A wrap-up of posts published on Maven’s Notebook this week …
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In California water news this week …
California prepares for extreme weather swings as new water year approaches
“The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today previewed the new Water Year which starts on October 1 by highlighting preparations for more extreme weather events this season following a record hot summer across much of California and a looming La Niña pattern. Over the past decade, climate extremes have posed significant challenges to water managers, especially the extreme hot and dry conditions that frequently persist well past summer months and into the fall. California is seeing that right now with above-average temperatures forecast into October and no rain in the current forecast. At the same time, the water that California does receive will arrive from more powerful storms, and hotter temperatures will mean less winter precipitation falls as snow and more will arrive as rain, increasing flood risk. … ” Read more from DWR News.
San Francisco weighs bid to drop Supreme Court water case
“Lawmakers in San Francisco are launching a last-ditch effort to kill the city’s lawsuit challenging federal water pollution requirements, weeks before Supreme Court oral arguments are set to begin. The city has accused EPA of including unreasonably vague requirements in a wastewater permit for one of its sewage treatment plants. The language in the permit is designed to protect water quality and is widely used in permits for municipalities nationwide. San Francisco says it’s virtually impossible to follow. But on Tuesday, San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar introduced a resolution urging the city attorney’s office to drop the case. … ” Read more from E&E News.
Major East Bay reservoir expansion is axed after years of rising costs, waning interest
“A long-percolating expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County will not move forward after costs and delays mounted in recent years, ending a project that would have significantly boosted the Bay Area’s water supply. The project, first proposed in 2017, would have increased the reservoir’s capacity by more than 70% and distributed water to residents across the Bay Area. In a statement on Monday, Contra Costa Water District Board President Ernesto A. Avila announced the agency would end its participation in the project, citing increasing costs and declining participation from other local water agencies. “As difficult as the decision was … we have reached the point where the facts show that this well-intended project is not viable,” he wrote. … ” Read more from KQED.
The search for markets to help manage California’s groundwater
“In 2014, California passed a legislative package to work toward making groundwater extraction sustainable over the long term. The law, known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), followed decades of over pumping, resulting in dry wells, land subsidence, and seawater intrusion in many parts of the state. A few enclaves throughout California, mostly urban areas, already had groundwater management frameworks as a result of costly and time-consuming adjudication or special and location-specific enabling legislation. But for most of the state’s struggling aquifers, SGMA brought an end to nearly limitless pumping entitlements for overlying landowners. Early headlines expressed some excitement about the potential for using markets to contain the costs of groundwater conservation. A decade later, what role have groundwater markets actually played in implementing SGMA? … ” Read more from PERC.
California scores legal win on appeal over Sites Reservoir project
“A three-judge appellate panel has sided with California Governor Gavin Newsom over the Sites Reservoir project, ruling that a key environmental report meets muster. Groups including Friends of the River had sued over the reservoir project, claiming it will threaten fish and contribute to greenhouse gases. They asked a Yolo County Superior Court judge to rule that the certification of an environmental impact report for the reservoir was invalid because it didn’t meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. The judge in June ruled in favor of the state, leading the plaintiffs to appeal. On Friday, the Third Appellate District panel affirmed the lower court’s decision. … ” Read more from the Courthouse News Service.
NOTEBOOK FEATURE: How the fight against Auburn Dam advanced flood control in California
“In 1990, Gary Estes moved to Auburn, a town of nearly 14,000 in the Sierra Nevada foothills on the North Fork of the American River. Estes, an environmentalist, immediately joined the fight against Auburn Dam. The proposed dam site was only about one mile from his house. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wanted to build Auburn Dam to boost flood control in the city of Sacramento, which is about 30 miles downstream of Auburn and which the Corps considers to be the region most at-risk for catastrophic flooding nationwide. But the American River already had the 340-foot high Folsom Dam between Auburn and Sacramento. “The environmental community said, ‘Do we really need another dam?’” Estes recalls. He and other Auburn Dam opponents thought there had to be a better way to protect Sacramento from floods―and they turned out to be right. … ” Read more from Maven’s Notebook.
The Delta supports state-boosted sustainable ag: What does that look like?
“What policies would Delta residents support for adapting to environmental changes in the region? Given nine choices in a recent survey of Delta residents, only one garnered majority support: increasing state funding for sustainable agriculture. This is one example of what that looks like. Rice farming can be an antidote to one big Delta problem: subsidence – the sinking of heavily farmed soils well below adjacent river levels. But while flooded rice slowly rebuilds subsided soils, it comes with its own challenge: Water on those rice fields must be kept fresh for the crop to survive. That means pumping water off the fields and into the river, then pumping fresh water back in. … ” Continue reading from the Delta Protection Commission.
