“Plastic litter is a growing problem around the world, and new research shows that the bottom of Lake Tahoe is no exception. In one of the first studies to utilize scuba divers to collect litter from a lakebed, 673 plastic items were counted from just a small fraction of the lake. In the study, published in the November issue of the journal Applied Spectroscopy, researchers from DRI and the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center teamed up with the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake to take a close look at the litter. First, scientists broke it down into categories based on use (such as food containers and water bottles), followed by the chemical composition of the plastic. The knowledge gained can help scientists better understand the source of large pieces of litter in the lake, as well as whether they’re a significant source of microplastics as larger pieces break down and degrade. Previous research found that the waters of Lake Tahoe contain high levels of microplastics, defined as plastics smaller than a pencil eraser. … ” Read more from the Desert Research Institute.
No harm, no foul, no suit in fight over Sacramento River pollution
“A federal judge ruled Thursday an environmental group that sued a Woodland, California, company over contaminated water in the Sacramento River lacks standing to bring its case. Central Valley Eden Environmental Defenders sued Champion Home Builders this past June. Eden claims stormwater flows over Champion’s facility, collecting sediment, metals and other contaminants and then flows into a canal and creek that feeds into the Sacramento River. Champion makes modular homes and buildings at its Woodland site, about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento. … ” Continue reading from the Courthouse News Service.
New salmon successes
“Within weeks of a $3.6 million Water Forum project completion in October, giant chinook were spawning in new gravel beds beside Ancil Hoffman Park. At the peak of the fall American River salmon run, biologists commissioned by the Forum counted more than 100 new redds (nests) in river reaches that have been less than hospitable for spawning for decades. Salmon were digging nurseries when this reporter joined the survey of six augmented acres at Upper River Bend. After salmon, steelhead will use the same breeding habitat. Another species benefitted by the project is Pacific Lamprey, that breed in the same habitat. “Monitoring is important” explains Kirsten Sellheim, senior scientist for Cramer Fish Sciences. “We bring what we learn into the next project design. In spring, we’ll do more monitoring here to learn how juvenile fish are using side channels that were part of this project. … ” Read more from the Carmichael Times.
Sonoma and Mendocino counties unite with Round Valley Indian tribes to preserve vital water resources
“Sonoma County, in a pivotal collaboration with Mendocino County and the Round Valley Indian Tribes, has embarked on a groundbreaking initiative to safeguard a crucial water supply for the region. This move comes as the counties join forces under the newly established Eel-Russian Project Authority. The Board of Supervisors’ recent decision to join the Eel-Russian Project Authority marks a significant step in regional water management. This new entity is tasked with the construction, ownership, and operation of a facility dedicated to continuing the century-old practice of diverting water from the Eel River into the Russian River. This diversion has been instrumental in sustaining agriculture, supporting residential needs, and maintaining aquatic ecosystems in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. … ” Read more from the Sonoma Gazette.
Cuyama water lawsuit moves forward as Bolthouse, Grimmway drop out
“The Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin adjudication is scheduled to begin on Jan. 8 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, but Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms are no longer plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Originally filed in 2021, the adjudication calls for a judge to rule on how much water everyone can pump from the basin, which is one of California’s 21 critically overdrafted basins that has a state-required groundwater sustainability plan. The sustainability plan calls for a 60 percent reduction in water use in 20 years. The suit sparked frustration for Cuyama residents, who later launched a boycott against the carrot-growing companies and a petition calling for the corporations to drop the lawsuit. Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway, which left the lawsuit in August and November, respectively, said in separate statements that companies remaining as lawsuit plaintiffs are landowners in the valley and aren’t affiliated with either ag corporation. … ” Continue reading at the Santa Maria Sun.
Delano water bottling plant prompts concerns over exporting native groundwater
“News of the new Niagara Bottling plant going up in Delano hit the local groundwater agency with surprise and alarm. The plant is permitted to use 1.6 million gallons of groundwater per day, according to a will-serve letter issued by the city in August 2022. That works out to 1,788 acre feet per year, assuming full operation for 365 days. Even with downtime, the plant will create a substantial pull on the already overdrafted aquifer, said Roland Gross, General Manager of the Southern San Joaquin Municipal Utility District (SSJMUD), which also acts as the area’s groundwater sustainability agency (GSA). … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Will Southern California have wet winter? Yes, no, or wait and see, say experts
“What will California’s water picture look like in the next 12 months? The predictions are literally all over the map. After a measurement of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada on Tuesday, Jan. 2 found only 7.5 inches of snow — 30 percent of the average depth — the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) put out a statement saying residents should prepare for “flood or dry conditions in the months ahead.” Why the cover all bases announcement? Experts say that California’s unpredictable weather, coupled with warmer temperatures from climate change creating more rain than snow, makes the forecast cloudy with a chance of anything. Throw in a strong El Niño in the eastern Pacific and the predictions become even more varied. … ” Read more from the OC Register (gift article).
Snowfall is below average in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. That’s bad news for the Colorado River
“Last year, the drought on the Colorado River was eased some by generous rain and snowfall throughout the Southwest. But, so far this winter, we’re seeing what some are calling a “snow drought.” Snow totals across the West are lower than average for this time of year, ski resorts are making snow to get skiers on the slopes, and all of it has big implications for the shrinking Colorado River, which flows to about 40 million people across the Southwest. Alex Hager, who covers the Colorado River basin for KUNC, joined The Show to tell us more about it. … ” Read transcript or listen at KJZZ.
