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On the calendar today …
- PUBLIC HEARING: Sites Reservoir Water Right Permit beginning at 9am. The State Water Resources Control Board will begin a multi-day public hearing Monday, Aug. 19, on the Sites Project Authority’s application for a water right permit to store up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water annually in a proposed reservoir in the Sacramento Valley. The hearing will resume on Aug. 27 and continue on various dates through October. View hearing on the Administrative Hearings Office YouTube channel.
In California water news today …
Threats to California’s freshwater ecosystems and how to increase their resiliency
“The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has curated a special journal issue to discuss climate change adaptability in California. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Nevada, Reno and the Pacific Institute contributed a scientific perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by California’s freshwater ecosystems. The researchers proposed a large-scale monitoring and modeling network as well as inclusive collaborations to facilitate evidence-based policy aimed at enhancing resiliency to climate change. “California has the fifth largest economy in the world and supports many unique ecosystems, so we need to focus on sustaining the waters of California, from rivers and estuaries to lakes and groundwater,” Sudeep Chandra, professor of biology at the University of Nevada, Reno and coauthor on the paper, said. … ” Read more from the Tahoe Daily Tribune.
SEE ALSO: Anticipating Responses to Climate Change and Planning for Resilience in California’s Freshwater Ecosystems, from the Pacific Institute
REPORT SUMMARY: The Economic Value of Efficiency for California Water Service: Lower Water Bills
“Often in droughts, as customers cut back their water use, water bills rise, leading some to blame water conservation for the increases. However, a new report finds that tiered rates and conservation programs can actually save ratepayers money in the long run. Before 2009, California Water Service Company (Cal Water) did not meter all its water customers, lacked conservation rates, or offer a comprehensive set of conservation programs, and per capita water use was either stagnant or increasing. In 2009, Cal Water introduced conservation rate designs, specifically increasing block rates (IBRs), tripled their expenditure on conservation programs, and accelerated the transition of unmetered customers to metered water service. Since then, per capita water demand has steadily declined. … ” Continue reading this report summary.
BLOG: Sites Reservoir update
“Let me tell you who rocks – Robert Kunde. Kunde is the former General Manager of Wheeler Ridge Maricopa Water Storage District, which is located just about as far south in the San Joaquin Valley as you can get before you go up the hill to cross the mountains on your way to Los Angeles. Now let me tell you why he rocks – and for our purposes here, rocks is a good thing. Kunde shares his Sites reports with us – thank you Rob. The Sites Reservoir Project is one of the few bright spots on the improvement of California’s water infrastructure to come along in a while. While the California Water Commission has sat on $7 billion of taxpayer financed Prop One funding for increased surface storage – for the past 10-years (maybe they spent a little) – the Sites Project has been moving forward. … ” Continue reading at Water Wrights.
The salt of the earth: Researchers use remote sensing and precision technology to aid growers in arid regions
“One of the main challenges of irrigating crops is that available water sources contain salt. Over time, repeated waterings from these sources lead to salt accumulation, damaging soil fertility. This issue is especially acute in the arid and semi-arid regions found in much of the western United States. To address the issue, researchers are beginning to apply the techniques of digital and precision agriculture to help growers provide their crops with the water they need without harming them, or the soil, in the process. Their efforts combine a variety of strategies and tools. Todd Skaggs, research leader at ARS’s Agricultural Water Efficiency and Salinity (AWES) Research Unit, in Riverside, CA, described several ideas that his team is exploring. One approach is to develop crops with a higher salt tolerance, including working to understand that trait at a genetic level. Recently, the AWES team has focused on alfalfa, using greenhouses to grow a variety that is significantly more salt-tolerant than conventional varieties. … ” Read more from the USDA Agricultural Research Service.
Systematic assessments of non-native fishes in the San Francisco Estuary
“There is widespread concern about the effect of introduced species on native species. The San Francisco Estuary (SFE) is a highly invaded system (Cohen and Carlton 1995), with a mix of native and introduced species that didn’t evolve together. Humans introduced non-native species in a variety of ways, ranging from recreation to ship ballast water to aquarium and pond releases (Hanak et al. 2013). Non-native species within the estuary are often treated as a monolithic problem to be solved through eradication (Grossman 2016). However, not all non-native species disrupt an ecosystem. Many introduced fishes do not have clear negative impacts on populations of native species, and some may provide benefits to humanity in the form of recreation opportunities, ecosystem services, or as indicator species (Moyle et al. 1986, Bork 2018, Grossman 2016). In this blog, we’ll review the complex roles of non-native fishes within our novel estuary and propose a systematic framework evaluating the “invasiveness” of these introduced species. … ” Read more from the California Water Blog.
