In California water news today …
State officials wouldn’t let these homeowners build a sea wall. Their lawsuit could reshape California’s coast
Raging storms brought major damage to California’s coastline last winter. They washed out West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, smashed the Capitola Wharf, burst levees on the Pajaro River in Watsonville, flooded the Santa Barbara airport, and sent two tornadoes barreling into Los Angeles. Most of the destruction is largely repaired now, or at least under construction. But at the end of a quiet residential street in Half Moon Bay, a different kind of coastal upheaval is gaining momentum — one that could decide the fate of billions of dollars of property and affect hundreds of public beaches from San Diego to the Oregon border as rising seas pose a growing threat to the state’s beloved 1,100-mile coastline. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
Some California farmers pay for groundwater. Is that workable?
“California’s Central Coast is an expensive place to grow food. The Pajaro Valley, which stretches for 10 miles along the coast of Monterey Bay, charges farmers for irrigation water from wells, a system that’s far different from elsewhere in the nation, where growers typically water their crops by freely pumping groundwater. In Pajaro, farmers must pay for the precious resource through a system that creates an incentive to conserve water, and that also raises revenue that goes toward recycling water to use on crops. … ” Read more from the New York Times.
California weather: More rain, snow expected before potential fierce weekend storm
“An arctic blast is expected to hit the Pacific Northwest this week, with some of the chilly air spilling toward California. With more storm systems on their way to the Golden State, the Sierra Nevada is in line for several feet of snow in the next seven days. Closer to the coast, parts of the Bay Area will face freezing temperatures Monday morning before two weather systems hit Tuesday and Wednesday. These weak systems will combine to bring up to a quarter inch of rain to San Francisco and Oakland. A period of moderate wind is possible at the coast Wednesday, with 25 to 35 mph gusts, large waves and minor coastal flooding at northwest-facing beaches and due to king tides. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SEE ALSO: More rain and snow is headed to Northern California. When it will hit? How long will it last?, from the Sacramento Bee
A Functional Flows approach to implementing Flood-MAR
” … Flood managed aquifer recharge, or Flood-MAR, is a strategy to intentionally create flooding over dormant or fallow crop fields, rangelands, recharge basins, or floodplains during high flows so that water infiltrates to recharge aquifers. By storing water underground in wet years, we can improve water availability in dry years, supporting water users and refilling aquifers. There also can be a host of ecological benefits, particularly for Flood-MAR projects that reintroduce water to historical floodplains and reactivate wetland and riparian habitats. However, the way that we implement recharge matters. … ” Continue reading at the California Water Blog.
California’s PFAS regulation brings a reckoning for the fashion industry
“The fashion industry is set to be affected by another round of regulations — this time, they’re centered on chemicals commonly used in clothing coatings. PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals that have been used in various industries since the 1940s. There are over 12,000 types of PFAS, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. They’re sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and human body, where they can accumulate over time and cause issues linked to reproduction, allergies and cancer. Common in outdoor and performance wear, these chemicals help fabrics repel water and resist stains. However, their environmental and health impacts have sparked a shift among brands toward safer textile alternatives. … ” Read more from Glossy.
Fifty years of water research projects in California
“For decades, California has supported research to improve water resources management. Within our archives at the California Institute for Water Resources (CIWR), we have records of nearly 250 funded research projects going back fifty years. This led us to ask, how have water research topics in California changed over time? First, let’s step back in history. In 1957, with State Water Project construction looming, the California State Legislature funded the first University of California Water Resources Center at UCLA to provide training and research for water planning. Soon after, in 1964, the federal Water Resources Research Act authorized water research institutes in each state. In California, the existing UC Water Resources Center became part of the new network of federal institutes. … ” Continue reading at The Confluence.