Invasive rodent species found in critical Bay Area watershed, officials say
“The recent discovery of a nutria in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Contra Costa County has raised concerns of damage to the region’s fragile ecosystem from the invasive rodent species, prompting officials to ask the public to report any new sightings. Nutria are native to South America and live in waterways, such as deltas, rivers and ponds. They’re known to be invasive, destroying crops and weakening levees “to the point of failure,” said Matthew Slattengren, an agricultural commissioner for the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture, on Wednesday. Only a handful of nutria have been spotted in the county in recent years, according to Slattengren and state Fish and Wildlife data. But officials say the animals have the potential to cause “serious damage” to the vast Delta watershed and its network of aging earthen levees — a critical water source for much of California. … ” Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
California’s gold rush continues: State still leads the nation in new gold discoveries
“Nearly two centuries after California’s initial gold rush in the mid-19th century, the state continues to lead the nation in gold production and discovery, according to a new report. By far, the Golden State saw the largest number of new gold discoveries in 2023, according to an analysis of U.S. Geological Survey data compiled by SD Bullion. A total of 10,373 gold-bearing locations have been unearthed in the state, according to the report. That represents 66.6 sites per every 1,000 square miles of land, “more than quadruple that of Washington in second place on the list, at 2,271 current locations.” … ” Read more from the Visalia Times-Delta.
New case endangers water rates
“The San Diego panel of the Court of Appeal released a recent decision which threatens a wave of new lawsuits challenging water rates. The decision in Coziahr v. Otay Water District issued on July 15, 2024 and local governments are now beginning to grapple with its far-reaching implications. Plaintiffs’ class action counsel sued the Otay Water District, which serves areas along the border with Mexico south and east of San Diego, and the City of San Diego in one case to challenge tiered water rates. Those impose progressively higher rates as more water is used to encourage conservation and to reflect the higher cost of supplying marginal water supplies to meet inefficient demands. The cases were tried separately but led to an $18 million refund award against Otay and a $78 million dollar award against San Diego. The San Diego case is still pending before the Riverside Court of Appeal. … ” Read more from Public CEO.
Assemblywoman Soria’s AB 2661 to accelerate clean energy development in the Central Valley signed by Governor Newsom
“Today, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria announced that her bill, Assembly Bill 2661 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. AB 2661 advances clean energy development projects in the Central Valley while minimizing the negative impacts scarce water supplies have on farmworker communities and farmers who drive the region’s agricultural economy. The bill authorizes projects to convert fallowed farmland to solar farms which will create jobs, help farmworkers retrain and transition into skilled trades and spur economic development. Specifically, AB 2661 would authorize Westlands Water District – an agricultural water district serving farmers and rural communities on the west side of Fresno and Kings Counties – to broaden its current abilities to oversee energy projects to include the generation, storage, and transmission of solar energy. … ” Read more from Westlands Water District.
In commentary this week …
Solution to California’s water storage needs lies underground, not more dams
Columnist Marek Warszawski writes, “The name isn’t printed on any map, but history-minded visitors to San Luis Reservoir outside Los Banos call it “President’s Hill.” In August 1962, on a hilltop overlooking the western shoreline of what today is California’s fifth-largest reservoir, President John F. Kennedy headlined a list of dignitaries gathered for the groundbreaking of B.F. Sisk Dam. … “President’s Hill” is currently closed to the public – and will be until 2032 – because that section of the state recreation area is a construction zone. Gone are the fishermen, campers and hunters. Instead, the roads are traveled by heavy machinery and trucks transporting rocks, gravel and dirt to fortify and raise the 3 1⁄2-mile-long earthen dam and better protect nearby communities from flood risk. On top of that, literally, negotiations are underway to raise the dam an additional 10 feet in order to create an additional 130,000 acre-feet of storage in the 2 million acre-foot reservoir. … ” Read the full commentary at the Fresno Bee.
