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In California water news today …
The end of El Niño might make the weather even more extreme
“Summers keep getting hotter, and the consequences are impossible to miss: In the summer of 2023, the northern hemisphere experienced its hottest season in 2,000 years. Canada’s deadliest wildfires on record bathed skylines in smoke from Minnesota to New York. In Texas and Arizona, hundreds of people lost their lives to heat, and in Vermont, flash floods caused damages equivalent to those from a hurricane. Forecasts suggest that this year’s upcoming “danger season” has its own catastrophes in store. On May 23, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be the most prolific yet. A week earlier, they released a seasonal map predicting blistering temperatures across almost the entire country. … ” Read more from Wired Magazine.
Napa Valley has lush vineyards and wineries – and a pollution problem
“Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries, Napa valley is where people go to escape their problems. “When you first get there, it’s really pretty,” said Geoff Ellsworth, former mayor of St Helena, a small Napa community nestled 50 miles north-east of San Francisco. “It mesmerizes people.” What the more than 3 million annual tourists don’t see, however, is that California’s wine country has a brewing problem – one that has spurred multiple ongoing government investigations and created deep divisions. Some residents and business owners fear it poses a risk to the region’s reputation and environment. At the heart of the fear is the decades-old Clover Flat Landfill (CFL), perched on the northern edge of the valley atop the edge of a rugged mountain range. Two streams run adjacent to the landfill as tributaries to the Napa River. A growing body of evidence, including regulatory inspection reports and emails between regulators and CFL owners, suggests the landfill and a related garbage-collection business have routinely polluted those local waterways that drain into the Napa River with an assortment of dangerous toxins. … ” Read more from The Guardian.
SEE ALSO: Worries in wine country: Napa Valley wrestles with chemical contamination controversy, from the New Lede
Drip drop: California’s water supply is replenishing — but unevenly
Remember the past couple of years of water cuts and restrictions for California wineries and vineyards, courtesy of several years of drought? They’re mostly memories as the wine business moves into the 2024 growing season. The key word there is “mostly.” “We’ve had two good years of rain and snow, so no one expects cutbacks,” says Stuart Spencer, the executive director of the Lodi Wine Growers trade group. His comments echo what many others said during an informal survey of trade groups, growers and water management organizations. “At the moment, water is not at the top of our list of problems.”All might be well in Lodi, but some other regions reported cuts in their 2024 water supply. In the Westlands Water District, which manages the water supply on the westside of Fresno and Kings counties, a Westlands spokeswoman said the agency was allocated less water than it had contracted for: “[It’s] an incredibly disappointing and unjustifiably low allocation for our district water users,” she said. … ” Read more from Wine Industry Advisor.
Another heat spell will hit California this week. Here’s why this one will be different
“After a cooler weekend across Northern and Central California, temperatures will again reach the triple digits in the Central Valley and the hottest parts of the Bay Area in the coming days. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning and heat advisories throughout Northern and Central California in anticipation of the hottest conditions Tuesday and Wednesday. This week’s hot spell is expected to be shorter than last week’s heat wave, with the peak lasting only two days, but temperatures nearly 20 degrees above normal are possible in the Sacramento Valley. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
California’s new state park opens this week
“California officials will formally open the state’s 281st state park on Wednesday, and it’s an unusual one. Dos Rios is a riverfront oasis in the San Joaquin Valley that offers a window into what the region was like before it was transformed into an agricultural powerhouse. The 1,600-acre property, eight miles west of Modesto at the confluence of the Tuolumne and San Joaquin Rivers, for decades housed dairy farms and almond orchards. It has now been restored to a broad natural floodplain, where visitors will be able to hike, watch birds and other wildlife, and have a picnic along the riverbanks. Officials hope to eventually add trails for bicycling and more river access for swimming, angling and boating. “It’s a great addition to the state parks system in a part of the state that’s somewhat park-poor,” Rachel Norton, executive director of the California State Parks Foundation, told me. “If you look at a map of California, you see tons of parks going up the coast. You see tons of parks in the Sierra Nevada and in the desert. There’s a lot along the edges. But in the center of the state, there’s just not a lot.” … ” Read more from the New York Times.
A brazen California water heist revealed, prosecuted & punished
“Recently, former Panoche Drainage District general manager Dennis Falaschi pled guilty in federal district court in Fresno to having conspired to steal millions of gallons of publicly-owned water from California’s Central Valley Project (CVP) for private gain. This surreptitious water theft apparently had been going on for well over two decades before Falaschi was finally brought to justice. The story of this water scandal was originally reported by former Sacramento Bee reporters Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow and published in 2022. According to the Bee story, a federal indictment filed against Falaschi that year charged him with ordering his water district employees in Fresno and Merced Counties to illegally divert water from the CVP’s Delta-Mendota Canal beginning in 1992 to benefit his District, other District officials and himself. He did so without ever notifying federal officials of those diversions, much less paying the federal government for the millions of dollars worth of water Falaschi ordered stolen from the CVP. … ” Read more from the Legal Planet.