In regional water news and commentary today …
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Sub-zero temperatures recorded at Lake Tahoe
“Northern California recorded some of its lowest temperatures so far this winter on Monday morning as some areas experienced sub-zero conditions, according to the National Weather Service. Sacramento County and the surrounding region saw temperatures mostly dip down into the low to mid-30s. … Lake Tahoe recorded some extremely cold conditions as the North Lake Tahoe area had temperatures plunge to -4 degrees. … ” Read the full story at Fox 40.
CENTRAL COAST
Anonymous private owner donates ‘very unusual’ California land to conservationists
“One hundred twenty acres of the Upper Zayante Watershed in the Santa Cruz Mountains were recently donated to the Sempervirens Fund by anonymous private landowners, marking a major step forward in conservation efforts that could aid in the recovery of endangered coho salmon and help support the habitat of other native species living in the area, per a Thursday news release from the group, which was founded in 1900 and is California’s first land trust. … ” Read more from SF Gate.
Sunflower Star Laboratory seeks to restore locally extinct species
“The sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia helianthoides – a stunning behemoth in the invertebrate community with 24 arms measuring up to one meter from tip to tip, one of the largest and heaviest sea stars in the world – was once common in Monterey Bay and the entirety of the west coast from Alaska to San Diego. The Sunflower Star Laboratory, a nonprofit based in Monterey, seeks to rear sunflower stars in captivity and reintroduce them into marine environments where they have become locally extinct. … ” Read more from the Monterey Herald.
Guadalupe residents bracing for winter rain, despite riverbed work
“Nearly a year after record rainfall in 2023 caused the Santa Maria River to overflow into the low-lying Guadalupe neighborhood along Pioneer Street, residents are still recovering from flood damage. And despite $8 million allocated by Santa Barbara County to pay for storm repair, including berm work to reestablish the riverbed, the residents in the historically flood-prone area are bracing for rain this winter. “We are miserable. Our whole life has been affected, and we will not be able to ever get back on track. I felt like we were literally on top of the world when this happened and now our whole life has been destroyed,” said resident Adam Cable. … ” Read more from the Santa Maria Times.
Residents at odds with Oxnard over water testing costs for Channel Islands Harbor
“As Oxnard grapples with poor water quality in Channel Islands Harbor, nearby residents fear they’ll be stuck with the bill for ongoing testing. Harbor homeowners were recently spared the burden of paying for the latest round of testing, which aims to help solve a problem that began once the Mandalay Generating Station closed in 2018. Water that previously circulated as part of the power plant’s cooling process has since stagnated. The City Council voted to use about $99,400 in American Rescue Plan Act funding last month to pay for tests. Staff had recommended 80% of the costs be paid by four harbor communities. “There isn’t one resident in the city of Oxnard … that doesn’t have a stake in what happens at Channel Islands Harbor,” Councilmember Bert Perello said at the Dec. 19 meeting. … ” Read more from the Ventura County Star.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Repairs to Isabella Dam power plant completed; Kern River flows to ramp back up
“Repairs to a damaged tunnel inside the power plant at the base of Isabella Dam were completed Saturday, just seven days after the project began, according to an attorney for Water Audit California, a public interest group suing to keep water in the Kern River. Releases from the dam had been reduced to about 100 cubic feet per second during the repairs and are now expected to ramp back up, according to attorney William McKinnon who has been coordinating with the Army Corps of Engineers and power plant owner Isabella Partners. Roger Kirk, the manager of the power plant, referred questions about the project to McKinnon. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Highest tides of the year coming this week; here’s when to expect them in Long Beach
“Some of the highest tides of the year, known as king tides, will hit Long Beach’s shores on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 11 and 12. With morning tides nearing seven feet on those days, no significant flooding is expected so far, but city crews still will be shoring up sand berms for extra protection, city Marine Safety Chief Gonzalo Medina said. “The only reason we would have an issue here in Long Beach is if we had swell or additional weather to go along with the king tide,” he said. … ” Read more from the Long Beach Post.