The reckoning of California’s regional economic planning and water availability
Barbara Barrigan-Parilla writes, “While Restore the Delta continues to defend the SF Bay-Delta estuary through policy work, advocacy, and public process participation, over the last six years we have also been involved in economic planning efforts through numerous state and regional initiatives that focus on the development of an inclusive green economy. At first glance, a new economy tackling the impacts of climate change while providing true economic opportunities for all communities appears to be a noble endeavor for our future – and it is. We fully support and are working at the local and regional level to build new green economy programs that will support ecosystem health and the health of all people in the Delta region. The problem, however, is that California is failing to incorporate sustainable water planning based on true water availability within emerging climate programs and new energy technologies. Instead, numerous economic plans for the San Joaquin Valley rely on continually increasing Delta exports. … ” Read more from Restore the Delta.
California’s Prop. 4 tries to meet many resource needs. Is it worth $10 billion?
“On the November ballot, the $10 billion bond contained in Proposition 4 defies labeling. It’s not exactly a climate change bond, a water bond, a parks bond, a sustainable farming bond or a community assistance bond. It’s all of these, but it addresses pressing state priorities in baby steps. In a perfect world, voters could reject Prop. 4 as a message to the Democratically-controlled Legislature to stop creating spending packages with more ornaments than a Neiman Marcus Christmas tree. But we don’t have time to waste on climate change, which isn’t even mentioned in the bond’s title. California is nowhere near prepared for longer droughts and bigger floods and higher sea levels. Investments now will save taxpayers big money in the long run. Prop. 4 has barely enough top-priority spending in it to merit an endorsement. And rejecting it solves nothing because, after five years of ornament-making behind this bond, this Legislature simply can’t be expected to do materially better. … ” Continue reading at the Sacramento Bee.
The kids get it: Why Proposition 4 is the right thing to do
Juliet Christian-Smith, Western States Regional Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, writes, “Last week, we received our voter information guides in the mailbox. Before I had a chance to even take a look, I found my fifth-grader reading through the guide with a checklist. Looking over her shoulder, I saw her list of the proposition numbers – most with question marks next to them – but one with a big, bold check mark: Proposition 4. Even though I hadn’t said a word, she gets it. In her short life, she has been through three wildfire evacuations, she has been told not to drink the toxic drinking water in our friend’s neighborhood in Merced County, and she has been kept inside for days and weeks on end due to dangerous, orange, smoky skies. I don’t have to explain why investing in climate resilience is about the best financial decision California could make right now for her future. The kids get it. … ” Read more from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
How a California community helped prevent the Bridge fire from destroying their town
Chad Hanson, wildfire scientist with the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, writes, “On the evening of Sept. 10, things looked bad for the mountain ski town of Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles. Driven by extreme fire weather, the Bridge fire, which had started on the other side of the mountain range, grew from just a few thousand acres to 34,240 acres that day, and was spreading toward the town. By the next morning, it had reached Wrightwood’s boundaries. This could have been a catastrophe, like the Camp fire in 2018, which claimed dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes in the northern Sierra Nevada town of Paradise. Instead, out of more than 2,000 residences in Wrightwood, 13 were destroyed by the Bridge fire. It’s tragic that homes were lost, yet the fact that more than 99% of residences survived and all of the people were safely evacuated is a significant wildfire success story. What explains it? … ” Read more from the LA Times. | Read via Yahoo News.
Water is not the problem with AI: Data centers are nothing compared to cattle farming.
Ryan Cooper, managing editor of American Prospect, writes, “Since AI models like ChatGPT and Claude became the latest investment fad in Silicon Valley, outside observers have worried about the broader consequences. They consume tons of electricity, they are trained on trillions of original works without their authors’ consent, and if the most unhinged hype guys are to be believed, they will create mass unemployment in every industry any day now. But for some reason, the water use of these products has become one of the most common criticisms. A slew of articles and videos argue that the water consumption of all the data centers powering AI systems are a threat to the environment. It is true that data centers use some water. But there is a great deal of missing context. Even in highly water-stressed areas, all data centers combined are a rounding error compared to the real water wasters: farmers, especially of livestock feed. … ” Read more from American Prospect.
California Native American Day is a reality check about the past and future progress
“Today is California Native American Day, a moment to recall California’s dark and painful history of genocide against Indian peoples. But it is also a moment of hope, as the state is taking notable steps towards equality. This year is the fifth anniversary of Governor Gavin Newsom’s formal apology to Native Americans for a war of calculated genocide beginning with the call by our first governor, Peter Burnett, for a war of extermination “until the Indian race becomes extinct.” My own tribe, the Cahuilla-Serrano, only avoided annihilation at the hands of the militias by escaping into the San Bernardino Mountains during the 19th Century. … ” Read more from the Sacramento Bee.