White sturgeon recruitment to San Francisco Bay-Estuary in 2024
Tom Cannon writes, “In a June 2024 post, I hypothesized factors controlling the white sturgeon population in San Francisco Bay-Estuary. I concluded the major factor controlling the adult stock size was periodic recruitment of juvenile sturgeon from successful spring spawning and early rearing in the lower Sacramento River. Successful recruitment only occurs in the wettest years, when there are higher streamflows and cooler water temperatures. Recruitment of young white sturgeon in significant numbers has only occurred in three years since 2010: 2011, 2017, and 2023. Recruitment in 2024, an above normal water year, is likely to be poor. … ” Continue reading at the California Fisheries blog.
A path through scorched earth teaches how a fire deficit helped fuel California’s conflagrations
This article is the second in an ongoing series Inside Climate News fellow Bing Lin is reporting from the Pacific Crest Trail in Northern California. “Hugh Safford is not your average professor. … It would be fair to say that Safford knows a little something about wildfires, in addition to hiking. He was the U.S. Forest Service’s regional ecologist for California, Hawaii and the Pacific territories for 21 years, up until his retirement in 2021. At 61, he’s also still an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, running a lab researching vegetation and fire ecology and management; chief scientist for Vibrant Planet, a public benefit corporation focused on creating climate resilient ecosystems and communities, including wildfire mitigation; director of the Sierra Nevada section of the California Fire Science Consortium; and the principal investigator of the California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program. Safford had a lot of duties to run from to join me on trail. … ” Read the full article at Inside Climate News.
In regional water news and commentary today …
MOUNTAIN COUNTIES
Commentary: Status on NID’s Plan For Water process by a stakeholder
Michael Ross writes, “The Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is planning to complete the first Plan For Water (PFW) process/plan with a PFW Report. I applaud NID for this planning action and look forward to reviewing it. A good description of the PFW was given by NID in its adopted 2020 Agricultural Water Management Plan (2020 AWMP) in Section 5.3 Identify Water Management Objectives given here for shared context: “NID is taking this opportunity in water management shifts to locally develop the vision and water resource needs for its community. … ” Continue reading at YubaNet.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY
Yolo County’s Cache Creek, Lake Washington under health advisory due to toxic algae blooms
“A health advisory was issued for Cache Creek and Lake Washington on Saturday afternoon due to the presence of harmful algal blooms. Recent testing of the water revealed “concerning levels” of cyanotoxins, which are caused by harmful algal blooms, Yolo County Administrative Officer Gerardo Pinedo said in a press release. The county has put Cache Creek Regional Park Lower Site under a danger advisory, which prohibits all water contact including watercraft use. Camp Haswell, a campsite next to the creek, was put under a caution advisory instructing residents to avoid swimming. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
Commentary: The huge “California Forever” project is on hold because, in Solano County, voters matter
Opinion columnist Tom Philp writes, “In Sacramento County, it would take only four people — a super-majority of supervisors — to approve some new community in the middle of nowhere. In Solano County, it would take about 100,00 people to say yes, because, for decades, voters have controlled growth outside city boundaries themselves. The political math of Solano development appears to have caught up with some Silicon Valley investors who had been secretly planning for years to build a city roughly the size of Sacramento in the open hills in a barren southeastern portion of the county. Backers of the so-called California Forever plan have withdrawn their expansion initiative from the November ballot. … ” Continue reading from the Sacramento Bee.
BAY AREA
Unsafe lead levels found in drinking water at multiple Oakland public schools
“Oakland public schools are responding to what they are calling a crisis surrounding the drinking water in nearly two dozen schools in the district. Elevated levels of lead have been found in the water at school campuses. “We want more transparency. We demand more transparency,” said Stuart Loebl. Loebl is a 6th grade teacher at Frick United Academy of Language in East Oakland. Most of that public school’s drinking fountains are now off limits, with signs saying “do not drink the water.” … ” Read more from ABC 7.
CENTRAL COAST
‘Steamrolled by heat waves’: Ventura County records 2 of its warmest months on record
“Ventura County had one of its warmest starts to summer this year based on high and low temperatures, a federal database shows. The latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ranked the last two months as the county’s warmest on record – a tie with 2021 – based on low temperatures. When it came to maximum temperatures, the two-month period of June and July was the county’s third warmest. Statewide, the mercury rose much higher in spots, including in Palm Springs that broke an all-time high temperature record in July at 124 degrees. California marked its warmest June and July to date, NOAA reported. … ” Read more from the Ventura County Star.