SAN DIEGO
Here’s what the new gas monitors are showing, and saying, about the Tijuana sewage crisis
“It’s only the first of six monitoring stations that will be placed along the border region near where sewage flows through the Tijuana River watershed, but in the three months since it was installed, it has confirmed what South Bay residents long suspected: The air they are breathing is unhealthy. What, they wonder, will the other five monitoring stations show? And how will the data collected be used to remedy the decades-long, unchecked discharge of contaminated water from the U.S.-Mexico region? … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Along the Colorado River …
Commentary: What worries me most about Arizona water? It’s not a dwindling supply
Opinion columnist Joanna Allhands writes, “Someone recently asked what worries me most about water. My answer wasn’t a dwindling Colorado River, the lack of controls on rural groundwater or even the perception that metro Phoenix is running out of water. It’s partisanship. That probably sounds like a strange answer, considering that most of what needs to happen in water now does not directly involve the Legislature (more on that in a second). Nevertheless, lawmakers on both sides have said they want to make water a focus this year. And a bunch of bills have been introduced or are promised to drop in the next few weeks, many on the premise of restarting growth in the areas of metro Phoenix where it was paused. But there’s something different at the Capitol this year. … ” Read more from Arizona Central.
Colorado rivers may shrink by 30% as climate change continues, report says
“Climate change will continue to hammer Colorado’s hallmark rivers and streams, with a new report showing their flows will shrink by 5% to 30% over the next nearly 30 years. And it’s not just drying up our water. Human-caused global warming has raised Colorado’s annual average temperature by 2.3 degrees between 1980 and 2022, the report says. Colorado climate change, exacerbated in the fall months and in the southwestern and south central parts of the state, will add another 1 to 4 degrees of average temperature by 2050. The news comes with the release today of the Colorado Climate Report, the third in a series of papers the state has issued since 2008 documenting the impact of the warming climate. … ” Read more from the Colorado Sun.
In national water news today …
Commentary: New drinking water data uncovers flaws in EPA’s proposed PFAS rules
Chad Seidel, Ph.D., P.E., president of Corona Environmental Consulting, writes, “Recently released drinking water quality testing data calls into doubt major assumptions underpinning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed National Drinking Water Standards for PFOA and PFOS. Most importantly, these water quality testing results from water systems across the United States clearly show that the agency significantly overestimated the number of large water systems impacted and underestimated the impact on small water systems. These discrepancies have major implications on the public health benefits and costs of the EPA’s proposed PFAS drinking water rule. … ” Continue reading at Water Finance & Management.
Scientists are already bracing for record-breaking heat in 2024
“This year will be hot. Very hot. So hot that some experts are already predicting it may beat 2023 as the hottest year in recorded history. Climate change is, of course, primarily responsible. Burning fossil fuels is increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the global average temperature to rise. In 2023, the average was about 1.4C higher than the pre-industrial era; early estimates suggest this year will be up 1.3C to 1.6C. But what makes scientists even more secure in their 2024 predictions is El Niño, one of three phases of a multi-year climate cycle known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. … ” Read more from Bloomberg.
More news and commentary in the weekend edition …
In California water news this weekend:
-
Truckee River. Photo by Doug Jones With California snowpack below average, approaching storms bring hope
- Low snowpack leaves California’s water year outlook uncertain
- Big Delta tunnel project raises questions over Napa water supply
- Brace yourself for the highest tides of the year mixed with high surf
- The story of the orcas and the chinook salmon
- New sign along American River pays tribute to Jonas Minton
- Latest Northern California storms allow lower-elevation ski resorts to open
- Valley Water updating long-term plan to meet Santa Clara County’s water supply needs through 2050
- Massive dumping ground of WWII-era munitions discovered off Los Angeles coast
- Colorado River states are racing to agree on cuts before inauguration day
- Feds will take over if Western states can’t agree on Colorado River plan
- And more …
Click here for the weekend digest.