In regional water news this week …
Major victory for community: NID withdraws Centennial Dam proposal after SYRCL’s decade-long opposition
“On September 25th, the Nevada Irrigation District voted on the future of their proposed Centennial Dam project, a $1 billion project that the South Yuba River Citizen’s League (SYRCL) has rallied the community in opposition to since its inception. In August of 2014, the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) began planning to construct a new 275-foot-tall dam and reservoir on the Bear River between the existing Rollins and Combie reservoirs. The water agency’s proposed new 110,000 acre-foot reservoir with a 275 foot-tall dam on the Bear River would have inundated six miles of the Bear River, completely flooding the Bear River Campground, more than 25 homes and 120 parcels, hundreds of cultural and sacred Native American sites, and the Dog Bar Bridge, the only crossing of the Bear River between Highway 49 and Highway 174. … ” Read more from The Union.
Congress reauthorizes Lake Tahoe Restoration Act
“Lake Tahoe agencies on Tuesday applauded Congress for its passage of a bill to reauthorize the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, which is the cornerstone of federal investment in the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program. The approval extends existing funding authorizations for approximately $300 million to 2034 and continues federal support for priority projects to protect and restore Lake Tahoe. Since the improvement program was formed in 1997, public and private sector partners have completed more than 830 projects including wetland restoration, bike trails, forest fuel reduction, and aquatic invasive species prevention and control. … ” Read more from the Nevada Appeal.
‘It’s just disgusting’: Sewage leak in El Dorado Hills may have contaminated Folsom Lake
“A sewage leak in El Dorado Hills may have reached Folsom Lake, officials said Tuesday. Now, the El Dorado Irrigation District is testing the water and warning community members to stay out of Browns Reservoir for the time being. “We take any kind of sewage leak very seriously,” said Jesse Saich, a spokesperson for the El Dorado Irrigation District. “Those pumper trucks were there not only to help keep sewer service going, but also to take up as much leaked sewage as possible that would have been getting into the creek.” El Dorado Hills resident David Michael said he was working in his garage Sunday night when he heard water rush into his neighborhood. He quickly realized it was sewage. … ” Read more from KCRA.
Tulare County irrigation districts try to ‘right the ship’ toward groundwater sustainability. But will it be enough?
“Three Tulare County irrigation districts that recently found themselves in the state’s crosshairs over groundwater extractions and subsidence are scrambling to show officials they are getting on the right side of “sustainability.” The boards of the Terra Bella, Porterville and Saucelito irrigation districts each approved resolutions seeking to cut back the amount of groundwater farmers can pump within their boundaries. “We would like to demonstrate that we are moving more quickly toward sustainability, and the fact that we’re willing to not overpump is the first step to making that case,” said Sean Geivet, general manager of all three districts. “We want to right the ship going forward,” affirmed Brett McCowan, a Porterville district board member. But some say the action may be too little, too late. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Most well owners in Kings County will soon have to meter and register wells under local – not state – rules
“Most Kings County farmers will begin metering and registering their wells by the end of this year even though a court order is holding those exact same requirements by the state at bay pending the outcome of a lawsuit. The state Water Resources Control Board had tried to impose well metering and registration – among other requirements – on farmers after it placed the Tulare Lake subbasin on probation April 16. The Kings County Farm Bureau sued the state arguing those requirements exceeded the Water Board’s authority under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. A Kings County judge agreed. She issued a preliminary injunction halting the requirements citing a lack of transparency and a host of other problems with the Water Board’s enforcement process. But local groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) in Kings County are moving ahead with their own well metering and registration policies. … ” Read more from SJV Water.
Carpinteria: SoCalGas halts water reclaiming effort after substandard test results
“A Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) effort to reclaim over 400,000 gallons of water for irrigation this summer was halted, city of Carpinteria staff said during Monday night’s council meeting, after water quality test results fell short of the company’s water standards. SoCalGas operates transmission and high-pressure distribution pipelines throughout Santa Barbara County. In May of this year, SoCalGas presented a water reclaiming opportunity to the Carpinteria City Council. The utility had planned to discharge a total of 421,000 gallons of recycled water from its operations to the Carpinteria Community Farm and northern El Carro Park for irrigation. However, after conducting water quality tests this summer, SoCalGas could not deem the recycled water as safe for irrigation use, though the tests found no hazardous waste characteristics in the water. … ” Read more from Coastal View.