Amid budget shortfall, lobbyists push for multibillion-dollar climate bond
“Dozens of environmental groups, renewable energy companies, labor unions, water agencies and social justice advocates are lobbying state lawmakers to place a multibillion dollar climate bond on the November ballot. Sacramento lawmakers have been bombarded with ads and pitches in support of a ballot proposal that would have the state borrow as much as $10 billion to fund projects related to the environment and climate change. “Time to GO ALL IN on a Climate Bond,” says the ad from WateReuse California, a trade association advocating for projects that would recycle treated sewage and storm runoff into drinking water. “Invest in California’s Ports to Advance Offshore Wind,” says an ad by the companies that want to build giant wind turbines off the coast. The jockeying by the lobbyists to get their priorities into the proposed climate bond measure intensified after Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed spending $54 billion on climate in 2022 but then cut that funding to close recent massive budget deficits. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
In commentary today …
Where can Californians turn when their water is brown? LA County saga shows the way
Oralia Avila. who works in customer services for Suburban Water Systems and lives in unincorporated Los Angeles County, writes, “Imagine growing up in a home where tap water consistently runs a stomach-churning brown, sometimes with an odor. You hate to bathe in it, and you certainly aren’t going to drink it. You’re not in some remote hinterland, either. You’re in Los Angeles County. Brown tap water was a feature of my childhood. No one outside our poorly managed and financially challenged Sativa Water District in Compton and Willowbrook seemed to understand or care that we feared our own water. My mom purchased bottled water for drinking and cooking, shouldering the cost like an extra tax. Still, we had to climb into the murky stuff in the bathtub. Sometimes our clothes came out of the wash more stained than when they went in. … ” Read more from Cal Matters.
In regional water news and commentary today …
NORTH COAST
Why Is PG&E requesting an extension on its surrender application of the Potter Valley Project?
“The Eel-Russian Project Authority is working to take over the Potter Valley diversion facility from PG&E, in order to construct a new diversion after Scott and Cape Horn dams are removed. The ERPA has dual goals: to continue sending some water from the Eel River into the Russian River, and to restore healthy fisheries to the Eel River. PG&E’s statement does not provide much information. Friends of the Eel River expressed concern about the delay, saying PG&E is “. . . giving ground on their previous position that arrangements for a potential continued diversion will not delay Eel River dam removal.” We spoke by phone to Janet Pauli of the Inland Water and Power Commission of Mendocino County, which has a board seat on the Eel-Russian Project Authority. … ” Read more from Mendo Fever.
Federal funds propel Eel River water diversion forward
“The Department of Reclamation has put $2 million towards the next phase of designing a facility to continue diverting water from the Eel River into the Russian after PG&E removes the Potter Valley hydropower project dams. Congressman Jared Huffman made the announcement at the south boat ramp of the Coyote Valley Dam at Lake Mendocino on Friday, along with representatives from state and federal agencies, the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and conservation groups. He told the assembled dignitaries that, “I drafted language in Congress to create this new program for the Bureau, the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Program, very much with that kind of win-win water solution in mind — In fact, with this project in mind.” … ” Read more from Mendo Fever.