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
Rotary hears ‘Our Water, Our Future’ presentation
“At the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Tehachapi on Aug. 15, the club welcomed Tom Neisler, general manager of the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District. Neisler has been with the water district since 2013, stepping into the position of general manager in 2016. He studied civil engineering at San Diego State University, and has an extensive background in civil engineering and construction, working many years in both the public and private sector. He is active in the Association of California Water Agencies, serving on the board of directors at both the regional and state level. At the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District, Neisler says that their motto of “Our Water, Our Future,” is a very true statement, because water resources are essential to life. … ” Read more from the Tehachapi News.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Avian botulism caused ducks to die at Riverside park
“Tests show avian botulism caused the death of dozens of ducks at Fairmount Park in Riverside, city officials said this week. Low levels of algae blooms were found in the lakes at the Riverside park at the beginning of the month. A pump went down in mid-July that “caused the lowering of the lakes’ water level,” said Anthony Zamora, deputy director at the Riverside Parks Recreation Community Services Department in a video call on Tuesday, Aug. 13. “Since then, it’s fully operational now. The water level is where it needs to be and we have water circulating the way it should,” Zamora said. … ” Read more from the San Jose Mercury News.
IMPERIAL/COACHELLA VALLEYS
At the Salton Sea, uncovering the culprit of lung disease
“When David Lo first visited the Salton Sea shore in the spring of 2018, he was struck by the sheer oddness of the place: the beach of barnacle shells and pulverized fish bones; the abandoned dock far from the water’s edge; the unremitting smell of decay. It was like a scene from a science fiction movie, recalled the 66-year-old biomedical researcher from University of California, Riverside, familiar yet “just off of normal.” But it was also pleasant, in a way. The sun glistened off the placid surface of the water, the Chocolate Mountains rose in the distance. At first, he said, “all those odd parts don’t hit you in terms of potential, like ‘Oh my gosh this is a toxic, nasty sort of thing.’” But for him that’s changed, he added, “having learned more about what’s going on.” Now, after nearly a decade of research, Lo recommends that anyone visiting the lake wear an N95 mask. Something in the environment — in the water, the land, the air, or all three — appears to be making people in the region sick with a respiratory disease that presents like asthma. … ” Read more from Undark.
SAN DIEGO
Survey of nature’s superhero, eelgrass, kicks off Carlsbad bridge project
“Two researchers in an inflatable boat glided out onto Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad, California, August 15, looking for eelgrass, an underwater plant that provides a nursery for fish, crabs, shrimp and other sealife. The boaters, equipped with sonar and diving gear, also were looking for any sign of Caulerpa, an invasive seaweed that can spread rapidly and choke out the native eelgrass. Nicknamed “killer algae,” Caulerpa taxifolia turned up in Carlsbad’s nearby Agua Hedionda Lagoon in 2000 and was eliminated only after an intensive, multi-year, $7 million battle. Since then, the invader, which may have been dumped from a home aquarium, has been absent along the North County coastline. However, last year, small amounts of a slightly different but equally destructive species, Caulerpa prolifica, were found in San Diego Bay and efforts are underway to eradicate it. … ” Read more from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Along the Colorado River …
Water conservation proving successful as Colorado River water users avoid crisis again
“Today, as it does every August, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) released data used to determine Colorado River operating conditions for the following year. Thanks to persistent and increasing conservation by water users in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Mexico in addition to a couple of good winters’ snow accumulation in the mountains—crisis-level shortages impacting cities in Arizona and California will be avoided. The “August 2024 Most Probable 24-Month Study” projects that at the end of the year, Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir supplying the southern portions of the Colorado River Basin, will sit at elevation 1062 feet above mean sea level, resulting in “Tier One” shortages and water conservation requirements under the current rules. Without farmers’ as well as some cities’ proactive water conservation measures in the Lower Colorado River Basin, including Mexico, the water surface in the reservoir might have been 25 feet lower, and significant mandatory water shortages would have hit millions of people living in Phoenix and Los Angeles and across the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. … ” Continue reading from Audubon.
A rare and wild adventure on the Colorado River
“Imagine running rapids that haven’t been seen in six decades and camping on beaches that didn’t exist a mere few months earlier. Welcome to Cataract Canyon. The muddy current of the Colorado River carries our rafts through the red rock walls of Cataract Canyon in southern Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. The roar of a rapid grows louder somewhere downstream. Before we reach the tumultuous churn, the rafts pull up to a small white-sand beach. Beyond, the towering walls pull back to make room for a wide drainage, called a side canyon, where Gypsum Creek trundles in to the meet the river. We’ll pitch our tents here, in this remote and wild spot, and sleep under the glittering stars before continuing on tomorrow. It sounds like a typical river trip. Until you factor in that as recently as 10 years ago, all of this was 60ft underneath the still water of Lake Powell, the huge reservoir created when the doors of Glen Canyon Dam closed in 1963 to store water for the dry and quickly growing Western states. … ” Read more from the BBC.