Salmon and the subsurface
“You’ve probably noticed that some streams flow year-round while others are seasonally dry, despite receiving similar amounts of rainfall. Through a recent NSF-funded effort (“Eel River Critical Zone Observatory”), we learned several things about how landscapes filter climate to produce such diverse flow behavior–and the implications for how salmon live their lives. Our 25-year field study revealed that belts of California’s Eel River watershed underlain by different geologies have different Critical Zones (CZs) – Earth’s permeable surface layers from the top of the vegetation canopy down to fresh bedrock, where water can be stored and exchanged. Different below-ground CZ structures have different subsurface water storage capacity–that is, the maximum seasonal volume of water stored belowground that is available for streamflow and plant transpiration (Hahm et al 2019). … ” Read more from the California Water Blog.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
William Land Golf Course announces long-term restoration project for 100th anniversary
“The historic William Land Golf Course in Sacramento celebrated its 100th anniversary on Saturday and revealed a new restoration plan designed to take the course into its next century, officials said. … The plan is expected to cost $5 to $7 million and will be completed over the next decade, Morton said, with the timing heavily dependent on funding. Brett Hochstein of Hochstein Design is overseeing the project, which was submitted to the city and approved this spring. “It’s hard to describe, because it means a ton to me,” Hochstein said. “To see a place like this and know how special it is, right off the bat, and then to spend more time here and being here from dawn to dusk, and all the different people who come by. Just the energy and the vibes of the whole place, it’s truly special. There’s few places that I’d rather be working at than this.” … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
BAY AREA
Fire season 2024: What’s in store for the Bay Area and beyond
“Grass, meet spark. Bay Area residents, meet fire. The explosive start to the 2024 fire season — the Corral Fire near Livermore that tore through rolling grasslands and rapidly scorched more acreage than the 1,253 previous California wildfires this year combined — heralds the types of blazes experts say residents of the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California can expect in coming weeks: fast-moving grass fires. What comes later depends largely on the weather. Two wet winters in a row and the end of drought conditions have kept forested areas moist but fostered abundant growth of grasses that are now drying rapidly into beautiful, golden tinder. “We’re seeing grass crops in excess of six to eight feet in some of our backcountry which is really going to make our fire suppression efforts tough in the Santa Clara Unit,” said Cal Fire Chief Baraka Carter, whose unit covers Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and western Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
Column: Doing nothing about sea level rise in Marin is most expensive option
Columnist Dick Spotswood writes, “Marin’s well-respected civil grand jury has just issued its report regarding one of Marin’s most pressing quandaries. It’s titled, “Sea Level Rise: The Water is Upon Us. We Cannot Run, We Cannot Hide.” Their report addresses the fact that “the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects a 12-inch increase in sea level for the San Francisco Bay Area between now and 2050.” Readers can precisely see how their home, business or school is impacted by sea level rise. Go to the Marin County Climate and Health “vulnerability dashboard” online at bit.ly/3U5j6FQ. The scientific concept of human-caused climate changes is rejected by America’s political “far right.” Even in those precincts, while its causes remain in dispute, it’s finally become evident to even that coterie that the climate is changing. … ” Read more from the Marin Independent Journal.
A dried-up lake in Golden Gate Park has been restored — and will soon reopen
“For 30 or 40 years, the Chain of Lakes at the western end of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has been missing its crucial center link. Called simply Middle Lake, it is part of the three-lake chain dug out in 1899 and still the only bodies of water in the park to be filled by a natural source, an underlying aquifer. It took about a century for Middle Lake to give way to seepage, silt, invasive species, algae blooms, and drought until it finally dried up and became a wildland for kids to build forts on. But it has now been reclaimed in a $7.1 million capital project that has created a glistening blue lake 7-feet deep with a clay bottom dropping down another 18 inches to ensure the water stays there. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District served with new lawsuit, claims it’s a ‘water grab’ by city
“General Manager Tom Neisler said last Wednesday that a civil suit filed against Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District on May 1 was served on the district more than a month after the filing. The city of Tehachapi filed the complaint for declaratory relief in Kern County Superior Court. It concerns a dispute over an agreement the parties made in 2020. Neisler said the water district was served with a summons and a copy of the complaint on June 3. According to the city’s filing, the object of the agreement “was to enhance the quantity and quality of the water supply of the Tehachapi Basin through upgrading the city’s wastewater treatment plant and more efficient handling and storage of treated wastewater.” … ” Read more from the Tehachapi News. … ” Read more from the Tehachapi News.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
String of earthquakes rattles Southern California. Are they telling us something bigger?
“Southern California was recently rattled by several small earthquakes. They produced minor shaking but nonetheless left psychological aftershocks in a region whose seismic vulnerabilities are matched by our willingness to put the dangers out of our minds. For many, it all added to one question: Is this the beginning of something bigger? First, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake in the Ojai Valley sent weak shaking from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles on May 31. Then came two small quakes under the eastern L.A. neighborhood of El Sereno, the most powerful a 3.4. Finally, a trio of tremors hit the Costa Mesa-Newport Beach border, topping out at a magnitude 3.6 Thursday. Having half a dozen earthquakes with a magnitude over 2.5 in a week, hitting three distinct parts of Southern California, all in highly populated areas, is not a common occurrence. … ” Read more from the LA Times.
SOUTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA
Cadiz signs LOI with City of Hesperia for water supply
“ Cadiz, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDZI / CDZIP) (“Cadiz” or the “Company”), announced that on June 5th the Company signed a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) to provide 75,000 acre-feet of water supply to the City of Hesperia as part of the Company’s commitment to the “One Water” Initiative in San Bernardino County’s Mojave River Basin.Cadiz’ participation in the One Water initiative with Victor Valley water agencies was announced in January. Under the “One Water” initiative, regional water agencies will develop a coordinated strategy for financing and building water infrastructure in San Bernardino County’s Mojave River region. As part of its commitment, Cadiz, through its non-profit affiliate Fenner Gap Mutual Water Company, will supply surplus water to participating agencies from the Cadiz water supply and storage project in the eastern Mojave on an “at cost” basis. … ” Continue reading at Morningstar.
Commentary: Cadiz Inc. exploits Latinos in scheme that could destroy desert
Dianne Landeros, former public policy chair at the American Association of University Women, Redlands chapter, and Lorraine Enriquez, president of the Redlands Area Democratic Club, write, “This spring finds no part of California in drought. State reservoirs are full. That news flash marks a refreshing shift from two years ago. But instead of doing its part to replenish groundwater when rains and runoff are plentiful, one company is doubling down on its scheme to pump and pipe out groundwater that keeps the Mojave ecosystem alive. That’s driven by its goal of private profit, ignoring sustainability and the public interest. Cadiz Inc. has threatened desert water for more than 30 years. To mask its mission, it has adopted marketing efforts that go against science and the law. Now Cadiz has stooped even lower, resorting to influence tactics that treat Latinos like pawns and turn local public water agencies into corporate bedfellows. This strategy is exploitative and seems intended to deceive the public. … ” Read more from the Desert Sun.
SAN DIEGO
San Dieguito wetlands restoration enters the home stretch
“The second phase of the San Dieguito Lagoon restoration reached a significant milestone last week. On June 6, a collection of SANDAG and Caltrans engineers and biologists gathered to witness the active release of berm at the restoration project site, opening up the saltwater marsh inlet to the tidal flow. Rather than sending an epic torrent of water into the lagoon, an excavator simply moved some dirt aside and the water slowly began to trickle in. Kim Smith, SANDAG senior regional planner, said while it may have appeared anticlimactic, it was an incredibly exciting moment for staff to see on a project about 12 years in the making. … ” Read more from the Del Mar Times.
Along the Colorado River …
Reclamation updates Colorado River consumptive uses and losses data
“The Bureau of Reclamation has updated its Colorado River System Consumptive Uses and Losses Report using recalculated data. The report presents recalculated estimates for calendar years 1971 to 2015 in the lower system and 1971 to 2023 in the upper system. Reclamation developed the updated data using consistent and current methodologies within each basin to improve the accuracy of the data across years and between reports. “Information quality and best engineering and science are paramount. Knowing how much water is used and for what purposes is central to sound water resource management,” said Reclamation Deputy Commissioner David Palumbo. Reclamation plans to use the information in the consumptive uses and losses reports as a data source as it manages regional water operations and to improve the agency’s modeling efforts.” … ” Read more from the Bureau of Reclamation.
In national water news today …
EPA enabled widespread contamination of farmland from PFAS in fertilizer, lawsuit alleges
“US regulators failed to prevent toxic PFAS in fertilizers from contaminating farmland across the country, alleges a lawsuit filed this week by a watchdog group on behalf of two Texas farm families who suffered health problems after their properties were polluted. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Clean Water Act by failing to identify at least 18 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in treated sewage sludge spread on farmland even though scientific evidence suggests the chemicals are present in the sludge, according to the complaint filed June 6 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia by the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The EPA also neglected to develop regulations restricting several other PFAS chemicals the agency has previously recognized exist in sewage sludge, according to the complaint. As a result of its inaction, the EPA has enabled “millions of acres” of land to become contaminated with PFAS-laced sewage sludge, exposing many communities to the harmful chemicals, the lawsuit alleges. … ” Read more from the New Lede.
The plastics we breathe
“For years, scientists on the hunt for microplastics have found them almost everywhere. First, they spotted tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean, in the bodies of fish and mussels. Then they found them in soft drinks, in tap water, in vegetables and fruits, in burgers. Now researchers are discovering that microplastics are floating around us. They are suspended in the air on city streets and inside homes. One study found that people inhale or ingest on average 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic particles per year through breathing, eating and drinking. “There’s just so much plastic around us,” said Sherri Mason, researcher and sustainability coordinator at Pennsylvania State University at Erie. “We wear synthetic clothes, and those are shedding microplastics. We work on synthetic carpets. We buy food wrapped in plastic.” Scientists don’t yet know the exact health effects of all those plastic particles — but their concerns are rising. … ” Read more from the Washington Post (gift article).
Also on Maven’s Notebook today …
NOTICE: Conditional Curtailments Issued in Shasta River Watershed
